Photo by HaoJan Chang

Have you ever attempted to eat lower on the food chain, eat more raw food, eat more fruits and veggies? And somewhere around week 2 you just want to give up…

There’s a reason for that…

It’s called the Upper Limit Problem, and it’s a concept I learned in Gay Hendrick’s book The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level. (This book is awesome for anyone who has their own business, or wants to advance in their career by the way!)

Here’s the premise for this Upper Limit Problem of ours: we as human beings are so used to struggling, that we’re not used to things going our way.

So when you’ve been on a roll, your eating patterns are effortless, and you feel great… you tend to do something to break this “lucky streak”. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where there’s no healthy food, so you go back to an old favorite that sends you back for more.

Sometimes you think you need a “reward” and indulge in a food that gives you a hangover. And sometimes you just want to give up for some strange reason.

The Biology of Lifestyle Changes

So why do we manage to eat well for weeks at a time and then “crap out” around week 2? There’s a biology reason for that.

You see our cells are used to a certain environment. Say you eat lots of wheat, and suddenly you stop eating wheat entirely. Your body starts to change so that it can better accept what you’re replacing wheat with – say green leafy vegetables.

At this point, your cells are going through a re-arranging process and that takes lots of energy… that’s when we start to feel that uncomfortable feeling around week two. Your body is re-arranging itself to suit the new changes you’re making in your diet or lifestyle.

Except that’s when we usually give up. Because it’s hard. Because we don’t know what’s going on. Except now you know, and you know that if you push through that two week period you’ll actually have cells that are designed for your new lifestyle.

Click here to watch a short video that explains this whole process in full detail.

What That Means For You in 2011

This is revolutionary because it means that you now know how to make 2011 the year you finally do it. Whatever it is for you: eating more fresh fruit and veg, exercising regularly, or kicking your coffee addiction.

I want to help you do it. Join me now for the Cure Cravings Forever program, starting January 1st, 2011.

Photo by Andrew Hill

Look from side to side to make sure no one’s reading over your shoulder. Is the coast clear? Good.

As I write this I’m leaning in, because what I’m about to say might shock some people.

“You know how you automatically react when you see someone attractive?”

“Um.. yeah, I guess?” you shrug, shifting uncomfortably.

“Sometimes it’s the flush of your cheeks, or a less obvious rush of blood in more obvious places.”

You nod quickly, “Get to the point Nathalie, what’s this got to do with healthy eating?”

“Well the way your body’s reaction betrays you when you’ve got the hots for someone is exactly how your body will sabotage your healthy eating efforts.”

Stick with me for a second while I explain.

Your Tastebuds React Whether You Like it or Not

Just like our basic human biological reactions to an attractive person, our body reacts to certain types of “attractive” food.

Why do our tastebuds and bodies seem to crave foods that we know with our minds aren’t good for us?

Just like we know that bad boy with the motorcycle isn’t going to stick around after he gets what he wants… we know that donut isn’t going to make us feel good in an hour after we’ve had our fun.

It comes down to a little evolutionary device that was actually put in place to help us survive.

Back in the day we wanted the tough alpha male so our babies would have strong genes. (Reverse this for men and having many beautiful offsprings.)

Similarly, back in the day it was hard to find foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. These were scarce resources that we weren’t able to get our fill of, so we evolved to seek them out for survival.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) today we’ve got more than enough sources of fat, salt, and sugar. In fact we’re practically drowning in them.

So that evolutionary pull that our tastebuds create for foods that contain lots of fat, salt, and sugar is an antiquated tool.

Taking This Analogy Further

If we just listened to our bodies all the time we’d end up in a sex-crazed, overpopulated society.

(Okay, you might say that we’re there already, but I’m an eternal optimist.)

Add to that the fact that the foods we crave so much are now highly available. Vending machines, street vendors, and refrigerators mean you’ve always got unhealthy foods at your fingertips.

I often hear that we “should just eat what tastes good to our bodies, in moderation.” And although I believe in the concept in general, I think that it doesn’t apply in our world of caffeinated beverages, salty crackers, and sweetened dried fruit.

Alas, our body’s natural “balance” mechanism has gone completely out of whack. Some studies were done on young kids, where the kids could choose what they could eat at will. At first all of them went for the “bad” foods that were sugary, salty, or fatty.

Photo by Dan Foy

But eventually the kids balanced this out by eating vegetables and fruits. By choice. It was natural for them to want to eat something different.

The problem began when they started testing older children, who didn’t feel the need to balance out their consumption of salt, fat, and sugar.

Sound familiar? It’s not your fault, it’s all in the body’s mechanisms.

Our Bodies Are Just As Confused As We Are

We are constantly being bombarded with information regarding nutrition: you should avoid these foods they are bad for you, and you should eat more of these foods they’re good for you.

We get so gosh darn confused with all this conflicting information!

If you think our minds are confused, what about our bodies?

After eating a diet of standard American fare, our bodies lose their ability to recognize foods that it can digest.

As a child, our bodies know that fruits and vegetables are easy to digest. They also know that pop tarts and diet coke are not normal: we experience different side effects when they’re ingested.

The more processed food you eat growing up, the more confused your body gets. As you grow up, you loose your ability to trust your body’s original balanced instincts about food.

Everything Has Salt, Sugar, Corn, or Soy

All of the different packaged and processed foods contain certain ingredients: salt, sugar, oils, corn, or soy.

Manufacturers used these ingredients because they are addictive, make things taste good, and are cheap fillers.

Of course what makes good business sense for manufacturers, doesn’t necessarily make good health sense.

What about when moderation means that manufacturers put sugar, salt, and other “additives” in just about every since store bought product?

It’s much harder to eat these substances in moderation when they’re in pretty much everything you find at the store. Except produce, of course.

Trust Your Eyesight

It would be a bit cynical for me to say “trust no one”. But, there is someone you can trust, and that’s you and your eyesight.

Read the labels.

If there’s something you can’t pronounce, or where the first ingredient is one of the main culprits (salt, sugar, hydrogenated oils) then step away. You don’t have to buy these products, you can buy fresh produce or an organic alternative that doesn’t include all of these tricky ingredients.

Good luck, we’re all in this together.

Stay Tuned…

Next week I’ll be back with something that people have been asking me for a lot. I’ll be sharing my big epiphany, which goes hand in hand with this article.

If you’ve been dabbling into the raw food lifestyle or are looking to find out more about food combining, then I’ve got a great treat for you!

I’m releasing a piece of content that I’ve never shared before outside of the Cure Cravings Forever program.

This video goes in depth into some of the most overlooked concepts in the raw lifestyle. Definitely take some time to watch it.

How to Stop Stressing Out Over Food, Once and For All

Cure Cravings Forever will open for registration on April 22nd, 2010. Get on the list to be notified as soon as the program is available, to ensure you get your hands on the fast action bonuses as soon as they are announced.

Are You Ready for the New Cure Cravings Forever?

I am really excited to be bringing you the all new, more powerful than ever Cure Cravings Forever program.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the video, and any questions you might have about the content.

Talk to you soon!

P.S. I’ll be skipping Mindful Monday this week in preparation for the Cure Cravings Forever relaunch – be mindful for me! ;)

Photo by M. I. Zuhair

Today’s post is a treat for those of you who are struggling with cravings or emotional eating.

Peggy Carey, the author of this article, is also offering a special promotion to Raw Foods Witch readers so be sure to read till the end!

This is a guest post by Peggy Carey also known as The Zest Lady.

I have been a yo-yo dieter all my life… losing 50 pounds and then gaining it all back in a couple of years.

As a result of my desperate quest to reach my ideal weight I ruined my health.

I finally found the secret to losing excess weight and keeping it off in a way that also promotes vibrant health and fitness. I lost 45 pounds using a combination of raw food and essential oils.

Achieving your ideal weight can be challenging, but there are many tools that can help you reach your goal. Let’s look at aromatherapy and how essential oils can be used as a weight loss and maintenance aid.

Using Essential Oils for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance

As a result of his research Dr. Alan Hirsch says that we feel full because of a special mechanism in our brain.

One reason we stop eating comes from signals designating being full or a sense of being satisfied.

An emotional state can also trigger a desire for food and we can control these feelings by inhaling certain scents.

The sense of smell can help us suppress appetite and all those irrational emotional responses we have to food.

Using our sense of smell consciously can give us control where our will power fails. For most people, using scents can curb cravings.

The Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Institute of Chicago found that by inhaling an aroma throughout the day, you can inhibit the desire to eat.

Dr. Hirsch, in his study, found that the more people used scent to control their appetite, the more weight they lost.

The key was to vary the oils used to prevent becoming desensitized which would reduce the effectiveness of the inhaled oils.

How to Use Essential Oils to Keep Your Irrational Hunger at Bay

Experiment by choosing three essential oils to use throughout the day.

Put a couple drops of each one of the selected oils on the cotton wick of your Be Lean Whiffer™ aromatherapy pendant.

Hold the Whiffer™ close to your nose when you feel you need a stronger scent.

The more you use these scents, the more effective they will be. Each day change the oils you used previously with three different ones.

This can be done easily by unscrewing the cap and inserting a new wick. Save the used wick for another day in a glass vial. (Oils can dissolve most plastics.)

Recommended Essential Oils for Weight Loss

• Peppermint: Is a digestive aid that soothes an upset stomach and helps with digestive problems.
• Grapefruit: A natural weight loss appetite suppressant through a process called lipolysis dissolves fat. (Combines very well with lavender in a Whiffer aromatherapy pendant).
• Bergamot: Stimulates your endocrine system and produces a sense of calm and well being and alleviates stress. Lavender can be combined with bergamot to enhance this calming effect.
• Tangerine: A diuretic and is also used to calm the nervous system.
• Orange: Helps overcome depression and gives emotional support.
• Ylang ylang: Used to clarify thoughts and assist in a feeling of wellness and calm.
• Patchouli: Used as a sedative and relaxation aid.

It is suggested you start with peppermint oil, because it provides unique weight loss benefits.

Dr. Alan Hirsch’s study found that inhaling peppermint can directly affect your brain’s satiety center, the ventro-medial nucleus of the hypothalamus.

This powerful essential oil makes you feel full after a meal. The result is that you can eat less and still feel satisfied.

You can choose to either inhale peppermint oil before a meal or drink a few drops in a glass of water or tea right before each meal.

Make sure the oil is pure enough to ingest. Do not ingest oils that are not marked GRAS (generally regarded as safe) or are not labeled for supplement use.

In Essence…

Essential oils are a terrific and natural way to suppress appetite and calm emotions as they relate to food and stress.

For safety and effectiveness, read the directions that come on the bottles of each essential oil before inhaling or ingesting.

Reaching and maintaining your ideal weight is a very important step towards achieving vibrant health.

Get more health related tips at Peggy Carey’s site The Zest Lady.

The Special Offer I Mentioned

To help you get started with essential oils, Peggy has generously offered to give anyone who buys a Whiffer pendant putting the code “RFW” in the comment-box a free pack of cotton wick storage vials.

Simply enter the code “RFW” in the comment box at check-out to receive you free gift! Click here to pick up a Whiffer and get your essence on!

P.S. I am experimenting with one of Peggy’s handmade Whiffers and will be sharing my experiences in future posts! Join me and get your own Whiffer and oils here.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I’ve been teaching people about raw food, detox, and alternative healing for months, but I’ve never fasted before.

Photo by Bu

Honestly, I feel like I should post a note that says “I’m not an expert” somewhere on this blog. If only for this reason.

Luckily, my friend Elizabeth P.W. reminded me that it’s okay not to have all the answers. She voiced what I’ve been noticing around the web: people trust those who are honest with them, even if that means admitting faults or problems.

For me that means letting you know that I’ve never done a real fast before. Well, unless you count that time where I decided to eat nothing but apples for one day. (Didn’t do much!)

But that’s all going to change…

I’m about to embark on my very first real fast! I’m going to do the lemonade fast, also known as the Master Cleanse.

I’ll be posting about my experiences here on the blog. I will be as honest and transparent as I can be, without sharing too many of the gory details, if you know what I mean.

It’s funny because before I went raw I always thought fasts had to be for an ulterior motive. Like a 24 hour fast for charity. Or for spiritual reasons.

My rationale for doing this 10 day cleanse is a lot less righteous. Here are a few of my thoughts and reasons:

1. Winter is coming and I want a strong immune system, so giving my body time to heal would be good.
2. I’ve been working hard on my Cure Cravings Forever program, and I could use a boost of energy.
3. I realized that there’s never a perfect time for a cleanse. I was going to do a juice feast in the summer, but somehow the timing didn’t work out. Now or never, I say.
4. It would be great to know what it’s like to experience “crippling cravings” again so I can really delve deep and share my insights in my Cure Cravings Forever program.
5. I’m very curious about the reported benefits and I want to know whether to recommend it to people or not.
6. This master cleanse will be an interesting way to build up my self confidence, and willpower. When you commit to something like this, it’s transformational. (Or so I hear.)
7. I want to see how much yeast vs. beneficial bacteria I seem to have gathered over years of being on birth control pills and taking antibiotics.

Oh, food cravings…

I’ve gathered a lot of craving busting tricks up my sleeve over the past few years.

I go into all the details in my new program called Cure Cravings Forever. I wanted to let you know that the program registration closes on Wednesday November 4th at Midnight, Eastern time.

So if you want to hear my advice on cravings, without the “high and mighty” voice (I’ll be just as bent on cravings as you during my fast!) then this is your time.

I look forward to working with you on kicking some craving butt!

One of obstacles that creep up when we decide to change the way we eat is the dreaded craving for that kryptonite food of yours! The cravings, they are hard to deal with.

Photo by Guillaume Lemoine

What are Food Cravings?

Food cravings can show up in a number of different forms. They can be all consuming, taking center stage in your mind for large parts of your day. Appearing in your dreams at night, and haunting you.

They can also be a little more subtle. That pint of ice cream you didn’t intend to buy that somehow ended up in your grocery cart. Your finger punching the speed dial number of your favorite pizza place.

Usually cravings are just that. Your body trying to deal with the changes you’re making to your diet by reminding you of the way things used to be. There’s nothing wrong with you and it’s not your fault that you crave your old favorite foods.

Sugar is Addictive

Sugar is one of the most addictive substances of all. Worse, it’s not just straight “sweet stuff” sugar, but foods that convert to sugar soon after you eat them. Like bread, pasta, and potatoes.

The reason that sugar has that extra addictive pull is a little more complex, because it has to do with your beneficial intestinal flora versus the possibility of yeast developing. Yeast doesn’t just show up in the form of feminine yeast infections, it also shows up as mucus in colds and other “side effects” such a poor digestion.

The more sugar you eat, the more you feed this yeast. If you suddenly stopping feeding the yeast by reducing your sugar intake, you can bet that the yeast is going to let you know it wants to be fed. That can come in the form of cravings.

There’s a lot more science and details to this delicate digestive balance, but that’s a whole other post to itself.

Photo by Pawel Loj

MSG & Other Addictive Substances

To make matters even more complex, you’ve got to fend off the addictive effects of processed foods. Many times the reason we find certain foods to “taste good” is through some added manufacturing processes. And a combination of MSG and “taste enhancers.”

Foods with MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) actually cause your body to react by salivating, and releasing feel-good hormones in your bloodstream. Soon enough, your body gets into the groove of responding to foods this way.

If you start eating whole fresh produce and foods, you’re not going to get that stimulus. Your body will start to look for this response, and if it doesn’t find it, you can be sure that you’ll get signals to go back to the foods that gave it to you.

Get a Consultation to Learn how to Stop Your Food Cravings

One of the skills I’ve been honing for the past few months has been the ability to control and even eliminate cravings. Because I know that we all fall victim to cravings, and I personally would rather have a tool or technique to rely on rather than just caving in each time.

If you’d like to talk to me about your own cravings, and find out how I can help you reduce them, leave a comment here or we can schedule an informal chat.

I’ve created the Cure Cravings Forever program, designed to kick some craving butt.

What is Your Strongest Food Craving?

Now I’m really curious: What is your strongest food craving for? Let me know below in the comments, I want to know what’s hardest for people so I can help you.

P.S. My biggest craving tends to be for anything chocolate related, with cinnamon rolls being a close second. (Though I know of a few good raw recipes to take care of these, and with my craving spell I’ve got it covered. ;))

Every now and then I do something silly for the love of cookies. If you read my going raw story, you know that my mom called me the cookie monster when I was growing up.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Temptations

This story starts a few days ago, when my grandmother brought over some chocolate chip cookies that she baked. We’re next door neighbors, so this kind of thing happens quite a bit. Especially since my grandfather is in the hospital and she can’t eat all the food she prepares.

Photo by Hannah Webster

So, there were chocolate chip cookies on the counter in my kitchen for a few days. I resisted the temptation, mostly by moving the cookies to a corner that I don’t go to very often.

Eventually all the cookies were eaten by my family members. I thought I had reached a safe harbor. Except, that in my mind I kept having this picture of me making home made cookies in the oven as a kid.

My favorite homemade cookies were oatmeal cookies. Now, I didn’t want to follow the recipes that I used to follow, because of all the sugar, and non-vegan ingredients.

A Raw Experiment: Baking in the Raw?!

So the thought of baking cookies stayed in my head for a few days. Until this morning, I woke up with a feeling of determination about trying to make healthy baked cookies. I don’t want to ruin the story for you, but let’s just say my experiment wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped.

I blended a banana and a pear, along with some almond milk, some dates, some vanilla, and spices. I figured I should put something “traditional” to make it bake, so I added baking soda, and some olive oil.

Then I mixed in some oats, flax seeds, sesame seeds, and raisins. I put these in the oven in little cookie shapes and waited to see what would happen. Somehow, a little voice inside of me told me that it would taste better if I put them in the dehydrator. But I was really going for that “warm gooey home made cookie” feeling I had as a child.

When I took the cookies out of the oven, they looked and smelled really good. Unfortunately, the texture was a little like mushy sponges. Not that I’m against sponges or anything, but I think the dehydrator might have done a better job. ;)

The Moral of The Story

Photo by Lali Masriera

When you’re craving something, it’s perfectly okay to indulge yourself! I mean, if I hadn’t tried to make these almost-raw-vegan cookies in the oven, I never would have known that they wouldn’t turn out. (Edit: My family thinks the cookies are pretty good, so it’s not a waste!)

Oh, and another moral… place the dehydrator in an easy to access spot (not in the back of the closet) so that when a hankering for raw cookies hits you, you can just put them in and forget about it.

So there you have it. Raw girl tries to bake raw cookies in the oven, and decides to go back to smoothies and dehydrated snacks. For now.

I don’t believe in labels, and if you see the words “raw food” here a lot its because I eat a predominately raw diet, but sometimes I have human moments. (Oh, and search engines like labels, so there you have it.) I’m sure you have human moments too. :)