Nutrition doesn’t have to be a complex thing. If we come back to the simple dictionary definition & focus on nourishing our bodies, letting go of food rules, and eating for enjoyment, it won’t be so scary.
The other day I was reading an article that stated the Merriam-Webster definition of nutrition.
When I read it, I paused for two reasons…
1. I realized in my 6 years of schooling it never occurred to me to look up the definition of nutrition in the dictionary.
2. The definition really resonated with me because of how I approach nutrition as a whole.
2. The definition really resonated with me because of how I approach nutrition as a whole.
The fact that the dictionary definition of nutrition uses the word nourishment made me so happy! (Nutrition nerd alert!) I feel like ‘nourish’ has been a buzzword in 2017 so far & it clearly plays a huge part in nutrition. This inspired me to share my thoughts with you all.
I feel that since I started my journey to become a dietitian my thoughts, feelings, and knowledge surrounding nutrition have been ever changing. It’s sort of like coming of age & finding who you are as a person. I’ve definitely done a lot of nutrition soul searching in the past year & when I hear the word ‘nourish’ I feel that it perfectly sums up how I view nutrition. I know that I want to share the power of nourishment with people & show you that nutrition is so much more than counting calories or “good food/bad food.”
The media has built up nutrition into this huge thing that needs to be all consuming, that’s burdened with rules, and takes the fun & enjoyment out of eating. My most favorite nutrition quote is by Ellyn Satter – “When the joy goes out of eating nutrition suffers.” – and that is something I wholeheartedly believe. Why do we have to box ourselves into these food rules that some famous person or someone else makes for us? We don’t. How do they truly know what is going to work for our lifestyle, our body, and most importantly, how do they know our wants & needs? They don’t. And I don’t either right now. But we can at least work together to find out what truly works for you. You don’t need to rely on some diet book or famous person’s nutrition plan – because honestly, that’s not going to work.
What is going to work is taking a step back, getting ready to do a little bit of soul searching work, & finding what works for you as an individual. It’s sitting down & checking in with yourself to see what you truly want & need – both food-wise & emotionally. This all circles back to nourishing the body. I think nourishment comes in two parts – nourishing the body with food & nourishing the soul. As woo-woo as that sounds, when you start to make these little changes in how you view life and relationships, and what you want to do & where you want to go, and what kind of an impact you want to make…it all starts to make sense.
I feel that since I started my journey to become a dietitian my thoughts, feelings, and knowledge surrounding nutrition have been ever changing. It’s sort of like coming of age & finding who you are as a person. I’ve definitely done a lot of nutrition soul searching in the past year & when I hear the word ‘nourish’ I feel that it perfectly sums up how I view nutrition. I know that I want to share the power of nourishment with people & show you that nutrition is so much more than counting calories or “good food/bad food.”
The media has built up nutrition into this huge thing that needs to be all consuming, that’s burdened with rules, and takes the fun & enjoyment out of eating. My most favorite nutrition quote is by Ellyn Satter – “When the joy goes out of eating nutrition suffers.” – and that is something I wholeheartedly believe. Why do we have to box ourselves into these food rules that some famous person or someone else makes for us? We don’t. How do they truly know what is going to work for our lifestyle, our body, and most importantly, how do they know our wants & needs? They don’t. And I don’t either right now. But we can at least work together to find out what truly works for you. You don’t need to rely on some diet book or famous person’s nutrition plan – because honestly, that’s not going to work.
What is going to work is taking a step back, getting ready to do a little bit of soul searching work, & finding what works for you as an individual. It’s sitting down & checking in with yourself to see what you truly want & need – both food-wise & emotionally. This all circles back to nourishing the body. I think nourishment comes in two parts – nourishing the body with food & nourishing the soul. As woo-woo as that sounds, when you start to make these little changes in how you view life and relationships, and what you want to do & where you want to go, and what kind of an impact you want to make…it all starts to make sense.
Recipe for nourishment
Nourish the body with food + Nourish the soul
Nourish the body with food + Nourish the soul
You’ll see that connection between the mind & the body and how they are so interconnected. You’ll see how when you were on a diet plan, what you were putting into your body & how you were feeling about it was working against what you actually wanted to be doing. You’ll see that you were following these strict, made up food rules that were promising you this magical, unattainable goal. When you step back from that diet mentality & focus on nourishing the body instead, you’ll realize there’s more to life than being obsessed with what you’re putting into your body & following rules & being on this continuous cycle of on track-off track, which leads to feelings of unworthiness.
You are more than that.
You are so worthy.
You are so worthy.
Nutrition doesn’t have to be this complex thing. If we just come back to the simple dictionary definition & focus on nourishing our bodies, letting go of food rules, and eating for enjoyment, it won’t be so scary. When we follow up nourishing our bodies with food with nourishing our soul, we can find this nice balance of taking care of our bodies & living our lives with freedom that no diet plan could ever give us.
Stay tuned for future blog posts on how to nourish our bodies with food and how to nourish our soul.