Does food start speaking to you after 7pm? Those cookies beg for your companionship. The ice cream lovingly awaits your warm embrace. Do you feel deprived, lonely, bored or anxious if you don't eat treats while you watch TV, read or surf the internet after the kids go to bed? Do you vow to stop eating after dinner, only to do the opposite and over-indulge? How do we stop this cycle without feeling deprived?

Consider for a moment that maybe it's not food you are feeling deprived of. Maybe its love. Maybe we eat because we feel we are missing something we need in life. Maybe its adventure, passion, sweetness, spice. Next time you have a craving, tune into it and visualize yourself pushing the food away and see what comes up. What is it you REALLY want? Food is only a great counterfeit for what we truly desire in our hearts.

Night eating has the potential to shave years off of your life and create a perfect environment for dis-ease to thrive. According to Paul Chek in his book, How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy, your body is busy doing physical and psychological repair work between the hours of 10pm and 6am, if you are sleeping. If you happen to have food in your stomach during this time, it creates stress for the body because it is a distraction from the healing process.

Stress causes the stress hormone, cortisol, to be elevated. Cortisol is our fight or flight hormone. To the innate wisdom of our body, a rise in cortisol means we are being chased by a lion. This signals the body to hold onto ALL of its reserves because it has no idea when safety will be reached and food will become available again. So, as our body works to help us survive the chase, it shuts down the digestion process and sends the blood to the lower (instinctive) brain and the extremities. READ: your body holds onto ALL of your fat and your food sits in your stomach to ferment which creates inflammation, the root of most dis-ease. On top of this, fermenting food can be a breeding ground for parasites and fungus. This also creates a hormonal imbalance as it causes chaos with the messengers of our body (our hormones). Since we normally feast on processed carbs at night, you might like to know that processed carbohydrates and sugars are the number one dysregulator of hormones in the body. If you have hormonal issues, this is very important to know.

When I experienced hormonal chaos, it took a short six weeks off of sugar and processed food to totally turn it around! What's more is that as cortisol is raised, it prevents the increase of the human growth hormone, the major repair and anti-aging hormone in the body. The increase in this hormone is necessary for the repair process to happen as we sleep. Sugar consumption also decreases production of human growth hormone. So, night eating can literally shave years off your life and prevent the ability to really live while you are alive, free of dis-ease.

Did you know all of this was happening just from eating those cookies while you watch TV? I hope this information helps next time you get a nagging craving to eat at night. Remember, new habits take about 21 or so days, to instill.

If you have strong cravings, you might like to check out my article, Supplement Secrets for Weight Loss & Cravings.

You may also benefit from my video teaching you a powerful EFT (tapping) exercise to eliminate night cravings.

And lastly, since we tend to not be hungry at night, you may find success by trying out the Hunger Satisfaction Guided Visualization exercise MP3 below. Just find a comfy spot and get ready for a mini vacation while your subconscious mind gets rewired about overeating.

Maria Rippo is a Transformational Weight Loss & Wellness practitioner with an online as well as a local practice in Bothell, WA. This article Copyright 2013 by Maria Rippo, all right reserved. To replicate or use any portion of this article, please do so in its entirety including this text or contact the author at [email protected].

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One of the biggest contributors to the war we have within ourselves about releasing weight is that we have not partnered with our body, so instead, we work against it and it works against us. Sounds familiar? This is exactly where I was before I began this journey and I am happy to report I now see my flaws with gratitude! This video will teach you how to partner with your body so it will support you in your journey towards wellness.

Before you begin, stand in front of a mirror naked or imagine yourself doing so. This will greatly enhance the effectiveness of this exercise! Do this every day until you really notice a different experience when you look at your body in the mirror.

Maria Rippo is a Transformational Weight Loss & Wellness practitioner with an online as well as a local practice in Bothell, WA. This article Copyright 2013 by Maria Rippo, all right reserved. To replicate or use any portion of this article, please do so in its entirety including this text or
contact the author at [email protected].

Ninety-five percent of diets fail. I found this incredible fact in the April issue of American Psychologist (the journal of the American Psychological  Association) in which they published a study conducted at UCLA. The study found that even after initial weight loss, 95 percent of dieters gain the weight back—and then some.

" We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people." − Traci Mann, Universtiy of Minnesota professor of Psychology who lead and authored the study.

According to the study, dieting is actually a predictor of future weight gain. So, I propose the simple question:
 
Is it possible that weight loss goals in and of themselves, cause weight gain?

Let me ask you this, what happens when you think, ”I have to lose twenty pounds by November because I'm going to be in my sister's wedding or  ______________ (fill in the blank)? This thought may actually come from a belief  that: “Who I am right now is not enough.”  

And understandably so. Look at the constant bombardment of messages we receive on a daily basis. Thin is still “in” according to every billboard, magazine advertisement, and TV show. It gives us the subconscious message that if we’re not thin, we’re not enough. Our behavior is a symptom of what we believe deep down, which we usually are not even aware of. Not that all excess weight comes from a belief that we’re not enough. Plenty of other beliefs cause us to carry extra weight. 

I can hear it right now: “What on earth would I “need” to carry extra weight for?” I assure you, we have many excellent reasons to carry extra weight. It’s necessary to do so until we uncover the hidden beliefs that cause us to feel safe by holding this extra weight. Our behavior will always be congruent with
our beliefs, created by our perceptions. And guess what? This is all correctable! When corrected, the changes in behavior (i.e. eating habits) are permanent.

For example, after I launched the Green Smoothie Challenge, I began really struggling with emotional eating. It was devastating for me (and also the catalyst for my healing which I now get to share with you!) because it prevented me from really moving forward in my life personally and professionally. Now that
I have done so much work around this, I realize how I was absolutely terrified to be seen as an “expert” on health and well-being. This might mean I was supposed to know everything and have the answers people were looking for. It ultimately could have made me the laughing stock of the earth, which was my deep
down fear. I couldn’t share my own gifts with this world. It was up to the world to decide when and if I was ever enough. 

This hidden belief completely paralyzed me. I was terrified to make one mistake. I was terrified of rejection so much that I constantly found a way to hold myself back. All of this happened so unconsciously that I would have said you were crazy (like you might be thinking right now) if you had told me this
before I was ready to hear it.

The diet mentality, the “on the diet” and “off the diet” and the “I’ve been good” or “I’ve been bad” thinking causes us to miss the whole gift our excess weight reveals to us. To move beyond diet thinking, we absolutely must wake up to the gift that is our unique form of self sabotage. This messenger, which most
of us would rather destroy, patiently waits for us to realize that it holds the key to unlock the code of our transformation! And, what is so great is that dieting allows us to experience that sense of failure over and over until we wake up to the misery we are creating for ourselves. Then, we become curious
about the message of our self sabotage. 

One of my teachers, JP Sears of Inner Awakenings says it so beautifully, 

“Self sabotage is when we want things to be other than they are. We have so much judgment about the Divine purpose of our life that we want things to be different than they are and we resist what is. The resistance we feel is the life of our inner saboteur.”

When we diet, we only add the pain of deprivation to our lives. We feel deprived which adds to feelings of anxiety, stress, or overall discomfort. Eventually we can no longer stand it, so we eat to numb the pain or suffering. For me, this was about a two hour process every time I started a diet. I literally, would instantly gain five pounds because all I could do was obsess about everything I wasn’t going to eat until I just ate... all of it. 

When we set a goal of weight loss, we need to look at what the weight loss means to us. We think it is weight loss we are craving when really, the craving we have is a messenger that we long for something we do not have. For example, if losing weight means I will be acceptable, this is the golden key to unlock my belief that I am unacceptable. It gives us an opportunity to explore where this belief came from and heal it. We must be willing to become so courageous that we can actually own our feeling of lack, of unworthiness and have compassion for ourselves anyway.

A part of us is attempting to care for our hurt. This is why we eat to numb our pain. I mean, who really wants to experience pain? And, to top it off, this all happens subconsciously, until we have suffered enough to wake up to it all and become aware of what's actually going on. 

When we finally wake up, we can transform and be empowered to become whole. It is truly a beautiful process—the journey to becoming more deeply human and fully alive! And this, sister, will never happen by making rules for ourselves about how much ice cream we will or won't eat and how much we'll weigh by
November to fit into that cute dress. That dress is only going to fit the body with the changed mind who
feels worthy, whether it fits or gets replaced with one that you feel beautiful in right now! 

It's a fact. Diets cause weight gain. Could the dieting mentality actually be the reason we have an obesity epidemic? According to recent study conducted at UCLA, by Traci Mann, professor of psychology and director of the Health and Eating Laboratory at University of Minnesota, "We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people."

"Several studies indicate that dieting is actually a consistent predictor of future weight gain," said Janet Tomiyama, a UCLA graduate student of psychology and co-author of the study. One study found that both men and women who participated in formal weight-loss programs gained significantly more weight over a two-year period than those who had not participated in a weight-loss program, she said.

Wow, so, we've been duped. Interesting that the weight loss industry is a billion dollar industry. So, a lot of people are cashing in on a lie! How many diets have you tried, only to find out that dieting causes binging? So, if diets don't work, what does?

"Your relationship to food is an unexpected path to almost
everything. It is a doorway, not a wall, an opening, not a closing. All that you
believe about love, change, joy and possibility is revealed in how, when and
what you eat. The world is on your plate." - Geneen Roth


I love reminding myself about this, especially when I find myself distracted
by my love affair with food. In her amazing book, Women, Food and God,
Geneen Roth gets to the root of what those obesessions are about and
surprisingly, food is not the issue, and either is lack of will-power.

I wanted to share some
excerpts from the book that I thought you might find helpful! I think I like it so
much because I have for sure struggled with food obsessions and still do.
Certain foods can tend to call my name relentlessly at times. I practiced
natural health for many years before realizing that the reason I still liked to
grab that pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream and eat
the whole darn thing in one sitting was about more than just a craving for
sugar. As I have gotten older (and have gotten over that particular craving), I
see that during the most stressful times of my life, my issues with food
obsessions escalated. That is partly why I love so much to cleanse. It is a
break from having to decide what I will and won't eat. Yes, I eat healthy, but
yummy food still takes me to another place and that is really what it's all
about. These obsessions allow us to 'bolt.' If you do not have food issues, you
may have other obsessions such as shopping, alcohol, cleaning, organizing,
exercising, whatever it is. Obsessions help escape from what we are truly
feeling. Any compulsion is "an attempt to avoid the absence (of love, comfort,
knowing what to do) when we find ourselves in the desert of a particular moment,
feeling, situation."


"The relentless attempts to be thin take you further and further away
from what could actually end your suffering; getting back in touch with who you
really are. Your true nature. Your essence. Women turn to food when they are
not hungry becasue they ARE hungry for somehting they can't name; a connection
to what is beyond the concerns of daily life. Something deathless, something
sacred. But replacing the hunger for Divine connection with Double Stuff Oreos
is like giving a glass of sand to a person dying of thirst. It creates more
thirst, more panic. Combine the utter inefficacy of dieting with the lack of
spiritual awareness and we have generations of mad, ravenous, self-loathing
women. We have become so obsessed with getting rid of our obsession, with riding
on top of our suffering and ignoring its inherent message, that we lose the
pieces of ourselves waiting to be found beneath."


For me, and for most of us, learning how to get honest with my emotions 
was simply not part of my upbringing. Emotions scare us so we turn to things
that give us an escape from them. We numb ourselves with food, but food cannot
truly solve any other problem than hunger. It's interesting because I really
don't like junk food, but I still find myself craving to eat when I am not
hungry whether it's squash with raw butter or my almond milk protein shake, I
still look for comfort from food.


I am always peeling back the layers of my emotions that have been
stuffed deep down inside me for eons, that I didn't even realize I had stuffed.
Over the last five years I have been learning how to unstuff all the fluff down
in me that causes pain. When I opened up to feeling my feelings, they all
started to come bubbling up, little by little and I acknowledge them. I cry, I
laugh, I validate the feeling that at some point in my life I thought I was not
supposed to feel. These feelings get stuffed down deep and they stay there. They
do not go away just because we ignore them. They end up causing pain and health
  problems. The worst offenders are bitterness, sadness, hopelessness and
  despair. I used to just be sad and hopeless until I realized that I actually
  could focus on the solutions to my issues instead of being in that state of
  panic all the time.


So, what is one to do? "Staying where you are with what you are
feeling or seeing or sensing is the first step in ending the obsession with
food. And although it seems as if ending the obsession is what we all want to
do, we actually want to keep it more. And for good reasons. Obsession gives you
something to do besides having your heart shattered by heart-shattering
events... obsession gives you a plane ticket out of a particular kind of
heartbreak." If you have no idea how to let go of these painful feelings, the
answer is, "you allow yourself to sob, to heave, to feel as if your heart has a
boulder crashing through it... You begin to notice that at the end of every day
your are still alive. And you notice that when you don't use food to shut
yourself down, to leave your body, you actually feel more alive. That feeling
anything, even grief, is different from what you thought it would be. That when
you don't leave yourself, a different life is lived. One that includes
vulnerability and tenderness and fragility and changes the landscape- makes it
verdant, wider, breathtaking-of life as you know it."


I noticed that after my fourth child was born, my father-in-law passed
away, my dad had a massive stroke, we lost our home and went through bankruptcy
and almost lost our marriage, that I had food obsessions, even while on a raw
food diet. I am learning how to feel my feelings now rather than burry them deep
inside by escaping to another place through food. I am learning to eat when I
am hungry only and stop when I am satisfied and not to place a bunch of rules
on myself or wake up mad at myself for having enjoyed an extra glass of wine
the night before and maybe some sugar too. I love to eat healthy, it makes me
feel good, but I don't want to beat myself up when I drink wine or eat a
special dessert. Eating is one of life's greatest pleasures. It is meant to be
enjoyed. The key is learning to use food for the reasons it serves, to nourish
us and yes, to enjoy. Eat with "gusto, enjoyment and pleasure," but do it when
you are hungry, and deal with your emotions when you are
not.


Ask yourself why you want to eat when you are not hungry. Begin to
take note of where you physically feel your feelings. Ask yourself what eating
will do for you right now. Am I eating to nourish my body or my soul? Food does
not nourish your soul, even though it feels like it does in the moment, and in
some ways, I am sure it does, but not in the sense that we are looking for it
to. When we eat when we are not hungry, we are looking to fill a void that food
is incapable of filling. So, realize this and you will have found the key to
unlock the door to freedom from your obsessions. No need for a scale to obsess
over. No need to count calories and fat grams. Eat when you are hungry and stop
before you get too full. Eat a lot of veggies. Focus on what you WILL eat to
nourish your body and stop making all kinds of crazy rules to live
by.


Get to know yourself and laugh at the funny parts of who you are. Find
your gifts. Use them to bless others. Enjoy your passions. Love yourself. Get
rid of all that bitterness and judgment of others, it only hurts you. And, eat
with gratitude to the Creator when you are hungry and stop when you are
satisfied.


If you'd like to read the book you can find it new or used
here


I offer holistic health coaching if you would like to take a deeper look at what
you might be trying to get from food other than physical nourishment overcome
emotional eating. I do this over the phone or Skype. I
have helped many people become free of this heartbreaking bondage to food. You
are not alone if you struggle with it. I understand
fully! Click the booking tab above for a complimentary 'Cravings' session!

[email protected]

xo
Maria

Are your food cravings driving you nuts? Ready to kick those sugar cravings to the curb?

First, let me say that I understand the inner battle that goes on around feeling powerless to stop the sugar cravings and food cravings in general. I'm an expert emotional eater, if you know what I mean:) I've been through stages where I couldn't even think about anything but eating, every minute of the day. So, I get it girlfriend (and male- friends too).

I also want to say that there is hope for overcoming your cravings! I am living proof. Am I a perfect eater who never gets cravings now? NO! But, food doesn't have the hold on me it once did and I want to let you in on a few of my secrets.

Secret # 1. Emotional food cravings have nothing to do with food or lack of will-power!  

What if cravings are a gift? Have you ever heard that what you resist, persists? Are you fighting those cravings like you're in a war? I sure did. So, when my entire perspective changed, so did my cravings. Guess what? Your cravings are here for a good reason, to wake you up to things you may not yet aware of. They are potent messengers and they are going to stick around until you get the message. They are your friend. So, I invite you to make peace with your cravings. When you get a craving, you might consider just checking in with yourself. Are you physically hungry? Has it been three hours or so since your last meal? What's going on? Are you trying to find comfort because you aren't comfortable? Maybe stressed out, sad, angry, anxious, chaotic, overwhelmed, disconnected, lonely? Food is very useful for making these feelings subside temporarily and as humans, we naturally seek pleasure, so of course you want to eat! Who would just rather feels all those feelings? It takes great courage to feel what you are feeling. It takes even more to get honest about it. Are you feeling helpless, hopeless or despairing or just stressed? Eating is one of life's greatest pleasure's. So, the fact that you want to eat is not a good thing or a bad thing. It just is. So, notice it and become curious about why you want to eat right now in this moment. If you can become curious and set the judgement aside, you'll learn a lot about yourself and when you learn to release the feelings so they no longer cause discomfort, the cravings will go away.

Secret # 2. There is a healthy alternative to every food you crave. 

So, guess what? You can start finding healthy alternatives for every food you ever wanted to eat. I have started a forum for recipe sharing so I can give you my secrets for craving success. I make the most delicious healthy food! It's rich and so tasty - so much better than anything you'll get in a package. So, you never have to feel deprived. Just click my 'forum' tab above and come on over. If you have a craving, contact me and I'll post my favorite healthy alternative. Ice cream, chips, cookies, milk shakes, burger and fries? I got 'em all covered:)

Secret # 3. Eat Intuitively.

This means, listen to your body and eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. If you just have to have it, have it, but make sure to eat it when you are hungry. Just tell yourself, 'OK, I'm eating this and no one is stopping me. I'm having it and I'm going to love it and enjoy it, but I will wait until I'm really hungry and I will stop before I get too full... and miserable. I am going to fully experience every bite with awareness.' And then go for it, but do it slowly and intentionally because often, we eat to escape. Food takes us somewhere else... to 'Never Never Land' where we are temporarily relieved of all suffering and stress. Where we enter into our love affair and forget about everything else, including enjoying the food as we inhale it to numb out whatever uncomfortable feelings we are experiencing. Trust me, I am an expert at this:) It's a mini vacation and it feels really good for a little while, until about 10 minutes after we finish and then the shame sets in and, well, that part sucks! So, I invite you to be fully aware of the feelings you experience after the affair is over. Where do you feel them in your body? What is the sensation like? What emotions are surfacing. Notice without judgement. Just notice and then acknowledge them and say, "Even though I feel all this shame and guilt in my chest, gut, heart, toe (or wherever the emotion is showing up), I deeply and completely love and accept myself anyway.' If that phrase is difficult for you as it was for me at first, you might try, 'I'm open to learning to love and accept myself anyway' or 'I'm OK' or 'I honor myself anyway.' You might even think about how old you feel in this moment and see what memories surface about the first time you experienced this feeling in your life. Now just imagine yourself in the circumstance of that memory and go in and give that part of you a big hug until the feeling subsides. Ok, now that you are confirming your thoughts that I am certifiably crazy, I'd like to offer that I'm Ok with that AND that this has worked for many, many people. What is truly crazy is that many people try to use will-power and for emotional eaters, let me tell you sister, it ain't gonna work! Has it worked yet, for you? All that did for me was to bring lots more shame b/c I 'failed' over and over again.

Secret # 4. Stop vowing not to eat this or that or that you'll start a good eating plan tomorrow.

The number one way to gain weight is making strict rules or going on a diet. For emotional eaters, it doesn't work. It only causes more shame b/c you and I both know, you ain't stickin' to those rules. We have a rebel living inside us that can't wait to break every rule we make for ourselves. So, why not try something new? From now on, I invite you to tell yourself you can eat whatever you want, you are just going to try out these 'secrets' and see what happens. And then, try out these 'secrets' and see what happens.

Secret # 5. What if nourishing yourself, begets the desire to nourish yourself?

If that is true, you might try this: instead of making rules that put you in a mindset of deprivation, just begin to add healthy things to your diet. Instead of saying, "I won't eat..." say, 'Today I am going to have one smoothie.' Or, 'Today I am going to use butter instead of vegetable oil or margarine.' Or, 'Today I'll drink 8 glasses of water.' Or, 'Today I'll take a yoga class or a walk.' Try starting your day with this new habit and just see what happens to the rest of your day.

BONUS TIP: (had to call it that or I would have had 11 secrets to share, and you know, just not as pretty!)

When we know our purpose and use this information to move forward confidently in the direction of our dreams, the need to fill ourselves with food subsides. I invite you to check out my newest program: Finding YOUR Kind of Beautiful: Uncovering Your Purpose and Hidden Gifts. If this interests you, you'll find all the details here in my store.

Secret # 6. 'Oh, breathe, just breathe.'

These are the lyrics to a great song by Anna Nalick. When you feel the craving, notice where in your body you feel it, and visualize breathing peace and calm into that area. If you have a spiritual background, you can breathe God's healing spirit into it or imagine the light of God entering into the area and filling it. Or, like Anna says, just breathe! Taking deep breaths is scientifically proven to calm the nervous system, slow the heart rate and calm we humans down. I like to do a practice called 'regular breathing.' Inhale for a count of 6 through the nose, hold for a count of 6 and exhale for a count of 6. Focus on the breath coming in and going out. If you like, ' you can silently say, 'Right here, in this very moment, I'm safe, I'm OK. I choose to feel calm and peaceful in this moment.'

Secret # 8. Are you hydrated?

Often, thirst shows up as hunger. So, next time you get hungry, drink a glass of spring or filtered water. Wait 15 minutes and see if you are still hungry or find yourself craving. It's best to drink water 1/2 hour before or an hour after meals, but not during your meals. Drinking liquid during a meal dilutes your digestive juices. If you must drink with your meals, try drinking bone broth. It actually helps your digestive tract.

Secret # 9. Stop declaring who you are by saying, 'I'm fat.'

If you tell yourself that who you are is fat, your body will support who you are and you'll live a fat lifestyle. I have great news. Who you are is NOT your body. Your body is a vehicle to carry you through this life and it's Intelligent Designer created it to change according to how you sculpt it. It's very moldable. So you might consider doing the mirror exercise. I know, this is a challenging one. It was for me at first anyway. I was so used to hating my body that I scolded it and abused it every time I looked in the mirror. One option for overcoming this is everyday, stand naked in front of the mirror and begin to thank each part of your body for it's service to you. Thank your legs for walking around and working so you can live your life. Thank your bottom for letting you sit on it all the time and your arms for being able to hug others or yourself. Thank your hands for navigating on the computer, preparing your food, scratch your itches, etc...And start saying, 'I'm choosing to be fit and healthy. I'm choosing to be true to who I am and to start being my own friend.'

Secret # 10. How to make peace with your cravings.

OK, now that you're thinking I'm a little (or a lot) 'woo woo' and looney, all this talk about making friends with something you can't even see and having conversations with yourself and parts of yourself... I'm going to tell you how you can make peace with something that's been a long time enemy, those pesky cravings. I've made a short video for you to view below so I can walk you through a revolutionary and fairly new approach to beating those cravings. I invite you try this exercise next time you experience a craving and just see what happens. After viewing the video, if you'd like to know more of the science behind how this technique (EFT) works, visit this article by Dr. David Feinstein, PhD. If you'd like, you can download the diagram of tapping points below, before you start the video. This will show you exactly where the points are to tap on.

I'd love to hear about your experience using these 'secrets'. Comment below and let me know! If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Do you find yourself often upset that you overate...again? Do you wake up in the morning already mad at yourself for what went into your mouth the day before, behind your own back? If so, you are in good company because this is the pattern I lived for more years than I'd love to admit. I really did wake up daily finding my shoulders up to my ears, filled with shame that I had violated my own self repeatedly via my pie hole...again. I'd start my days by making new rules I could break through my mouth. Of course, I set out not to break them, but break them I often did.

Then one day, as I sat at the dinner table, fully focused on a conversation I was having with a piece of sourdough bread, generously slathered with butter, that sat untouched on my daughter's plate, I woke up. I sat there as an observer of my own self, having a fight with sourdough bread and butter. I wanted that bread, or, more likely...the butter (bread was just a convenient delivery vehicle). I started to laugh as that bread looked at me so lovingly, so invitingly, so outrageously temptingly. And I stopped and felt inside me where this unceasing craving was coming from. It was under my breasts, above my belly button. This is known as the 'fire center' of the body, otherwise known as the solar plexus. It's where our creative energy comes from, our move forward energy, our vitality and sense of power. All at once, I realized that I was giving my creative energy to move forward in life, to live out my God-given purpose, to a piece of sourdough bread with butter sitting untouched on my daughter's plate, dead and limp. A piece of dead bread, and I let it have all my power, my focus. What was I missing out on as I focused so intently on this love affiar of mine? Was this really what I wanted? 

I had given that tasty morsel a voice and power in my life. I was having a real conversation with it. I lauged out loud at the craziness of the situation. And...I woke up. I knew there was a powerful lesson here, that my craving for that bread was here for a reason and instead of focusing on the idiosy of the whole situation, I decided to allow it to be the beginning of a journey towards a more balanced love affair with my food. 

And so this blog was born, to share with you all my secrets of allowing my relationship with food to be more healthy, more balanced, so I could get my gift out and start sharing it with the world while I experience a vitality I never knew before! I invite you to join me on the journey, on your journey. Let's go!