Chocoholic?

Gotta have your chocolate everyday? Some authorities say chocolate is healthy; others say it's detrimental. Either way, science has shown that consistent chocolate cravings are typically a sign of magnesium deficiency. Chocolate cravings may also indicate a skewed carb/fat ratio; cravings are often a symptom of imbalanced blood sugars.

While eating chocolate may temporarily meet magnesium demands in the body and stimulate the bitter reflex that produces stomach acid, bile and peristaltic action to move food through the colon, be aware that theobromide in chocolate is diuretic and may be irritating to those prone to urinary tract inflammation and infection.

The other danger of chocolate is that it usually takes a fair amount of refined sugar to make it palatable. The irony of adding sugar to this purportedly healthy product is that those sweet granules USE magnesium... and B vitamins and vitamin C... to metabolize them. So any advantage that may have been gained from eating that dark, bitter-rich substance is negated by the sweetener added to it.

If you need a magnesium fix, try

• taking a bath with epsom salts added to the water
• snacking on raw pumpkin seeds
• sipping a green smoothie made with spinach or swiss chard
• enjoying a black-bean and quinoa salad from Elizabeth Rider or Oh She Glows

If your chocolate cravings occur from imbalanced blood sugars, add more healthy fats (including virgin coconut oil, organic grass-fed butter and tallow, extra virgin olive oil, avocados and almonds) to your foods, then take this quiz to see how you rate: