I am appealing to you all for help please.

I can - it is unusual though - go for several weeks without any chocolate but usually I eat it every week culminating in masses for the week that I am pre menstruel.

I have recently discovered a vegan, organic chocolate that is so delicious that I cannot stop eating it 'till it is all gone despite my knowledge that it will make me feel awful, keep me awake for hours, not want to eat it at all etc etc.

I'm wondering if it is an addiction. It may well be that I am using it as a comfort food - I do have issues that I cannot resolve - probably for several years.

I need to be able to stop this nonsense now but however much I take myself in hand I don't seem to be able to deal with it. Infact it is making me feel really emotional even telling you about it.

It may seem very silly to you when compared with people with much more harmful addictions but it is really affecting my life.



If anyone has any ideas as to why I might be reaching out to chocolate so much and what steps I could take to knock it on the head I would be very grateful.

Please don't tell me to eat dates

I can relate to you 100%

I can go for weeks without it, not thinking about it or craving it, but when i am premenstrual or particually emotional and stressed, I have no concept of breaking off a piece and leaving the rest for later. I have suspected addiction.

I've heard it reacts with the serotonin receptors in your brain... and have been trying to figure out why i might be so dependent on it as well.

been on a 95% - 99% raw diet for 6 days and have not encountered cravings yet...

flipperjan,

I am one of that lucky category of genotypes whose physiology is indifferent to chocolate. That said, I can binge on almost anything I really like the taste of, so it certainly sounds like you have a chemical addiction to me, in that you say you cannot stop yourself. The obvious, painful solution is to not have the stuff in your house. Have you considered subbing with a raw chocolate bar? In the UK Shazzie sells a nice array, and in the States, there's Gnosis. I have never heard of someone binging on these--they're just too rich. I wish you luck dealing with this, in any case.

Tamukha - I have tried raw chocolate and didn't like it very much. Just as well as it is outragously expensive (another topic altogether!!)

You are right about not having it in the house but my resolve seems to dissolve when I go shopping if I am in 'that' mood.

One thing you might play with is consciousness. Keep a diary around your consumption of chocolate. Before you eat the chocolate, go inside, see what your are feeling, and write that down. After you finish the chocolate, do the same. Perhaps you will find a pattern of uncomfortable feeling that the chocolate seems to fix or abate.

If you get in touch with this feeling, you might then be able to use other tools (deep breathing, yoga, hot bath, etc) besides foods to address them.

It took me years to work through this!

Whats your fat consumption like?

I found that I craved chocolate when I was premenstrual.
I always increase my fat intake well before this time.
For me there is a significant link been the two.
Sometimes it also happens at ovulation.
Its worth keeping a diary, otherwise it creeps up on you and you find yourself in the 'binge' before you have a fighting chance to avoid it!
I also want more fat when i want to bury an emotion, (usually grief)!
Hope this helps
ffx

Yes - very good thoughts - thank you

Try eating dates. They're so sweet they just might kill your cravings for more sweet aka chocolate.

hee hee! he said to eat dates

seriously though, it could simply be a physical craving of fats/sweet stuff if you're not getting enough of that in your diet... even if you're not keen on raw choc bars (and I know what you mean, they just lack that creaminess), you could try a smoothie of bananas, with some hemp or nut milk and some raw cacao... yeah not great food combining but better than cooked choc... it might just work



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Dates - scream




Thanks Lisa - I do love smoothies and used to put cacao for a while but I don't want to swop one stimulant for another. I don't like the way cacao makes me feel - it's a bit drug like!!! Personally I think that's why many people like it.

But I think you may have a point about the fat. I don't think that is is sugar that I am after - I don't crave any other kind of sweet thing.

flipperjan

It really is worth playing with the fat. Your right, raw choc does not mean 'better', 'cleaner' or 'good' choc! Its still a stimulant and like you say, its only swapping one for another!
The craving for chocolate is fat not sweet, otherwise fruit, dates, would sort out the craving, but it doesn't! Does it?

Try dropping your fruit, increasing your greens and fat, you can drop the fat and restore your diet once you get over the tricky time. Too much fat and fruit causes its own problems!
It takes a while, its not a quick fix, but believe me, its worth the effort!
I found that it was too late once the cravings hit, I had to just ride the wave!
The key is to prevent it happening.
ffx

I do agree there about the cacao, makes me feel the same way. Maybe try carob instead? x



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As the body often desires the addictive substances that it is detoxing, I would commit to going "cold carrot" on chocolate for 2 months and see if the desire goes away of its own accord.

Or eat dates.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2010 07:56PM by Omega.

'cold carrot' - LOL!!!

ps you could maybe try eating dates.... HEH HEH



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I don't know about the chocolate craving being about fat, I can usually satisfy even the most powerful hankering for cocoa by eating a big fat medjool date. Even better stuffed with a pecan. Num!

Thank you all - Omega, don't tell me to eat dates

and I think you are absolutely right about the cold carrot for 2 months. You know sometimes i have done that and have felt very good and strong but then just once, a crack happens and I waver (always PMT time) and have some chocolate and then it's all over until I pull myself together again.

Coco - I think our cravings must be different. Very ocasionally we can get very fresh medjool dates here and sometimes I can justify the really vast expense of buying them - BUT it is not in anyway the same or a substitute for dark chocolate.

even with a pecan stuffed

I am addicted to this chocolate frosting I make. First it was dense like and energy bar, then I added a small amount of water and it was more like a pie filling, then I added more water and then processed it in the blender after processing it in the food processor and it's just like chocolate frosting! So yummy. I roll it in shredded coconut. But I just used carob powder. Cacao gives me the same feeling as coffee. And the wonderful headache too. But if you don't have cacao for awhile or any other type of chocolate ..then the carob seems just fine. There is a different flavor each time I order a new bag. I always make sure to get organic truly raw carob..it also tastes the best.

For the frosting I just process: Dates, pecans, walnuts, almonds, coconut butter, carob powder, and some water. You can always add some flair by adding zest of orange.

This also makes a great pie filling. I would make a crumbly nut crust, and top it with some blackberries. I thaw out a bag of frozen blackberries because there is juice in the bag and you can pour it over the pie...so yummy. Then I sprinkle some finely shredded coconut on the top. I do not miss chocolate, or any other type of food when I eat this. It's truly the best dessert I have ever had.

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I also was addicted to anything chocolate and while it's not so much as the cocoa in the stuff it's the other ingredients that are killer.

I found out by accident that if I get plenty of magnesium oxide I do not crave anything chocolate! Not even hot cocoa..I tried some yesterday and threw out the cup of cocoa..and had my peppermint tea instead.

I do take the magnesium oxide in supplement form, and it's just magnesium oxide and not a bunch of fillers and other junk added. GNC has one, and you can go go vitaninshoppe.com to look also.

I take at least 3 capsules of the magnesium which are 250 mgs. each. Of course you can look for foods rich in magnesium and eat enough daily to get rid of the chocoalte cravings.

Love,

Prism

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't know about the chocolate craving being
> about fat, I can usually satisfy even the most
> powerful hankering for cocoa by eating a big fat
> medjool date. Even better stuffed with a pecan.
> Num!


I don't know about chocolate craving being about fat either, but i did learn more than I ever wished about premenstrual chocolate craving!

I could not have cared less about chocolate normally yet prior to menstruation I became a chocolate freak. This cyclic torment ruined everything!
My diet, health, emotional and spiritual well being.

For me increasing fat intake gradually, about 5 days prior to that time allowed me to break the cycle and remain chocolate free!

I live on a high fresh fruit low fat diet, so maybe that's why this is so effective.

Prism, thanks for the tip about the Magnesium oxide. Interesting!
ffx

give magnesium oxide a miss, its caustic to the intestines so it can increase risk of burning the lining and gastrointestinal cancers. It is also alkalising to the digestive tract which isnt good as it promotes risk of candida mutating from its harmless yeast form to fungal overgrowth. Also alkalinity of the digestive tract will make your digestive suffer, protein absorbtion is dependant on acid enzymes such as pepsin.

go with magnesium malate or magnesium citrate.

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2 greats articles about harmfulness of cacao..I am quitting starting now!!

I have a delicious recipe for carob fudge..there are a ton of carob recipes in the rainbow green live food cuisine

carob, soaked nuts, vanilla, coconut oil..then put it in the fridge..melts in yr mouth!!

(unfortunately Rainbow Grocery in SF is no longer able to sell raw carob so I may order it.)

When humans eat chocolate, the brain releases a series of chemicals in response. Supposedly when we let a piece of chocolate melt in our mouth, the brain chemical response is MORE powerful with love feelings, than when we kiss someone with TONGUE!!!!!!! And to further this point, it is found that heroin addicts, opiate addicts, and ex-addicts have a permenent fixation with chocolate usually, as the effect is very similar to opiates. So I'd say that it is all factors. Lack of vitamins that you are only getting from your chocolate bars. If you removed them, your body, in time, would replace the vitamins elsewhere. You may crave the lovse feeling, as many of us need MORE love, believe me, this is life, the constant search for love.
Sugar, alone, releases brain chemicals as well, so the combination of theobromine,caffeine, etc etc is just too powerful when mixed with over processed refined sugar.
Honestly, this is never a problem anybody who is 100% raw ever has(that I know of!)
Search deep within your soul, and you must make a decision. Just like anybody addicted to anything. You are wearing a ball and chain. with addictions we find 2 ways to free yourself. 2 ways to remove the ball and chain.
1- quit caring,the only thing bad about addiction is not being able to stop when you want to. So just stop caring about being addicted!! or
2- quit using.