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Domestic Violence Screening Quiz Emotional Type Quiz Loneliness Quiz Parenting Style Quiz Personality Test Relationship Quiz Stress Test What's Your Sleep Like? Psych Central. Conditions Discover Quizzes Resources.

Eating disorders. Quiz Symptoms Types Treatment Find Support. Chocolate Addiction: Fact or Myth? Medically reviewed by Lori Lawrenz, PsyD — By Nancy Lovering — Updated on June 22, Is chocolate an addiction? Language matters. Was this helpful?

Can you be addicted to chocolate? Myths and facts. Why are people addicted to chocolate? What are the signs of chocolate addiction? What are the signs of chocolate withdrawal?

Tips to deal with a chocolate addiction. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 5th ed. text revision. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association. de Souza PA, et al. Cacao — Theobroma cacao. pdf da Rosa MC, et al.

Overlap between food addiction and DSM-5 eating disorders in a treatment-seeking sample. Food addiction, eating addiction, and eating disorders. Methylxanthine content in commonly consumed foods in Spain and determination of its intake during consumption. Brain activity of anandamide: A rewarding bliss?

Which foods may be addictive? The roles of processing, fat content, and glycemic load. Read this next. Understanding Emotional Eating Emotional eating is a coping strategy to deal with unpleasant emotions. Rudd Center researchers have also created a food addiction survey that is being used in various ongoing studies.

Despite intriguing parallels, however, there are also significant differences between drugs of addiction and food. The most obvious one is that food is necessary for survival, while addictive drugs are not. And this makes treatment more of a challenge too. In fact, health depends less on what we call our behavior than it does on paying attention to the hundreds of small but important choices we make every day.

The next time you feel the pull of chocolate, pay attention to it. But instead of automatically reaching for your preferred candy bar or fudgy ice cream, take a few moments to actively decide whether or not to indulge the desire.

If you decide to have chocolate, focus on each bite, slowly, to extend the pleasure in it. You can take the same approach to alcohol, cigarettes, and food in general if you are trying to lose weight. One with chocolate, but with many other pleasures, too. Michael Craig Miller, M.

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Sign up now and get a FREE copy of the Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness. Stay on top of latest health news from Harvard Medical School. You can beat your chocolate craving by filling up on something else.

Look for foods that are low in sugar and high in protein or whole grains. These foods will keep you full longer and prevent a sugar crash. As cacao is processed, its caffeine content decreases. Most processed chocolate candy bars have under 10 mg of caffeine. To put that in perspective: The average cup of coffee has about 85 to mg of caffeine.

Some dark chocolates , however, can contain more caffeine than a can of cola which has around 30 mg. The higher the cacao content, the higher the caffeine content. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, making you feel more awake and alert. It also affects the levels of certain neurotransmitters in your brain, including dopamine.

This may contribute to its addictive nature. For people who never drink caffeinated beverages, the caffeine in chocolate may be enough to provide an energy boost. If you regularly consume caffeine, however, your tolerance to its effects is probably fairly high.

Read here for a comparison of caffeine counts in hot chocolate versus tea, soda, and coffee. About 50 percent of American women crave chocolate around the time their period starts.

Researchers have been unable to find a biological explanation for this phenomenon. Basically, women may crave chocolate during their periods out of habit because they believe chocolate cravings are normal. Practicing mindful eating will help you identify habitual cravings. Ask yourself why you want chocolate.

If not, you can find an alternative or simply eat it in moderation. Mindfulness meditation and other stress relievers can also help you deal with stress in a healthier way. Research shows that chocolate is high in magnesium. This seems unlikely given that there are other foods much higher in magnesium that people rarely crave, including nuts.

Magnesium supplements are available at your local pharmacy. You can also try eating foods high in magnesium , such as raw almonds, black beans, or whole grains. The healthiest way to get your chocolate fix is to find a chocolate with a high cacao percentage.

Chocolates with a high cacao percentage have more antioxidants and less sugar than other chocolates. Look for chocolate that is ethically sourced through fair trade practices that protect the workers who produce it. Research funded by the U. Department of Labor found over 1. Consumer guides and organizations like Ethical Consumer, from the United Kingdom, provide tools for people to learn more about the products they want.

The health benefits of chocolate come from the natural cocoa powder.