How I Won My Battle with Dark Chocolate

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I absolutely LOVE dark chocolate.

It helps that I know that dark chocolate is super rich in health-promoting polyphenols.

But what it comes down to is that I just love the stuff.

You may be surprised to hear then that I stay away from dark chocolate as much as I can.

Woman eating a big Dark Chocolate

I have gone years at a time without buying it.

“Why?” You ask.

Well, because I LOVE it so much. I can get into the habit of eating it every day. And even though the stuff is good for you, it still contains sugar.

But the real issue is that I become addicted. It is MY kryptonite.

I’ve realized that I do not like being beholden to any food.

It is very important to me that I feel like I’m in control of my eating choices, not the food!

And the truth is, I can easily avoid eating chocolate for years. Once I’m off of it, I rarely think about it.

But over this spring, a very dark spring for most of us, chocolate was calling my name.

I know it may be shocking to read about a nutritionist not eating a perfectly pristine diet. You may have an image of my having a natural ability to effortlessly follow said pristine diet, being impervious to any and all temptations. Maybe you think I just sail through life gravitating toward nutrient-dense foods and never once indulge in overeating or eating junk food.

Yeah, that’s definitely not the case.

It’s just as hard for me as everyone else.

I just have developed some really good habits over years of working at it.

But this winter, that chocolate got me.

It started innocently enough with my buying one bar a week of my favorite organic, Fair-Trade Certified, soy-free 80% chocolate.

I spread it out over the week, nibbling on a few bites a day.

Not a problem, right?

But with each passing week, as lockdown felt more and more oppressive, I started eating more.

Honestly, I didn’t care if it wasn’t great for me. I didn’t care that I was putting on a few pounds.

I didn’t care that I was losing control.

This kept on for awhile and I have absolutely zero regret or shame around it.

It is what it is.

But a few weeks ago I realized that I was no longer the one in control.

One day my husband, who has been doing all the shopping since lockdown, came home with 7 bars!

I immediately asked him why he bought so much! He answered that he was buying about 3 bars twice a week so why not just buy 7 so I don’t run out.

Well, let me tell you, seeing those 7 bars sitting in the cupboard was painful.

For the record, I finished all 7 of them. Without shame.

And then I just stopped asking him to buy the chocolate.

I went cold-turkey.

The first few days I missed it.

It had become my friend. Usually I would eat some mid-afternoon when I felt I needed a little treat. And again after dinner.

That was my pattern and it was nice.

But it had to go.

Why do I share this story with you?

Well, first of all, I want you to know that I am not perfect and neither is anyone else.

As a nutritionist and a coach my duty is to let the world know that perfect eating is not only unattainable, it is inadvisable.

There should be no shame in acting like a human.

The other reason is that I want to share with you the simple concepts I used to overcome my addiction (yes mental and physical addiction: sugar and caffeine are both addictive).

The first part of the strategy was to make it difficult to engage in the behavior I was trying to stop.

This is not rocket science but it is too often neglected under the guise of hanging in there or being tough. I wrote about setting up your environment for success last week.

I knew that if the chocolate was in the house I would eat it. There was no way I wasn’t.

I also knew that I wasn’t going to run out to the store to get it in a moment of weakness.

Why?

Well, this is the second part of my strategy.

loss weight strategy

I knew that I wanted to change. I had a strong “WHY”.

For those of you struggling with making bad eating choices I can tell you that these 2 strategies, when used properly, are extremely powerful.

  • Set up your environment for success. Make it really hard to eat the chocolate (or whatever is your kryptonite).
  • Know what you want and WHY you want it. Make that “why” something really important to you.

And bam! I am completely off the stuff!

The first week was a little hard.

I’m in the second week right now and it’s easy but I still do get moments where I think, “Oh man, I would love some of the chocolate right now!”

But it’s not here so I move on.

I share my story because I hope it inspires you to make a positive change in your eating habits.

If you want to learn more about how to do that I recommend you check out Food Boss.

Food Boss is a health optimization and weight loss course I have created where I teach you these strategies and so many more just like this to help you reach your health and weight goals.

What is the best diet for YOU?​

Are you confused about what to eat? Low-carb? Low-calorie? Plant-based??

Jeesh, there is so much conflicting info out there about diets! How are you supposed to know what’s right for YOU?

Start by taking the assessment to find out what diet style is right for you.

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