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    The Power of Primary Food: Tools for Nourishment Beyond the Plate
    The Power of Primary Food: Tools for Nourishment Beyond the Plate
    The Power of Primary Food: Tools for Nourishment Beyond the Plate
    Ebook194 pages3 hours

    The Power of Primary Food: Tools for Nourishment Beyond the Plate

    By Joshua Rosenthal

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIntegrative Nutrition Inc.
    Release dateSep 1, 2017
    ISBN9781941908006
    The Power of Primary Food: Tools for Nourishment Beyond the Plate

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      Book preview

      The Power of Primary Food - Joshua Rosenthal

      fun!

      Introduction

      In my early years studying nutrition, I thought to myself, this is kind of a dull subject. Everyone was talking about protein and calories and fats, and it all seemed kind of textbook. After all, we as human beings are more than bodies and more than scientific equations—we are spiritual beings in a material world. While I have always been fascinated by food and health, at a certain point I noticed that the people involved in nutrition back in those days didn’t exactly seem like the kind of people I would go out and have a good time with. It wasn’t that they were bad people or that their dietary formulas were incorrect. But I knew there were aspects of well-being that couldn’t be calculated or measured. At the time I had already read hundreds, probably thousands, of books on nutrition, and each one contained different ideas about what people should and should not be eating. After many headaches, late nights, and weekends spent trying to make sense of it all, I finally threw in the towel.

      Later, when I began seeing clients as a health counselor, I became even more convinced that the quality of people’s lives had to do with more than the food they were eating. Some clients did better on cooked foods while others did better eating raw. Some could tolerate gluten, dairy, animal protein, and caffeine, while others felt dramatically better eliminating these substances. This got me thinking: what is the missing ingredient? I could help just about anyone improve their health by recommending they reduce sugar and chemicalized, artificial junk foods; drink more water; and eat more whole foods. But to my surprise, healing the diet didn’t always heal the person.

      A big turning point in my career occurred when one of my clients entered my office with a black eye. I had session notes prepared to talk about introducing a new vegetable into this woman’s diet and there I was looking at her, completely speechless. As it turned out, she was in a severely abusive relationship and needed help. Broccoli wasn’t going to get her through this. So instead, I listened and let her speak. I realized how important it was for my client to be able to share her story with me and for me to help her feel validated and supported. I helped her take action to overcome the challenges she was facing in her relationship. Today, she is a world-famous raw food chef.

      The more I did this—the more I provided my clients a safe space within which they could open up about the personal issues going on in their lives—the more I realized people are starving for this kind of help. Not only are people suffering from poor nutrition when it comes to their diets, they’re suffering from poor nutrition when it comes to the experiences that feed them every day. They’re working jobs that make them miserable while maintaining relationships with people who bring them down. They are not getting enough exercise, and they do not know how to nourish themselves on a spiritual level. So while food is critically important to health and well-being, I have found it to be secondary to the level of love and joy that surrounds us in our lives.

      I came up with the term primary food to describe the many non-food foods that people need in order to feel happy, secure, and fulfilled. Through this concept, I have expanded the area of nutrition to include more than the food we put into our mouths—nutrition is everything you consume and everything you surround yourself with. It’s the thoughts and feelings you ingest, the energy of the space you inhabit, and the interactions you have with others on a daily basis.

      When viewed holistically, it’s obvious that people’s lifestyles play a huge role in the decisions they make around food—it’s all connected. When people are busy and overworking, they tend to feed themselves foods that are convenient and thoughtlessly satisfying. When people are sad or anxious or depressed, they’re more likely to binge or to use food to distract them from their pain. I have found with many of my clients that if they’re raiding their refrigerator at night, the same person would not be doing this if they had someone to give them affection in that moment instead. I have also been bewildered by how fixated people can be on eating perfectly, when their personal lives are so clearly suffering. They get obsessed with what supplements to take or what brand of flax seed oil is the best—meanwhile, their marriage is falling apart or they’re thousands of dollars in debt and can’t pay their rent. The bottom line is that when a person’s primary food is working well for them, making healthier dietary choices will almost always come naturally. And when a person’s primary food is suffering, all the kale in the world will not make it better. In order to effectively improve our diets, we must be willing to look at the bigger picture—the integrated whole of our lives.

      Most of nutrition is based on a theory. People follow one theory or another, married to the idea that they need to go on a restricted diet and limit certain foods in order to be healthy. What I have brought to the table is that nutrition is not based on the theory; it’s based on the individual. Every person is unique in terms of the foods they will thrive on, and this has a lot to do with a person’s age, gender, climate, level of physical activity, and genetic heritage. And just as no two people have the same nutritional needs, no two people have the same spiritual, emotional, occupational, or relational needs either. Some people enjoy a lot of alone time while others do not. Some prefer to follow an organized religion while others place their faith in nature. Some people enjoy the benefits of working rigid hours while others favor more flexible schedules. You get the picture. There is no predetermined set of rules when it comes to diet and lifestyle—only different people with different preferences and needs.

      In the following pages, be present with yourself. Consider the many areas of your well-being and take note of where in your life you are feeding yourself well and where you would like to improve. The topics that will be addressed in this book include relationships, physical activity, career, and spirituality as these four areas represent the main elements of the primary foods circle. You will find exercises throughout each chapter aimed at guiding you to do the work it takes to become a happier and healthier person. My hope is that you will give yourself fully to the process and allow yourself to explore each topic with patience and curiosity. For those of you who are or who desire to become Integrative Nutrition Health Coaches, you may share these exercises with your clients as well. Just be sure to address the primary foods in your own life first; then use your confidence and skills to authentically help others do the same.

      Sometimes a positive transformation can begin with making just one minor adjustment. Because health is integrative rather than compartmentalized, each time you take action to improve your level of happiness in one area of your life, you’ll create a momentum that will flow into the other areas as well. By developing awareness and by learning to be the source of your own happiness, you will open up yourself and the people around you to a world where anything is possible—a world where joy is inherent, not earned, and a world where you are empowered to express yourself freely, communicate effectively, and make clear and conscious choices around the things that truly matter to you in your life. On your journey ahead, I send you love, light, and wisdom along with the courage to embrace the change you will become.

      We are alive during a time where most of us have more freedom to be who we are than our parents and grandparents ever did. Gender roles for men and women are no longer as clearly defined by society as they were 50 or 100 years ago. Entrepreneurship is on the rise and more and more people, young and old, are starting businesses of their own choosing. We have more flexibility when it comes to religion and more freedom around sexuality. Even physical activity has become branded into a variety of different options from Zumba to Pilates to CrossFit.

      However, it’s also a confusing time. There are more choices and opportunities than ever before and yet more people suffer from depression, insomnia, attention-deficit disorder, and other lifestyle imbalances. In this high-speed age of information and technology, our lives are buzzing with all kinds of obligations and distractions, leaving many feeling powerless rather than empowered. Socializing behind the confines of computer screens and social media, many feel isolated rather than connected. And in the grip of surplus and excess, many of us yearn for simplicity and the ability to trust in our own instincts and desires.

      Take a moment to reflect on the many pressures and influences that are part of the world that surrounds you. Chances are you’re bombarded on a daily basis with advertisements for things you should buy and messages about how you should look, dress, and behave in order to succeed and be accepted. You’re hyper-hypnotized to produce, consume, and press on without questioning the system. And you’re led to believe there’s a magic pill or instant-gratification-type solution for every illness, disease, or problem you may encounter along the way. I sometimes refer to this oppressive social climate as the matrix in that it’s a kind of mental, emotional, and spiritual brainwashing that drains our life force and persuades us not to take risks and live for ourselves. It’s an entire reality funded by big businesses and corporations, and yet we accept it as the truth—we regard the unattainable ideals that are perpetuated to us as realistic, and we regard ourselves as

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