What do you really crave?

                             What do you really crave?

As Valentines Day approaches I think I’m craving dark chocolate as I see all the candy boxes in the grocery stores. But honestly, I don’t have to see a box of candy to crave dark chocolate!

I learned a while back that your body doesn’t crave what isn’t good for it. So if you are craving a food that is unhealthy for you it is not a craving, but an addiction. So we are addicted to that bad, but can crave only what is truly good for us. That actually makes sense to me. I have read that a little bit of dark chocolate several times a week is actually good for you!

1) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Heart

Studies show that eating a small amount of dark chocolate two or three times each week can help lower your blood pressure. Dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help prevent the formation of blood clots. Eating dark chocolate may also prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). 

2) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Brain

Dark chocolate increases blood flow to the brain as well as to the heart, so it can help improve cognitive function. Dark chocolate also helps reduce your risk of stroke. 

Dark chocolate also contains several chemical compounds that have a positive effect on your mood and cognitive health. Chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), the same chemical your brain creates when you feel like you're falling in love. PEA encourages your brain to release endorphins, so eating dark chocolate will make you feel happier.

Dark chocolate also contains caffeine, a mild stimulant. However, dark chocolate contains much less caffeine than coffee. A 1.5 ounce bar of dark chocolate contains 27 mg of caffeine, compared to the 200 mg found in an eight ounce cup of coffee.

3) Dark Chocolate Helps Control Blood Sugar

Dark chocolate helps keep your blood vessels healthy and your circulation unimpaired to protect against type 2 diabetes. The flavonoids in dark chocolate also help reduce insulin resistance by helping your cells to function normally and regain the ability to use your body's insulin efficiently. Dark chocolate also has a low glycemic index, meaning it won't cause huge spikes in blood sugar levels.

4) Dark Chocolate is Full of Antioxidants

Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants. Antioxidants help free your body of free radicals, which cause oxidative damage to cells. Free radicals are implicated in the aging process and may be a cause of cancer, so eating antioxidant rich foods like dark chocolate can protect you from many types of cancer and slow the signs of aging.

5) Dark Chocolate Contains Theobromine

Dark chocolate contains theobromine, which has been shown to harden tooth enamel. That means that dark chocolate, unlike most other sweets, lowers your risk of getting cavities if you practice proper dental hygiene.

Theobromine is also a mild stimulant, though not as strong as caffeine. It can, however, help to suppress coughs.

6) Dark Chocolate is High in Vitamins and Minerals

Dark chocolate contains a number of vitamins and minerals that can support your health. Dark chocolate contains some of the following vitamins and minerals in high concentrations:

• Potassium
• Copper
• Magnesium 
• Iron

The copper and potassium in dark chocolate help prevent against stroke and cardiovascular ailments. The iron in chocolate protects against iron deficiency anemia, and the magnesium in chocolate helps prevent type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. 

I wished all the foods that I think I am “craving” had these health benefits. So if they aren’t healthy, I need to ask myself why do I desire them?  Sometimes it just feels good to feed an emotion with food. Celebrations often lead to portions of food we don’t normally eat and certainly types of food I might not prepare for myself at home. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that we choose to celebrate life events with foods that are not the healthiest for us?

So I figure an 80/20 rule. Eat 80% of the time healthy and 20% of the time foods you just want regardless of their nutrition.

Cravings and addictions run much deeper. We are addicted to certain foods because our body is telling us we are not satisfied nutritionally, so we keep trying to respond to our body’s message by giving it what it doesn’t need. When we have truly satisfied our body’s real needs, and not addictions we no longer want for something else.

We often feed our emotions with foods, instead of feeding our emotions with truth. We are often longing to be satisfied emotionally because we are not grounded in the truth in our everyday life.

So what are the basic needs in our life that we all crave that keep us hungry and filling it with the wrong things.

As human beings we all want to be loved. We all want someone to love, and we all want to have something to look forward to.

The world glamourizes a type of love in unrealistic ways that are impossible to live up to in everyday life.  Life has challenges and real love looks different than what is often portrayed on TV and in magazines.

So what is the truth about Love?  All truth begins with God.

John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

So we definitely have one who loves us more than anyone in this world could ever love us, and who was willing and did die for us. Real love starts with God.

He created it, He demonstrated His love for us on the cross and it can never be taken away from us. Even if we are left feeling abandoned by someone else.

Romans 8:35; No one and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

So if this if you believe the bible is true, than here is a truth to cherish for life. We are loved deeply and have someone to love back who will never leave us.

Hebrews 13:5; “Never I will leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Heaven is a future we have to look forward to. Spending the rest of our life in eternity with the one who loves us most, the one we love the most and our loved ones who have gone before us sounds like a great future to me!

We have alot to look forward to everyday with God. Just like we love to give our own children and loved ones good gifts and blessings, so does God enjoy doing the same for us.

Psalm139:14-16

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

I am convinced that until we truly pursue God, we will never be satisfied this side of heaven and will forever be longing for the His desire for us, yet trying to satisfy it with the wrong things.

Without God we will always seek after the world’s standards and ideals and allow others to have an agenda for our lives rather than God. In the end it is only God that will truly satisfy our deepest desires.

I am convinced that we don’t even know half of our desires, until we seek God first. He is the author of them all and knows how to give them to us.

What God intends for you, no man can take it away from you. 

All of this to say . . .

After 4 weeks into having started the new P90X3, it has proven to be a healthy choice for my body. I look forward to working out, it is short sweet and effective. I look forward to it each day.  My body is even starting to reject the taste of coffee. It seems all I’m truly craving to drink is nothing but water.

I have always been a water drinker, but the more good I do for my body I am seeing how my daily food addictions are not as strong as they used to be, until the next celebration where there will be an amazing dessert somewhere!

Happy Valentines Day!

Enjoy the dark chocolate, it is good for you.

Are you off to a Fresh Start?

"Off to a fresh start" as we all have high hopes for new year. We all have great intentions
to get rid of all our positive growth inhibtors, whether it be stuff or people to clean out, the refrigerator, habits to break, realationships or businesses to build. The new year gives us hope to be able to clean the slate, in one sweep, often setting us up for dissappointment because it is difficult to change everything over night.

I'm smiling as I think about coming off of a two week beach vacation of holiday bliss with my family of crazy baking, cooking & eating that doesn't happen at home & lots of relaxing. We have all agreed that we need to go without food for a few weeks to offset the damage we feel has been done. It seems that athletic wear was the big gift item this year that everyone received. Is this a new fashion we must
sport or are we supposed to do something healthy while wearing it? When we wear our "fit"ness clothing, is it because it's the only thing that "fits" or it is supposed to inspire us to get that heart rate up?

I wished making all changes were as easy as putting on a different outfit. Change is challenging, even good change. We tend to keep wearing the old things that feel comfy. So what is wrong with that? Not one thing. But if we want different results, we have to do things differently.

It is funny how a new year, month or day gives us the hope that something different can happen, but often forgetting that we have to do different to get different. We are inondated with tips, steps or strategies to get the results we often desire but fail to see it through. Does this mean that we are failures?

Maybe it means that we focus on doing the wrong things that don't drive us to accomplish the things in life that God actually created us for.

I have no idea what all the new year will bring, but I know who brings it and it will be amazing. I know that God has a plan, and I want to always join Him where "He" is to keep my life growing and filled with His purpose.


Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans for you, "declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope."


There is certainly nothing wrong with making plans and setting goals, we all love to follow our dreams and work to make them happen. Always trust God first, He knows what is best for you and He is working His plan in you, whether you realize or not. Don't get discouraged if what you have set out looks very different at the end of the year. If we seek Him, He will make great things happen and we will be transformed into better people.

The mind of Man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9.

Seek God first and let Him direct your steps. He will never disappoint you.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

God loves you and has amazing plans for you! He loves to give us what we are passionate about, like we do for our own children and the people we love. Let Him show them to you. There is nothing like accomplishing what you have set out to do, only to find out that you still feel empty at the end. Without God there is no real purpose in life. He created us and knows how we are wired better than anyone.

Jeremiah 1:4-5 The word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb I knew you. before you were born I set you apart;

Luke 1:37 For nothing is impossible for God.

Proverbs 3:5-7 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.

I pray you find the treasures God intended for you to find this year.

God Bless you &
Happy New year!