Mmm. I love cupcakes.

For some, allowing ourselves to eat certain kinds of food is a way of rewarding ourselves; however, whether it’s because we overindulge ourselves with junk food or break the diets we work so hard to keep, often times we end up feeling guiltier than we do rewarded.

A lot of times we end up feeling physically sluggish, bloated, and even sick after these rewards, too.

Apparently, this is something both Jessica and I dealt with this week. While she was treating herself to cocktails and tortilla chips, I was stress eating nearly everything I could get my hands on.

(More on that, later.)

While our reasons were different, our overall rationalizations were the same: We deserved these things.

I fell off the wagon this weekend.

After five days full of healthy choices, I went out on Saturday night with a few friends and decided to just eat and drink whatever I wanted. I’m allowed!, I told myself sternly, reaching into a basket full of fried tortilla chips like everyone else at the table. Don’t I deserve a treat every once in a while?!

An hour or two after eating delicious things that most certainly weren’t 100% gluten-free and drinking sugary cocktails (another no no in my life. The headache the morning after is NOT WORTH IT), I was reminded why anything with gluten certainly wouldn’t be defined as a treat by my stomach.  The gurgling, bloated feeling was back with a vengeance, zapping my energy and making me wish I was at home with some chamomile tea instead of dodging elbows in a loud bar. As soon as I got back to my apartment, I threw on my pajamas and practically swan dived into my bed, vowing to never again let my guard down when it came to fried tortillas and desserts with indefinable contents.

A lot of us reward ourselves with food. It’s a deeply ingrained habit. Bad days, bad bosses or bad news send many of us toward the cake or ice cream, even those of us who have digestive systems that rebel against that type of stuff, because gosh darn it we deserve it!  But honestly, this type of thinking is completely flawed.

Zzzzz…

Oh, Happy Friday, readers!

We skipped last week’s Weekly Weigh-In post to make room for properly introducing the fantastic Jessica DiGiacinto and giving her our full attention so she could tell us all about the diet choices she’s made and what we can expect from her in the future regarding food, supplements, and the link between what we put in our bodies and how it makes us feel.

(If you missed that post, head over to The Gluten-Free Diet: Saying Goodbye To Sweet, Delicious Bread And Dealing With It.)

So, that means this Friday, we have two weeks to weigh in on, and as you can probably tell from this post’s image…

…a lot of laziness is what I dealt with.

Talk about great timing!

Remember Monday’s interview with personal trainer and self-proclaimed “fitness junkie” Jackie Burgmann? (If you don’t, you missed some GREAT information – go check it out!)

Well, Psych Central’s Caroline Comeaux Lee recently posted a review of Jane Baxter’s Manage Your Depression Through Exercise: The Motivation You Need To Start And Maintain An Exercise Program.

If you’re wondering how this book is any different from any other book (or class or video or – well, you get the idea) about working out, Lee tells us:

Many exercise books and programs can make beginners feel like they are being thrown into the deep end of a pool to learn to swim. Dr. Baxter takes a slower approach; she holds your hand and guides you into the pool using the steps in the shallow end.

Before she became a personal trainer and self-proclaimed “fitness junkie,” Girlwithnoname (who actually does have a name: Jackie Burgmann) wasn’t happy. More than unhappy, she was depressed. Each area of her life – professional, personal, and even romantic – had taken a hit, and to top it all off, she gained weight after A) deciding she couldn’t deal with the anxiety she felt at the gym, and B) giving in to comfort eating.

Finally, Jackie decided to regain control of her life – and getting back in shape was a HUGE part of that. She knew heading back to the gym was out of the question, so she started researching at-home workout programs. After hanging on to what worked and tossing what didn’t, she developed a routine that not only worked for her, but also helped her kick the fear, anxiety, and depression she’d developed.

Now, Jackie’s a successful fitness coach with her own at-home workout program, the aptly-titled Hot at Home. The smokin’ 47-year-old has been an inspiration to me since we first met several years ago, and I hope that inspiration spreads now that she’s sharing her story with you.

[Alicia gave me a great introduction, but in case you're all "who the heck is THIS?", I'm Jessica, an Associate Editor here at PsychCentral and a health foodie in training. My posts on Your Body, Your Mind will mostly focus on food, supplements and the link between what we eat and how we feel - with a few attempts at humor thrown in for good measure. Feel free to ignore the humor.]

When people find out that I’m currently living gluten-free (GF), they always ask the same thing in the same tone: “…why?”

Most of the time I can see their faces morph into some kind of concentrated horror, as if they’re trying to imagine a day without bread, oats, cookies, cakes, donuts…you know, all the stuff that makes getting up in the morning worth it.

I used to be one of the horrified. I’m more than half Italian and grew up judging people and places by their choice of bread. I also have a massive sweet tooth. Years ago, the idea of saying goodbye to all the foods I love seemed like a miserable nightmare, second only to the one where I’m in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and everyone in my house keeps forgetting to lock the windows.

But somewhere along the line, I became convinced it was the best thing for my health.

During last Friday’s Weekly Weigh-In, my friend Tania Dakka, a fellow writer who specializes in fitness, commented on the anticipation and mental blocks that often come with exercise.

The comment hit home for me, as there ALWAYS comes a time when I dread working out. I’ll procrastinate (“Wouldn’t organizing my sock drawer be a better use of time?”) or try to talk myself out of it (“Geez, cut yourself some slack – it’s okay to take four days off!”).

I realize I’m not alone in this, and I started thinking of ways to push through that procrastination – or deal with the dread – and stay on the workout wagon.

During last Friday’s Weekly Weigh-In, I told you I’d started doing a new (to me – it’s been out since 2010) Jillian Michaels workout, “Yoga Meltdown,” and that I’d review the DVD for you guys.

First, I should clarify that I’m not all that new to yoga; I’ve practiced yoga off and on since around 2004. By no means am I an expert, but I’m not a complete novice, either, and I’m pretty sure that contributed to my initial experience with the work out.

In other words, I knew I could handle a Sun Salutation. I wanted to cry when I heard there’d be Chaturangas.

Now, on to the review.

Happy Friday, readers!

Welcome to the first edition of Weekly Weigh-In here at Your Body, Your Mind.

Contrary to those snazzy gnarly scales over there, the Weekly Weigh-In posts won’t be about actual weight; rather, the posts are an opportunity to weigh in on what YOU did this week to better manage your mental wellness.

For example, did you try a new exercise? Do you have anger management problems and decide to try kickboxing to relieve some aggression? Maybe tried yoga or meditation to relieve stress?

As for me, I started Jillian Michaels’s “Yoga Meltdown” (not an affiliate link; just showing you what I’m taking about!) routine last Sunday, and have done it every day this week so far, except Wednesday.

Hey, everyone needs a day to just kind of sloth around!

Hey readers, and welcome to PsychCentral.com’s newest blog, Your Body, Your Mind!

My name is Alicia Sparks, and some of you might already be familiar with me thanks to Dr. Grohol’s introduction or through Celebrity Psychings, the blog I’ve been writing for Psych Central since 2008.

Rather than just dive right in, I thought it’d be nice to help you all understand how Your Body, Your Mind came to be, the kinds of topics I plan to cover, and ask you what you’d like to see on the blog.