Did you know? Eat chocolate 20 minutes before and five minutes after lunch and dinner to cut your appetite by up to 50 percent!

Weight-loss specialist and board-certified internist Sue Decotiis, M.D., notes that dark chocolate also contains healthy fats, which slow the absorption of sugar into the blood stream. That helps prevent the dreaded insulin spike, which is famed for shuttling sugar straight into your fat cells. Insulin spikes turn off your body’s fat-burning mechanisms and make you hungry again several hours later. Over time, they can also lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. Meanwhile, Swiss scientists have found that dark chocolate reduces the metabolic effects of stress, and University of Copenhagen researchers have shown that dark chocolate curbs cravings for sweet, salty, and fatty foods alike. CAUTION: This only works if you reach for dark chocolate (i.e., types that are made up of at least 70 percent cacao). White and milk chocolate has a lot of added sugar and contains milk (also a type of sugar), while dark chocolate has less added sugar, contains monounsaturated fatty acids, and has a bittersweet taste that reduces the amount you eat.