How To Manage Health Information Overwhelm
If you’re passionate about your wellbeing, you have likely spent a lot of time online, sifting through Google searches and social media, in search of perfect health.
Perhaps you have tried ketogenic, plant-based, paleo… you have cut out all the “inflammatory” foods and taken all the right supplements… and perhaps these things worked for a while. Some symptoms went away, other symptoms showed up, or maybe you just kept feeling worse. In the end, what many people are left with is a whole lot of confusion, and an overwhelming amount information.
Below of 5 things to consider, to help you sift through what information is actually useful for you, and to overcome this health information overwhelm.
1. Get back to basics and keep it simple
In our search for optimal wellness, it is not uncommon for our way of eating to become either overly complicated or restrictive. Of course, having a diet and lifestyle that works for you is important, but oftentimes we end up doing so much that it begins to take away from our enjoyment of life.
Scientists and professionals of all approaches can agree that eating mainly wholefoods, less chemicals, a variety of foods, moving your body daily, getting outdoors and spending time with those you love, is the foundation of good health.
Just keeping this in mind can help you drop perfectionism and allow you a little more grace when it comes to how you eat and live.
2. Find a professional/s you trust and work with them directly
Instead of gathering information from multiple, often conflicting, sources, it can be very useful for you to find and work with a professional that you trust. Someone who can work with you and also explain to you why they are making certain suggestions, so that you can learn about yourself as part of the process.
Working directly with someone helps you to streamline your approach to health and healing, and allows you to better track your progress, what truly works for you, and what needs adjusting as you go.
3. Address the root cause
As we go about trying to “fix” our health, we can experience ourselves as a hodgepodge of symptoms and end up playing symptom whack-a-mole. We never feel truly well, and we are forever trying new things to address each symptom. It’s exhausting.
It is important to look at the root cause, which allows your approach to be much simpler and more effective. That’s where our Holistia Naturopath can help guide you.
4. Learn to listen to your own body
When it comes to learning about health, we can end up being in our heads with loads of information, yet, ironically, so disconnected from our bodies.
Instead of turning to Google to ask “is this good for me?”, trying asking yourself, how do YOU feel?
How do you feel after drinking coffee, eating pizza or drinking nettle tea?
You can allow yourself a few moments to sit with the substance in your body after you ingest it and then perhaps again a half hour or so later. It doesn’t have to be a dramatic practice, just check in.
Do you have more energy, or are you sluggish? Are you bloated? Do you feel satisfied and satiated?
Do you feel grounded or airy?
Even if what you notice doesn’t have much meaning for you at first, developing this relationship with your body overtime will provide you will valuable information about what works best for you and what could do with some tweaking.
5. Focus on what is going well
When we want to be healthy, we often focus on what is wrong with us. We think that by being acutely aware of every little sign of imbalance, we will one day address them all and finally be well.
Even if we are healthy, we will focus on what isn’t perfect, and experience ourselves as lacking or failing in some way.
This isn’t a mindset that lends itself to ever feeling truly well.
Focus on what is going well. Even if there are some aspects of your health that need to be addressed, this is just a part of being human. Our health moves towards imbalance, and we gently bring it back. It is all about the process.
Written by Erica Cooke