Health Food Beginner

[ChloeFrancoise]

Fruits are good for some nutrients, fiber and antioxidants but people aren't supposed to get all their nutrition from one kind of food anyway.

 

[Ella-Picobella]

It depends on how whacked out your body is on junk food A lot of people's bodies are telling them it's a good idea to eat Mickey D's I think a lot of people's bodies are really confused ...

No I dont really eat junk food at all. I eat a lot of vegetables, and also otherwise very healthy but I anyway dont often feel like fruit-.. In the summer I do though

 

[smartarse]

Tip

to make grapes more scrumptous, edibly and stupendidly sinful in a good way ...

• freeze it and eat it like candy

**** but of course in moderation.

 

[agneslo]

any tips on how to avoid my craving for chocolate??

i avoid most unhealthy food like disease, and i have a very veggie and fruits -orientated diet. but i just can't stop myself from eating more and more chocolate. i feel guilty.

 

[seanutbutter]

What type of chocolate do you usually eat? I know that dark chocolate has a very strong, rich taste, which for me means I won't eat as much as, say, regular milk chocolate.

You could also try freezing your chocolate so that, while it'll still be edible, will be very difficult to consume large amounts of. The concept may sound strange, but it works!

 

[Diamond Star]

any tips on how to avoid my craving for chocolate??

i avoid most unhealthy food like disease, and i have a very veggie and fruits -orientated diet. but i just can't stop myself from eating more and more chocolate. i feel guilty.

Seanutbutter's advice is very good. I also find if I have a chocolate craving, having drinking chocolate works just as well, and if you have it with water and without milk it's far, far less in calories than chocolate bars.

 

[smartarse]

any tips on how to avoid my craving for chocolate??

i avoid most unhealthy food like disease, and i have a very veggie and fruits -orientated diet. but i just can't stop myself from eating more and more chocolate. i feel guilty.

milk chocolate maybe good but it's not as good health wise ...
i really don't know how you can stop the craving that's effective ...
however, to substitute your craving for Milk Chocolate without depriving yourself Dark Chocolate is what you can have. It's proven medically that it's healthy for you. It may not have the same sweetness as Milk Chocolate though. there are ways Dark Chocolate can be just as good like: you can even use it as a syrup for your vanilla ice cream.

• melt the dark chocolate to make syrup to put on your vanilla ice cream

 

[Cola]

I think you should give in - a bit of chocolate won't kill you and won't make your diet unhealthy, also you'll be in a happy mood. Somebody already mentioned the dark chocolate trick, although that wouldn't work for me because I prefer dark to milk, so I can eat less of milk chocolate than of dark chocolate because I find it too sweet. And no weird tricks with watery drinking chocolate, that won't trick your body, it may taste similar but yet it won't be the same without the nice chewiness .. oh dear, I want some now.

 

[Ronchamp]

don't feel guilty!! eat small portions of it (dark chocolate is preferable), and ENJOY it!
for me, i find that when i forbid myself of something, that's when i crave it the most! instead of saying you can't eat more than a certain quantity, set yourself a quantity which you CAN eat... don't know if that makes any sense

 

[JEM]

When your body is craving something, it usually means your body is missing something ( vitamins, minerals..). Sadly nowadays, we tend to crave junk food because our eating has become so warped with all the unhealthy things we have at our disposal...
What I mean is, if you're craving chocolate, go for it. Just in reasonable amounts, and as was said before, preferably darker.
If your craving is not junk food (i.e pizza, candy...) then go for it, even if you think you shouldn't. Giving in and eating a reasonable amount is much better than witholding, because you know one day you will just completely give in and eat tons...

 

[ChloeFrancoise]

I find that dark chocolate feels more filling actually so I don't even feel like I need much anyway.

 

[seanutbutter]

Although I personally like dark chocolate more than milk chocolate, I've found that a few small pieces is usually enough for me. Like ChloeFrancoise said, dark chocolate feels more filling compared to other types.

I would also recommend eating smaller, prepackaged pieces of chocolate, rather than M&Ms, chocolate bars, or other similar items. Tootsie Rolls are a good example; because you have to chew them thoroughly, it takes longer to eat a piece, and you probably won't have too many.

 

[fashionista-ta]

any tips on how to avoid my craving for chocolate??

i avoid most unhealthy food like disease, and i have a very veggie and fruits -orientated diet. but i just can't stop myself from eating more and more chocolate. i feel guilty.

I have read that chocolate cravings can signal a need for more protein--which sounds like a possibility based on what you say about your diet.

As I mentioned, I also crave chocolate when faced with a significant mental challenge, and find that it really seems to help me. Considering that many of my coworkers smoke when they need a boost, I consider my chocolate quite harmless

Remember that dark chocolate is good for you.

PS Agree with what seanutbutter said above ... I buy a tube of dark chocolate pastilles, and usually have one or two. I also like these very thin German wafers that are covered in quite dark chocolate. Dove makes a dark chocolate bar with four squares--one of the squares really hits the spot. And of course a Godiva truffle cannot possibly be a bad thing

But I would look first at protein.

 

[coolrunnins]

a good chromium supplement curbs sugar cravings...it definitely helps me with choccy

 

[seanutbutter]

I have read that chocolate cravings can signal a need for more protein--which sounds like a possibility based on what you say about your diet.

I've read that chocolate cravings are often due to a lack of magnesium, since chocolate is high in the mineral. Interestingly enough, one can lose magnesium when stress hits, which would explain why you crave chocolate when faced with a problem.

Source: Erlendson, Ian. "Ionic Magnesium." Erlendson's Health Products. (Link.)

 

[songbirdsel]

Theres definitely something about chocolate... As an addict, I can safely say i used to to hate dark chocolate.. But it turns out i just didnt find the right one! Now I love it!
Have any of you girls also tried organic chocolate? gluten and wheat free. I dont know how much wheat comes into it though... but it certainly tastes yum

 

[Cola]

There's never wheat in chocolate .. ? Also gluten and wheat are kind of the same, gluten is its protein I think.

 

[agneslo]

awww,, you guys are so helpful here

Seanutbutter: i am addicted to Green & Black chocolates(except the white chocolate one.) i love your ideas! it did melt slower in my mouth, so i can taste it longer. it takes me 2 days to finish a 35g pack of Dark chocolate.( not like 1/2 day as before.)

Diamond Star: i tried this before. but well, i often have this craving after dinner (i guess it's a comfort for desert?), so drinking chocolate makes me feel a bit bloated.

Ronchamp: i am sort of doing sth like this now, writing a little notes on the chocolate bar and saying sth like: half of it for today, and the rest for tmr. just a little reminder to self

JEM: i think sometimes i craved chocolate because of boredom or stress. I eat a whole lot when i am studying/doing my paper. it's always too late when i discovered how much i eat. 1 regular pack of M&M peanut chocolate in 1/2 hr, are you kidding me?

fashionisata: i see, so i need to check the protein content in the chocolate first? the higher, the better?? i am a bit confused here.

thanks everyone!

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I don't think there's any protein in chocolate ... but I'm saying that if you want to decrease the craving, make sure you have enough protein in your diet. If you're craving chocolate, you could have a chicken or soy snack first, and then see what that does for you ...

For me, it's not stress--for that I do liquid vitamin B--it's a serious mental challenge that sends me in search of dark chocolate. I can't find a reference to the study I read about awhile ago, but here's something from cnn.com:

Brain gains
It sounds almost too good to be true, but preliminary research at West Virginia's Wheeling Jesuit University suggests chocolate may boost your memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem-solving skills by increasing blood flow to the brain. Chocolate companies found comparable gains in similar research on healthy young women and on elderly people.

 

[songbirdsel]

all this talk of chocolate!!