I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE

I am not perfect.

While this comes as no surprise to my family and my business partner, it may be a shock to several of you reading this right now!

I have been really dialed in regarding how I eat for about the past four years...gluten-free, fully hydrated (pure - not tap - water), no sugar, high purine proteins (I'm a fast oxidizer), lots of organic veggies. This, along with proper movement and training workouts, is how I lost weight, got off seven prescription medications, and regained a vibrant, healthy life.

My old bug-a-boo was refined carbs...give me a homemade biscuit or a scone, crackers, pasta, a dense whole-wheat bread and I thought I was one happy camper. Desserts often seemed like the perfect breakfast. Now I know what dysfunctions were operating in my body...adrenal fatigue, thyroid immune disease, leaky gut syndrome, parasitic/bacterial infestation. I was propping up a system struggling to function due to improper nutrition by eating more of the same non-foods that had created the problem in the first place: a kick of sugar for energy and then more later on when that resulted in an energy crash. And the cycle kept repeating itself.

So when I changed not only my way of living but MY WAY OF THINKING about how I wanted to live and be, I felt pretty smug, truth be known! I thought I had it knocked, TKO'ed, on the ropes..."it" being the disempowering, unhealthy lifestyle and cravings.

A couple of months ago, I started wanting sweets. So I indulged myself, but not with the old, bad-for-me sweets. I was eating gluten-free, honey-sweetened macaroons or goat milk ice cream, or granola made with gluten-free organic oats and nuts, sweetened with organic maple syrup. But I was eating this every day, sometimes twice a day. And I wasn't moving as much.

Although I was still training twice a week, I was sitting at my desk, on my computer for hours at a time...no fresh air, not as much dynamic movement due to training through some pretty severe biceps tendonitis, caused by a freakish non-accident accident.

And the result? My weight went up a couple of pounds, I was feeling discouraged and a bit blue, my colon wasn't working was well as before and the colon is a big problem area for me due to my old food habits.

Interesting difference in this set-back now from what it might have been way back when...I acknowledged what was going on and how I was feeling about it. I 'sat with it", if you will, dispassionately, almost as though it wasn't me, but someone else. I looked at the possible causes for the return of craving for sweets and what might be the solutions for what I believed to be the root issues. I ALLOWED MYSELF TO NOT BE PERFECT. No judgements as to my depth of character, strength of will, love of self. No blame on how I was reared, that I never got that pony I thought I wanted when I was eight, that I'm not 5'10". And not even a trace of fear that this was going to be the beginning of a spiraling back into the unhealthy life I had lived.

I charted a course, with the help of my coach/mentor: return to the food plan that is best for me, creates the most energy, makes me the happiest, and results in the body that works and looks the best. And move more! Get out in this beautiful Spring and soak up some Vitamin D, hear the birds chirp, feel the warm sun on my face, revel in the happiness that this kind of weather creates in me.

That was a week ago. Here are the results of just one week: two pounds less on the scale and better colon function. And you know what else? I have a quiet and renewed confidence that the old habits are gone because I have faced a familiar nemesis with a whole new set of tools in my toolbox. What joy and freedom this brings me!

Better yet? You, too, can learn how to live an empowered life! If that doesn't make you want to get up and dance, what would.