Welcome to Week 4 of the Reclaim Your Health Series! (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Let's review what you have accomplished so far. 

1. You have practiced mindful eating and developed a relationship of gratitude and appreciation for the food with which you nourish your body. 

Congratulations! You have made it to Part 3 in the Reclaiming Your Health Series! (Part 1 and Part 2) I hope that you loving your food and eating mindfully, and connecting to your why and your vision of radiant health. 

This week you will solidify your belief in that healthy future self. If you can believe it you can achieve it! In the words of Buddha: “Our life is the creation of our mind.”

I hope you had a fabulous week treating your food like a special guest! (If you missed Part 1, here it is.) The goal for last week was to pay attention to and enjoy your food; to minimize automatic, mindless eating. I hope you had fun developing an awesome relationship with food! 

"I don't know where to start." 

I've heard this statement repeatedly in the last few weeks, from people who are ready to make healthy changes, but feel overwhelmed by the abundance of (often conflicting) health information. 

For so many years I took dieting and exercising way too seriously. I was fanatical, and quite often a stick in the mud. It was stressful to live in such a regimented way! 

Adopting the primal lifestyle has given me a whole new perspective on health; now being healthy feels like freedom and fun! 

Today I'd like to share some of my tips for having fun with your health. 

I receive many client and reader questions about snacks. I find that these questions tend to stem from two different situations.

#1 Snacking when you are truly hungry.

#2 Snacking because you are conditioned to snacking.

Tamara from my Calm meditation app recently told a story that went something like this...

A farmer wakes up one morning and realizes his horse has run away. His neighbors cry, "Oh, what a misfortune!" 

"Maybe", replies the farmer. 

Tom was reminiscing about enjoying enchiladas in Mexico.

I had a cabbage sitting in my fridge. 

"Steamed cabbage leaves", I thought, "could make decent enchilada wraps!"

Truly, the goodness of enchiladas equals the meat, the sauce and the cheese. Would Tom even miss tortillas?

One of the fascinating things I have discovered while working with clients is that food issues get in the way of experiencing life to the fullest. While this may sound obvious to readers who are in the midst of a food struggle, I didn't make this connection until I fully adopted a primal lifestyle.

Happy New Year, friends! Tom and I have just returned from a beautiful trip to Mexico, filled with sun, seafood, sand, nature, guacamole, and a bit of tequila. We had a fabulous time, staying fairly true to our primal roots, with a glorious exception here and there. The exceptions were fun (warm homemade corn tortillas with fried shrimp and queso fresco!) but now we are ready to get back on track.