When you just *gotta* have chocolate...

A square of Cadbury Dairy Milk bar is like 30 calories and that's usually good. If it's not I have to work a brownie or ice cream into my day which is not completely impossible. Or chocolate pudding. I'd rather have that any day (especially homemade).

I feel that way right after lunch. I usually chew a piece of mint chocolate chip sugar free gum. It helps cut the cravings.

Fiber one brownies 90 calories, Skinny cow Ice cream 100-130 calories, Skinny cow candy 100 calories and pudding 60 calories. I am really glad to see i'm not the only person here that has a big sweet tooth

(I don't eat this every day, well not all of them in the same day lol I do usually have on or the other)

I get the same thing after dinner... But only if I'm used to eating desert (Like two days in a row) then I immediately start craving something sweet after dinner. You just need to resist the temptation.

What works for me is basically planning my meals for the day ahead of time. I don't deny myself, I eat foods I like, and I know typically when cravings hit and what I will crave, so I plan ahead and always have a backup just in case.

Example: I always want a nibble of some kind of sweet pastry right when I get to work. So instead of raiding the vending machine or ~horror~ stopping for coffee and a donut or a "healthy" (*cough*BS*cough) muffin, I keep tea at work and every couple weeks make a big batch of mini muffins - these are the recipes I use with some substitutions like i just use 1/4c sugar instead of truvia (http://piecesinprogress.tumblr.com/minimuffin).

I also keep high quality dark chocolate in the freezer at home, none of this hershey's nonsense - eat the best quality chocolate you can afford, don't worry so much about the calories as long as it's within your nutritional goals.

I keep individually wrapped DARK chocolate in my house at all times.(Dove Promises, Ghirardelli Squares...) When I just have to have something, I have one or two pieces.

I eat chocolate pb2. yum!

Fiber One 90 cal chcolate bar- tasty

I bake brownies, take a portion of them, roll them into tight little balls, and fill the center with homemade peanut butter and honey, then I coat them in melted milk chocolate and let them cool in the fridge. Later on, they are about the size of bon bons and they are absolutely amazingly good! And every single time I make them I gain like 4 pounds, so don't follow my advice unless you want to die.

I eat dark chocolate and the darker the better, although usually around 60-70% is where I find that my chocolate fix is actually "fixed". I don't have to eat a ton either, maybe 1-2 oz, 2oz if it that TOM or if I'm having a stressful day any more than that I'm sick.
Milk chocolate anymore makes me sick.

You are clearly not alone! My favourite is a dark chocolate coated Brazil nut - about 60 cals each.

They give you the essential chocolate hit with the added benefit of the vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants in Brazil nuts. Selenium is the most valuable trace element in them and can help prevent coronary artery disease, liver cirrhosis, and cancers. 1-2 nuts a day gives you enough so your little chocolate treat doubles as healthy nutritional boost. What more could you want?

Many people (especially women) crave chocolate because they are deficient in B vitamins. I take a B compound vitamin 100 twice a day on a regular basis and that greatly reduces the craving. And because I LOVE chocolate, and the craving is beaten into near submission by the B vitamins, I can control how much chocolate I actually eat.

The other trick is to find ways to add cocoa to foods. Cocoa is high in B compound vitamins and has almost no calories. It's inedible by itself as it is bitter. You can add it to your vanilla yogurt, zing some into peanut butter or add it to a protein/meal replacement shake and yum. Actually YUM! For individual portions, I use a hand held mixer (looks like stick with a blade attachment at the bottom or if it's a liquid, I can use the whisk attachment). The cocoa is added to foods I have already planned to eat so it's not substantially changing the macros for that food.

Chocolate has sugar and fat to make it tastier but there are ways to avoid the sugar and fat ad get the good stuff from the cocoa.

I'm all about the minis. I don't deprive myself....I've learned when I do deprive, I go crazy when allow myself to indulge.

So mini candies are my thing....yesterday after a hard workout, I was craving peppermint patties...thank heavens our Lead Secretary had mini patties.....got my craving fix and no denial.

SO devine... :glasses:

I have a few semi sweet Chocolate Chips, and I mean a few. It usually helps.

I keep nice dark chocolate bars in the house, anywhere from 85 to 99%, and find that just one square will often be enough to cover the craving. Sometimes I make a smoothie with milk, cocoa powder, stevia, and some frozen cherries. It's like a chocolate covered cherry milk shake. Or a chocolate cherry kashi bar if I want something more like candy.