"Quit Quitting" and Almond Joy Recipe!

As I near the end of this pregnancy (only 24 more days till my due date!) I am starting to get in the mind set of getting that pre-baby shape back.  If I were to give myself a letter grade for the last month of paleo eating it would be a big fat "F"!  Moving across country and Halloween were no bueno on the eating for me.  I have no excuse other than I wanted fast food damn it and I ate it! :-P  The overall pregnancy I would say I get a B.  I wasn't perfect, but there were more successful days than not.  

Thinking back to the recent debauchery of Halloween.... Have you ever noticed that when you "cheat" its hard to get back on track because your cravings seem to be ever present for the next few days? 

I read somewhere... have no idea if it's true or not... that our taste buds have a life cycle of 7-10 days.  So here is my theory:

Lets say I "cheat" on a halloween size bag of Reese's Peanut Butter cups (metaphorically speaking of course.... cough cough... wink wink... damn on sale halloween candy).... The next few days all I can think about is getting more processed sugar!  Ice cream, donuts, candy, gas station danishes (don't judge me)!  My cravings are all consuming.  My normal apple/almond butter treat is not in the "treat" category anymore.  How could it be with it's naturally occurring sugars, high fiber content, and lack of high fructose corn syrup??  Psha!!!  

Through the incessant nagging of my crack addicted taste buds I abstain from processed sugar for a few days.... 

Then I bite into a beautiful, crimson, juice filled strawberry and suddenly... miraculously... I am taken to the same euphoria as the entire bag of PB Cups!  Oh you juicy little piece of heaven you! 

So it's my thoughts that our taste buds are part of the reason the first few days of cleaned up eating are much harder than future days.  Once those crack addicted buds die off, your new ones are going to crave the good stuff (apples, strawberries, etc).  You'll find a new appreciation for the sweet juice of a ripened pear, or the crisp crunch of a fresh carrot!  

You just have to wait till those darn addicted buds die off!  

The next statement is completely true, so listen up:

It takes 2-6 weeks for your body to respond to a new eating and/or workout routine.  It takes 4-8 weeks for you to start seeing results either on the scale or in the mirror (preferable mirror because the scale can be deceiving).  It will take 8+ weeks for other people to start noticing your progress.  

SO QUIT QUITTING AFTER A WEEK OF CHANGING YOUR ROUTINE!  Quit quitting after 2 weeks.  Quit quitting after 3 weeks!  If you really, TRULY want to make changes in your health, and/or appearance stick with it for AT LEAST 3 months!  Yes THREE whole months!  I guarantee you that within that 3 month time frame you will start noticing the changes and your motivation to keep it up will SKY ROCKET!  The first month to month and a half is the hardest because you are working your butt off and you can't see the difference.  Just hold on friend!  Don't give in!  It took time to put on weight or create disease inside your body... it's going to take time to get either of them off/out!  

Moral of the story?

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON FREINDS!!!! 

For those sweet tooth attacks here is a recipe....

"Practically" Paleo Almond Joys 

Ingredients to make chocolate:

• 1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (Dairy/GMO/Soy Free)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions for Chocolate:

• Melt chocolate chips and coconut oil over low/medium heat stirring frequently.
• Add in vanilla extract. 
• Take off heat. 
• Put cupcake paper liners in a muffin tin and spoon approx. 1 spoon of chocolate into the bottom of each cup. 
• Put muffin tin in fridge to harden the chocolate (5-15mins - doesn't have to be rock hard... just not totally soupy)

While chocolate is hardening….

Ingredients for Coconut filling:

• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 Tbs sugar (could also try truvia, or maple syrup)
• ¼ c finely shredded, unsweetened coconut (next time I do it I will probably double this to make the mixture a little thicker)
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 25 toasted almonds (optional)

Directions for coconut filling:

• In a missing bowl add coconut oil, sugar, shredded coconut, and coconut extract.  Mix by hand or with electric mixer until smooth.  (I melted my coconut oil before adding it to the bowl so my mixture was very soupy not smooth)
• Take the muffin tin out of the fridge and smooth a small amount of coconut filling into each cup.
• Place in fridge for another 5-10 minutes.
• Take muffin tin out of fridge and spoon the rest of the chocolate onto the top of the coconut. 
• Place an almond on each if you would like. Place back in fridge for another 5-15minutes until nice and hard. 
• This made 12 large pieces of candy so I cut mine in half to make 24 pieces.  :D