Chocoholic? There are many people who cannot imagine a whole day without a piece of this delicious sin and, the truth is that it is something that can be easily controlled if we understand why our body asks us for that peak of sweetness that cocoa provides us. In addition to purely personal reasons (that we love chocolate), there are also other physiological causes that make our body demand a piece of this food to meet its nutritional needs. In this article, we are going to give you some keys so that you know how to stop eating chocolate and thus bet on a healthy life, without excess calories or sugars.
Steps to follow:
Step: 1
Why is it so hard to give up chocolate? Because it’s addictive, it’s that easy. In addition, it is rich in tryptophan, a substance that promotes the release of serotonin and anandamide, hormones that give us an intense feeling of pleasure and well-being. According to a study carried out by BBC2, it was observed that when a person ate chocolate, the intensity and duration of heart rate and brain activity increased, making it an organic stimulant.
Chocolate is very rich in sugars and, therefore, it is doubly addictive. We must not forget that when we eat high amounts of sugar, our body generates more insulin to try to remove the excess glucose that we have contributed to the blood and this causes us to experience “spikes” of insulin. After these, our glucose drops sharply and, therefore, we will feel tired and fatigued, so the body will once again generate the desire to eat something sweet.
Step: 2
Many times, we feel like eating chocolate for a simple fact: we are hungry. So, we succumb to the desire to eat what we like best and, furthermore, what is easier to eat (you take a little piece and that’s it). For this reason, it is essential that you carry out a healthy and balanced diet full of nutrients and foods that satisfy your appetite; In addition, it is essential that you distribute your meals in 5 meals a day to avoid this feeling of hunger that will cause you to attack the fridge.
In addition to this, we give you other tricks to satisfy your appetite more :
- Chew food a lot
- Eat in 20 minutes as this is the time it takes for your stomach to send satiety signals to your brain.
- Never stop having a snack: even if it is a yogurt or a piece of fruit. We tell you how to make healthy snacks
- Foods rich in fiber because they provide great satiety and also reduce the speed of absorbing glucose from food
Step: 3
Another reason why your body asks you to eat chocolate may be because it lacks sugar, that is, you do not take in enough glucose and your body demands it from you in order to be more energetic and vital. But the sugar that your body demands should not be simple like chocolate or other carbohydrates (pastries, cakes, cookies, etc.) but the most appropriate thing is that they are of a healthier and more nutritious origin, such as sugar from other foods such as complex carbohydrates that do not raise blood glucose as quickly but rather more progressively; therefore, it releases energy more gradually throughout the day.
Therefore, if you want to lead a healthy life and stop eating chocolate, you should NOT give up carbohydrates (unlike what many diets to lose weight indicate) but rather take them during the first hours of the day (breakfast and lunch).
Step: 4
If you have huge anises from eating chocolate, we recommend that you learn to replace this food with another that is healthier and that you also like a lot; In this way, every time you go to the kitchen for a piece of chocolate, change your course and choose that other piece that you will also love but that will bring you greater benefits.
For example, if hunger strikes you in the middle of the afternoon, try having a low-fat yogurt with fresh fruit, a fruit salad with orange juice, or a handful of nuts. These foods will help you satisfy your desire for sweets, they will reduce your appetite and, in addition, they will provide you with interesting nutrients and little fat.
Step: 5
Another factor that can cause your body to need extra glucose is that you have eaten a meal with too many salty foods or with an excess of animal protein, since both foods can cause small drops in blood sugar and, therefore, feeling that the body needs glucose to recover. This can produce, after the meal, you feel like eating a sweet dessert or a little piece of chocolate “to compensate”.
To prevent this from happening, it is enough to avoid eating foods with too much fat or fried food (salty foods) or with a lot of animal protein and, failing that, add some whole grain to your recipes (such as rice, for example) or vegetables that will compensate the recipe. In this way, after the meal, you will not feel sweet and you will be able to resist the temptation of chocolate.
Step: 6
In addition to all this, in order to stop eating chocolate, it is also essential that you stop buying this food because, thus, you will not be able to be tempted to eat it just by entering your kitchen. Changing the shopping list and filling it with healthy foods is the first step to start eating better and reducing the presence of unnecessary fat in our diet. If you don’t have chocolate at home, you will considerably reduce your intake and, little by little, you will achieve your goal.
Step: 7
Many times we confuse thirst with hunger because our body demands something from us but we do not know how to interpret very well what it is trying to communicate to us. So, another piece of advice that we can give you is that when you feel like eating sweets, drink a large glass of water to assess whether that was what your body needs.
Step: 8
Many people feel like snacking on something sweet right before they go to sleep. This may be because they eat dinner very early, something very healthy to allow digestion to take place correctly, but it may end up producing a feeling of hunger that can be satisfied with a piece of chocolate. To prevent this from happening, there is nothing better than brushing your teeth after dinner to incorporate the menthol flavor of the toothpaste and avoid the temptation to eat.
In this other article, we tell you how to stop eating sweets in general in case your problem is not only with chocolate but with all products such as cookies, pastries, etc.
