Here, guest writer Seth Braun presents our dietary choices as part of a much larger nutritional picture, by posing the question: what does it mean to be nourished? Enjoy!
Precept # 1: Nutrition is part of the broader spectrum of nourishment
So, you have prepared the ground, you are ready to take full responsibility for your health, you are ready to be empowered. Let’s look at what it means to be nourished, because nutrition is just one part of nourishment.
At the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I was trained, they have a credo about nutrition and nourishment. It is presented in terms of what are called primary and secondary foods. I like to call it primary and secondary nourishment.
nour·ish·ment n
1. food, or the valuable substances in food that a person, animal, or plant requires to live, grow, or remain fit and healthy
2. something that provides a stimulating and healthy emotional or intellectual environment for people or animals
Primary nutrition is your connection to God or nature or something greater than yourself. This includes nourishment from spiritual and contemplative practices such as prayer and meditation. This also includes any practice that you find deeply centering: hikes, yoga, Qigong/Inner Alchemy, journaling, painting, dancing or affirmations. Primary nutrition also includes relationships, meaningful work and exercise.
You could eat perfect food in the perfect proportions, exercise in the perfect routine, and get the best nutritional counseling and products available and still be sick and tired. What about stress? What about lack of proper rest? What about the quality of your actions and thoughts? If you are eating the best diet in the world yet you are ripping people off, eventually the fear and paranoia is going to cause physical dis-ease.
That is an extreme example, but let’s say you have a constant low-grade fear of economic instability, that is going to add up. If you really get into medical literature, you can see how pervasive a causative factor of disease stress really is.
But it is more than just stress - after all, stress is neutral. The important issue is how we manage the stress we have.
So before you begin thinking that creating the ‘perfect’ diet is going to cure what ails you, consider the stress inherent in trying to be perfect!
As the first precept of nutritional health, then, be mindful of this: Put all of your life into balance, not just one area. That is really what I am saying when I say nutrition is part of the bigger picture of nourishment.
Seth Braun
High Energy Health
author of
Healthy, Fast and Cheap: The Ultimate College Cookbook
303 443 6543
www.healthyfastandcheap.com
www.highenergyhealthcounselor.com
www.diabetesnutritionblog.com
