Photo Bettina Traas. Primary food: Meaningful loving relationships

Food on your plate

You pay close attention to what you eat so that your body has enough energy to perform optimally, but somewhere you don't feel completely ok. What could that be due to? You can't really adjust much to your diet anymore. Eating less is also not possible because then you really can't keep up with the many training.

Negative relationship

With these kinds of thoughts, we often first look at what we can adjust in terms of nutrition. When we think of wellness, we often think of some kind of diet. 

What we eat obviously plays a major role in how we feel and how our body functions. But during my health coaching training I learned something that changed my life.

I learned that my diet, and thus my health, is literally controlled by primary "foods": Relationships, career, physical activity, spirituality, and finances, to name a few. 

Broccoli

I do believe that a well-being is more than just the food we put in our body. Simply changing your diet alone is not enough to make you grow as a dancer. Other areas of life also need to be in balance.

You can eat brown rice and broccoli every day and go to the gym every night, but if you have financial problems or are in a relationship that you are not happy with, for example, then on a deeper level you will just not feel very healthy. and feel happy. 

The bottom line is: When you're nourished and happy in the ways that really matter, the food on your plate takes second place.

 Here are some examples of primary foods:

• Regular physical movement (Not really a problem as a dancer :))
• Meaningful positive relationships
• A (side) job that makes you happy
• Creativity and fun
• Some form of spiritual connection (whatever that means for you)
• Take care of yourself
• Creativity and fun

Evidence

I am proof that focus on primary food really is the secret to optimal health. In recent years I have worked very hard to get balance in the different parts of primary food, and I have become a completely different person. Bonus: Without focusing on food, the nutrition on my plate has also changed unnoticed. Eating when your body asks for this and not because there are things in other areas of your life that make you sad, frustrated or angry, what a relief. 

Balance

In my coaching I use the life wheel to work on balance in primary food because you can see at a glance what you can work on. If you want to know more about this tool, please contact me so that I can explain it further. 

Even without the wheel of life you can already take steps yourself. As you look at the list above, take a moment to assess those above areas of your life. Is there anything you notice that is currently missing or out of balance? For example, you can give each part a grade. Then think about what grade you would like and what it takes to achieve it.

Pick one item and pay close attention to it over the next few weeks. Sometimes realizing that something isn't quite right is the first step to regaining balance in that area.

Example

I found out that I would snitch when I was intensely bored. In my wheel of life, I could see that creativity (outside of dance) didn't really get a high grade. I started drawing again when I was bored. This was something I had always loved but never did again. What was the result of this action was that I was no longer aimlessly snacking on the couch in the evening, but started drawing: This made me happy and the sewing has not happened to this day.

If you sometimes don't feel comfortable, look beyond the food on your plate, is my advice. In my opinion, balance in primary foos is the way to go.

Resource: Institute for Integrative nutrition