Hello, this is Amanda Hamp and I am happy to share 5 easy steps on how to create balance in your lifestyle and food cravings!

Humans love sweet things. We experience such cravings daily and most of us go right for the most accessible sweet treat maybe: candy, chocolate, cake, or cookies.

I am here to help you see the steps that you can take today in creating more stability in your daily food choices and that there many alternatives for all of your favorite treats!

A sugar craving is simply the body asking for energy. This is because when sugar is digested, it becomes glucose. Glucose is fuel for all of the body’s cells. Today, sugar is found in many of the usual suspects, like cakes, cookies and candy. But you will also find it in canned vegetables, baby food, cereals, peanut butter, bread and tomato sauce. It is often disguised in fancy language, labeled as corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, glucose or fructose.

Where are we headed as a population? In the early 1800s, the average sugar consumption was 12 pounds per person annually. This increased to 124 pounds in 1980 and today the stats tell us we are consuming 156 pounds of added sugar per person per year! Sugar accelerates aging. Common table sugar represents about 20 to 25 percent of the daily caloric intake of the average American. This translates into the equivalent of half a pound a day and more than 5 tons in a lifetime!

It is the sum total of human inginuity that is responsible for modern epidemiology, in other words: we get fat because can. Most prior generations could not do this. We are masters of the modern environment and victims of the excess of our own success. Everything from big gulps to processed food products are responsible for obesity and related chronic diseases.

So in light of the sweet and delicious holidays just passing and the New Year at our fingertips, here are 5 tips to Creating Balance in your lifestyle and food Cravings.

1. Drink more water

Lack of water can send the message that you are thirsty and on the verge of dehydration. Dehydration can manifest as a mild hunger, so the first thing to do when you get a craving is drink a full glass of water. Excess water can also cause cravings, so be sure that your water intake is well balanced. The average person should be drinking the equivilance of their weight in ounces!

2. Evaluate Your Life: Primary Food

In my practice I coach my clients in what we call Primary Food. This is the evaluation of your lifestyle as well as the balance of how to reach the goals that you have. Being dissatisfied with a relationship or having an inappropriate exercise routine (too much, too little or the wrong type), being bored, stressed, uninspired by a job, or lacking a spiritual practice may all cause emotional eating. Eating can be used as a substitute for entertainment or to fill the void of primary food.

3. Evaluate your meals:

In Chinese Medicine they use a system of balance called Yin and Yang. Eating foods that are either extremely yin or extremely yang causes cravings in order to maintain balance. If the body has inadequate nutrients, it will produce odd cravings. For example, inadequate mineral levels produce salt cravings and overall inadequate nutrition produces cravings for non-nutritional forms of energy like caffeine.For example, eating a diet too rich in sugar (yin) may cause a craving for meat (yang). Eating too many raw foods (yin) may cause cravings for extremely cooked (dehydrated) foods or vise versa.

4. Eat Seasonally

Often the body craves foods that balance the elements of the season. During winter many crave hot and heat-producing foods like meat, oil and fat. Cravings can also be associated with the holidays, for foods like turkey, eggnog or sweets, etc. Often times, cravings come from foods that we have recently eaten, foods eaten by our ancestors, or foods from our childhood. A clever way to satisfy these cravings is to eat a healthier version of one’s ancestral or childhood foods. In the spring, people crave detoxifying foods like leafy greens or citrus foods. In the summer, people crave cooling foods like fruit, raw foods and ice cream, and in the fall people crave grounding foods like squash, onions and nuts.

5. Stay on Track!

When things are going extremely well, sometimes a self-sabotage syndrome happens. We crave foods that throw us off, thus creating more cravings to balance ourselves. This often happens from low blood sugar and may result in strong mood swings. So when you feel your best keep going!

This is a process that will not happen overnight, although, with the right support can mean life-long health and happiness

In my Nutritional Health Coaching practice, I believe that “no one diet works and no diets work unless they are healthy and sustainable. Yes sustainable, not deprivational.

In our lives, we all have people who want to help us to feel better and yet they seem to think that what worked for them will work for us. You are the expert in what works for you and as a health coach I am an expert in guiding you to set and accomplish your goals, explore new foods, understand and reduce your cravings, increase your energy and find a healthful balance in your life. For more information please go to my website at http://www.eatwellbehappy.com. I wish you all a Happy and Vitorious New Year!