If they are lacking in your diet, they're setting you up for cravings. Magnesium is needed to make serotonin, the satiety-happiness chemical. Chocolate may be a means of getting much needed magnesium and elevating your mood. Unfortunately chocolate comes with calories and probably fat. You may find relief from chocolate cravings by increasing your intake of dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and Swiss chard, excellent sources of magnesium and folic acid.
Protein is one of the most powerful influences on appetite.
One of my clients, Amy, came to me a few months after she became a vegetarian. I'm having terrible cravings for candy and cookies, she said. She had gained 10 pounds in the two months since she stopped eating meat. Once Amy added an egg to her breakfast and began including small amounts of tuna to her lunch, she stopped craving the sugars. Studies with people and animals show when the protein content of the diet is reduced, appetite is increased.