Trying not to think about chocolate will only make you eat more of it!

According to the latest research trying to eliminate all thoughts of your favourite 'fattening' food may actually make you eat more of it.

The UK researchers say when it comes to resisting temptation, fighting food cravings just does not work.

The researchers at Hertfordshire University conducted a study with 134 students and found that the women who were urged to stop thinking about eating chocolate, ended up eating more chocolate than those who were encouraged to talk about their various cravings.

The women were asked to choose from two brands of chocolate, believing that it was this choice that was being recorded by the researchers when in fact it was the quantity they ate that was being recorded.

It was found that those who talked openly about their chocolate cravings on average ate 5 pieces of chocolate, while women who were told to ignore their cravings ate 8 pieces.

The researchers suggest this "rebound" effect could also apply to smokers.

Psychologist James Erskine, who led the independent research says the act of avoidance seems to completely backfire and it was found that trying not to think about eating chocolate, led people to eat more.

So it is not thinking about chocolate that is dangerous..... but trying not to think about it is!

Dr. Erskine says there is other research which shows that when you suppress a thought you end up thinking about it more.

He says the study is the first concrete evidence of how this works in relation to food choices and the best advice to people trying to cut down on a "sinful" food was to try not to completely avoid or think about it.

The researchers suggest that the results of their study could help explain how people lose weight, only to put it back on, sometimes referred to as the yo-yo affect.