Dear Chocoholic,

I wonder how many of you last week decided to commit to giving up chocolate for lent? If you did, well fair play to you, go for it!!!!

I am just writing a little post here, that might support you through until Easter Sunday on 31st March. ( And beyond, of course!!)

For me, to help you to give up chocolate it would be helpful to you, to write down, and get really clear just why you are wanting to do it! Yep, really, as it will help when it could get a bit tough.  So you could write this in your phone, on your computer, or in a special journal, I find it hard to resist a good journal to write my thoughts and feelings in, but that's just me

I would suggest buddying up with at least one other person so that you can support each other when you might be having serious withdrawal symptoms and you could keep each going and keep each other committed, you know those times when you might be dreaming in chocolate, or not being able to get it out of your head!

You could have your 'buddy,' on speed dial for those moments when you are feeling very weak, and have back up plans for what you might do instead? For example: how could you do something that will give you pleasure without chocolate? Could you exercise, could you take the dog or someone's dog a walk, could you meet your friend for a cuppa, could you snuggle up to your lover, or child, could you practice deep breathing, or make yourself something nourishing and tasty to eat, and so the list goes on!!

And finally, I would very much love to know what your reward for this time of giving up chocolate would be? Can you identify something that would inspire you to keep going? Would it be that feeling of self-control? Would it be to bet with your buddy that you could do it and treat each other to lunch or something? Whatever feels right here, go for it. It can help some of us to have an end in mind when we attempt to do things like this, it could even be that just starting and committing to do with a friend could be enough to get you through to the end, quite honestly.

I trust you have found value here, in the meantime, do let me know if you have any questions about overcoming chocolate addiction, that I am happy to respond to here!

Just email me at: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Much love,

Carriexx

Dearest Chocoholic,

I wonder if you have been following the Austrailian Olympic Swimming in Adelaide recently? Maybe some of my Aussie followers? Can you tell I am a bit of a swimming fan? Well, Ian Thorpe, Australia’s most successful swimmer, mounted his comeback and bless his soul got so so close to qualifying for the Australian team for the London Olympics but he did not qualify…He got so so close but ‘failed.’ He put all his energy, efforts and soul on the line, he put everything and was just seconds away from qualifying for the semi-finals in either the 100m freestyle or the 200m freestyle.

And guess what he did discover? He discovered a love for something, swimming that he had lost during his years out of swimming, around 5,  after many years of being pheneomonally successful. He discovered that he still wants to continue swimming as he just loves it and wants to see what can happen as he develops further.. Interesting!!!

Carrie, what’s your point here? Aha, well you see I feel that many of you might not be taking your addiction to chocolate seriously as you are fearing that you might fail?mm does this resonate? I understand completely and you know you might well fail. Yep I just wrote that. You might ‘fail,’ ie get a completely different outcome that you expect, and?…

I know I have been there and done there and got many t-shirts during my rather extended journey in overcoming chocolate and you know I do have my odd challenges and moments when I have and need some chocolate, it is just that they are no longer as intense or as extensive…!

For me, I can provide you with a number of tools that you can draw upon, and hyou can apply them in your daily life; but as we all emotional beings and life happens there are no guarantees whatsoever as it all depends on how you respond to your own unique challenges in life! For example: what I personally have discovered is that as you learn each lesson, be it overcoming your addiction to chocolate or learning to love yourself more, another lesson magically appears; which is what life is all about!

So by embracing the prospect of ‘failure,’ and really acknowledging your fear of it, actually makes it less likely to happen and more likely that you will become successful at whatever it is you have set your heart on, and often it what you have set your heart on does not manifest in the way that you intended it to, something even better often does!

For example, as I made my way through my own ‘Chocolate Rehab,’ I ‘failed,’ and ‘failed,’ and ‘failed,’ throughout many months but each time I discovered invaluable feedback which I will be sharing with you in my forthcoming book such as the importance of a multi-level approach, ie not just looking at chocolate addiction from a mental or nutritional or even emotional level!! Yes, I screamed from the top of my lungs repeatedly at the time, yet now I see the gold in it!! 

So, I wholeheartedly invite you to fear your fear of failure and do it anyway! In this case, take your addiction to chocolate seriously and commit to overcoming it be it with Chocolate Rehab or something else, as you so deserve to feel and be happy which I honestly feel is the sole purpose of our lives!

As always, I look forward to hearing from you and I absolutely invite your questions and suggestions for blog posts which I will post and even coach you in; just email me at: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Much love, light & giggles,

Carriexxx

Reason for chocolate addiction

Dearest Chocoholic,

Here in the UK, I am gearing up for Wimbledon next week, as I am keen follower of tennis and I am really looking forward to watching my favourite tennis tournament of the year! I wonder will this be the year Murray triumphs; quite possibly given his recent form at Queens, you never know!!

Okeydokie, so here’s a post about reasons for chocolate addiction,’ as I am often asked why I feel people are really addicted to chocolate! 

For me, there is little logic really, as there is no general view as chocoholics are all different to be quite honest! For example: I remember being in Sydney at their amazing Mind, Body & Spirit event seeg hundreds of people come by my stall, there was absolutely stereotypes amongst them! Admittedly, there were mostly female; and that’s about all that I could say generally about them!

Many of them confided me in their own ‘reasons,’ for their addiction ranging from lack of sex drive, lack of sex, little or now self-esteem or self-confidence, boredom, stress ( one of the most common reasons!!), lack of direction, their only ‘guilty pleasure,’ which they had ‘overplayed,’ ‘the only thing that made them happy,’ ‘what they most looked forward to at the end of the day,’ loneliness, being fed up or or depressed and heartbreak… were the main ones! One lovely lady confessed it was the most exciting part of her day, which  I felt rather sad about:( Another chap, openly confessed that he knew his female friend who admitted to eating chocolate whilst having sex!!  Many confessed to having a ‘romance’ with their chocolate, as they found it easier and safer..

For me, I would suggest that most of their reasons were more emotional than mental! Believe it or not, the most common feedback from both the chocoholics themselves and those who were not chocoholics, as so many people who were not addicted to chocolate came up to speak their mind to me anyway, those confident, talkative Aussies, was that it was assumed that ALL chocolate addicts were overweight! So not true!  Of course, some are, many are simply not; one Aussie opened up to me, about her three hour gym habit to keep her in her skinny jeans; seriously stuff!

Another common assumption made was  that they were all female- partly true, I would say at least 80% were who spoke to me! They cut across all ages groups too, so not typical age group appeal, just EVERYONE, which is really no shocker is it now!

I would love to hear your own personal ‘reasons,’ here on my blog, via twitter, or even via email: carrie@chocolaterehab.com  Even if you just get clear yourself privately in your own journal why you are addicted to chocolate it will absolutely help you to overcome it!

Love, giggles & light,

Carriexxxx

Comments about being addicted to chocolate

Dearest Chocoholic,

Today, I am relieved that our lovely Mister Chilli, our cat, is safe and sounds as he got stuck on our neighbour’s roof last night :( Quite a tramatic experience, bless him. Thankfully, he was able to get down, even if he did slip on to our neighbour’s porch and then was able to come down!

Okeydokie, ladies, today I would like to make a few comments about being addicted to chocolate, for a  change!! 

LOL!

a) When do you feel that you really started you chocolate addiction? Are you able to pinpoint it to a particular happening in your life? For example: the breakdown in a relationship, loss of job, financial stress?  Maybe even a combination of a number of events which happened to you.  You might  have you been addicted as long as you can remember?

b) What do you feel it would take for you to address the underlying issues of your addiction to chocolate?For example: do you feel it might take support from someone who understands and takes your addiction seriously? Or something else?

c) Can you at all imagine how you might feel to be able to resist chocolate and just have it now and again? Or do you just see it as major source of pleasure, escapism, avoidance in your life? Can you then imagine having your feelings and needs met through other means?

d) How would you feel if you just keep on feeling how you feel and just ‘maintained,’ you addiction to chocolate in 6 months time? Would you feel worse, the same, angry, frustrated, depressed?

e) What really is the pay off for your addiction to chocolate? For example is it avoiding facing your natural brilliance, is it avoiding facing your feelings as you are too scared, is it avoiding love, success, fun, or even life? -ie you find it ‘easier’ to keep stuck with your addiction, with your feelings and needs than facing them?!

This mini and mighty blog post, is just to invite you to ponder about these key questions surrounding your addiction to chocolate in order to perhaps stir something up inside of you to actually DESIRE to do something about it, honour yourself and your life and face it; which of course takes courage! I understand. By just taking the first step and settting an intent to do this, through answering these questions and  you can really help to symbolically show the universe and yourself that you are seriously keen to face this issue and look at how, in your own time you can overcome it!

I wholeheartedly look forward to hearing from you here, on twitter, facebook or via email: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Love, light & giggles,

Carriexxxx

Chocolate Addiction withdrawl symptoms

 Dearest Chocoholic, 

I have been speaking to a few people via email recently about how to cope with the withdrawal symptoms that are likely to come up when you are trying to balance out your addiction to chocolate. What came up for me was that nutritionally you might well get headaches, or feel lethargic as your body detoxifies, for example; which happened to me!   I must say that  I am not a nutritionalist, and I am looking to hook up with one shortly, who can do a Q and A here with me about the nutritional aspects of overcoming chocolate addiction.

 What I can look at, is the other aspects such rebuilding a particular routine you might have, instead of eating chocolate. For example, you might return home of an evening and after your dinner automatically grab several chocolate bars whilst watching television, or going online. If this is the case, I wonder what you can choose to do instead of eating chocolate? So, it is a matter of starting out with a clear intention to create a new evening ritual here, for example.  Some people might opt to go to the gym, or have an indulgent bath, take an evening class,  watch a programme that they love, meet up with a friend for a lovely night out. All of these, I admit are very much external ways of dealing with your withdrawal symptoms, which are of course important as are the internal ways of dealing with your symptoms.

Internal ways of dealing with your symptoms, are meditating. affirmations, journaling your feelings and needs,   doing self-healing, praying, trusting, tuning into the angelic realms for love and support, drawing upon the laws of attraction to help, for example, set an intent for this process to be easy, fun and light!

A  really fun way to create a new vision for your life,  and indeed new ritual, with a more balanced view of chocolate is to create vision maps! What are vision maps Carrie? Aha, I’m so glad you asked me? They are visual representations of what would like to attract into our lives. For example: you might have become a chocolate addict, as you have been depressed about  not being partnered up with the love of your life, so you could add pictures of couples,  and visual representations of what romance and love mean to you, with words too such as trust, fun,  support,  and oodles of love, for example. It could be that a key underlying issue for you, with your chocolate addiction was lack of self-esteem and poor body image, so you could add pictures of a healthy person, who sparkled with confidence, vitality and radiates warmth, love, and kindness, AND self-belief!! You know what I am talking about here!!!

 I trust you have found value here and as always I so look forward to hearing from you here, on twitter (= @chocolaterehab), or via email: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Much love, light & giggles,

Carriexxx

Rehab for Chocolate Addiction

Dearest Chocoholic,

I trust you are well and that if there is sunshine where you are, you are catching a little bit!Here, I am writing today about ‘rehab’ for chocolate addiction. Well, as you might guess I have quite few views on this!

So here I go, for me ‘rehab’ means stopping doing something in a particular way  and looking at how to do things differently so as to reinvent yourself from within. With chocolate addiction, adding ‘rehab,’ next to chocolate, means that you would be  looking at how your addiction to chocolate reflects who you are, how you are feeling and what you are doing with your life up until this point; so it essentially acts as a mirror; in order to look at what you would rather be feeling and doing!

To enter into your own ‘chocolate rehab,’ with my help, on your own, or with someone else’s help, you will be looking at how you can transform yourself from within, which is rarely done overnight, as it is about getting deeply in touch with your feelings and needs, and getting really clear on why you would like this transformation and what you are intending on gaining from this deep, and highly transformative process.

For example: it could be that you have been ‘using’ chocolate to hide from the world, as you are unsure of what you are really wanting to do with your life. Therefore, an exploration into this will be carried out. It could be that you realise that you are ‘using’ chocolate as a way of comforting yourself from your own stresses and strains of daily existence, that it is ‘acting’ like a soothing friend at the end of the day! Therefore, it might be an idea to explore how you can look at comforting yourself in different ways, be it through  actively asking for more empathy from family and friends, to even seeking the help of a professional Life Coach to help you to look at ways you can build up your self-relationship and self-esteem more, so that you have your feelings and needs met not only in your own relationship with yourself but with others too.

In essence, ‘Rehab,’ for me, and with my own Chocolate Rehab Programme simply means that you will come out of it, a different person, from when started out on your journey to overcome chocolate addiction. Also,’Rehab’ means that  you will feel so much better about yourself, you will know how to deal with your feelings and needs better and be able to manage your moods and indeed your life without the constant need of your ‘chocolatey fix!’

That is not to say that you will never want or need to eat chocolate; rather that you will have balanced out the role it plays in your life, so that you will be able to walk away from it, time and time again!  You will feel that you know why you are here and you will also be in touch with your value and your worth as well as know your own unique qualities!  You will have fallen in love with yourself; even if for the very first time and will know that  know matter what happens in your life, you have the strength and the strategies to get through it!  All of the above descriptions, are my heartfelt and authentic intentions for your experience in my own Chocolate Rehab Programme, yes really!

Of course, I have only written about a few of many possibilities as to why you might be ‘using’ chocolate!  I trust this post has helped you!

As ever I would love to hear your feelings on this post, via email: carrie@chocolaterehab.com, on Twitter @chocolaterehab, or even here on the blog!

Much love, light & giggles,

Carrie xxx

Controlling Chocolate Cravings

Dearest Chocoholic,

I trust you are loving this superb weather, depending of course where you are in the world, in the UK the weather is dreamlike for us! The British Summer is most definitely delivering, big time!

Here’s a post about how to controlling your chocolate cravings!!

For me, as I am sure you might have guessed I am going to look a bit deeper into this, away from just the surface-level response or reaction. So, here I go!  What I would like you to do is to consider the symbolism of your chocolate addiction? Yes really.

I appreciate this might sound a bit strange to some of you, and I expect that, just humour me and you might well surprise yourself with the insights you gain from looking at your chocolate addiction in this way.

Imagine chocolate represented something to you, what would it really be? This could be a feeling, such as love, support, joy, excitement, depression, relief, or sadness. Or, it  could be a description of your life such as lacking in purpose,  love or full of stress. Whatever this might be, grab your notebook and write down what you FEEL, not think,  what you FEEL your addiction to chocolate really represents, which of course can be a number of things, which is absolutely fine as we are all different!

Then with your own personal interpretation written down of what your chocolate addiction represents to you, I would like you now to answer the following question… ‘What I can I now do to control my chocolate cravings?’

And write down in your journal your immediate response, even if it is: " I don’t know Carrie!!" All is absolutely fine, do not worry just get writing!  Deep down we all are our best healers, our best life coaches, and indeed our best friends, we just lose touch with our sense of self through society, so by doing this exercise you might surprise yourself by what emerges!

For example: you might have written: ‘ Talk open-heartedly to my close friends about my worries and problems instead of bottling them up and overindulging in chocolate."  if you really don’t know try answering this question: " If you did not what to do, to control your chocolate cravings  what would you do?"  This seems a bit strange trying to answer this question, again just humour me and give it a whirl you might be amazed at your answers!

I feel that you know deep down how to control your chocolate cravings and taking the above action I am sure will help you with your intent to do so!

I look forward to hearing from you hear, on twitter@chocolaterehab, or even via email to: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Much love, light & giggles,

Carriex

How to get over a chocolate addiction

Dearest Chocoholic,

Suddenly, I’m on a roll, after a wee while away from blogging!! All good:)

Okeydokie, the question which I will answer today is: ‘how to get over a chocolate addiction?’

I do feel that there are many ways to do this, as we are all different, and we all resonate with different strategies and different issues and ways, so with this in mind,  I will offer you my own views, briefly!

For me, to get over a chocolate addiction, you need to first of all take it seriously, so stop laughing off this addiction which could well be ‘eating up your spirit,’ and stopping you from being who you are destined to be, that is really keeping you on the ‘sidelines,’ of life as you ‘hide’ your light underneath the seemingly endless trail of chocolate wrappers! Am I being too deep for you here? That’s just how I approach  getting over chocolate addiction, not everyone does you know, which is absolutely fine. For some, a quick hypnosis session does the trick, which is great, whatever works to help you is all great as far as I am concerned!

Once you have taken your addiction seriously, you then to need to see where it is really literally affecting you in your life. To do this, you need to get a journal and start to monitor your feelings about chocolate as more often than not you will be eating chocolate unconsciously and not be in touch with how you are really  feeling!

When  you have a clear  emotional picture of your chocolate addiction then I suggest you look at which issues it is manifesting as. For example: is it manifesting as low self-esteem. poor self-image, boredom, stress, lack of love, an unhealthy relationship with yourself,  having no clear life purpose so just only ‘physically’ showing up at work, ie not with your heart and spirit, to name just a few of the issues which could be apparent to you! It could be a few issues, or it could be just one, and that’s absolutely fine.

Then I suggest that you look at why these issues might have appeared, so go even deeper, as you start to do this, you are likely initially to feel a little sad that you have allowed chocolate to block your own progress, that’s perfectly natural! It will pass as you work through this. I know when I took stock of how my own chocolate addiction had affected me, so deeply, I got quick upset, and even a bit more depressed, which I could not really imagine at the time.

What I am sure of, is that as you uncover these issues and shed light on them, then they have less power over you, as do any fears you might have been hiding about yourself, your talents and your life, as you face them, feel them and allow them to be let go of you WILL feel lighter, and find that chocolate will have so much less ‘bite’ than before! Honestly!!!!

I have only given you just a few ideas to start to look DEEPLY at getting over your addiction to chocolate, these alone might be enough! You never know as we are all so different! Wow, wouldn’t that be great hey, stay open-minded and open-hearted to these possibilities:)

I would love as ever to hear your thoughts and feelings about this, here on the blog, or even via email: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Love, giggles & light,

Carriexxxx

Chocolate Addiction and Stress

Dearest Chocoholic,

My oh my what a few days it has been in the UK, where  I live, ‘love has most definitely been in the air,’ with the Royal wedding! Seeing Kate  & Wills kiss not once but twice was just lovely! I personally loved that they exchanged cheeky little chats in the midst of all of the pomp and ceremony which made it for me, showing that it is an authentic connection as they could be their natural selves with each other, which is all we want of our future partners isn’t it!

Okeydokie, now back to chocolate addiction ladies!! Let’s have a wee chat about chocolate addiction and stress!

First off, we all of course get stresssed and one of the first ‘gateway drugs’ as they are called, which are things that you go for first, is often something to eat, here of course I am talking about chocolate! So, let’s  have a mini coaching session about this shall we, to see if I can help light up something within you, and trigger you to take action in this area, if what I say resonates with you!

Secondly, I would suggest, identifying the causes of your stress, and seeing how much control you have over them.For example: when make a list, have one list or one end of your list with issues which you can do something about, and issues which you cannot. For example: your low self-esteem, your boredom, you feeling lonely, you feeling undervalued, you feeling unloved.The other part of the list, are issues which you have no control over: ie if someone loves you, paying your taxes, how people respond to you with love, or hate or apathy etc.

I am sure you get the idea!!  When you have this list look at what you would like to face first and start to do something about, even if something small just do it! For example: you might be feeling lonely, so what could you do to help you with this? You could opt to spend time with close friends, more regularly to help you feel loved and treasured, and you could even opt to spend a night on your own and start to feel happy in your own company? So many options here and there is no right or wrong as we are all very different, and I am certainly not encouraging a ‘cookie cutter’ approach as am a great believer in going with what feels right for you!

When you come to looking at your ‘ no control over list,’  write over it, ‘ I let this go!’ Simple and powerful! Sometimes it can feel mightily cathartic to rip this piece of paper into shreds, or even burn it!! I know! Feels good though!! 

LOL!

 Finally, with your ‘issues I have control over list,’ I would suggest that you look at working through them, in your own time, at your own pace and as you do I am sure you will feel less stressed and less inclined to go for your ‘gateway drug,’ immediately, if at all as you will feel more in control and less stressed!

I do feel that this is an ongoing management thing for you to do, ie managing your stress, and issues will inevitably come up in your life which can trigger even more stress so maybe I will look at dealing with stress in other posts too, if you would like me too, let me know here on the blog, or email me: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Remember, you can move through your addiction, as you take it seriously and as you face and feel your feelings, face and deal with your triggers of your chocolate addiction, which could be anything from stress, boredom, low self-esteem, etc. Whatever your triggers are, once you identify them then you can deal with them, otherwise they are unconsciously ‘running’ your life!

Much love, light & giggles,

I trust you found value in my post:)

Peacefully yours,

Carrie xxxx

Help with Chocolate Addiction

Dearest Chocoholic,

I am writing today about ‘help with chocolate addiction.’ mmm lol… indeed; as I know some of you really do not want any help!! And that’s absolutely fine of course, who wants to work with someone who is not ready, certainly not me! I know what I am like when I am not open to help, and it ain’t pretty! I am a firm believer in ‘when the student is ready the teacher will appear!’

So, dearest chocoholic, how could I help you with your chocolate addiction today?

Well, assuming that you have decided to take it seriously and decided to set your intent to do something about it I would suggest that you start to consider just how you would like to feel, when you have overcome your addiction to chocolate! Yep really.

For example: if you tend to eat chocolate for stress relief, you might be looking to feel more relieved, so how else can you feel relief without chocolate? What could you do to feel relief? Could you say no more often, could you delegate more, could you get some help with things you hate to do; like cleaning, or whatever?  You might tend to eat chocolate as you feel lonely, so how else can you feel less lonely, could you perhaps look at re-connecting with your Guardian angel, could you develop your own sense of spirituality, or connect with higher realms in other ways?Maybe you eat chocolate simply because it feels so, so good, so what other things no matter how silly could you do to make you feel that good? Could it be doing your favourite exercise, watching your favourite film, having hot sex, or a having a deep girlie chat to help you get those things off your chest?!! 

Often when we look at feeling the feeling that we are looking for chocolate to bring us, it can lessen it’s charge as we are having those emotional needs met elsewhere! Try it ladies and do let me know how you get on! This is  an ongoing process ladies, and whilst it can magically change overnight, often it can take quite a few attempts, a bit like going to the gym as you are building muscles, you will improve more quickly when you develop this into a habit and then you are more likely to be able to sustain it! Yah!!

Yep, I imagine a few of you might be a little scepticle, aha, and so what? Just give it a whirl and set the intention to keep and open  mind and heart and you never know it just might make a difference to how you feel and how you feel about chocolate!

I’d love to hear your feelings about my wee blog post here or in private via email: carrie@chocolaterehab.com

Love, giggles & light,

Carriexxxxxxxxxx