Are You Getting Enough Primary Foods?
While I was studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, we spent a lot of time exploring what really feeds us as human beings.
Can you remember when you were young and you would get so engrossed in something you loved doing– whether it was building dams in a creek in the backyard, or constructing an elaborate LEGO city– the thought of eating was the farthest thing from your mind? Don’t we see this happening all the time with our children — when we have to drag them away from what they are focusing on to get some calories in them! They were being fed with something called primary food.
“…what really feeds us as human beings?”
This concept, “primary food”, explores all the non-edible ways we nourish, nurture and feed ourselves. Time after time we commit to “getting healthy” and then exclusively focus on what we consume– most of the time restricting ourselves through one form of a diet or another. We come to believe that “if I only was ___” (you fill in the blank: more toned, skinnier, had less cellulite, could fit in those jeans, had better skin…), I’d be happy.” What if you got “happy” (balanced, calm, contented, centered, grounded, joyful) first, and then allowed your transformed self to usher in a healthier, more vibrant and energized body? In my experience, that is really the only way to make lasting health and wellness changes.
“what if you got “happy” …first and then allowed your transformed self to usher in a healthier, more vibrant and energized body?”
We simply must take into account our whole beings and care for our mind, body and spirits together, or we will be starving part of ourselves to feed the other, and in the end sabotage all our efforts. I’ll be exploring some of these primary foods in more detail in future posts but here are some examples of what I mean:
Relationships having healthy relationships that support you
Love deep, committed and intimate connections
Work find work you love or a way to love the work you have
Movement physical activity that you enjoy and doing it regularly
Breathe practicing ways to bring oxygen and calm into your body
Laughter the healing sound of joy
Creativity express what makes you uniquely you
Spirituality honor your relationship to God and to the spirit part of yourself
Purpose a way of being in the world that transcends living just for yourself
Adventure explore, get dirty, learn, grow, leap forward
Just at first glance, what primary foods have you been most neglecting in your life? Which areas are you most hungry for nourishment in?
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