DISCOVER THE MULTI-FACETED DEFINITION OF HEALTH
COMPREHENDING THE MULTI-FACETED DEFINITION OF HEALTH IS CRUCIAL TO YOUR WELLBEING
"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." - World Health Organization
As defined by the World Health Organization, the three essential elements of health are mental, physical, and social well-being. To build and sustain overall wellbeing requires a conscious awareness that all three elements of health are essential and that one alone is not enough. In addition, striving only to prevent illness, obesity, or disease does not equate to a healthy individual.
FLOURISHING
Flourishing as defined by social psychologists Barbara L. Fredrickson and Marcial F. Losada is “to live within an optimal range of human functioning, one that connotes goodness, generativity, growth, and resilience.” To elevate your health and well-being from neutral to flourishing requires learning and intentionally working to develop your mental, physical, and social well-being, which interact reciprocally to generate optimal health.
PERMA BASIC OVERVIEW
Dr. Martin Seligman further defines how to create a flourishing life by stating that Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment (PERMA) are essential elements to human flourishing (Seligman, 2013).
A flourishing healthy life is built on a solid foundation of developing your meaning and purpose, which gives you a passion and focuses you on serving something bigger than yourself. Embedded into this solid foundation are positive emotions like joy, gratitude, hope, and love. They work synergistically together to reinforce mental health and prevent you from being worn-out by every day’s ups and downs and create a strong lattice to protect you against severe tragedies (Frederickson, 2002).
The embellishments of a flourishing life are engagement and achievement. Engagement is when you find a passion that challenges you to use your talents and strengths to the best of your ability. Achievement can bring you satisfaction as you successfully accomplish your goals, and help you to feel productive as an individual adding value to the world.
Building physical well-being is key to strengthening mental well-being and vice versa. When we are not at our peak physically, this can have a biological and psychological effect on our mental well-being. If we are not focused on building our mental well-being, then the stressors of life can take a toll on our bodies. Through a balance of healthy eating, active living, mental training, meditation, breathing, and sleeping, our bodies can naturally support the characteristics of mental well-being.
Complete flourishing cannot be accomplished alone; it is only realized when you build positive relationships with others. The best way to build social well-being and a network of positive relationships is to start by bringing out the best in other people and encouraging their growth.
Overall, as a nutrition counselor or coach, it is crucial to develop a strong understanding of overall wellbeing to be effective in supporting others as they in growing in health. Continue to learn and grow in your understanding of physical, mental, and social being so that you can help to create sustainable health changes in others.
FOR NUTRITION PROFESSIONALS
GET TO KNOW THE BIGGER STORY
As a Nutrition Counselor it is important that you know that you will be having a broader conversation about overall health when counseling, not just about what individual eats. An individual’s relationship with food is a very rich story full of a lifetime of experiences. People share how they grew up and the story of their families eating habits, they may share unique stories about how their coping strategies came to be, and be vulnerable with you and share how they deal with stressors of everyday life. Through these stories you will witness the layers of what contributes to overall health.
Your strategies with the client can help them identify that health is more than healthy eating and activity, but working also on establishing a healthy mindset and community. You will need to research the referral sources for both supportive mental health colleagues and community resources that may help your client’s thrive.
REFERENCES
Seligman, M. E. P. (2013). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2002). Positive Emotions Trigger Upward Spirals Toward Emotional Well-Being. Psychological Science, 13(2), 172–175.
