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Hi friends! I hope your week is off to a great start! Today’s Wellness Wednesday post was spurred by the recent documentary, What the Health.

I feel like I can’t stop hearing about it – I’ve had patients ask me about it, read many dietitians view points of it, and done some research myself. So, today I’m talking about how I define health.

What Does Health and Healthy Mean?

Healthy – you may think it means having perfect cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, being thin and looking “fit.” I used to think that. I used to think all of those things equated to health and being healthy. Tack on an hour of exercise every day and you were “more healthy.”

Fast forward a graduate degree in public health and nutrition, years of nutrition courses, and some anecdotal work with patients, my view on what health entails has changed. That isn’t the picture of health I have anymore.

this Post!

I was recently asked for an Instagram interview to define health in my own words. This is how I answered.

“Health is so much more than your physical state and your blood numbers. Health encompasses your whole being – your mind, your body, your relationships, and how they are all connected. To me, health encompasses making food choices that make you feel good, incorporating movement and exercise that uplifts you, and surrounding yourself with people who motivate and inspire you.

I view health from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Health is cupcakes with friends, a good night’s sleep after a long day of work, a quick run in the middle of the day to sort out your stress, or a nice long book and a bath before bed. There’s no right or wrong way to do it – it’s just what works for you.”

Here are the things I consider to determine health:

Are you in a supportive, caring and nurturing environment? Do you have access to food, and understand what to do with it?

Do you have people (or animals) you can turn to who uplift and motivate you? Make you happy?

Being Intuitive

Do you have a variety foods you like, that you know how to prepare to create a nourishing meal? 

Do you move your body in ways that feels good for you?

I think we all understand the dangers of sedentary activity. Sitting all day looking at screens is not doing anything for our internal processes, and it’s also not providing any energy. Finding some movement that you enjoy and can stick to – whether it be walking, yoga classes, running, having a personal trainer, ballet, jump roping, what have you. Any movement is good for you! On the other hand, though, excess activity is not always better. Sometimes what you need is rest, and to do less. Many of my clients have either loss their periods or over-stressed their bodies from overexercise and underfueling.

Health is a fine median between the two – finding movements and exercises that feel good for you, uplift your spirits, make you stronger physically and mentally, and are maintainable.

Related read: Tips for adding more movement into your day

Feelings of Guilt

Do you have feelings of guilt when you eat something you think you shouldn’t? Or guilt or shame for feeling hungry in the first place?

If you’re second guessing everything you put into your mouth, or feeling shameful and guilty about your food choices, those feelings will certainly take a toll on both your mental and physical health. Firstly, you should read this book. Secondly, understand that those feelings aren’t normal – and you shouldn’t feel like that’s a normal way of life. There is freedom in choosing your foods, based on what you want in the moment, and choosing moderately.

If you’re hungry shortly after you just ate, try to look at it with curiosity rather than shame. Did you eat enough at your last meal? Are you just having a hungrier day? Did you do a longer/harder or different workout yesterday? Did you sleep well last night? Are you stressed? All of these questions could play a role.

Don’t ever get mad at your body for being hungry. Hunger is a signal to you. The more you honor it, the more you develop trust with yourself. Hunger means your body is working properly!

[Tweet “Hunger is a signal from your body. The more you honor it, the more it will trust you #intuitiveeating #Rdchat”]

Related reads:

4 ways to improve your relationship with food

If you’re hungry, eat

Food Rules

Do you avoid certain foods because of scary thoughts about them?

To me, being healthy means being able to eat any food you’re wanting in the moment. Nothing is off limits because everything has a place. You want ice cream at 11 am? Great. Pancakes for dinner? Been there. A day without salad and greens after overloading the day before? You go, girl.

Truthfully, when you eat the food you want in the moment, you won’t continue to crave it or overeat it in the future.

Attaining health means there are no good foods or bad foods. You view food as food – a vehicle for social pleasure, taste, memories, and/or for sustenance. If you’re stressing about the food, it won’t go to its desired purpose anyway.

Some days will have more veggies, others will have less or even none. I ate two and a half cupcakes the other day – that’s not the norm for me, but I wanted them in the moment and now I’m good for a little bit. That’s how our body works once we learn to trust it.

Related Read: 

• Listening to what you want to eat vs. what you should
• Honor your Cravings

Self Care

Do you prioritize sleep? What do you do to relieve stress?

Stress is unavoidable – we all have it. It can affect our health if we let it control us. This article from the New York Times puts a practical spin on changing the way we view stress.

It’s important to have non-work related outlets. Things that make you happy. People that make you happy. Things you like to do, that don’t necessarily have to be exercise or health related. Reading, coloring, painting, doing ceramics, handlettering, etc. All of these are great outlets. I love calling my grandmother – she always tells me to eat more brownies and run less, which gives me a good laugh.

Do you take life too seriously?

Relax. Take it day by day, and write down 3 things you’re grateful for EVERY DAY.

Are you doing work you love? If you dread your job every day, what changes can you make? Can you do anything differently in your home life to avoid feeling anxious and overwhelmed?

Related reads:

• 4 ways you may be stressing your body out without knowing
• My favorite self care practices

Final Thoughts

Oh, and if you’ve watched the What the Health, and are looking for some insight, here are my main takeaways. If you guys haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not an “extreme” dietitian – I don’t believe in paleo, or low carb, or one way of eating because research shows that those ways of life don’t work for everyone. I also don’t believe in restrictions of any kind, unless you have a food allergy/sensitivity/moral beliefs. Otherwise, I view food as food and try not to think too much about it.

My parting thoughts:

• I think the film is very biased overall, and has and will continue to “scare” many people who watch it. The film is certainly fear mongering. We only have 3 macro nutrients to eat (fat, protein, carbohydrates), and this documentary bashes a good portion of protein and fat.
• 1 egg per day is NOT the same as smoking 5 cigarettes a day (this claim is ridiculous and not backed by science).
• I am in support of including more plant based foods in our diets, but I don’t think it’s all or nothing, like the documentary portrayed. A vegan diet won’t work for everyone, and that’s okay. While including more plant based foods in our diets does come with several health benefits, including moderate animal portions does too. They don’t talk about the latter point (because it is very skewed)
• Obesity, heart disease, cancer, and the like are all very multi-factorial diseases. These diseases are not caused by one thing, one food group or one nutrient. I think it’s important to remember this.

Remember that documentaries like this are trying to prove a point – they aren’t showing you all of the evidence, but rather only studies that support their side. I’d also recommend you watch other documentaries like, Farmland, which is produced by people who work in the cattle industry to see the other side of the coin.

If you’re interested in more, here’s a great review from a vegan RD, discussing many of the disconnected, faulty evidenced used in the documentary.

In short, I urge you to think about health as more than just your physical appearance. As more than your lab results. But, dig deeper into your relationship with yourself, with others, and with your food.

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What does health mean to you?

What’s your favorite form of movement?