Do you ever ask yourself if you or your child is truly healthy?
Firstly, let’s look at the definition of healthy according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 1946 it was defined as:
“A state of complete physical, mental & social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”
That is quite an interesting definition of healthy, when you think about, you would often just associate it with a physical wellness but it’s actually a combination of both physical and emotional well-being. Somehow we don’t like talking so much about emotional well-being, but in reality it possibly trumps physical health, but like everything we need balance and cannot focus on one without considering the other. They fit together like a glove.
Sometimes it seems easier to bury our heads in the sand, but our children are far more stressed and anxious today because of this fast paced technology driven world we now live in and their emotional needs are not being adequately addressed. More importantly, I don’t believe parents know HOW to address the emotional needs of their little ones.
What we need to understand as parent, that one of our roles is that of a teacher, which means we need to lead by example. If we are able to address and manage our own emotional well-being successfully, then we are able to do teach our children the same. The sad truth however, is that this is just not being taught anywhere unless it is actively sought out by the individual.
To be truly healthy now and in the future one needs a wholistic approach and address the following:
Physical health through nutrition, this is not negotiable
Emotional well-being through techniques and practices that allows us to live joyfully, in peace and with integrity
Be mindful of external factors in our environment that affect our health & emotional well-being.
Physical health through Nutrition:
Eat food as close possible to it’s natural state
Eat a variety of foods daily within each food group
Remove ALL packaged & processed food - another non negotiable.
Remove refined & processed sugar and greatly reduce even the so called “healthy” sugar
Emotional Well-being:
Practice gratitude daily for EVERYTHING, even the bumps on the road. More than likely there is beautiful gift just over than bump. Start with the small things such as the food on the table, the roof over our heads, the clothing on our body, the beauty of a new day etc
Try to be more present – this is much harder than it sounds, and I get that. But practice makes perfect. Catch a good moment daily and just try to “sit” in it
Do not underestimate the power of deep breathing. Something I’ve resisted for a long time. Just 1 minute of focused deep breathing brings so many benefits and is so easy to teach the kids
Outside factors
Reduce chemical & toxic load in the food you eat and the products you use
Embrace loving relationships
Learn how to deal with stress
I’ve put together a quick checklist of both physical & emotional symptoms that you can refer to for being “healthy”. Accepting anything less for you or your child is just doing a disservice.
Download your checklist here ====>
Chantal is a Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach that specialises in helping stressed and overwhelmed mums heal their children with wholefoods using a personalised wholistic step by step approach.