Take me to bed with you... for real!!!
And do this simple secret before you go to sleep. 

Just kidding. Actually, it's so simple you can watch it and then go to bed after, because the blue light from your screen is bad for your sleep (and likely adds anxiety). 

We Are All Stressed
This simple secret is a fantastic antidote for 21st century stress - the stress you feel, your friends feel, your husband/wife/partner feels, your colleagues feel... and sadly almost all of us feel. 

While it manifests in different ways - anxiety, depression, general stress, even anger - the chronic demands society puts on us, and our inability to create the community we need to counteract those demands, adds up!

Hold Your Heart
In this simple technique (technique is too complicated(, you literally hold your heart. We all need a bit more nurturing in our lives, and this is a way to give it to yourself.  

Add a Twist
You can really amp up the relaxation by adding a simple twist. Turn your knees to the right and hold your heart; turn your knees to the left and hold your fake heart (right side). 

Take Me to Bed
This is why I tell people to take these videos to bed!!! They are soooooo simple and relaxing and really help you detach from some of the day before you head off to sleep. 

I totally sucked at self care until I started doing my self care in bed!!! All the things I love to do that make me feel great: journaling, reading, stretching, body wisdom, meditation (I do it laying down), self massage, and other things all happen in bed. And frankly, I really never could get them into my life until I figured this secret out! 

So while you may not want to actually take your screen to bed (like I said, the light it emits is bad for your sleep), you should take these ideas to bed and give them a try!!! 

And of course, let me know when you do!!! 

​Have a friend who feels anxiety? Be sure to share this video!!!

You don’t have to berate yourself for eating whatever it is that you like to eat.  You don't even have to berate yourself when you eat so much of it that you feel sick, or guilty, or sick and guilty. 

I've done all of these things. I've eaten myself sick on candy, and I've eaten myself sick on "healthy" things like prunes and pineapple. And when you repeatedly feel like crap from overeating, it doesn't matter if it's junky or "healthy" - it's not healthy. 

And even if you aren't binging or feeling like crap from overeating... if you are feeling bad about your self because...

You used to run, but you just can't seem to make the time anymore...

The candy bowl at work always seems like the perfect stress relief, even though you don't even like the candy that much...

You know you are not being healthy, but you just don't feel like there is anything you can do about it...

Well stop right there!

You’re a smart, ambitious, successful woman.

You know what it takes to get it done. You are in charge of so many things!!! You know so much!!

So you know the thing to do THIS time is to hire someone who...

(a) has been through the same thing and come out thriving
(b) has compressed the system for results and success
(c) is almost 6 feet tall and loves drinking tea

Yes, that's right! I'm talking about myself! Hire ME!

The best way to do that is to start with your clarity call. 

In the health world people like to talk about holiday weight gain. It's a lie.

Happy New Year!!!!

The truth is that holiday weight loss can happen just as easily as holiday weight gain. And even if you do gain weight, it's not the 7 pounds average other so-called gurus are trying to scare you with.  Holiday weight gain statistics are not that stark. 

But if your new year's resolution weight loss goals feel at odds with the new year's weight loss statistics, then rest easy. 

I have a different kind of weight loss plan.

This is not like a weight loss challenge, where you try to starve yourself and obsessively watch the scale. This is not a series of weight loss tips that work for a while, and  then someone stop working.  This isn't even really a weight loss program, because there are no rules, nothing to give up, nothing to stop eating. 

This IS an approach to weight loss that works. It is one of the healthiest, easiest, and fastest ways to lose eight that STAYS off. 

This IS a "program" that allows you to eat every single food you love, without restriction or ever feeling hungry. 
​

Most health advice is totally backwards. It starts off by telling you what to eat, what not to eat, and counting all kinds of numbers. BORING!

I don't waste your time with any of that nonsense. 

Okay okay, it's not total nonsense. There are times when focusing on specific things in your diet and counting specific numbers are really important. But for the VAST MAJORITY of people who simply want to lose weight and look and feel their best... it is not necessary to count anything, and in fact it will backfire, ruin your so called "Diet" and end up making you eat more junk food in the long term. 

Because it's more than boring to count all those numbers, it's depressing and it is a distraction from what is actually going on in your body and mind. 

​I help my clients forget all that BAD advice and create their own personal whole body connection! 
​

This is actually how we got into such a mess with all the counting in the first place!!!

Food manufacturers have one goal: sell as much as their product as possible, which they do by getting you to eat as much as possible. #sadbuttrue

Just like numbers, reading about the "health claims" on food actually disconnect you from your own desire, and puts some idea about what you "should" be doing into your mind instead. 

Looking at the package separates your from your body and your intuition.

Trust yourself. 

And also buy quality foods with the shortest ingredient list possible, and simply "ingredients" whenever you can as well. That makes it WAY easier to the whole trusting your body thing. 

Yup. I said it.

Forget ALL the rules. Because rules and food just don't go together.* 

(*As always, please trust and follow your doctor's medical advice because there are always exceptions to the rules, even the rule that you shouldn't have any rules.)

The truth is that everyone is preaching about what you should or shouldn't eat. 

But no berry from the amazon is going to make you live forever, just as one bag of hot cheetos isn't going to kill you. 

And, worse yet, all the mixed messages and crazy hype about the good and evil foods of the world actually just cause us to feel stressed and overwhelmed, and end up causing us to make BAD decisions.

Again, all this damn information DISCONNECTS us from our bodies! We just can't tune in when we have to think so freaking much!! And when we are disconnected we grab the cookies or the chocolate or the whatever and eat it... and then we feel SO BAD about it!!!

Allowing yourself to eat freely actually FREES you to eat WELL.

As soon as you tell yourself,

“You can never eat _____” …

it is guaranteed that another part of you will start demanding ____!

This sets you up to sabotage ALL your efforts!

Any approach to health based on all those rules and restrictions we just talked about? This will always lead you to battle within yourself, and when you battle yourself... YOU always lose. 

Oh, also, when you are fighting with yourself? You can't tune in, which we've talked about is really important. 

Also, any time you hear yourself saying "Should" means you are fighting with yourself.  Should with food is always a judgmental statement. 

I should stop eating sugar.
I should choose the low carb/fat/whatever menu item. 
I should not eat that delicious thing.
I should eat that thing I don't really want but think will help me lose wight. 

Those are all ways of telling yourself that you suck and you don't deserve what you want. I know this because I used be in a world of shoulds. I broke free from that kind of approach, and I want to help every woman do the same thing now. When you connect your food to your desire, there is no more should. 

​So, tune in to those shoulds. When you hear yourself saying you "should" then what you "should" do is take a pause and check in with yourself. 

This is the ONE thing that actually causes us to gain weight, whether at the holidays or any other time of year.

This one thing causes us to...
•Eat more sugar
•Gain weight
•Lose energy
•Feel bad about ourselves

It's not sugar, artificial colors, saturated fat, or any other ingredient. 

The #1 most toxic thing in your diet is guilt! 
​

Yup, guilt is at the heart of almost all emotional eating. And it also contributes to mindless eating, too (the close cousin on emotional eating). 

Restrictive programs should be shunned as a miserable way to achieve health goals.

There is room for every food you love when you focus on the joy and not the calories. 

When You Love Every Bite…
You don’t feel guilty when you choose to eat a cupcake or get take out because you know it’s the right thing for you right  then.You are empowered to make EXACTLY the right choice for you.

Its simple and life changing to stop blaming yourself for the emotional eating and binges. 

Ready to get started??? 

With my quiz it's simple and also FUN. Because now that you know it's not your fault, you get to find out whose fault it is!!!

The other day was a doozy.

My kids can be crazy. Straight up monsters. I know all kids are difficult, but when my kids BOTH get going, they get a bit extreme.

So a few days ago they were just wild in the morning. They wouldn't listen. My 4 year old freaked out when I told him to put pants on and swiped his arm across the counter, knocking all my things down... including my phone, which stopped being able to make calls after that (though I didn't realize for a few hours, just thought it was the network. In hindsight this was lucky.)

We were late, which makes me crazy. And I was PISSED. 

And for whatever reason I just couldn't shake it. I tried to apologize. I explained that I was really mad. I told them I was trying to change my attitude. And that uggy feeling just wouldn't go away.

So pause for a minute. THIS IS NORMAL. It's normal my kids are goons sometimes. And it's also normal to just have really bad days when you are pissed at the world over fairly mundane things. 

After I finally got both kids to school, I drove to the gym. Everything on the radio was BUGGING me. I couldn't shake it!

I had a few minutes. I called my sister. That distracted me a bit and I felt like I was finally moving on. 

And then I went into my strength class, started piling up my sets of weights, bands, mat, risers... and this woman says to me, "Is this your stuff?"  

"Yes." 

"Could you move it over there?"  (She points three feet away but more in center of room.)

"Uh, yeah." I  respond, kinda wondering why, but not thinking too much about it.

But as I kick all my pile of gear a few feet over I think more... she has NO stuff piled up yet. 

WHY THE FUCK DOESN'T SHE GO IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM?????

Oh girl... when this dawned me 15 seconds later, I had dagger eyes. I had to move to the entirely other corner of the room because I could just tell I was going to PISSED! 

And I was. I couldn't even LOOK at that byotch the entire class. 

I was so angry. It was by most measures totally unjustified. 

And yet... I don't care. I don't care I was mad at her. I'll probably hate her forever. (I mean, assuming I never actually get to know her and she remains the anonymous self absorbed person to take the last spot on the wall even when someone else is CLEARLY claiming it.)

And even lifting some hard ass weights didn't check that anger.

But guess what did! I went home and started WORKING! 

Which, also, by some measures is not the healthiest choice. We shouldn't ALWAYS distract ourselves from our feelings with work.  That is what workoholics do.

(Using anything to distract from our feelings can be unhelpful. This is often the challenge of ending the habit of using food to deal with our stress or emotions. We need more than one tool in the tool kit. )

But in this case, it was perfect. I already knew that my anger was not necessarily commiserate with the unfolding of the morning. And some days are just like that. 

My business coach who also gives me spiritual advice is always telling me to embrace my feelings, and I did. I embraced. I allowed. Then I worked my booty off to move on!! 

And I blame that woman for ruining my morning. 

I know I don't usually talk too much about the environment, but I am a lifelong tree hugger!!! And certifiably a minimum of 51% hippie. 

In fact, I think everyone should be at least 25% hippie. (Not the self righteous, or lazy part.)

We should all be the part that is idealistic, inspired, passionate, and environmentally friendly.

Even my sister, who used to get SO MAD when I burned incense in my room, is now 25% hippie. (But neither of us burn incense now.)

In fact you don't need to be a hippie, you can just be hip.  Because making choices that benefit all of us tend to benefit the environment.

I'd love to share with you some of the fun and surprising ways you can be hip and hug trees. 

Shopping at the farmers market is an environmentally friendly thing to do. And of course it's a great way to eat healthy food, enjoy the weather, and meet and support your local farmers! 

Wherever you shop, choosing lots of fruits and veggies is a great and simple step to nourish yourself and also lower your impact on the environment. Keeping your fruit bowl full makes it easy to choose a healthy and delicious snack on the go and minimize the processed food you eat and the waste that goes along with it!

Cooking your own food from scratch is an incredibly environmentally friendly thing to do! Imagine it...baking your own sourdough bread...fermenting your own kimchi...drinking homemade kombucha...Yes, being a foodie is good for the earth!! Doesn't that make you want to be hip???

Getting rid of clutter is an environmentally friendly thing to do - it helps us buy less, it is an opportunity to recycle old items into reuse by another person (so they can avoid purchasing something new and therefore minimize their environmental impact).

Reducing your stress is good for the environment, too. This may not make sense immediately, but the way we treat ourselves directly correlates the way we treat the environment. As a society we deplete ourselves and consume too much in our personal lives. We basically do that to the environment, too. Taking the time to contemplate and draw firm boundaries to protect yourself will allow you to be your best self, which allows you to help others, which allows us to protect our environment.

How we live our daily life and the simple choices we make are the foundation for our own healthy life and the health of the environment. If we can live a life in alignment with our values most of the time,  with plenty of room for fun and relaxation included,  and of course with the grace to forgive ourselves for the short cuts and mistakes along the way, we can live a life that feels great and protects our world for the future. 

Last week I did a guided meditation at a new moon goddess circle. It was a guided meditation to go through a variety of symbolic visualizations, and after we experienced the guided meditation, we were then informed what each visual symbolized. 

It started with a harbor, which represents my social life. I visualized three different kind of boats, which makes sense because I like a lot of types of social experiences. Then the boat we got on represents how we view ourselves... lucky for me, mine was a luxury yacht!!!! Hahaha!

So on and on it went, and I had a positive experience through the variety of visualizations, with no major surprises when what each visualization was supposed to represent was revealed. 

At the very end of the meditation, we are visualizing laying in a natural space - mine was under a real tree in my grandfather's (now my parents') backyard, and "One of God's creatures comes to visit."  Not surprising my totem animal came to visit: butterflies. 

They also had a message for me. And my message was... Belly button???

Yes. It was. My message was "Belly button." I always knew I was  quirky girl, but what the?

Ok, actually... it makes total sense because I've been thinking in terms of what the body might symbolize in our life, and so I knew that my message was not SIMPLY Belly Button, but rather a question of what Belly Button means!

So I've had the chance to contemplate this, which is of course the point of a guided meditation, to keep thinking about what insights I gained afterward. 

And a belly button is interesting. It is actually a scar. It's a scar from being disconnected from your source of life!!!!!

But it's also a symbol that I have a mother; that we all have a mother. It's an opportunity to remember where I came from.

It's a symbol of a truly amazing organ: the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is a twisted rope that takes the blood vessels from a baby and winds them around with the blood vessels from the mother (via the placenta), and the blood vessels get so closely intertwined that the nourishment from the mother's blood is transferred to the growing baby's blood!!! 

It's truly amazing. 

And once disconnected, the veins that give a child life are simply absorbed into the body. Even that can be symbolic, that we take the source of life from OTHER and we begin to nourish ourselves. 

So I'll take that message! I love that message, in fact. I love what Belly Button says to me. What does it say to you?????

I want to talk about the things in our life that make us scream - either feel like screaming or maybe actually screaming, on the inside OR the outside! 

And I want to talk about that right now because with all the gut wrenching news that has been happening lately, I think I speak for the collective, that we are on edge and much more likely to break into panicked screams at any moment.

Because you may not understand why, say, the dirty dishes in the sink are related to the destruction of paradise by the warming ocean's more powerful hurricanes. 

You may not see it as connected to the aftermath of the Mexico City earthquake when the pile of papers on the corner of your desk or table is giving you nausea.

You may wonder if you have a slight stomach bug because you just don't feel right, when it actually could be the warming climate and drought fueled wildfires. 

It may not make sense that the increase in violent hate groups is the cause of your headache or the feeling in your gut that just won't go away.

The level of embarrassment and shame I feel as a US Citizen for how our President behaves in public gives me near instant spikes of this hard to identify anxiety. I've decided that Trump has a new meaning - to me the word Trump means the taste of vomit in my mouth, because that is how his actions make me feel, dirty like I have the aftertaste of vomit in my mouth. This in turn causes low grade stress whenever I turn on the news.

We are in a heavy time. We are in an unstable time, both socially and environmentally. And these kinds of global changes cause anxiety. The thing is that anxiety can be expressed in our bodies as MANY DIFFERENT SYMPTOMS. 

So poor sleep, neck pain, ache joints, stomach ache, diarrhea, super tired, exhaustion, anger, resentment, depression, or just generally wanting to SCREAM can all be results of our widespread anxiety-inducing time to be alive. 

And, of course, as someone who focuses specifically on helping overcome emotional eating, ALL of these symptoms, and any kind of stress or anxiety can trigger reactions in how we eat. 

For me personally, this anxiety has been giving me nausea, and so it actually diminishes my overall appetite, but then I find myself wanting to eat things that seem "Simple" in my mind, but usually that means SWEET. 

For some of my clients, the anxiety can be quelled by eating throughout that day. However, this only sends you on your own personally cycle of guilt, which further adds to the stress and anxiety.

So what can you do to survive without turning to bad food habits? 

1. Recognize that you are being affected by the global level of stress. It is honorable to have feelings that reflect the state of the world, understand you are empathetic and take steps to protect yourself (see step 3). 

2. Identify what in your day to day makes you want to scream (dishes, messy bedroom, stacks of paper, whatever); you don't have to necessarily do anything about it if that's too  overwhelming, but just recognize that it's symbolic of outside influences. 

3. Make your personal self care a huge priority - it's not petty to take time to take care of yourself; limit exposure to news and media; get extra sleep; create a safe space for yourself to be nourished, which can be as simple as time alone or making a cup of tea.

4. Take action that aligns with your hope - whether this is giving money to causes you care about, joining as a volunteer, calling your elected representatives, or all of the above; identify ways to move your own personal agenda forward for things you care about.

All of these steps can take minimal time. Phoning your representatives can take 10-20 minutes per week, but is a POWERFUL way to feel empowered AND make change. 

These are the steps I've found that help me have compassion for myself in a difficult time. Let me know what you've tried and what has helped you!! 

My kids stress me out. It's just a fact of my life.

Why am I writing about this on my blog about emotional eating? Because stress is an incredibly common trigger of emotional eating. We all have stress in different forms. Maybe it's what's going on at your work. Maybe it's something happening in your relationship... Maybe it's your kids.

I spend a lot of time trying to understand my life and make it better. It may not be something everybody does, but it's what I do.

And in researching what to do when your kids stress you out... I have to admit I wasn't happy with much of the advice!

While there is of course a time and a place for prescriptions drugs/medicine, I was surprised at how many people talking about parenthood causing them stress or anxiety or depression or anger felt okay with taking drugs. Some people have biochemical imbalances, and drugs are amazing to help resolve something that would be a lifelong issue, or even in extreme short term cases.

I know for a fact that I wasn't angry or bitter or resentful or anxious or nearly as stressed out as I am now before I had kids. And I also know that it's not just my kids.

Yes, it's the fact that I am a parent, but it is this life-shattering paradigm shift that I have experienced going from not a parent to a parent.

And it is the absolute bullshit pressure that's put on a woman and/or the primary caregiver of a family's children!

This is the bullshit of patriarchy being lived out in my day-to-day family life.

Because, of course, biology is sexist. The women make the baby; the women make the milk. Therefore the women are usually the primary caregivers.

And yet there's this whole group of us who don't want to be in the traditional nine-to-five situation never see our kids --- and also don't want to have our brains rot from doing nothing but wiping butts all day.

Enter the mom entrepreneur. I love my business. I love my clients. I literally love doing the work that I do helping women change how they eat and how they feel in their bodies. It's amazing!

And yet raising a business is kind of like raising a child. It takes a lot of time and energy and patience.

So now I have my two kids and my business and... My husband.

And unfortunately he just really doesn't understand what I'm doing and so I don't always feel that I have full support. So there's this juggling act going on now. He's ambitious;  he's generous;  he's kind;  he loves reading to our kids.  But holy shit, if I have to tell him where the fucking mustard is one more time I'm going to blow!!!!

And that is the stress and anxiety that I'm speaking about. It manifests itself as an inconsequential detail that I feel like I want to scream about.

And you add this up over and over and over and no wonder women are stressed out. No wonder back in the day they had their breakdowns. Even if you're not trying to raise a business, just trying to raise a family is such an immense amount of emotional burden that is unbearable.

And for me it was worse without the support of other professionals who share interests outside of raising the kids. I'm not saying no one should be happy being a stay-at-home mom. I have dear friends who are deeply fulfilled by raising their kids. I'm not. I love my kids. I take parenting seriously. I probably take it too seriously and that's part of my problem.

And I need more. I need something else. I need the rest of my identity intact. Men don't understand that because they still have their identity. I'm not speaking for stay-at-home fathers; I don't know enough of them well enough; that's somebody else's blog post.

Most of the time the men keep working, and guess what? The men is still an engineer or a salesperson or a chef or whatever. The woman is the mother. And that is an emotional burden that can't be explained.  

And I think it's almost worse in this modern modern world because we can microwave dinner if we need to.... we can send our kids to practice in an Uber if we need to... and yet we can't outsource somebody expecting us to know where the mustard is.

I hate to leave my thoughts unactionable. So I'm going to tell you the most basic and simple thing that I'm doing. It's incredibly hard.

And I think it's the only solution is to stop.  Just stop. And it is insidiously difficult to do!

Because I feel like an asshole when I tell my husband that I can't help him find the mustard. It's just finding the mustard. How much time can finding the mustard take? What could I possibly be doing that's more important than finding the mustard?

Oh wait. That's just it. You add up all these little inconveniences and actually nothing that's important to me is getting done.

I know I'm giving the example of my husband even though this blog post is actually about my kids. That's because with little kids more than half of my interactions are instances like these:

"Mommy where the Crayons?"
"Mommy get me a water."
"Mommy I'm hungry."

Maybe you can relate. I'm a doer. I'm a Problem Solver. It is incredibly hard for me to not DO. So whether or not you have kids, you probably have circumstances like this.

Oh,  I can stay late and file that last paper.
Oh, I enjoy that part of my work; I can do a little more of it.
Oh, I'll do that project better than anyone else; I might as well sign up for it.

And I just want to say that these are all remarkable traits!!!

I'm not disparaging my ambition or my compassion for my family or your passion for your work or any of that.

I'm just acknowledging that I need better boundaries and a lot of other women do too. Because that's the answer to reducing stress. It's simply not doing the things that are stressing you out.

For me I literally can't draw this line when I'm home. If my husband asks me where the mustard is it's incredibly difficult for me to not help him find it. If my kids ask me for a glass of water I actually sometimes try to say no but then I have someone crying half the time which, again, is difficult. So I have to find times to get out of the house. It's the only way I can change these patterns.

With my business it's the other side. I love my business. I want to do my business. I want to have it grow and get more clients and help more people. And yet... Sometimes I just have to say no.

So when my kids stress me out (or I scream at my husband about the mustard), I actually know that it means there's just too much on my shoulders. It means I have to get out from underneath all this patriarchal bullshit and learn how to simply say No.

I've felt "ungrounded" for about 6 weeks... since I took my extended road trip (which did deplete me), and yet I also returned on the day of the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville.

This was followed quickly by breathtaking news on what seems to be almost daily. Hurricane after hurricane, earthquakes, bills being signed regularly (in a way that feels secretive and undercutting), failed attempts at other more loud legislation, the ongoing wreckage that follows each natural disaster and needs attention lost in the slew of the next disaster, the equifax hack that puts half the country at risk of identify theft (possibly kids as well).

Oh yeah, and then the Colin Kaepernik protest suddenly being coopted by the NFL to make CK irrelevant and the NFL somehow the hero??? I'm no sports fan but CK still has no job at the time as far as I'm aware of.

And more quietly, I'm reading about the battle for net neutrality (I support this) but also the Communications Deceny Act, a more complicated issue that is somehow a battleground for where we draw the line between free speech and pornography AND amazing the way that huge non-traditional media formats like Facebook escape any responsibility for who they sell ads to or what purpose the ads may be for. Read up on this if you haven't yet. I'm not sure where I stand, but I think we need to have the voice of the people speaking out more than the largest tech giants.

And then on top of it all there is my regular life, which somehow seems simultaneously both petty and entirely unmanageable in the context of all that is happening right now.

So everyday I try to focus on living my regular life while integrating what I value into it.

I've gone through my kids books and gotten rid of some of the old, outdated 50s books that are racist or sexist. I've purchased additional books for our library showed greater diversity. I went through their books and changed skin color with colored pencils, to give them greater diversity because sadly, they were not that diverse. I've downloaded movies (what few I could find) with diverse lead characters. I"ve started frequently different farmer's markets in neighborhood with people of different skin tone than ours. My kids are a big part of what I'm doing in my day to day and I want to make sure they grow up aware that diversity is beautiful and that we need to use our voices to speak out for equality.

I also struggle each day to maintain my self care rituals. It's a fight to do it in all honesty. To put a few minutes of self massage on the to do list, which means leaving the dirty dishes in the sink sometimes. To make sure I shower regularly even when...well...the dishes are staring me down. To get myself dressed before the kids have started asking repeatedly for breakfast. But I do it as best I can, every day, and I forgive myself when the laundry or dishes take precedence.

And yet I feel the need to do more. I honestly want to GO. I want to BE where people need the help. And I can't - my day to day is too intertwined with little guys. So I give. I give small monthly contributions to Sierra Club, KPBS, and Planned Parenthood...and in the past few months I've given much more than the monthly amount - MORE to sierra club for post hurricane relief and planning for further climate change affects - I've also donated to The Color of Change bringing awareness to racism in our country and fighting for equality - to the Foundation Fighting Blindness in honor of my neighbor and my grandfather who lost their sight - to my son's school for their hurricane donations.

​And that's CASH.

I also continue to up my donation of service for charitable fundraisers because the world has SO MUCH NEED right now and I have to do what I can, ALL that I can.

I also have to put my business into forward mode - booking talks, networking, speaking with clients. And I'll admit it's not easy to do when the world feels like it has so many pressing needs!!!

​But when I think about putting it off, I also know that's not right. My passion is for helping people live a healthy, aligned life, losing weight and truly feeling GREAT about what they are eating, helping them KNOW each bite is the right bite, whether it's a steak, an ice cream, or a delicious and gourmet salad. So I know it's another part of what I HAVE to do for the world. Because the world needs SO MUCH, and I'm going to give the world the best of me.

What are your favorite self-care practices? And if you need ideas, sign up to get your sparkle back.

Fast food is DESIGNED to make you want it, and to make you eat as much as possible. It is literally engineered to be that way. Sometimes getting info about that can help you want to stand up to that kind of deception and manipulation. Movies/Books like Fast Food Nation, Super Size Me, The End of Overeating, etc.

Also, learning about how bad that food is over time may help you decide you don't want to eat it.

However, you also MUST address the emotional/lifestyle trigger behind the desire/craving.

You don't feel like cooking... that is FINE! That is totally legitimate! There are many days when you may not feel like cooking. Cooking can be a joy...and cooking can be a total slog.

I used to be a sugar addict (also very addicting), and now I am passionate about helping people create their ideal relationship with food. I ALWAYS suggest spending some time to understand what is driving that craving. Yes, with fast food some of it is physical/biological...but there is also a lifestyle/emotion to it. In the case of fast food avoiding the work of cooking and the clean up after is a big part of it.

I focus on five steps:
​
1. Count the Joy - learn to celebrate food
2. Love Every Bite - you should eat foods you enjoy
3. Have Your Cake - include treats and foods you love
4. Eat Healthy Without Trying - this takes time, but you can train yourself to truly honestly prefer healthy foods!
5. Have a Plan - don't get caught too hungry or too busy

I wanted to explain all the steps because a lot of the understanding work comes first, you have to know where all your triggers are coming from before the changes will last.

And at the same you can start with some of the changes -- what usually comes at the end-- while you spend the time laying the emotional foundation.

In THIS case, how can you have a plan?


1. Keep food in your freezer or pantry that is better than fast food... look for frozen meals with no weird ingredients. Be it pizza or noodles whatever super easy item you prefer, take some time to stock a few "emergency rations".


2. Keep your fruit bowl full. Add fruit to any meal to round it out. Noodles again? Add some orange slices on the side to freshen it and lighten it. Feels like a fancy restaurant, too 　

3. Use paper plates. Sure, it makes waste...but so does fast food, so indulge at home once in a while, too.