If you’re like me you’re finding that health is more like a daily practice than something you achieve.
You might make a routine and feel like you’re nailing it one week, then the next week you’re scrambling to maintain your good habits, taking a vacation from them, or finding that they aren’t working as well as they once did. Don’t worry- you’re in good company! It’s the nature of the beast that we change and have different needs from day to day.
Being healthy isn’t only about marking off a checklist, but learning to tune into yourself and course correct when you meander. Here are some questions to help build that attunement.
What do you feel you should be eating more of?
What would you like to eat less of?
What are you eating for breakfast/lunch/snacks/dinner?
What's working, and what would be a better substitute for any of these foods that's more aligned with how you'd like to be eating?
Where can you schedule cooking into your week?
What is the biggest challenge to your health right now?
What is the biggest thing you could do to improve your health? How can you redistribute your time to devote more energy to this thing?
What are you most curious to learn about related to your health?
Where could you use more support?
Where or from whom can you seek help?
Here’s a couple examples from my own quiz responses:
1/ More vegetables and fermented foods!
2/ Less sugar and alcohol (especially on the weekends!)
3/ Breakfast= substituting paleo-type stirfry for oatmeal is working! This small reduction in carbs a is helping relieve joint pain.
3 & 5/ Dinner 4 days a week= PTYD + a piece of meat or fish or one-pot dish.
Right now best times to cook are Wed & Thurs pm and weekends.
4 & 5/ Lunch during the week= salad w beans or animal protein.
Remember to make this the night ahead! Reduces chances I’ll buy lunch out or skip it.
7 & 8/ The biggest thing I could do to improve my health right now is to pace myself better by dividing my work up into smaller pieces instead of trying to do more than I can in a day.
9 & 10/ I can use more support from quality time with my friends- if I divide up my work more realistically I will have more time each week to make plans with friends.
Naomi Perryman is a Personal Chef and Health Coach in Austin, TX.
She’s learned a lot over the years from people & places including The Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts (Vegan & Macrobiotic cooking school), The Institute for Integrative Nutrition (holistic health coaching), and Hands of the Earth Farm. Like the folks at Prep to Your Door, she believes that connecting busy people with local food unlocks the power of whole foods to help us feel better, have more energy, and engage deeply with our lives and the larger world around us.