Last week I collaborated with Kerry Altiero from Café Miranda's on a Gluten Free cooking class. (What fun! Kerry's a loose cannon! Bursting with creativity and ribald humor...)

His emphasis in the class was on how very MANY possibilities there are to enjoy when you decide to forego gluten. (He created a delicious risotto, gorgeous polenta with cheese and roasted tomatoes, a white bean ragu, a curry dish, even mac and cheese!)

One of the questions asked of me during the class was this: "Do I really have to give up all the foods I love best for the rest of my life in order to be healthy?!?"

Hellz no!

Information is power. Information is freedom. Most people feel stuck and powerless because they aren't receiving the information that is available to them about their body. When they learn how to receive this information, they can then make informed decisions on what to eat and how to live in a flexible and realistic way.

Long story short, you have the power to make a decision to eat something that won't make you feel good. Sometimes it's bloody well worth it! And that puts you and only you in the place of complete responsibility for your health.

Hear me out now...

Each body is unique. Some bodies get stomach cramps from half and half. Some get skin rashes from wheat. Some gain weight from hormone disrupting foods such as soy and sugar. Some people get narcoleptic right after they eat something they are allergic to. There are a million different ways that YOUR body is reacting to your food.

Most people are simply not burning clean enough to get clear messages and since the messages are confused, they don't listen to them.

It's like one pebble being thrown into a calm pool of water versus a handful of pebbles being thrown into a calm pool of water.

When it's one pebble, you can see the ripples clearly. When it's many pebbles, the ripples gallop over each other in a confused pattern.

The single biggest way you can take responsibility for your health and therefore your future is to get cleaned out enough so that your body is like a calm pool. That way you can receive clear, accurate information about what true reaction your unique body has to different foods.

When you are burning clean and notice that you want to fall asleep every time you eat wheat, or your eczema kicks up every time you eat soy, you get information that makes you powerful and free.

When you have a negative reaction to food, you simply don't want it. It hurts or it's inconvenient or annoying. It doesn't take willpower to avoid something annoying.

But, indeed, there ARE times when you want the thing. When you have done the work to see clearly the effect certain foods have on you, you can make an informed decision as to whether the negative effect is worth it!

I try to run a clean enough system that it's annoying for me to have coffee. (I get hyper-jittery.) But I LOVE coffee. So there definitely are times when I indulge in a (really good) cup of coffee and deal with the annoyance. Gluten, soy, half and half, sugar and caffeine all bother me. But I haven't  "given them up for life."

I manage my symptoms so that I can have what I want. I try to get away with what I can.

Bottom line is: Eat what you want! Stressing out about perfect food isn't healthy either.

The secret is to change what you want to eat. Get free of food addictions, get clear of food allergies, get hooked on vegetables. Food can make you feel vital, zippy, loved, powerful and satiated. If you are not feeling those, then your food habits could use some tweaking.

If you're wondering how to start running a clean-burning system, my free 6 weeks of e-coaching on how to free yourself from cravings is a very good start. You can sign up for that here.

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