For a lot of you (me included), the cravings really hit when you're stressed, so the question is how to deal with this situation. First of all, it helps to know WHY this happens. Certain foods are addictive- they stimulate the pleasure centers of your brain, just like drugs. There is a pretty immediate release of some feel good hormones and you wind up with this nice warm, fuzzy feeling, which is really what you're craving when you're stressing out. Some people reach for alcohol, some reach for drugs, and some reach for food to get their high. We are a society of food abusers, people!
So when you're stressed out, you aren't really craving chocolate (or Doritos, or cake, etc); you're craving the warm, fuzzy FEELING those foods stimulate. The key here is to find other ways to stimulate those feel good hormones, and to deal with stress before it gets overwhelming. Deep, belly breathing (like the box breathing we did, or the ujjayi breath in yoga) actually stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which essentially turns off the body's stress response. Exercise, laughter, gratitude, helping others, and connecting with friends all release feel good hormones. Adequate amounts of quality sleep help you handle stressful situations better, and excessive caffeine can exacerbate feelings of stress.
If stress eating seems to feel out of your control, it's not a food problem; it's a problem of dealing with situations you find stressful. Your best bet is to work on ways to keep your stress in check daily. Don't wait until your head is about to blow off before you decide you need to work on it! Some things to try: work on getting adequate amounts of sleep; take 5 minutes out a few times each day to focus on deep, slow breathing; start a gratitude journal; find ways to make someone else's day brighter; exercise regularly; laugh with a friend. The list goes on. And when you do get into a situation where you're feeing overwhelmed and all you care about is chocolate, just know that it's not the chocolate you need- it's the relaxed, happy feeling you get from it. So have a glass of water, take a few deep breaths and a walk if you can, find something you're grateful for (there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for), and figure out how to deal with your situation one single step at a time.