What to Focus on Besides Food

Nourishment isn’t just about what you eat. You can nourish your body in many ways other than with food. This concept is called “primary foods” and is an integral part of the curriculum at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. This theory is so amazing because it exemplifies the domino effect and how when one part of your life is out of balance, it affects every other part of your life.

Let’s take a for-instance scenario:

You’ve scheduled time at the gym for 6pm, just an hour after you get out of work. Your schedule is so hectic, so busy, that you don’t have time to work out in the mornings. Today has just been hell on the job. You have a bunch of deadlines coming up and the stress is overwhelming. When work gets out at 5pm, you hop straight in your car, head home, and make sure you eat dessert after dinner.

Do you see what happened there? Instead of sticking to your well-intentioned plan to go to the gym, the stress from your job interfered. Not only that, but you also ate more food to alleviate some of the stress. And your job is only one piece of the puzzle!

What else could affect your health? Fitness, for one. You can eat all the healthy food you want, but to have a truly healthy body and physique, you have to work out. Relationships. Think about the last time a negative comment from a friend or family member caused your diet to go off course. Finances. Money is often used as an excuse to not eat healthily and it’s also a cause of stress, which leads to a weakened immune system. Spirituality. When you feel disconnected from your higher power (whatever you choose to call it or whatever forms that takes), your physical health suffers.

There are so many factors to what creates a healthy lifestyle. By balancing each of these factors to the best of your ability, you’re able to take your life to incredible places. The more you balance each area of your life, the easier it becomes to keep the balance. Exercise often leads to healthy eating and vice versa. That’s just one example.

Take Action:
1. Learn more about primary foods
2. Rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in how well you think you’re doing in each area
3. Pick your 1 or 2 weakest areas and create action steps to bring your life more into balance