Ahhhhh, Jasmin! Another wonderful article! Thank you for sharing a bit about your food journey and your stashes.

I didn't grow up with any issues around food - although there were 9 years of anorexia but this was not about food. I was always thin growing up and wasn't deprived of food. We didn't have treats like crisps or sugary cereals when I was a kid - except on the very rarest of occasions, only because there wasn't money for them. I never really craved that stuff or felt deprived.

I ate an insanely healthy diet as an adult, not much of a sweet tooth and almost never ate fast food etc. Just didn't want it. Was always slim, even though I ate quite a lot but it was 'good diet' stuff. I baked a lot but didn't eat loads of that stuff, didn't deprive myself, I ate some but wasn't gorging on it. I had to have goodies for husband, kids - snacks and lunches and i enjoyed a bit, too.

Then I was heading into menopause and I gained weight before my food tastes had changed. I still ate a healthy diet, low fat etc. and gained weight anyway. Then my food cravings changed and the weight gain got worse.

I've never had to deal with these issues before and menopause makes it extra hard for weight to come off. I've reached a point where my yoga pants are getting uncomfortable and dammit, I am NOT buying bigger ones. I'm not happy with the way I look or feel at this weight and am trying to find a balance between being careful of what I eat and still allowing some of those cravings to have their say.

The other complicating factor is that in homeopathy, we don't believe in suppression, which means give in to the cravings - at least in moderation. The more you ignore them, the worse they get, but holy cow, if I gave in, I WOULD be as big as a house.

For me, the things I crave are common due to menopause issues such as drops in estrogen, fatigue, poor sleep and more - these things make us crave carbs, chocolate, sweets etc.

My willpower and self-discipline are out the window, too, much of the time due to the poor sleep. What's a girl to doooo???

I'm hoping that my shift a while back to not beating myself up about it (as much!) will help me find a place of balance and if I'm lucky, maybe I can at least shed a few pounds so my yoga pants don't hate me!!

Thanks for another fabulous article, my friend, and for choosing HHH to publish. You can keep the sweets in these pics (but ohhh aren't they pretty??!?!!?) but I could do some serious damage to those cookies! Yum!

Happy First Married Christmas!!!! 💜💜💜