Want it...need it

Have you ever observed that, when you try not to think about something, you can't help thinking about it even more?

Cravings are linked to restraint. Anything subject to societal, or personal, restraint, in other words anything good that's deemed 'bad for you', is a candidate for a craving. Chocolate springs to mind.

Well, research suggests that it's pointless to fight food cravings, particularly when it comes to chocolate.

A study conducted at Hertfordshire University found that women who were specifically asked not to think about chocolate ate 50% more than those who were encouraged to talk freely about their predilections.

134 students were asked to either suppress all thoughts about chocolate, or talk about how much they enjoyed it. They were then asked to select from two confectionery brands, believing that it was this choice the researchers were monitoring. But how much they ate was measured instead.

Women who'd tried not to think about chocolate ate, on average, eight chocolates, while those who had talked freely about it ate five. The research, which was led by Dr. James Erskine, was published online in Appetite journal in October 2007.

The findings tie in with other research, which indicates that when you try to suppress a thought, this often has quite the opposite effect.

Some studies suggest that disrupting the mental imagery associated with cravings - visualising something else - can help. A study by Professor Marika Tiggemann and Dr Eva Kemps at Flinders University in Adelaide indicates that, instead of trying not to think about chocolate, people were more successful in reducing their cravings if they imagined a completely different object, such as a rose.

The research is published in the June 2007 edition of the Journal of Applied Psychology. It follows an earlier Flinders University study, published in Appetite (September 2005), which indicates that craving intensity relates to how vivid the food image is, with visual senses contributing more to cravings than any other sense, including smell.

Tiggemann and Kemps' work is geared to helping overweight people cope with cravings. Their research and the Hertfordshire University study have clear implications for people on diets. It doesn't pay to set unrealistic goals, such as resolving to cut out fattening foods altogether. For some people, eating a small quantity of the food they desire may help dispel the craving.


Cravings are individual and elicit different responses in different people

Cravings grip us all to some degree, but the cause and experience varies from person to person. It's a complex subject and a number of factors come into play, such as whether the suppressed thought has a high emotional content, how much it matters to people, whether the craving is physically based, caused by a nutrient deficiency, or depression related.



Differences have been observed between males and females. Women tend to crave sweet things, whereas men are more likely to desire savoury, usually salty or fatty, foods. These tendencies are also seen in 'comfort food', with men generally preferring hearty foods and women opting for quick, usually sweet, foods.

There are also differences in how men and women respond to cravings. In the Hertfordshire University study, men ate more chocolate if they spoke about it.

I wonder if perhaps this had something to do with the different level of craving experienced by men, compared to women. Perhaps, overall, their cravings weren't as strong, so restraint was less of an issue. By talking about it, it was more top-of-mind, so they ate more.

On the other hand, without reading too much into it, the findings may shed light on the different tendencies of men and women to talk through issues. In qualitative research, I've heard women admit that talking through problems is in itself cathartic, and helps reduce the problem. (In the Hertfordshire research, it seemed that talking about chocolate was the next best thing to eating it, and tended to reduce the cravings.) Anecdotally, men are more likely to want to fix the problem immediately, and if they can't, then talking about it stresses them out.

There you go. I'm off in search of chocolate. I've been trying not to think about it, and writing about wanting it is doing nothing to dispel the craving. Ultimately, though, I feel confident that a small indulgence now will pay off.