Category — Raw Food Coaching

We all get unhealthy food cravings from time to time that are hard to control.  There can be many reasons why we crave certain foods: it could be that we’re just plain hungry, stressed/emotionally upset, or physically addicted to the foods we are craving. Certain foods are more addictive than others such as high fat and high sugar foods, chemically processed foods, and sometimes we can be addicted to the foods we are allergic to.

However, no matter what the reason for our food cravings we are trying to satisfy a need in us, whether emotional or physical. To put it simply, we are trying to make ourselves feel better. Unfortunately, most of the time, if we give into unhealthy food cravings we end up feeling worse! Fortunately, there are other ways to comfort ourselves without food that won’t make us sick or leave us feeling guilty!

Here are ten ways how to control food cravings and comfort yourself without food. Try them next time the craving monster hits!

Next time you get a craving . . .

Tip #1  Try chewing on something instead of eating such as a piece of sugar free gum, a straw, seaweed, licorice root sticks . . .(etc.)

Tip #2  Try stimulating your mind by playing a crossword puzzle or suduko.

Tip #3  When wanting to zone out and eat mindlessly try flipping through a magazine instead, it doesn’t take much mental effort and can have a calming effect.

Tip #4  Try bringing yourself back to present moment by paying attention to you breath and any bodily sensations you are experiencing in the moment. Repeat the statement, “I am here now”.

Tip #5  Try making yourself more comfortable by changing into sweat pants, letting your hair down, finding a comfortable place to sit or lay down, and or snuggling up with your favorite blanket.

Tip #6  When looking for comfort without using food, try using the soothing effect of heat to calm your body such as drinking your favorite cup of herbal tea, or applying warm washcloth over your eyes or forehead.

Tip #7  Try giving yourself a quick self massage on your hands, feet, shoulders, ears, face, and scalp.

Tip #8  Try changing your mood with different scents. Essential oils are great way to experiment; some scents have a calming effect and others have an invigorating effect. You can use an aromatherapy humidifier, lamp or diffuser or simply pour the oil on a cotton ball and sniff anytime you need it!

Tip #9  Try listening to a piece of beautiful relaxing music such as classical or new age type music that has a calming or uplifting effect on your mood. If you need a quick pick me up try dancing for a few minutes to your favorite energizing music.

Tip #10  Try looking at pictures of loved ones that make you smile, and make sure to have these pictures handy next time a craving hits.

This blog post was inspired by the book 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food by Susan Albers, PSY.D, so if you liked these tips, check out the book! (Available on Amazon.)

If you have any other ways you like to comfort yourself without food, please do share!

♥,
C

P.S. If you would like some personal guidance on how to conquer cravings I am also available for a  raw food coaching session.

One of the things that has intrigued me about human psychology, is how often times we might know what the right thing to do is, but sometimes we do the opposite. For example, how many of us know that refined sugar is bad for us, fried foods, alcohol, or smoking cigarettes; but we still continue to consume them day after day?

Well you might say, people are addicted to substances such as junk food or nicotine and they can’t help it. I would agree with you, especially in cases of severe addiction, but what about the things we don’t do that are good for us such as exercise, meditation, rest . . .(etc.) It can’t be that we are addicted to not exercising or not meditating, right?

You might say, most people don’t have enough information on the benefits of exercising or eating healthy to make an informed decision.  And this might actually be true in some situations, but I have seen too many people go to the raw food expos and the potlucks year after year and I know they have, if anything, an overload of information on the benefits of eating healthfully. Yet, I see them year after year struggle with making healthy choices and positive changes in their lives. Why is this?

And I’m not immune oh no (I wish), I know I should get to bed earlier and exercise more, and not overeat . . .I know the benefits, so why is so hard for me to do the things I know are good for me?

For me personally, I know it is because I don’t make these things a priority. If I made them a priority I would put more energy into making them happen. For example, I recently made it a point to watch a sunset everyday, so I made the extra effort to set an alarm on my phone to remind me. It has worked beautifully and I haven’t missed a sunset since I set the alarm.

This leads me to an observation about human nature. We are easily programmable. This can be a good thing if we are programming ourselves. Like I mentioned earlier, setting an alarm to remind me to watch the sunset everyday has worked like a charm. Setting a routine of preparing healthy food everyday has become a habit I don’t even think about anymore, it has become so ingrained into my life and personality it doesn’t even occur to me to eat junk food . . . but it wasn’t always like that.

Over ten years ago I ate whatever I wanted, which was a combination of Spanish and American Cuisine, and my Mom’s idea of what a healthy diet should look like (think grape nuts cereal, 1% skim milk, chicken with no skin, and a lot of broccoli beef stir frys). I just ate what I was accustomed to eating growing up in my family. I never questioned it, and why would I? Everyone else around me was eating what I was eating and doing fine. Except for, I wasn’t doing fine. I was overweight and had Asthma, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Depression . . .

Like I said earlier, humans are easily programmable and this is good if we are programming ourselves, but not always beneficial if we allow society, our families, and our peers to influence all our choices. Many of us are making decisions about our diet and health on auto-pilot without questioning if there is a better way.

It’s like we are trains on a one way track. Do you know how much effort it takes to turn a train around? Quite a bit. Well it’s the same with humans. It takes a lot of effort to change diet and lifestyle habits and most of us will cruise on that one way track until a major event forces us to change direction. We need an impetus big enough to cause us to shut off the auto-pilot and wake up!

For some people, the impetus might be an illness or when someone close to them gets ill. For others, it might be a traumatic event that causes them to realize life is short. It might be that they don’t want to be a burden on their kids or they want to be around for their grand kids. We all have our reasons that inspire us take better care of ourselves!

I’ve observed that most of the time it isn’t just information that shakes up our world. I’ve never had someone write me and tell me that an article or a recipe that I’ve written inspired them to change their diet. It is always 100% of the time “my story” that touched them.

It’s usually something deeply personal that inspires us. Reading a story or meeting someone who has overcame the same obstacles we are going through can sometimes give us enough hope and enough push for us to prioritize getting healthy and reprogram ourselves.

I hope that you are able to take the time to think about the reasons that inspire you to take better care of yourself and if you need some extra inspiration from the stories of actual people that have changed their eating habits for the better I recommend the e-book “What do Raw Fooders Eat?” available again for this week only.

As I mentioned above, putting a face on the “nutritional facts” can be very powerful. And that is what I feel Nomi Shannon has done with her groundbreaking e-book “What Do Raw Fooders Eat?”. Not only do you get the daily recipes from 48 raw foodists, but most importantly, you get their stories. What inspired them to change? And what are the benefits they received from making the extra effort to eat healthfully?  This e-book might just be the little boost you need to turn your “train” around:)

Click here to learn more: http://rawgourmet.com/cmd.php?af=1286243 *affiliate link

“What do Raw Fooders Eat?” e-book is available again for this week only Aug 16-23^rd (with the 400 dollars worth of bonuses!) due to the many e-mails that were received that expressed disappointment for missing out on the offer. If you were disappointed, I do hope you can take advantage of this offer the 2^nd time around!

Click here to learn more: http://rawgourmet.com/cmd.php?af=1286243 *affiliate link

♥,
C

P.S. What is your reason to take better care of yourself? Please comment in the comments section below.

*Disclaimer – This article is very general and is not meant to be a substitute for advice from your healthcare professional for your particular situation. Please consult a healthcare professional before changing your exercise or diet routine.

1. The “Only If” Attitude – Usually it’s about money and sounds something like this: If only I had enough money to go that wonderful out of state healing retreat, buy organic produce, see practitioner/healer X . . . Or sometimes it’s about circumstances: If only my family/partner ate more healthfully, if only I lived in a warmer climate, if only I didn’t have to work . . .

Now these reasons may be very valid reasons but they can also trick us into thinking that we need to postpone our healing or our health until everything is “just right” and this simply is just not true. A little mantra I like to say to myself is:

Healing Starts Now, Healing Starts From Within (deep breath)

No matter what our circumstances, we can start the healing process by taking a few minutes to go inward to connect with the healing power within through meditation and visualization.

We can also choose to do our best with our circumstances and the things we do have control of, such as getting enough sleep, getting out in the fresh air, exercise, focusing on positive feelings and thoughts of love gratitude and joy while releasing negative emotions and thoughts, nurturing and pampering ourselves . . .and many of these things are for free!

And even on a low budget there are ways to create an affordable healing routine. For example, you might not have money for a gym membership, Tai Chi, or Qigong class, but what about a video you could watch everyday? You may not be able to afford seeing practitioner X, but what about asking for a payment plan, a trade, or if they could refer you to someone more affordable. Maybe you cannot afford to be on a 100% raw food diet, but what about a 50% raw diet, or another therapeutic diet that is more affordable such as the Macrobiotic diet. . .(etc.)

2. The “I Am Only My Physical Body” Attitude – We are multifaceted beings that each have 4 major bodies: the physical body, spiritual body, emotional body, and mental body. Most people focus only on the physical aspect of healing and ignore the rest. An example of this, would be eating a healthy diet and taking all the right supplements, but not doing anything to reduce the amount of stress in their lives!

Here are some examples of different things you can do to address healing on multiple levels:

Taking care of the physical body includes: improving your diet, starting an exercise program, getting a massage, having a nice living area, going to bed earlier . . .

Taking care of your spiritual body includes: meditation, prayer, qigong, tai chi, energy healing, some types of yoga . . .

Taking care of your emotional body includes: positive friendships and intimate relationships, pampering yourself and doing things that bring you joy, expressing and voicing feelings as they come up, releasing negative emotions through different exercises or therapies, focusing on and cultivating positive emotions through affirmations and gratitude lists . . .

Taking care of your mental body includes: learning something new, reading a new book, being involved in a project that you find exciting and fulfilling, using affirmations and gratitude lists to keep your mind focused on the positive . . .

3. The “I’ve Tried it All” Attitude – The “I’ve tried it all” (and nothing worked) attitude is the most self sabotaging attitude because it denotes an attitude of hopeless and resignation. What I’ve found is that most people’s definition of trying it all, includes trying a lot of different things for a short period of time.

Healing can take time. Changing your diet for a few weeks does not count. Going to see an acupuncturist for a month does not count. I’m not saying every healing modality you choose to pursue is going to work for you, but it’s important to really give it some time before you make your decision. Of course, this time period needs to be figured out between you and a health professional, but I would guess that most alternative therapies take at least 3 months, 6 months, or even a year to really see a difference.

Most people are still looking for the “magic pill” that will instantly heal them overnight and, yes, some medicines can do this in emergency situations, but when healing a chronic condition it usually takes a comprehensive holistic approach that requires commitment, dedication, effort, and time!

So my advice, don’t give up! And if all else fails remember:

Healing Starts Now, Healing Starts From Within (deep breath)

Comments are welcome below

♥,
C

P.S. Just a heads up that the What do Raw Fooder’s Eat, E-book special with the 400 dollars worth in bonuses is no longer going to be available after July 26th. Check out what people are saying about it here:

http://rawglow.com/blog/2011/07/15/what-do-raw-fooders-eat/

In the first part of my two part series on The Raw Diet and Weight Loss I talked about the importance of being aware of calories when trying to lose weight; if you missed the first part click here. In this next installment I wanted to talk about raw food and satiation and how keeping yourself feeling full can ultimately help you to achieve your weight loss goals. A lot of people tell me that they always feel hungry on a raw food diet and that this can lead to binge eating and sabotaging their weight loss efforts.

When transitioning over to a lower fat whole foods diet a lot of people don’t anticipate having to eat more often to stay satisfied and many wonder what they are doing wrong.

For example, on a typical SAD diet a breakfast might consist of eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, and orange juice which can definitely fill a person up for awhile, at least 4 hours or so. If you suddenly switch over to a high raw diet you might adopt a lighter breakfast such as a juice or a green smoothie. Even though adopting a lighter breakfast is a step in the right direction, don’t expect it to keep you full as long as a heavy fatty breakfast.

Most people mean well and think they are doing a really good job by eating light during the day by just drinking juices and smoothies, but when it comes to dinner time they are so hungry that they eat way too many calories just before going to bed.

Not only will you overeat if you don’t eat enough calories throughout the day, but eating a heavy meal just before bedtime can reduce the quality and length of your sleep, making you feel sluggish the next day. Also, eating fatty foods before bed will slow down the emptying of the stomach which can exacerbate indigestion. The trick is eating more often throughout the day to keep energy levels up and cravings away while still consuming less calories than if you were eating the standard 3 heavy meals a day.

Here Are Some Tricks to Stay Full on the Raw Diet to avoid Overeating at Night.

•  Always eat breakfast- Even if you’re not very hungry in the mornings eat a little something so you’ll be less likely to overeat at night, you’ll be glad that you did.
•  Split your light breakfast into two meals about two hours apart. My favorite breakfast of choice is a green smoothie. I usually make anywhere from 40-64 ounces. I split the smoothie into 2 glasses. One glass I drink right away and the other glass I mix in a spoonful of whole chia seeds and let it set in the refrigerator till I’m ready to drink it in a few hours.  The mucilaginous fiber in the chia seeds helps me to feel full throughout my day.

If you can’t split your breakfast into two meals make sure to add a little extra fat and protein to your smoothies so that you won’t be hungry again in a few hours. My favorite is to add a little avocado or coconut kefir to my smoothies, but you could also add some young coconut meat or a handful of your favorite nuts or seeds.

• Use fiber to your advantage. Fiber can help you feel full longer without adding a lot of extra calories. Snack on apples or celery or add them into your blended soups or smoothies. Add a spoonful of ground flax seeds, chia seeds, or pysllium husks into your blended soups, smoothies, cereals, and salad dressings. Since ground flax and chia seeds are so good at thickening things up, if you add a spoonful to a nut based salad dressing you can actually add less nuts (hence less calories) while boosting the fiber and omega fatty acid content of your recipes at the same time.
•  If you juice, don’t expect it to be a meal replacement. Think of a juice more as a living vitamin supplement and plan on eating something an hour later.
• Snack healthfully throughout the day to ward off hunger. Most people tell me that the main reason they get off track is because when hunger strikes they don’t have any healthy snacks available. Some healthy snacks to have around are cut up fruits and vegetables, raw energy bars, and small handfuls of trail mix. The trail mix can consist of your favorite dried fruits and nuts, but be aware of the portion size because the calories can add up.
• Eat More Vegetables- Don’t be afraid to eat a lot of vegetables. They are low in calories but high in fiber and nutrition so your portion size can look quite large but still be fairly low in calories. Most people I know that eat a high raw food diet (and have a gorgeous figure) eat a huge salad every night, about 4 times the size of a side salad you might order at a restaurant!
•  Adding Some Healthy Cooked Food to Your Diet Can Go A Long Way- Some people, for whatever reason, just don’t fee full on raw foods and end up binging on nuts and seeds or going back to a Standard American Diet. In this case, it might be useful if  they add a few healthy cooked whole food items to their diet such as steamed vegetables, squash, sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, legumes . . .just to name a few. Why? Because these foods are low fat yet high in fiber and nutrients. As long as they are cooked with water, they don’t have the same damaging effects as foods that are fried or baked at high temperatures. If you are one of those people that just doesn’t feel full after eating a salad try adding some steamed broccoli, a cup of black beans, lentils, quinoa or brown rice on top. It can really make a difference.

By being aware of calories and keeping yourself full during the day you are less likely to get off track or overeat and it will go a long way in helping you reach your weight loss goals. 

If you would like to lose weight but need more guidance, consider scheduling a raw food coaching session with Cecilia to reach your weight loss goals. Cecilia will give you the practical tools you need to easily add more raw food to your diet to lose weight, experience more energy, look and feel years younger, and radiate a happy healthy “raw” glow.”

Heres to a happy and healthy body!

♥,
C

And if you have any tips on loosing weight or staying full on the raw diet please share them below in the comments section. Thx:)

I would venture to say that a large percentage of people initially try a raw food diet for weight loss because they would like to easily and healthfully lose a little weight. There is no need to mention that obesity is an epidemic in today’s society, everyone already knows that. And most people know they should be eating better, but it’s not always easy. Cravings, social situations, and finding the time to prepare healthy meals can be a challenge in today’s world.

The good news is, is that most people can lose weight just by switching to a whole food diet and if a large percentage of their diet is raw fruits and vegetables, even better!  Most people when starting a high raw diet notice that the pounds just start melting away in just a few months. I actually have had a few people ask me how they could gain weight on a raw diet because they had lost too much weight!

But there is a percentage of people who are still struggling with loosing weight even after adopting a high raw diet. I would probably guess that these people have a slower metabolism, and are probably best described in Ayuverdic medicine as a Kapha Dosha body type. Kapha’s tend to have a small appetite yet they gain weight easily.

Whatever the reason or the theory, some of us (including myself), need to be to be a bit more calculating when wanting to loose weight, even on a raw diet.

My First Tip about Raw Diet and Weight Loss:

Tip #1 Be Aware of Calories

If you are seeking to lose weight on a raw food diet I think it is really important that you start to understand the caloric content of the foods you are eating. I know some people might argue that not all calories are created equal and maybe there is a grain of truth to that statement but the bottom line is: if you’re trying to lose weight, calories count.

The first thing you need to figure out is how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight. There are many calorie calculators online, I used this one.  According to the calorie calculator, I need about 1700 calories per day. So, in theory, if I wanted to lose weight I would need to eat a little less than that per day or to burn some calories off through exercise to eventually lose some weight.

Here is a list of some common foods on a high raw food diet and the amount of calories they contain:

Foods With a Low Caloric Density

1 bunch spinach is about 80 calories

1 head romaine lettuce is about 105 calories

1 cucumber is about 45 calories

Foods With a Moderate Calorie Density

1 medium banana is about 120 calories

1 mango is about 140 calories

1 mejidool date is about 24 calories

Foods With a High Caloric Density

1 cup almonds is about 850 calories

1 cup sunflower seeds is about 820 calories

1 cup macadamia nuts is about 950 calories

1 tablespoon olive oil is about 120 calories

1 teaspoon raw tahini butter is about 85 calories

1 avocado is about 240 calories

Okay, so now lets do some simple math. If you’re making a smoothie in the morning with 4 bananas your smoothie is at least 480 calories. If you are snacking on 5 mejidool dates you are eating 120 calories. If you make a salad with a head of romaine and a chopped cucumber with a raw dressing of 2 tablespoons raw tahini butter to your salad, the salad is about 660 calories because just one tablespoon of tahini butter equals 255 calories A snack consisting of a ¼ cup of macadamia nuts is about 240 calories.  I hope this gives you a better idea of how many calories are in some common raw foods.

You also need to take into account where your calories are coming from. According to the Institute of Medicine these are the recommended ranges for macronutrients:

Carbohydrate: 45 to 65% of total Calories

Fat: 20 to 35% of total Calories

Protein: 10 to 35% of total Calories

For example, I need approximately 1700 calories to maintain my current weight so 20% of 1700 is 340. This means if I want to get 20% of my calories from fat, I can only eat 340 fat calories per day. That means that I wouldn’t want to eat more than 3 tablespoons of olive oil a day (they are pure fat calories) or I wouldn’t want to eat more than a ½ cup of sunflower seeds a day. Make sense?

If you want to lose weight, it is best to maximize the number of lower caloric density foods in your diet and use the higher caloric density foods wisely. So that means eating more fruits and vegetables and using nuts seeds/oils not as a meal per say, but as a tasty way to dress up more vegetables. Rarely do I just snack on nuts by themselves. My preferred way to eat nuts is blended in the blender to make a lovely salad dressing that I pour on top of a huge salad. The salad is more likely to satisfy me, compared to just snacking on a handful of nuts.

Just by being aware of the high fat and high calorie content of oils, nuts, seeds, and nut/seed butters you are so ahead of the game when it comes to loosing weight on a high raw diet!

To find out how many calories are in your favorite foods and to figure out how many calories you are eating per day plus other cool and useful nutritional information you can use my favorite online nutrition database.

Click here for my salad dressing e-book where I show you how you can turn nuts and seeds into fabulous raw food salad dressings!

If you would like to lose weight but need more guidance, consider scheduling a raw food coaching session with Cecilia to reach your weight loss goals. Cecilia will give you the practical tools you need to easily add more raw food to your diet to lose weight, experience more energy, look and feel years younger, and radiate a happy healthy “raw” glow.”

Stay Tuned For The Raw Diet and Weight Loss Part 2 . . .

♥,
C