I started writing this blog as things happened – kind of a timeline from the first consideration of the cravings and how to deal with them. Coming to my conclusions I realised that I would have confused readers, so I will start with a snippet of information that I didn’t consider until I had completed my research and the rest should be easy to follow.
A few months previous to my chocolate craving episode, I started getting pains in the small joints of my right fingers. Being an Osteopath I initially started testing movement, function and fatigue and discovered it wasn’t muscle or joint related. Research led me to consider it may be purine related – foods high in purines such as whole wheat, lentils, pulses etc can create a build up of uric acid in the small joints – known as gout. I therefore drastically reduced these in my diet which including stopping drinking oat milk that I had substituted for normal milk and the pains stopped (I will blog about gout and diet later).
To clarify my old dietary habits, crisps were always my downfall – I couldn’t buy a multi pack and expect them to last more than a couple of days. Chocolate was kind of a once a month occurrence if I fancied an indulgence. I didn’t regularly eat biscuits or deserts and I rarely ate fruit even though I have been a vegetarian for a number of years (meat eaters expect veggies to eat loads of fruit).
The question therefore remained – why the heck was I craving so much chocolate. I mean, every day wanted it, it was bordering on obsessive and started to worry me. I ate a sickly chocolate desert one day, even halfway through I felt I didn’t really “need” to finish it and felt sick after it – I still wanted chocolate the next day. Testing therefore began with trying different things:
- Eating lots of chocolate until I felt physically sick – still want chocolate
- Eating chocolate in secret – still want chocolate
- Eating sweet toffee – still want chocolate
- Drinking hot chocolate – still want chocolate
- Eating crisps when I craved chocolate – still want chocolate
- Eating loads of sweet fruit – still want chocolate
- Eat so much other food that I couldn’t fit any more in – still want chocolate
The technical bit
Chocolate contains many substances that effect our body systems:
Theobromine: Present in tea and coffee as well as cocoa in chocolate but is 10 times weaker in chocolate. It effects the body in the following ways:
-
- Vasodilator; makes blood vessels widen – especially in the heart
- Reduces heart rate
- Has anti-coagulation properties
- Increases kidney blood flow
Phenylethylamine: Produces endorphins (natures uplifting hormones). Influences the use/production of dopamine and serotonin in the body.
Serotonin: The recommended daily amount of serotonin (the happy hormone) is 500mg. You will need to eat over 166 kilos of chocolate to take this amount in. Considering that chocolate being either a treat or a sin, it only makes you happy because of your own relationship with it – not because of what it does to your hormones.
Vitamin A & E (fat soluble): Aids with immunity and skin health.
Vitamin B1, B2 & B3 (water soluble): Helps with the release of energy from food and keeps nervous system healthy.
Vitamin C (water soluble): Protects and maintains cells and aids in wound healing.
Minerals (Magnezium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese): Aid in various different maintenance of heart, bones, muscles and brain functions.
Choline: Important for some organ function as well as moving lipids (fat) around the body for use.
Water soluble B vitamins absorb quickly into the blood stream but are not stored in tissue. Vitamin C is also water soluble but is stored in the adrenal glands for up to 3 months.
Fat soluble vitamins need fat and protein to move around the body and can be stored for up to 3 months in lymph tissue and the liver.
It is important to note that these vitamins and minerals are present in quite small amounts and will not enhance body functions if your diet consisted of just chocolate.
What is this chocolate craving of mine?
According to research, cravings occur either due to an emotional or physiological/nutritional need.
Considering my lifestyle quite carefully, I can confidently say that it is probably a physiological/nutritional need rather than an emotional one. If it was emotional – surely I would have craved my old go-to binge of crisps. It if was nutritional – why didn’t I crave something healthier?
I now had to study my life before these cravings and what has changed since they started – the biggest change is my eating habits so I looked deeper. What did I take out of my old eating style that could have had an impact? I realised the only thing that I had a really regular amount of was oats (oat milk). Researching the content of oats, I discovered they include the following vitamins and minerals:
*Manganese
Molybdenum
Phosphorus
*Copper
Biotin
*Vitamin B1
Magnesium
Chromium
*Zinc
* also present in chocolate
Of the four items, three are minerals and can be stored in the body. As I take a multi-vitamin/mineral complex and have not altered this, I assumed these were not the culprit. I therefore concluded that Vitamin B1 may have been the culprit for my cravings. Why chocolate? Taking into account my eating habits, I can only presume chocolate came to my brain because it was not linked with anything that I avoided such as purines or meat.
B1-Thiamin is found in the following foods:
- Wholegrains (cut out of diet because they are high in purines)
- Meat & fish (I’m a vegetarian so don’t eat these)
- Breakfast cereals (don’t eat as they never satisfy me for long enough)
Testing the theory
Simple to test and because I had a supply of B vitamin supplements in the house, I decided to take one at lunch times. This was because I was already having a supplement in the morning and my cravings would begin in the afternoon. Following the start of this new regime, I honestly can say that it has worked. My utterly irrational and concerning thoughts about eating chocolate have completely gone. I don’t feel panicky around chocolate any longer and I have gone a few (consecutive) days without eating it with no concerns at all.
I relayed the story to a friend that had been trying to lose weight but found that after work she’d not be able to wait for dinner time for food and snacked constantly in the afternoons. She tried a multi B vitamin supplement and again, within a few days had found that she had stopped the need to snack in the afternoon.
Results of this test cannot be deemed as definitive as we didn’t test blood vitamin levels and the action of taking the supplements may have had a placebo effect. Even if the latter is the case, neither my friend nor I would be concerned as it has had the desired outcome!
The moral of the story
Whilst I am in no way advising people to gorge on vitamin supplements, I am advising them to consider why they crave food and what they are craving. A nutritionist could help if the craving is physiological/nutritional, a psychologist could help if it is not.
As an Osteopath, it is my job to help your body maintain it’s optimum function – research and understanding is the key to helping people with life goals and if that is what can be done, then The Garden Clinic staff are willing and able to help.
Shelley James
M.Ost