Holistic Lifestyle

What is a Holistic Lifestyle anyway?

You’ve heard the work “holistic” and most people think it’s some kind of weird way of living. It is a basic philosophy of living your life in a whole body and mind manner.

In other words:

Eat things that keep your physical body and its digestive system healthy.

Stay active to keep your muscles, heart and lungs healthy.

Practice forms of stress relief to keep your mind healthy.

Practice random acts of kindness to keep your soul healthy.

Your body, mind and soul are connected. One part absolutely affects all of the other parts. When we are sad our bodies can be achy, when we are physically hurt, our mood can be hurt as well. Living a holistic lifestyle ensures that we take care of all of our selves ~ not just certain parts.

In today’s world we get caught up in the fast pace of living and push some of our needs aside. Rushing here and there and grabbing something quick to eat, no time to exercise and before you know it the stress gets to you and you are exhausted.

When you get to the point of exhaustion, or stressed out, it affects your physical self. Muscle aches (you know, when your shoulders are tight and your head is pounding…), digestive ailments, and even fatigue and insomnia can be the effects of stress.

Likewise, unhealthy eating habits can wreak havoc on our digestive system, and on our overall health and well being. Instead of eating for energy and health we often eat the quickest thing we can find. Eating over processed foods can cause sluggishness instead of energy, and many times the nutrients can be processed right out of them. If we see a doctor because we can’t sleep, he or she may give us sleeping pills. If we see a doctor for headaches and muscle pain, he/she might prescribe meds for that. Most doctors in our society will treat or diagnose a problem we are having and try to treat it.

A holistic doctor would be more apt to take a look at your lifestyle; i.e. your eating habits and your exercise routines, your stress level and how you are relieving that stress. In other words a holistic doctor would look for what might have caused the problem rather than to treat a problem as an individual ailment. Making some changes in your lifestyle might just cure some of your ailments.

Let’s talk about FOOD. Greasy, processed and other high fat, high sugar foods will not keep you healthy. We need lots of colorful veggies for their antioxidant and healing qualities. We need less processed grains because the less they are processed the more nutrients they have. We need different forms of protein to keep our muscles strong. Protein can be consumed in many foods from meat to nuts.

When we eat foods with higher levels of nutrients our bodies work at full capacity to break down the foods and absorb those nutrients. Vitamins, minerals and nutrients absorbed from food go right into the cells that need them. When we eat foods that are high in fat or processed there are less nutrients and more waste for the calories ingested. Instead of absorbing nutrients our bodies absorb fat and chemicals – yuck!

Our society's obesity epidemic is an example of a non holistic lifestyle. Between eating the wrong foods and emotional eating some of us have no chance. We need to build the awareness of a holistic lifestyle so that we can treat emotional problems and eat a healthy diet. We need to live within our whole being and be nice to ourselves; body, mind and soul.

Moving on to my favorite subject - EXERCISE. A well rounded exercise routine is the best choice. Strength training (you don’t need to be a bodybuilder to practice strength training), cardiovascular exercise and flexibility are three of the important areas to focus on. We should be exercising regularly ~ daily if possible. We need to do something good for our physical body every day.


STRESS RELIEF is an important part of a holistic lifestyle. My belief is that YOGA serves two purposes (well, much more than two, but for the purposes of holistic benefits we'll say two) when practiced regularly. It promotes flexibility and stress relief. A yoga breathing practice alone can be stress relieving, as can a regular meditation practice. I find that breathing into my yoga poses is stress relief at its best with the added benefit of flexibility in my physical body. But find your most stress relieving practice. It might be knitting, gardening or soaking in a hot bath.

KEEP YOUR SOUL HAPPY by doing nice things for others. When we practice acts of kindness it makes us feel good. The littlest things can make someone happy. Random acts of kindness don’t need to cost anything, simply go a little out of your way to be nice. Feeling good about yourself is part of a holistic lifestyle because it feeds your soul:
Call someone that you know is sad.

Volunteer at an organization that needs help: soup kitchens, nursing homes, hospitals.

Hold a door for someone carrying something on a cold rainy day, or for someone not carrying anything at all.

Donate some of your used clothes or blankets that you don’t need any more.

Reach something in a grocery store that someone can’t reach or bring an older person’s grocery cart back for them.

The possibilities are endless. Do something nice for someone – you will see how good it makes you feel.

The idea of a holistic lifestyle is to live your life to the best of your abilities. This doesn’t mean make the most money or have the best job or even have the most toys.

Live a meaningful life. Live your life for your whole body, and all of its parts: physical, mental and spiritual.