What is your definition of health?

As a Registered Dietitian, I often take a food-as-medicine approach, but there is so much more to health! Cultivating balance is key for optimal health.

When it comes to health, how we live each day matters. What we eat, who we interact with, how we manage stress, how much and how well we sleep, & our type of movement, all influence our wellbeing.

If a patient comes to me with digestive troubles, before diving into their diet, I ask them about their LIFE. What does their day look like? How do they feel? What do they practice? From there, we work toward balance. Where can we create small shifts that create big opportunities for health?

Understanding your full picture is necessary when working toward healing. Viewing a person’s health as a whole allows us to make simple shifts that promote great change in health. This type of holistic health helps. It heals.

Nutrition

There is no denying that what we put into our bodies has the ability to change us. Food is POWERFUL. Whole foods are loaded with phytonutrients, fiber, antioxidants, and energy that are used in each pathway of our body. They enable us to balance blood sugar, boost immunity, promote cognitive function and alertness, enhance gut health, increase energy, support hormones and so much more. Focusing on adequate, nutrient-dense foods helps us to prevent a multitude of diseases later in life. Getting the most out of our nutrition sets the foundation and core for health. It sets the tone for how the body responds to disease at any stage of life.

Whether a person is currently struggling with disease, hoping to prevent disease, or simply wants to live a long and healthy life, changing how you feed the body makes a big difference. The best way to start finding balance in nutrition is to bring awareness to your current habits around food. What does your relationship with food look like? How do you fill your plate? When do you enjoy eating?

Once a person understands how food fits into their life, it is easier to start adding in beneficial nutrients. Shifting the focus from taking out foods to adding in nutrients is the biggest game-changer when it comes to health.

Start by adding in a side salad, an extra piece of fruit, or whole grains to each meal and see the difference!

Movement

Movement is another powerful tool that boosts health. Movement improves blood circulation, supports lymphatic drainage, boosts memory, decreases stress, promotes sleep, and prevents age-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Movement does not have to be specific or overly-strenuous. Frequent high-intensity workouts can lead to more stress on the body in certain individuals. Using food to fuel movement, support recovery, and promote muscle growth and repair is a great way to prevent negative stress from exercise.

Try incorporating movement into your everyday life. Start by adding light stretches after waking up or at your desk. See where you can find time for walks outside throughout the day. If you are in the habit of moving your body daily, get curious. Is it too intense? Can you challenge yourself a little more? Do you need to add more rest?

Sleep

Sleep sets the tone for our day. While we sleep, our body heals. Our hormone levels fluctuate, our brain creates memories and solidifies learning, our cells are rejuvenated, and our digestion slows so the body can focus its attention elsewhere. Good sleep also improves our gut flora, which we are learning is more important in overall health and longevity.

We have all felt the effects of a bad night’s sleep. A poor night’s sleep can lead to mood changes, increases in both physical and mental stress, sugar cravings, exhaustion, lack of focus - the list goes on. Optimizing sleep hygiene is one of the best ways to set ourselves and our health up for success.

Creating a sleep routine is a great way to improve sleep quality. Try using blue light glasses or reading a book before bed instead of scrolling or watching TV. Make a sleep schedule and stick to it! If your mind races at night, practice deep breathing or meditation in bed. Lastly, make your room as dark as possible! Melatonin (our sleepy hormone) is activated in darkness but can be disrupted even with smalls amounts of light. Keeping your room dark or turning off your phone to prevent it from beeping or lighting up can greatly support sleep.

Mindfulness

Stress management is one of the best things we can do for our health. Both physical and mental stress have negative implications for our health. Stress increases blood pressure, hurts digestion, turns on our sympathetic nervous system (putting us in fight or flight mode), and causes dysbiosis in our gut. It also can cause insomnia or poor sleep quality, which in turn affects our mood, energy levels and decreases immunity.

Practicing mindfulness or meditation is a great way to bring yourself back to the present moment and calm our nervous system. By simply stopping to focus our awareness on our environment, our body, and our senses helps decrease stress. Whenever possible, try to take three deep breaths, ending each exhale with a smile. Welcoming happiness or excitement into your day helps the body to relax and release stress.

Relationships

Who we surround ourselves with can impact our health. Our relationships with others, with ourselves, with our environment, or even our relationship to food, movement, or stress each impacts our health.

The people we surround ourselves with impacts our decisions and routine. Surrounding yourself with people who offer similar values and goals can help to motivate you. Having supportive relationships help to decrease stress in the body. It allows you to create your own wellness community and healthy lifestyle. Staying social throughout life is also known to increase longevity, happiness, decrease the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. It even promotes gut health by increasing diversity in the microbiome - yep, that’s right, we can share good gut bugs with the people in our circles.

Bottom Line

There is so much more to health than medications, food, or movement. Each aspect of our life plays a direct role in our health. Poor relationships lead to more stress. More stress leads to poor sleep, decreased movement, lowered immunity, altered hormones, poor nutrition. All of that leads to decreased immunity, cognitive decline, bone loss, hormone disruption, weight gain, disease. The system cycles. Finding balance in a way that works for you by making little shifts in each aspect of your day will have a profound effect on your health. Call a friend, take a bath, go for a walk, eat some fruit. Little habits add up to make great changes.