If you’d characterize your relationship with chocolate as “complicated,” you’re not alone. About 45 percent of women in the U.S. report that they have chocolate cravings, with a whopping 91 percent of female college students reporting regular cravings for it. Research shows that, unlike men, many women have feelings of guilt when eating this potentially “forbidden” food, or they fight the urge to eat it at all.
This strained relationship with chocolate can be harmful in a number of ways. Nutrition experts explain how making up with chocolate can benefit not only your taste buds, but also your health.
Why Chocolate Shouldn’t Be Your Guilty Pleasure
A 2014 study showed that women who associated eating chocolate cake with celebration had more successful weight maintenance, while those who associated it with guilt were likely to encounter a number of problems, including:
- Less success at long- and short-term weight maintenance
- Feelings of helplessness and loss of control
- Unhealthy eating behaviors
- Greater body image dissatisfaction
- Reduced quality of life
A key in reversing the negative effects of these chocolate cravings is to stop making it taboo. You don’t have to feel guilty about craving a food, whether it’s chocolate or broccoli. In fact, labeling any food as completely off-limits usually results in increased cravings for that food and guilt when you eventually do eat it, the experts say.
Instead, try setting some terms of your relationship with chocolate. Savor it and enjoy it with purpose and intention, without the guilt. Don’t sit in front of the TV with your hand in a bottomless bowl of chocolate candies. Instead, be mindful of when and why you are eating it. For instance, if you enjoy a square of dark chocolate every day, and you have weekend plans at a restaurant with a world-famous chocolate dessert, you might want to skip your daily treat so you can indulge on the weekend.
A healthy relationship with chocolate helps you enjoy it in moderation and without guilt, rather than cycling between trying to completely avoid it and then overdoing it.