I love chips. And French fries. Sugar isn’t a big temptation, it’s more of a habit or a mood than a craving. As I get older, I become more and more aware that I can’t eat whatever I want and stay thin, much less healthy.

But as I ponder on wellness, what we eat is a major part of that equation. And it’s tied to money. Although we may think that it’s cheaper to buy the fattening stuff, what we put in our mouth is determining our entire body chemistry and its cellular makeup several month from now, even years. I imagine, however, that it’s a lot like smoking. As soon as you turn the habit around, the benefits show up within 24 hours, and sooner. And the longer you don’t smoke, the more the benefits compound.

Applied to eating, I think the sooner we add whole fruits, veggies, herbs and other whole food products, plus water consumption as our main beverage, the sooner our body latches on and starts removing toxins and repairing itself. The spouse and I watched the documentary called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and were super excited to bust out the super Blendtec blender and start emulating his journey (on a once a day scale, not as meal replacement). One day, however, I wanted him to try a burger joint in Newport Beach that was a dive classic. The name had changed from A’s but the menu appeared to be the same. After we downed our burgers and shared an onion ring, we both felt that heavy, sick feeling.

Mini Smoothie Miracle

We went home and I decided to throw together our daily smoothie (as if we hadn’t already eaten enough). It was nothing short of miraculous. Within minutes of drinking it, I felt my cells come to life and I immediately felt better. My husband felt the same way. I’m telling you, our cells know when they have access to the good stuff, they perk up and help us profusely. When we feed them grease and refined sugar, they no thank-ee us.

Next time you’re eating something healthy, like a fresh, colorful salad or a hearty lentil soup, check in with your body? Do you hear it thanking you? I ask my husband that question frequently, “Is your body thanking you?” He humors me and say, “Yes!”

If you pay attention, your addictive brain thanks you for that cupcake you just bit into, but when you finish, your body is not. Pay attention in your body, not your mental or salivary cravings. Give your body enough of the really good stuff—whole foods close to how they’re found in nature—and you will start to crave that.

Badass Broccoli

Very few people do this perfectly or even well. But if you’re really bad at it, start by adding one big, badass green serving of cooked broccoli a day and a whole apple and 500 mg of Vitamin C chewable (I like Nature Made.) The advice of broccoli and Vitamin C comes straight from Dr. Weil’s book 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. And in full disclosure, although yesterday for breakfast I had seed bread with avocado and tomato with a dash of kosher salt…today I had a small bowl of bran cereal (0 mg sugar) with Lactaid milk…and finished it off with crinkle cut potato chips and sour cream with a dash of onion soup mixed in. Embarrassing, but true. Pure Kryptonite. Pure yummy.

Be well, Eat well! Don’t worry about perefection.

Xo