{}

Your Body, Your Bodyguard

There’s a certain presence in your life that’s been looking out for you – and it’s something you’d never even suspect!

It’s smart, it’s primal… and it’s a beautiful pleaure-seeking little creature.
Can you guess what it is? It’s simply your… body!

Your body is an intelligent, health-seeking, living, breathing entity that has been looking out for you, and your health (kinda like a bodyguard) ever since you were born. It’s designed to take exquisite care of your digestion, respiration, circulation and every other one of your life-preserving processes, in every single way.
That said, I want you to consider something.

(It is something very odd.)

Consider that your health-seeking, pleasure-loving body is actually looking out for you, and sending you “Pay attention to me!” messages, in the form of sweet, sweet cravings.

Whoa! Crazy, huh?

I know it sounds nutty, but there’s much more brilliance and wisdom behind these clever cravings, or messages, that your body is innocently sending you.

Your Clever Cravings

Let me take a moment to acknowledge what you might be thinking (because I used to think this too):
“I hate my cravings! They rule my life! It’s like I’m possessed by a midday sugar fairy! My cravings make me out of control. I eat WAY too many Oreos. I know they’re keeping me overweight, but I can’t seem to stop!”
Firstly, I totally honor how your perspective acknowledges that yes!, eating too much sugar is clearly not so helpful for your weight loss desires.

And secondly, I’d like you to grab my hand and take a step back with me, so you can witness yourself from a distance. Once you view yourself, and those sweet cravings, with judgment-free compassion and curiosity, you’ll be able to notice something extraordinary:

The cravings that your body is delivering to you are clever – they’re downright genius!

When they happen, it’s not because your body is dumb, sabotaging your weight loss desires or somehow broken – it’s because your body is brilliant, and it’s seeking your pleasure, honey.

Sweet Stuff is Pleasurable Stuff!

Physiologically speaking, sweet stuff is highly pleasurable for your body. It gets your brain moving, it stimulates thinking, it activates your cells and peps you up, physically and emotionally.  In fact, we experience the biggest release of pleasurable chemicals in our bodies when we eat any food that has 50% fat and 50% sugar or sweet.

(Go figure!)

Simply put, sweet food is good-mood-food. When your body is not getting enough pleasure, it demands it gets its dose of pleasure through sweets… hence why after a long day or challenging experience, you might feel like having a “comforting” brownie, cake, soda or sugar cookie.

Food for thought: 
If your brilliant body is asking for sweetness, where might you be lacking sweetness in other areas of your life?

Dude, Where’d My Pleasure Go?

When you’ve lost sight of your pleasure, your body will smartly compensate for that lack.
It will send you messages like, “Give me those cookies!” or “Hey! I want to feel happy! Browniiiiies…” or a flat out,  “Lady, I am bored. I need Pleasure, my vital nutrient!”

Your clever cravings are a blessed opportunity: a chance to closely consider and delve into the activities that make you happy you exist, and grateful to be here, living life. In other words: the activities that bring you pleasure!

This healthy, physiological pursuit of life-sustaining pleasure is the real reason behind your cravings. Your body is just innocently sending you messages through your cravings – messages of desire for more pleasure and sweetness in your life!

Tell me this in the comments section:

• What non-food sources give you nourishment or satisfaction in your life?
• Can you begin to start viewing your cravings as clever, and finding them right? (Fun Fact: this will likely diminish them!)

Start small, my love – take baby steps. Baby steps amount to HUGE progress – huge slimming progress, that is. Your efforts, just like you, are worthy of celebration!

Thanks as always for reading and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments.

Comments

comments

November 2013 Issue