Shape Up NYC

On Monday I had my last session with Kayleigh. For those of you who haven’t read my past posts I went to see a Holistic Health Wellness and Nutrition Counselor for 4 sessions. What is a Holistic Health Counselor, you ask, and how are they different from a normal Nutritionist?

“Holistic, or wholistic, medicine is a type of medical practice in which the practitioner attempts to treat the whole individual. Practitioners place great emphasis on the patient’s environment, emotions, values, and nutrition, as well as on his/her physical symptoms.” When you meet with a Holistic Counselor they are not only concerned about what you are putting into your body but everything in your life that affects your body. So your relationships, career, spirituality, ect all play a part in your health.

Kayleigh got her nutrition certification through the Institute of Integrated Nutrition. “Since 1992, Integrative Nutrition has been at the forefront of holistic nutrition education, offering comprehensive training in health counseling. Their curriculum teaches a wide variety of skills in business, counseling, nutrition and lifestyle choices. You will study all the major dietary theories from Ayurveda to The Zone and learn how to integrate traditional nutrition philosophies with modern health concepts and guide clients to find what diet works for them.” Along with Kayleigh I know many fellow bloggers that are also taking classes there and love it.

When I sat down with Kayleigh she asked how my goals were coming along. When I met with her two weeks ago we decided my goals would be:

1. To drink MORE water! (at least 8 glasses a day)
2. To cook more meals at home and bring my lunch
3. Slow down and realize why I am eating (am I really hungry?)

As for my progress it is going but it could be better. I am now very conscience of how much water I am drinking a day and I realized that my body must be dehydrated most of the time. I have set a new goal for myself to drink at least 3 (4 would be better) bottles of water a day. To reach this goal I will be using my stainless steel water bottle from Lululemon so I know my progress. I think there are about 24 oz in a Lululemon water bottle. As for cooking I took Sunday night to cook several meals that can be stored and saved for the week, it actually worked out very well and I will continue to find new recipes. I will be posting them soon, don’t worry. Now as for being conscience about if I am eating when I am not hungry my answer went something like this “On Thursday I was so bored and I ate almost everything in sight, you name it I ate it.” Well that answer, set the tone for the rest of the night.

She first started off by showing me the food pyramid that the Institute of Integrative Nutrition uses. The integrative pyramid does not only incorporate food, it incorporates water and the “primary food” of your life. Secondary food is your grains, fruits, vegetables, ect. Kayleigh defines primary foods as “Primary Foods don’t come on a plate. Elements such as meaningful spiritual practice, an inspiring career, regular or enjoyable physical activity and honest and open relationships that feed your soul and your hunger for living all constitute primary food. The more primary food we receive the less our dependency on secondary foods. The opposite is also true. The more we fill ourselves with secondary foods, the less we are able to receive primary foods of life.”

So after learning this I realized there was a lot I needed to work out in the Primary Food area of my life. I have a lot of stress in certain areas that if I could reduce I think would make my whole life better. Kayleigh gave me two tools to help me with this. The circle of life (no this is not the same as the Lion King, I asked) and Morning Pages. The Circle of Life is a diagram where you mark where on the circle in different areas of your life where you stand  and when you are finished you connect all the dots to see what your circle of life looks like. I will attach mine soon but to give you a mental image it is the farthest thing from a circle it almost looks like a funky star. This gives you something physical that you can see where what areas you need to improve in to make your life full.

She also suggested I try a writing exercise called morning pages which were started by an artist named Julia Cameron. What you do is when you first wake up or when you have some free time during the day, you write as fast as you can for 3 full pages. You write anything and everything, if you don’t have something to write you write “I do not have anything to write” until you find something to write about. You will be amazed (or so I was told, I will let you know after I try it) the things you will find out about yourself. I can’t wait to get started.

Since it was my last session with Kayleigh she left me with some new goals and told me to check in with her after a month. My new goals are:

1. Do Morning Pages every day
2. Fill out the Circle of Life and see where I need the most improvement in my primary food (Check)
3. Drink more water ( at least 3 water bottles)
4. Continue on my cooking journey and eat more vegetables and fruits

I will keep you updated on my progress!

• Nutrition Counseling with Kayleigh Pleas Part 1
• Nutrition Counseling with Kayleigh Pleas Part 2

Filed under: Nutrition/Restaurants | Tagged: Holistic Nutrition Counseling, Integrative Nutrition, Kayleigh Health, Kayleigh Pleas, Morning Pages | 3 Comments »