Walking Can Curb Chocolate Cravings

When you feel yourself craving a chocolatey snack every time you pass your favorite bakery, there’s a simple way to curb your urges: Just keep on walking.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on November 16 2008

When you feel yourself craving a chocolatey snack every time you pass your favorite bakery, there’s a simple way to curb your urges: Just keep on walking.

No, really. According to new research from the University of Exeter, a brisk 15-minute walk is enough to calm the cravings of any chocoholic. Walks had long been known to help control addictions to cigarettes and various drugs, but until recently, the effects of exercise on food cravings hadn’t been proven.

In the study, a group of 25 chocolate-lovers were asked to either go for a walk or take a nap, and then take part in activities that were designed to induce cravings. Participants who’d just been for a walk found that their desire for chocolate was reduced both during the walk and for at least 10 minutes afterwards.

“Neuroscientists have suggested common processes in the reward centres of the brain between drug and food addictions, and it may be that exercise effects brain chemicals that help to regulate mood and cravings,” the study’s author, Professor Adrian Taylor, said in a statement. “This could be good news for people who struggle to manage their cravings for sugary snacks and want to lose weight.”

“Short bouts of physical activity can help to regulate how energized and pleasant we feel, and with a sedentary lifestyle we may naturally turn to mood regulating behaviours such as eating chocolate,” Taylor added. “Accumulating 30 minutes of daily physical activity, with two 15 minute brisk walks, for example, not only provides general physical and mental health benefits but also may help to regulate our energy intake.”

So, for those who have trouble fighting their food addictions, regular daily exercise could be the key to ending the chocolate obsession–not to mention burning off the calories from the breakfast donut you just couldn’t resist.

Filed under: Health and Wellbeing, Science,

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