There are so many varying ways in which you can approach and improve your health. From mindset to mastering the deadlift, your individual goals and situation will be different from your friends and family. One area that should be considered the foundation to optimal health is your nutritional and or dietary intake. In other words, what you put in (or what you don’t put in) your body through food and drink directly impacts your health. Truth is, each person will have varying needs and requirements for their own bio-rhythms, constitution and health status. There can not be a one-size fits all approach for any one person, let alone two or more people.
But it can often get confusing – conflicting messages, information and even studies can be enough to leave you questioning everything. Is bacon good for you? Is kale the best superfood? What’s best: plant-based lifestyle or a animal-based lifestyle? How do I know I am getting enough [insert vitamin or mineral here]? How do I manage [insert symptom] with diet? No matter what information you gather up for yourself there are three key essentials to remember when wanting to improve your healthy using nutrition as a foundation.
3 key essentials for improving your nutrition
- Awareness. This is a fundamental element to any nutritional lifestyle change or improvement. When you begin to become aware in your nutrition or diet or how you approach either, you begin to witness yourself in your strengths and weaknesses. It allows you the opportunity to identify areas that you can work through – whether that be mindset, dietary intake, sleep or environment to help you improve your nutrition. Sure we can give you a plan and you can do it, but without your own views, body’s reaction or impact of certain foods, you may not have long term success. Awareness brings a better understanding of how we operate, how we experience things and how our behaviours and or choices impact our health. From there we can begin to make empowered choices and or decisions in the direction of our goals and intentions. Want to dive deeper into this? Read this amazing article on the benefits of self awareness.
- Strategy. Once you become aware, you may think – now what? What you do with this new information is completely up to you. However, with awareness you can begin to come up with a plan and or strategy for improvements. It is similar to creating your to-do list that gets you moving towards your goals. Often in this stage, it is important to have an objective point of view or know where to find the best strategies for you. Working with a nutritionist (book a time with our in-house nutritionist Michelle here) can help navigate your symptoms, goals and help design a strategy specific to you. They will often take all areas of your lifestyle and co-create a program and or plan that works for you. Taking into account your own personal awareness of the situation alongside symptoms, lifestyle and other important factors.
- Implementation. This key step brings together all of the elements and creates action. Simply being in action doesn’t necessarily mean you will immediately see changes, either. In many cases it takes time to create lasting change and or begin to see improvements for your health. Depending on the situation when you being to implement a strategy other things pop up in our awareness – and sometimes these are areas in which require more evaluation. For example, when you have a strategy for weight loss (or a plan) and you begin to implement, you suddenly find yourself overwhelmed and frustrated. This isn’t because the plan isn’t going to work or that you failed, it simply invites introspection of what is coming up. Is it the time in the kitchen that doesn’t work, or is it that all of sudden you are getting headaches and upset tummy issues (that of which can be signs of other things going on). Consider that implementation is the test and trial phase – and one that allows you to dive even more into your own self-awareness. One of blocks and self-sabotages. Implementation doesn’t need to be difficult or overwhelming either. In majority of the cases, it is about knowing how you learn and how you handle change that makes the biggest difference and improves your success. For some it literally is implementing ONE change for an entire month before doing another. And for others it is the all or nothing approach that works best. Your health coach can help you determine the best for you, as well in the event that you start sliding, can help guide you so you don’t slip all the way back.
Work with Michelle to help guide you through the whole process…plus she has magical ways to find the root causes of client issues. Having a coach on your side to cheer you on while adjusting and suggesting different strategies is one of the best investments you can do your wellbeing. Book an initial appointment with her today.
Join Michelle for a brand-new health bootcamp! If you like having a community of likeminded people on similar journeys, this group is for you! Check out the details here and give our clinic a call to get started today! http://bit.ly/healthyyoubootcamp
Here’s what one of her clients recently said about her services: “Her wealth of knowledge, dedication, and genuine care for her clients shows in every interaction I’ve had with her. She has helped me get back on track and stay focused on my goal to a healthier happier me. I couldn’t have done it without her!”
Stacey B., Abbotsford BC