I have a chocolate addiction

[Respos]

I can't think of any other way of phrasing it. I truly believe my fixation with chocolate is not far off the equivalent of alcohol/gambling addictions.

It amazes me that people can just keep chocolate in their cupboard and just get on with life knowing its there. If I'm having any challenges, I think some chocolate later will make it better. Sometimes I think about cutting it completely and then I literally wonder if life would be completely joyless without it.

All sounds quite dramatic but I'm so fed up of thinking about it all of the time. Perhaps should have put this in health, but my dependence on chocolate is a big contributing factor in the 4 stone window I seem to have been bouncing around for the last decade.

Have you been through anything like this? What did you do?

I went cold turkey. Had headaches. I am an alcoholic and happy about not drinking but have always been very food motivated. I have been looking at some of the overeaters anonymous stuff as I eat the way I used to drink and the 12 step stuff worked totally for taking away the desire to drink. I know I use food as an escape whenever I’m not happy about something. Hope you find something that works for you. I am just at the start of this journey as have only managed to cut out chocolate.

I am a chocolate addict too. It is not possible for me to go cold turkey, because the relapse is always so spectacular. I now allow myself one bar of chocolate or confectionary a day, and try to only eat the ones with lower calories. I still manage to lose weight but I suppose it happens more slowly than someone who doesn't have a chocolate habit.

Same 4 stone window here... crisps for me.

I've got chocolate in the kitchen, no problem, but I'm unable to leave crisps, I would eat 2 tubes of pringles... just a few, maybe some more, oh only a couple more... gone.
I simply don't buy them any more. I am an addict.
Life certainly felt joyless in the first few weeks, but I stopped thinking about eating them all the time now. I do not want to relapse, sounds so stupid - it's crisps, not meth! - so I don't buy any, or choose to eat any when out.

This is from my AMA;

"I have worked with @eyesopenwideawake and she is amazing!
I have always had weight issues and had weight loss surgery 4 years ago. I lost the weight but it has slowly been creeping back on due to my chocolate addiction/secret eating problem.
I thought I would be very difficult to fix, because it is so deep-seated, but in one session the whole desire for chocolate and to binge eat it has completely gone!!
I feel like a new person and have so much more headspace because I'm not obsessing about food and chocolate the whole time. It's the best money I have ever spent."

@LucyandLudwig has posted updates since then, she had a wobble a couple of years after we worked together, but was quickly back on track.

No guarantees but if you haven't considered hypnotherapy it's worth looking into (not necessarily with me, other practitioners are available!).

Sympathies, OP. My dad said giving up chocolate was harder for him than giving up smoking. I have only really cut down now because it started making my Crohn's Disease worse, I can only have a small piece. I don't have any advice; I did go cold turkey and seem to have broken my habit, but like I said, it was having adverse consequences.

Hi how do I contact you?

If you click on my name the option to PM (or DM?) comes up.

No chocolate in the house. Sometimes I give in and buy some. But not very often.

I have gotton better as the quality has deteriorated

I so miss the old Cadbury’s

I'm similar and the only way it just not io have it in the house. I find the more I eat the more I want.

Find something to replace it with. A creamy coffee. Sweet tea, strawberries. Peanut butter. Something nice that you can still get some enjoyment from.

An alternative is only buying very dark chocolate. 75% or more cocoa. It's better for you, has less sugar and you can't scoff it quite as fast as it's so rich.

Chocolate addiction or sugar addiction?
If it's a chocolate addiction, buy the darkest, highest cocoa chocolate you can. You can get the same satisfaction from 2 squares of really high cocoa content as you do from a couple of bars of lower cocoa stuff, it's better for you, higher in beneficial nutrients and much lower in sugar.
If you don't like higher cocoa content chocolate then you aren't addicted to chocolate, you are addicted to sugar and need to go cold turkey.

Totally with you, OP.

It takes a multi-pronged approach. Hypnosis is good.

Positive affirmations/helpful thinking are good: rather than feel like you’re depriving yourself when you try not to eat some chocolate, tell yourself something like, “I’m looking after myself”, and be happy for yourself.

Allow yourself some chocolate from time to time. Eat a small piece mindfully. Really slowly. Smell it first, breathing it deeply. Then nibble a bit, let it melt on your tongue. Next nibble direct to a different area of your mouth. Chew it slowly and deliberately. Breathe in while there is chocolate in your mouth and notice the smell and flavour. Take your time. Take lots of time. Focus only on the chocolate. Experience that small piece of chocolate as completely as you can. It sounds mad, but doing this can make one piece of chocolate incredibly satisfying.
Keep the rest of the bar in the freezer. Frozen chocolate is nowhere near as nice as room temperature, so keeping your chocolate frozen will help you pace your consumption.

Part of this mindful chocolate is that you choose when you eat it. You eat chocolate when you are not hungry, when you are not exhausted. You eat it when you are in a positive frame of mood. That way you reframe the association that so many of us have that chocolate lifts a bad mood. (God knows it doesn’t work!).

If you’re hungry, have a hot drink. If you’re still hungry, have a little snack. If you’re still hungry, it wasn’t good or drink you were hungry for. What is that hunger: boredom, loneliness, frustration? Chocolate is not going to solve any of them.

If you cut down your consumption of sugars and sweet foods you will find chocolate calls you less and a small amount satisfies you more.

If you’re looking for that sweet, smooth mouthfeel, try drinking Licorice tea. I like Teapigs and Pukka, good strong flavours. One bag, particularly Teapigs, makes much more than one mug, so they cost about half as much as they appear to cost. I prefer to cold brew the tea.

It’s not for everyone but Slimpod was life changing for me! I still love chocolate and I still have the odd binge but Slimpod keeps it from getting out of control. I started off by listening every single night as I fell to sleep and now I listen as and when needed, like if I start to feel myself slipping into old habits. I promise I don’t work for them or get any kind of commission 😆 but it truly has helped me.

Otherwise I’m pretty sure you can get therapy for this sort of thing. That’s actually how I found Slimpod because I was desperate and was googling about how to get therapy for binge eating!

I had to have chocolate every day totally linked to hormones but I believe if you rely on anything like that you should try and cut it for a while to get on top of it. I cut it at lent and now I only eat it a couple of times a month

How much is slimpod @AllHopeandRainbows? is it recordings telling you you don’t need the chocolate or whatever?

I’m addicted to sugar generally. Cakes, sweets, chocolate. I have sugar every day. I exercise so much that it isn’t an issue for my weight but I’m well aware it isn’t good for my health or my moods.

I’ve got a feeling that if I start taking the ADHD meds I’ve been prescribed, I might have a better chance of avoiding sugar or cutting down, but I’m not taking the tablets yet for various reasons.

I wonder if life would be completely joyless without it

If this is true, this is the real problem to address.

Which chocolate?

It can vary but right now I'm on the Tunnocks wafers (approx 130 calories). I switch between milk chocolate Tunnocks and dark chocolate ones to keep it fresh.

However, I allow myself any kind of chocolate at all because I just know that if I refuse myself, I will end up binging. I was on the fruit and nut choc last week, but I didn't dare check the calories.

Hi I don’t have that option, could you try message me instead please?

I stopped when I had gestational diabetes and had no choice
i lost so much weight and the sugar craving never really came back

the one thing i used was Grenade bars - salted caramel - dipped into a cuppa tea, tastes exactly like chocolate just don’t have too many as they are expensive and you’ll get the runs with such high protein!

Done.

Read ultra processed people by Chris van Tulleken, changed my relationship with food forever, I was also a chocoholic. Once you understand all the awful ingredients they put in most of the chocolate bars you'll stop eating the rubbish chocolate and start eating the good quality stuff, you can't eat bars of dark chocolate but it does stop the chocolate cravings when you have a couple of squares.

Hiya. Yeah so it’s recordings of a very softly spoken man who helps me fall asleep haha you don’t need to consciously listen so it’s fine to fall asleep to or just have on whilst doing housework. The only advice is to not listen whilst driving (I guess it makes you sleepy? It does me anyway!)
There’s also a lot of reading and videos you can watch too. It was £99 when I joined but then you’re a member for life. You can “upgrade” further on down the line but I never bothered and haven’t felt the need.