The traditional ways to avoid overeating sweets create the having to avoid the overeating of sweets.

Empty your house of them. Give away your leftover Halloween candy. Hide the Christmas chocolates. Keep the cookies in a shoebox on the top shelf of the closet, and place the stepstool in the opposite side of the room.

For some, this may be successful.

Frankly I always found these tactics fanned the flames of desire.

What you can’t have you want more of, right? Just think of dating psychology for a moment and my point is proven.

Anyhow, I worked through many of my food addictions in the past, but I was still hooked on something very very powerful. Dark. Chocolate.

Here’s how I overcame my daily obsession.  

But first a back story: I was always the kind of kid who, after being told not to open the door, headed straight for the handle the moment the adults left.

So naturally when I tried to wean myself off chocolate by hiding it, I’d go through the effort to unbury and devour it before my rival rationale could enter. Not to mention I always remembered exactly where I hid it! We really can’t fool ourselves for long.

So that’s when it occurred to me: rather than caving into temptation of the forbidden fruit, I should let it not be forbidden.

I began leaving squares of dark chocolate with cacao nibs and minty chocolate bunny heads and organic Mayan spice bars on the counter, in the fridge, next to the tea in the cupboard, even next to my work computer. It was all I saw. In the morning when I got of bed, I spotted chocolate before I could even make it to the bathroom to brush my teeth.  

Did I eat dark chocolate first thing in the morning? Yes.

Did I snack on it mindlessly while at my desk? Of course I did.

But I wasn’t breaking my will.

Eventually two really powerful things emerged:

1) Chocolate became mundane.

My craving for it was no longer a yearning for novelty.

2) It began to teach me true discipline.

At some point when we can see our temptation in plain light, it ceases to become so dazzling. At some point eating so damn much dark chocolate was, well, sickening.

True discipline wasn’t about saying no, it was about understanding consequences.

When I work with my clients, there are plenty of ways to use the right food and diet to permanently and effectively eliminate sweets cravings. But on top of those methods, uncovering some of the driving forces and increasing awareness is just as powerful a tactic.

And both these roads lead to long term success, rather than sneaky antics or sheer force, and the sweet tooth is healthily repaired.