Cravings for unhealthy foods can sabotage the success of your weight loss and healthy eating diets

If junk food is so bad for us, why do people keep saturating their bodies with it? Most of us know that junk food is unhealthy but it can be a real struggle to let it go. In spite of the fact we know that poor nutrition is related to heart problems, high blood pressure and a host of other health ailments, many of us eat it anyway.  My own personal experiences have mirrored this. I have been addicted to eating unhealthy food which are foods that have no nutritional benefit.  Withdrawing from them is just as powerful as withdrawing from mind altering chemicals like drugs and or cigarettes. But, changing our old eating habits is possible. It's a process and taking small steps towards the desired changes increases your chances of being successful.

Once I was honestly committed to changing my eating habits, I removed all processed food from my cabinets.  I know me, if it’s there, I’m not going to eat some of it, I will eat all of it, at that moment!  Next, I started reading labels to make sure I wasn’t defeating my goal by buying different food with similar, or the same ingredients.  These are very important steps if you are really ready to make a lifestyle change.  As I slowly began to eat healthier foods and stopped buying processed foods, I noticed I didn’t want pizza, candy, ice cream, cakes and cookies as much. I found ways to gradually incorporate more fruits and vegetables in my daily regiment and I cut out all fried foods. 

Next, I went on the Daniel fast with my Church for 30 days and we ate fruit, veggies, nuts and baked or broiled fish.  Once those 30 days were up, I noticed a dramatic difference in the way I felt inside. I felt lighter, I felt healthier and I was having more bowel movements than I have ever had before.  During the last week of the fast, I started reflecting on all of my favorite foods I love to eat. I could hardly wait to be able to eat all of the foods I was accustomed to eating. I couldn't wait to go back to eating foods that had no nutritional value. My body ached for sugar, salt and fried foods.  Before I realized it, I was constipated again and bloated from all of my favorite foods that had no nutritional value. 

The blessing is, I could tell the difference in the way my body felt (inside and out).  My body experienced a dramatic difference between eating healthy foods and non nutritional foods, and I wanted to experience those healthy feelings again. It was a process for me to enjoy eating a large salad every day because I rarely at vegetables.  I incorporated salads into my daily eating regiment and started loving how healthy I began to feel inside.  I gave up processed salad dressing with lots of sugar in it and I gave up cheese.  Many of the salad dressing in health food stores are organic, but many of them have organic sweeteners in them. For me, sugar is sugar and sweet is sweet.  My brain can not tell the difference between health sweeteners and unhealthy sweeteners.

Like I said in a previous blog, I eat (SOS), no added sugar, no added salt and no added oil. I plan to begin making my own salad dressings soon.  Ninety days after I completed the 30 day Daniel fast, I took a HDL (Low-density lipoproteins and high-density lipoproteins) test that focuses on low and high cholesterol numbers.  These test determine your health level and your susceptibility to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure and other illnesses. This was my turning point because I needed something to shock me into reality so that I could stop playing “Russian Roulette” with my life.   Although I have none of those illnesses, the doctor told me I had an extensive amount of plaque which would eventually restrict the blood flow to my heart. I was told I would experiences all of the illnesses listed above and so many more within a 10 year period; if  I did not change my eating habits immediately. 

The Word of God says in Isaiah 53:5, “…..By His Stripes we are healed.” At that very moment, I realized this was my healing as promised by God. I realized this was the evidence I needed to validate the Words in the Book of Life, the Bible. I was given a 2^nd chance at life and it was up to me to take advantage of the blessing.  There was something required of me. Something I needed to do to make my 2nd chance at life possible.  I had to be willing to do whatever it took through prayer and fasting to get rid of that spirit of self-destruction so that I could claim my healing. That spirit of gluttony that always led to over eating and eating unhealthy foods had to go and it would not be easy to get rid of because it had been with me most of my life.

The Word of God says it is only through prayer and fasting that I can break some strong holds that kept me bound to a life of overweight and eating unhealthy foods.  Learning what to eat and how to eat it was my struggle. But I came out of that doctors office determined to live a healthier lifestyle. I came out of that doctor’s office and I have not given my old eating life style a 2^nd thought. I don’t want to spend my later years struggling mentally, physically, spiritually and financially. Now I realize,  healing simply means I have a choice to do it now or suffer the consequences later.  I am the head and not the tail.  I am first and not last. I am the apple of Gods eye. My body is the temple of the Living God.  It all makes so much more sense now and I choose to live a healthy lifestyle now and not suffer later because I wasn’t willing to embrace God’s opportunity to be blessed beyond my “Wildest dreams.”

So, I stopped eating all meat and seafood, all dairy, all fried foods, and all white flour products.  If anything would have been hard to give up, it would have been cheese because I ate a bag of it every week.  To my surprise, it wasn’t a struggle because I know now I can prevent heart attacks and strokes.  I gave up all of my favorite unhealthy foods and I lost a lot of weight.  I used the bathroom so much, I thought something was wrong. The things I ate that clogged up my digestive system stopped interfering with my elimination process. My body started functioning properly again and I started going to the bathroom regularly. After 6 months on my plant based regiment (Fruits, veggies, nuts and grains), I learned how to eat to satisfy any cravings I had.  I have grown to love beans and rice and I just incorporated quinoa in my diet.  For flavor I added no sodium pure organic vegetable flavoring.

I started making my own veggie flavoring out of mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables.  For a beginner like me, its helps make the food more enjoyable because psychologically I can sabotage my new eating life style.  I know, because I have sabotaged so many times before. I needed to learn how to include more protein that comes from a plant based eating regiment to get a balance that will eliminate any cravings. Determined not to go back to my old habits, I practiced savoring that natural taste of fruits and veggies so that I could learn to enjoy each  flavor.  When it came to sweets, I hardly ever craved them because fruits satisfied my need for something sweet. 

Too my surprise, guacamole satisfied my sweet tooth one night.  I took my time eating it and I savored the very essence of that dish.  Afterwards, it was unbelievable. I was highly satisfied.  Ice cream, omg! I use to love homemade ice cream, but I gave it up without regret. I learned how to make creamy nondairy banana ice cream and I wondered, why I ever ate ice cream when this was so good. I froze some grapes and added fresh pineapples and not only was it very good, the fiber from the fruit cleaned me out as if I took a colonic irrigation. 

 Peace, Love, Joy and Good Health!!!  God Bless You.  Wanda Ross, A Woman of Prophetic Destiny