Do you need a food guru?

Food seems like the simplest thing in the world, doesn’t it?  We all know it’s the fuel that keeps up alive so we just need to eat it, right??  Wrong!  What to eat and how to eat it might be the two most difficult questions facing a busy business owner.  Yes, even more difficult than how to market yourself or price your services because if you don’t eat, and particularly don’t eat well, you aren’t going to last long enough to enjoy your beautifully built business.  Follow me?

What to eat constantly changes depending on the newest edition of Shape magazine or current topic on Dr. Oz.  This bombardment of conflicting food information quickly become overwhelming and makes us want to throw up our hands and say, FORGET IT!  Add to this the already consuming stress of being a CRAVE-able business lady and (despite your best intentions) by 3 pm your right hand is deep in a bag of M&M’s and a latte or diet coke sits in your left.  Don’t worry my dear, we’ve all been there.  You try your hardest to eat well and do right by your body but you can only do so much when being pulled in 15 different directions.  I totally get it!  So how do you begin to weed through the murky mess of food info and learn how to balance what to eat with your busy day?

Find a food guru! Just as mentorship is imperative to creating a strong business, so too is a food guru in helping you build a thriving and beautiful body.  Though it may seem simple enough, food (and our eating habits and emotions around it) is complicated stuff and not easy to figure out alone.  Here are 5 ways to know if you need a food guru:

1. Food shopping makes you break out in a cold sweat- A good food guru will help you lay out a shopping plan to make going to the grocery store a cinch.  Seriously, food shopping should not insight a panic attack but be something you look forward to as a way of taking care of yourself.
2. You avoid your kitchen- You don’t have to be on TOP CHEF to make delicious food but often we avoid cooking because we think we can’t do it.  FYI: Everyone can cook.  All you need is the right person to help lay out an eating plan and inspire your food creativity.
3. You set food and lifestyle goals that are never accomplished- We all do this!  However the beauty of a food guru is they first help you lay out your goals then (without judgment) hold you accountable to all you want to accomplish.  I’ve said it once and I will say it again, amazing things happen with the right support.
4. Sugar is your primary source of comfort- Particularly when we are stressed and overworked, sugar easily becomes our comfort blankie that makes us feel warm and cuddly inside…that is, until we come down off our sugar high and feel guilty for eating crap that hurts our body.  The right food guru will gently show you how to a) find sweetness in alternative forms, b) decode your cravings and c) find sweet things that comfort you without going into your mouth.  Yes, it is possible!
5. You talk smack about your body- Most women think body smack-talking is just part of being a woman.  Well, guess what…it’s not!  Talking trash to ourselves everyday breaks down our self-esteem and keep us from achieving what we want and feeling amazing.  If you’ve ever told yourself you are too fat to wear that, not thin enough to do this, or simply not good enough because your thighs touch, it is time to call in some food guru reinforcements.

In these eating on-the-go, too much sugar and quick-fix diet days, it is extremely important to get support around your food and lifestyle concerns.  If any of these questions spoke to you, it is seriously time to find yourself a food guru.  With the right one, you will be amazing with all you accomplish!

Jamie G. Dougherty is the owner and founder of Jamie Living, Health and Lifestyle Coaching and food guru extraordinaire!  She is a certified Holistic Nutrition Coach with a private and corporate practice that offers assistance nationwide. She is the author of the wildly popular e-cookbook, Spring Forward to the New You: 30 Delicious and Cleansing Recipes for your Fabulous Figure and is the food guru to busy, frustrated women ready to let go and become healthy, fun and fabulous!

Join Jamie on Facebook and Twitter and get your free 5-STEP GUIDE TO FABULOUS at JAMIELIVING.