Healing with Food Newsletter

Off the Wagon

Accompanying recipe: Broiled Peaches

Here's a recent email from one of our readers:

I fell off the wagon with my eating and my energy and emotions crashed. I felt SO GOOD on your detox and cleanse diet. My first "slip" was chocolate and I had the biggest mood swing I've ever experienced. Once I indulged, my body craved bad food and I couldn't stop.

Acknowledge and fully experience the suffering that directly results from poor food choices. It is useful to record the correlation between how you eat and how you feel. As you "get it" that a moment of sensory pleasure is not worth the resulting pain, things shift. You'll more frequently favor foods that don't hurt you. With record keeping, perseverance and time, you can free yourself of former food addictions.

My best eating well strategy is to make sure there's a good meal at hand before I get hungry. If I wait until I'm hungry, it's too late. So, plan ahead. As necessary, pack a lunch or favor a restaurant that accommodates special needs diets. Restaurants increasingly offer dairy- and gluten-free menus or post the ingredients in their dishes.

The tips in my article Healthy Eating Habits and the recipes and menu plan in the ebook Detox and Cleanse will help you stay on track.

You can realize a healthy diet. Here are some tips from our recent contest winner, Shelly Maher.

“My strategy for eating well is to be prepared - if I have my groceries bought, my produce cleaned, a few great recipes for the week, I'm set. I have to have a plan for myself for social gatherings (like bringing OJ and soda water so I'll avoid the alcohol, or bring herbal tea), and ensure there's a delicious salad at dinners so I can fill most of my plate with that. If I don't do that, I feel bad for days and am reminded why I work hard to put great food only in my body.”

Thank you, Shelly.

May you be well nourished!

Rebecca Wood