As a kid growing up in the rich heartland of the Midwest, I was raised on our family farm’s vegetables and fruits, grass-fed cattle and fresh eggs. It wasn’t until I went off to college that I learned how lucky I was to have access to fresh produce and meat. When I didn’t have access to our farm’s food and started eating more packaged and processed meals, it affected my health immensely.
Shifting my diet from a fresh perspective to a processed, packaged one messed with my mental health: I started to become more depressed and anxious than usual. My skin broke out often and I gained a lot of weight. I struggled to maintain my beloved yoga practice and had a lack of interest in running, something I used to love to do.
I didn’t make the real mental shift in what ailed me until later on in life. Working in health and wellness education, I learned about health practitioners: movement coaches, bodyworkers, acupuncturists, and energy healers. I studied nutrition at length and had guidance from my research at work, along with incredible professionals I met along the way. And once I gathered enough information to understand how and why food was making me sick, I decided to take charge of what I was feeding my body and commit to nourishment over mindlessly eating the salt, sugar, and fat we are fed on an American diet.
Our culture in the west has often framed food under two banners: decadence or weight loss, junk food or salads. The dichotomy is also framed as “all or nothing” in our fitness routines: we’re either just in it to lose weight or we’re super driven, hard bodied athletes at the gym 6 days a week. We’re in desperate need of a balance when it comes to food and movement. But with the deluge of different ways to “eat healthy and exercise” constantly sold to us, how does anyone know where to start to learn what suits their unique body?
Elimination Exercise
Not every way of eating is right for every body. The easiest start is to find foods that feed you. This seems simple enough, but often times we don’t even know what foods nourish us and which ones make us tired, slow our digestive system, or make movement difficult. Herein lies the benefits of a detox. Find a good program that eliminates common foods that can be problematic. Keep a food journal and record how you feel in general, your quality of sleep, if your digestion slows, if your brain is foggy and if your mood shifts. This is critical to finding what food is going to fuel you instead of hold you back.
The same can be said for movement. What feels good? What types of movement do you naturally look forward to? Start there. I love the way running gives me a rhythm to my workout and yoga has always felt like nourishment and medicine to my body. Focusing on what is feeding your joints, muscles, ligaments, instead of focusing on the scale invites movement into your daily life, treating it as an essential part of living instead of something you have to do to lose weight.
Pay Attention to Your Body
What is your body telling you? If you’re not used to listening to your body, employ a wellness coach, nutritionist, or energy healer to help you sort out what foods are best for you and what movements will complement your unique self. These professionals can do a host of testing to see what you need, where you’re lacking, and what foods and movement can help your progress.
Food shapes the way we fight off sickness, heal from physical challenges and can even help us mentally. It can improve our sleep, our relationships, and our yoga practice. We can take charge of our health in deep meaningful ways, viewing food as medicine: a crucial step that will fuel the path to a better way of life.
Author: Sarah Ronau