It’s not just about chocolate. Your body is talking — are you listening?
Let’s be real.
Cravings feel like weakness. They show up late at night. Mid-afternoon. Right after lunch when you swore you were full. You might tell yourself it’s lack of discipline, but the truth?
Cravings are not random. They’re messages. And when we learn to read them, we stop fighting our bodies and start understanding them.
Here’s what your cravings might be trying to say:
🍫 You’re constantly craving sugar.
This one’s big. You’re going strong all day, and then bam — sugar hits you like a freight train. But this craving doesn’t just come out of nowhere.
When you eat something sugary, even a “healthy” snack like flavoured yoghurt, cereal, or juice, your blood sugar shoots up fast. Then, just as fast, it crashes. That crash leaves you feeling flat, tired, and hungry again… even if you just ate.
And here’s the kicker: your brain loves sugar because it triggers dopamine. The same chemical that lights up when you experience something exciting or rewarding. That’s why sugar feels so hard to stop. It literally hijacks the part of your brain that makes you feel good.
A Harvard study showed that sugar lights up the brain’s “reward centre” in the same way as drugs like cocaine.
Harvard Medical School, 2013
This means every time you have sugar, your brain remembers it and will ask for it again, especially when you’re tired or stressed.
👉 Tip: Next time the sugar urge hits, try drinking a big glass of water and eating a handful of nuts or cheese. Pairing protein and fat helps steady your blood sugar so the craving fades faster. A quick 10-minute walk can also trick your brain out of the dopamine loop.
🧂 You’re dying for something salty or crunchy.
Not sweet this time, just salty. Maybe chips. Maybe biltong. Maybe something with that loud, satisfying crunch.
This craving is often linked to your stress levels or a lack of minerals. When you’re stressed, your body burns through magnesium, sodium and potassium faster. That can make you crave salt, especially if you’re eating low-carb, because you’re flushing out more fluid and minerals than usual.
Also, crunchy foods can give your brain a strange sense of relief, that “crunch” feeling can help you blow off some steam, even if it’s just for a second. It’s weird, but it’s real.
🧪 The NIH explains that minerals like sodium and magnesium are essential for keeping your nerves calm and your muscles working properly and when they drop, cravings kick in. (NIH, 2021)
If you’ve been feeling a bit flat, headachey, or more snacky than usual, it could just be your body saying: “I need salt. And a break.”
👉 Tip: Instead of chips, reach for olives, pickles, or salted nuts to restore minerals. If you want the crunch factor, try raw veggies like cucumber or celery with a sprinkle of salt. A few deep breaths or a stretch break can also calm the stress that drives the crunch-urge.
🍞 You want bread, pasta, and all the starchy comfort food.
This one shows up hard on cold days, long weeks, or after an emotional wobble. You just want something warm, filling, and carby. That’s not weakness, it’s your brain trying to soothe you.
Here’s what’s going on: when you eat starch (like bread or pasta), your body turns it into sugar pretty quickly. That sugar helps produce something called serotonin, the feel-good chemical that calms you down and lifts your mood.
So when life feels a little heavy, it makes perfect sense that your body starts asking for the quickest route to comfort.
A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that refined carbs were strongly linked to changes in mood, especially for women.
(AJCN, 2015)
You’re not being dramatic. Your brain just wants to feel better and it remembers how good that bowl of pasta made you feel last time.
👉 Tip: Warm up a cup of broth or have roasted veggies with olive oil, they give the same comfort factor without the crash. If it’s emotional, pause for 5 minutes to journal or step outside; often the urge softens once you reset.
🍫 You want chocolate — not just sugar, actual chocolate.
This is a specific craving. It’s not just a sweet tooth, it’s the rich, slightly bitter, melt-in-your-mouth kind of craving that only chocolate hits.
This usually shows up when you’re tired, overwhelmed, or emotionally stretched and yes, for many women, it’s more intense during hormone shifts (whether that’s PMS or menopause). But men and women of all ages can feel it too.
Why? Because chocolate is high in magnesium, a mineral that helps calm your nervous system, relax your muscles, and regulate mood. When your magnesium is low from stress, lack of sleep, or even just daily demands, your body starts nudging you toward chocolate.
Magnesium has been shown to ease symptoms like anxiety, tension, and low mood which are all triggers for cravings.
(JACN, 2007)
So no, you’re not “addicted.” Your body might just be asking for support and chocolate is how it remembers getting it.
👉 Tip: Dark chocolate (70%+) in small amounts can satisfy without the sugar spike. Or try magnesium-rich foods like pumpkin seeds, spinach, or even a supplement. A hot shower or gentle stretch before bed can also ease the tension your body is trying to soothe with chocolate.
🧠 So, what does this all mean?
Cravings don’t make you broken.
They’re not proof that you’re addicted, lazy, or failing.
They’re feedback, like your body sending you a message in the only way it knows how.
When you understand the why behind your cravings, you stop fighting them and start responding in ways that actually work.
That’s exactly what we teach inside the Sugar-Free Challenge, how to understand your body’s signals, how to stop reacting to every craving, and how to build a way of eating that works with you, not against you.
Or try The Kilo-Crushing Kickstart Bundle, a compact crash course of the essentials you need to immediately stop the downward spiral and take control of your weight and your health. You don’t need more control. You need better information and that starts here.
Sources:
- Harvard Medical School. (2013). Sugar and the brain.
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/sugar-same-drugs-7-26-13 - Sleep Foundation. (2020). How Sleep Affects Hunger and Appetite.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nutrition/sleep-and-hunger - NIH. (2021). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507875/ - AJCN. (2015). High glycemic index diet and depression in postmenopausal women.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/102/2/454/4564496 - JACN. (2007). Magnesium and PMS.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07315724.2007.10719662
