In the literal sense, words are used to represent to us what our experience of life is. Our words shape our beliefs, and impact our actions. They even alter our perceptions and feelings. In fact, by simply changing your habitual vocabulary, you can instantly change how you think, how you feel, and how you live.

The words that we attach to our experience become our experience.

When we are ready to grow, we need to identify and challenge these old, self destructive thoughts. When we become aware of our negative statements, and substitute positive ones, we increase our energy, our optimism, our self-esteem and our effectiveness.

When you have struggled with food and weight for years, your dialogue tends to sound something like this…

I will never lose this weight.
I can’t eat that.
I am just big boned.
My metabolism sucks.
I hate my body.
I will never get it under control.

If you want to change your body, lose weight, and get healthy, you need to consciously select the words that you use when thinking and speaking about this. If the words that you are using are creating states of mind that are disempowering you, get rid of those words and replace them with empowering ones! Changing your habitual vocabulary when thinking, and speaking about food, and your body is a crucial part in breaking your own patterns.

Our subconscious minds are incredibly powerful.

We create our experiences in life through our belief systems, conditioning, thoughts, emotions, and intent. When I began to consciously explore the power of my vocabulary, I finally began to let go of life long patterns with food that were no longer supporting the person that I wanted to become. Begin to notice, without judgement the stories you are telling yourself on a daily basis! Let me know below in the comments what you find!

The healing power of nature.

As someone who struggled with food, and weight for many years, I know that there is much more to overeating than meets the eye. I believe that one of the reasons that traditional diets and weight loss programs fail is because they don’t take into account how we process subtle energy. For people, like myself, who are sensitive, or empathic, a lot of times they will overeat in response to being overwhelmed by negative vibes.

An Empath is someone who picks up and absorbs the energies and feelings of everyone around them in their physical environment – sometimes to a very extreme and overwhelming level. Their acute sensitivity is the filter through which they experience life. Because I didn’t know I was one for so long, I really struggled with all the emotions I was absorbing- especially the stressful ones, for which I found a coping mechanism in food.

When you are an Empath or a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), it is essential to learn how to ground back down into your body, so you can stop relying on food to do this for you. Nature can be a source of solace, healing, insight, and regeneration. Whether you are out in the wilderness, or in your own backyard, being and communing with nature is also a source of wonder. It is a place where we can be inspired, recharge our batteries, get our hands dirty, engage with the elements, the awesome beauty of nature, and its power.

If you have been feeling obsessed and out of control around food, take some time to connect physically with the earth and natural world. Grounding back down into your body is essential. Hug a tree, or lay in the grass. Sit yourself down and breathe. Take off your shoes and feel the earth under your feet. Remember that nature is your greatest restorer.

What you focus on expands. How underlying beliefs hinder weight loss.

Ask yourself what you want.

What makes you feel the most alive and connected? What do you want to experience in your life?

Take some time to go inward.

Then begin to imagine yourself having what you want. Use all of your senses to create the imagery. Let yourself feel the good feelings having this reality will give you. Allow yourself to daydream and fantasize about a life that is both loving and nurturing to you.

Begin to practice picturing your life as you want it to be.

What you accept as true will create your reality.

Now take some time and write these intentions out in your journal or on a piece of paper. Do so in the present tense; writing as if you already have everything it is that you want. An intention is a purpose held in mind, a desired goal you want to experience. Avoid negative intentions such as I will not eat sugar. Rephrase them into the positive. I intend to create a lifestyle that is both satisfying and healthy. Practice affirming a positive existence as opposed to cultivating a sense of guilt or inadequacy.

What you focus on expands.

So what is it that is stopping us then? Usually, it is our underlying beliefs that get in the way. “It’s too hard”, “It’s impossible for me to lose the weight”, “I won’t stick with it anyway”, “I have absolutely no self control when it comes to food” are some of the common stories that those who struggle with food tell themselves. These thoughts are the barriers to your desires.

Remember, we create our realities through our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and intent.

Truly healing your relationship to food takes work. You have to take a closer look at the traumas, pain and suffering that you are holding close in an effort to suppress them. You need to strip down aspects of yourself and let go of the old to make room for the new. You have to let go of the limiting beliefs that are keeping you stuck. This is the missing piece to sustainable weight loss. 

Your physical body is an outward expression of you internal reality.

So where should you start? Start simply by setting your positive intentions. Daydream, fantasize and feel the good feelings associated with having whatever it is that you desire. Picture your life the way that you want it to be. Spend some time every day visualizing the end result. By getting connected to the result of your action, you will be more likely to stick with your plan, turning your intentions into your reality.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts.
Your thoughts become your words.
Your words become your actions.
Your actions become your habits.
Your habits become your values.
Your values become your destiny.
”

— Gandhi

New year & a new you!

With the new year upon us, you are probably thinking about dieting. 

When I was in the heart of my food and body struggles, with every new year came a long list of all the ways that I was going to change my body and restrict my diet. It was always about fixing and improving my body so that I could finally live my life to the fullest.

My goals for the new year would go something like this...

1- Lose the weight. 

2- Don't eat sugar.

3. No fried food. 

4. Fit into my "skinny jeans" again. 

5. Stick with a raw food diet. 

You get the gist.

I truly believed that once I lost the weight that I had gained from bingeing, then and only then could I love and accept myself completely.

This is a totally ass backwards way of going about this, and it kept me stuck in the restrict/binge cycle for many years.

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.

~Carl Rogers

It wasn't until I began to love and accept myself as I was, regardless of what I ate or how much I weighed, that I was able to learn how to listen to my body and eat intuitively, and in turn, effortlessly lose the extra weight without ever counting a calorie. 

Guilt, shame, deprivation, and fear based strategies don’t work in the long run. Nonjudgmental curiosity and openness do.

In 2016, I want to encourage you to work towards being more accepting, loving, and compassionate with yourself and your struggles above all else. This, my friend, is where the magic happens. 

Cheers to the new year!

xoxo

Liz 

Your challenges are your gifts.

I am writing you today from Rishikesh, at the start of my journey through mystical northern India. Situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, on the banks of the Ganges river, this is truly a place with a powerful spiritual energy. 

The past six days have been filled with visits to sacred places, yoga, powerful moving meditations, the Hindu color festival of Holi, swimming in the Ganges River, satsangs with enlightened masters, and so much more. I even got to visit what's left of the ashram where The Beatles wrote most of the White Album! 

When we arrived here, we gathered for an opening circle where we set intentions, did yoga, and meditated while the rain poured in the background. Tears were flowing.

My intention on this inner and outer journey is to fall more deeply into unconditional love and acceptance of myself. To let go of caring about what other people will think or say about my experiences so that I can speak and write authentically and truthfully from my heart. To just breath deep and realize that through my story I can connect with so many women who need my perspective to find peace with food and their bodies.

India is the most challenging place I have ever travelled. The streets are crowded and dirty, the poverty is overwhelming, the trains run late, food takes forever or is forgotten, and there is a good chance that you are going to get “Delhi belly” at some point.

India is my teacher.

She mirrors to me just how much my thoughts and perspective in every situation create my experiences in life. I always learn so much about myself during my time here. This country can be totally unpredictable, yet my spirit feels mesmerized and called to learn, grow, and heal in her presence. India is teaching me patience, and the art of letting go of how I think things should be. She is showing me the magic that occurs when I relax more deeply into the surrender of what is.

Your challenges are your gifts. 

Even though it may not seem like it in this moment, whatever unwanted eating habit or challenge you are facing is here to teach you. Whether you are overeating, binge eating, emotional eating, dealing with bad body image, or all of the above, within the struggle lies the gift.

There are messages, lessons, and growth waiting for you when you are ready to listen. You can create huge shifts in your life by diving more deeply into your inner world. Transformation and healing begin to occur when you connect back to your heart and to your Soul.

Start by picking one thing that you are really struggling with. Take some time to reflect on this in your journal. What can you learn from this? How can this help you grow? What is this here to teach you? Magic happens when you begin to shift your perspective and dig deep.

I feel fat.

Something that I hear a lot when working with women who struggle with their weight is “I am fat”. And I totally get it. When I was in the height of my food and body struggles, I had a really bad habit of labeling myself as “fat”. But you are not fat. You HAVE fat. There is a big difference between the two. Your fat does not define you.

Those of you who have been with me for a while know that I strongly believe that what you think and speak creates your world. You may be unaware of this if you are in the habit of victimizing yourself, but we actually speak things into existence. What you put out comes back at you.

It is amazing just how much suffering we can eliminate by owning our minds. If you want to make peace with your eating challenges, you have to create a new inner world when it comes to how you relate to food and your body. It wasn’t until I consciously began to explore my thoughts, beliefs, and mindsets around food, that I was able to begin doing the inner work that is necessary to create lasting change.

We get to choose what we think about ourselves. If you want to transform your relationship with food and your body, you have to start to redefine your “I am” statements. The words “I am” have such a strong creative power, so it is especially important to watch how you are labeling yourself.

When you are ready to grow, you have to identify and challenge your self-destructive beliefs. Watch how you talk to yourself about your weight. If you truly desire to stop binge eating, emotional eating, or overeating, you have to create an internal world that supports where you want to go. You can not create the change and transformation you desire from a place of negativity and self-attack.

Now remember, this is a practice. These negative thought streams, these conditioned, patterned responses were built up over years. It is really important to meet yourself where you are at and work from there.

Take a moment and write out all of all of the limiting, negative “I am” statements that you use. Take a complete inventory of these. Really write them all out. This is about waking up to what is going on in your mind. Awareness cures. When you become aware of something, the process of healing can actually begin to happen.

Next, I want you to invent some loving and kind affirmations for yourself. Statements that evoke a feeling that you wish to create. Choose to think and say these affirmations as true.

As you continue to repeat positive “I am” statements with conviction and passion, you will begin to chip away at even the strongest of resistance. Now notice how these statements make you feel. When they feel negative, almost like a big fat lie, this indicates resistance and these may take longer to impact. How quickly you can shift an issue depends on how deeply the belief is held, as well as how determined you are to bring about change. It is a process of retraining your brain to work for you, instead of against you.

A different kind of resolution.

Happy new year everyone!

I spent mine eating sushi with some friends and I most certainly overate! In fact, I even unbuttoned my jeans to feel more comfortable. But guess what... it was NO BIG DEAL! I don't binge eat anymore. In fact, I haven't felt out of control around food for years. But I am human, and from time to time I over eat or emotionally eat. The difference between then and now is that it doesn't trigger me. I don't spiral into days, weeks, or months of unhealthy eating. I don't beat myself up about it and consequently feel out of control. In fact, I now understand from a scientific perspective just how totally counterproductive it is to ever feel guilty or stressed out about eating.(Click here to learn how stress impacts your metabolism) And because it is no big deal in my mind, I can easily let it go and get back to eating in a way that makes me FEEL my best.

Everybody loves new beginnings. A fresh start. And when you struggle with challenges such as weight, emotional eating, binge eating, overeating, body image, or endless dieting, this tends to be the time of year when you are making a firm resolve to change your body and finally get all this food stuff under control.

If you are anything like how I used to be, you are probably telling yourself that this is the year you are going to stick with your perfect diet and find happiness by changing your body. You may be convinced that you just need to adhere to this or that diet, buy that pill, drink, supplement, cleanse, ETC and all your food and weight issues will be solved.

Well guess what... the perfect diet does not exist. There is not one right way to eat. Everyone has a unique biochemistry with ever changing needs. So don't bother getting caught up feeling like you have to eat perfectly all of the time. It isn't possible. Allow yourself to be human and to be messy.

We tend to look outside of ourselves for answers, but they are within. Your relationship with food and your body is a mirror for your relationship with life. Start to work on it from that level. Instead of looking for the latest quick fix or "diet", start to work on your inner world in 2015. Explore your internal dialogue and your challenges. What are your reoccurring thoughts, beliefs, and mindsets around food and body? Create awareness here. This is what will make all the difference for you in the long run.

Are you afraid of Christmas cookies?

There is nothing like homemade cookies during the holidays. The other day, my friend and I drank some champagne, listened to some Christmas music, and got to baking. My first batch of chocolate chip cookies were a major fail, but my second and third came out much better.

If you are stuck in a restrict and binge cycle, the thought of Christmas cookies most likely fills you with fears of going buck wild and gaining a ton of weight. When I was in the height of my food crazies, I used to have major fears around gaining weight during the holidays. Filled with so much guilt and shame around food, if I ate a few cookies or a piece of pie, I felt like I had ruined everything and had to start over, so I might as well just finish the whole batch right then and there. So dramatic I know, but if you have been a compulsive, emotional, or restrictive eater for some time, then you know exactly what I mean.

But the truth is that having some cookies is only a big deal if you make it one in your mind.

Forget about trying to control every little thing that you are eating and start actually enjoying your food. Focus on the tastes and the textures and forget about the calories. When you begin to quiet your mind from obsessive thoughts of dieting and weight gain, you can start to really tune in to your body more. And if you pay close enough attention, you will notice that food doesn’t taste as good after you have had enough of it. In fact, in regards to those Christmas cookies, you will actually start to feel shitty when you eat a ton of sugar, and your body will naturally start craving more vegetables, water, and protein. The trick is in learning to silence your mind so that you can tune in.

I used to think that I had a “problem with food”, that food was my issue. But in reality, my issue was with my mindset around food. Do yourself a favor for the holidays and let yourself enjoy some of your favorite treats, guilt free! Just promise me that you will practice tuning in. 

My top 5 tips for surviving Thanksgiving when you are a binge eater!

When you are struggling with overeating, emotional eating, or binge eating, Thanksgiving can certainly amplify those challenges!

As wonderful as it is to spend time with family for the holidays, it can also be very emotionally triggering for people. And if you are in the habit of grounding yourself with food, this can lead to totally distracted, unconscious eating. Combine that with a seemingly never ending feast, and it's no surprise that so many of us leave feeling bloated, uncomfortable, and irritable. 

If this sounds like you, then listen up! A few days of overeating doesn't have to turn into a few weeks or months of feeling totally out of control around food. Here are some tips on how to recover from a Thanksgiving binge.

1- Drink lots of water! All of the salt, booze, and heavy food has most likely left you feeling super sluggish and dehydrated. Lots of people mistake thirst for hunger. I know I sure do! Make an effort to drink a liter of water when you wake up, and to keep drinking it throughout the day. Drinking water first thing in the morning pulls out toxins from the previous day and freshens your system.  

2- Do not restrict! I repeat, DO NOT RESTRICT! I know how tempting it can be to eat less after overeating in an attempt to "even it out", but this can do more harm than good! In my experience, restricting leads to bingeing. Instead of trying to "make up" for all the extra calories, try to focus on eating foods that leave you feeling nourished and energized. Take the time to tune in to your body, and figure out what you are truly craving. Honor your hunger. 

3- Get up and get moving! Go to the gym, walk your dog, take a yoga class, do whatever feels good to you. Movement aids in digestion, assimilation, circulation and respiration. It feels soooo good to exercise, and tends to be exactly what I need to get me out of a food slump. 

4- Focus on the gratitude. I find that women who have a challenging relationship with food tend to be focused on what is missing in their life, and/or what is wrong with their body. They unknowingly sabotage their efforts by constantly focusing all their energy on what they don’t want. 

This is where gratitude comes in. Gratitude is an incredibly powerful emotion that you can use to diffuse negative feelings. It has the power to transform our obstacles in life into possibilities. Take some time today and everyday to recognize the good all around you. Click here to read more about the power of gratitude. 

5- Forgive yourself and move on.

This one is the biggie! If you are trying to break free from binge eating, you absolutely must master this.

You have to learn to let it go.

It was Thanksgiving. A day dedicated to feasting on food with friends and family. You're merely human, and you overate. No big deal.

Even the healthiest of eaters overeat and/or emotionally eat from time to time.

Remember that. The difference between them and someone who constantly feels out of control around food is that they can let it go. No big deal. And because it is no big deal in their mind, they can easily go back to eating in a way that leaves them feeling good.

One day of overeating is not going to make you gain weight. Use this as an opportunity to practice forgiving yourself and moving on without the guilt. If you need support with this, sign up for a free discovery session with me to learn more!

Do you have food FOMO?

Have you ever finished a big meal feeling so stuffed that you couldn’t possibly take another bite, and then before you realized what was happening, someone offered you dessert? And even though you were uncomfortably full, no matter how hard you tried to control it, you found yourself digging into the sweets.

With the holidays right around the corner, I figured it was time to talk about food FOMO. Food FOMO, aka the “fear of missing out” around food, has nothing to do with genuine hunger.

When I was in the height of my food crazies, I used to have major FOMO around food.

If someone else was having desert and I wasn’t, I felt deprived.

If someone else was eating an extra large popcorn at the movies, I needed one too.

If everyone else was getting pizza, then pizza was all I could think about.

It is wild just how much of a social and emotional power food has over us. I used to live in a constant state of anxiety and scarcity when it came to eating, all of which I was creating through my own mind.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having that extra desert every now and then, even if you are already full. After all, you are only human. The problem is when you find opportunities for “missing out” on food every single day. When you constantly feel left out when you are trying to eat healthy. When you feel like it isn’t fair that so-and-so can eat that ice cream and you can’t.

Here’s the thing- the only time you are going to feel like you are missing out on a particular food is when you are restricting it.

“Eat this, don’t eat that” doesn’t work well in the long run. You don’t need more willpower or self-control. In fact, when you make foods forbidden, you put them on a pedestal and give them power. Your inner rebel then surfaces and wants that forbidden food more than anything else.

This restriction mentality leaves so many women feeling out of control around food. They feel like they have a “problem with food”, when in reality their problem is with their mindset around food.

Working on how you THINK about food is what is going to make all the difference for you.

First of all, stop making foods forbidden. Take your power back. Give yourself a choice. If you find yourself in a situation where everyone around you is eating cake and you want some, go ahead and eat it. But before you do, I want you to take a deep breath, ground down into your body, and check in with yourself. Ask yourself if that is truly what you are craving in that moment. Remind yourself that you can eat cake on any given day, at any given time if you want to. No big deal!

If after doing this, you find that you still want the cake, then go for it. But I want you to really give yourself permission to eat it. Make a conscious choice to eat the cake, guilt free! I want you to sit down at the table, with no distractions, and savor it. Notice the textures and tastes of it. Enjoy the experience of eating.

Fat is not a feeling!

When I was in the height of my “food crazies”, I could gain like twenty pounds in ten minutes in my own mind. It actually happened quite often. I could go from looking in the mirror and feeling confident and good about myself, to feeling like a disgusting fat slob within minutes.

Now, to be clear, I am not talking about those times when you have been slowly gaining weight over the course of months or years and you aren’t feeling good about yourself. I am talking about the times when one second, you are feeling on top of the world, and then BAM, all of the sudden, out of no where, you feel like a fat cow who shouldn’t be seen by anyone. I am talking about the “fat feelings” that come on quickly and unconsciously and totally ruin your day.

It is actually unbelievable how many times I uttered the words “I feel fat” during those chaotic years. Rationally, I understood that it was impossible to gain that much weight instantaneously, but in my mind the experience felt oh so real. And the guilt, shame, and blame that accompanied those feelings would inevitably lead me straight to the fridge.

In order to recognize what is really going on in these moments, you have to go back in time. You have to get curious with yourself, instead of judgmental.

In my experience, women who are emotional eaters use “feeling fat” as a way of expressing that they are feeling bad about themselves. This type of self-sabotage tends to show up when you are feeling emotionally uncomfortable. When insecurities, fears, or self-doubts are filling your head, all of the sudden, you “feel fat”.

Well guess what… fat is not a feeling! 

The first step in breaking free from this viscous cycle is to realize that even though it totally feels that way, it is actually not about the food or the weight.

Start asking yourself what is really going on.

Are you tired?

Are you lonely?

Are you angry?

Are you anxious?

What is underneath the “fat feeling”?

The next time you get hit with a case of the “I feel fats”, I want you to ask yourself if you weren’t thinking about food or your weight, what would you be thinking about?”  With that awareness, you will eventually experience a breakthrough here.

Are you stressed when you eat?

I am writing you today from an airport in Istanbul, Turkey. I am currently in limbo, awaiting my connecting flight home. Two flights down and one to go. By the time you are reading this, I will be back on US soil. India is certainly quite a long journey to get to, but one that I find enriching and rewarding beyond belief.

When I travel, particularly when I travel in India, I find that I always come away from that experience more grounded and connected to myself, to my Soul. I come away with more self-awareness and self-understanding. It does it to me each and every time.

When I was in the height of my food and body struggles, I used to get caught up feeling like I had to eat perfectly all of the time. If I ate something that wasn’t “clean” enough or “healthy” enough, then I had failed. As you can imagine, this lead to major feelings of guilt and frustration when I would “fall off track”.

As someone who was, is, and always will be an avid traveler, you are going to come across times when you just can’t eat as healthy as you would like.

I used to find myself in situations, while backpacking abroad, maybe stuck in airports, or in parts of the world where the food quality just wasn't what I was used to, and this used to catalyze a major panic for me.

I would find myself spiraling into a pattern of self-defeating thoughts. I would go into a guilt and self-attack mode, which in turn, created an internal experience of stress for me.

All of which I was creating through my own mind.

The mind absolutely, positively impacts the body. There is no escaping that reality. The power of our thoughts, of our beliefs, of our mindsets, are epic and create everything that you see around you. The human mind is so powerful it is unreal!

While I always intuitively understood the mind/body connection, now I understand the physiology behind it!

In response to stress, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. This boosts heart rate and blood pressure and directs blood flow away from digestion, in order to maintain glucose in the blood stream. This is so your body can use it for immediate energy, for the well-known "fight or flight" response.

In fact, your digestion actually completely shuts down in a complete stress response, and it partially shuts down during a partial stress response. Our bodies are brilliant in that regard. We are programmed to survive.

The list of what stress does to our physiology is incredibly long but I will give you a glimpse.

Not only is your body totally incapable of digesting and metabolizing food when you are stressed, you are literally excreting nutrition through the bowels, the urine, and the sweat. You are also malabsorbing fat at this time, and your hormone levels are all out of whack.

On the contrary, when you are super relaxed, the parasympathetic nervous system predominates. This slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, and actually promotes digestion. In other words, when this system is activated, you have full blown metabolic power.

We can actually change our metabolic physiology by choosing to let go of stress.

How freaking amazing is that?!

Over the past four and a half weeks in India, I found myself in numerous situations where it was downright impossible for me to eat as clean and healthy as I normally enjoy doing.

I ate white bread, fried cauliflower, white rice, banana chips made with unknown oils, and super oily curry. I ate chikki, which is basically sesame seeds covered in different types of sugars and peanut brittle galore. Things I would normally not eat at home.

In the past, this would have set my internal dialogue off into self-attack and panic. And I can honestly tell you that I did not stress once. I let myself enjoy the food and I let it go.

And guess what, I didn’t gain any weight. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I leaned out a bit on this trip.

What you eat is only half the story. What you think, feel, and believe are all dramatically impacting your metabolism. You can be eating the healthiest foods in the world but if your thoughts are stressed out and negative, your metabolic power is severely diminished.

Let's talk about shame!

Hey there!

For the past three weeks, as I have been traveling through the south of India, I have found myself on an abundance of overnight trains, planes, cabs, and rickshaws. This has left me with plenty of time for self-reflection, and as an incredibly introspective person by nature, this is truly sacred time for me.

For the past few months leading up to this trip, I kept “seeing” Brene Brown’s book, “The Gift of Imperfections” everywhere. It was mentioned in multiple conversations, appeared in my Facebook feed, and has shown up as suggested reading for me on Amazon over and over.

Whenever something of this nature happens, I take this as a strong message from my guides, spirit, the universe, whatever, that I need to listen up, pay attention, and in this case.. read!

As someone who very much relies on her intuition, to me, synchronicity is like a wink from the universe, letting me know that I am on the right path. 

As I started to dive into this book, I learned that Brene Brown has dedicated her life to studying difficult human emotions like shame, fear, and vulnerability, and her book is all about loving yourself throughout the process of owning your story.

Ah-ha! There it is! Got it! Thank you universe for once again being so timely with your messages! 

For far too long, I felt totally alone and ashamed of my struggles. I had a degree in nutrition, and had spent an inordinate amount of time not only in school, but of my own accord, reading everything I could get my hands on about what to eat and why. After all, healing the body through natural foods is one of my greatest passions.

Yet, despite all of this, for a really long time, I was totally struggling with my relationship to food and my body. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get my behaviors in line with my knowledge.

I would fluctuate between compulsive bingeing and then attempting to restrict to “fix” what I had done, which would only lead to more bingeing. For years, I felt totally out of control, and stuck in a viscous cycle. All of this had conditioned me to feel incredibly negative towards myself and my body.

For a crazy long time, I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words binge eater or emotional eater out loud because I was too filled with embarrassment, shame, and fear around anyone knowing how hard it was for me.

Well guess what… I really just don’t give a fuck anymore.

I have come an insanely long way since that time, in fact, it is like night and day. And if I stay quiet and stuck in feeling shameful around “my story”, I am doing a HUGE disservice to all the women who I feel called to serve, all the women, who I know, I can truly help.

Here’s the thing about being a human… we struggle!

We all have different ways of taking the edge off. Some people numb out with food, while others use alcohol, drugs, sex, relationships, money, work, gambling, chaos, shopping, perfectionism, the internet. The list is endless and it is truly all one in the same. Struggling is a part of universal human experience and there is really no way around it.

In Brene Brown’s book, she gives us three things that we need to know about shame:

1. We all have it. Shame is universal and one of the most primitive human emotions that we experience. The only people who don’t experience shame lack the capacity for empathy and human connection.

2. We’re all afraid to talk about shame.

3. The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives.

There is a real power in embracing imperfections and vulnerabilities. In being ok with all your scars and humanness. One of the things that really helped me to let go of some of the shame that I was harboring around my food crazy days, was finally reaching out to someone and talking about it.

Shame thrives on secrecy.

Call it out, and I promise you, you will begin to feel a bit lighter. I know I sure do!

Are you missing gratitude?

Perception is a mirror, not a fact. And what I look on is my state of mind, reflected outward.

The world is only in the mind of its maker. Do not believe it is outside of yourself.

~A Course in Miracles

I believe that we create our realities. Our world comes from within.Our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions all shape the way we perceive things.

I find that women who have a challenging relationship with food tend to be focused on what is missing in their life, or what is wrong with their body. They unknowingly sabotage their efforts by constantly focusing all their energy on what they don’t want.

“I hate my stomach”

“My thighs are out of control”

“I can’t stand my butt”

“My job is sucking the life out of me”

“I don’t ever have the energy to work out” 

While complaining may seem like a release in the moment, this constant flow of negativity leads to feelings of overwhelm, despair, failure, and powerlessness. For women who struggle with food, these feelings tend to lead them straight to the fridge. 

This is where gratitude comes in. Gratitude is an incredibly powerful emotion that you can use to diffuse negative feelings. It has the power to transform our obstacles in life into possibilities.

Gratitude shifts energy.

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, I encourage you shift your awareness to your blessings, and to make a point each and every day to recognize and honor all the good in your life.

When you express gratitude, you raise the frequency of your vibration. You create a positive energy that is magnetic.

Living a grateful life creates more abundance, acceptance, and appreciation.

To truly transform your life, you must be grateful for that which you already have. I want to challenge you to take some time everyday to make a list of at least ten things you are grateful for in your life. 

What are the things that you DO like about yourself? Tell me in the comments below!

Journaling

Journaling about your thoughts and feelings is one of the best ways to gain clarity about your life. It is a wonderful tool for personal healing and growth, as it opens the door for self understanding. Going back periodically and reading old entries can be quite enlightening. With time and practice, you will likely begin to see patterns in your thinking, behaviors, and beliefs.  You will see the lessons in your life and can then begin to put them into practice.

Here are some of the benefits of journaling, follow the link below for the full 100 (trust me it's worth it)!!

1. Stress reduction

2. Personal growth

3. Healing

4. Easier problem solving

5. Know yourself and your truth better

6. It’s flexible and easy

7. Enhances intuition and creativity

8. Captures your life story

http://www.appleseeds.org/100_journaling.htm

Take some time to think. Are you content? What do you want to do with your life? What bad habits or vices do you have that you want to change? What experience have you had that inspired you the most? Name at least five demons you usually run from. Do you think that avoidance makes them worse? What are the things that make your life worth living? What do you value above all?

Remember, there is no right or wrong way to journal. Keep an open mind, allow your thoughts to flow freely and be honest with yourself. See where it takes you...

Coconut water & Panama!

Back in 2009, I spent some time traveling solo through Panama. An overnight bus from Panama City, followed by a water taxi ride brought me to Bocas del Toro. Bocas is located amongst a series of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama. I made friends with a local named Miguel who was working at the hostel I was staying at. We rented bikes and rode through the jungle, which comes up right along side the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous! He pulled some coconuts right off the tree and cut them open with his pocket knife! Talk about fresh!

Coconut water is one of my favorite things to drink first thing in the morning or right after a good work out. Since it contains the same electrolytic balance that we have in our blood, it has been referred to as the fluid of life. Coconut helps to remove toxins from the body and aids in digestion. It also contains anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties.

Coconut water has actually saved lives in developing countries! It has been used as an IV fluid when medical saline has been unavailable!! How awesome is that??!! Talk about pure hydration!!

How colorful is your diet?

One of the easiest ways to improve your health is to include a wide variety of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. The different colors in produce contain different compounds that are necessary for good health. We are talking vitamins, minerals and antioxidants galore! Mix up the greens, blues/purples, oranges/yellows and reds. The key here is VARIETY, VARIETY, VARIETY!

Easily color coded for you... here are only some of the benefits of each color group:

• green foods contain antioxidants and nutrients that promote healthy vision

• orange and deep yellow foods also help promote healthy vision, plus they contain vitamins that boost your immune system

• purple and blue foods contain antioxidants that provide anti-aging benefits, plus they help with memory, and urinary tract health

• red foods are good for heart health, vision, and your immune system

• some white, tan, and brown foods have nutrients that promote heart health

• bonus: each of these colors also help reduce your risk of cancer!

Try making smoothies with different types of fresh or frozen berries (depending on the season). If you are feeling bold, throw some greens into your smoothie to give it an extra punch of pureness!! Start with a handful of greens and work your way up to more. I think spinach is the best green to start blending because when combined with some banana, you can’t even taste it!

Leafy greens have a full range of essential amino acids, minerals and of course the goodness of chlorophyll. I could honestly go on for days about the importance of eating more greens!! Let’s be real… in future blogs I absolutely will.

Eat as much raw, unprocessed food as possible. Vegetables lose their bright color when cooked, and during this process, a lot of the nutrition is lost as well.  Try and eat it just as nature intended, fresh from mother earth!

When shopping or preparing your meals, think about including as many different colors on your plate as possible. This will ensure that you are getting a wide range of nutrition. Trust me…your cells will thank you.