Primary Food

BY: KAY WILSON, HEALTH COLUMNIST

Nutrition is a secondary source of energy, Primary foods, or nonfood sources of nourishment, are what really fuel us.  Primary foods include, our career, relationships, physical activity and spirituality.

As children, we all lived on primary food, Lovers thrive on the pure bliss and peace they are experiencing, while passionate entrepreneurs are fueled by their work.  The excitement and rapture of daily life can feed us more completely than any food.

Imagine children playing outside with friends.  At dinnertime their mother calls to them.  “Time to come in and eat!”, “No mommy, I’m’ not hungry yet,” they respond.  (I remember as a child that my mother had to finally call out my full name before I stopped playing and ran inside for dinner).  At the table, the mother dutifully ensures that the children leave no morsel behind.  The children reluctantly force down the minimum requirement eager to get back outside and play.

At the end of the day they return, exhausted and satisfied.  They quickly fall asleep without thinking about food at all.

Can you remember being deeply in love?  Everything is light and warm, colors are vivid and bright, and life is full of joy.  You’re high off your lover’s presence, sustained and exhilarated by the blissful connection.  You float on air, and food becomes secondary.

Think back to a time when you were involved in an exciting work project.  You believed in what you were doing whole-heartedly and felt confident and stimulated.  Time stopped, and the outside world was muted – food was an afterthought.

Now recall a time you were depressed or experiencing low self-esteem – you were starving for primary food.  No matter how much you ate, you never felt satisfied.  The need for love, power, or mere acknowledgement drove the desire for excess food.

The more primary food we give ourselves, the less we depend on secondary food.  On the contrary, the more we fill ourselves with secondary food, the less space we leave for primary food – our true source of nourishment.  Many religions and cultures practice fasting to reduce secondary food, opening channels to receive a greater amount of primary food.

Take some quality time to explore your personal balance between primary food and secondary food – which area could use some attention?

I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach and I received my training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where I learned about more than one hundred dietary theories and studied a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. Drawing on this knowledge, I will help you create a completely personalized “roadmap to health” that suits your unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and goals.  Please visit my website at www.getahalo.com.

Kay Wilson, CHHC, AADP, CPT, CSS

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