Happy Easter!  

I always think of Easter as a gift. It's permission to take some well-needed and well-earned time out, to step away from the hamster wheels we’ve been running on and do whatever floats our boat. It’s where we get to regroup and recharge our batteries, however, that looks for you. 

Whatever you’re doing, simply enjoy yourself and forget about the Easter eggs, its’ just chocolate after all. It might be in fun shapes and glittery wrappings and boxes, but, it’s still the same chocolate that you can buy any old day of the year.   

Even I find myself looking at the glamorously wrapped offerings on the shelf and feeling the familiar tug of feelings and excitement that yes, Easter is coming;  “I’ve been working hard, a little smackeral of a bunnies ear would be a tasty treat, and don’t I deserve one of those beautiful Easter eggs in boxes?”  

But...

Emotional eating has a massive impact on our weight and health and one of the keys to reducing emotional and stress eating is to increase relaxation. 

 
Taking simple steps to find some little pockets of “you time” throughout the day is one way to begin to reduce stress and increase feelings of calm. 

Another way to break-away from this long standing learned behaviour is to simply be aware that you’re about to engage in emotional eating and take steps to reduce that drive towards putting food in your mouth.

That’s easier said then done though isn’t it.  

I shared my story last night at the Happy Healthy Workshop: Find Your Food Freedom In 5 Simple Steps & Lose Weight Before Christmasof knowing all too well the shame of feeling out of control and that food was my enemy when emotional and stress eating would kick in. 

Sure there were times when I was the one in control and I was able to...

Here’s why I say there is nothing special about chocolate…or cake, lollies, soft drinks, fast food, or any of the other foods we feel we can't give up.  

Unfortunately for us our brain has been marketed too from the day we were born.  

Let’s just use chocolate as the example. Now, chocolate has been marketed to us as the be all and end all of sublime and sensual experiences.  But really, is it?  

It goes in your mouth, it’s there for a few seconds, and then it’s gone, leaving a kind of pasty glugg on your tongue and your taste buds overwhelmed with sweetness. 

And as sugar begets sugar, what ends up happening is we just keep filling our mouths with it even though the “joy” (if you can call it that) is short lived.  

I used to worship chocolate and all things sugar. But one day I started to get curious…what exactly was...

Ever found yourself in the kitchen with the cookie jar under your arm and a cookie or 3 already gone and wondered how you got there and why you didn’t notice? 

We spend most of our life operating on auto pilot and our eating habits are no different.  

The brain invented auto pilot to save us time and energy. It’s super clever, it learns how to do something, which to be fair can be rather tedious, and then to save us time and energy it bookmarks how and when to do that task and then your brain leads your body around like a puppet, so you can think about other things. 

Some of the things that are bookmarked are called life skills and talents and others are called habits.  

Cooking is a life skill.  

Standing in the kitchen with the cooking jar under your arm and 3 cookies in before you notice you’re doing it, that’s a habit.  

And it’s these auto food habits we...

 
Happy Easter!  

What are you doing this weekend, do you get the whole 4 days off?  

Whatever you’re doing, simply enjoy yourself and forget about the Easter eggs, its’ just chocolate after all. And chocolate is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year every year and fills shelves in almost every shop we walk into. There is literally nothing special about it.  

Break-free from the marketing matrix and become a #freedomseeker instead. 

Focus on outside time, having fun, finding connection and laughter.  

Whatever’s happening in your world at the moment isn’t going to be improved by chocolate. But getting outside and experiencing the real sensations and pleasures of life will: 

• Improve your perception 
• Uplift your mood 

• Provide new perspectives 

 
And if all the cells in your body were solar panels, stepping outside is what makes them all turn and look up and that is where real...

This week I released a podcast about will-power and how implausible it is to rely on it to get us to success when it comes to sustainable weight loss.  

I got some interesting comments and thoughts about the relationship between will-power and weight loss on social media: 

“I think it's to do with the short-term desire compared with the long-term need. What do you think Katie?” 

• “Knowing what to eat never negates wanting to eat it and that’s the rub. Wanting doesn’t go away simply because we’ve changed our mind. If we were an ocean liner and the captain says lets do a U-Turn,  it takes time for the message to get through to everyone and then more time still for everything to happen and that boat to actually be pointing in the other direction”  

 
“Keep going and will power grows with stamina to get you there” 

• “Yes, I got there, but it took me a quarter of a century because I was...

Abstainers and Moderators: Which are you with which foods?

Moderator: a person who can open a bottle of beverage, a block of chocolate, a bag of crisps, a packet of lollies or biscuits or have a particular cuisine and only eat 1 serving of it.

This means they can put the rest back in the fridge or cupboard and forget about it until another day, then the next time, just have one serving and put it aside again. They can even have it in plain sight all day every day and still only have one serving every other day with ease.

Abstainer: a person who is not a moderator with certain foods and despite their best efforts, they consume most or all in one sitting. Their best course of action with those food and beverages is to abstain from them. The saying that one’s too many and one hundred’s not enough is their motto for those items.

To know if you need to abstain from certain food and beverages, consider if once something has been bought or opened whether it must be eaten, and...

Imagine…you’re at the supermarket, you’ve got a real craving for something salty and crunchy BUT you want to lose weight and improve your health. You’re body and mind are insistent that you satisfy their desire and you find yourself standing in front of the crisps.

You want to pull yourself away, but your feet stay stuck to the floor and your eyes glued to the crisps in front of you. You’re fighting with yourself “No, I don’t want them!” you say, but that other part of you, the one that feels so strong, is saying “Yes you do, they will taste soooo good!”

You break out in a cold sweat, the wanting is pretty intense and you know that you’re not going to be able to walk away empty handed, so your eyes are looking at what’s in front of you and you’re thinking I’ll get the best choice I can make.

What you see on the shelf is potato chips, vegan beetroot chips, lentil crisps, broccoli puffs, cauliflower...

Your body tells you what you need to eat and pay attention to it. Investigate what it is that you're craving.

Is it something that your body needs or something that your body wants because it's your comfort food?

If it's something that your body needs then have a go at it, but if it's something that your body wants to have because it gives you comfort and so you have to have it, then that's a different story.

Dietless Living Tip: Enjoy your meal and take time to feel satisfied with the food that you eat. The more satisfied you feel, the less you reach for food.