Sitting in the middle of my living room on my Ikea kitchen chair with my bowl of noodles, I took a scan of the room…it was practically empty. All that remained was my floor-to-ceiling bookshelf and well, me in the centre. I had just kicked out my boyfriend back then and couldn’t stop thinking, “how the hell am I going to do this alone?” I would finish my noodles, pull up my laptop and begin writing my blog for Sexy Food Therapy.

It was 1:45am and a girl was waving me down at the end of the bar. I would drop the scribblings of ideas that I began hours earlier on the chit paper and usher over. I’d take her order, slide over a pint of Coors Light and admit that yes, I was the girl behind Sexy Food Therapy.

While this isn’t my present, it isn’t exactly a far distant past and truthfully, for years in this business…

I felt like a fraud.

The stress alone almost killed me. It made me want to throw in the towel, give up and drink more than the healthy four drinks per week average.

So how did I deal with the stress? I ate of course.

Sexy Fudge Bars

*Recipe adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 cup almonds, unsalted

1/4 cup pecans, unsalted

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 ripe bananas

6 tbsp hazelnut butter

1/4 cup more unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt

Put dates in a bowl with warm water, allow dates to soak for 30 minutes, then drain. Mix together dates, almonds, pecans, and 1/4 cup cocoa powder, cinnamon in a Vitamix until well blended. Spread mixture in a 9×5 baking pan until evenly distributed, and press down gently with a spoon. Mix together bananas, hazelnut butter, and other 1/4 cup cocoa powder in the food processor until well blended. Spread mixture over bottom layer until evenly distributed. Place in freezer for an hour. Cut into 16 squares.

The power of real cacao is uncanny. Given that it’s apparently the next best thing to sex, then it almost becomes the go-to food (especially when you’re single). Fuelling the heart meridian to nourish our souls and anxiety is sometimes exactly what you need.

You see there are a bunch of stress-relieving foods and granted, sometimes, they get paired with a little more wine than intended, but hey, balance right? In my upcoming pay-what-you-can Stress Detox webinar coming up at the end of March, I’ll be providing you with amazing ways to utilize food from a Chinese Medical theory. Not to mention, I’m bringing in three of my other experts talking about how to reset and restore, become emotionally balanced and how sex (even if you’re single) can be a lifesaver.

The other important announcement: I know many of you who read my blog are practitioners yourself and some still in training. Many of you have reached out to me and wanted to take the 8-week Marketing & Branding course but couldn’t because of time or location. So, I’ve decided to offer a 4-week mini version webinar that you can access anytime, anywhere. You’ll get information on how not feel like a fraud and how to launch your business. I’ll give you the inside scoop on all the mistakes I made and how to avoid them. We’ll talk about branding, websites, social media, partnerships and how to essentially build your own freedom.

I know that sometimes we may look at people within our industry and feel envious because maybe they came from money or because their lives seems perfect. We look at ourselves and think we don’t measure up or that we’re a fraud for some reason or another. However I will tell you this: I am grateful for living in the illusion that I was a fraud. You see the world isn’t filled with perfection, bullshit hierarchies and holier-than-thou people. Those who succeed are those who learn how to effectively deal with their stress. We’re all just the same whether we haven’t found out how to master our own health yet as a practitioner or whether we’re financially slinging smoothies or pints of Coors Light.  In fact, it’s what makes us human.

In the meantime, sign up to my newsletter because details are coming out to my 4-week mini Marketing webinar and the pay-what-you-can Stress Detox webinar’s doors are NOW open for purchase and close on March 24.