How the 5 Aspects of Holistic Health Can Improve Your Relationship With Food & Yourself

This week on the podcast we’re talking about what I call the 5 aspects of holistic health and specifically how knowing this can help you have a better relationship with food, your body, and just more calm in life in general.

This is something that I learned and focused on in my health coaching training (you can learn more about how I became a health coach as a nurse and it’s something so simple and even well known but not always talked about or focused on.

When you think about holistic health, what comes to mind. You probably think about things like alternative medicine, meditation, herbal remedies. What are some other things you think about?

With holistic health, I personally like to think about it as, where the focus is on people as a whole. So the focus is on everything from your physical health to your mental health, your environment, even your spiritual health. And what I want to draw attention to is that diet culture focuses on just our physical health, just on exercise and how you eat and doesn’t put much focus if any on the other just as important aspects of what makes us healthy and whole.

So today, we’re going to talk about what I like to call the 5 Aspects of Holistic Health and how they can help you find more balance with how you feel overall with food, your body, all the things we talk about here. The five aspects of holistic health are made up of your physical health, your nutritional health, your mental health, your environmental health, and your spiritual health.Today I want to dive a little into how to begin to practice this approach and mindset to help you feel more calm and balanced in your life as well as show you a peek into what living with this approach looks like for me.</span>

1. Physical Health

That’s what we typically focus on. A big thing that influences your physical health is exercise or movement. I also think about things like going in for regular well exams, getting enough sleep, and drinking enough water all as part of caring for your physical health.

2. Nutrition:

Related to your physical health, but also its own entity is your nutritional health. This is another big one that gets a lot of focus, probably even more than physical health. Nutrition can get super complicated but what I see as the things that matter most as a non-nutritionist healthcare provider boils are simply eating a variety of different foods, colors, foods from all the food groups, and finding enjoyment with eating. And again, I’m not a dietitian or nutritionist, my background is as a nurse but this is what I see as most important from my own training.

3. Mental Health

Then we have mental health. So this is all about the health of your mind, your mood, the way you cope with stressors and emotions, how you feel. Some of my favorite ways to personally care for my mental health include getting outside and enjoying fresh air, having moments of quiet and reflection and calm throughout my day even if that just means taking a couple of deep breaths while I’m in the car driving. I also really enjoy waking up early before the rest of the house wakes up...as in before my baby boy wakes up… just so I can sit and drink hot coffee and read my bible, journal and just be still for a few precious moments.

4. Environmental Health

The next aspect we’ll talk about that doesn’t necessarily get as much attention is our environmental health. So this includes the air you breath, the products you use on your body, the products you use in your home.

5. Spiritual Health

And lastly, our spiritual health. This is essentially how you stay connected with your greater purpose. For me, I personally am a Christian and I believe in God, Jesus, and His Holy Spirit and my greater purpose comes from a personal relationship with them. This may be different for you and your purpose may be founded in something else but this is just what I believe and know as true. And I want you to know that whatever you believe you are welcome here, but my personal relationship with God is the grounds for my spiritual health. So, for me some things that I practice regularly to cultivate my spiritual health is going to church regularly, being involved in what we call a small group or community group of others who believe what I believe, waking up and spending time with God personally through my quiet times and having regular prayer and conversation with God throughout my day.

What diet culture gets wrong...

Ok, so with these five aspects, something I want to point out again is that our culture puts so much emphasis on the physical and the nutritional aspects of our health and far less emphasis on the other three (our mental, environmental, and spiritual). And so what can oftentimes happen when we are only focusing on the physical and nutritional is we start to feel out of balance, out of alignment with ourselves because we are multifaceted with what makes us healthy.

If you think about a pie chart, go back with me to whatever year it was that we learned about pie charts, and divide that circle into five sections. We feel our most aligned and balanced when we give close to equal attention to all of the aspects that make us healthy and whole.

And so, I want to pause for a second and give you some space to think for yourself… what areas in your life are filling up most of the pie chart? Do you focus more on one or two of those aspects of health than the others? Are there some areas of your life that aren’t getting the attention they should be?

It's not about getting it perfect...

Now, this isn’t a legalistic thing that you have to master and be perfect at all the time… again, balance is not about perfection. I wanted to bring this up simply to open your eyes to thinking about why it may be that you feel out of balance and alignment and from my experience working with countless women who feel chaos around food, it’s oftentimes due to putting so much focus on just the physical or nutritional parts of health and not acknowledging and practicing in a way that gives equal focus and worth to the other parts that make us healthy.

How I implement the 5 Aspects into my day…

So, I thought I could share how this looks in my day.

Typically, I shared, that I enjoy waking up a little early, maybe this is 30 mins or an hour before my son wakes up and this is so that I can have some “me” time before our day begins. So during this time, I will get my favorite blanket and a cup of hot coffee with a little whole milk in it (because that’s how I love it!) and I will read a little devotional. And then I will often journal something and just write a little about my day the day before or prayers or something that’s just been on my heart. And then I read a chapter or two in a book of the Bible that I’ve been reading. I like to play instrumental piano while I do this and maybe diffuse some essential oils all to set the mood in a sense. And I’ve found that even though I don’t necessarily do all of this every single day, when I do I feel so much better the rest of the day.

Then, I’ll make breakfast, and Paul and I will eat together before he goes off to work. We sit in the living room on the couch together and just have that time together which is always really special. 

Graham will then oftentimes wake up and I’ll make him breakfast and we’ll get ready and clean up the house and do any little chores I need to do like laundry or dishes. We’ll play a little and oftentimes go for a walk in the morning and that walk is part of my mental and physical health. I listen to either a podcast or worship music or an audiobook while I walk just for fun.

Graham will go down, then, for a nap, and I will do some work like record a podcast or write a blog post, have a coaching call with a client, or connect with girls in The Nourish Lab. 

After his nap, it’s usually lunchtime and I’ll make us lunch which lately has been sandwiches because it’s easy and satisfying. I like to, personally, fill my plate with all the macronutrients so we have some veggies in the sandwich like tomato and lettuce, cheese usually, some kind of deli meat, and mayo. And then I love the combo of a sandwich with crunchy chips so I’ll put some sweet potato chips or other chips on there too. And then I may have some fruit also like an apple or strawberries.

After lunch, we’ll maybe go outside again if it’s nice and play in the backyard. And I’m currently trying to get a spot ready for a vegetable garden so I’m casually weeding the space when I’m out there as well.

Then, we’ll come inside and Graham takes another nap in the afternoon and that’s my time to get some more work done and pick up the house a little again.

When Graham wakes up, we play some and later I’ll make dinner and then he will go to bed and Paul and I usually watch a show together. I, for the last couple of years, have been loving an evening skincare routine so I’ll do that and I currently am using a combo of Beautycounter and Primally Pure products which I love both of those brands and it’s a little signal to my brain that we’re getting ready for bed.

This routine and way of life didn't just happen one day...

So, something I want to point out is that I didn’t get to this place where my day feels calm and balanced and I feel healthy all at once. It took time and little baby steps where I first felt like I wanted some structure in my mornings and thought waking up early would sound good and then I learned more about how some products on the market for our skin and house aren’t super great for our health so I swapped out some of those over time. And then as for physical exercise, I am always changing up what I’m doing based on how I’m feeling. So, right now I’m very pregnant and prenatal yoga and walking have been my movement of choice. But other times in my life I’ve really enjoyed long runs or barre classes. So it all just depends. There are also times where I need to turn more of my focus on my mental health because maybe I’m going through a hard time and need that gentleness and additional support even through therapy.

So, big picture that I want to encourage you to think about is how are you giving attention to each of the five aspects of holistic health? How are most of them showing up in your day on a daily basis or weekly basis?

Again, it’s not about another “to-do” to add to your life but rather something to slowly implement and learn from yourself about.