Nutrition: The Secret to Your Health and Happiness

March is National Nutrition Month.

I can't say that I'm a nutritionist. But I can say that I'm a person who cares about my health, and that's why I want to make sure you're getting the nutrition you need.

Nutrition is more than eating right—it's also making sure you're eating enough of the right things and not too much of the wrong ones. It's about keeping up with your body's needs on a daily basis, and making sure you don't let yourself get run down by stress or lack of sleep. And it's about knowing when something's off, like when your skin starts breaking out or your stomach feels bloated after eating a certain food—and then figuring out what might be causing those symptoms so that you can fix them!
So, what should nutrition mean for YOU?

It means that if you feel tired all the time or have trouble sleeping at night, it means you need to look at your eating habits before reaching for a sleeping pill. It could be because your diet isn't giving you enough vitamins or minerals—or maybe it's giving you too much sugar! Maybe you're not exercising enough during the day and you're going to bed with too much unspent energy.

If you feel that your tummy is bloated, it could be because there are too many carbs in what you eat, which makes everything expand… even your waistline! Are you getting enough whole fruits, vegetables, and grains in your diet? Are you consuming too much dairy? Maybe take some time to cut down on carbs, dairy, and sugar to give your tummy a break. Eat some low histamine foods like coconut milk, plain oatmeal, apples, melons, pears, chicken, lettuce, and cucumber, and avoid foods like eggplant, tomatoes, citrus, spinach, and avocado. Give your gut some healing foods while avoiding some foods that might be harsher to digest, and you should see a decrease in bloat. 

Or maybe your skin is breaking out or blotchy on a regular basis. It might be easy to blame it on your monthly cycle, the weather, or stress, but it could very well also be your diet. It's a vicious cycle. You can start feeling stressed or fatigued, and you start eating things that might not be the best for you. Things like red meat, carbs, fried foods, dairy, and salty foods can increase inflammation in the body, resulting in redness in the face and breakouts. If you find that your skin is breaking out or red more often, look at what you're eating on a regular basis, and omit fast foods and other oily, salty foods from your diet. Your skin will thank you. 

Nutrition isn't just about food. It's about food that nourishes us, heals our gut, protects or helps with our skin, and fuels our body correctly so we can get proper sleep.

Nutrition should be important to us because without proper nutrition, our body systems don't work as well - and that shows.

We can see it in our skin: the way it looks dull and dry, the way it breaks out easily when we're stressed. We can see it in our energy levels: if we're tired all the time, if we can't seem to focus on anything for long enough to finish a task. We can see it in our weight: if we've been struggling to lose weight for months or years or decades.

Nutrition is vital to our body's function and to our wellness.