KISS Your Chocolate Addiction Goodbye
- Kay Urlich
I gave up chocolate recently.
Why you might ask when chocolate is every woman’s passion. It was because my life revolved around its seductive taste and gentle sliding caress on my tongue, and…pleasure. A slight exaggeration perhaps but chocolate had become one of my main food groups. In fact, I was close to having it as one of my main meals.
What annoyed me most was how regularly I hungered for it. Finish a meal, reach for its delight ... a lull in the evening, reach for some joy…feeling hungry, reach out for its bliss…I was annoyed at how I had become a slave to desire and wantonness filling my need with chocolate-joy when experiencing simple sugar cravings and boredom. It was time to “test my mettle” and give it up.
Could I do it?
On a whim, I announced to my Facebook friends my intention. Some people, like my children who knew about my love of the habit, refused to believe it, others cried “nooooo…” as I had in a previous post informed them how I ate a large block of it every 3-4 days. Now I had let the side down. And yet they cheered me on, some offered great advice and would give me healing if needed, while others thought I had lost my mind (… well, most of them) and was squandering a great source of antioxidants.
So as my first chocolate-free day loomed I decided the best way was to approach this foolishness was to treat it like giving up smoking which I had done many times: Giving up smoking had involved withdrawal patches, chewing gum, and a series of natural remedies, and none had worked for any length of time. The good news was that twice I had gone for years without a cigarette and had only gone back to smoking as a crutch during difficult emotional times. What I knew was that if I could limit myself to one or two a day I would have kept on smoking.
What I do know after only one day is that my love for chocolate is not over, that when I’ve mastered myself I will reintroduce limited amounts daily (…limited most of the time).
Meanwhile, as I go about my day there is nothing to replace its sweet delight: no chocolate patches or fake chewing gum. What to do? Again just like smoking, I had to look at what had helped me remain smoke-free over the last twenty years, and that was to go cold turkey. No ifs or whens or patches or replacements! It was cold turkey or nothing! And that, I knew, meant not one more puff or bite as the habit required: Zilch, Nada.
It meant more physical exercise and fruit or water when craving. Similarly, I won’t be tempted to have the first piece. I wouldn’t say I have had my last, but chocolate-free I remain until I’ve mastered the art of KISS, that whatever the addiction – Keep It Simple, Sage - and don’t be enamored by the first hint of seduction.
So yes, KISS your chocolate addiction goodbye and avoid the seduction - but abstention doesn't have to last forever does it?
I decided approximately 25 days later that I had mastered the art of chocolate deprivation and reintroduced myself to its joy in limited amounts on a daily basis :) what a relief!!
