You Can Eat One And Stop

An amazing acupressure technique called EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) can take cravings away in minutes. Whether it is cigarettes, beer, donuts or chocolate, just touching or tapping a few energy points on the face and upper body allows the urge to disappear effortlessly.

Most people who have used EFT to combat cravings report a loss of desire that lasts for hours, days or longer. I had a chocolate miracle eight years ago when I received a gift of a glorious box of very expensive chocolates. As a lifelong chocoholic, I didn’t want to open this Pandora’s box, so I put it on a table where it proceeded to beckon me. I couldn’t live with it, but I couldn’t live without it either.

Since I specialize in helping people overcome their compulsions, I did what I tell my clients to do. I gave myself a two-minute EFT treatment, tapping energy points on my eyebrow near the nose, the outside edge of my eye, under the lower lid, under my nose, under my lower lip, under my collarbone and four inches under my arm on the side of my body, while agonizing over my desire for those luscious pieces of chocolate. My urge to gobble them up quickly dissipated. I treated myself a few more times during the day and also gave myself a couple of follow up treatments on the next two days, all the while looking lovingly at the golden box of goodies. However, I didn’t open it.

By the third day it dawned on me that I had lost interest in the candy. As the days turned into weeks, I noticed that I had not only stopped craving the gift box of chocolate, I stopped desiring chocolate in general. It happened so easily that I was sure it wouldn’t last. It has been eight years of freedom and the old unstoppable craving hasn’t returned! Freedom means sometimes I eat a piece of chocolate or one portion of chocolate cake, and sometimes I don’t feel like it even though it is there, and it’s no big deal.

Challenge your craving with this experiment. Almost everyone has a taste for chocolate. You most likely will have some chocolate in your home right now, a piece of candy, a cookie, or cake. If sweets are not what you crave, you may want to challenge your desire for a cigarette or beer instead.

• Hold the chocolate item in your hand. Smell it.
• Take a very small bite and savor it.
• Rate the intensity of your desire to eat it right now from 1 to 10.
• Touch or tap the energy points while thinking about how much you want it.
• Hold the chocolate in your hand. Smell it again. Taste it.
• Rate the intensity of your craving. Has it changed?
• Touch or tap the energy points again.
• Continue to tap and rate your desire until you have reached zero.
• Discard the rest of the uneaten food. If you aren't ready to, keep tapping until you are.

You will be amazed at how quickly the craving for chocolate dissipates, often after only one or two rounds. Many people report that the aroma changes, becoming less appealing. Use the craving challenge with other urges you can’t control: cigarettes, alcohol or shopping. Have fun while you improve your health.