Good morning, friends! I hope this day is treating you well! First of all, I want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you. I woke up this morning with a super emotional, sappy, and sensitive Pisces heart, feeling so very grateful for my life, and that includes all of you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Big hugs to each of you!
Okay, love fest aside, I want to talk about how you (yes, YOU) can “Have your cake, and eat it too!” How does that sound? Let’s jump in!
The other day I had this really strong sensation to bake a homemade cake, and eat it. Now, to most that may seem normal, but to me it was a bit odd. Not because baking or eating cake is odd, but mainly because I don’t really like cake. It’s just kinda blah to me. I’m much more of a brownie type of gal. Anyway, cake was still on my mind in the evening, so I headed to the kitchen to get my bake on! I went through my cookbooks and found a recipe for a dark, rich, chocolate cake. This sounded perfect to me! Yum! I measured, scooped, mixed, blended, poured and completely enjoyed baking this cake made with REAL ingredients. Organic butter, natural sugar, fresh eggs made by happy chickens (I know this for a fact, ha!), and other super high quality ingredients. It made enough for three 8″ round pans, so I was super excited to pop them in the oven, and turn them into a beautiful layered cake.
While the cake was baking, I was on to making the frosting. Again, super weird for me, because not only do I not care for cake that much, but I realllllyyyy don’t care for frosting. It’s just too sweet for me. BUT, I trusted my intuition, and went with it. I wanted a less-sweet version than normal frosting, so I made one up. Greg sifted some powdered sugar for me (he was so dang cute doing it too), and I blended a little butter, unsweetened chocolate, and ricotta (my special ingredient) together. This turned out to be absolutely perfect!
When the cake was done, I let it cool, then started constructing it. Layer of cake, layer of frosting, layer of cake, layer of frosting, layer of cake, final layer of frosting. I decided I didn’t want a ton of frosting, so I didn’t do the sides. It was a very beautiful, artsy cake that I was so enthralled with I forgot to take a photo. 🙂
This is how the rest went:
- I sliced myself (and Greg of course) an average sized slice of cake on a pretty plate (because a pretty piece of cake deserves a pretty plate, right?)
- I sat down, uninterrupted. No phone, no TV, no distractions.
- I briefly checked in with myself. Do I still want this piece of cake? Yes. How hungry am I on a scale of 1 to 10? 6 (this is something we can dive deeper into in another post).
- I took my first bite, and proceeded to chew. I tasted the flavors: the richness of the chocolate, the fluffyness of the cake, the smooth texture of the frosting. It was delicious.
- On to the most important step (for me anyway): I ate about 3/4 of my piece, and then…I was done. I listened to my body and she told me, “You’re done. That’s all you need for now.”
I had one of those moments of clarity and utter joy afterwards that went like this:
This is NOT something that would have happened before I discovered intuitive eating. Previously, I probably wouldn’t have even made a cake. I wouldn’t have truly listened to my body and what she really wanted. If I did make the cake, I would have done so hastily with whatever ingredients I could reach for the fastest. I wouldn’t have waited for the cake to cool, and probably would have burnt my fingers taking the cake out of the pan. I then would have quickly tossed a huge piece of cake on the closest plate, and plopped myself on the couch in front of whatever was on television. I would have mindlessly eaten that piece of cake, then probably binged on at least one to two slices more. THEN, I would have felt so guilty, embarrassed, and disgusted with myself that I’d probably then throw the remainder of the cake away so it wouldn’t happen again. If this sounds even remotely familiar to you, please know that you are not alone, and that intuitive eating and listening to your body is completely possible.
I now know that I can totally listen to my body, and give her what she wants. I know that I can stop eating when I am full, BECAUSE I can have whatever I want, whenever I want. There is plenty of cake (insert whatever other food you really enjoy) out there!
And that my friends, is how you can “Have your cake, and eat it too!”
My slice of cake. 🙂
If this is something you can relate to, I have two more spots open for private health coaching in September. This is where I have one-on-one sessions (with clients all over the world), and true transformation occurs. Contact me, and we can set up a complimentary consultation.
xo. Jen
With the new year upon us lots of folks like to set resolutions they want to attain for the upcoming year. I really don’t think anyone has ill-intent, in fact it is usually the opposite, when setting these said goals, but for me, they often seem super strict, and semi-unattainable. Hear me out as to why…we (and I say WE because in the past I have sooooo been there) put so much pressure on ourselves to lose those 
Last year I shared my list of intentions for 2015, and this was really fun for me. Below is my list of intentions for 2016. You’ll notice that nothing is super specific, and this was on purpose. Normally, I find joy in the details (and still do), but this year, I am really going to try to focus on the broad picture and see what happens. Right now, that feels good to me. Again, I’m also allowing myself permission to change at any point in time.
Do you have any intentions for 2016? Any rituals or things you like to do to start off the new year? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
THE HAPPY, HEALTHY BALANCE 