Holistic Health Education: Listening to Your Body

I’ve learned that while my auto-immune condition can be managed through minimizing my consumption of inflammatory foods, eating superfoods, minimizing stressors, living in a healthy environment, and so forth, I will always be sensitive. I’ve also learned that physical, social, and spiritual sensitivity are intertwined.

No, it wasn’t exactly as simple as my eczema flare-ups completely evaporating once I learned to love myself …. but almost. Managing a chronic health condition is an ongoing endeavor, and it does entail not only changing your dietary habits, but also your relationship with yourself and your life.

As I’ve learned in my health coaching certification program through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, we need nourishment not only through the foods we eat, but also through leading fulfilling lives. Our personal relationships, our careers, our relationship with ourselves and our spirituality are all fundamental in informing our health outcomes, in fact more so than the actual food that we eat.

It is no wonder then that we are suffering, individually and collectively, as the myth of individualism is broken down by late-stage capitalism and a mutating virus that shows us that we are only as healthy as our least healthy community member. With rampant mental health and substance abuse pandemics running alongside the viral pandemic, it is imperative that we begin to prioritize health and well-being over productivity, community over individualism, and collective and preventative care over the prevalent Band-Aid approach of Western medicine.

Our traditional societal approach says we need to prioritize our careers and our responsibilities over our health. But without health, success means little. Without health, you cannot be fully present to enjoy time with yourself and your family. Without health, you cannot enjoy freedom. Without health, you will likely be robbed of enjoying much of both your present and future. Without health, there is not clarity.

So I am honored to finally be walking in my purpose, to be rising in my purpose as an integrative health advocate and coach, in such an urgent time of need. I’ve always been unconventional in my ways, but for too long I have tried to tow the line. The failure with this approach is that it leaves you not being fully authentic to yourself. So I’ve learned in my journey toward health and healing that the final, supreme authority on one’s health should be not outsiders but oneself.

The Western medical system teaches us to see doctors as the authorities of our health, but doctors in a Western medical tradition are not trained in a holistic approach. They are not trauma-informed, and they seldom consider or address the role of diet or stressors in their patients’ health conditions.

So I have learned how to listen to my body, I have begun educating myself. I am now mid-credentialed as an integrative nutrition coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and I am excited to grow in my practice to support others in becoming empowered in their own health and healing journeys. (You may use this referral link to try a sample class with IIN.)

While skewing toward a whole foods diet that is primarily plant-based helps with one’s health, nutrition is really the secondary factor in promoting health. Learning to have an abundance mindset, having self-compassion and self-love, finding meaning, and forging as balanced of a life as possible, are also all foundational for health. One key idea I’ve learned in my health coaching program is that we all have bio-individuality, meaning we all have our unique needs, and what works for one person may not work for another. Trusting your intuition and taking control of your health means that while you can enlist the support of a health coach like myself to help, ultimately you are the one in charge of your health outcomes.

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References:

Jain, Shamini, Ph.D. (2021). Biofield Science and the Future of Health. Sounds True.

Pollan, Michael. (2018). How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. Penguin Books: New York.

Rediger, Jeffrey, M.D. (2020). Cured: Strengthen Your Immune System and Heal Your Life. Flatiron Books: New York.

Rosenthal, Joshua, MScED. (2018). Integrative Nutrition: A Whole-Life Approach to Health and Happiness. Integrative Nutrition LLC.