What does being healthy mean to you?
It’s not just about eating healthy or being at your ideal weight, but more about creating a lifestyle that embodies wellbeing. We need to expand our view of health and wellness and look at all the ways we nourish ourselves. According to the dictionary, nourishment is the food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition.
Don’t get me wrong, what we eat IS very important, but it is only a piece of the health and wellness puzzle. Nourishment includes all that we take in, each and every day. It’s about what your eyes, ears, and heart consume. It encompasses what the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN) refers to as our primary food – our relationships, careers, spirituality and movement. And, I also believe it’s about the conversation we have with ourselves. Being hypercritical of ourselves or constantly striving for perfection wears us down and wreaks havoc on our wellbeing.
Think about it, even if you are eating clean but stuck in a job that stifles your creativity or completely stresses you out, the quality of your health will eventually be affected. When things are out of balance in one area, we tend to overdo it in another area to fill the void or stuff things down. This creates even more stress, and stress makes it hard for the body to renew itself.
Why? Our cells and bodies react to everything we take in – what we put in our mouth and on our skin, our exposure to the environment, and the emotional and spiritual stuff we feed ourselves.
Loving and taking good care of your physical, spiritual, and emotional self creates balance and is vital to healthy lifestyle.
So what can you do to ensure you are adequately nourishing yourself? Here are a few tips:
Be mindful. Every night before you drift off to sleep, give thanks for one thing that you haven’t thought about before. This means that throughout the day you have to be mindful and on the lookout for something new to be grateful for.
Honor the gifts of our senses – vision, smell, touch, taste and hearing. Slow down the moments in your life by heightening your senses and savor the world around you.
Breathe! In her book Rising Strong, Brené Brown shares a technique called Tactical Breathing which is also referred to as square or box breathing. In short, here’s what you do:
1) Breathe in, expanding your stomach for a count of four – 1,2,3,4
2) Hold in that breath for a count of four – 1,2,3,4
3) Slowly exhale, contracting your stomach, for a count of four – 1,2,3,4
4) Hold the empty breath for a count of four – 1,2,3,4
Photo Credit: Christine Duggan
Slow down…..especially when you eat your meals. All too often we gulp down our food not allowing all of our senses to savor our meals. Sit down to eat, plate your meal so that it is visually appealing. Take a moment to give thanks before you eat. Smell the aroma; notice the different flavors and textures. Take small bits. Chew your food thoroughly and enjoy the entire experience.
Dance, laugh, sing, hug, forgive, love, dream, create, serve, imagine. Do things that make you feel in love with life – every day!
