A big part of making healthy eating feel like second nature is your mentality around food.

Specifically, you need to hold the awareness that food affects every aspect of life.

An obvious one is health.

What does that really look like?

Day by day how can you tell if the healthy food that you’re eating is actually making your body healthier?

Take a look at specific areas of your life.

Appearance is a big concern for most people. In your internal health can often be seen through your external skin, hair, nails, and even eyes.

When someone is ill or unhealthy, they look it!

But appearance isn’t the only sign of good health.

Your mood is a huge indicator of your physical health. Specifically, under eating caused by over dieting and calorie restrictions causes irritability and even impaired brain function. It’s literally harder to think straight.

The food that  you eat provides essential vitamins and minerals which directly affect the quantity and types of hormones your body produces.

Your mood is absolutely affected when your hormones are out of wack due to nutrient deficiency.

Just like your mood, the food you eat also affects your Energy level.

You might think, calories are energy, as long as I get my minimum requirement I’m good right? Not really. Anyone who has tried the calories in calories out method of dieting can tell you, there’s more to it than that.

Consider what’s coming with your energy! 

If you’re getting calories but none of the essential micro nutrients, you basically have car with plenty of gas in the tank but your body doesn’t have the materials it needs to fix and maintain the roads.

When I said food affects all aspects of your life, I meant it.

Your food affects your energy levels which affects your capability.

Not enough nutrition means that your systems can’t function properly. Which means you can’t ask as much from your body. It’s harder to get your body to work, and it takes longer to recover afterwards.

When you look beyond nutrition, your food has a huge affect on your social life.

People have always gotten together to prepare food, share a meal with family and friends.

Food wasn’t meant to be eaten alone in a cubicle, but shared and enjoyed.

Sharing food is deeply linked to culture. It’s an innate part of who we are individually and as a member of society.

Food is involved in every holiday in every culture. And it’s used to mark celebrations.

All of that may have seemed obvious, but what’s not always easy to see is that the way food appears in your life is a reflection of your priorities.

Not only how you look, but how you feel, what you’re capable of, your involvement and enjoyment of life itself.

This week, I want you to consider the way food shows up in your life.

Ask yourself, where are you full (what leaves you fullfilled, vibrant, connected, satisfied) and where are you empty (where do you feel lack, stress, difficulty, resistance)

You can only move forward by understanding where you are right now.