The psychosomatic aspect of nutritional behavior change.

Nutritional behavior change is partly psychosomatic because we feel good about making healthful choices that align with our personal values.

When we make effective choices in our health and nutrition, we do more than reap the physical and biological rewards from them. We also build a catalog of psychological feelings and emotions that help anchor us to the desire to make more of these choices.

A client of mine said recently;

“I want to remind myself of how good I feel when I eat more nutritiously. I don’t ache as much, I sleep better, I have more energy, and I just feel better and happier about most things.”

This is one part physiological response ( steady blood sugar, low digestive fatigue/demands, satiety, etc) and 1 part psychological response (I feel better about my behaviors and myself as a whole when I take pride in my health and match my actions with my values and priorities).

People often make nutrition interventions focusing solely on the biological response, which make sense since that’s the primary goal. And yet, the psychological support we can glean from making more efficient decisions props up our resilience and willpower to keep going when we don’t feel like it.

Check the short video on this here.