The Green Queen

How To Kick Sugar Cravings To The Curb!

A Guest Post by Emma Bathie

Sugar is perfectly designed to hook us in. Just about everything sugary looks and smells irresistable and it has a similar effect on the brain to pain-killing drugs like morphine and other opiates (such as heroin). These types of drugs produce an almost instant feeling of pleasure, calm and satisfaction, at least initially, making them incredibly addictive.

For many of us sugar isn’t seen as the problem – it’s the answer: the answer to our sorrows, our lack of energy, and our boredom. For many of us this began in childhood when we were rewarded with sweets when we accomplished something deemed worthy, offered a little chocolate when we’d hurt ourselves or were feeling sad, and showered with sugary treats when loved ones came to visit. Often it is not the sugar we’re enjoying but the comfort we associate with it. The next time a sugar craving hits try this exercise:

Are You An Emotional Eater?

By Helen Hooper, www.thefitoption.com

Food, glorious food!
We're anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day
Our favourite diet!

Just picture a great big steak
Fried, roasted or stewed.
Oh, food,
Wonderful food,
Marvellous food,
Glorious food.

Food, a multi billion dollar business. Just thinking about food conjours up all sorts or images of delicious, delectable and delightful morsels all waiting for our eager taste buds to lap them up.

I'm willing to bet that almost every single social occasion in your life will feature food in it in some way. Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Holidays, Anniversaries.... I'm sure you can add a few of your own in there.

Each of those occasions will have their own special foods as well; foods that you look forward to seeing again like old friends. Close your eyes and imagine the scene, the turkey all browned and glistening from the oven, the roast potatoes cooked to a crisp perfection, the cakes and desserts tempting and tantalizing you, the champagne chilled and ready to pour; the perfect accompaniment to all the decadence sat before you.

It's not difficult to see why we have such a problem with over eating in the western world. With so much imagery and emotion attached to food at our every turn it's almost impossible to get away from the constant emotional conditioning the food industry throws at us.

Not to mention the physical addictions that we develop to processed, refined products full of sugar and salt.

It's not a pretty picture is it and all of us in some form or another have been held prisoner to it at some point in our lives. It's the reason the diet industry is so big as well; it is just a part of the huge cycle that is the food industry as a whole. We overeat, we diet, we overeat, we diet and on and on in an endless loop because our emotions and the industry who play on them keep us there.

For the purpose of writing this article I looked up the definition of the word 'food' in the dictionary. This is what it says:

'Material, usually of plant or animal origin, that contains or consists of essential body nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals, and is ingested and assimilated by an organism to produce energy, stimulate growth, and maintain life.'

Hmmmm....doesn't say anything there about food being a crutch, something to cheer ourselves up with, to celebrate with or to use as a reward.

It just states that food is a material that we eat in order for our bodies to process the nutrients is needs to function. In short FOOD IS JUST OUR FUEL.

Much like petrol is fuel for our cars. We wouldn't dream of putting anything other than petrol in our car engine because we know it wouldn't work but we think nothing of putting foods that are far from nutritionally sound into our bodies without giving a second thought to the consequences.

But, just how easy is it to untangle ourselves from the addictions; both emotional and physical that tie us to repeating the cycle over and over again.

Well, the physical addictions are relatively easy to resolve. We just need to stop eating them and go a period of 'cold turkey' and then we are done. Unfortunately it's the emotional attachments we have to foods that cause us the most problems.

We have become 'conditioned' into thinking that we need to eat in a certain way – and lots of it in order to survive.

This is what we need to work on in order to eat in a healthy, balanced and unemotional way.

We have to take our eating back to basics, to put food back in the box labeled fuel. Doesn't mean we can't enjoy our food anymore, it just means that our foods are no longer in control of us.

For me having good health is the main backdrop to life; it is an absolute must. When we have good health everything else in our lives runs better, smoother, flows without resistance. We have more energy, more vitality, we are more creative, we are happier; in short we are better.

To make the changes, to transform the health in your life you need to have the right mindset.

As Denise teaches it is all about having a positive frame of mind.

Once you have the right mindset and know that this is something that you want to bring into your life for GOOD then you need to take some positive action.

First off would to be drop one major food group from your diet immediately. This would be:

ALL REFINED, PROCESSED FOODS

Dropping these foods is the first best thing that you can do for yourself. The second best thing is to leave them where you drop them and walk away!

The rest we/you can work on but believe me when I say that giving up foods that come to you in plastic or paper boxes with lists of ingredients that you have never heard of let alone know what they do can only be a good thing.

So, take a bow and pat yourself on the back because by walking away from these foods you are walking towards a healthier life. It's that simple.

If you want anymore help then come over to The Fit Option which is where I live and sign up for membership into my free online health club. Every week I send out articles and videos talking about different aspects of healthy living and how to achieve them.

Further to that I offer group coaching or I work with individuals to bring you to your health goals and beyond.

Good health is here for each and every one of us. Make sure you grab your share!

What have you got to lose??

Helen x

Bad News = Bad Food - but hopefully not forever

The last three weeks have been incredibly challenging, with some really unexpected circumstances. Forgive me for the vague terms, I'm not going to share specifics, but it's nothing life threatening.

While I've actually been strangely unemotional about this upheaval, what's telling is my diet. All that stuff that I thought was sorted, has been sorely tested with emotions come into play!

Each time I've had to face the problem(s), I've reacted in a very robotic way - and then I've CHOWED DOWN. When the first news hit, I found myself at a local pizza joint ordering a large margharita and a tub of Ben & Jerry's which I then ate at the bus-stop..... with a plastic fork. I then had pizza AGAIN for dinner.

The next time I had to face reality, I "found myself" at the local Chinese for some stirfry and prawn crackers. This morning was another tough wake-up call, so I ordered in Thai for lunch, even though I wasn't all that hungry.

If I find myself thinking about how "hard" or "unfair" my life is right now...... well, I'll just pick up some crisps at the train station and all is well... for about 30 minutes. 

The result of all this takeaway junk is that I'm feeling lethargic, have spots all over my face and I've very quickly gained a couple of kgs. The way I look and feel feeds another cycle of self pity, which is easy to solve with mind numbing junk food. Look at my eyes. So dull and lifeless. 

Bad circumstances are not permanent, and I know that. This month has really shown me how much I stuff my emotions in food, and it's probably a positive experience because my years of bodily abuse has been magnified to show me how pointless and destructive it really is. The weird thing is that it's not just bad news that makes me do this. I've noticed that really good news sometimes has the same effect. Like the happiness is too much for me to bear, so I'll numb it with some MSG.

I'm being really gentle with myself over the next couple of weeks. I'm still making sure I have a juice or a smoothie every day and I'll try not to obsess over the food, or the extra weight. 

Recognise the bad stuff.... and move on

Wow – an interesting last couple of days. I signed up as a Film and TV Extra. I am a major movie buff, so I thought it would be fun, and earn me some handy cash while I’m still setting up my business. Obviously, getting married puts some financial pressure on too!

I got a two day job for a gambling commercial, getting to fly in a harness! The bad news was getting up at 5am to get to set on time. It really wasn’t a good environment for me. Bad food, people who are either too busy to be polite, or people who are not really living their dreams. Harsh, but some of the most complaining people ever – lots of the “shoulda, woulda, coulda”. 

That’s a really toxic environment for me, because I recognise that I can be influenced by negative people. I don’t need any excuse to have a complain, especially when we found out that we weren’t getting paid overtime (and yesterday’s shoot went 5.5 hours overtime). Getting up at 5am and then bed at 1am to do it the next day is really not great for my body and mind either. (see pic!)

My attitude has been terrible the last two days. Running through my head was:

Resentment….. “I’ve been ripped off”………”I’m never paid what I’m worth”…..

Beating myself up ……. “I always get myself in these situations…”

Feeling trapped…………. ”I can’t believe I have to come back tomorrow… I have no choice…..”

Feeling poor…..”I never have enough money”….I’m going to run out of money soon”…

It’s good to recognise these thoughts and move on. So being an extra is not for me. Good to know, let’s move on to the next thing. One that serves me, my goals and my higher purpose. 

What's this got to do with Raw Food?

Raw food for me isn't about the food. It's about nourishing myself, being authentic and discovering my true passion in life. What I put in my mouth is just one part of that.

Since I discovered raw, my tolerance for toxic situations, people and food is being tested constantly. It's sometimes extremely confusing and painful, because I like life to be easy going. I like to know where I stand. 

I believe in the Law of Attraction, so it's really quite shocking to write down what I was saying to myself. It's no coincidence that as I was putting those toxic thoughts into my brain, I was also feeding my body with all sorts of crap food from the set. I want to be more aware my thoughts, so even if I do "slip up", then I don't let it descend into the "My life is terrible, and I'm a terrible person" tirade of self punishment.

The lovely Blanka sent me these words.....

"We want to eat raw to feel good about ourselves, not to feel bad when we don't"

That's a brilliant reminder that it's not about the food. It's about my life and happiness.

Meditation from Louise Hay's book, You Can Heal Your Life

I am willing to change. 

I choose to react as though I have found a treasure when I discover something else to release. 

I see and feel myself changing moment by moment.

Thoughts no longer have any power over me.

I am the power in my world. I choose to be free.

All is well in my world.

A very cooked long weekend

Well, over the last four days I ate all sorts of things.

At the cinema on Friday (Wolverine), I had Pringles and chocolate buttons, Saturday was a normal rawish food day. Sunday I went to the seaside with some friends, and I had a massive portion of French fries, 5 hot sugared donuts, pasta, sugary sweets. When I got home I had a nice salad, so at least I got some greens. On Monday I had a lot of hummus, bread, cous cous, toffee cheesecake, Eton mess (cream, meringue, strawberries and raspberries). So, lots of sugar and carbs. Not very much salad or fruit.

I definitely could have eaten better food, but it was kinda fun being by the seaside. I was also with friends who encourage me to eat bad food, and they “know me” as someone who likes to pig out. I really need to watch how I eat around them, lovely people that they are!

Friday Mark and I had the amazing facial at Being Content. It was gorgeous. We had the same problem skin – little bumps on the forehead. Mark has more spots than me, but the facialist said we might share a good allergy. She squeezed all the little spots and blackheads I have everywhere. She also told Mark that we need to come back in two months, and then two weeks before wedding. God bless her. Mark loves following rules and it means that he won’t think about the cost so much!

I bought some new skin care products. Even though I’m making my own – sometimes I’m very lazy, so I’ve just been using water on my face. The face wash is from Nude, which smells like jasmine and I got an eye cream. I’m using it sparingly, but it’s good to have an option I don’t feel guilty about.

We also did some exercise – running in the park, abs exercising and yoga. My running is pretty bad. I can only run about half a kilometre, and then about 750m. Mark ran at my pace, but I get a big pain in my right lung (where I had severe pneumonia) and get a horrible taste in my mouth. Hopefully, I’ll get better. I really, REALLY want to wear a bikini in Bali.

Going to Brighton was fun – great having some sun on my body, wonderful seeing the ocean too. The cool thing is that I saw one of the famous Banksy art works on the side of a pub. Lovely.