Nourish yourself off your plate

The Circle of Life tool is a great way to find out how well you're nourishing yourself in key areas of your life, the things 'off your plate'. These are called Primary foods, its a concept I got introduced to studying at IIN (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) and its life changing.

Primary Foods are key areas in our life such as home environment, relationships, movement, social life and spiritual practices that have the potential to nourish us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They feed our whole being, and play a huge role in bringing satisfaction & fulfilment to our life. When we view primary food in this way, then what we eat becomes secondary food.

Primary foods are game changing, addressing any imbalances in primary foods is key to achieving optimal health. Here are some suggestions on how to elevate your primary foods.

Lets Start

Physical Activity

• Find time in your day to exercise. The goal is at least 30 mins everyday of moderate exercise, like walking to elevate your heart rate. It can be even be broken into little 5-10min segments.

• Make movement a part of your lifestyle - Choose the stairs instead of the elevator, meeting the girls for a coffee, why not grab a take away and walk & talk (one of my favourites), arrive at school pick up early and go for a walk.

• Find exercises that you enjoy & instructors that motivate and you connect with. If you have young kids and cant get out then YouTube has some online classes that range from quick 5 mins workouts to 60mins. From Pilates to HIT, free & all at your finger tips, in your own home and at your own timing.

Relationships

• During meal time put the phones, tv and any distractions away. Take this opportunity to connect with your loved ones. Learning to listen & engage with others is a great way to build connections with those you care about the most.

• Make the time to connect with those people who bring positive energy, joy into your life. Those people who bring out the best in you are those that nourish you. Reflect on those relationships that don't fulfil or nourish you. What role do they play in your life? Can they be improved and how?

• Make the time to sit in quietness & reflection. This is important part of self discovery and to understand who you are, what energises you, brings joy to your life and how you can bring more of those elements into your life.

Home environment

• Your home should be your sanctuary. Bringing nature into your home is a great way to improve the atmosphere in your home not just the quality of air, but create a serene relaxed ambience. Whether it be in the colour of your walls, plants, or animals.

• Declutter your home. Decluttering has a significant impact on physical & mental health. Cleaning your home helps clean your mind! It can reduce stress & irritability, bring clarity to thoughts & decisions. It also provides a cleaner environment reducing the the risk to allergies, asthma, viruses and germs.

• Air out your home daily. Open windows for at least 1 hour to ventilate and circulate clean air throughout the home. It's a simple way to improve the ambience in your home. Best time to do this is either first thing in the morning or late evening when the air is cleaner and less polluted, this is especially true for those living in high traffic suburban areas.

Social Life

• Connecting with others is a great for mental health, reducing stress anxiety, & depression as well as improving self confidence. Find activities or people that are in alignment to your values. This could be walking or fitness groups, sewing or cooking groups, a supportive mothers group or even a prayer or meditation group.

• Find it difficult to meet people, try volunteering, or joining a committee for something that you feel passionate about such as, your local environment or garden group, or children's hospitals. This will help give you a sense of purpose and bring joy and fulfilment to your life.

• Social relationships can bring joy to your life, but also have the potential to deplete you of energy. Pay attention to the quality of your social relationships. Realign your time and energy to those relationships that are nourishing and fill your cup.

Spirituality

• Spirituality broadly defined is beyond religious affiliation, it's a strive for reverence, meaning & purpose, a connection and belief to something beyond self; a connection to the Creator. Spirituality is a pursuit for harmony with the universe, and becomes of importance during times of emotional stress, illness and grief & loss.

• Practice mindfulness or conscious awareness to your self, environment, and the connectedness you have with the world around you. Make the time to bring stillness to your body & mind through silence, soft gentle music, or the music of nature, the waves, the birds, or the gentle breeze. This can take time to develop and patience is required.

• Connect to the Creator through creation. Whether you're sitting quietly, or walking in nature, practice quieting the mind, through focused breathing, gratitude, praise and thanksgiving.

Career

• Finding a fulfilling career is important because its where we spend a lot of our time. Start with finding your passion, the things you are naturally good at then tie this up with your purpose. How would you like to use your passion; what motivates you? What career aligns with your passion, purpose and reflects your values? Finding a career that aligns passion and purpose brings fulfilment and joy to your life.

• Seek the support and guidance from a health coach, life counselling or careers advisor. These support services can help you navigate through this process & bring clarity to your thoughts.

Home cooking

• If you don't often cook then try to introduce a meal at home that your prepare yourself. It could be an evening meal or a prepacked lunch. Find recipes that are easy with simple ingredients. I personally love Jamie Oliver cook books, the rustic style ensures that my food comes out looking like his!

• Cook a large serving that can provide two meals. Or prepare a large salad leaving dressing on the side ready to add your favourite protein.

• Take the stress of "what should I cook?' out of your day and ask the children to select a meal for each night of the week. This can make grocery shopping easier and doubling service size can make sure you have enough ready for school lunches, or leftover nights when your days are full of kids activities to cook.

Finances

• Financial stress has a major impact on health & relationships. Make the time to review your income and spending regularly, ensures you are living within your means.

• Follow the basic 50/30/20 budget rule. Spending 50% of your after-tax income on needs and essentials. And 20% on savings and 30% on things you might want.

Education

• My father said 'Learning is lifelong'. Try to read something new from a newspaper, or watch a documentary , listen to a podcast or even listen & learn from those around you. Spend time with the elderly they will teach you a lot!

• Training yourself in the art of listening is important to learn to listen to your innate wisdom.

• Have a childlike openness, to be inquisitive finding meaning behind events, situations, traditions, cultural practices, or language.

• Enrol in a course. You're never too old. With the online world education is at your finger tips.

Joy

• Joy is deeply connected with our mind, heart & spirit; its a natural experience or a feeling of being blessed. Be intentional about the decisions you make, the amount of activities that you are undertake and pause before saying 'yes 'to something.

• Stop rushing & slow down, savour the moments. Be mindful of the environment, the people in your life, and look for the beauty and joy that they're presence brings.

• Surround yourself with positive people, and embrace moments that make your smile from your heart, and expressed through your eyes.

Creativity

• Everyone possess the ability for natural creativity. Either through activities, arts, movement, poetry, writing, speaking, exploring & discovery, problem solving or creative thinking.

• To help unleash your creative potential break out of your comfort zone, change your routine, perhaps your walking route, morning or night routine. Raise the bar, engage in a new sport, exercise or program to push yourself to greater limits.

• Connect to creation, bring your body, mind, spirit in alignment with the great potential that nature manifests daily.

Health

• When it comes to health its really important to be realistic, fair and compassionate to your self. This means that for 80% of the time we should aim to do what's right & keep up with our wellness routine. The other 20% is the leniency we give ourselves because we all know some days are easier than others. We remove the 'stress' of not having a perfect routine and practice self compassion.

• Be open and flexible on your health journey. Just as you grow and change from year to year, so should your approach to health; keeping an open mind allows you to explore different approaches & diets that work best for you at different times of your life.

• Surround yourself with people that are health conscious, this will make your health journey easier and provides you with support & encouragement when needed.

Its important to understand that you don't have to work on all the primary foods at the same time. Once you complete the 'IIN Circle of Life' tool choose one area that you feel needs your attention and make that your starting point.