Life & Nutrition as a House

If you don't take care of your house, where are you going to live?

While driving back home after a weekend of visiting my family in Upstate New York, I was listening to an interview on satellite radio with author and life coach Martha Beck.  During the discussion she mentioned how she likes to ask her clients to describe their house as this provides insight into what is going on in their life.  This made me reflect on how this could apply to nutrition as well.  Does your nutrition house have a solid foundation?  Is your nutrition house warm and inviting and make you feel good?  Or has it been neglected and in need of repair?  Is maintianing your nutrition house the last thing on your list that never gets done?

Nutrition requires consistent maintenance and upkeep just like a house.  To me, one of the most frustrating house chores is dusting.  I work so hard to dust and in a few days it just comes right back.  Ugh! While dusting is not my favorite activity I know that I need to keep up with it if I want a clean home.  The same goes for nutrition.  Many folks want to follow a strict diet program for a specified period of time and then go back to eating the way they were previously.  If you want to change your life, you have to make a commitment to nutrition for the long-term.  Like dusting, weight management and performance nutrition requires consistency if you want to get results. 

What's interesting to note is that according to organizational expert Peter Welsh, in his book Does Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?, decluttering your house can be the first step to losing weight.  Why?  Because disorganization can lead to stress which increases the hormone cortisol and blood sugar which increases insulin, making you feel hungrier.  Also, if your dining room table and kitchen is piled high with stuff, you're not creating an environment conducive to healthful eating.  If you have trouble cooking in your kitchen, finding space in your refrigerator, or don't have a place to sit down and enjoy a meal, isn't it more tempting to eat out and reach for less healthy fast food or grab and go items?  Packing our homes with "stuff" becomes a symbol of how we approach eating - where more is always better.  Yet just like homes cluttered with things we never use, our bodies become fat storage units for the extra fuel that we don't need.

My question for you is how would you describe your nutrition house?  Is it in good shape or in need of some updating?  The thing to remember is that you don't have to fix your house by yourself.  I'm here to help make sure you have a solid foundation.