How To Eat Croissants Every Day & Stay Healthy

When I was in college, I traveled to Nepal to study at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. After many years of battling with my body, I decided to take a break from constantly stressing out about food and exercise. It was the Third World, with lepers and poverty everywhere I looked, so somehow trying to manifest visible abs seemed a bit trivial.

During the day I studied Buddhist philosophy and history taught by monks, and by night I ate my weight in carbs. Garlic naan, white rice, probably hundreds of dumplings ...

I even ate a chocolate croissant from a local bakery every single day and didn't exercise once. I didn't care, but before I returned home, I called my mom and sullenly warned her about my undoubted extra pounds. "I've gained a lot of weight so please don't say anything," I told her.

At the time I gave credit to the quality of food I was eating. Better ingredients, more whole foods and less processed stuff. But now, after a decade of studying nutrition and the emotional relationship around food, I see it was much more than that. The difference was not just in the quality of the food but in the quality of life, and the impacts on my stress response and inflammatory reactions.

Life, and I with it, moved slowly there. I meditated daily. When I ate, I ate. I didn't scroll through my Instagram feed while shoveling lunch down my throat. I didn't punish myself with exercise or restrict my food intake. I relaxed, I allowed, and I ate consciously.

Why this made such a difference was that my body had shifted out of the chronic stress response that it had endured, very typical for a college kid with sleepless nights cramming for organic chemistry exams. When the body is exposed to this constant level of stress, stress hormones increase, metabolism decreases, cravings increase, and fat storage increases.

When the stress stopped, my body was able to reset and once again find its natural weight.

When the body experiences pleasure, it shuts off the stress response and shifts into relaxation, which is exactly what we want! Adding more pleasure to your life each day will help you de-stress and also set you up for easy weight loss. I have my clients make a list of non-food-related sources of pleasure, whether that is taking their dog for a walk down their favorite street, getting a pedicure, or reading a good book. The options are endless, so get brainstorming!