Simply Real: What Exactly Is Health?

Simply Real: What Exactly Is Health?

Welcome to the very first post in a new series that I am calling “Simply Real”!  Think of it as a crash-course on everything you’ve always wanted to know, but maybe were too embarrassed to ask because it seemed so simple. Many food and health blogs these days (my own included until now!) have a bit of a problem with tunnel vision. We share fun, creative recipes and challenging workouts that seem easy to us, but not everyone starts or functions at the same level. This series is intended for those of you who are just walking into the world of healthy eating. After all, not everyone has the opportunity to grow up learning how to cook and eat healthily, or attend culinary school, or get a degree or certificate in nutrition, and you shouldn’t feel bad or miss you on the fun if you didn't. As I love to say, you should never stop learning, especially when it comes to your health. I hope that this series will teach you how to start your own adventure in health and wellness, and that it inspires you to keep learning and continue growing along the way to your health goals.

                Over the next few months, I will take you step by step through basic cooking and prep methods, spices and flavor development, alternative diets, nutrition concepts, and more. My goal with “Simply Real” is to demystify health food, and give you options. I’ll never tell you that “this is how you should eat”, because I don’t believe there is one way of eating that’s right for everyone. I will, however, give you the building blocks to make informed decisions for yourself and your family when it comes to food. And with that, we’ll begin with one of the most common questions I get asked:  what exactly is health?

Health and What it Means

                Before we get started with the fun stuff (food!), let’s look at the word "health" itself. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. There are many definitions of “health”, and it’s such a subjective word that there were several times during my schooling that we were encouraged to create our own definition for the word. The WHO definition is my favorite of the “official” definitions because I believe that health is more than a mere physical state of being. It includes the body, mind, and soul, and if any one of these is unhealthy, then the whole person suffers.

 

                I have experienced this personally myself: I struggle a lot with anxiety, and at times, depression. During times when I’m not mentally healthy, I have this awful habit of not eating. At that point, I’ve neglected my physical and mental/emotional health, and probably my spiritual health, as well. It begins a horrible loop of negative actions that take a bigger toll on my health than any one factor on its own. You need to take care of every aspect of yourself to be truly healthy. I won’t say that adopting a healthful diet will magically make all of your problems disappear; that’s never the case. However, learning how to better manage your diet can help you to notice and destroy the bad habits I’ve described above, and it can help you feel better physically. Plus, I have a degree in nutrition, not in psychology or theology, so I'll stick to my area of expertise ;)

As we begin this first part of the series, I encourage you to write down what health means to you, and really think about it: are you “healthy”, even according to your own definition? Set two or three goals for yourself based on the definition you've created, and post it somewhere you will see it every day to motivate and encourage you.

Next week, we’ll look at what “health food” really is!