In my first blog post, I discussed how holistic nutrition was important to me because it looks beyond the traditional picture of nutrition and at a more encompassing canvas. In one sense, this larger picture has helped me to find balance in my nutritional habits as I look beyond calories and deeper into nutrient content, environmental impact, sourcing, and the enjoyment that the food brings me. But this broader picture can quickly become overwhelming if you analyze every detail of your food choices.
About three years ago, I hit a wall that had been building throughout my years of dieting for weight loss, diets for digestive improvement, a growing knowledge of waste and empathy for the planet that both provides our food and takes the impact of our wastefulness. I became paralyzed when grocery shopping as I felt that I needed to compromise my family’s health or the planet’s health with each and every item I placed in my grocery cart. I wasn’t enjoying cooking the food I bought and truthfully, I wasn’t feeding myself or my family foods we enjoyed or foods that had nutritional value because I couldn’t stand to buy plastic wrapped produce (we were living in England at the time and almost all produce at the store came plastic wrapped) or non-organic options of the EWG’s (environmental working group) dirty dozen produce items. My years on the Keto diet, for digestive health, had me convinced grains and carbs were bad, but since I was no longer eating a keto diet, fats were also bad and eating sugar consumed me with guilt as my master’s degree had given me the scientific evidence to support my body’s knowledge that I was better off without it. I couldn’t always determine the source of my meat and dairy choices which made me uncomfortable because I knew that there were options out there that were more humane and more sustainable, but I didn’t have the time or energy to find them.
I cannot remember the exact moment that I made a conscious decision to revisit the reasons I chose to pursue a degree in holistic nutrition in the first place, but it has helped me find balance in my daily choices. I chose holistic nutrition because, as a paramedic, I was tired of seeing the impacts of poor food and lifestyle choices on chronic health. I chose holistic nutrition because it looked at the whole person and the whole planet. Yet I was letting stress and anxiety seep into the majority of my day and guess what? Stress and anxiety is likely to be as detrimental to overall health and longevity as poor food and lifestyle choices.
With every bit of information and education that I pass on to my readers and clients, I also want to remind them that none of us can worry about all the things, all the time. My kids will consume food with vegetable oils, white flour and processed sugars (and I will too!). But we will all do it with the knowledge that these are nutrient depleting foods and we should try to balance that out with some nutrient dense foods. I will forget to have a reusable bag or water bottle with me and that plastic bag or plastic water bottle, that is now in my possession, will be a reminder that we, as a society, have work to do to make the planet a healthy place. I will buy vegetables, fruits or meat that are not from my local farmer’s market and probably aren’t sustainably sourced because some days I just need to get food on the table and my sanity is at stake. But I will jot a note in my planner to place a meat order from a farm I believe in and research how to cook that random vegetable in my fridge so next time, I don’t need to compromise my values when I’m in a rush to make dinner.
For each and every one of us that thinks about our choices and how they impact our health and the health of our planet, day to day activities can become taxing. But I also believe that we can make a huge difference as long as we keep ourselves healthy by letting go of the stress and guilt associated with making choices that are not our top choices. Acknowledge the guilt or the anxiety, decide if you want to make a different decision next time and then move on. Lets continue to educate ourselves and each other through reliable sources, ignore the clickbait that causes confusion and be compassionate with ourselves, our families and the people we associate with.