A couple of weeks ago we did our blog on Why We Crave the Wrong Foods. In it we shared Dr. Goldhamer's explanation of the "pleasure trap", the dopamine cycle related to certain foods, that can cause us to override our best intentions.
This week we want to follow up on that and take it a step further, exploring the possibility of reducing the discomfort we often feel that leads us to reaching for the wrong foods in order to change how we're feeling.
Join us to hear more.
While it's clear that the feel good hit from dopamine drives us toward the "wrong" foods, is there a way to reduce the tension or discomfort in our lives that has us looking to food for a way to feel better in the first place?
This was the issue we realized we wanted to address many years ago when we saw some of our clients switch to Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) eating and reach their target weight, get off the meds and become pain-free, only to lose those benefits some time later when a stressful event occurred and they went back to their old way of living and eating. We saw that we needed to address the mental / emotional relationship they had with with food.
We tried many things like meditation and mindfulness, Byron Katie's work and TRP, but none of these brought results for many people. Then we came across an understanding that turned our conventional way of looking at how life works upside-down. Or maybe we should say right-side-up.
This understanding points out that our experience of life is created, not by the situations that occur to us, but by our thinking ABOUT the situations. It encouraged us to explore whether the tensions and discomforts that arose in some situations were really caused by the situation or by our thinking.
Ironically, as often as we had seen that circumstances don't make us feel what we're feeling, we never connected the dots. We had both seen that 2 people often had different experiences in the same situation. Like someone would get upset about something, that the other person wasn't bothered by at all. Same situation, very different experiences. So, how could it be the situation that created their feelings?
As we shared this understanding with our clients, many of them really got it and it completely shifted their relationship with food. Because they were no longer getting upset in situations that used to upset them, it eliminated the need to try to regulate unwanted feelings with food.
And it wasn't only their relationship with food that changed. As they began to relate to life from this new understanding, their relationships with their partners, children and co-workers became more harmonious. They found a new emotional stability they never thought possible.
By seeing their experience through this new understanding, it was like their world had been turned upside-down. Or maybe we should say, right-side-up. And in that cravings for the wrong foods didn't arise. There was no longer any reason for them to.
The recipe this week is a Mung Bean Curry. It's a simple recipe, creamed with a cashew and coconut cream. Really tasty and filling.
To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill
Mung Bean Curry (Serves 2-4)
- 2 tablespoons filtered water
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic, minced
- 2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
- 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
- 1 jalapeño, cored and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 cup dried mung beans, soaked overnight
- 1½ cups cashew milk (recipe below)
- 2 cups vegetable stock, or filtered water
- ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tablespoon No Salt Seasoning
- juice of 1 lime or lemon
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)
In a large pot, add the onion, garlic, ginger, and cumin. Stir to combine and cook for about 5 minutes, until onion is soft.
To the pot, add the soaked mung beans (after draining them), carrots, jalapeño, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes.
Now add cashew milk (recipe below) and shredded coconut. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add lime juice, stir well and serve with cilantro garnish.
Delightful over brown rice. We added corn and peas and had another delightful meal from this recipe.
Cashew Milk
Add 1 cup raw cashews and 2 cups purified water to a high-speed blender. Blend until it turns into a milk, 45-60 seconds.
This makes more than needed for the recipe. You can store the extra in the fridge for 7 days. It’s great with oatmeal in the morning.