Can I do it? Can i give up chocolate?

[mountainchick]

I'll keep you updated, and I'll bring the chocolate! I kid I kid...

[run it, ride it]

Try gradually darkening the chocolate you eat. Milk chocolate can disappear by the bar, but 70% dark? You still get the satisfaction of chocolate, but it's BITTER, so you don't want to eat a lot.

Give'r a try! You don't have to give up chocolate, just give up the sweeteners in it!

[LBTC]

I agree with the others. Darker, healthier chocolate in reasonable portions is the ultimate answer.

But I think that your challenge is to get from here to there. And I don't disagree that cold turkey is the wrong way to do it. Perhaps after you've been chocolate free for a bit of time, you'll be able to sample a very different type of chocolate - 70% cocoa, organic or even beet sugar, etc; without having the same need to overindulge.

One other thought: I'm no professional, but your descriptions sound more like an eating disorder than a mere addiction to chocolate, and I wonder if you would consider seaking professional help?

Any way that you decide to do this, we're here to support you!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[ace]

Hi Thistle,

I feel for you, and can really relate, agewise (I'm 45), weightwise (at one point, I weighed 300 lbs- I'm 5'5), and addictionwise (have dealt with a disturbed relationship with food for most of my life). And dealing with an addiction to food is really tough. I think the main difference between being addicted to food and being addicted to alcohol/drugs can be summed up like this: when you become abstinent from abusing alcohol/drugs, you put the tiger in a cage, and leave it there. When you become abstinent from abusing food, you put the tiger in a cage, and then have to take it out for a walk three times a day. It is really hard to find the right balance between not abusing food, yet still being able to enjoy it.

Whatever anyone else says about their own relationship to chocolate, only you can know whether it's something you can never, ever have, or if you just have to cut back. But be careful about setting yourself up by saying you can never have it- forever is a pretty long time! Might be easier to just give yourself a goal of not eating it for a week, then see how you feel.

One thing that really helps me is I don't have any food in my house that I don't want myself to eat. If I'm going to have candy, I bring home a small packet. If I bring home enough for 10 people, I'll eat it at one sitting. This is one of the changes I've made that have helped me lose 85 lbs over the past 5 years (still got about 65 to go).

Be nice and gentle with yourself, and please let us know how your experiment is going.

Best,
Amy

[solveig]

You CAN give it up. Not necessarily that you should give it up forever...but I have a similar relationship with sweets. I went cold turkey...ate no sugar for a week, and had really classic addiction withdrawal symptoms. Edgy, cranky, etc...but I filled the time with something else and regained a whole lot of time that I had previously spent thinking about how rotten my digestive system felt.

I do still eat sugar / chocolate occasionally, but in far lesser quantities and frequency. But the experience of eating none for a while is one I learned from and that I'd recommend.

Good luck!

S

[Offthegrid]

I have binged on food off and on for a long time. My highest weight ever was 270 pounds several years ago.

One of the things I was taught is that if you make any food forbidden, you're much more likely to binge on it. Instead, it is healthier to eat a small portion of the food you are craving. Much easier said than done, I know.

An example from my life. Right now I personally am working on drinking less diet soda. In the past, I tried to give up diet soda altogether and could not do it. This time I've not banned it altogether from my diet, but I am not drinking it at work. Now I'm drinking far more water and feel better. Maybe you could try something similar.

In the end, see what works for you. Maybe there is a new hobby you could try instead of chocolate that could give you some of the same benefits. I find knitting very relaxing and it keeps the hands busy. Same with writing in a journal, scrapbooking, whatever.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I am another one who could eat chocolate until I felt ill.
I discovered if I get that STRONG 70% or higher cacao content chocolate, I feel completely chocolate-satisfied after 2 or 3 tiny squares. There is something in chocoalte that we crave- and it's actually GOOD for us! But most commercial choclate has so much sugar and added lecithin and fat and milk that you have to eat a huge amount to get what your body is REALLY craving in pure chocolate.

Try it- it solved my chocolate problems completely! Now I can have good choc. and not eat a half a pound of crap in the process!

[Crankin]

I eat 2 small squares of really good dark chocolate every day. Usually after dinner, but if I'm home, sometimes after lunch. It completely takes away any urge for dessert that I might be feeling. When my husband goes to Europe he buys like 15 giant bars of a certain style of Nestle bar that you just can't get in the states. If we can't have that, we buy the Hershey's dark chocolate bars.
Thankfully, he goes to Europe every 8 weeks or so...