Chocolate cravings? Mindfulness or distraction may help stave off the urge to binge
Too much chocolate isn’t good for your health, but many of us have an overwhelming urge to eat it. There is no easy answer to curbing this need, but there are a couple of mental tricks that could help, according to studies
Chocolate: luscious, rich, aromatic, smooth on the tongue. Dark and bitter, or milky and sweet. Chocolate chips, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cookies. Is your mouth watering yet? You aren’t alone. Chocolate is regarded as the most commonly craved food in Western society.
Those who have weight or health concerns might want to curb their hankering for chocolate or other alluring foods. But how do you banish a persistent, powerful craving? Two recent studies have tackled this question and highlighted promising, but different, strategies.
To start, it’s important to understand the development of a craving. As Julia Hormes, an assistant professor of psychology at State University of New York at Albany, explains, cravings start with a trigger. This could be external, such as the scent of chocolate chip cookies wafting from a nearby bakery. Or it could be internal, such as being angry or bored. Then you elaborate on these thoughts by using mental imagery, and this is what turns it into a full-fledged craving.
Hormes says: “Instead of just having the cookie, we start thinking about it: When did I last have it, could I go back to the bakery and buy it, what did it taste like, what did it look like, what did it smell like? In other words, we start obsessing over it.”
