FRUIT is very healthy, as we all know. It’s all over the food pyramid {for whatever that is worth}, mentioned constantly in health magazines, it’s delicious!! There are tons of vitamins, and more importantly, living enzymes that are necessary for proper digestion and organ function. However, at the end of the day, all of us struggling with sugar problems….the consensus is clear. FRUIT IS SWEET.

How does this affect sugar cravings for you?

I have been off sugar now since 2002, but I ate quite my share of fruit up until about 2009. In 2009 I started experimenting with adding more vegetables and less fruit. Lots of research points to certain fruits as having substantially less sugar content – such as the BERRY family [strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries}. I have pretty much focused on eating berries, or no fruit at all. However, I LOVE bananas and apples, and almost all kinds of fruit. But lo and behold, as soon as I start adding more fruit back into my diet, I start CRAVING it at different times of the day. When I am not eating fruit, I don’t crave it. In fact, I dont even want the sweet taste of fruit.

I also experienced additional severe skin symptoms of itching and rashes while consuming more than 1 piece of fruit today. VERY STRANGE!!!

PLEASE share your experience on this one, and hopefully we can all learn from one another.

After years of trial and error, unless it is an emergency, and there is nothing else to eat – I need to stay away from fruit. I still eat sweeter vegetables such as carrots and onions….but they dont leave me craving sugar as much as, lets say a pineapple or a mango.

Here’s to wishing you a craving free day! And hopefully some people will post their experience of eating or not eating fruit in their quest to live food craving free.
~Zoe Z

I absolutely could not live without a rebounder!! I actually use if for singing exercises, which is a whole notha’ subject. But its a wonderful “mini” energy booster throughout the day. Jumping up and down sort of internally massages your organs, gets the blood flowing. It gets your breath going a little heavier, and just moves all kinds of stagnated energy throughout the body. There are TONS of great rebounders on Amazon, some available for Prime Shipping {free} if you subscribe to that service. I bounce for about 5 minutes at a time, maybe a few times a day. Its SUCH an easy way to fit in some quick exercise, ESPECIALLY if you sit at work alot and need to get the circulation going. I can’t recommend this enough. Google “rebounding & health benefits”. You will find alot of good info…
~Zoe

Today, however, I had a hard time moving. We have ALL had days like these. Today started out beautiful, but then became cold and rainy. I love rainy, but the cold send chills to my bones. I took 2 showers today just to get warm, and I’m fighting off some nasty earache of sorts. Not a day I particularly want to go to the gym.

Well, I did NOT go to the gym today. Instead, I decided to take a day off, and just relax my body. I didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to overeat today, which was so nice. I ate mostly protein, with some vegetables, some fat, green tea, ginger tea, and water. I felt pretty even, although not so healthy with the strange ear ache. WELL, with the pressure OFF to exercise, I started doing some strange things I never usually do. I kicked my leg up slightly pretending I was a ballerina in my hallway. I don’t know what overcame me. Then I put my arms up, and did a little twirl. I cracked myself up. Can you imagine doing that at the gym? A grown woman? I circled my ankles, crunched my toes up and down, stretched my arms out – just one thing after the other because I FELT LIKE IT.

I decided to move my body today in little movements JUST BECAUSE I CAN. BECAUSE I AM ALIVE. BECAUSE MY BODY IS PART OF ME, AND I AM PART OF IT.

This may all sound so obvious, but it was such a revelation to me today. We arent meant to be at war with our bodies. We are meant to move them, use them, experience through them. Stretch and Dance with them! Lift a weight once because it feels good. Circle your hips while sitting on a big ball. Twirl around in your living room!

No matter WHAT size you are, no matter what you weigh, no matter what you ate or didn’t eat – move your body today, simply because you can.

Wishing you peace today…
Zoe

Do you ever wrestle with yourself when you go out to dinner with friends??

Ah, the menu.  The scrumptious looking pictures & tasty combinations galore!!

You know what you SHOULD have, but you are more aware of what you WANT.

The rationalization begins.  ”Oh, it’s Friday night.”  ”I deserve a night off.”  ”It’s not THAT bad.”  ”I’ll be good tomorrow.”

Sure, all those sayings could be very true, especially just needing a darn break from it all!

The only thing is – you wont be taking a “break”.  You will be setting yourself up for yet another cycle, and maybe a rough nights sleep, if you know the food won’t agree with you later.

I recently was in this situation.  I was sitting at Chili’s with my boyfriend, and ordered a bunless hamburger with lettuce, tomato, etc.  Of course, I get “a side”.  Deep fried french fries.  ”Oh, just this once….” sets in.  I ask the waitress what other sides there are.  Cheese Mashed Potatoes.  Well, I don’t eat dairy, and I know potatoes make me drunk.  Then I saw on the sides – “Steamed Veggies”.  Aghhhhh!!!  The right thing to do – but it feels SO WRONG!!!

Well, one thing that helps going out to eat, is to KNOW AHEAD OF TIME, that you aren’t going to play any games with yourself.  NO MATTER WHAT.  I am not promoting a specific diet , per-se, here on this webiste.  FOR ME personally , I find that eating protein, veggies, healthy oils, and very little carbs works best.  This combination keeps my blood sugar somewhat in tact.  So I know going into a restaurant, this is what I can have.

Soooo, to make a long story short – I ordered the veggies.  I rarely get red meat, so I was looking forward to eating that.  But the veggies sounded horribly boring.  I was kinda bummed.

So here is the whole point of my “Butta” post.  I asked the waitress for some butter.  I’m not saying that butter is the best thing in the world for you.  I personally don’t eat dairy because I am a singer, and it clogs  up my voice.  BUT I do have butter sometimes.

Let me tell you this : Just having a little butter on the side of steamed broccoli made ALL THE DIFFERENCE!!  I don’t know why exactly, but I felt this was really an important tool in our Beat Food / Sugar Cravings arsenal.  When you are faced with ordering “THE SIDE” at restaurants, get the veggies.  Skip the greasy fries, no matter what.  And get a little side o’ butta’, and it might totally make your day!!

Cheers to your health & encouragement to stay away from deep fried sides!!!!!

Zoe Z.

UPDATE : I bought a new product yesterday, and it’s REALLY GOOD! It is made by Land O Lakes, and it’s called “Butter with Olive Oil” spread.  Here are the ingredients : sweet cream, olive oil, salt.  That’s it.  45% less saturated fat than butter, and 0 Trans Fat. {It would be more ideal if it was organic, and was SEA salt, but I’ll make due.} It’s kind of lighter and fluffier than regular butter.  GREAT alternative.  Put some of THIS on your steamed broccoli! Yummm. Of course, it might be sort of awkward to bring a tub of it in your purse to a restaurant, so this tip might be best utilized for home eating.  However, if you knew me in the offline world, you would know I bring Olive Oil to restaurants for my salads!  I will save that for another post

Well….I don’t mean to be a downer, but just wanted to encourage you.  Many of you might be working in the office, etc, today – and Bertha Baker brought in 100 green sugar cookies with green butter frosting. Ah, it’s for fun!  Well, I would like to encourage you – to WEAR a green hat or shirt, PAINT your nails green, wear Green earring or SING Irish Lullabies all day.  Heck, go ahead and Re-enact Lord of the Dance.  {which I have embarrassingly done before}  Just do your best to STAY AWAY from those green sugar treats and delights. Its NOT worth it. I hope I can be the voice of reason for you today. Remember – RATIONALIZATION for eating Sugar IS NOT GOOD!!!!!!!  Not for food addicts, or people that struggle intensely with food cravings.  If you already had some junk, don’t get down on yourself. Hopefully you enjoyed it – now get back on track.  But if you haven’t succumbed, stay strong.  And Stay Away from Bertha Cookie Bakers.  Seriously.

And I know the Green Beer looks tantalizing {not really}, but remember….If you have been reading this website, then you are probably struggling with food cravings.  Alcohol makes it WORSE!!!!  Should I repeat that? OK – ALCOHOL MAKES FOOD CRAVINGS WORSE!!!!!!!!   Think Alcohol=Sugar.  Repeat it over and over again.

Solution?

Drink some Mint Tea????  Ok, not that helpful.  But….Stay Strong, none-the-less…Spend time with some friends, relax, listen to some Irish Music, have a healthy, hearty Irish Stew {with ingredients that work with your body chemistry} give a KIss XOXO to YOUR Lucky Charm .  You can do alot!!!

Cheers to You and Your Healthy Body,

Zoe

PLEASE - I am saying a disclaimer right now – I can recommend what works FOR ME.  And what DOESNT work for me.  Please leave comments agreeing, disagreeing, whatever.  This is an open forum, but in the end, everyone has to decide what is best for their journey.

So, personal update.  Yesterday, I was struggling alot with food cravings.  You know what I’m talking about.  Just having one of those days where you CANT GET FREEKIN FULL!!  It was interrupting my day severely.  Also combined with it, was a to-do list 20 feet long, and I just couldn’t concentrate.  Does anyone else ever struggle with concentration / food cravings??  Well over the past few years, I have had some great successes and some days from hell.  I am still in the process of understanding my body, my cravings, my emotions, my body chemistry, energetic imbalances, etc, etc.  I don’t always know what to do to help myself feel better.   In the old days, I just gave in.  Easy fix!! I feel IMMEDIATELY better!  But then all the consequences set in, and I want more and more.  And the body chemistry shifts around, and now the craving is more intense the next day.  ITS NOT WORTH IT!!!  So now, I fight and prevent.  Preventing is alot easier.  Fighting can seem like hell.

So, yesterday, during my fighting it….I was able to tie in some emotional reasons, which surprised me.  I was TOO STRESSED.  I had TOO MUCH TO DO, and in my mind, I had to do it perfectly.

Well THATS just not gonna happen.  No one is perfect.  Especially not me.

I had a long talk with someone close to me last night, and he said he used to struggle with perfection and “enemy thoughts” ALL DAY LONG.  He said he was tortured by not being able to stay PRESENT, and he was constantly stressed.  He has been telling me for about 7 months now to read the book A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle. He said it changed his life completely.  He also said, he had such ADD, that he couldn’t get through it the first time.  Finally he just put himself in sensory deprivation – locked himself in the bathroom, made himself a warm bubble bath, lit some candles, and MADE himself read it – large chunks at at time.  I just started the book myself, I have it right on my desk now as I am writing.  I will let you know how it goes, since I KNOW I will be asked constantly if I read this book.

How does this relate to food cravings? I dont know quite yet.  But it could -at times- have something to do with worrying, perfection, too much “to do”, etc.  I wonder sometimes how that mentality “feeds” stress responses in the body, which then make us hungry???

I am going to put my affiliate link up here to amazon for the book, so you can check it out a bit.  If you end up buying it from Amazon, somewhere else on the internet, your local bookstore, or borrow from a friend…PLEASE leave comments after you read {or during the process of reading it}.  Did it help you with your overall emotional well-being  & stress responses?  Did it resonate or NOT resonate with you?

Here is the link for the Book – A New Earth:

I will let you know how I am doing with it…

Take care today and wishing you a STRESS FREE and CRAVING FREE DAY!!!
~Z

ANYway….This blog was meant to encourage other people fighting the sugar, food/fat, cravings battle. I have incredible will-power, and probably you do, too. What totally sucks is the CRAVINGS!! What about the person that doesn’t have cravings? Are they using willpower to get through the day? No. They don’t have to fight. The person with cravings has to fight, until the body chemistry is evened out. Mine has been good for a while, and my health went down this year. Im getting back on educating myself, and sharing it in this blog. I might recommend products, or advice, or just vent! I also went through all my posts, and some products I was promoting, and deleted all the pages of info I wasn’t doing myself. I want this journal / blog to be up to date, and VERY REAL – so we can all help each other. PLEASE, IM BEGGING YOU, leave comments of what has WORKED FOR YOU to stop cravings and healthily lose weight, firm up, etc. I also want to explore better health in general, share what I find – for life is not meant to be THIS STRUGGLE that many of us food cravers go through. IT SHOULDNT BE SO HARD!!!

Well, Im having a hard time today, cuz of my hormones, and Im afraid my pre-diabetes. I am eating “perfectly” – meaning veggies, protein, healthy fats, some healthy carbs, nuts and my supplements/vitamins. AGHH!! It doesnt seem to be helping today. It could be hormones – not to share too much information, just sayin’.

While I do absolutely recommend CLEANSING and FASTING [under supervision] , I believe I have done TOO MUCH over the past year. I lost alot of weight, but Im afraid I depleted myself of too many vitamins and minerals, and therefore I am always STARVING!!

Moderation, Zoe, Moderation. It’s all a learning curve. I lost alot of weight cleansing, but also lost alot of my hair. I know I am not alone on this. But there HAS to be a better way that gives us a peaceful relationship with food, a rockin body that enjoys to move, AND a full head of hair?? All I had was the rockin’ body. I dont care WHAT anyone says, its NOT ENOUGH. Ive HAD the perfect body, with intense food cravings. And massive skin and hair problems. I am all about BALANCE at this point. And having energy.

I hope you continue this journey with me, and we can help each other. For this is LIFE AND DEATH for many of us with food problems, absolutely LIFE AND DEATH. Do you know what I mean???? We HAVE to eat balanced, we have to exercise, we have to reduce stress, we HAVE to balance our chemistry. It’s scary that we have gotten our bodies all out of whack – sometimes by doing TOO much of a good thing, strangely enough. BUT lets work together and heal the world [well at least our world of food addiction / confusion / cravings/ imbalances / emotional pain]. I want to live!! I want to live happily and CRAVING FREE DARN IT ALL!! We deserve it. There are answers, otherwise life would be this bizarre, cruel joke.

Hopefully, soon you will see more encouraging posts from me. The only thing that is helping my sugar cravings/food cravings [Hella Intense, by the way] is lots of protein, olive oil/hummus with veggies, green tea, and walking. I dont feel at all that I am going through emotional eating, although in the past I have. I feel my body is out of whack.

I can say though – if there is one tip I can give you – If you can handle Caffeine – try Organic Japanese Green Tea. [Instead of coffee, even better] Tons of anti-oxidants, and a metabolism boost, as you probably already know.  If I find a good link, I will post it. This stuff REALLY helps me in the morning, after a breakfast of usually eggs and veggies.

Ok, God Bless – Peace be with you. Here’s to writing VERY TRUE, HONEST, GUT WRENTCHING Blogs – and hope we can help each other. Be Strong, but ALSO be KIND to yourself and OPEN to many forms of HEALING!!

love, Zoe Z.

Tell me what you think.

~Zoe

Make your LIFE sweet!

ZOE

p.s. here are some flowers for you from my friend’s grandma’s garden!

Wishing you “sweet” success today through Hypnosis – 1 bite and thought at a time!!

~Zoe

p.s.  Here’s a little bio on Kelly from the Brain Sync Website…

{With over 2 million audio programs in print, Kelly Howell is highly acclaimed for her pioneering work in healing and mind expansion. She’s been actively involved in personal development and consciousness research for more than two decades and is recognized as a thought-leader in the field of personal transformation.

In the early 1980′s, Kelly began her research into the mind and it’s potential as part of her own personal exploration. She began making personalized reprogramming tapes in her living room, and was astounded by the results. Seeing powerful changes in her life and her client’s lives, lead to years of research and production. In 1990 she formed Brain Sync offering a wide range of CD’s and mp3 downloads for meditation, healing, spiritual growth and mind expansion.

Over the years, Kelly has worked in cooperation with eminent scientists, medical professionals, brain researchers and spiritual teachers to develop her groundbreaking transformational audio techniques. Her clinically proven Brain Wave Therapy CDs are embraced by both individual users and by medical professionals.

In 2005 Kelly launched Theatre Of The Mind podcasts as an experiment. She says, “I started Theatre of the Mind with the idea that the more we understand the inextricable connection between thought and reality, the more power we have to transform ourselves, our lives and the world. My intention is  to make it easier to deepen our understanding of Mind, and apply this knowledge to create real results.”

Theatre of the Mind podcasts offer unprecedented access to some of the world’s leading visionaries and consciousness researchers exploring mind expansion intuition, creativity and the many facets of human potential. Today, Theatre of the Mind consistently ranks in the iTunes Top 10 most downloaded Self-help, Health, and Alternative Medicine podcasts producing over 100,000 downloads per month.}

2009 OCT Update – I still TOTALLY do the Kelly Howell Hypnosis CD’s.  I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend her Hypnosis Cds.  She has such a soothing voice, and I do always seem to go into a deep relaxing state when I listen to them through headphones, resting in a chair or laying on my bed.  I also really like her series on The Secret & the Secret To Attracting Wealth.  It’s TOTALLY NOT what I thought it would be like, but its amazing.  The visualizations she has you do are very powerful, and make your mind/spirit/subconscious OPEN to receiving and manifesting amazing things in your life.  This transfers over to health – Big Time.