I would only be able to eat 4 or 5 if I throw out the pack straight away. I did that with a bar of chocolate. I couldn't trust myself with the other squares. My bf hides Lindor mini chocolate eggs in our flat. When I get a craving he fetches me a couple. It's the only way to control it. He's such a good sport!

Ghiridelli squares (high cocoa %) can be broken into 8-12 *tiny* pieces and savored slowly. That's how I deal with my chocolate cravings. They're so rich one square is enough.

I've been craving chocolate too, although in my case, TOM/PMS is the explanation.

And I've made the mistake of trying to eat around it - meaning pushing the envelope of my healthy eating (and yesterday, ripping that envelope) but that never works, it's just stuff I shouldn't have eaten but still haven't satisfied the craving.

I'm still on the fence - part of me thinks that I should just fight through it, and part of me thinks that one candy bar a month is ok as long as I admit I'm going to have it and I plan for it. (and I would definitely just get one regular size bar, no big bags or anything to keep tempting me!)

I do the same, with different brands of dark chocolate squares. I have one written down for tonight after dinner, actually. 40 calories. There are delicious ones and I really recommend that.

A hershey kiss is 25 calories, also a good choice (I'm capable of just having one of those, too; I like having two at a time as well).

BUT for some reason, I don't feel capable of having 4-5 m&ms from a vending-machine bag! That's just different to me. So it's with that bias that I say, don't push the m&m button ...

Blasphemy!!

Blasphemy indeed !

HA! Didn't know there was a gospel of chocolate... :D

But frankly, I am skeptical of the entire concept of cravings...

I used to crave a lot of stuff-- and I can do without all of it. I don't see why chocolate is any different.

Obviously I'm in the minority here.

Carry on!

Well, admittedly, chocolate isn't a biological need, but...

I keep unsweetened powdered cocoa on hand. Add a teaspoon to my coffee, and my chocolate cravings are satisfied, calorie-and-carb free. Delicious mocha! Who needs Starbucks?

LOL at Sskar's "feed bag."

I'm not one for saying I can *never* have a certain food, especially not chocolate! If I do, I set myself up for a binge. It works like this: Hmmm, I want chocolate. But I'm on a diet, so I can't have chocolate. Instead I'll eat a carrot.... Oh, ****, I still want chocolate. I'll have an apple. Etc. Hours later I'm full of "healthy" foods until I want to puke, but I still want chocolate. The next day I decide I'm going to have the chocolate anyway, and I'll take a whole pie, thank you!

So I will plan and budget for an occasional treat. This way I can eat a little bit and feel good about it, rather than a lot and hate myself for it. It's working for me.

Wow...quite a controversy here...obviously some folks are unable to do "just a small piece" of chocolate and... That is ok, but some can....that is ok too...

For me I can eat dark (like 80-85% cocao) chocolate and satisfy the craving while not triggering a feeding frenzy. With that level of cocoa there isn't much sugar involved. I could never open a pkg of m&m s and eat just a few though. I blame that more on the sugar content than the chocolate content though. You know your limits, so if it really is a trigger food, it might be best to stay away. How are you doing now?

I don't mean to be a naysayer but I've read studies that some people can truly become addicted to a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g including chocolate. You read here about people being addicted to soda, caffeine, chocolate...it does happen. I believe it.

On the topic of 4 or 5 m&m's, I couldn't do it. I'd have to flush the remainder down the toilet because YES as a person with binge eating issues (at times) I've even taken things out of the trash that I put there to get rid of. Just so you don't think I'm too too gross, it was Oreos and they were in a half full package that I had thrown away. I later "retrieved" them. and ate them. *baaad me* It wasn't in an alley in a random dumpster or anything.

Precisely. This is me to a T. And if I'd just had the chocolate kiss instead of the carrot in the first place, I'd have done without the carrot, the apple, the oatmeal, the celery, the watermelon, etc. The kiss is 25 calories. And the rest of the healthy food came out to ______??? I definitely crave chocolate. Yes, I can power through it. But why? ;)

Anecdotally, there seems to be two kinds of people
 

vis-a-vis cravings.

The first type is like Eliana, who can sate cravings with a small amount.

Then there's the other category. 4-5 M&Ms => the whole bag => tomorrow I need dessert at dinner => the day after that I need dessert at dinner and lunch => hey, my admin refilled the candy jar on her desk, and I need to stop by every five minutes to DISCUSS SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT (and eat two pieces of candy each time) => WHAT THE HECK DOES THE STUPID SCALE MEAN I GAINED FOURTEEN POUNDS? :mad: Um, not that I would know from personal experience or anything.

Yup. Margalo nailed it...

The entire concept of craving anything is suspect for me. Once I start craving, I'm cooked. Because craving is uncontrollable and I get into this whole should I/shouldn't I dialectic like a freaking drug addict or something.

The ONLY way for me to deal with a craving is to put it on the permanent NO list....WEIRD. I could have an entire box of GODIVA CHOCOLATES sitting in my kitchen right now, and if they were on my NO list then I wouldn't even remember they were there, but if I started craving, then the next thing you know, I would have eaten the entire box and might well be on the way to the store to buy more.

I think that makes me....

UNBALANCED :D

But hey, at least I have found a way to conquer the beast. :dizzy:

Meanwhile, I see the rest of you licking your little squares of chocolate and enjoying yourselves. GO FOR IT!

I can't do it either Uber. I just can't. It HAS to be a NO WAY NO HOW thing for me... perhaps that's one of the secrets to my success? No way to know. But I do know that if I give in to my cravings I crave things MORE AND MORE AND MORE. And THAT leads to disaster... big big big time.