Article + Excellent Recipes by Guest Blogger

Greetings! I hope you had an excellent weekend, and have been enjoying a great start to the week!

Today I am excited to feature an article, "5 Steps to Overcoming Guilt with Food" by guest blogger, Reshma Sinha, + links to amazing recipes!

Reshma's mission is to inspire others to start taking out the emotional negotiation from eating. I absolutely adore her blog... as well as her balanced approach to preparing and enjoying delicious cuisine!

"5 Steps to Overcoming Guilt with Food"

by Reshma Sinha

Dried Figs Topped with Goat Cheese 

1. Take the word “guilt” out of your mental dialogue around eating.  Think of it this way: would you put guilt-trips on your children or loved ones when they make the wrong choice? Then don’t do it to yourself! Nature did not mean for us to have such a guilt-ridden relationship with food in the first place. Nature mean for us to be free.

2. After you’ve made that promise to yourself, monitor the other ways you “emotionally negotiate” with eating (examples: giving yourself “cheat” days, “rewarding” yourself for being “good”, etc.). Nature did not intend for eating to be such an emotional headache.

3. Monitor the re-occurrence of any of these mental and emotional patterns. If you find yourself slipping into them, don’t berate yourself. Just observe them and lovingly nudge them away. Over time as you re-engineer your palate to desire only foods close to their natural state, new patterns will permanently embed themselves in your consciousness and you will reach a place of lack of desire altogether for processed foods (so eating that sugar-laden chocolate cake won't be a matter of "indulging" but rather a matter of just not wanting it).

Ginger Peanut Brittle

4. Understand what “real” food is. “Real” food is what nature has given us. Yes, most of us can’t grow all of our food in our backyards, but be mindful of only eating those foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. For example, instead of rolled oats, opt for the steel-cut variety.

5. Introduce yourself to the wondrous world of spices and fresh herbs.  Spices and fresh herbs are usually dried bark (ex: cinnamon), seeds (ex: cumin) , leaves (ex: rosemary), and other plant parts that work wonders in elevating the natural flavor profiles of almost any food.

Reshma is a whole-foods culinary enthusiast and avid cook. Her style of “EatFree Cooking” evolved out of the challenge of creating exciting meals for myself that were both nutritionally sound and that would finally put an end to the eternal “diet train” that many of us seem to be perpetually riding. Her original recipes for savory dishes rely on an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. And, her dessert recipes are free of refined sweeteners or flours. Reshma's mission is to inspire others to start taking out the emotional negotiation from eating one recipe at a time in order to…EatFree!

I hope you enjoyed Reshma's article as much as I did! Have an amazing week! xoxo
Ashley