Holistic Nutrition 101: a mind-body-spirit approach to food & healing

*photo by Brooke Lark

There is so much more that goes into maintaining health than minding calories and nutrients, and there is more to who we are than our physical selves. This is what it means to have a holistic lens on wellness.

To take this further: not only do our food choices impact us on emotional, mental, and spiritual levels (in addition to the physical), but we need more than wholesome meals to fully nourish ourselves. 

A holistic view of health understands that all of these parts of us are interconnected, inseparable. It also considers the social, environmental, and other, more subtle, factors that influence our inner terrain, that feed or deplete us.

*photo by Jasmine Waheed

Four Principles of Holistic Nutrition 

Holistic Nutrition can be understood as an approach to food and healing that looks at this whole picture, and recognises a number of principles.

• Know Yourself: because there is no singular formula for cultivating health, no diet that works for all bodies at all times, understanding your own constitution (the blueprint you’ve inherited from your ancestors) is fundamental. For example, do you run hot or cold, tend to hold or lose weight, have excess or low energy most often?

• Context is Everything: in addition to our constitution, we also consider our current moment. We adjust our diets in response to what nature makes available to us each season. This can look like minimising raw foods in the winter and focusing on heat-retaining soups and stews, and waiting to eat most fruits until they are harvestable where we live. Our body’s needs also shift according to where we live, and as we cycle through our own “seasons” in life.

• Food Energetics: there is a “constitution” or energetic profile to the foods we eat, and we choose foods whose qualities will restore us to balance at any given moment. Foods exist on a spectrum from cold to neutral to hot (this is their thermal nature); have contracting, cooling and moistening properties (Yin energy) or expanding, heating and drying ones (Yang). Each food also holds the energy of a particular element in nature (fire, earth, metal, water, wood), and the medicine of a flavour (sweet, pungent, salty, sour, bitter). Someone with a weakened constitution, for example, will benefit from the sweet root vegetables and whole grains that build, rather than cleanse, their system.

• “Intangible” Nourishment: is just as important for our well being. The quality of our food, our air, water, and relationships, matters. We need access to nature (one form of this can be engagement with the intelligence of plant medicine); mindfulness practices that bring us into deeper connection with ourselves. We also thrive when we locate a sense of purpose, and create ways to express that in our lives.

Ultimately, however, we aim not just to recover wellness, but to cultivate radiant health. In this state, our willpower is developed, our vision clear, our humour available; we experience ourselves as being part of nature, of a larger whole. Most importantly, perhaps, our adaptability is enhanced, our capacity to optimally and accurately respond to changes in our internal and external environments.

This is the true foundation of radiant health, and the goal of the practice of Holistic Nutrition.

*photo by @madamecamillevidal

A Longevity Diet Recipe: Stir-Fried Forbidden Rice with Medicinal Mushrooms and Chinese Vegetables

Traditional Chinese Medicine is a time-honoured system of holistic healing, and one of cornerstones of our curriculum at AHN. We offer here one of our favourite recipes from our Longevity Diet cooking classes, informed by the principles of TCM. 

This delicious meal includes tempeh (a fermented soybean cake), fresh vegetables and whole grains. The medicinal mushrooms tonify Qi (our vital energy) and fluids, and stimulate the immune system.

Maple Soy Sesame Sauce       

• 2 tbsp shoyu or tamari (a wheat-free soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp maple syrup (ideally dark amber)               

• 1 tsp mirin (a slightly sweet, Japanese rice wine)               

• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

• 1 tsp arrowroot powder*                            

Stir Fry                   

• 225 grams / 8 oz tempeh, diced to 1 cm / 1/2 inch pieces                    

• 4 tbsp coconut oil                        

• 2 cups sliced mushrooms (try a blend of shiitake, maitake and oyster) 

• 4 cloves garlic        

• 2 tsp grated ginger                        

• 1 red bell pepper, cubed

• a handful of Chinese green leafy vegetables such as gai lan or bok choy        

• 1 cup cooked forbidden black rice                    

• 1 cup cooked white long-grain rice                        

• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds                

• 1 pinch red pepper flakes                        

• 4 scallions, thinly sliced                        

• Sea salt, to taste

Directions

1. Heat a wok or frying pan over medium high heat with half of the oil to coat the pan.

2. In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients for the sauce until the arrowroot is completely dissolved.

3. Evenly spread the tempeh in the hot frying pan and toast undisturbed on one side until golden, about 3 minutes. Flip and toast the other side. Empty into a bowl and set aside.

4. Heat the remaining oil in the frying pan and sauté the mushrooms until slightly golden. Toss in the garlic and ginger until heated. Stir in the red pepper and scallions and let heat through, then add rice and tempeh, combining everything continuously for a minute or two. Give the sauce mixture one last stir and pour over everything in the pan. Stir until evenly coated and absorbed.

5. Season with salt to taste and sprinkle with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes. Serve immediately or at room temperature. 

*Tip: Arrowroot can be used as an alternative to cornstarch to thicken sauces. Use 1 tbsp powder to thicken 1 cup of liquid.