Everything You Need To Know About Holistic Health
You may have heard the term “holistic health” used in the health and wellness world, but what does it mean exactly? Does holistic health really matter, and how does it benefit you?
If you have been curious about learning more about holistic health, read on. We will explain what holistic health is and what it focuses on. You will also learn why it is important and the benefits it may bring. Finally, we will give you recommendations on how Kroma may be able to help you focus on your holistic health.
What Is Holistic Health?
Holistic health is a practice where you look at the whole person — mind, body, and soul — to assess their overall health. It is not a singular health practice but a combination of many.
Acupuncture, chiropractic care, massage therapy, naturopathic doctors, and conventional medicine or Western medicine can all be combined to create a holistic approach to support your overall optimal health.
Often used in alternative medicine, holistic practitioners may look to more than just your physical health to diagnose or treat an issue. For example, if someone has trouble sleeping, they may look at their mental, emotional, and physical health to determine any underlying causes.
While the term “holistic health” may have become more popular in the last few decades, it was a common healing practice in Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and other traditional medicines.
What Does Holistic Health Entail?
There are many areas of the whole body that holistic health providers consider before recommending any interventions. They may ask you questions regarding your diet, activity levels, and how you feel emotionally. Their goal is to understand your whole being before offering any recommendations for patient care.
Here are a few areas they may dive into to understand more about your individual needs.
Physical Health
Often when we think about our health, physical health is what initially comes to mind. Physical health can include nutrition and exercise. Your physical health can impact other areas of your overall health.
Here are some ways you may support your physical health:
Nutrition is incredibly important when supporting your physical health. Focus on eating nutritionally dense whole foods. Too busy to prepare nutritionally dense meals? Try our On-the-Go/Vegan pack — perfect for busy people everywhere.
- Limit highly processed, overly sweetened, and fried foods in your diet, which have been shown to have negative effects on cognition.
- Stay hydrated. Water is crucial to the health and wellness of your body. It allows you to carry nutrients to your cells, regulates body temperature, and aids in digestion, among other things. Our Cranberry Hydration Elixir can make your daily hydration even more fun while also supplying you with electrolytes.
- Include movement in your day. Yoga, pilates, cardio, weight training, and walking are all ways to help strengthen your physical health and have many brain-health and nervous-system benefits that go beyond staying physically fit.
- Prioritize sleep. Your body goes through a recovery process while sleeping. Strive to get good recovery time each night. While this amount varies from person to person, experts agree that aiming for around 7 hours of shut-eye per night is a good starting spot.
Emotional Health
How you feel emotionally can impact your overall well-being, including your physical health. Emotional health is gaining attention as it pertains to your overall health.
Everyone needs a different level of emotional health, so find the tools that allow you to support that area of your own health. Here are a few suggestions to use to support your emotional health:
- If you are dealing with low moods, it may be helpful to talk to a therapist. Thankfully therapy has become less taboo and more high tech. More people are talking about their emotional struggles and how therapy has helped them and technology has made therapy more accessible for more people.
- Practicing positive self-talk. If the constant chatter in our heads is negative, this can affect our overall mood. Try switching any negative self-talk to positive — for example, instead of telling yourself that you’re no good at something, switch to a perspective of practice makes perfect, and allow yourself to keep trying.
- Start journaling. Journaling can help you make sense of your thoughts and feelings. By writing down your feelings, you may be able to notice certain trends or triggers for your more difficult emotions.
Spiritual Health
Spiritual health is about how you connect with your inner being or soul and feel at peace in your life. This may look different for everyone.
Here are some ways to foster positive spiritual health:
- Set aside time for yourself to practice mindfulness. This may look like meditation, being present in the moment, or simply focusing on your breathing for a moment. Make a cup of our Perfect Fast Ginger and Turmeric Tea, sit still, and focus on your breath.
- Practice gratitude. A daily gratitude practice may help you focus on areas of your life in which you are grateful. Focusing on the positive aspects of life may help you boost your mood.
- If you follow a religious philosophy, devote time to that practice by attending services, doing some relevant reading, or spending some quiet time in contemplation or prayer.
Mental Health
While traditionally, we use mental health when we are talking about our emotional health, in this case, mental health relates to our overall cognitive abilities. This does have an emotional component, but that has already been covered separately. Your ability to understand, learn, be attentive, and process new information is all part of mental health.
Here are ways you can keep your brain active to support your mental health:
- Enjoy a daily crossword puzzle or other word games.
- Sign up for a class to learn something new. This can be an in-person class or one you find online.
- Read more books. Fiction or nonfiction books are both beneficial to your mental health.
- Engage in stimulating conversations that allow you to think about things differently. Dinner is a great time to engage in conversation. The Kroma Veggie Broth with Plant Protein with some steamed veggies and a protein of your choice is an easy way to prepare dinner for friends and family to help take part in meaningful conversations.
Social Health
Human beings are social creatures. It is crucial to spend time with the people that are important to you. Each person may lean more toward being an introvert or an extrovert, so how much time spent with others depends on your preference.
Here are some ways to make sure your social health is supported:
- Schedule time with the people you love. Spending time with your friends and family can do a lot for your overall emotional health.
- If you want to meet new people, sign up for a new workout class, art class, or cooking class. You may find a new hobby and meet new friends.
- Get involved in your community. Volunteering can be a great way for many facets of your holistic health while meeting new people.
- Set clear boundaries. While spending time with people is important, the goal is to benefit your overall health. It is okay to set a boundary with people who are not benefiting your overall well-being.
Why Is Holistic Health Important?
Holistic health encourages you to take into account each area of your life. If you are out of balance in one area of your life, it can often trickle into other areas.
Holistic health takes an integrative approach to healing. Instead of focusing on a symptom, holistic health practitioners focus on finding the underlying cause of symptoms. While holistic treatments may include modern medicine, they may also use supplements to support overall health. Your sleep, stress levels, and overall lifestyle may be examined, as well.
What Is the Mind-Body Connection?
The interconnection between our physical bodies and our feelings is referred to as the mind-body connection. Have you ever noticed that you may experience physical symptoms like a racing heart, shallow breathing, stomach ache, or jitters when you feel stressed? This is an example of the mind-body connection.
One area that is always looked at in holistic health is your diet. Your diet may affect many areas of your life, from hormone balance to immunity to mental health to sleep. If you find yourself reaching for processed foods that may not enhance your overall well-being, you may need a reset. Our 5-Day Reset may be just what you need to jumpstart your healthy diet and boost your whole body health.
How Can Holistic Health Benefit My Everyday Life?
Engaging in a more holistic approach to life and health may provide you with lasting effects each day. You may experience more energy, better mood, and overall physical health support. While you may gravitate toward holistic healing for one aspect of your life, you will likely reap the benefits in many other areas.
Hormone Balance
Hormones are chemical messengers in your body that manage most areas of your body. Some hormones trigger reproductive responses, stress, sleep, and metabolism. This delicate balance of hormones can be affected by simple changes in your overall diet, exercise, sleep, and stress.
One specific holistic practice that may benefit women's sex hormones is acupuncture. Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medicine practice that involves putting strategically placed needles in your skin around your body.
Stress Levels
When you are stressed, cortisol is released. This allows you to be in a state of “fight or flight.” While this is beneficial in a real emergency, if you are chronically stressed, cortisol levels can get stuck, causing sleep issues, issues with heart health, and problems with metabolic function.
When we think about ways to minimize stress, mindfulness, prioritizing sleep, and exercising are often the go-to tricks. The foods you consume can also help you impact your stress levels. Low-quality food has been shown to increase cortisol levels. Eating a well-balanced diet may also reduce those levels and leave you feeling less stressed throughout the day.
Sleep Quality
While sleep quality is an integral part of your overall health, supporting other areas in your well-being often brings better sleep. The more you prioritize your diet and exercise and nutrients like magnesium, the better your sleep quality will likely be. Our Calming + Restore Magnesium is the perfect way to work more magnesium into your diet without having to fret too much. Focusing on bringing mindfulness and reducing stress can also increase your sleep quality.
Practicing healthy habits throughout the day and night may benefit your overall health. Sleep quality and holistic health are like the chicken or the egg conundrum. If you see a holistic doctor, they will likely suggest improving your sleep quality as a lifestyle change.
Energy Levels
Holistic health focuses on many areas of your overall being that may also benefit your energy levels. Practicing a daily exercise routine can provide an increase in energy, as does focusing on healthy sleep habits.
What we eat also has a direct impact on our energy levels. There are specific vitamins and minerals we need to maintain our energy levels throughout the day. B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and zinc are important. These vitamins also help in other areas of the body like your immune system, cognitive function, and metabolism.
Weight Management
Two main aspects of weight management are exercise and a nutritious, well-balanced diet, and this is touted in most healthcare communities. One aspect that holistic health also brings into weight management is the emotional component.
Understanding how you are processing your body image is important in managing your weight in a healthy headspace. Body image distortion is incredibly common. By practicing mindfulness, reaching out to a licensed therapist with a background in this area, and finding a support system with a friend or family member, you may have a more positive experience with weight management. You may also have a better chance of maintaining a healthy weight.
Appetite
Many different factors may influence your appetite. Foods high in sugar and certain fats can increase your appetite, while fiber and protein can reduce it. Staying hydrated may also regulate your appetite.
Even though your appetite directly relates to how often you need to eat, stress may also play a role in appetite strength. While acute stress may cause your appetite to stall, chronic stress may trigger an increase in appetite for some people.
Holistic healthcare would consider your stress levels and the physical aspects of your appetite. By focusing on your overall well-being, you may see a balancing of your appetite without it being your main concentration.
Focus
Focus is another area that may benefit from holistic health. Mindfulness, meditation, and physical activity may all play a role in your ability to focus. Practicing puzzles or word games can also increase focus and your cognitive abilities.
The foods you eat may also improve your focus. Starting your day with a high-fiber breakfast, like Kroma Super Porridge, can help you to focus. It will also help you to stay fuller longer. Healthy fats like avocado, nuts, and fish may also help boost your focus. Don't forget your berries, especially blueberries or acai, which you’ll find in our Blueberry Acai Plant Protein Smoothie. They are incredible for brain health.
Mental Wellness
Mental wellness is often directly related to your self-care. Self-care is especially important in holistic medicine. Self-care incorporates all the areas of health covered in holistic care. Eating well, hydrating, physical movement, meditation, and meeting with friends are all areas where you can practice self-care.
When you are following a holistic health protocol for another area, you may notice that your mental wellness improves just by making positive changes to so many areas of your life.
How Can Kroma Help Me Achieve Holistic Health?
Hippocrates said, “Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
At Kroma, we believe in the power of food as medicine. We have selected the highest quality superfoods and adaptogens — stress adapting herbs — in our daily essentials. Whether you choose smoothies, teas, lattes, or our broths, you can rest assured knowing each ingredient is there for a reason to benefit your overall health and well-being.
Ultimate Vitality Latte
Our Ultimate Vitality Latte is full of adaptogenic mushrooms and turmeric. Together, they can boost your immune system, support digestion, and help you feel calmer. It may also help to fight the signs of aging. This is a perfect latte for a mid-day self-care moment. There is no caffeine in this latte, so it won't affect your sleep.
Supergreens Elixir
Nutrition is crucial when it comes to holistic health. It can be difficult to get all the vitamins and minerals needed for optimal health. Our Supergreens Elixir is full of fruits, veggies, mushrooms, and plant protein. It provides a simple and delicious way to get many of the nutrients you need. You may also notice a boost in your energy with our Supergreens Elixir.
Calming + Restore Magnesium
Sleep can often be that last puzzle piece of holistic health. For some, a good night's rest is incredibly difficult to achieve. Our Calming + Restore Magnesium, with its prebiotic fibers, three types of magnesium, and L. Theanine, may help you find the extra nutritional push you need to help you get that restful and restorative sleep you need.
5-Day Reset
The foods you consume directly impact your overall health and well-being. Changing your diet can be difficult if you do not already have a health-forward foundation. Sometimes you need a complete diet reset to help you make lasting changes to reach your nutritional goals.
Our 5-day Reset is specifically curated to help you reset your nutrition with convenient foods and beverages that taste incredible. Everything in the reset is labeled and well organized to ensure that you get the nutrients you need to fuel your body and leave you feeling satisfied.
When you're finished with the 5-day reset, continue with your favorite Kroma products to continue getting the superfoods your body craves in a deliciously convenient way.
The Bottom Line
Holistic health is a medical philosophy that looks at the whole person. This includes their physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and social health. Holistic health focuses on the underlying causes of a symptom and treats that cause. When improving one aspect of your health, other areas will often improve.
You can also focus on your holistic health with a medical doctor. Anyone can prioritize self-care, sleep, nutrition, exercise, and spending time with the ones you love.
A perfect diet can be hard to come by. With Kroma, we can help you add superfoods into your diet in a super convenient way.
Sources:
High cortisol levels are associated with low quality food choice in Type 2 Diabetes | PMC
Body Image Distortion - StatPearls | NCBI Bookshelf
Brain Foods that May Help You Concentrate | HealthySD.gov
