Question: Hello, I would like some advice on eliminating sugar cravings from my life. I really want to be healthy but have recently made eating chocolate every day a habit. When I don't eat it, I think about it constantly and crave it. Also, if I don't eat it, I search for sweet foods and eat biscuits and ice cream or whatever else I can find. How can I overcome this "addiction"?

Answer: This is a very important question and thank you for asking. I find most people have the same problem, so you are not alone. Sugar cravings are very typical and it is essential to identify the cause before you try to apply a solution.In fact, there may be many different things involved in your love for sweet foods with many different causes. You may find that at different times your cravings are not caused by the same thing than these from the last experience.

To begin with, don't despair - there are many reasons why chocolate can be good for us. Here is a story to lighten up your day : A Chocolate Bar A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

To answer your question, I have to explain a few things. Once you understand them, you will be much better at controling your sugar cravings and managing them. You will carry this knowledge with you for lifetime and hopefully resolve the issue.

An enormous percentage of women crave sugar, carbohydrates, or alcohol. In most cases, these food cravings are not true eating disorders, but instead are signs of hormonal imbalance caused by a lack of healthy nutrition.

Food cravings mean that the body has its signals mixed up. When we are exhausted or blue, we have low blood sugar levels, but even if you just ate you still might crave chocolate.

1. One reason may be in your brain. There are two neurochemicals released in the brain which make us feel good. These are serotonin and dopamine. These are the same ones released when we exercise, have sex, or feel satisfaction from a heart-warming experience of, say, being praised. When these chemicals run low in the system, you start feeling uncomfortable and he body signals the brain that it needs something to fix the problem.

Sweet foods stimulate these neurotransmitters and make us feel good when we eat them. And this is in addition to fixing the blood sugar levels if they were low at the moment of uncontrollable craving. As for chocolate, interestingly it contains a natural 'love drug', amino acids Tryptophan (used by the brain to make serotonin producing feelings of elation, even ecstasy) and Phenylethylamine (which stimulates the brain's pleasure centres and reaches peak levels during orgasm). These two have earned the nickname 'chocolate amphetamine'.

Another way to explain this may be sugar cravings are caused by low adrenal function. The adrenals are hormone glands that sit above the kidneys. Amongst other things, one of their jobs is to secrete epinephrine (better known to some as adrenalin) which provides us with energy. They also secrete cortisone when there is inflammation present in the body. Thirdly, they replace the function of the ovaries in the production of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone when women get close to their menopausal years. When everything is functioning well and everything is being nourished properly, there is no problem. But if hormones are disrupted, we don't feel good.

What can interfere with this? Stress and lack of rest are the first and foremost. This is a brief explanation: Tired, Grumpy and Always Hungry

Stress, both physical and emotional, depletes the body's energy reserves which in turn disrupts hormones estrogen and progesterone. You may feel tired, fatigued, sleepy, and hungry. This is when your cravings for sugar or caffeine arise in order to force the adrenals to give the energy that is lacking. Caffeine, and also another chemical Theobromine, found in chocolate are stimulants which spark your adrenals and give you a feel-good energy boost.

So, no wonder you crave chocolate - it has so many different things that give you the ultimate satisfaction. But if you get all these nutrients from other foods, you may not feel like chocolate any longer because the necessary support for the brain is already in your system.

• Get sufficient rest – at least 8 hours a day. This will help your entire mind and body relax and recuperate and naturally balance your hormones. As a matter of fact, many of important hormones involved in managing your appetite, producing new cells, burning fat, and balancing your metabolism are released maximally only during deep sleep. Scientists have also discovered that people who sleep less are more likely to be overweight, crave and eat more, and usually have a hard time loosing weight. So, sleep as long as your body demands and your chocolate cravings might dissipate.

• Check your nutrients - if does not contain significant amounts of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, it will probably be low in magnesium, vitamin C and some B vitamins – all of which are needed more in times of stress. Try supplementing your diet with mineral Magnesium, B-vitamins, Essential Fatty Acids, Branched-Chain Amino Acids, and maybe some calming herbs, such as chamomile, valerian and maybe 5-HTP or SAMe (these two work on neurotransmitters in the brain and have been clinically used to fight depression)

• Check your diet - if does not contain significant amounts of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, it will probably be low in magnesium, vitamin C and some B vitamins – all of which are needed more in times of stress.

2. Another reason may be found in your overall nutrition. Eat well and your metabolism will heal itself and your cravings will stop. If it has been damaged, the process can take some time, but it will happen. The good news is — you don’t have to give up chocolate!

• Eat regularly. Skipping meals or eating on an unpredictable schedule catapults your body into a state of starvation, depriving your brain and body of fuel. This sets you up to crave starchy or sugary foods for energy. Don't ever let yourself go hungry and eat enough wholesome foods at breakfast, lunch, and a healthy afternoon snack.

• Are you eating enough carbohydrates otherwise? Low-carbohydrate diets often create cravings for starchy foods and sweets because the brain prefers running on glucose, supplied by carbohydrates. When you don’t consume enough carbohydrates to fuel your body, you get hungry, which many people experience as a craving for sweet foods. Researchers have discovered that the brain not only associates enjoyment of certain foods with unrelated stimuli - such as smells, sights and even sounds - but can also relax those associations once hunger is sated. So, when you are hungry, your associations with the pleasure effect of chocolate smell and taste highten and you crave it more.

• Remember to get the right balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat by eating three kinds of food with each meal. Breakfast, for instance, could be cereal + milk + banana. You can get a perfect lunch from a seafood stir-fry with rice and vegetables, or a chichen salad sandwich. Have some meat, vegetables and wholemeal pasta for dinner. And, yes!, you may finish your day with a cup of hot cocoa if you want, just make it caffeine-free.

• Balance your minerals and vitamins. If you eat plenty of simple sugars all the time, you may disrupt your vitamin-mineral balance and set a spiral of unwanted effects. Sugar in the body acts like a vacuum for B Vitamins and mineral Magnesium which are important to the health and happiness of the nerves and the brain. They are involved in energy production, nutrient metabolism, proper relaxation response and may help alleviate depression. Getting these in sufficient amounts will ensure that you feel good at all times, peaceful and calm, yet energized and well-nourished. You feel satisfied and there is not a single 'chocolate' thought in your mind becase you are actively engaged will all the interesting things in life. Complex carbohydrates from whole grains and pulses, lean chicken meat and green vegetables are excellent sources of these nutrients. In addition, focusing your overall nutrition around around these will give you a nice balance of the energy your body needs.

3. The third reason for chocolate cravings, and probably the most popular of all, is emotional attachment to chocolate. Or specifically, to the feelings it produces. You may even be attached to the chocolate flavour because of the associations it creates. Same thing may be attributed to all sweet foods. Interestingly, even though a sugar craving is not a true addiction, researchers have found similarities in the brains of cocaine addicts and overweight people.

It sounds like you may be 'emotionally attached' to sweet things.  It is important to understand that sugary treats may have power over you because they are regarded as “forbidden foods”. If a food has power over you, you need to eat it more often, and to eat more nourishing foods.

What is also worth considering is that you consciously understand that you are the only person who can make a decision, you are in control of your behaviors, and you are the one to decide which way to stop the craving: give up for chocolate again or to start teaching your mind not to think about chocolate by adopting new behaviors. These new behaviors will become new habits, and next time when you say 'no' to chocolate is not because you can't have it, but because you choose not not.

• Wait five minutes and see if the craving passes. If it doesn't, have a single serving of what you want, but eat it slowly, enjoying every single bite. That way you will extend your pleasure, are likely to eat less, and still do no harm to the body. Try not to think that if you gave up for a craving you should go 'all the way' and finish the entire box. Remember, there is always tomorrow, and you can enjoy some more next time. This will actually be more beneficial, and you will stop craving chocolate because it will no longer be a 'forbidden' food.
  
  There will be more times when you even don't want chocolate when someone offers because you've been eating it constantly (just a bit at a time) and the brain will stop responding to it as a stimulant. It may become just one of the normal common foods you don't really crave now.

• Don't make desserts your 'forbidden' food. Have these regularly, but watch the portions. At first, it will be more difficult to do, but as your body and mind will learn that you can have as much as you want, you may stop over-indulgence when you just can't get enough. Make chocolate your friend and easily approachable companion, not your diet-ruinning enemy. However, consider that there may be another turnaround - you will start relying on chocolate. Remember that sugar stimulates your appetite — the more you eat, the more you want. If giving up for cravings will turn into addiction, consider the alternative solutions. Interestingly, while chocolate remains the food people in the West crave most often, this doesn't always translate to other cultures. In Egypt for example, the most commonly craved foods are vegetable dishes, some stuffed or cooked with meat. So, it may all be in the mind.

• Don't use sweet treats as a distraction. When you find yourself reaching for a candy bar, ask yourself what's going on. Reaching for cookies, pastries, ice cream and other high-sugar foods when you feel fearful, angry, lonely, bored, depressed or stressed usually will give you more grief: aches, pains, indigestion, excess body fat and health problems that can make you feel even worse. If you're hungry, have the kind of snack that will last longer than a sugar rush -- a piece of fruit with almonds or an ounce of cheese with wholemeal toast, for instance. If you're stressed, take a walk. If you're sad, call a friend. If you're bored, get out of the house. No amount of dessert will satisfy your emotional needs or take away your troubles.

• Don't ever feel guilty about it. That's got to be worse, i.e. the stress of guilt, than any food can ever be, take control and decide what it is we feel bad about and deal with that, is it because we feel a chocolate bar has control over us or because you have thwarted a nutritional goal, or weightloss goal - in whatever case - deal with that causative factor- in case of thwarting weight loss goals maybe then stay off cheese, butter and other high fat foods the next day so to help balance it out and/or compensate by doing extra exercise, or justifying by having done more exercise that day...i.e. still all within our control to balance whatever negative effects we decide the chocolate has.

Choco-Solutions

If you want to stay away from chocolate because you know you wouldn't be able to stop at one bite, try:

• A glass of water

• A cup of herbal fruity or green tea

• Carob or hot cocoa drink - better without sugar, with a spoon of honey and with organic milk

• Chocolate-covered muesli bar

• Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with pecans

• Oatmeal made with either banana, raisins and nuts – sprinkled with carob powder

• Chocolate protein shakes

• Something salty eg olives, sundried tomatoes etc can take away a sweet craving.

• A piece of fruit, some nuts and a toast

• Try butter, vanilla or chocolate flavoured sugar-free sweets – you can suck on them for a long time and enjoy the smooth texture and beautiful flavour

• If you go for chocolate, go for the real thing – the best quality and the most delicious to your palate. It feels like more of an indulgence, plus the chocolate is usually richer, and you tend to be satisfied with less. Put it in the freezer and take out only one serve at a time. It takes longer to eat your indulgence when it is cold, so you may find that one small square satisfies those cravings.

• Try to find the product with high cocoa content - more than 50% cocoa as is found in most dark chocolate. This is one of the best ways to satisfy your cravings healthfully. Note that most chocolate bars contain more sugar than cocoa.