WHAT DOES HOLISTIC MEAN?

I think a lot of people have a connotation in their head what holistic means. Because of this I deliberated long and hard whether to use that term or not. I decided to go with it because I couldn’t find another term that meant all encompassing health approach. I suppose a lot of people use the term holistic in a lot of different ways, some things they may use if for may not be based in fact. I understand and recognize that.

I have a health science background and prescribe to the idea of using data, studies, past experience, and the most current developments when preparing data for this site.

For me, and for this website, I want to clarify what I consider a “holistic” approach to health. First and foremost, I think that eating for health is the first key to the journey. What I mean by that is eating more natural foods so that our body easily recognizes the ingredients. The process and preserving foods use a lot of man made chemicals. Our body is used to eating unadulterated foods, it is only recently we have been able to heat, process and store foods to such extremes. I think it is pretty easy to see how when we eat fresh, unprocessed foods we are eating less chemicals and less additives, while also receiving optimal nutrition from that food. That is because preserving food often decreases the nutritional density of a food.

Next, Pivot believes fitness is key. Cardiovascular, bone, joint, even mental health has been shown to improve with exercise. Visceral body fat has shown to be detrimental to health. Fitness is the second key to health.

The other pillar of health is mindfulness. This doesn’t have to mean we sit in silence and meditate everyday, although that is a great practice, mindfulness is more like awareness when this site refers to it. That could mean awareness in many different instances. Some examples would be to be aware of aches and pains in the body and noticing what causes them to get worse or better. To recognize when you are around people who bring your mood down or make you anxious. Often times, just becoming aware of a tenancy can help you create a solution for it. For instance, noticing you don’t sleep well if you eat acidic foods close to bedtime or every time you eat a specific food your skin breaks out.

Mindfulness also has to do with being present in the moment. Instead of being distracted by social media or our phone, we put our tablet or phone down and concentrate on the person we are with, the task that we are completing, or the experience we are having.

That’s it! Simplified but you can see there is nothing controversial here. It’s all pretty straight forward and has lots of research to back it up. Data can be found under the services tab of this website and then expand the facts and figures tab on the page once you select a topic.

So, what does Pivot do besides give people information? 

Pivot teaches people how to implement these health practices into our lives. People say “it cost too much to eat healthy”, or “I don’t have time to stay fit”. That is not a valid excuse because I enjoy being thrifty and I also like to be efficient. I have been able to implement these practices in my life and it is 100 percent affordable and feasible to meal prep, get a nice workout in regularly, or set aside time to be present or mindful. I want to be able to show you the value of doing these things. I want to be the reason you say “It’s time to make changes”, “I want to do this to improve the quality of my life”, ” I want to make sure my body gets the nutrition it needs”, or “I want the best health I can provide for myself as I age”. We are all busy, but spending 20 to 30 minutes putting quality food into a crockpot can produce 5 wholesome meals for under $20 dollars. Think about the time you will save going not sitting at a drive-thru. Trader Joes is the spot for affordable organic fyi.

Maybe the crockpot is not your thing. My job is to give you innumerable resources and ideas to help you find what’s right for you, what best fits in your lifestyle. I want to give you the tools to “pivot” closer to you health goals. Every step is a step in the right direction. Every wholesome meal is providing nutrition to your body. We can start slow, maybe just add some fruits and veggies, maybe make a smoothie, maybe skip the drive through once a week, then twice, or maybe we pack healthy snacks. All of those are great places to start! I want to inspire you, motivate you, and give you so many ways to reach optimum health based on the latest information that is emerging.

There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon, discoveries we are only now beginning to understand. One of those breakthroughs is epigenetics. They know by studying identical twins that our environment, diet, and lifestyle choices can affect how our genes express. So, just because you are genetically predispositioned to develop a disease doesn’t mean you have to express it. If we know we have a family history of diabetes, we can work proactively to help prevent those genes from expressing. I love this topic and will go into more depth soon in another posting but for now if you want to learn a little more about epigenetics here are two great videos:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=neil+degrasse+tyson+epigenetics#id=3&vid=07e352327615c7ceeef56194d9c1652e&action=click

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/twins/