A holistic approach to healthier eating

According to the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education, 90 percent of all cancer cases can be prevented through environmental and lifestyle choices like deciding to eat a healthy diet. A history of poor eating is one of the biggest contributors to the various nutrition- and physical activity-related health challenges that now face the U.S. population.

But you probably already know all this. You may have been told by your doctor that you need to lose some weight. Or you’ve made a resolution to eat better after months of quarantining. Choosing to eat a healthier diet is definitely a smart move that can pay long-term dividends.

Personal chef and nutritional counselor Lindsey Hardin believes that the “change your diet” conversation is a bigger one than most doctors have to the time for. She has found that her clients are often overwhelmed by the thought of what they imagine will be a dietary overhaul. They think they’ll have to stop eating everything they love, they meet resistance from their families, they don’t know where to begin.

Lindsey is a graduate of the Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts in Austin, TX, a “community-oriented, alternative culinary school” according to Lindsey, where she learned to cook things like quinoa and kale instead of chocolate mousse and hollandaise sauce.

Lindsey runs Ozark Integrative Medicine in Bentonville (www.ozarkacupuncture.com), together with her husband Erik, a licensed acupuncturist and doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her food philosophy is holistic, and for more than ten years she has been helping her clients “gently evolve” into a healthier food choices.

She encourages people to be more aware of what they are eating, how it makes them feel and what’s going on with their internal dialogue. “Instead of saying ‘I can’t have that because it’s not on my good food list,’ try saying ‘I can have anything I want, but will that make me feel better or worse?’” she suggests.

Before the pandemic, Lindsey was doing one-on-one sessions working with food allergies, special diets for diabetes, cancer, weight loss, athletic performance, etc. She has transitioned to an online personal chef service (www.solkitchenproject.com), preparing farm-to-table, plant-based meals. With each meal, she includes a “lesson” about the farm the meal came from, why she used certain ingredients, and other nutritional insights—feeding her clients literally as well as feeding them information about eating locally-sourced, organic and sustainable foods.

How to begin eating healthier? Lindsey says a good starting point is to simply begin adding in more vegetables. Most important though, is being open to changing not just your diet, but your mindset, “You have to decide that you want to do it. It’s easy to come up with an excuse unless you are really ready.”

One big pro tip Lindsey has for those trying to transition to healthier diets:

“Go through your social media, and clear out all the pages that make you crave unhealthy food. Unfollow those junk food pages, because that’s tapping into your brain on a deep level,” she advises. “Instead look for colorful, healthy food images. Once you do that, all of a sudden you see new choices, healthier options, all the sites promoting healthy eating.”

Eating healthy does not require people to abandon their favorite foods. Some simple and gentle adjustments can be all it takes to improve the nutritional value of your diet and learn to eat healthier.