Giving Up Chocolate Might Be Difficult

Chocolate is one of the most liked and craved foods as it combines the sensuous feeling of melting cocoa with the innate preference for a sweet taste and creamy texture (Visioli et al., 2009). However, chocolate is often subject to a love-hate relationship as, despite how tasty and satisfying it may be, it also comes with a high sugar content and a lot of calories (Fletcher, Pine, Woodbridge & Nash, 2007). Furthermore, a considerable amount chocolate consumption can also contribute towards many health risks such as dental cavities (Peterson, 1989). Therefore, many people, like Sherry, may want to give up chocolate as it could potentially cause more damage than good in the long run. However, giving up chocolate is not that easy, and many people could find it quite challenging. This essay will look at some of the reasons why giving up chocolate might be difficult. Specifically, this essay will highlight cognitive, environmental, affective and physiological related reasons as to why Sherry might find it difficult to stop consuming chocolate for a month.

Individuals make the decision to give up foods like chocolate for many reasons some of which include weight maintenance or loss. Restrained eating is used to refer to the conscious tendency to restrict food intake in an attempt to maintain current weight or promote weight loss (Tuschl, 1990). Existing research has shown that restrained eating could potentially lead to overeating and bingeing when in a state of disinhibition (Snoek, Van Strien, Janssens & Engels, 2007). This theory of restrained eating was experimentally investigated by Polivy, Coleman and Herman (2005) who studied the behavioral difference between chocolate deprived, vanilla deprived and nondeprived individuals’ craving and consumption of the foods after a week. They found those who were deprived of chocolate, which is considered a well-like irreplaceable food, craved it more and consumed more of it compared to those deprived of vanilla, which is considered a less preferred and easily replaceable food. Their results also indicated that restrained eaters were more likely to consume the craved food relative to unrestrained eaters. Erskine and Georgiou (2010) provided further experimental evidence of restrained eating theory with a focus on suppression of thought. Participants were either restrained or unrestrained eaters and put in one of three experimental groups including thought suppression, thought expression or control. Their results demonstrated that those who were asked to suppress the thought of chocolate had a behavioral rebound and consumed more chocolate after suppression compared to those in the expression and control groups. Furthermore, they found this behavioral rebound effect was particularly significant with restrained eaters. Therefore, Sherry might find giving up chocolate particularly hard as engaging in restrained eating and suppression of chocolate related thought could lead to craving it more and overconsumption if in a state of disinhibition.

Furthermore, environmental factors, such as food cues, can increase both the desire and the consumption of the food (Fedoroff, Polivy & Herman, 1997; Fletcher et al., 2007; Tetley, Brunstrom, Griffiths, 2009). For example, existing experimental research has shown that olfactory food cues can increase craving and desire for the food (Fedoroff et al., 1997). More recently, Fletcher et al. (2007) conducted research to investigate how visual media image cues could impact female dieters craving and guilt. In their study, participants were either in the experimental, chocolate viewing group or the controlled, non-food viewing group. An Attitudes to Chocolate Questionnaire (ACQ) was given to measure craving and guilt attitudes towards chocolate. Fletcher et al. (2007) found that ACQ scores increased for those who were exposed to visual media images of chocolate and have dieted at some point in their life. They concluded that as dieters reported greater guilt, they experienced negative affect as a result of dietary control which is suggested to lead to craving. They further argue that negative affect due to dieting can have an adverse effect and increase the desire and craving for chocolate. However, Coelho, Polivy, Herman and Pliner (2008) has since suggested that the extent to which food cues impact the person trying to give up the food depends on their goals and level of restraint. Therefore, they conducted research to investigate this using olfactory food-cue of chocolate chip cookies in low, medium and high levels of dietary restraint. The results showed that food-cues did not impact those classified as high in dietary restraint as their self-reported value of dieting remained the same. On the contrary, food-cue exposure did impact the low-restraint group relative to controls. Therefore, Coelho et al. (2008) conclude that different levels of dietary restraint may lead to differences in self-control with regards to food cues. Nevertheless, assuming Sherry is dieting or a restrained eater, she might find giving up chocolate difficult if she was exposed to food-cues however, the extent to which food-cues impact her could be dependent upon her level of restraint.

Another environmental factor which may contribute individual’s food consumption is the social influence of friends and family (De La Haye, Robins, Mohr & Wilson, 2013; Pachucki, Jacques & Christakis, 2011; Salvy, Romero, Paluch & Epstein, 2007). It has been shown that those who have low self-control are more likely to be influenced by peer eating norms (Robinson, Otten & Hermans, 2016). Pachucki et al., 2011) conducted research to determine the extent to which spouses, friends and siblings influence patterns of eating over time. They found that the eating pattern which was most likely to be shared amongst social groups was alcohol and snacks. They also demonstrated how spouses were the most influential towards eating patterns over time. A more recent study by De La Haye et al. (2013) investigated the influence peers have on junk food intake. Specifically, they focused on 14 low-nutrient, energy-dense foods (LNED), including chocolate. The results showed that the intake of LNED was predicted by their peer’s intake. Therefore, if Sherry was to surround herself by individuals who consume large amounts of chocolate, she might be influenced by their eating habits especially if she has low self-control thus, she may find it hard to give up chocolate for a month.

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Moreover, emotional eating, which refers to a theory whereby negative emotions induces eating, might be another reason why Sherry would find it hard to give up chocolate (Macht & Simon, 2011). It has been shown that chocolate craving is increased particularly in negative and depressive emotional states (Willner et al., 1998, as seen in Macht & Muller, 2007). The improvement in emotional state is due to the sweetness and the orosensory pleasure which comes with eating chocolate as it can mitigate the effects of stress (Gibson, 2006). Furthermore, the effects of chocolate have been shown to be strong and followed by joy after consumption (Macht & Dettmer, 2006). Emotional eating theory was shown to be effective by Macht and Mueller (2007) who conducted an experiment to determine whether eating chocolate impacts an experimentally induced negative mood. They found that eating chocolate did reduce negative mood however, they observed that this effect was temporary lasting an average of 3 minutes. Further evidence demonstrating the effects of emotional eating was also provided by Macht and Mueller (2007). Through conducting several questionnaires, they found that emotional eaters experienced high levels of intensity with regards to chocolate craving and high chocolate consumption. Therefore, Sherry could find it hard to give up chocolate for a month if she is an emotional eater and experiences negative emotions which will heighten her craving for sweet, hedonically pleasurable food.

Although the cognitive and affective basis of food cravings plays a crucial role in the ability give up chocolate, physiological factors, can also contribute to this. It has been suggested that hormonal changes, such as during the menstrual cycle, could be linked to chocolate craving (Hormes & Rozin, 2009). For example, Rozin, Leine and Stoess (1991) investigated chocolate craving and the possible link between chocolate and the menstrual cycle through questionnaires. They found that women reported a great liking and craving for chocolate compared to men. About half of the female chocolate cravers reported a substantial chocolate craving in the perimenstrual period of their cycle. The results showed that this occurred a few days before menstruation and extended into the first few days during menstruation. They suggested that the perimenstrual craving could explain the reasons behind why women particularly like chocolate compared to men. However, there has since been evidence to suggest that this is dependent on culture for example, American women were more likely to report perimenstrual related chocolate craving compared to Spanish women (Zellner, Garriga-Trillo, Centeno & Wadsworth, 2004). Additionally, Hormes and Rozin (2009) found that there was a higher chocolate craving reported for pre-menopausal women compared to post-menopausal women however, it was not sufficient enough to support a complete physiologically hormonal explanation for chocolate craving. Therefore, other factors alongside menstruation could provide an explanation for chocolate craving in women such as stress and mood (Hormes & Rozin, 2009), or cognitive factors including attitudes to chocolate, thought elaboration and dietary restraint (Hormes, 2014). Nevertheless, hormonal changes make it difficult for Sherry to give up chocolate however, this is more likely to be the case dependent on cultural factors or the hormonal changes in combination with several other cognitive and affective factors.

Finally, research suggests that chocolate induces addictive behavior with similar psychopharmacologic reactions typical to alcohol and drug abuse, such as craving. The craving for chocolate is associated with the hedonic appeal of its texture, taste and smell (Bruinsma & Douglas, 1999). Furthermore, the consumption of highly palatable food is associated with the mesolimbic dopaminergic system similar to that of drug misuse (Trinko, Sears, Guarnieri, DiLeone, 2007; Parker, Parker & Brotchie, 2006). Tuomisto et al. (1999) conducted an experiment investigating the difference between self-identified chocolate addicts and controls in several variables including behavioral, affective and physiological variables. They found that those who claim to be addicted to chocolate ate more and experienced greater levels of craving, arousal and negative affect compared to controls therefore displaying characteristics which map onto addiction more generally. This was further supported by Ruddock, Field and Hardman (2017) who conducted a laboratory experiment to determine if self-identified food addicts would display higher food reward, increased liking of food or hunger, and consume more calories than self-identified non-addicts. To do this, participants underwent questionnaires to assess hunger and food reward rating as well access to an all you can eat high- (chocolate) and low-fat (grapes) foods after having eaten a meal. Ruddock, Field and Hardman (2017) found that those who classified themselves as food addicts ate more chocolate and showed a higher desire to eat compared to non-addicts. However, it should be noted that, despite the vast evidence suggesting chocolate can be addictive, it has also been suggested that the so-called addiction associated with chocolate should not be viewed as addictive behavior. Instead, it is a combination of several factors such as hedonic effects, restraint, and social and cultural perceptions of intake which contribute to the perceived addiction (Rogers and Smit, 2000). Nevertheless, if Sherry considered herself to be addicted to chocolate, she might find giving up chocolate difficult as the lack of chocolate may increase her craving and desire to eat it.

In conclusion, if Sherry was to give up chocolate for a month, there are a number of internal and external factors which could contribute towards making it difficult. Cognitive factors such as restraint and thought suppression could lead to an over consumption when in a state of disinhibition. Environmental factors such as food cues and social influence could increase Sherry’s exposure to chocolate thus increasing her desire and craving for it. Furthermore, affective factors including low mood and stress could heighten Sherry’s craving for chocolate as it temporarily relieves negative mood states. Finally, physiological factors such as hormones and addiction could also increase Sherry’s desire to eat chocolate.

However, it is important to note that the extent to which these factors could impact Sherry whilst trying to give up chocolate is dependent on individual differences such as her level of self-control.