How Do you give up a 25year love of chocolate?

I don't think I'd be able to give up chocolate and still be a relatively happy person. Instead I figure it into my eating plan, which generally means things like Hershey's miniatures, mini peppermint patties, not-super-bad hot chocolate, etc. So I guess my suggestion is to cut back on how much (maybe by changing the specific foods), but not to try to cut it out. But if you can do it and still function happily, more power to you! Good luck!
-LP

you don't need to; just eat less! or use cocoa powder. stir it in your yoghurt/oats/etc. a little goes a long way.

and dark chocolate is actually good for you in moderation:)

I love chocolate and I am virtually a chocoholic, but I know one sure way that worked for me, I went for a month to the US and the chocolate I had there was so horrible I couldn't eat it! I got a bag of Hersheys kisses and I ate one and spat it out,, that has NEVER happened to me...ever...I then gave them to my 3 children and they hated them also, we threw them away in the end. yuk yuk yuk

My own weakness for the wonderfulness that is chocolate is satisfied with Maltesers, they are gorgeous, a nice chocolate hit with less that 200 calories a bag. yum yum yum

Ohhh I have the same addiction...I heard somewhere it´s good to freeze everything so it takes longer to eat it...haven´t tested it yet, but I agree with you...I love all chocolate exept 70% chocolate hehe.... Why does chocolate have to be so unhealthy...it´s bad if you have migranes, makes you have an heartburn and it´s really fattening!!! I hate that I love it so much,...feel you pain!

ooh try the 80 or 90% its lush and good for you, and not too sweet so you can stick at a few squares. My weakness is galaxy and dairy milk though, milk chocolate is the love of my life....

you dont, you just love it a little less often but with more intensity when you do, try darker better for the heart

chocolate

Thanks for the advice, I think I will have a hot milo each night as they are low GI but it will be hard to cut back completely. I did give up all alcohol for 8 months once so I should be able to try it again. Ironically I dont like 70% dark chocolate so I wont be eating it for health reasons lol. When I look back on my diarys all my calorie blow outs are attributed to chocolate items..

i think you have to keep increasing your cocoa % bit by bit. so just go up 40 - 50 - 60, etc until you get to a really dark chocolate like 80-90%.

I gave up a 20year love of chocolate. I do really love the stuff. And I get crazy cravings for it the day before I get my period.

BUT I have a sensitivity to caffeine. Too much of it really messes me up. Even a cup of decaf coffee or decaf black tea still has an effect on me. So, I decided to give up caffeine entirely. I never liked soda - so that was easy. I switched to herbal teas (peppermint, kava, rooibos) and drink decaf green teas occasionally. I stay away from coffee completely. I would allow myself decaf coffee once in a while, but I haven't wanted to add the empty calories of it. And of course I had to give up dark chocolate. It was dark chocolate that sent me through my last episode that I decided I really needed to give up caffeine. I decided to give up all chocolate because I figured it would be easier for me. Oppose to having only white chocolate and being reminded of my love for real chocolate. I also always want to lose weight and any kind of chocolate doesn't help. There are also ethical reasons to give up (non-fair trade) chocolate, unless you support child labor and unfair working conditions. Doing research on that also helped me want to give it up. I am someone who wants to join the Peace Corps in a few years and live in a third world country. So I feel like in order to prepare, I have to stop "spoiling" myself with all this stuff that I don't really need. I figure if there are others starving to death, then it really should not be so hard for me to give up this luxury.

I gave up chocolate in September, but messed up in November with a chocolate chip bagel - it just didn't hit me that a chocolate chip bagel had chocolate until midway through. Then I tried again and have not had chocolate since. My goal is to get through the year 2011 without it. I gave up some other things for the year as well (bottled water, facebook, straws). What's helped the most is just telling myself I'm better off without the temporary satisfaction it provides, and I use peanut butter as a sort of replacement.

Benefits so far: I no longer really get cravings for it - it just sucks when I am in the room with a beautiful chocolate cake that I can't touch. I no longer feel like I have to have it. Also, I sort of feel like a stronger person because I was able to give up something I really enjoyed.

I definitely think you can give it up if you want, but I don't think you necessarily have to give it up as other posters have said. There are benefits to eating chocolate. If you seem to not be able to have it in moderation - like me, then try giving it up entirely. It's hard at first, but it only gets easier, so keep telling yourself that.

I went for a month to the US and the chocolate I had there was so horrible I couldn't eat it! I got a bag of Hersheys kisses and I ate one and spat it out,, that has NEVER happened to me...ever...I then gave them to my 3 children and they hated them also, we threw them away in the end. yuk yuk yuk

Yes, whenever I hear someone from America saying they are addicted to "chocolate" ie Hersheys I wonder whether it's really the chocolate they're addicted to or whether it's the sugar.

Cadbury's isn't much better but at least it contains some chocolate.

Ideally I'd have 80% chocolate, but prefer not to have large bars of chocolate in the house so I won't be tempted, so for now I'm compromising by having just one Cadbury's Freddo in the house, which is less than 100 calories. When it's gone it's gone.

To the OP, how do you give something up? By taking a cold hard look at your body and your health and realising that while you might like something, it hates you!

I am a complete chocoholic... with either an all or nothing approach - unfortunately the nothing stage doesn't seem to last too long! I've found that if i buy the dark cadbury choc chips and weigh them out in a little cup, say 10-50g, that it's enough because it takes so long to eat them if you have one at a time. My flatmates think i'm a bit nutty but at least it doesn't completely destroy my diary and i don't feel like i'm missing out! The other thing i had to decide was that i'm basically just not allowed to buy the big blocks of choc.. especially dairy milk or delicious green and blacks, otherwise it just disappears.... :-)

I also love mocha's but gave up coffee (along with my friend) so now order trim hot chocolates... the small ones fit into my calories fine and i only get them in social situations and never as takeaways.... that's where peppermint tea comes in.

Good luck! If you find a miracle cure let me know xx

I have to eat it every day whether its a Milo drink, mochacino, or chocolate biscuit but I usually have to have my fix twice a day....need a chocolate patch. Does anyone else have this addiction or successfully curbed their love of chocolate?

No I havent quit it, but I eat less now, I dont take the piss anymore. I dont think anyone wqhould have to quit their fave foods.

A chocolate patch would be awesome!

I just don't like dark chocolate. For me it's better to try to control portions of what I *do* like rather than learn to like something else (like dark chocolate). If I learned to like dark as well as I liked milk - well, that's one more thing I'd have to not eat as much of.

I heard on National Public Radio (I think that was it) that if you look at pictures of chocolate or read about it a lot, you're less likely to overindulge, or overindulge as much - this was a study that was done. I'll see if I can find the story.

*a few minutes later*

Okay, here's a link to the transcript. My brain was a bit fuzzy on the details but it's still an interesting study.

http://www.npr.org/2010/12/10/131967496/Thinking-About-Eating-May-Mean-Eating-Less

try a choc flavoured protein/ diet shake.

They are formulated with vitamins and minerals so at least it isn't empty calories and probably more filling than a choc biscuit. Check the sugar content of protein shake - they can vary. If you dont want a whole one, you can use half the powder and half the liquid.