I think the question I am asked most often is “Is this healthy or not?”
The “this” can be anything that is making the person doing the asking doubt herself. Pasta? Protein bars? Crystal Light? Baked potato chips? Baked potatoes? Special K? Egg yolks? Pineapple? Ketchup?
We’ve become so confused about what is healthy and what isn’t that we’re throwing up our hands in collective despair and ordering a pizza instead.
To help clear the clutter, here’s what I think.
1 – There’s no one definition of healthy. What works for you may not work for me and vice versa. Determining what is healthy for you is a matter of trying things and paying attention to what makes you feel satisfied and vibrant…and then doing more of that! (If you don’t believe me, consider the impact of food allergies. My ideal food could literally kill someone else. There is no universal answer here.)
2 – Having a starting point is helpful. As a starting point, what works for me and for many of my clients is clean (minimally processed) food with a balance of vegetables and fruits, high fiber carbohydrates, lean proteins, and unsaturated fats. And some chocolate for good measure. :0) Most of us don’t eat enough plants and the single biggest thing we can do to improve our health is to eat more of them. Start there. (I am willing to bet you are getting enough protein despite what the media would have you believe!)
3 – Math is overrated (in this case). If we let healthy eating degenerate into some sort of warped counting game of fat grams and carbs and net carbs and calories and sugar and protein…we put the emphasis in exactly the wrong place. We need to eat with our bodies, not our brains. And then we need to PAY ATTENTION to how our bodies respond to the food we choose. Good outcomes = do more of that. Bad outcomes = do less of that. If you’re not getting the outcomes you want, change the inputs until you do.
4 – You don’t have to be perfect to be healthy. Sometimes I think we get caught in a game of trying to find the perfect meal, the perfect cereal, the perfect snack. But there is no perfect answer. There are thousands of really good answers. I advocate eating many things in moderation and nothing to excess.
5- Eating is a pleasure. Let’s keep it that way! If you suck all the pleasure out of the experience, it can’t possibly be healthy in the long term. Eat things you love that love you back. The rest will fall into place.
Category Archives: Lifestyle
Health Coach…or Food Therapist?
Yesterday I was in the middle of telling someone what I do when she looked at me brightly, smiled, and said “Oh! You’re a Food Therapist!”
It hit me like a lightning bolt because while I’ve never called myself a food therapist, it’s a really descriptive title that I think explains itself. A lot of what I do as a health coach (or wellness coach) is to help people reconnect their head with their belly. I help to identify which recurrent thoughts or false beliefs may be standing in the way of a healthy relationship with food. And that sounds like just what a food therapist would do!
The people who seek me out for coaching or counseling (or therapy!), are people who aren’t satisfied with the way food is working in their life. Something needs to shift and food seems to be at the epicenter of their discontent. Often through our sessions we discover some other itch that needs scratching. Together, we connect the dots among issues that don’t appear to be related…until we discover what ties them together.
There are some common themes that emerge in coaching, but what I love most about what I do is that each and every person is unique. Each person has a story that unfolds as we come to trust one another, and through that story we’re able to find the roots of discontent and the path to peace.
Sometimes the path we walk is simply educational; there are lessons to be learned about calories and nutrients and portions and techniques. Sometimes it’s emotional; food has become the stimulant or anesthesia of choice to avoid authentic feelings. Sometimes it’s spiritual, with insights emerging from deep within. At its best it’s all three.
I can’t imagine loving any work more than this. I wake up energized and fall asleep fulfilled. Call me a health coach, a wellness coach, a food therapist, a teacher, or a guide – whichever resonates with you. But call me if you feel something nudging you to do so.
Years ago, I fell in love with this quote – “When the student is ready, the guide will appear.”
A Lesson in Generosity
I’m going to be honest. I’m not making any healthy eating resolutions this year. Things are going pretty well in that area for me, so I’m just going to stay the course and keep learning and incorporating new ideas as they come along. I’ll also be supporting YOU in YOUR resolutions, of course!
That said, one of my resolutions this year is to be more generous in big and small ways.
Today, I pulled into a Panera (my home away from home) and it was raining. Hard. There was a parking spot right up front (score!) and just as I started to pull into it I changed my mind. Taking that spot would be beneficial to me, especially because my husband left with BOTH of my umbrellas this morning, but not so generous. I’d be in Panera for hours working at a quiet table, all the while taking up that prime spot. Conversely, leaving the spot open might allow MULTIPLE people to stay dry as they ran in for coffee on their way to work.
So, I kept driving and took a spot in a far corner of the lot and hustled in the door through the rain, feeling good about my decision. I put my things down at a table, grabbed my wallet, and went up to order my coffee. The young man working behind the counter, whom I’ve never met before, handed me a cup and said with a smile, “It’s on me today. Have a great day!”
And that, my friends, is a lesson in generosity.
Have you had similar experiences?