Back in January, I did a cleanse with cutting out sugar for 30 days. It was difficult at times, but I learned a lot about myself, my food cravings, and how food truly was affecting my mood, energy, and emotions. By the end of the cleanse, I wasn't as excited about sugar as I used to be (and I'm the type of person who used to have to have chocolate every day, usually a couple bites multiple times a day!). 

I did treat myself to a yummy cupcake after completing my 30 days, and it was very sugary and tasty! But it just wasn't as satisfying as it used to be. I used to have a strong emotional connection to my chocolate and sugar. I'd get a craving and just had to have it. Or I would need a boost of energy or concentration, so I'd have a bite or two of dark chocolate. But things have truly changed since the cleanse.

Aside from becoming more in tune with how I felt after eating each type of food (which helped me to understand what my body truly liked or disliked), I read a couple books by Doreen Virtue. She's currently one of my favorite authors because of her ability to inspire through her personal experiences and spirituality. I read "Eating in the Light" and "Constant Cravings: What Your Food Cravings Mean And How To Overcome Them" while on the cleanse and afterward. Eating in the Light guides you on a spiritual journey about whether or not to eat meat and all the variety of vegetarian diets, while Constant Cravings explains the emotional aspect of food cravings and how to deal with food cravings.  

I highly recommend the book Constant Cravings to anyone who wants to understand their cravings and start to become more in control of your own eating habits. Once I started to understand where the cravings came from (and realized how much better I tend to feel without those foods), it sort of took the fun out of eating those trigger foods. I simply don't get the same amount of satisfaction out of eating chocolate the way I used to. Don't get me wrong, I still love chocolate and treat myself to desserts on occasion, but it doesn't fill the void with the same euphoria I used to experience.

Through Constant Cravings, I've learned the difference between true hunger and emotional cravings. I have a better understanding of how many of us eat to create a physiological state that falsely satisfies us temporarily, and the true nature of the craving is coming from an emotional need that is not being met. Once you can recognize the emotional need, you can learn to heal that need without food, and therefore become less of an emotional eater and gain control of your life and health.

Check out this book and let me know what you think by posting your comments here. We don't currently offer this book on Better-Wellbeing.com. But hopefully one of these days we will. We do offer a variety of other health related books that can help you heal the emotional spirit within to bring your body, diet, and health back into balance. And if you're looking for a healthy cookbook, we do offer a wonderful Raw Food Cookbook written by Doreen Virtue and Jenny Ross that I use on a weekly basis called Art of Raw Living.

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Yours Truly,

Natalie