My Holistic Health

Making It Relevant- Essay 2

        My Holistic Health class has made it so much easier to understand nutrition and how to work towards a healthier lifestyle. I’ve struggled with my diet for years and it’s always been something that has held me back from loving myself. This class has been helpful in so many ways, it helps me stay present and connect with the people around me. It has encouraged me to take a look at my life and realize the changes that need to be made. In this paper, I will discuss what I have learned about physical wellness and spiritual wellness and how I have made simple changes in my life that have made me come back to myself.

Understanding nutrition was a huge problem for me. I get lost having to look at the label to see how much sugar, unhealthy fats, and sodium are per serving, and also knowing which ingredients are healthy and unhealthy. “Many factors affect food consumption patterns knowledge of healthy nutrition is one. Unfortunately, however, the language that scientists and doctors use to discuss nutrition is often too technical for people to understand easily” (Edlin 93).

        Many things influence our eating patterns which is where I’m going wrong. Before this year, I was really struggling with the way I ate. I would either binge completely or I wouldn’t eat anything. I would consume easily 3,000 calories in one day and starve myself for a day or two without realizing this might be a problem. As of about a week ago, my girlfriend and I finally took the initiative to budget our money and make a grocery list. We put in seventy-five dollars each for a few weeks’ worth of groceries. We went to Aldi’s and spent well below our budget! We were even able to purchase a lot more than we usually could afford at a store like Meijer. The simple task of making a grocery list and not feeling the impulsive need to buy a bunch of gross processed food, felt unbelievably freeing. Not to mention, seeing our cart full of healthy stuff was such an awesome feeling. This has impacted my physical wellness and emotional wellness when I think about it. I have a lot more energy and I don’t feel sick after eating meals like I would after eating fast food.

        Another lesson I learned pertained to physical wellness as well- extreme dieting will never work! I struggled to understand this years ago and I still do today. For my entire life, I watched my mom try new diets, she has been bulimic for years so watching her purge and hearing her throw up was psychologically damaging for many reasons. Growing up, I thought this “dieting fad” was completely normal. I thought obsessively counting your calories and watching your weight was a normal thing to do. Watching my mom go through this not only had an impact on me but I remember my youngest brother being so afraid of becoming fat. A major influence for my unhealthy diet was the amount of stress I had going on in my life. I haven’t been able to get my head wrapped around meat prepping which is the next thing I will incorporate into my daily life. I want to make a written plan and choose a designated day to prep all of the veggies and ingredients. My aunt and uncle have meal prepped before so I’m going to ask if they would be willing to give me some beginner tips!