One of the most powerful tools in our toolshed is food.
Hippocrates, the OG of physicians, was the literal man. He had it right when he said “let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food.”
And I think it was Thomas Edison who said “the doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.”
This is exactly the quote that propelled me out of the allopathic medical model and into the realm of holistic health and wellness. I wanted to help people BEFORE they became a patient in the ICU. Preventative health care baby. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made!
I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THIS -- A SINCERE FOCUS ON HEALING FOODS, ON BALANCING THE BODY ON A DAILY BASIS, AND TENDING TO OUR INTERNAL TERRAIN TO FUNCTION OPTIMALLY FOR OUR ENTIRE LIFE ON EARTH --
THIS IS THE WAY FORWARD.
I am seeing it every day – people no longer outsourcing their health to others. Becoming the authority on their health. Trusting their instincts and leaning into the wisdom of their bodies. Learning, unlearning, researching, discerning, exploring all the shades of gray, and questioning everything as it relates to their health and wellbeing.
I love that this paradigm shift is happening. I could not be more here for it!!
Long story short:::
HEALTH BEGINS IN THE HOME.
As a retired ICU nurse, I can attest to the unprecedented amount of dis-“ease”, dysfunction, and cellular mayhem happening in most people on a daily basis as a result of decades of poor food and lifestyle choices. Many of my patients over the 13 years I have been a nurse did not become unwell overnight. Some did. But most did not. And to piggyback off of that, my patients didn’t heal in the hospital. Patients get stabilized in the hospital, sure. They get treatment, medications, surgery, and many other sometimes very necessary medical interventions in the hospital, yes. But healing does not happen in the hospital.
Healing happens in the home.
We get 3 opportunities every day to feed ourselves beautiful, life-giving, nutrient dense foods that provide the raw materials for our bodies to heal. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Throw in a few balanced snacks throughout the day and you REALLY got it going on!!
When we have a steady stream of nutrients, macros, micros, and energy coming in to allow our body to carry out its millions of enzymatic processes each day, to keep our heart beating, to keep our brain thinking, to keep our blood sugar stabilized, to replace old dying cells with healthy new ones – the body can not only do all those important things that are the absolute bare minimum for keeping you alive, but it can actually allocate those resources to the other (less necessary, less vital, albeit still important) processes that allow you to truly THRIVE.
The body has one goal: to KEEP YOU ALIVE.
And it is wise beyond anything you could ever imagine!
It will do everything it possibly can to keep you alive, even if it means stealing resources from your tissues and bones in order to create energy and mobilize minerals to allow your bazillions of processes to continue so … you don’t die!!
And if it has the bare minimum resources it needs to keep you alive, here are some of the things that fall to the wayside:::
beautiful skin
beautiful hair
beautiful nails
an easy period
a regular period
an asymptomatic period (hell, a period at all!!)
ovulation
a breezy luteal phase (read: no PMS)
the ability to conceive a baby
the ability to carry a baby to term
awesome energy and stamina
a juicy libido
a strong sex drive
warm hands and feet
appropriate stress response
efficient digestion
satisfying poops
clear/sharp thinking
healthy weight maintenance
a connection to your intuition
a happy disposition
feelings of satisfaction
internal peace
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just survive. I want to THRIVE. I want to feel amazing in my beautiful body every single day. I want to feel my happiest, most energized, most clear, most sharp, most in touch with my intuition, most balanced self ever!!
It’s a priority of mine every single day.
When I started on this path of holistic wellness, I was in pursuit of healing my hormones and “fixing” my body. I ate with the intention of healing my PCOS. Literally every bite and every food was accompanied by a thoughts something along the lines of
“is this food for my ovaries?”
“is this food helping to reverse my cysts?
“will this airport food or that cocktail set me back hormonally?”
“is this food going to get me pregnant?”
I have a lot of grace for the girl I was when I embarked on this journey so many years ago, because eating to fix something is somewhat of a disordered approach. I realized that I missed out on many opportunities to nourish my body in the most loving, most nurturing, and most basic way, because I was so busy worrying about if this food would worsen my PCOS, or if that food would make my labs go wonky again, or if that food would stop me from ovulating this month. (I now have the wisdom to know that its never one thing that derails an entire endocrine system and the most fundamental process in a woman’s body, but that’s another conversation for another day.)
I no longer view my food and my lifestyle choices with this rigid thinking. I no longer worry about things so much. Now I eat for me and my body because we live in this gorgeous partnership together, and TOGETHER we create this incredibly fulfilling human experience.
So every day, I actively pursue feeling fantastic. And a huge part of that is honoring my body by putting beautiful food into it 3 meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and sprinkling in some nutrient dense snacks so that I have a steady stream of fuel to support my body in all its incredible happenings day in and day out.
If you don’t think this is a big deal, then think again, babe! Your food and lifestyle choices are like compound interest in the bank. Think about that monthly contribution to your Roth-IRA. You don’t see or feel the gains right away, but month after month, year after year, it gets HUGE! And then before you know it you’re staring at the business end of a cushy retirement with few worries, lots of abundance, and maybe a beachfront Kauai condo to enjoy with your boo as you sip sweet tea and watch the sun go down.
The same stands true for your health.
Make mostly good choices, like 80% of the time stick to your healthy habits, your healthy meals, your balanced lifestyle choices. Don’t sweat the other 20% of the time where you have wine or craft beers or eat a bowl full of Cheez-its.
Know that health is created in your home.
And you have opportunities every single day to create more abundant health for yourself.
Tell me below what your favorite healthy meal is for you and your family!
Yours In Abundant Health!
Xoxo,
Emily 😊
