Editor's Note: Many cancer fighters get asked if they plan to adopt a more "holistic" lifestyle as part of dealing with cancer. Many of us don't even know what that means! We asked WhatNext-er, cancer fighter and holistic guru Kendall Scott , CHHC, for some insight. She shares her thoughts below. To learn more about Kendall, you can visit her website at KendallScottWellness.com . I used to hear
“holistic” and even though I was intrigued by the word, I thought it was a little hokey-sounding. I didn’t understand how it fit into my life.
After my cancer diagnosis, that changed pretty quickly. I learned that while conventional or traditional medical practices, like surgery, chemotherapy or drugs, certainly have their place, there is a whole lot more to health, healing and treating.
What is Holistic Health?
Holistic health encompasses all areas of your life and not just one piece. It’s about healing and supporting your body as a whole, based on factors like diet, exercise, spirituality, career and relationships. It's often more than just one single piece that creates disease or makes us healthy, and one part really can’t heal without considering how the others affect it.
Traditional nutrition usually focuses on calories and carbohydrate-fat-protein ratios. While these are important parts of nutrition, they don’t encompass the entire picture or person and usually do not result in successful long-term habits around food. Plus, they’re just kind of boring! Holistic nutrition recognizes that one single diet doesn’t work for everyone, and it thrives on the idea that eating well should be flexible, fun, simple and intuitive.
Can you imagine thinking about food without stressing over the calories or weight gain? Or what about not feeling the need to go on a crash diet to drop 10 pounds? Holistic nutrition is a change in attitude and lifestyle around food that happens in baby steps and lasts forever.
It helps to think about holistic nutrition with these 3 parts:
You are what you eat
We’ve heard a thousand times, but it’s true! The food we eat becomes our cells, muscles, bones, organs, hair, skin, teeth and nails. It even becomes our thoughts and emotions. That’s why it’s so imperative to add clean, whole foods into your diet and begin to lessen the amount of processed, packaged foods and refined sugars.
Listen to Your Body
Aches and pains, fatigue, low energy, acne: these are all signs from your body that something is off-balance. Cancer is like the big flashing neon sign that screams, “Hey, this body is all out of whack! Help!” It’s important to listen to your body and learn to assess its signs. Do you have a headache? What did you eat or not eat that may have triggered it?
Bioindividuality
We are all unique and have different needs for food at different times in our lives. When facing cancer and undergoing treatment, you may have very different needs from someone who isn’t. Find out what foods work for you – what feels right, energizes you or gives you strength? And make adjustments in your diet as you go.
Have you adopted a more holistic lifestyle? Please share what this means to you in the comments below!
I used to hear “holistic” and even though I was intrigued by the word, I thought it was a little hokey-sounding. I didn’t understand how it fit into my life.
After my cancer diagnosis, that changed pretty quickly. I learned that while conventional or traditional medical practices, like surgery, chemotherapy or drugs, certainly have their place, there is a whole lot more to health, healing and treating.
What is Holistic Health?
Holistic health encompasses all areas of your life and not just one piece. It’s about healing and supporting your body as a whole, based on factors like diet, exercise, spirituality, career and relationships. It's often more than just one single piece that creates disease or makes us healthy, and one part really can’t heal without considering how the others affect it.
Traditional nutrition usually focuses on calories and carbohydrate-fat-protein ratios. While these are important parts of nutrition, they don’t encompass the entire picture or person and usually do not result in successful long-term habits around food. Plus, they’re just kind of boring! Holistic nutrition recognizes that one single diet doesn’t work for everyone, and it thrives on the idea that eating well should be flexible, fun, simple and intuitive.
Can you imagine thinking about food without stressing over the calories or weight gain? Or what about not feeling the need to go on a crash diet to drop 10 pounds? Holistic nutrition is a change in attitude and lifestyle around food that happens in baby steps and lasts forever.
It helps to think about holistic nutrition with these 3 parts:
You are what you eat
We’ve heard a thousand times, but it’s true! The food we eat becomes our cells, muscles, bones, organs, hair, skin, teeth and nails. It even becomes our thoughts and emotions. That’s why it’s so imperative to add clean, whole foods into your diet and begin to lessen the amount of processed, packaged foods and refined sugars.
Listen to Your Body
Aches and pains, fatigue, low energy, acne: these are all signs from your body that something is off-balance. Cancer is like the big flashing neon sign that screams, “Hey, this body is all out of whack! Help!” It’s important to listen to your body and learn to assess its signs. Do you have a headache? What did you eat or not eat that may have triggered it?
Bioindividuality
We are all unique and have different needs for food at different times in our lives. When facing cancer and undergoing treatment, you may have very different needs from someone who isn’t. Find out what foods work for you – what feels right, energizes you or gives you strength? And make adjustments in your diet as you go.
Have you adopted a more holistic lifestyle? Please share what this means to you in the comments below!