Munchies and Cravings and Chocolate... Oh MY!!!!!

Do I get cravings? Do I ever snack? What do I do to cure my cravings for chocolate and all things salty and crunchy? Let me answer in succession - Yes, HELL YES, and it depends. Sometimes I am good, sometimes I am bad, we are all a work in progress.

When I am good, I cure my sweet tooth with fruit and yogurt, pomegranates, grapes, melon, bananas, apples, carrots, sweet peppers, sweet corn, water laced with a lil' bit a juice, serving sized cheese, and you get the point.

When I am bad, I hit The Chocolate Room, make spicy hot cocoa, eat several servings of stinky salty cheese and crackers, crack open a bottle of white wine to accompany it, steal my kid's holloween/christmas/easter candy... and you also get the point.

What is the difference between these two reactions (outside of the fact that I am consuming way more calories with one than the other)? It's how I feel AFTER I eat well vs how I feel after I get junk. More so, it's how I feel when I am eating plant based foods compared to meats, items with sugar, and dairy. I am finding more and more that I get migraines, feel bloated, become irregular, and feel bad generally when I give into my cravings. I feel great when I juice all my fruits and veggies or eat them in healthy ways... I am tuned in enough to my body that I know I can't eat a lot of cheese, and doing more research that let's me know I may have to give it up entirely. And I know enough to know that "moderation" doesn't mean 3-4 times a week... it means more like once a month.

Eating is no joke. Our bodies are all kinds of addicted to processed foods and refined sugars. So when we aren't busy enough, drinking enough water, and not eating right, it will crave (especially that time of the month) stuff that your body doesn't really need. The best explanation I have ever seen of this phenomena was in Forks Over Knives. What is the trick to not giving into craving? Keep it out of the house, don't buy it.

If I want a snack, I pop a quarter of a cup of popcorn, no processed microwave bags. If I want hot cocoa, I will make with Hershey's baking cocoa powder sans the sugar so I can control how sweet it gets and what goes in it. If I want something creamy, I eat greek yogurt.

Point is, you can satisfy cravings in a healthy way... (That said, you should also drink 68 ounces of water too but I digress). Eating well is a habit. In fact, research tells us that it days 21 days to create a habit (good or bad). So in truth, we all have the power to form healthy (or bad) habits.

So here's yet another challenge (you will recall, I said I wouldn't cut my hair or buy crap that isn't helpful or healthful to me for six month, my normally short "do" is WOLFING out now). Let's agree to create healthy habits. For the next 21 days, incorporate more plant based foods into your diet, eat more salads and veggies and fruits. When you have a sweet tooth, grab an apple or pop some grapes... While you are at it, you can try also exercising 2-4 times a week (if you want to hang with me, up it to 6 days a week). Just walk, 20, 30, 40 minutes. Another habit - stand. Standing burns 1.5 calories a minute (if you commute on a train like me for 60 min, that's just under 100 calories. These are easy ways of incorporating healthy habits... Try this for 21 days... and see how far you can go.