What your body is cravings can tell you something...

I want chocolate.... but my body is really asking for Raw nuts and seeds, fruits and legumes. 

This table of foods we want and foods our bodies really need is super helpful in understanding cravings.  And I think part of the reason I have been able to reduce my cravings is because Shakeology has so many vitamins in it that my body isn't crying for much! 

Thank goodness!  Cravings are the worst!

So here is that chart I'm sure you have seen floating around the internet.  I've tired to put it together in an easy to read formatt for you and I hope it helps! 

·         What you Want	What you really need is…	And here are healthy foods that have it:
·         Chocolate	Magnesium	Raw nuts and seeds, legumes, fruits
·         Sweets	Chromium	Broccoli, grapes, cheese, dried beans, calves liver, chicken
	Carbon	Fresh fruits
	Phosphorus	Chicken, beef, liver, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes, grains
	Sulfur	Cranberries, horseradish, cruciferous vegetables, kale, cabbage
	Tryptophan	Cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato, spinach
·         Bread, toast	Nitrogen	High protein foods: fish, meat, nuts, beans
·         Oily snacks, fatty foods	Calcium	Mustard and turnip greens, broccoli, kale, legumes, cheese, sesame
·         Coffee or tea	Phosphorous	Chicken, beef, liver, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes
	Sulfur	Egg yolks, red peppers, muscle protein, garlic, onion, cruciferous vegetables
	NaCl (salt)	Sea salt, apple cider vinegar (on salad)
	Iron	Meat, fish and poultry, seaweed, greens, black cherries
·         Alcohol, recreational drugs	Protein	Meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, nuts
	Avenin	Granola, oatmeal
	Calcium	Mustard and turnip greens, broccoli, kale, legumes, cheese, sesame
	Glutamine	Supplement glutamine powder for withdrawal, raw cabbage juice
	Potassium	Sun-dried black olives, potato peel broth, seaweed, bitter greens
·         Chewing ice	Iron	Meat, fish, poultry, seaweed, greens, black cherries
·         Burned food	Carbon	Fresh fruits
·         Soda and other carbonated drinks	Calcium	Mustard and turnip greens, broccoli, kale, legumes, cheese, sesame
·         Salty foods	Chloride	Raw goat milk, fish, unrefined sea salt
·         Acid foods	Magnesium	Raw nuts and seeds, legumes, fruits
·         Preference for liquids rather than solids	Water	Flavor water with lemon or lime. You need 8 to 10 glasses per day.
·         Preference for solids rather than liquids	Water	You have been so dehydrated for so long that you have lost your thirst. Flavor water with lemon or lime. You need 8 to 10 glasses per day.
·         Cool drinks	Manganese	Walnuts, almonds, pecans, pineapple, blueberries
·         Pre-menstrual cravings	Zinc	Red meats (especially organ meats), seafood, leafy vegetables, root vegetables
·         General overeating	Silicon	Nuts, seeds; avoid refined starches
	Tryptophan	Cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato, spinach
	Tyrosine	Vitamin C supplements or orange, green, red fruits and vegetables
·         Lack of appetite	Vitamin B1	Nuts, seeds, beans, liver and other organ meats
	Vitamin B3	Tuna, halibut, beef, chicken, turkey, pork, seeds and legumes
	Manganese	Walnuts, almonds, pecans, pineapple, blueberries
	Chloride	Raw goat milk, unrefined sea salt
·         Tobacco	Silicon	Nuts, seeds; avoid refined starches

10 Tips to Living a Real Food Lifestyle

This week I was asked to do a guest blog post for my friend and Yogi Katia Grodecki from the Dharmawanderlust Blog... I wanted to share that post with everyone here as well!  Check it out...

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From time to time, we feature guest posts from interesting fellow bloggers. I met Crystal online a few years ago when we both were expecting our first babies. I have been following her journey to taking better care of herself and her family through healthy nutrition and exercise, and have shared in her excitement when she wrote about her transformation. I am very happy to have Crystal contribute to the Dharma Wanderlust blog this week with this important topic.

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Thank you Katia for having me!  I’m excited and nervous to post on someone else’s blog but I hope to be able to share what I have learned and even if I can inspire just one person to make a few changes to the way they view food, I will have succeeded!

I have been living what I call the “Real Food” Lifestyle for about 4 and a half years.  It all started with me reading the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  My eyes opened up and I changed my family’s entire way of looking at food.  Luckily my son was only about a year old at the time so he has literally grown up eating very few processed foods, and when he does he knows it’s a huge treat!

My father passed away just a few months before I discovered this book and I believe that his passing was what triggered my interest in this area.  My dad always spoke about things like Diet pop giving you cancer and used coconut oil before it was a thing!  I grew up with this lifestyle but I also grew up not knowing about why processed foods aren’t good for our bodies.

When I read In Defense of Food, I literally felt like I was hearing my dad talk to me because so much of it I had heard cross his lips over the years.

I’m no expert by any means but I do love to share what I have learned and hopefully help others see food a little differently too.

Want to feel better about your eating habits?  More energy?  Maybe lose a few pounds and get your body to a healthy weight?

When I started eating what I call “Real Food,” all these things happened for me and my husband!  Eating this way was not about weight loss for us, it was about eating well and having healthy bodies!  But we did end up dropping a few pounds, too, which was a nice bonus!

Here are my top 10 tips to eating Real food:

1. Eat whole, fresh, unprocessed foods.
   • Whole foods typically don’t have a label telling you that they are healthy for you. Think of an apple… An apple doesn’t try to convince you that it is healthy so you will want to buy it, but the foods that claim to be healthy “Low Fat”, “Low Sugar” and the like are usually overly processed and when one thing is removed they will add others in order to make it taste good!  Choose wisely.
2. Stop eating when you feel full: Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.
   •  Michael Pollan says instead of using our internal cues to know when to stop eating, most of us “allow external, and usually visual, cues to determine how much we should eat.” Think back to your last meal…did you stop eating when your gut told you you’d had enough or when your plate was clean, the package was empty, or the T.V. show was over.
3. Never cut any food group out of your diet, including carbohydrates.
   • So many diets are based on cutting out one food group or reducing the amount of something.  My suggestion is, rather than cut out a food group, cut out anything man-made (in a lab).  If you don’t recognize the ingredient, chances are your body won’t either and it won’t know what to do with it.
4. Need a sweet treat? Dark chocolate is packed with healthy nutrients. Moreover, it improves mood!
5. All grains consumed must be 100% whole-grain.
   • Read the labels, as many products claim to be whole wheat, but they must be 100%, not 50/50, to be considered real food.  Also make sure you read the ingredients list on the back of breads, buns and crackers…
6. No more than 10 ingredients - Avoid any and all packaged food products that contain more than 10 ingredients, no matter what ingredients. When buying packaged foods, read the nutrition labels carefully.
   • The more ingredients in a packaged food, the more highly processed it probably is. Note 1: A long list of ingredients in a recipe is not the same thing; that’s fine. Note 2: Some products now boast, somewhat deceptively, about their short ingredient lists. Be sure to check out that short ingredient list and be mindful of the other tips listed when scanning the list.
7. Beverages should be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). Limit yourself to one cup of juice per week and NO soda!
   • As far as sweetening your beverages, all sweeteners (sugar, honey, maple syrup, raw sugar, brown sugar, etc.) are high in calories and low in nutrients. The artificial sweeteners that have no calories are just chemically created imitations invented in a lab somewhere…YUCK! So no matter what kind of sweetener one uses I hope that it is, first of all, not an imitation and second of all, used in moderation. Best to stick to 100% pure maple syrup or honey.
8. Do not eat any food products that are labeled as “low-fat,” “lite,” “light,” “reduced fat,” or “nonfat.”
   • Scared of whole milk, cream or full fat cheese?  Don’t be.  Trust me, the low-fat diet fad is just that… The trouble is, it’s ingrained in so many of us that low fat is better for us!  It’s really not! Fats in things like sour cream and yogurt are replaced with hydrogenated oils and the cream in ‘whipped cream’ and ‘coffee creamer’ are replaced with corn starch. Usually if they take something out (like fat) they add something in to keep people satisfied (like sugar). Sugar is the enemy, not Fat!
9. No refined or artificial sweeteners including (but not limited to): white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, sucanat, splenda, stevia, agave, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, and cane juice. 
   • Foods and beverages should only be sweetened with a moderate amount of honey or maple syrup. (See reasons above in beverage note #7)
10. No refined or hydrogenated oils including (but not limited to): vegetable oil, organic vegetable oil, soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, organic canola oil, margarine, and grape seed oil.
    • Instead, choose real Butter, olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, and flax seed oil.

I could literally chat about this topic all day long!  But for now I’ll leave it at these 10 tips!

Comment below with your questions or opinions. 

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Thank you, Crystal, for this important informative information! To follow Crystal, visit her blog or Facebook page. - 

- See more at: http://dharmawanderlust.com/theblog/2014/10/10-tips-for-a-real-food-lifestyle-guest-post-from-coach-crystal-p/#sthash.hnNrSED9.dpuf

Curried Pumpkin Soup

I'm sitting here enjoying a nice hot bowl of Curried Pumpkin Soup a recipe I got from the P90 Simple Kitchen booklet that came with my program.  I'm excited to try many of the other recipes that are in the meal plan also.  

Starting tomorrow Gord and I will be doing the 6 day Shred that also came wight he P90 program. I have typed up a calendar of meals and grocery list and we are about to head out the door to get the groceries we will need for the week!  

We did our first workout this morning and I have to say I really did enjoy it.  It is so nice to be able to workout together and I might just have him convinced to wake up early with me during the work week so we can both get our workout in before the day begins!  

My challenge group for this program is full of some awesome individuals and I'm already enjoying their posts and inspiring comments!  I know we are all going to achieve great things together through these 90 days!!

On to the recipe.... 

Curried Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

2 tsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 1/2 tsp curry powder

1 dash sea salt

3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

1 can 100% pure pumpkin puree

1 cup milk

sprinkle of parsley

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes, or until slightly golden and tender. 
2. Add curry powder and salt; cook for 1 minute. 
3. Add broth and pumpkin.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
4. Add milk; cook for 1 minute, or until heated through. 
5. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tsp. parsley. 

Makes 5 servings