New Beginnings with the HIP Nutrition Experts
As we learned in our nutrition series, what we consume and how we treat ourselves impacts the way we feel. It affects our minds, our guts, our energy, our motivation, our confidence. We want to start 2021 renewed and refreshed with clearer minds and stronger bodies. Here are a few tips from our nutrition series guests about the things we eat, our daily practices and the way we treat ourselves that may help you on your wellness journey.
Just Eat Real Food (JERF)
Chiropractors, Nick Sheeran, and Jo Wise note in their episode on functional nutrition that education is an important component of their practice. Supporting gut health and its relationship to physical health, mental health and immunity make a difference in the daily lives of their patients. One common practice that often helps their patients maintain a healthy gut is what they call JERF (Just Eat Real Food). They recommend getting a wide range of ingredients in order to get lots of prebiotic foods in the system. Jo suggests when at the grocery, filling a basket with as many different colored fruits and vegetables as possible - the rainbow.
Many studies support the notion that eating the rainbow can help you to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more about how phytonutrients color our foods and impact your health, check out this article from Harvard Health.
Not sure what to make with all these fruits and veggies? Here are our recommended cookbooks:
Whole Food Cooking Every Day - Amy Chaplin
Instant Loss on a Budget - Brittany Williams (HIP Guest - Financial Series)
Chef Paige Hillebert is passionate about community health and decreasing her carbon footprint, which encourages local and seasonal shopping. To get you started, she recommends CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares. She also incorporates more plant-based meals into her diet and experiments with fermentation in order to create balance and a healthy gut. She brews kombucha and pickles vegetables in her small New York City apartment. Many of us made sourdough in 2020, but Paige has been incorporating these practices into her life for years in order to nurture the microbiome in her gut. Thinking about starting a project? She recommends Wild Fermentation by Sando Kats.
Understand Your Why
Participating in pageants for much of her adult life, journalist and Miss Wisconsin USA 2020, Gabriella Deyi, shares how discovering her “why” sparked a renewed sense of self and impacted the way she treats her body. She previously lived under the misconception that her value was determined by how she looked on the outside. After learning her “why,” she transformed into the best and most balanced version of herself.
Douglas LaBier, PhD agrees that there is A Hidden Link Between Your Life Purpose and Physical Health. Understanding your “why,” or purpose, takes time, reflection and a bit of work, but navigating life without one can lead to a false sense of security reliant on career goals, money and possessions, all of which can be taken away leaving an empty sense of self and undo stress.
Want to find your why? Here are a few resources to help you get started.
Listen to your body
In her episode about connection, Food Psychology Coach, Rita Glynn shares her journey with health and wellbeing and explains how listening to our bodies provides insight into the relationship between food and feelings. She plays detective with her clients (adults and children) and makes recommendations about micro and macro nutrients based on each person’s food and feelings journal. She encourages people to have appreciation for their symptoms and helps them understand the relationship between the brain and the gut. Not only can the gut impact mental health, but stress and anxiety can impact digestive health.
When we start paying attention to these symptoms, we are more able to respond in a way that feels manageable. Being a steward of your own health can make all the difference.
Rita suggests taking control of the mind-body connection in relation to the way we feel by journaling what we eat each day and document how we are feeling. She is also a huge advocate for incorporating movement into our wellness practice each day in any way that suits us — walking, stretching, dancing, yoga, etc.
Avoid Comparison
“Comparison is the thief of all joy.” - Teddy Roosevelt
In order to avoid the pitfalls of comparison, we must put ourselves in the right mental space. In her inspiring episode, Gabriella Deyi explains how “Instagram and the like are only highlight-reels of someone’s life” and many of the accounts we follow “don’t paint a full picture of reality because where there is perfection, there is imperfection.” Studies show that comparison can impact us in different ways. It might motivate some to improve, but may also cause “feelings of deep dissatisfaction, guilt, or remorse, and engage in destructive behaviors like lying or disordered eating.” Understanding how we respond to scrolling can make a difference in our practices and wellness.
Gabby’s suggestions for avoiding comparison:
Check your social media for things that don’t make you feel joy and gratitude. Go through your feed and mute or unfollow those who are giving you a false sense of self or making you feel “less than.”
Set a timer on your social media and screen time. Sometimes being aware of time spent can make a difference on your productivity and sense of self. Your phone may have a tracker and there are many apps available to manage your productivity. Gabby recommends Flipd.
“You can feel health for yourself. We are all wired to know when we are healthy.” - Gabriella Deyi
Fill Your Cup
In just about every episode of our podcast, we ask guests what fills their cups. We’ve received so many great responses, and they usually tend to revolve around favorite music, books, podcasts and TV shows. Here is a list of 20 wonderful ways you can fill your own cup.
Some of our favorites are:
30-Second Dance Parties with the HIP 30-Second Dance Party Playlist. Lift yourself up or grab a partner and dance your heart out to your favorite song to improve your mental wellness.
Friday Night Dinners or Theme Dinner Parties with family or friends via Zoom. We have heard about the benefits of families eating together, but did you know about the power of connection and mental health? Breaking bread with a friend can be a great self-care practice.
Reading to a child or the people we love. Storytelling is a time-honored tradition and such a lovely way to connect. Read more here.
Of course, if you have any of your own methods that work best for you, we’d love to hear them! Please share on social media and tag us.
Also, we’d love to know… How are you filling your cup?
