What is holistic care?
Welcome to Nourished.
Our tagline says, “holistic, integrative psychotherapy”, but truly, what does that even mean? So many practices and wellness spaces emphasize the use of terms like holistic, natural, and integrative, but in the realm of mental health, what does this matter? Let’s break it down.
Holistic can be defined as the interconnectedness to a whole being - aka, every part of us works together to create us. When we integrate this definition with mental health, we can consider a “whole-person” approach. This means what we eat, who surrounds us, how we sleep, the environment that we live in…they all affect the way our brain feels. When a practice values a client from a holistic and integrative manner, it means that they care more deeply about the person than just their presenting symptoms. By getting to know a client from an integrative standpoint, we get closer to the root of what you’re feeling. Instead of putting a bandaid over a bullet hole, we get to take the bullet out.
For Nourished, the idea of integrative care aligns with our 4 main tenets of mental health: food; movement; community; and sleep. We believe that in order to address mental health symptoms, we have to go back to the basics. What are we eating? How are we moving our bodies? What does rest look like? Who do we have in our corner? We must ask these questions to fully understand the capacity of the symptoms clients present with.
Dr. Uma Nadioo describes food as some of the most “potent mental health medicine available” due to the way certain foods affect gut bacteria. With the Ventral Vagal pathway going from the back of your brainstem all the way down to your gut lining, it serves as a source of communication back and forth amongst one another. When our bodies consume foods that inhibit growth to gut microbiome, it lets our brain know through that ventral pathway. Foods that are highly processed, fried, made with artificial sweeteners and ingredients, or highly refined carbohydrates can cause inflammation in your gut, leading to brain fog, irritability, and worsened mood. What we eat affects how we feel. At Nourished, we are not naive, as we want you to be a human, too! Balance and moderation is key, especially as we approach the holiday season. Eat for mental health a majority of the time, as it strengthens your gut microbiome. That way, when we do eat a treat, our gut is strong enough to fight off negative effects.
When it comes to movement, everyone is different. Some people enjoy HIIT and hitting their local CrossFit gym 5 days a week, while others prefer yin yoga and a walk around the block. The key to movement is doing what works for your body and changing the way we think about what it means to move. Often times, people move for the aesthetic, but what if we moved for the way it made us feel? Researcher Dan Buettner discovered 5 specific zones in the world called Blue Zones. These regions are where people notoriously live the longest and have lowest rates of mental health disorders. When discovering why this was, Buettner found that a commonality in zones was exercise, specifically walking. Movement can not only serve as a way to decrease mental health symptoms, but as a way for you to process whatever it is that you’re experiencing or going through. We hear people say things like “going to pilates is my therapy”, and it totally can be! Movement does wonders for us, and the key is making it work for you and your body, not everyone else’s.
Buettner also found that a key component of health and longevity in Blue Zones was being surrounded by others that share similar values. We are a world of 7 billion people. It is unrealistic to create a community that large and deeply unrealistic to believe that all 7 billion people share in your values (yikes). Former US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, equated being lonely as worse for physical and mental health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day…15! Humans are hard wired to be social beings. Society confuses us by indicating that we need 500 friends to make up a community, but really, this is individualized to you. We need community to share in the understanding of common daily aches and pains, and feeling validated is so good for mental health. We aren’t made to deal with those things alone. Whether your community is 5 or 50 doesn't matter - just having somebody, anybody, is what we care about it relation to mental health.
So we’ve combined a balanced diet, movement tailored to you, and community support. What are we missing? Ahh. Sleep. For some it’s the ultimate restoration, for others it’s a constant feeling of Sunday Scaries (hello parents of newborns and toddlers). I’m sure that all of us have heard at some point in our lives that going without sleep for a certain amount of time is equal to moving throughout the day as if we are drunk. Lack of sleep impairs decision making, emotional control, and attention, and many studies have linked sleep and mental health as a correlative response. Stanford professor Dr. Andrea Goldstein-Piekarski doubles down on less sleep increasing depressive symptoms, anxiety, and rumination, while quality sleep decreases them. I know for so many of us, sleep is out of our control in different seasons in life. But when we practice sleep hygiene and wind down to prioritize sleep at the end of the day, we are decreasing our risk for worsening mental health symptoms. I know, I know. You have a newborn who wakes up every 2 hours or a 3 year old who won’t stop leaving their room at night. Quality is just as important as quantity and do what you need in order to get sleep. This could mean (safely) co-sleeping, sleep training, or getting rid of TV’s in your room. Trust me, it will be worth it and your brain will thank you!
When you come to Nourished as a client, you can expect that we look at you through this integrative lens, but also that we meet you where you are at. We gently provide knowledge and let you decide what you want to do with it! It is your life, after all. Just know that we won’t just see you as a a symptoms checklist, but rather a human.
