Before I really did the work on mindful eating and rewriting my relationship with food, this was my typical pattern:

1. Spend the weekend making great plans about how well I’m going to eat from now on.
2. Grocery shop and prep soups and salads for the week ahead.
3. Eat really well on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
4. Thursday morning notice the irresistible butter croissants in the coffee shop display. Buy and eat one.
5. Hate myself and decide that I’ve now ruined the whole week so I might as well have nachos for lunch.
6. Binge on Friday and Saturday because the week is now a write-off.
7. Spend the weekend making great plans about how well I’m going to eat from now on.

Sound familiar?

What I’ve come to learn from doing my own work and also supporting hundreds of women in my programs, coaching and Facebook group, is that absolutely everything is progress.

Yes, even the double chocolate chip cookie on day two of your smoothie cleanse.

Not because eating a double chocolate chip cookie is good for you – it’s generally not.

But the overwhelming cookie craving is a message, a signal that your focus is required somewhere else.

It might be that you need to rest and recharge. It might be that you need to excavate and release some pent up negative thoughts that are causing you to feel hurt, fear or anxiety. It might be that you need to seek out some connection with a friend or loved one.

Your craving for the cookie is a message and the more we notice, hear and recognize these messages, the more we learn about how our bodies needs to be cared for, and the better we get at anticipating those needs (before they turn into screaming cookie cravings).

This is why everything is progress…if you choose to listen and learn from it.

Today, when I find myself pulled toward making a choice that’s out of alignment with how I want to be living and caring for myself and my body, I think, “thank you.”

Thank you for identifying that something needs my attention. Thank you for letting me know that something is out of balance. Thank you for teaching me a little bit more about how my body operates and what it needs to be truly healthy.

Because, the more I receive these signals, the more opportunity I have to learn from and act on them to give my body what it’s really craving – before the warning light comes on.

And that’s progress!