Cut your chocolate cravings

By PRSD, on Tuesday, November 11, 2008

posted by Cptn

Curbing those chocolate urges is top of most people’s daily ‘to do’ list. (Or have we been watching too much daytime telly?), and new research from Exeter Univeristy might have the answer.

Researchers there have found that a 15-minute walk can reduce chocolate cravings.

Method: following three days of abstinence, 25 regular chocolate eaters were asked to either complete a 15-minute brisk walk or rest, in a random order. They then engaged in tasks that would normally induce chocolate cravings, including a mental challenge and opening a chocolate bar.

Result: after the exercise participants reported lower craving than after they were resting. And these reduced longings lasted all of 10 minutes at least.

Conclusion: Professor Adrian Taylor told the PRSD: “Our ongoing work consistently shows that brief bouts of physical activity reduce cigarette cravings, but this is the first study to link exercise to reduced chocolate cravings.”

Apparently 97% of women and 68% of men experience food cravings. Craved foods tend to be calorie-dense, fatty or sugary foods, with chocolate being the most commonly reported, says the press release. Chocolate has a number of biologically active constituents that temporarily enhance our mood with a result that eating it can become a habit, particularly when we are under stress and when it is readily available, and perhaps, it says, when we are least active.

And finally back to Professor Taylor for some smooth chocolatey advice: “Short bouts of physical activity can help to regulate how energised and pleasant we feel, and with a sedentary lifestyle we may naturally turn to mood regulating behaviours such as eating chocolate.

“Accumulating 30 minutes of daily physical activity, with two 15 minute brisk walks, for example, not only provides general physical and mental health benefits but also may help to regulate our energy intake. This research furthers our understanding of the complex physical, psychological and emotional relationship we have with food.”

If you’ve got a hankering for more, and think you can stomach it, the research is published in the online journal Appetite.