Cannon stop eating chocolate - in need of some pep talk. Seriously!

Of course you can do it -- but it has to be YOU. Nobody cares as much as you do. Stop lying to yourself. You are a grown woman and you are treating yourself as if you were a child. Don't buy the chocolate. Don't buy it. Don't buy it. If this was your child who was obese would you buy chocolate and keep it around the house while making your child promise not to touch it? No you would not! You are the child. Help yourself!!!

I believe you can do it too! Also, if you like the taste of dark chocolate 72% or higher, maybe mix some of your cravings with dark chocolate pieces, such as almond bark or other dark chocolate selections. It's healthier and less sugar added :)

I was in your shoes about 6 months ago. It was easiest just not to buy it, and to buy things that I could snack on and not feel badly: fruit, vegetables, almonds and other nuts are still my go-to's. Tell yourself: sugar is poison, and you don't want it. That helped me a LOT!

Then, the other thing that helped me: when I'd get a craving for something, I'd go do some exercise for 10 minutes or so, like running in place, calisthenics, or go for a walk around the neighborhood. This worked better than the walk-from-chair-to-cabinet-to-get-snack type exercise!

Donna

Yes you can figure this out. First of all, buy organic chocolate. Regular cocoa is full of pesticides that cause cancer. At the very least, your liver has to filter them out and it's not getting rid of fats if it's processing toxins. Now the cocoa and the sugar are lighting up your brain to feel great so of course it's positive reinforcement whenever you eat it. Mine is wheat and fat and sugar. That comes in so many forms.

What to do..... you're hungry. that's natural. Eat food first. The healthy stuff. Eat some fiber, a palm sized portion of protein and an equal amount of carbs. The rest will be fruits and veggies until you're full or almost full if you're trying to lose. If you still feel that you really want the candy eat a small amount with a meal. Don't eat it before or between meals or you throw your metabolism off. I know it's been popular to eat small portions all day but this is the fastest way to mess up the way your body talks to itself. When you eat all day, you feel hungry all day. Your hunger doesn't cycle on and off like it should. If you eat too many carbs at a meal, you'll be super hungry later way before it's time for the next meal. That's when the candy and carb cravings are worst.

Try this to help sugar cravings. Eat a good amount of protein for breakfast and some carbs, not too much, like a small bowl of oatmeal or a few servings of fruit. Eat a good lunch and dinner and whatever you do don't eat right before bedtime. Give it about 3 hours and go to bed slightly hungry and sleep at least 7 hours. That's the way to set up your body to beat the cravings the next day. And it takes 3 or 4 days to get a good rhythm going. Don't give up! Late day cravings are a sign that your hunger signals are off or that you ate too many carbs earlier. Morning protein helps so much to lessen those cravings. I used to crave carbs at night all the time. Your body doesn't need the food but you want it anyway. I never craved a salad or steamed broccoli!

If your carb cravings persist, you might try probiotics. Candida sometimes dominates the other flora in your body when you've eaten too much sugar/ simple carbs and this creates STRONG cravings for sugar and carbs. Adding probiotics helps fight that and it builds immunity too. Whenever I eat loads of sugar, I just want more. I think it's natural that your brain likes sugar. It makes you feel good. Try and notice how you feel 3 or 4 hours later though. Do you feel tired or grumpy or just lousy? Then you might crave some more sugar, carbs or caffeine to feel good again.

Anyway, don't be tough on yourself if you eat some chocolate. Be tough on yourself if you didn't eat 3 or 4 healthy meals with good protein choices and a MODERATE amount of carbs and a good assortment of fruits and veggies. Be tough on yourself if you deprived yourself of a full nights sleep.

You eat better, your body talks to itself better and the treats are less of a distraction. Pat yourself on the back every time you make a good choice. Don't be hard on yourself when you don't. It's a world full of treats out there and man is it tempting at the grocery store. They know how to market it to us. It's just money coming in to them. If they could sell only inexpensive chips,soda and candy to us, they would. They make so much profit on that stuff.

Another strategy that works for me is don't take it home. Have a piece of pie with dinner but don't bring a whole pie, cake, bag of treats home with you. Ya, I'll eat that later if it's in the house.

Nobody comes to healthier choices overnight unless a doctor says do it or die. It's a path you start on and improve on your whole life. Later on you look back and see how much progress you made, that you feel good about yourself. If you're committed to eating better as a way of life, a few small candy bars now and then won't slow you down.

First of all force yourself into the moment when you are eating the foods you feel bad about eating. Actually taste it all and be grateful for it. Neurons that fire together wire together, if you do what you've always done you will get what you've always got.

Before you start finding the magic bullet, do research. Go to the library buy books off amazon. Show yourself really going on in your mind and body when these things are consumed. What are your routines before or after work? If you go straight to the fridge right as you get home, do a 10 minute meditation. You will find that maybe your just thirsty. Slowing down your life will bring major results. (Emotional freedom tapping will change your life).

And remember Physical exercise is little avail compared to nutrition.