Nutritionwise: Nutrition on Purpose

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” -La Rochefoucauld

Nutrition on Purpose

We all know that good nutrition helps us achieve good health and well being, with the ultimate purpose of good nutrition being to stay alive and to avoid disease. However, food is not just about physical nutrition, it also has an emotional, mental, and spiritual component. Some may call it holistic nutrition, whereas all aspects of your needs, including psychological, physical and social should be taken into account and therefore seen as a whole. Holistic nutrition views food, eating, wellness, and exercise not just in terms of calories or weight loss, but in physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual terms.

Just think about how hard it would be to experience clarity, subtle insight, or even a calm state of mind when there's heaviness, sluggishness and fogginess in our bodies, or when turned around...  being too hyper or too wired with excess energy in our bodies.  A poor diet creates sluggishness in our digestion, in our energy level, and in mental activity.  To be alert, aware and clear is what we should want from our food.

 “Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food.” – Hippocrates

So therein lies the motivation to be purposeful to choose to eat nutrient-dense and appropriate food.  The benefits of healthy skin, good energy, strong bodies, good sleep, etc are derived from a healthy diet, but the deeper purpose is much greater.  Ask yourself these three questions when you approach your next meal to see where you stand on being intentional and purposeful when choosing foods for your next meal and your whole health. 

1. Will the energy derived from this food enhance my clarity of perception and feelings of love?  I hope your answer is yes! Because answering this question gives you a view as to what a healthy life looks like to you now and what you want it to like for you. Do you see a quality of life that you can enjoy with your family and friends? I hope your answer is yes!
2. Do I have a 'go to' healthy food plan just for me? Eating healthful foods daily, exercising daily, drinking plenty of water and have fun doing it, can be accomplished with a little preparation and focus. Whether you are a busy mom at home or at work, constantly on the road or spend your days in schools or hospitals, having health problems or families with individual needs, studies show that having a plan helps get you through each day without sabotaging your diet or health.
3. What are my health strengths and weaknesses? Maybe you're consistent and feel your best when you exercise and eat healthy... strengths. Late night eating, snacking and binge eating are your stress busters... weaknesses. Try turning off the lights in the kitchen at night, pre-package your snacks into smaller, one serving size, work cross word puzzles, paint or take on some type of activity using your hands to keep from snacking when you're feeling stressed, and stock the pantry and refrigerator with plenty of nutritious foods for each day.

Remember your whole body is connected to nutrition, including your emotions and spirituality.  Your career or relationships impact your relationship with food.  Actually food is seen as just one part of what you need to live a healthy and fulfilling life.  So its important that you choose food on more than the basis of what you like and what makes you feel good, but rather its nutritional content.  Additionally, food has a spiritual component. Listen up... its been said that many food-related issues that plague us, can be traced to our lack of awareness of the relationship between body and spirit.

 “The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.” -Thomas Edison

Food is the importance of health and well-being. We need to be not just healthy but also happy... holistically happy. Being intentional about your health is what you want to do, mean to do it. Make it your intended desire and be deliberate about it. There is a quality about being aware, determined and intentional about doing nutrition on purpose.