Figuring out what is healthy, tastes good, keeps you feeling energized and helps you achieve or maintain your ideal weight seems like an impossible thing to accomplish!  Doing it alone, “YES”, that can be difficult, but if you utilize all of the amazing resources available today it can be done, believe me.  The one crucial thing is to be patient and kind to yourself throughout the process.  There is unfortunately no ‘one size fits all’ solution so allow yourself to make mistakes along the way, as well as realizing that something that seemed like a ‘miracle worker’ for one person may not work for you.  Everyone’s body is different and the hardest part of learning how to eat is being able to listen to your body and notice how foods make you feel, either good or bad.

I know it can be overwhelming especially with all of the other demands you have throughout the day so make sure to set maintainable goals and don’t beat yourself up when you falter.  Just start over with the next meal instead of giving up.  Your body is an amazing machine so it will forgive your mistakes as long as you can let go and allow yourself to focus on all of the good things you are doing for your mind and body.  I am very grateful for the mentors in my life that are teaching me how to find success in all the little accomplishments I achieve throughout my day.  This is allowing me to appreciate my experiences in the present moment rather than waiting to reach a major goal.  In the past when I finally achieved the goal I was waiting for, it usually got glossed over because I was already thinking about the next goal I wanted to achieve.  Don’t let yourself fall into this cycle.  Learning to acknowledge and appreciate my little successes has been a huge shift in my overall perception on life and enables me to find enjoyment in each situation.  I am truly a much happier person.

Honestly, I have spent a lot of time, energy, and money on getting to this place and even though I know I am at a good point I still have things I am working on, such as emotional eating or drinking at times.  I like to consider myself a foodie and I do enjoy nice wine and the whole restaurant experience of dining out with friends.  However, I sometimes feel that this is my source of pleasure too frequently and a way for me to avoid things and feelings that I don’t want to have.  As I am becoming consciously aware of this, I am trying not to be hard on myself and I am noting;  What I am trying to numb myself from,  What am I missing or needing in that moment, and What can I do instead as an alternative?  Sometimes I may choose to continue to avoid the situation but the awareness about it has lessened my temptation to do it again.  I am sharing this with you to show you that we all have things that we may not like about ourselves and feel like we need to hide, but being open about them makes them seem much less powerful and allows you to work through them and eventually let them go.

Books that have really helped me along my journey to finding balance and good health include:

Diet for a New America by John Robbins: Helped me make the connection of the source of where my food was coming from and how the animals are treated.  I haven’t eaten a piece of chicken since!

The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose: Explains the importance of proper food combinations and the effect it has on your digestion. This is still a very unknown concept that I feel could be an article on its own.  However be careful with taking the core principals in this book too literally.  From my own experience it was easy to take them too far, even to a level that ended up becoming unhealthy.  Luckily in the end I found the proper balance and am happy to share with you the valuable information that can be gained by reading this book.

Real Food by Nina Planck: The author grew up on a farm and she focuses on eating real, whole food.  This concept makes understanding what is good for you much simpler, if your grandmother would not recognized it, don’t it eat.

The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates: Introduces the idea of your body being a whole eco-system of its own and the importance of maintaining a healthy level of good bacteria through fermented foods and probiotics.

Woman Food and God by Geneen Roth: This book is ideal for everyone who ever felt they have or had an addiction.  The concepts are not just about emotional eating, it can be related to drinking, smoking, working out too much…anything you are obsessing about to avoid your emotions.   There are quite a few humorous parts too!