Your whole you, Nourish, part 1 of 6
Mar 27, 2020
You are a mental/emotional/spiritual being in a physical body. Are you tending to all aspects of you? Pause and take some time to reflect on each one the following. I’ll be addressing one key element of your life per blog over the next few weeks. When you attend to these foundational lifestyle factors, your body is more likely to feel stronger, healthier and ready to overcome whatever it may need to! And remember, I’m here to support you – you’re not alone in your process!
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- Nourishment, hydration
- Movement
- Sleep
- Relationship with yourself
- Relationship with others
- Relationship with something greater
Nourishment
This includes choosing and preparing meals and snacks, how you eat (mindful vs distracted, slow vs fast, how do you chew?), the nutritional aspect of food, drinks that you take in (water, soda, alcohol), and nutritional supplements. Notice that the supplements are listed last – that’s because they are supplemental to the food and drinks that you choose. I’d rather have you invest your time, energy, and money in eating foods that work for your body rather than popping handfuls of pills several times per day.
How do you decide what’s best for you to eat? Start with eating what makes you feel good and minimizing things that you know make you not feel well. That meal of pasta and red sauce that is guaranteed to give you heartburn? Skip it! Or, try adding protein to it to see if that solves your heartburn issue.
Then, consider your blood type: people who are blood group ‘O’ tend to feel best when emphasizing protein and vegetables, minimizing wheat, dairy, and peanuts. Those who are blood group ‘A’ tend to feel best when they eat as a vegetarian or a pescatarian or add poultry to either. ‘B’s are in the middle as true omnivores, often feeling best when minimizing chicken and tomatoes.
Use resources to find recipes that are new to add interest to your intake. Nourishing Meals, Yummly, and the New York Times Cooking are three of my go-to’s. And, follow me on social media to see when I post my favorites!
Nutritional supplementation is super individualized so I won’t make any specific recommendations here; that’s where in-person appointments with me come in, click here to schedule. Tidbit: I will say, though, that the safest way to approach supplementation without a physician’s advising is to have a nutrient in mind and find foods that are high sources of that nutrient to include in your diet. For example, wanting to increase your zinc for your immune system health? Eat more meat, poultry, seafood, nuts, and seeds.
Hydration
For hydration, it’s the same Tune in to Your Body principle. Start with your normal habits as a baseline. Then, adjust and see how you feel. Do you urinate clear/ pale yellow urine every few hours? Then, maybe you’re drinking enough water. Do you only go pee twice a day and when you do, your urine is dark yellow/orange/brownish – increase your fluids! On the other side of the spectrum, are you going to the bathroom every hour and your urine is reliably clear? Consider that you may be overhydrating and back off a little.
Tidbit: the more whole foods you eat (minimally processed), the more water you get from your foods and the less you need to drink. Conversely, if you eat a diet high in processed foods, they tend to be drier (more shelf-stable) and higher in salt, so you’ll need to drink more water to compensate. Make sense?
For the next few days,
Play with your food…