(Can’t wait to show you the chocolate making class I took in the Costa Rican rain forest last month ~ video coming!)

And one of my FAVORITE chocolate brands is from right here in NYC. Gnosis (which means knowledge of intuition, experience, and heart) Chocolate is made from the best quality, organic, raw , ethically sourced cacao available.

Gnosis Passion Collection for Valentine's Day! Photo Credit: Jeff Skeirik

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here’s great news: Gnosis Chocolate’s organic, diabetic-friendly Raw Vegan Organic Handmade Chocolate!“>Gnosis’  Passion Truffles.  Each chocolate shell is infused with a special aphrodisiac herb blend, and filled by hand with a center graced with superfoods. Be romanced by exotic Passionfruit Cupuacu crème, luscious Cherry Vanilla jam with chocolate ganache, and a vegan white (!) Wild Rose truffle – free of all dairy, sugar, gluten, and soy! The three truffles are presented like gems in a recycled, veggie-ink printed box with a ribbon and gift tag in case you manage to give these away! From: Me   To: Me!!??
Gnosis Chocolate is the brainchild of Vanessa Barg, a Board Certified Holistic Health counselor (and fellow IIN grad!) who began making chocolate as a gift for her clients to show them that good nutrition wasn’t limited to eating brussel sprouts and broccoli.  Vanessa is motivated by a deep passion for educating consumers on how to vote with their every day choices for a shift in the marketplace towards higher integrity products. She has visited several of her sources – working with them directly to verify quality, working conditions, and to support the growth of organic farming.
Gnosis chocolate is one chocolate that fully lives up to valens – the original Latin root of Valentine – “capacity,” “strong,” and “powerful!”

Get a discount on Gnosis orders for sharing with your loved one this Valentine’s Day ~ you’ll be so glad you did!

xox Alex

“You’re a failure,” or “I’m doing it wrong again” were favorite put-downs of my
mechanical-mind-machine.

(I’ll bet you have something similar on endless repeat!)

While running a business, learning to be a single mom, and trying to figure out
how to date again after 10 years, I was constantly battered by my own harsh
thoughts.

Then I saw that I (or my mind) was the only thing holding me back.

I wanted to create a new, productive, healthy lifestyle, but I was getting
sidetracked by complaints and self-created drama.

Sure, there were plenty of chances to blame outside forces, to place all
responsibility on the world, my ex-, the weather – anything – but that way of
living wasn’t getting me anywhere.

There were times when life was starting to feel sweet again, when the light at
the end of the tunnel looked close, and my life was finally feeling like my own
when my “you really aren’t worth all this happiness and potential” thoughts
would kick in…

You’ve been there, I know.

You start getting a hang of a healthy way of eating, and start to see some
positive results of going to they gym, and then your best intentions get shot
out of they sky by the “b!tchy-bullets” from your harsh, criticizing mind.

Negative self-talk is a big part of whether you feel willing, ready, and able
to finally eat better, take care of yourself, and make the moves to drop the
muffin top.

I’m here to tell you there is a better, easier, fun way to make your wellness
goals happen ~

I found support.

I reached out and gathered people into my life who gave positive reinforcement,
crystal clear vision for what was really true (you know, friends and experts
who can tell you your BS thoughts are just that – total bull!?), and who I felt
drawn to supporting in return.

It’s a two-way street, this supportive and positive lifestyle – do you have
something to offer others while getting the encouragement you need? That’s
where the real magic happens, believe you me!

Your thoughts don’t have to rule your life, and you can keep on track to create
a healthy, deliciously vital life.

This is your chance to make 2012 a healthy, happy year, without all the drama
of harsh, criticizing, self-talk ruling your life.

What made the difference for me was a supportive community. You can get that
for yourself by joining this program and starting today.

(Yeah, the program kicks off on 1/5, but as soon as you join, we’ll get started
– no waiting!)

Get the support you need to make your life healthy & amazing -

Ready to join my 8-week Delicious Detox program?

Learn about what you’ll get and sign up here~

Got any questions?

Shoot me an email at alex@deliciousvitality.com and I’ll be happy to offer you my thoughts.

See, when I was 25 years old, I got sick.

Weeding & Detoxing - My 2 Favorite Pastimes

Not just a cold or flu, or even a string of colds and flu.

Here I was in the “prime of my life” but I felt exhausted every day, was putting on pounds like never before, had migraine headaches several times a week, feeling depressed, and couldn’t stop slurping up caffeine and grabbing chocolate throughout the day.

Getting sick was one of the best things that ever happened to me, because it was a huge wake up call.

I can’t stand not feeling well. And to feel that bad for weeks and months was just more than I could take. I went to a doctor who asked me about my symptoms. When I explained how I was feeling, I was given two prescriptions: one pain medication for my headaches and one anti-depressant.

This is NOT the answer, I thought. I never filled those prescriptions.

So, What Are You Eating?

Instead, I reached out and looked for a more holistically minded doctor. I knew my mom had some food allergies, and I wanted to find out if I had any sensitivities.

Sitting on the examination table in this new doctor’s office, I was surprised to see posters with vegetables, pamphlets talking about vitamins and supplements, and a diagram of the human body with energy meridians and acupuncture points all over it.

When my doctor finally arrived and sat down across from me, one of his first questions wasn’t “why are you here today?” or “what are your symptoms?” – instead he asked, “what is your daily diet like?”

That one question blew the case wide open! I started to detail my diet at the time:

Breakfast: cereal with milk and coffee or a pastry with a latte on the way to work

Lunch: pizza and soda, subway sandwich and soda, or hamburger with fries and…you guessed it, soda

Snacks: salted nuts, chocolate, another latte, crackers and cheese, maybe an orange

Dinner: pasta with meat and cheese, Chinese take-out, soup and garlic bread, turkey sandwich with potato chips…you get the picture.

Nary a fresh fruit, rarely green vegetables, and often soda and caffeine throughout the day. Oh and sugar – lots of sugar.

This doctor didn’t recommend any painkillers or anti-depressants.

Instead he talked with me about how my diet was causing my discomfort, as well as my weight gain and lack of energy. He gave me a sample list of menus for the week, and suggested some books to read. He also told me that my sugar intake was feeding yeast in my body called candida albicans.

And he told me I should go off sugar and caffeine to help my body recover, balance and start to heal. He said, “Alex, you need a detox.”

I had about 5 minutes of freaking out and then something clicked – I had been feeling so bad over the last few months, even giving up sugar wouldn’t be so bad if it helped alleviate some of the pain and suffering.

The diet he recommended was wheat free, sugar free, caffeine free and excluded all animal products except a few eggs a week and some salmon.

I began to read everything I could and learned that a vegan diet, totally free of animal products, was an additional way I could improve my health.

I jumped in with both feet. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I started eating tofu for the first time, learned to enjoy stevia in my herbal tea, and only ate a small piece of chocolate a couple of times that first week. The first few days were really tough.

But about 7-10 days later, I remember waking up and feeling – AWAKE! It was amazing. I actually got out of bed and felt rested – and it was the best feeling ever. It was so easy to continue on this new eating plan because I felt so much better. I had energy to start going to the gym 5 days a week.

It was freeing and enlivening to take out the foods that were hurting my body. And I began to learn how to cook foods that would actually help me feel better and heal! Vegetables and whole grains were a revelation.

I also had the energy and clarity to look at the rest of my life and realized that my diet wasn’t the only thing that needed detoxing. I was unhappy with my career path, so I found a new job and went back to school. I wasn’t connected or passionate in my intimate relationship, so my sweet boyfriend and I went our separate ways.

Once I started pruning the dispassionate things from my life, my energy and life opened up even more and things really took off! My new career of healthy chef and holistic health counselor was fun, soul-filling, and interesting. I started dating new people and found deeper, more intimate relationships.

Detoxing and Weeding – My 2 Favorite Pastimes

Trimming Damaged Flowers Allows For New Growth & A Healthy System

Looking back it all makes sense.

See, I grew up in my parents’ garden. We had weekly chores that included raking, stacking wood, and cutting the lawn. Weeding and pruning were my favorite chores.

I love looking at a plant and finding what doesn’t need to be there, removing injured or dying flowers, branches and leaves, and cutting away the dead wood.

Taking away the useless, even harmful parts of a bush or tree help it grow stronger, create more blooms and leaves, and result in a more vibrant plant.

That’s what detox is like for people, too.

I love looking at someone’s diet and lifestyle, getting into the details about how they feel and what foods they choose. Finding and cutting away the harmful, useless aspects of a persons diet and life empower them to grow stronger, feel energized and create a new, powerful way of being.

Getting Clear, Without Judgment

My career is filled with opportunities to help people – teaching, writing, sharing healing recipes, information and products. I get to explore new and old methods of detoxing all the time – and the results are glorious. My clients all come from different places and backgrounds, but they all have two things in common – a desire to feel healthy and a “knowing” that choosing different foods can help them feel whole.

Clearing away the “dead wood” of my diet was the first step towards growth and healing. Once the no-longer-passionate lifestyle fell away, I found that my energy and life totally opened up and amazing things became possible.

I’ve since published 3 books, and traveled the world premiering Super Size Me with my son’s father, Morgan Spurlock. I live in New York City and have incredible friends and colleagues that continually inspire me.

While my diet and lifestyle aren’t always as “perfect” as they were in the beginning, I now recognize the signs faster that my body and energy are off balance. One chocolate dessert and one glass of wine usually make for a pretty groggy, impatient mommy in the morning.

Looking at your own diet and lifestyle, ask yourself: what is my body truly needing right now? Does this serve my life? What can I remove to help my body thrive and heal? Are there different choices I could be making that will energize me, help me succeed and live with delicious vitality?

To join my 8 Week Delicious Detox Tele-Course, beginning 9/20, go here to sign up and learn more:

On March 31st a special FDA Food Advisory Committee voted that there is “not enough evidence to conclude that artificial dyes used to color foods contribute to hyperactivity in children. That means juices, candies, cereals, yogurts, and hundreds of other everyday foods will maintain their brighter-than-bright hues.”

This is sad news for a country that is already enduring epic numbers of children being affected by ADD/ADHD and other health issues which are exacerbated by food preservatives.

Many tudies show that “when children who are already hyperactive eat food that is artificially colored, they become even more hyper.”

As reported on CBS.com by Nancy Cordes, “an analysis of 21 of the most conclusive studies found compelling evidence that, indeed, artificial dyes could contribute to hyperactivity, restlessness, and attention problems in some children – particularly those with ADHD. What’s more, the studies suggested that removing dyes from those children’s diet was a quarter to half as effective in reducing those symptoms as giving the kids Ritalin or other stimulants. In other words, certain kids with ADHD might not need drugs if the artificial dyes were removed from their diets.”

In the European Union, the Food Standards Agency has called for a voluntary ban of sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), carmoisine (E122), allura red (E129), tartrazine (E122) and ponceau 4R (E124) after the board “decided precautionary action was needed. (Guardian.co.uk)”

This use of the precautionary principle is too often lacking in this country. What’s the precautionary principle you might ask? Well, it’s a pretty good way to live life, as many parents will tell you. Here’s the definition from The Precautionary Principle Project:

“Precaution – the “precautionary principle” or “precautionary approach” – is a response to uncertainty, in the face of risks to health or the environment. In general, it involves acting to avoid serious or irreversible potential harm, despite lack of scientific certainty as to the likelihood, magnitude, or causation of that harm.”

To protect yourself and your family, take it upon yourself to use this easy resource from IATP and the Center for Science In The Public Interest, the group that asked the FDA to convene the special food coloring panel in March.

Food & Food coloring database

Known as the Food & Food Coloring Database, this simple online chart allows you to search by a brand, food or additive so you can start to see which food colorings or preservatives are lurking in your snacks, meals and beverages.

Parents and doctors have been using the Feingold diet, created by Dr. Benjamin Feingold, since the 1970′s that promotes eliminating food additives such as dyes and preservatives as a way to treat hyperactive children.

Luckily, you can find delicious, safe treats for you and your family at NaturalCandyStore.com. This great resource offers candy, food colorings, and baking decorations that are created with vegetable and natural dyes. Be sure to check out their awesome Easter offerings!

Alex inspired me to write a testimonial on my experiences recently
giving up caffeine. It’s now 5-6 weeks that I have been caffeine
free!
I used to drink at least 2-3 large black cups of coffee every day. It
was my first destination in the morning (no breakfast, just coffee),
for an energy kick just to get moving for the day.  I thought there
was NO way I would ever be able to get moving without it.

What I found after giving up coffee completely in the first 2-3 weeks
were some unexpected benefits.  Every morning I drank a tall glass of
water and ate an energy-stabilizing food like brown rice porridge.  I
felt so much more energized without the coffee! Best of all, it was
very mood enhancing.  Instead of feeling dread about going to work and
stress, I felt a lot more positive about being able to tackle the
day.

The first 3-4 days are challenging. This was always the period for me
before when I would give in, and fall back into old routines.  I did
get headaches.

I can offer a few tips that I personally found really helpful in
quitting for those first few days/week.
First,  I got rid of the coffee machine on my counter. When it’s
really inconvenient to dig it out of the cupboard in the morning, it’s
a lot harder to cheat.
Second, I switched up the route that I took to work. I often stopped
at the Dunkin Donuts en route to my job to pick up a coffee fix, so
instead of being tempted, I bypassed it altogether.
Third, decafinated tea!   I never liked tea before, but now I love
it!  It helps when you are used to a warm beverage.

I hope this is helpful for any of you trying to quit caffeine!  It is
well worth the few days of discomfort and seems like it was so quick
in retrospect!

Best wishes to all!

J.”

**My favorite product for ending the caffeine addiction cycle? Teeccino! It’s delicious and coffee-like, but totally caffeine-free.

I went to a doctor who wanted to prescribe an anti-depressant. I wondered – is my body lacking Prozac? Or is something else going on here?

I made an appointment with a more holistic doctor who used nutrition as part of his overall methodology. The first thing he asked about was my diet. No doctor had asked me what I ate in relation to how I was feeling. And so I decided to be honest:
Breakfast: cereal with milk, coffee with milk and sugar
Lunch: fast food, soda, french fries, potato chips, fruit
Snacks: candy, soda
Dinner: pasta, pizza, take-out, soda, alcohol a few nights a week
This doctor pointed out that I wasn’t eating any fresh food, and that I was literally eating myself into depression, weight gain and fatigue.

Once I discovered that what I was eating was creating my depression, exhaustion and mood swings, it didn’t take long before I was back to feeling like myself again. I was so inspired by the changes in my mood, that I decided to change my career so I could help other women to improve their lives without resorting to drugs, surgery or expensive therapies. Food addicts, chocoholics, caffeine addicts, and just plain self-described “moody girls” all flocked to my practice – I guess you attract what you know.

A common theme among my clients is they feel compulsively drawn to certain foods again and again. Daily battles unfold where office workers struggle to stay away from the mid-morning double latte, the afternoon chocolate fix, the after-hours grilled cheese sandwich. Working moms find themselves sneaking snacks like chocolate chips, soda or French fries throughout the day – foods they wouldn’t want their kids to eat.

Often these same foods that we crave every day have a deeper hold on our brain chemistry than we realize. Food sensitivities can cause a craving-withdrawal cycle that not only affects your mood, but your waistline. Common foods such as dairy, coffee, chocolate, wheat, corn or eggs may actually be triggering an undiagnosed food allergy, which often leads to addiction to these foods, causing long-term mood disorders.

The human brain will often produce opioids when you eat one of these trigger foods. These same opioids reduce your perception and reaction to pain. If you are allergic to wheat and diary, eating a grilled cheese sandwich is like taking a tiny hit of a narcotic. Years of constant consumption of these trigger foods lead to addiction. If your body starts to feel withdrawal symptoms because you haven’t eaten wheat or dairy in several hours, it will start to crave those same foods – your body needs its fix!

This allergy-addiction cycle can lead to irritability, migraines, depression, fatigue, constant digestion problems, arthritis and weight gain. Over the last 8 years I have worked with thousands of women to improve their mood and health by making simple dietary changes. Using a food-mood journal, getting rid of the junk, and analyzing cravings, I have successful assisted countless women to identify and eliminate the underlying causes of their food cravings and mood issues.

These days my food cravings are much easier to handle. They still show up during times of stress or when I’m tired, but I quickly realize my body needs rest, leafy greens, water or exercise instead of chocolate or coffee. I still indulge in delicious treats sometimes, but my cravings for trigger foods don’t have control over me – I understand where they’re coming from and how to make them dissolve. It has been an empowering process to learn what my body really needs and how to take care of these imbalances without relying on foods that will only hurt me over time.

To take control of your food induced mood disorders, lose weight and create amazing energy, join my 4 Week Power Detox Tele-Course, starting April 26th:

http://www.nutritionforempoweredwomen.com/services/reboot/

If you’ve read either of my books or seen Super Size Me, you’ll remember that I’ve helped a lot of people balance their mood and energy by adding and eliminating the right combination of foods.

The video was shot at my apartment in Brooklyn, NY on a cold, rainy February day. I invited my gorgeous pregnant friends Helen Darroch and Chloe Jo Davis (head vegan glamazon at Girlie Girl Army.com) to the shoot. We three girls chatted about food and mood while cooking up a delicious pot of Indian Kitchari (keep an eye out for the recipe in my new Vegan Cookbook for Dummies – out this Thanksgiving!) – the video will be amazing, and I’ll let you all know when it gets posted online!

The best part about having a video shoot in your home is that a makeup artist comes over in the morning to make you look great! I also loved having a crew in my house that cleaned up at the end of the day. The director and camera man had lights, sound and moved all the furniture around to create the right look. I have to say I liked what they did with my apartment!

Here’s a behind-the-scenes Energizing Mood tip I used for this video shoot:

On the morning of a big day, like when I have to speak, present or be on camera, I always have a protein-rich breakfast with a little bit of whole grains. My breakfast this morning was sauteed tofu on Ezekiel bread (flourless, sprouted grain bread) with a side of greens! That’s right, some sauteed greens in the morning do wonders for your energy. I felt prepared, centered and my energy remained stable throughout that hectic day – even though my son was up half the night before!

I’ll be shooting another video in early April for a (hush-hush) cooking show, so I’ll let you know about that as soon as I can. Great things are happening right now ~ it’s up to me to get enough sleep, eat right and get some down time so that I can really bring my A-game to all of these amazing opportunities.

Alexandra

By Alexandra Jamieson

I was 25 years old and I felt tired, cranky, foggy and depressed. Every morning was a struggle, my afternoons were often punctuated with migraines, and every evening I crashed into bed totally depleted. I knew I wasn’t supposed to feel this bad, and I didn’t want to go on this way.

Once I discovered that what I was eating was creating my depression, exhaustion and mood swings, I was inspired to change my career so I could help other women to improve their lives without resorting to drugs, surgery or expensive therapies.  Food addicts, chocoholics, caffeine addicts, and just plain self-described “moody girls” all flocked to my practice – I guess you attract what you know.

A common theme among my clients is they feel compulsively drawn to certain foods again and again. Daily battles unfold where office workers struggle to stay away from the mid-morning double latte, the afternoon chocolate fix, the after-hours grilled cheese sandwich. Working moms find themselves sneaking snacks like chocolate chips, soda or French fries throughout the day – foods they wouldn’t want their kids to eat.

Often these same foods that we crave every day have a deeper hold on our brain chemistry than we realize. Food sensitivities can cause a craving-withdrawal cycle that not only affects your mood, but your waistline. Common foods such as dairy, coffee, chocolate, wheat, corn or eggs may actually be triggering an undiagnosed food allergy, which often leads to addiction to these foods, causing long-term mood disorders.

The human brain will often produce opioids when you eat one of these trigger foods. These same opioids reduce your perception and reaction to pain.  If you are allergic to wheat and diary, eating a grilled cheese sandwich is like taking a tiny hit of a narcotic. Years of constant consumption of these trigger foods lead to addiction. If your body starts to feel withdrawal symptoms because you haven’t eaten wheat or dairy in several hours, it will start to crave those same foods – your body needs its fix!

This allergy-addiction cycle can lead to irritability, migraines, depression, fatigue, constant digestion problems, arthritis and weight gain. Over the last 8 years I have worked with thousands of women to improve their mood and health by making simple dietary changes. Using a food-mood journal, elimination diets, and analyzing cravings, I have successful assisted countless women to identify and eliminate the underlying causes of their food cravings and mood issues.

But when I looked at the food she was buying, my mouth dropped open:

Equal, a plastic lemon, low-fat, non-organic milk, bacon, Pam Cooking Spray and Gatorade.

Does this look like your shopping cart?

The groceries this woman was buying might be shortening her life span and taking her quality of life down a notch. Here’s what I mean:

Equal: AKA Aspartame

In 1996, the FDA approved its use as a “general purpose sweetener,” and it can now be found in more than 6,000 foods. Serious complaints associated with this artificial sweetener:

Depression: In a study of the effect of aspartame on 40 patients with depression, the study was cut short due to the severity of reactions within the first 13 patients tested. The outcome showed that individuals with mood disorders were particularly sensitive to aspartame and recommended that it be avoided by them.

Headaches: Three randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies with more than 200 adult migraine sufferers showed that headaches were more frequent and more severe in the aspartame-treated group.

Instead: Try Stevia or Brown Rice Syrup

PAM: Cooking Spray

The oil isn’t organic, meaning chemical solvents could be found in trace amounts in the fatty liquid. PAM also uses propellants, including isobutane and propane, for the spraying action.

Instead: Use your own high-quality cooking oils and buy a refillable pump sprayer

Low-Fat, Non-Organic Milk:

Non-organic dairy cows are given constant doses of antibiotics to ward off infection in their cramped, unclean living conditions, and growth hormones to increase their milk supply. Both antibiotics and growth hormones can be found in trace amounts in non-organic dairy products.

Dairy consumption has been linked with higher rates of prostate and breast cancers, heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes. Symptoms of milk-protein allergy include asthma, cough, runny nose, sinus infections and recurring ear infections.

Instead: Use any other plant milk like almond, hemp, rice or soy

PLASTIC LEMONS: pasteurized lemon juice

The Vitamin C or ascorbic acid levels are greatly reduced in this “convenience food,” so you’ll get more flavor and health benefits from a real lemon. Acidic foods like lemon juice can also degrade the plastic and leach chemicals into the juice.

Instead: Try real lemons and juice them.

GATORADE: electrolyte replacement sports drink

High fructose corn syrup, numerous other sugars, and food colorings added to enhance “flavor perception” are just a few of the ingredients in this drink. Skip the mind-bending excito-toxins and added sweeteners.

Instead: Try young coconut water or those little Emercen-C packets and water.