Hot off the Sugar Press! In honor of Diabetes Awareness Month, I’m happy to announce my new column, Dear Mo.
You asked and I answered your questions in my new monthly column, “Dear Mo.” Get your questions answered by yours truly, Maura Knowles, aka, Mo, the Morselist, Certified Integrative Health Coach, Recipe Developer, EduTainer and founder of Mac-n-Mo’s, a health & wellness company created in honor of my dear late dad, Mac, a diabetic/heart patient.
Using my Morselicious Pie approach, I will help you integrate the essential “ingredients” for your most optimal, sustainable, healthy lifestyle. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to diet or lifestyle. EveryBODY is unique with various lifestyles, tastes, bio-individual needs, and passions.
Have a question for Mo? Send to mo@macnmos.com and share this with your colleagues, friends, family to get answers. Check in with “Dear Mo” every month for answers to your questions.
Here is this month’s question from a curious Morselite:
Q. How can I give up sugar or at least wean off my crazy consumption especially with all of the holiday temptations?
A. Please indulge me, (pun intended) and let me share a confession-“morsel of my sugar story.”
As a sugar-addict, note, I did NOT say “former” sugar addict because I crave sugar all the time, especially during the holidays or on hot summer days, cue ice cream cones, or during times of extra stress, cue “compassion fatigue.” But, that’s another story.
Confession: The end of my Senior Year of high school, I was voted “Most likely to be late to her Broadway debut because she just had to finish the entire bag of Oreos, peanut M&M’s, and Diet Coke.”
Many of you know how much I love Mary Poppins; however, I think she misled us with her tune about sugar.
“Just a spoonful of sugar,” indeed, makes the medicine go down into a vicious frenetic whirlwind.🥄🌀🤪
When I work with my clients, my first question when they ask me HOW to wean off sugar, is WHY do you want to reduce your sugar intake? What does weaning off sugar look and feel like for you? This turns the onus back to them and how they see their lives, health improving. This also reiterates that there is no one single pill or quick fix to do so. If I had that answer, I’d be writing this from a private tropical island sipping macadamia cocoa shakes from a coconut shell!
Sugar is a drug, more addictive than nicotine, and that first taste gets us hooked!
So HOW does the Morselist curb the sugar AND satisfy sweet tooth cravings? Here are a few tips to get started.
- Get rid of ALL sugar-filled temptations from your home. (If I have a carton of ice-cream or any sugary treat in my freezer, fridge, or pantry, I will dream of it until it’s gone to tempt me no more!) Can you relate?
- Focus on the other areas of your life/think Morselicious Pie slices, ingredients to satisfy your cravings, needs. Call a friend and meet for a hike or walk and talk.
- STOP scrolling social media especially the pages with ooey-gooey decadent temptataions.
- Move & Groove! Crank up the tunes, sing, dance, and get silly!
- Check out my Morselicious recipes for no-to extra low-sugar treats and whip out your mixing bowls, and share some.
- Add fresh spices to your favorite beverages, (non-sugary ones), meals and focus on the burst of flavor and real foods. TIP: Cinnamon helps reduce blood sugar.
- Eat to nourish your body, mind, soul in the most optimal way without deprivation. Add healthy fats to your meals to keep you more balanced and satisfied.
- Learn to wean one step at a time and experiment with healthier alternative sweeteners, Pure monkfruit or stevia.
- Choose your 15% wiggle room, indulgences and savor each morsel or learn to savOUR each morsel. SavOURing is my compromise between devouring (my go-to) and savoring. SavOUR. Remember, we are all a work-in-progress and Mary Poppins was “practically perfect!”
- Check out my on-demand sugar-detox webinar/workshops in my shop, and book a session with me to create a plan for a healthier, happier, more sustainable life.
To quote Hippocrates, “let food be thy medicine.” Heal ourselves from the inside out.
Please spread awareness for diabetes and remember, we are all SupercalifragilisticMorsel-alidocious!
Sing that three times quickly. 🎵🎶
Send your questions for Mo at mo@macnmos.com and book your free 20-minute Health Coaching consultation
If you know someone who may be interested in working with me, your referrals will be rewarded with a special gift. 🎁
Give the gift of self care with:
- Pumpkin and Holiday e-cookbooks.
- Gift Certificates.
- A group workshop.
- Customized recipes.
Instagram Favor/Request
I am close to reaching 1000 followers on Instagram, and I’d Morseliciously appreciate your support in getting there.
A few important facts I recently learned in order for posts, reels, and stories to track on Instagram.
1) You need to watch the reel for at least 4-seconds before you”like” it
2) Save the reel (huge ranking boost)
3) Post a comment (emoji’s don’t count) type four (4) words or more related to post.
Send your questions for Mo at mo@macnmos.com and book your free 20-minute Health Coaching consultation.
Many clients come to me at the beginning of our work together with complaints of brain fog, forgetfulness, anxiety, and depression.
Many of us don’t realize the connection between how we feel with how or what we eat, how much we unplug, rest and sleep, how much we exercise, the time we do or don’t make for friends and community. And don’t underestimate the amount of time you may spend mindlessly scrolling feeds from all forms of media.
Once we begin to understand these connections, ’tis, indeed, possible to change your approach to these important factors that affect your daily decisions.
To feel energized and maintain brain health requires crowding out the bad stuff. Replace the bad with the good, aka, your Morselicious Life Pie. As you work with these strategies, you can reduce & often eliminate the bad mojo to cultivate your optimal mental & overall health. Here are a few hands-on actions you can start today. Remember baby steps. One tiny change creates a ripple effect, and so on, and so on, and so on…(3 points if you can name that popular commercial slogan from the late 80s).
☘️ Eat REAL, WHOLE food.
☘️ Eat a RAINBOW 🌈of vegetables.
☘️ Cut the C.R.A.P.: Carbonated drinks, Refined carbohydrates, Artificial sweeteners, Processed junk.
☘️ Eat lots o’ healthy fat.
☘️ Optimize clean protein.
☘️ Cut the toxic relationships, unplug & limit your news & screen time.
To find out how we can work together to achieve your specific goals, book a One-on-One Health Coaching Session and let’s get you started on your Morselicious health journey.
My workshops are also ideal for small groups, parties, companies…
Gift Ideas:
My new Morselicious Pumpkin e-cookbook is a perfect gift for you and your loved ones, just in time for the holidays, and guaranteed to satisfy your tasty sugar-weaning cravings!
And check out these Printables: