Let’s start the insanity…

Why would I do this to myself?
Why give up chocolate for 28 days?! 

Yeah, it’s crazy (it sounds even crazier as I write this) because i’m someone who absolutely loves chocolate. I don’t just enjoy it; I LIVE FOR IT! I can easily have a chocolate (or two, or more) every single day. It’s my favourite thing in the whole entire world and i’m pretty sure i’m made up of 99.9% chocolate. The other 0.1% is “other snacks.”

Let’s examine this “Why” further…

Over December 2021 I received lots, and i mean LOTS of chocolate! Everyone knows i love it and it’s the perfect ‘Birthday/Christmas/Any Reason’ gift for a chocolate-lover such as me.

My cupboard, kitchen bench and fridge were packed with the good stuff – a large box of Cadbury Favourites, a box of Ferrero Rocher, packets of chocolate peanuts, Cadbury Christmas stocking filled with Cherry Ripe, Dairy Milk, Picnic, Crunchie, and Boost chocolate. 

Wait, there’s more – a box of Lindt milk chocolates, various chocolate ball sweets made by my mum that are coated in coconut, hundreds ‘n’ thousands and (yep, you guessed it) more chocolate!

My house looked like a snack aisle in the supermarket but was i complaining… of course not – that’s my idea of heaven!

So, here is the problem…

Chocolate is not too healthy (I know that) especially when I don’t understand the concept of ‘moderation’, but it makes me very happy. That really gets in the way of my goal to ‘eat less chocolate.’

By the end of December, it was all gone! the Turkish Delight chocolates from the Cadbury Favourites box were the only ones left, and that’s because I can’t stand them! But it gets worse… I got that desperate that I unwrapped one of those awful Turkish Delights to get my chocolate fix… it was so disgusting, but I still ate it – That’s when I knew I may have a little problem here.

You see now!

And that’s WHY I’ve set this insane challenge for myself, to test my will power and see if i can even do this. How long will i go before i cave and surrender to my chocolate cravings.

The Rules: It’s simple… no chocolate at all, no choc-coated anything of any kind, no mocha coffees and nothing chocolate flavoured either.

WEEK 1…
Wish me luck because I’ll need it!

Day 1
It’s February and my starting point to this test, my first day and there is chocolate in the house, as there always is. This will truly be the longest I have gone without chocolate, if I pass the 28 days that is! The day goes by, and I’ve noticed an unusual number of ads for chocolate on TV and online, which is so ironic – But I made it… I’ve made it through day one. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I would.

Day 2
I tear open a share bag of Cadbury Twirl chocolates, the ones that come with twelve mini treats in a pack. No, not for me! For my daughter’s school lunchbox, that was already proving hard to not take out one for myself, which is what I usually would do. I’m now reading the ingredients in everything i’m eating… I checked the Nutri-grain cereal box just in case, because i wasn’t even sure if it secretly had chocolate that I didn’t know about. All clear, and day two contained no chocolate. 

Day 3
I’m at the three-day hump mark, this is already hard. Watching my daughter eating a Cadbury chocolate and I’m having none is unheard of. So instead, I’m reaching for anything else in my house with sugar or salt. Things like chips, lollies and biscuits but reminding myself not to grab the chocolate biscuits. To help this challenge go smoother I had pre-ordered rainbow flavoured ice cream, instead of cookies ‘n’ creme or choc chip ice cream to try and get by the next few weeks.

Day 4
Today I started to get a headache – could I be getting chocolate-withdrawals? This is crazy. I wonder if this is a similar feeling to a smoker giving up cigarettes. They might find me curled up in the corner of the kitchen floor just uncontrollably shaking by the end of this challenge. Or they’ll find hundreds of chocolate wrappers hidden under my bed by Day 28. Either way it’s getting real now. I’m having doubts already and it’s only four days in.

Day 5
The headache hasn’t gone away and in fact getting worse. I really would love some chocolate right now to make me feel better. Okay, NO, I cannot let myself give in. I usually would eat a piece of chocolate when I need a pick-me-up and it does make me feel better. But I can’t do that now. And what do I decide to do… I ordered KFC for dinner; this is crazy now. I substituted one addiction for another. I don’t know what’s worse… high-fat chocolate or deep-fried greasy chicken.

Day 6
Leftover KFC was my lunch and dinner today – I’ve got no hope! The goal was to eat less chocolate, not eat more fat. I think that March will end up being the “Me vs KFC Challenge” and see if I can beat another favourite junk food addiction. Then April will be “Eat as much chocolate as possible Challenge” as it will be Easter. Oh gosh, seriously! Easter is coming soon. Subconsciously, I knew I couldn’t set this giving-up-chocolate thing during the chocolate-capital of the year!

Day 7
These withdrawal headaches are getting more constant, which is kind of scary. Even though I’ve made it through Week 1 without my face smothered in chocolate, I barely would say it was a successful first week into a healthier lifestyle! I have consumed so many packets of chips, scoops of rainbow ice cream, KFC, and non-chocolate biscuits to try and get my snack-fix covered. This can’t be good, so why am I doing it?

Next blog I’m going to look deeper into these cravings and try and see why i’m turning to all these unhealthy foods. Does it make me happy? is it an emotional thing? Follow my progress as I hopelessly crawl into Week 2, to investigate what the heck is going on with my need for “The Want.”