How To Stop Chocolate Cravings
Most people love chocolate and certainly enjoy this sweet treat on occasion, however for many people their cravings for chocolate is no longer an enjoyment, but rather a craving they seem to have difficulty controlling. Before those cravings get way out of hand, and you find yourself packing on those extra kilos maybe you should learn how to stop those chocolate cravings. Here are some tips that can help to eliminate that craving for chocolate or at least help you get it under control.
Balancing blood sugar levels can help to stop chocolate cravings
Often the craving for chocolate or other sweets comes because of an imbalance in blood glucose levels. You don't have to be diabetic to have your glucose levels rise and fall in rapid succession. In fact, due to poor eating schedules many people have trouble balancing their blood sugar levels in the course of the day. The best way to balance blood glucose levels is to try to eat at regular times during the day, and keep the amount of carbohydrates you consume at each meal close to the same. You also want to make sure that those carbohydrates you do eat are complex carbs and not simple ones.
Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and therefore enter the blood stream slowly over a period of time, whereas a simple carbohydrate such as the sugar in chocolate digests easily and enters the blood stream in one large splurge. Once into the blood stream you feel energized, but simple carbs are quickly used causing your blood sugar levels to rapidly drop leaving you feeling tired and often looking for a quick fix to increase energy. By balancing those blood sugar levels, you maintain an even amount of energy during the day, feel less tired, and are less likely to feel the need to reach for a chocolate bar to give you renewed energy.
Feeding the actual cravings
That craving for chocolate may not actually be a craving for chocolate at all, but rather your body's way of telling you that it needs an essential mineral contained in chocolate. This mineral is magnesium and the body needs magnesium to help keep the heart healthy and functioning, for nerve function and to produce protein, enzymes and antioxidants. Instead of eating chocolate to give the body this important mineral try consuming a helping of leafy green vegetables such as spinach or cabbage. You just may find that supplying the body with this needed mineral will make those chocolate cravings go completely away.
The body may also find itself low on other vitamins and minerals and send out hunger signals as a way of telling you that it needs these missing vitamins and minerals to remain healthy. Often people misinterpret these messages as a “craving” and reach for their favourite treat when what they really should be doing is changing their diet to include more healthy fruits and vegetables as well as those complex carbohydrates. These foods will supply the body with most if not all the vitamins and minerals your body needs and those food cravings should go away.
The best way to eliminate chocolate cravings is by balancing those blood sugar levels and supplying your body with those vitamins and minerals necessary for you to remain healthy. If you need help to stop sugar cravings you can do my Back To Basics Detox Program.