Food for Thought...

I have a sweet tooth. I have a hankering for all salty foods. When I'm stressed or feeling like one of life's puzzle pieces are out of place those cravings come into full effect. So before I get completely lost in the next batch of cookies, box of twizzlers or plate of nachos I am diving head first into a 7 day cleanse.

No, people I am not saying I want to spend the next 7 days stuck in the smallest room of the house. I mean "cleanse" in more of a mental way. I need to cleanse my mind and my taste buds of all things I know better than to indulge in. Typically I eat with the 80/20 ratio in mind. Making majority of my food choices healthy and unprocessed. The other smidgen is open to sweet treats and salty findings.
It's a smart ratio, one that keeps things in balance.

Until I get stressed. I get into a cycle of all or none. I may hit the drive-thru instead of the salad cafe. And not just one day of the week but like 3 days of the week. I might, might just pull up to the speaker and decide to order a salad but then I add the chocolate milkshake and say yes to the 3 cookies for 99 cents. Another way my eating habits change when under stress...is in the other extreme direction. I will keep myself so busy that I completely forget to stop and eat. There are days upon days that I settle back into the home with my family and realize while cooking dinner that I hadn't eaten at all during the day. By the time I sit to eat dinner I am famished and irritable. After eating dinner I feel icky and exhausted. My body is screaming at me for treating it that way.

So what do you call this? Is it considered emotional eating? We hear a lot about emotional eating. It is a problem for many people. Cookie dough and a chic flick is the classic combo for the night after a major breakup. But so is chips and salsa with fishbowl margaritas and a circle of girlfriends. The scenarios of mindless eating when under stress are endless. Can you relate to any of this?

Then we have the days of a "busy bee" attitude when there is no time for food.  You fill your days with so many activities that you've completely forgotten to eat. By bedtime "hangry" has taken over, fatigue has set in and no matter what foods you choose to chew and swallow your body doesn't have the time to truly benefit from any nutritional value it may have held. Anyone recognize with this?

I am guilty of both! And, I guess that's OK. So long as the desire to get back on track is present.
We're human. Life isn't perfect. And nachos and chocolate cake are so damn good.
I believe we're gonna fault. we're going to struggle. we will make bad decisions based on the fact/confusion that we do deserve to enjoy all the yumminess in the kitchen, at the restaurant, the bakery...
So what happens when this isn't just a slip up? When we find bad patterns in our choices?

For me it means I start to lag. I start to feel frustrated. I even decrease my gym time. And if I choose to run my day with a "busy bee" attitude and not stop to eat 'til the kids are in bed....I hit the same wall of frustration and slacking off.

The body can only function properly when it's fed properly. Managing stress becomes even more difficult when turning to poor food choices. People who live strict lifestyles of only unprocessed foods literally become sick to their stomachs after making a bad food choice. A vegetarian wouldn't dare dig a fork into a piece of meat, not just because of their values but also because their body will react negatively as if meat were bad for it. These lifestyles, commitments, and values start somewhere. We each want something better for ourselves. We each have goals. Mine is to stay smart with my food choices and overhaul when I eff up too much.

The mind can only stay strong when it's given the chance to. If you're in a bad cycle of eating all the wrong foods, are stuck in a rut filled with cravings for all things fried, salty and sweet you may want to consider a whole food type of cleanse. If you're dodging meal times and stuffing face at a later hour then thou should, you may want to re-introduce yourself to the healthy food groups and remind yourself of the natural energy given by foods that will help you "do it all".

Notice I'm not promoting weight loss? Weight loss shouldn't be the sole reason for eating healthy. Correcting your eating habits and improving upon them shouldn't be driven by a need to loose weight but by a need to live better. Loosing weight is an important goal. I've had that goal. I respect, support, motivate, and encourage anyone's goal to loose weight. But, the goal of loosing weight may not be enough to sustain the important decision of healthy eating. We must want to eat healthy. We should want to understand what fuels the body and what breaks it down. Understanding the body's system, it's reactions to all things good and bad is a much more convicting notion for such a commitment.

Our bodies are little machines. They are all we have to support our dreams.
We deserve. our families and friends deserve. one that runs well.

1 (my pic)//2 (source)

I choose this cleanse strictly because it has no fluff. It's primary focus is indulgent in all healthy food groups, each to regulate the mind and body. I doubted my decision with this particular cleanse quite a few times. I'd put it on back burner and read up on other cleanses. But I always came back to this. I would rather avoid special concocted drinks and baggies of pills. I would prefer to purchase my cleanse at an actual grocery store. Now this is just me. Just my feelings. I believe in the benefits available through many of the cleanses being advertised right now. But for me and my situation a cleanse that actually focused on food was exactly what I needed to regroup and kill off the sweet, salty, and greasy cravings. The vast popularity of this cleanse  also created doubts, the "too good, to be true" kind of doubts. But again, I am not cleansing in an effort to loose weight. I simply want to dive head first into the apple cart and remind myself of how delicious healthy eating really is. There are 1,000's of reviews on this cleanse. A cleanse that offers you that level of information should be given some heavy thought.

All in all this 7 day plan is a no-brainer. I mean, really. You spend a day on each food group. You eat yourself silly into all fruits one day, veggies the next. And just when you can't pick up another piece of celery...you get to spend the next day choosing between fruits and veggies. The forth day seems a bit like hell. It's an odd day to me. I would have liked to of seen more dairy options, more protein. Days 5, 6, and 7 pretty much allow all healthy foods. It does however restrict you from red meats. The system is set to allow your tract to more easily digest the current days food so it can better work on all the junk you've shoveled in, just days//weeks before. This cleanse (as I found) forces you to think outside of the box. You can only eat so many cut up chunks of fruit or slices of veggies. You must dig a little deeper to  create more satisfying meals from what options you have that day. End result? Sure you may loose a few pounds but you will gain an incredible, strong backbone for warding off nasty cravings. You will give new foods a try out of pure desperation to cure the hunger pang. Most likely you'll realize that eating healthy isn't all hard or boring.

If you find any of this cool....follow my  random tweets or pics on IG. At the end of these 7 days I'll do a total recap. I hope to change just one persons outlook. I hope to encourage just one person away from the vending machine and to their lunchbox of clean eats. And of course, I hope to curb my cravings and learn what other items I could be stocking the fridge and cabinets with, in my home for me and my 3 L's.


Wish us luck!!!
And tell me your thoughts, pretty please!!!
Have you considered a cleanse? emotional eating?

*Thank you for reading this all the way through!
It may seem a bit long but it's important to me to express myself correctly and not offend anyone!
You know I devoted January to creative salad ideas to help promote healthy eating, hopefully the passion here doesn't surprise!



Linking with Just Because, Tell Me Tuesday, Tea on Tuesday, On Your Heart