Nourish Your Body

We often hear phrases such as... "eat well", "make good choices", "eat your fruits and vegetables", "eat (fill in the diet... Paleo, Weight Watchers, South Beach, etc.)"... but how often do we hear... nourish your body? Isn't that, after all, the point to feed our body with nourishment? Nourishment is not just calories, protein, fat, carbs and countless other macro and micro-nutrients that we love to compartmentalize, count and keep track of. To nourish something is to provide all of the substances necessary for life and growth, to feed, and through that foster healthy development.

When we are in the grocery store, how many of us are thinking about the "substances necessary for life and growth and the health of our development"? Based on some of the most popular food choices today, not too many! Here is a look at the top 10 selling grocery items as of June 2009:

1. Carbonated beverages ($12 billion in sales)
2. Milk ($11.2 billion)
3. Fresh bread & rolls ($9.57 billion)
4. Beer/ale/hard cider ($8.17 billion)
5. Salty snacks ($8.09 billion)
6. Natural cheese ($7.64 billion)
7. Frozen dinners/entrees ($6.13 billion)
8. Cold cereal ($6.11 billion)
9. Wine ($5.49 billion)
10. Cigarettes ($4.63 billion)

Source: Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market information services firm.

When thinking about nourishment, it is helpful to think of food in terms of getting the most "nutritional bang for your buck". Every single item on the list above is processed. The more highly processed the food, the less bang for your buck. Many processed foods actually create a nutritional deficit, meaning it takes more for your body to process them than actual value you get from the food. The stuff on the above list actually IMPEDES our growth and the health of our development! Isn't it wild that this is where we are spending our grocery store dollars?!?! And folks, that's at the grocery store, that is not even including fast food!

Now, the produce section with fresh, organic vegetables and fruit; bulk nuts, seeds and whole grains; eggs and raw dairy; and the butcher, that's where you will find an incredible nutritional bang for your buck! That is where you get substances necessary for life, growth and healthy development.

Food isn't the only nutrient necessary for life and growth. As we talked about in last week's blog, air is the most essential. Healthy breathing patterns ensure our body is being well nourished with oxygen. Water is another vital nutrient our bodies need. Every single physiological function in our body requires water, including the elimination of toxins. So, staying well hydrated with good quality water is of the utmost importance to the nourishment of our body. Alcohol (which shows up twice on the list!), caffeine and sugar can contribute greatly to dehydration and are not normally what one would consider nourishing to the body. Remember the 80/20 rule... if you truly nourish your body 80% of the time, your body can easily handle 20% of life's little pleasures.

So don't stress about counting calories or the latest diet fad, simply focus on nourishing your body with a healthy relationship with food. Listen to your body and be aware of how you feel when you eat. I've become so attuned to my body, I can feel the shift in fall when I no longer want salad and become fixated on soups; and then again in the spring when I'm no longer interested in soup and I crave big plates of raw, fresh veggies. You see it is an ebb and flow and it is up to each of us to take the time to get to know how and with what to constantly nourish the greatest gift we've been given - our body.

How are you breathing?

Did you know that we breathe 25,000 times each day? Every inhale is a contraction of muscles, followed by the relaxation for the exhale.  Imagine doing 25,000 pushups or squats every day. That’s a lot of repetitions! The main muscle we use to breathe is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a large muscle, when it contracts along with other smaller muscles in between our ribs they open up our entire abdominal and chest cavity so our lungs can fill up with air. It’s very similar to a chimney bellow. When this is working properly we get a full deep breath.

Benefits of Proper Breathing
Simply put, breathing provides us our primary nutrient; oxygen.  Yes that's right, oxygen is our most important nutrient; before fats, carbohydrates, proteins and even water.   Proper breathing effectively brings fresh oxygen to our blood and helps remove unwanted toxins out of our body. Breathing is also one of the best tools we have to manage stress. A few minutes of deep breathing can bring us out of a stressed state into relaxation.  Breathing is also used as tool in many meditation practices, yoga and  for effective exercise.

But when we're not breathing using our diaphragm, our breath tends to be shallow using smaller muscles in the neck and shoulders.  This makes every one of the 25,000 breaths we take each day less efficient, resulting in less oxygen, more toxins,  increased stress and less effective exercise.    

So how are you breathing?
 

Use this simple technique below to help train yourself to breathe using the diaphragm.  

1. The first 2/3rds of your breath should be into your belly
2. The second 1/3rd of your breath should be into your chest (without engaging the neck and shoulder muscles)
3. The exhale is a relaxation of all the muscles

Watch the video below to see what it looks like when breathing with your diaphragm.