Resisting the chocs

The sun is out, short skirts are in the shops and it's time to flash that midriff. If you feel like you want to lose a couple of pounds before the weekend, but find it almost impossible to resist chocolate, don't worry, we tell you how it can be done relatively painlessly.

Giving up chocolate can be helped using these simple tips...

1. Eat a breakfast with a low fat, high carbohydrate, medium sugar content, such as dried fruit, cereal, porridge or toast and marmalade. People often eat chocolate mid-morning because they have forgotten to eat a proper breakfast and suddenly have hunger pangs.

2. Keep healthy snacks to hand, such as cereal bars or packets of dried fruit as a replacement for chocolate. Fruits with a high fructose content, such as bananas, are particularly good at creating an instant feelgood factor.

3. Craving chocolate before a menstrual cycle often indicates a zinc deficiency. Take zinc supplements, or make sure your multivitamin has a zinc component. Taking evening primrose oil and starflower oil supplements throughout the month can also help.

4. Carob is a good alternative if you really must have something like chocolate in your diet. Available from health food stores, carob is chocolate-like in taste but has no cocoa butter, sugar, additives or caffeine.

5. Take more exercise. We often reach for pick-me-ups such as chocolate, tea or coffee to boost energy at low points in the day. A five-minute walk out of the office or going to the gym will help stave off cravings. Aerobic exercise puts oxygen into the bloodstream and speeds up our circulation - providing an energy boost without the chemicals contained in chocolate.

6. Improve your diet. A better diet will make you feel more satisfied with your food and reduce chocolate cravings. Include more pulses, such as lentils and beans, and brown rice. The body breaks these down to release sugars more steadily into the bloodstream, avoiding the peaks and troughs of a high-sugar diet based on refined foods. Eat oily fish and chicken, and keep to one portion of red meat a week.