What lights you up?

Last week we spoke about the side effects of eating healthy (you know . . . more energy, weight loss, less pain).  Now those are the kind of side effect we want more of!

But we want to come at this from another angle – how else can you create these beneficial side effects?

Well, check this out…when you are feeling happier, you are more likely to do things that benefit your health.

This is known as “upping your vibration.”

And while we aren’t going to get too technical or “woo woo” with you, take a minute to think about the times when something really good happened in your life. Or when you were engaged in an activity that you truly love.

Did you ever notice how suddenly all the little annoyances seem to melt away and fade into the background? How your stress is diminished? How your energy seems to soar?

When we are speaking with clients, we always ask them about their interests, passions and hobbies. We look for signs of what “lights them up.”  When someone starts to talk about something they love, their expression and/or posture changes. Even if we are on the phone with them, we often notice a change in their voice.

So how does this relate to nutrition you may ask?

Well, we have found that when people are able to connect on a regular basis with what “lights them up,” they are much more motivated to make positive health changes in their lives. In addition, it can take the emphasis off having food be the source of all pleasure.

Let’s take our client Laura for example. She was struggling with her weight and wanted to make changes but was having a hard time staying on track. Through talking to her we found out that she loves gardening. We wanted to know more . . . so asked her to elaborate.

She thought for a moment and began talking about the feel of the soil, the joy of watching seeds turn into vegetables or flowers, and so on. As she was talking, her face brightened up and she sat up straighter. She literally just lit up. 

Through more conversation, we learned that over the past few years Laura really didn’t spend much time in her garden. It had somehow fallen low on her priority list as she got busy with other things.

That week her homework was to make a plan on how she was going to incorporate gardening more regularly in her life.  We gave her a worksheet to use (you can download one like it here). We did not give her any guidelines regarding her eating habits that week.

Two weeks later Laura returned with a whole new level of energy. With more time spent feeding her true passion (gardening), she felt so inspired that she tried two new dinner recipes, and found that she wasn’t diving into her candy stash as much. Her zest for life was back and she began to have more enthusiasm to devote to her health.

Pretty cool, right?

We would love to hear from you! What lights you up? What steps will you take to do more of it?