How to Eat Less Chocolate and Enjoy it More

If you're like me, you probably greeted the latest research on the benefits of chocolate with mixed emotions--yes, if you have a little each day you can cut your risk of heart attack and stroke by one-third. And then the bad news (besides the fact that dark chocolate--which I hate--is the best for you): Too much chocolate--with its abundant fat and sugar--can lead to being overweight which will increase your chances of heart attack and stroke.

So we're talking about a double-edged Mars bar here. Eating a little is good for you but not too much. I didn't want to hear how much chocolate the research considers beneficial; I'm sure it fits inside the nucleus of an atom. In other words, the amount of chocolate they recommend is a lot less than I eat. I know this and I want to cut back because of the extra weight it has caused--but how?

I've done some reading and experimenting and I've come up with some ways to eat less chocolate and actually enjoy the amount you're eating. Here's how:

1. Know thy enemy. It's not eating chocolate that's so bad. It's eating too much of it. For me, it's chocolate chip cookies. Once I start, I can't stop. I even eat a lot in front of other people. It's embarrassing but I can't even stop then. For you, it may be chocolate covered cherries or chocolate in some other sinful form. What to do? If you know you won't be able to control yourself, just take a limited amount and get rid of the rest immediately. Give it to someone else or do anything to get it out of your immediate access. Or buy a self-contained amount--like one candy bar.

2. Don't eat chocolate while doing something else. This has been the biggest problem for me. I didn't realize it until I stopped doing it. I used to eat chocolate as I watched TV, read, worked on the PC or even while washing the dishes. I discovered two things. First, I ate a lot more chocolate while pairing it with another activity than when I just sat down and had the chocolate by itself. The second thing was even more disturbing. I found that I could no longer read for pleasure unless I ate chocolate. It took several weeks to break the paired habit. I'm now beginning to be able to read without eating chocolate. And the chocolate seems more special when I eat it without doing anything else. And--I end up eating less of it.

3. Plan for it in your diet or eating plan from the start. Drop something else if you need to. If you eat 1800 calories a day, plan about 270 for a nice candy bar. Then work your meals around the remaining calories. This, of course, means keeping a daily record of your food intake. But studies show this is the best way of maintaining your weight or losing it if you have to.

4. If you need chocolate more than once a day, split your portion up. Don't try to hold out for the one time a day you allot yourself. By the time you get to that point, you may just overdo it. I've found that I need some chocolate after lunch and a little before I go to bed. Sometimes at night I'm actually too sleepy to eat it, but I know I can if I really want to.

5. If you overdo it, don't eat more to take away the guilt. This is so classic but I still do it. If I eat a lot of chocolate, I feel bad and then eat more to feel better. If you stop and think about how ridiculous this is, you may be able to interrupt that cycle which seems so automatic and uncontrollable.

6. Don't break chocolate into tiny pieces. I used to do this because I thought it would make it last longer. It does, but then you don't feel that satisfied, because eating small pieces just doesn't give you that chocolate "rush" that you need. So now I eat larger pieces and feel more satisfied.

7. Don't deny yourself something at a party or at an office event. Have a little. Don't be a chocolate martyr. The trick is to tell yourself that you can enjoy a small amount. If you do it once in a while and control yourself, that little added chocolate will not make you feel like you have to go home and ravage giant amounts of chocolate. You can really control yourself, but you must try it to believe it.

8. Eat better chocolate. Sometimes it's better to have a few small pieces of some really good Belgian chocolate than one cheap candy bar--and then another and another to be satisfied.

9. Have one day a week when you can splurge. Even if I eat chocolate every day, I allow myself one day a week--Friday--when I can eat more than the usual amount. I look forward to it and know that once it's over I can still have my more controlled amount every day.

Changing your relationship with chocolate is not easy at all. It's like any other addiction; there's the physical craving for it and then the psychological need. But following the above steps for me seems to be working. It will always be hard, I will always have the potential to eat more than I want to, but this way, I can have chocolate and keep my weight under control.

Source: Chocolate is Good For You (Sort Of...)
The Guardian

Ilene Springer lives and teaches EFL in Malta. She is author of An-American-in-Malta.com. On her next trip back to the US, she will be loading up on Kit Kat Chunky Caramel candy bars because they don't make them back in America.