Sweet Healing

Wherever you are, whatever you do, be in love. ~ Rumi

A Gentle Journey: How Best to Use This Guide

You can safely put down your defenses and fears as this is not a book that will further shame you about your desire to gorge on ice cream or reprimand you for listening to that glazed donut that seems to call you by name. Moreover, this means there will be no more guilt-tripping, no more saving up good diet days, so that you can have a bad splurge day. (Yes, let that in). If there’s one thing I believe we’re all learning it is that shaming ourselves does not change anything, but only causes more pain.

Rather, the path unfolding for is about learning to listen to yourself with compassion. It’s about healing. This means learning to respond with new found insight and love while becoming more resourceful with the ability to make fantastic new treats that wholly feed and nourish you. It can be a gentle journey, yet profoundly transformative too.

So to be clear, this book will NOT try to inspire you to have more self-control around sugar. There will be no pumping you up and glazing you over with information overload.

Instead, let this small guide be a companion at your side, like a supportive whisper in your ear or a gentle nudge at your back as you too begin to try your hand at new things that will allow you to explore more sweet possibilities. Even if you do not battle constant sugar cravings, you will discover a new way of eating (and drinking too) with deeper satisfaction that will NOT demand sweet deprivation. It’s a personal process for each of us. What I’ve tried to do here is map out a way for you to move forward with the least amount of struggle.

While I suspect some of you may want to lunge ahead to the Divine Dessert recipes provided in Chapter 4 – and I celebrate your enthusiasm – since each section has principles and ideas that build on each other, it’s important that you harness your eagerness. Focus it upon following the flow of information and guidance as it is presented step-by-step. Soon enough you will encounter a divine dessert with your name on it.

Here’s why the gradual step-by-step process is important: This book is not a diet plan, but rather the opening of a new frontier to explore. While ultimately this will be a place to go wild, creatively engage and discover the sensual enjoyment of whole desserts, your body will be well served to honor a gentle and gradual approach.

Each step offered is best experienced consecutively. Until you have done at least some preparatory healing on your body’s chemical addiction to sugar, you will most likely not be addressing the underlying physical and emotional imbalances that have tripped you up before and may have left you feeling frustrated and defeated. Step-by-step will serve you better. Once established, these “steps” will work in concert, integrated as routines and practices that will support your daily life with you reaping healthy reward.

The recipes included in Chapter 4 will then be a vital resource that will continually serve up divine desserts to a body that’s ready to digest and absorb the nurturing pleasure. You will soon be picking and altering the recipes that delight you the most, experimenting with them, and easily making them a part of your daily or weekly routines. (I can see your coconut oil fingerprints staining the pages now!)

As someone that is continually in conversation with her own digestive system, there’s one last thing I want to stress: the importance of going slowly with dietary change. Our digestion is an extremely complex process and sometimes, especially in the case of severe digestive issues, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Leaky Gut, there will be the necessity to respond to those issues more comprehensively before moving onto the recipe section of this book. In any case, going slowly allows your body, heart, and mind to sync up and work seamlessly together for the long term.

First Things First: Laying the Foundation for Healing

This guide is practical and action-oriented – I want you in your kitchen stirring up deliciousness – yet I’ve done my best to include just enough material to guide and inform you so that you are empowered and able to stay the course, and make your way elegantly and creatively forward. For those of you that want to take your knowledge deeper in places, I’ve included links to resources that I endorse, as they have personally served me well. Otherwise, I will keep you focused only on the essentials that will help you to better understand how to nurture your body and restore and sustain balance and harmony.

I cannot overstate that this is a journey of healing not merely a recipe book where we substitute sugar with healthier alternatives. While we’re divinely blessed to have healthy sweet options, your ultimate sense of freedom means respecting your physical chemistry and emotional body by learning to deeply attune to your needs.