The Wellness Effect

Hey guess what?! I am a senior in college. And it is absolutely terrifying. In less than one year I start my career. Well, I start my internship, which will be like my career. Either way, it is scary. To prepare for this, I have once again overloaded my schedule to be the most qualified person possible--I am an undergraduate teaching fellow for an introductory nutrition class, am a teaching assistant for another class, was asked to be an undergraduate researcher so I actually get paid for all of the work I'm doing (it will also give me many more publications in the upcoming year), and last but not least, I am the president of the Dietetics Student Association (DSA).

The reason I mentioned the DSA last is that this is kind of what I want to talk about. Sort of. At least a couple of experiences I've had with that club this week. On Monday, we had our first club meeting, and we decided what our theme for the year would be: wellness. In other words, how nutrition is one single aspect of a variety of others that contribute to our overall health. These different aspects include: nutrition, mental and emotional health, physical health, and spiritual health. Which is all find and dandy. 

But then Wednesday came. The first week of the school year, our university puts on an event called Day on the Quad, where all of the clubs and campus organizations set up booths with prizes to draw students into their organization. While I was at the booth I saw a student approaching, and I could tell by his demeanor that he had something quite rude to say and that he was hoping to unnerve me. As he came up to the table, he looked me straight in the eye and said, "What am I to think when I see the supposed campus experts in nutrition giving me fruit snacks and the cheapest granola bars they could find as a snack and prize?" 

Firstly, there were other prizes at the table.

Secondly, our club doesn't have the money to purchase hundreds of organic, grass-fed, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, keto, sun-raised, free-range granola bars. Those wouldn't taste good no matter how much money we threw at them.

Thirdly, I realized that it was time for me to teach this student a lesson about nutrition. From what he called the 'campus experts'.

And this is where wellness ties back in to the story.

I explained to this student the importance of health from a variety of different perspectives. If we only ate nutrient-dense foods for the rest of our lives, we would be a sad bunch of little humans. Sure, we would be fit, thin, and pompous, but we would be sad underneath all of that lean body tissue. 

I watched as it dawned on this student what I was talking about and the reasons for the fruit snacks and 'cheapest granola bars I could find'. Sure, it's not the most nutrient-dense food I could have bought from the grocery store. But that doesn't mean they don't contribute to another aspect of health that's not nutrition based, like our mental health. When I mentioned this, the student immediately piped up and said "oh yeah, these help contribute to our mental health, don't they?" to which I responded "yes they do." He then once again looked me in the eye, took one of the 'cheapest granola bars I could find', said "that's great, but I don't want to sign up for the club" and left. He didn't even do that activity that he was supposed to do to earn the prize. That turd. 

But this was a significant experience to me for a couple of reasons--it showed me how little is understood about nutrition's role in the overall health of an individual. It also showed me that I can keep my head cool when under fire. Which I was actually quite surprised about. So that is good to know.

Perhaps the most significant finding from this experience was I realized that even though there are many aspects to health, they all intertwine and affect one another. For example, our food choices affect our mental health, but our mental health also affects our food choices. Our mental health affects our desire to exercise, but whether we choose to exercise or not also affects our mental health. So in reality, it's all just one giant health circle with multiple pieces of the pie to be aware of. And speaking of pie, it belongs in the world of health. I love pie. 

In conclusion, take care of yourself. Care about your well-being and make sure to cover all aspects of health, not just the more prominent ones in society. Our health contains so many different aspects, and we need to pay attention to all of them to feel our best self. Whether you knew this already or learned from my experience with this student at Day on the Quad, please never underestimate the other parts of health. Particularly since my blog is about nutrition, and that is my main focus. As I move forward, I am going to try to focus on different aspects of my health and how I can improve--I invite you to do the same!