“Ugh. I feel stressed.” “Im so tired.” “Argh today was a hard day.” How often do you hear yourself say these things and in an instant find yourself knee deep in a bag potato chips with a side of guilt? After a long day of work, a long odorous, uncomfortable commute and an infinite to-do list upon arriving home, the first thing on your mind is relaxation and instant comfort. But how often is comforting yourself linked to eating something you know is bad for you? How often do you find yourself attempting to protect yourself from vulnerability by building a shield of chocolate chip cookies and ice cream?

I have noticed a pattern of the people around me. I find that many of the reasons they struggle with weight loss or healthy eating is because there is disharmony in their emotional state. When something is slightly off in one aspect of your life, other aspects tend to follow suit. When was the last time you felt sad? What was your first instinct? What was your course of action? For some, the first thought is to satisfy or fill a void with comforting foods. When I feel emotional (usually when I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed), I tend to shop. I usually have to stop for a moment and catch myself before I blow my money on that Michael Kors bag that I just don’t need. Though it is not as simple as thinking whether or not you truly need it, emotional eating is attached to something much deeper which is really calling you to pay attention to it.

Eating to soothe your current emotional state is a way to cope, a defensive mechanism. It may be simple to acknowledge that you are eating when overcome by an overwhelming emotion but actually taking the extra effort to make a conscious change is where the true challenge lies. Nourishment and comfort, from the moment we took birth have shaped our relationship with food.

Here are some fabulous FREE resources to help guide you on your journey to recovering from emotional eating. Heal yourself!

http://healthcoach.integrativenutrition.com/sites/default/files/6_steps_to_ending_emotional_eating.pdf

http://www.pathforlife.com/philosophy

Peace, love and NO emotional eating (and NO BEEF!)

Guramrit 

I was browsing the web for a sweet potato soup recipe, specifically a healing soup to aid in curing my mucusy self. I came across a fabulous blog: Hope For Healing. The author posted a phenomenal recipe for two potato soup. I will share this delicious soup recipe with you! Happy healing!

What you need:
2 TB of olive oil
1 small yellow onion (around 1/2 cup diced)- (or red, I prefer red?)
2 cups of diced raw sweet potatoes
2 cups of diced raw white potatoes
4 cups of vegetable stock
2 cups of pure water
half of lemon freshly squeezed for juice
1 ts. of sea salt
1 ts. of black pepper
1 TB of minced garlic powder
1-2 ts. of ground ginger
1 ts. of ground paprika
1 ts. of dried marjoram or rosemary
1 ts. of dried basil
1 ts. of dried oregano
handful of chopped fresh parsley or chives

How you make it (from Hope for Healing- not my words!)
Sauté the onion in a large pot with the olive oil for a few minutes, then add the broth, water and diced potatoes. Cook for a few more minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil on high for 10-15 minutes and then turn down the heat and let cook until the potatoes start to fall apart in the broth. Use the back of a large ladle or spoon to help the potatoes break up and become a part of the broth. The soup will get much thicker if you do this after about 30 minutes or so. Then after the potatoes have broken down enough to your liking, add some fresh chives or parsley for serving a hot bowl of soup. Serve with your favorite bread or biscuit.

(link to the recipe/blog here: http://glutenfreehope.blogspot.com/2011/01/two-potato-soup-vegan.html?m=1 )

I hope you enjoy this delicious soup! I know I did. I made a ton. It will def taste amazing tomorrow too.

Peace, love and sweet potatoes!

Guramrit

So I wrote this post when I was close to completing week 2 of nutrition school at Integrative Nutrition. My brain is a super sponge/permeable membrane welcoming all this fabulous knowledge. However, after nearly two weeks, and an awful cold/flu (I cant decide which one yet) I have become increasingly paranoid about dairy.

I find myself wanting to really cut dairy out for the sake of my sanity. The thought of what is being done to cows is beyond imaginable. I cannot fathom the horrid things that happen at these dairy farms. Well, maybe not farms but the big bad guys who milk a cow until it’s sore or even when it’s pregnant.

Though I don’t rely solely on dairy for my protein, vitamin D or other nutrients, I still find myself eating Greek yogurt, cheese, cheese and MORE cheese. I haven’t drank cows milk since the 6th grade (that’s about 12 years ago). Did you know we are the only species who drinks another animals milk? Cows drink cows milk, goats drink goat milk and sheep drink sheep milk, etc.

Did you know it’s super challenging to quit cheese? The reasoning for this is because there are small traces of opiates (ex. Morphine) in cheese. I knew there was a reason I was having such a hard time quitting cheese. I am actually contemplating giving complete veganism a shot. I want to test out how my body feels without my beloved cheese and delicious yogurt. I have tried coconut milk and almond milk yogurt. It’s not terrible.

When I think about all the mucus causing cheese I normally love to eat when I am not feeling well, I think I could have prevented this. I know that dairy and I don’t really get along but me and cheese seem to do okay for the most part. Maybe that’s me in denial. But seriously this mucus is no joke!

I am challenging myself to a two week vegan challenge! I will eat vegan for two weeks and track how I feel and let you lovely readers know how it’s working for me. But for now, I’m off to drink tea and plenty of fluids and live off of soups for the rest of the day.

Peace, love and no beef (maybe no cheese?),
Guramrit