How often do you check in and take inventory of your life? Are you happy with where you are now in mind, body and spirit? Are you living in the present? Do you admit that life can become unmanageable, and you can’t always be in control? Are you living your life to it’s fullest?
In my holistic health coaching practice, I address what we call the primary and secondary foods. The primary “foods” refer to those things that nurture and satisfy our lives, the things which actually make us who we are and define our purpose. The secondary foods are what we actually put in our mouths. There is a symbiotic relationship between both of these types of nourishment. A balance between these primary and secondary foods contributes to an overall healthy lifestyle.
In addressing primary foods, one thing we discuss is spirituality. Being spiritual doesn’t have to mean being religious. Taking care of oneself spiritually may have a positive effect on overall health. In many cases having faith or a particular belief may be a way to develop greater insight and intuition; to find a higher state of consciousness or understanding about something greater.
Hopefully becoming more mindful of what brings meaning, joy and purpose to your life will help put things in perspective as you work on finding balance in your life. It makes better sense to be mindful of your spiritual health while things are going well in your life, rather than addressing your spirituality when you find yourself in a crisis. As I mentioned earlier, spirituality is just one component of the primary foods. We also give consideration to other components of life such as the physical, mental and emotional aspects. So you can see that it makes sense that when these things aren’t in sync, you may tend to self-soothe and what’s better to soothe with than comfort food, right? Not necessarily.
As a health coach, I help my clients become more mindful of when they eat and how they feel when they’re eating. We also work on what may be going on in their lives when they experience cravings for certain (less healthy) food choices. I offer tips and suggestions to counter those cravings and give tools to use to make better and smarter choices on a daily basis. Using these suggestions and recommendations can hopefully help bring peace and balance to an everyday life, and also help in the event something challenging or difficult comes up.