What does ‘healthy’ mean to you? This is one of the first questions I ask a client. Why? Because healthy is a loaded word and health is not a singular thing, so we all take on our own definition of ‘healthy’. It is important to know what healthy truly means to you because it influences your health goals. When someone seeks out working with a Dietitian, it is usually because they want to be “healthier”, but again, what does that actually mean? It is a critical point to dive into to truly understand what results you are searching for and more importantly why you desire those results.
As you’re reading this, you’re probably reflecting on what your answer might be to this question. It may be a simple answer on the surface, but it’s not a simple thing, otherwise there wouldn’t be an entire industry, or really industries, built on helping people find their “healthy” point.
You might guess what the most popular response is to the question “what does healthy mean to you”. The answer I hear most often is related to eating healthy. Now, we just talked about how loaded the word ‘healthy’ is, right? So, what the heck does eating ‘healthy’ actually mean? The answer to that question is often something like “everything in moderation” or “balancing eating the foods that are good for me and the foods I want but know are bad for me”. Now, while these statements of course carry some truth, they are also super faulty. Health is composed of physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual health… When we define ‘healthy’ simply in terms of what we choose to eat, we are really only touching on physical health – what we’re putting into our bodies and how that manifests physically. And, more often than not, that physical manifestation is weight. At the root of it all, most of us define ‘healthy’ by our physical size and weight. To be truthful, we really do this subconsciously. We live in a society that rewards people for being thin and leads us to believe that a certain number on a scale will help us to achieve our greatness. OK. I’m getting riled up just typing this all out. Let’s really break it down.
Your health is seriously WAY more than a number on the scale or the physical size of your body. I beg of you, stop defining yourself as healthy or unhealthy based on the number on a scale. Please please please please PLEASEEEEE. This is a topic that needs its own post, so I won’t go all out on this here, but just please, remember, if you didn’t poop this morning, the number on the scale may be higher than it was yesterday and that does not mean you’ve failed and need to be “extra healthy” today.
The things that you do to achieve a certain weight or body size can negatively impact all facets of your health. Think of this: if you are restricting foods to achieve a certain weight or physical size because you want to be ‘healthy’, are you the best version of yourself? Are you snapping at your guy, feeling crankier, beating yourself up with guilt or shame when you eat the ‘bad’ foods? That doesn’t sound healthy to me at all. The food we eat is about more than just nourishing our physical body; eating is an emotional, social, spiritual, cultural, creative experience.
Your health is not defined by a single day, week, month, or year! (anyone have the FRIENDS theme song pop into their head reading that??) Your health is an ongoing process of growth for your whole life. So, that ice cream you ate last night does not need to be corrected by restriction the next day. And the workout you skipped in the morning does not need to be corrected with deprivation of food the rest of the day. You have a lifetime to be “healthy”.
Exercise, just like eating, should be about more than just achieving a particular physical appearance or weight. Exercise is important for way more than just our physical health and you should find ways to move your body that make you feel good mentally and emotionally, too. Don’t run 10 miles because you think you need to run to look thin if you hate running!
Never forget that YOU are in control of your health. You are in control of what makes you a “healthy” person. Self-care is essential to being ‘healthy’. Most of us don’t do enough to care for ourselves, and what we think we’re doing to care for ourselves may actually be doing more harm than good. Carve time out for yourself and change up your self-care routine to stimulate all the different facets of your health, not just your physical being.
So, I challenge you to challenge your own thoughts about what healthy really means to you. There is no right answer! Just remember that health is not a singular thing. Being “healthy” is an ongoing process, and any goals we set for ourselves should reflect that. Look beyond the scale, beyond a physical appearance, because even if you achieve it, will you be truly healthy?
Mindset changes around health are hard. I’ve been there and I get it. If you need support & guidance to break free of the dieting cycle and truly be your healthiest self, let’s chat. I’m here for you.