What is Holistic Nutrition?
Nutrition is a term we are all quite familiar with, given that we all eat nutrients in our food every day! However, the study of nutrition tends to be one of reducing foods down to their individual nutrients. It seems in an isolated laboratory setting that if we can understand all the individual pieces, than we can isolate and medicate based on the top performers. Though I do think this research is important, I do not think it is the key to optimal health. It is important to understand that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The holistic way of understanding nutrition is that nutrients are the building blocks for what we need to fuel the body, mind and spirit in optimal health. In addition, food is not only fuel, it is information for each of our cells about how to operate. Optimal health cannot be obtained merely from living off vitamins and supplements, but from eating whole, real, clean food. Once again, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
There are more nutrients in this world than we may ever know. Vitamin C is one amazing chemical, but photons of light from the sun are actually another less talked about nutrient, as is the sound of birds chirping in the morning and waves crashing on the beach. The way sunlight interacts with our skin to facilitate Vitamin D synthesis is one understood mechanism, as is the relaxing affect the sounds of nature have on our psyche, and the cascading effects it has on our nervous system.
If there is only one thing you take away from holistic nutrition it should be this: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT! The skin you wear, the membranes surrounding your cells, the nerves in your brain, are all made from food either you or your mother ate. Let’s take it a step further- you are not only what you eat, you are what you ate atetoo! The soil the plants grew in or the food the cow ate is part of you, (or not) depending on what was present or lacking in the diet. To take it a step further still, you are not only what you eat, but also, what you think, drink, listen to, absorb, and inhale.
Holistic nutrition is what we take in through our mouth, eyes, ears, skin, thoughts and subconscious.
My personal journey down the road of wanting to guide other people back to health started with understanding the concept that the natural state of the body is health.How amazing is that?! Every moment of every day the body is constantly trying to maintain balance, other wise known as homeostasis. This is the continual pursuit of every cell to have the right ratio of elements, nutrients, energy, water, anything and everything it needs. Symptoms of disease happen when the body is not able to maintain homeostasis and express itself in a vibrant and energetic way.
Disease is just the lack of ease. Health is easy for the body unless it doesn’t have what it needs or has too much of what it doesn’t want. In other words,every disease is really coming from the same issues just expressed in different ways. The 3 reasons the body is not experiencing homeostasis is either 1) nutrient deficiencies 2) toxicity or 3) stress.
At first you may see these as simple words with one definition. The truth is that these words have a place for every sense in our life experience. As with holistic nutrition, each of these can be experienced in a multitude of ways and they are all intertwined, as everything in life is.
For example, toxicity may happen from environmental pollutants, but it could also result from unhealthy relationships, negativity from our own thoughts or from music we listen to. Stress could be from rushing to get to work, as it can also sprout from spending too much time in a noisy city, dwelling on regretful decisions in the past, or electromagnetic frequencies. Nutrient deficiencies could very well be magnesium, but it could also be the need for more sunlight, to spend more time in nature, or water.
Often I hear people say that some symptomatic state of disease is natural, normal and means nothing. However, this is not how the body works. Yes, symptoms are a sign of healthy communication from the body. However, symptoms appear as messages from the body that something is out of balance, missing, stressed or toxic.Alzheimer’s at 60 is not what the body does at that age, it is a symptom of the body that it is out of balance. Just because something is common, does not mean it is normal.
This is why preventative treatment is becoming more and more common, and is the primary focus of holistic nutrition. Of course, when disease appears, holistic nutrition is one of the primary places to return back to health, but if possible we will choose to live in a way, which prevents major disease from taking hold in the first place.
Holistic nutrition is a way of life.
