Does Eating Healthy Mean Deprivation?

In a simple word answer NO!

Depriving yourself of your favorite foods will only lead to cravings and binging. If you allow yourself a little of what you want when you have the desire then you are more likely to satisfy the desire and less likely to eat to excess.

Eating healthily is a part of self care and Self Care means being kind to yourself and finding a balance.

Would you continually deny a child ice-cream in the midst of summer?

Would you let them have one every time they ask (every hour!)

Just think how you would respond to a child and treat yourself the same way.

Buen proveche!

Summer Eating

With summer upon us I wonder how conscious people are of the different needs of our body.

For example a group of guests at the retreat centre i'm currently working at went for a long walk last Thursday AFTERNOON with temperatures in the mid to high 20's C /around 80F and with little shade. Most guests took only a small bottle of water to last the 3 hour hike and consequently, when they arrived back they were dropping like flies - two in fact had obvious signs of dehydration and heat stroke.

I am already up to a minumum of 2 litres of water per day and as the heat continues to rise i'm sure that will rise to about 4 litres. I also notice that my desire for cold fresh salads and juices increases and I have very little appetite for simple carbs like potatos, bread and pasta.

Why don't you spend a little time, sitting and listening and journaling around how your body changes it's needs and appetite as the weather changes?

Weight Loss Plateau - Is it emotional?

As some of might know I'm always looking for the underlying psychological causes to our health issues and I think a weight loss plateau might also come into this category.

If you are someone who has reached a plateau for a while then maybe there is an emotional block to moving forward.

When I did some work on this for myself some years ago, my explorations revealed that holding on to weight was a form of psychological 'protection' for me. Fat meant being safe, that 'I couldn't be 'got'.', and only by recognizing and acknowledging this was I able to let it go and move on.

So if you think this might apply to you then ask yourself the following questions...

• Why did I put the weight on in the first place?
• How did it serve me? (e.g. helped me cope with a breakup, de-stress etc.)
• If I was to reach my ideal weight, how would my life change?
• What or who might I have to let go of that maybe I'm not ready to?
• Who do I think I'll become when I lose the weight?

If you want to explore these more then e-mail me for your complimentary Conscious Eating coaching session.

5 Tips for moving past the Plateau

1. Persist - just hang on in there! If you're sticking to your regime then it is coming off, just maybe not enough for the scale to see right now.
2. Check for hidden calories, it is surprising how many calories can be hidden in a teaspoon of this or a pinch of that - be honest with yourself.
3. Increase muscle building exercises - Muscle burns fat!
4. Revisit your goals and motivation for losing weight in the first place and ask yourself if maybe you have reached a plateau because that is where you body feels most comfortable.
5. ACCEPT that you are where you are, ACCEPT that your body is resting from weight loss right now, ACCEPT that you are eating for health whether or not you are losing weight, ACCEPT YOURSELF FULLY. Refusal to accept the reality of where you are right now will build into stress and likely be the cause of 'why do I bother' binges.

Seasonal Eating

Spring here in Spain has definaltely arrived even though the high Sierra's had another flurry of snow this week and I found myself thinking, what does the change is season mean in relation to Conscious Eating?

Until I moved to the mountains is Spain I wasn't at all aware of the seasons of food or what that might in fact mean for me.
Now, seeing fruit and veg grow and buying from local farmers - this has become all very clear. For example, the oranges have now stopped, the trees are bare of fruit but loaded with blossom for the next crop next winter.

• Why is it that nature brings us oranges is winter?
• If they only grow in winter then where do the big supermarkets get supplies from the rest of the year?
• How 'fresh' can they then be?
• How many thousands of miles have they had to travel and in what conditions?

These are the kinds of questions that i'm now asking myself when I go to the grocers.

Nature knows, and if we follow her example and eat foods that are in season then surely we will be giving our bodies the best and most necessary nutrients for the time of year, whilst also contributing to care of the planet by reducing the need for produce to be shipped across the globe.

How conscious are you of the seasons of your food?