Conversations about Real Food Always

I had an amazing 3 hour long discussion with a long lost friend tonight.  From this conversation, I discovered 5 key points for successfully integrating Real Food Always into your life.

1)  Sometimes, you really need to listen to what your body needs.  If it's craving something- even if that something is bad for you- you have to figure out how to give your body what it wants. For example, if you need dessert every night, that is OKAY.  Now you just have to figure out how to give your body a 'dessert'.  That dessert may need to be different than the type of dessert you're used to eating or want.  For example, soaking in a long bath filled with salt may satisfy the cravings you need.  Or eating a bowl of frozen berries may work.

2) At this very second, you are truly doing the best that you can.  You need to thank yourself for working so hard to be in this place right now.

3) Support is so needed in our lives.  Whether that's from our husband, our "long lost friends", or the grocery bagger at Whole Foods, we need it.

4) We need to look at our current medical providers (including therapists, acupuncturists, naturopaths, etc) as part of a team that will coach us towards Real Food Always.

5)  Sometimes, Self Care can start heavily weighing in on your "To Do List".  The stress of completing your self care rituals can possibly outweigh the benefits.  For myself, I really have to figure out what self care ritual(s) I really really cannot live without.  This may even vary day by day or week to week.  I realize a lot of my self care consists of "doing things".  My body, and many others may not need TO DO THINGS.  What we may need to prescribe to ourselves is to do nothing.  Specifically, just sitting and staring out a window for 5-10 minutes may be more beneficial than an hour of yoga.  This last point, really made an impact on me.  Check out this video (which stars my friend from TrueNorthAIP) on stress management to learn more about how some individuals manage stress.