Controlling a craving

I don't know, the things I do in the name of research. Putting myself in danger of becoming obese, spots and pimples erupting all over my face, and clogging up my arteries by consuming excessive sugar. That's what you get when you uncontrollably stuff your face with chocolate. But in the name of research I have decided to carry out this little experiment.

We all know that chocolate tastes yummy, and we shouldn't really eat too much of it. But it is so tempting to reach for a bar at the checkout, because we know it will put a smile on our faces and lift our spirits. A nice treat to eat on the way home in the car, or while out and about, or anytime we fancy it.

We all deserve a treat now and again, don't we? The taste of chocolate can take away all our worries, and all our anxieties, if you are feeling low, eat chocolate. If we've had a crap day chocolate puts things right.

If scoffing chocolate is having a detrimental affect on your health, and your purse, there are steps you can take to minimise the risk, without cutting it out all together. You don't have to go cold turkey to wean yourself off the stuff. All you need to do is to cut down, and it isn't difficult if you follow my guide.

 I discovered this little trick while out walking last week. I fancied a bit of chocolate and popped in a shop and bought a Mars Bar. While I was plodding along I took a bite and instead of chomping at it like a person demented, I wondered how long I could make that Mars Bar last me. So I didn't chew it I sucked it slowly. I wanted to savour the flavour fully around the taste buds in my mouth before I swallowed it. The same with the second, third, and fourth mouthful. In fact it took me an hour and a half to get through the whole thing. By the time I got to the end I felt a bit queasy, I didn't really need to eat that much.

So that got me thinking, if a Mars Bar is too big for me, why not buy something smaller, I will still get the same choc fix, but I won't feel sick, and it will be cheaper. So this is my experiment. I bought four different types of children's size bars. These you will find on the lower shelves in the shop. They are 20p each.       

 

Then I cut each one into four pieces, inserting them into my mouth one piece at a time, one after the other, and timed how long it would take to suck each bar until it had all melted. Amazingly I got 41 minutes worth of choco fix out of the Fudge bar. Really good value for money in my opinion.

  

The Chomp Bar was a close second at 40 minutes, it has a caramel filling, these two are almost the same size. The Milky Way has a softer centre so dissolved a lot more quickly and only lasted 22 minutes, while the toffee filled Freddo took 20 minutes of sucking before it was gone completely, it was a much smaller bar.

So the conclusion to my experiment is, when you need a fix of chocolate, first, exercise strict discipline and do not enter any shops, but if you find yourself uncontrollably lusting, look on the lower shelves and pick up a 20p small bar, and suck it and see. On no account stuff the whole lot in your mouth in one go. If it doesn't touch the sides you wont get that lip smacking feel good factor and it will be a waste of money because all it will do is play havoc with your innards. I will add another small but important point here, chocolate is not an every day food, it should be an occasional treat, no more than one small bar a week. And plain dark chocolate is better for you than the sweet sickly milk variety. Have fun.
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