A Holistic Nutritionist Shares Her Top Health Tips—and We're Listening

You've probably heard rumblings about the term holistic nutrition before, but we're guessing you might not really know what it means. We didn't either, and our curiosity led us to a pro on the subject matter, and holistic nutritionist herself, Tara Curran. Curran, who is also the wellness director of Montauk's ever-popular hot spot The Surf Lodge, was kind enough to give us the lowdown on this highly popular approach to health and wellness. And if her demeanor and beauty, inside and out, have anything to say for it, we're listening.

The key to the holistic approach is not about focusing on just a diet, rather it's about overall heath encompassing the mind, body, and soul. Curran, like many of us, was drawn to the holistic aspect after seeing positive results and finding balance through the total body approach. Below she has shared her top 10 tips pertaining to holistic nutrition and how to get on board with the lifestyle, one step at a time. 

It's All About Tuning in to Your Body

Curran explains that your body can tell you everything you need to know, specifically what you are lacking and what you need more of. All you have to do is listen. A great tool for achieving this is through journaling. Writing down how you feel after meals, or jotting down a stream of consciousness (whatever comes to mind first thing in the morning), is how you can truly understand and appreciate what your body is trying to tell you.

Heal From the Inside Out

It's really important to heal yourself from the inside out. When you're beginning to feel run down or sick, rather than reaching for conventional medicine (like antibiotics, which can sometimes do more harm than good), try adding foods into your diet that can help re-energize you and boost your immunity naturally. Curran turns to a shot of apple cider vinegar to fix almost any ailment or a few drops of oil of oregano (a natural antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal) at the first sign of a sniffle. It can even be as simple as slowing down your daily pace or allowing yourself some extra sleep when you feel as though you need it. 

Think Whole When It Comes to Foods

Holistic nutrition takes the approach of nurturing your body with foods foraged from nature. This entails filling your day with real fruits and veggies found at the farmer's market, or in the produce aisle if that's not an option. Curran encourages all of her clients to add leafy greens into their diet—something most of us are missing on a daily basis—and to turn to fruits and berries or seeds and nuts for snacking (i.e. anything pre-packaged is a no-no). Before eliminating anything from your diet, which can force you to fixate on the idea of depriving yourself, first focus on adding these healthy, natural foods to see how you feel. You might not miss the not-so-good for you staples you were once relying on if you've replaced them with healthy yet satisfying swaps.

Give Your Gut a Boost

Your health begins in your gut. In order for everything to fall into place (and for your overall bodily system to function properly), a lot of focus needs to be placed on your digestive organs. Curran suggests taking a daily probiotic, which is the number one supplement most people need to help boost and improve digestive health. Essentially, probiotics help build good bacteria in the stomach. Adding fermented foods and tons of leafy greens into your daily diet can also naturally help the body regulate and absorb nutrients, as well as eliminate toxins.

Make No Excuses, Exercise

Whether it's taking daily walks, adding a yoga practice to your routine, or trying out a high-intensity fitness class, moving your body is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Not only is it essential for maintaining a healthy weight, but regular exercise boosts your endorphins, helps you rid your body of toxins (it's called sweat), and helps eliminate anxiety and stress by clearing your mind. It's also an allotted amount of time you can dedicate to yourself.

Be Mindful

Mindfulness is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to overall wellness. Though it sounds like an intimidating term, the meaning is simple: Start by paying closer attention to ingredients in your food and by familiarizing yourself with food and product labels. This is how you'll know what you're putting into your body, and you'll begin to identify what you should avoid. Another key element of practicing mindfulness in terms of holistic nutrition is slowing down to listen to the body. What you're feeling, seeing, hearing, or sensing will also help you reflect on what you can change or continue to do for the benefit of your own health and wellness.

Practice Balance

Figuring out what works best for your body, mind, and soul is a never-ending journey. Even if you think you've got it all figured out, your routine and diet should not be regimented to eating or doing the same thing every day. It's extremely important to allow yourself to indulge or treat yourself in certain situations, make time for rest days between exercise or get an extra hour of sleep, which can rejuvenate and re-energize your body in the best way possible.

Get Serious About Self-Care

Self-care can be defined as something you do for you and only you. Oftentimes when you're stressed or overwhelmed, it's because you have forgotten to take time for yourself and your own well-being. Self-care can take the form of many manifestations including exercise, journaling, meditation, or simply just taking time out of a hectic day to be alone in your thoughts. Do what feels best for you, and do it often.

Watch What You're Putting Into/Onto Your Body

Skin is the largest organ of the body and it absorbs everything. Just as you should start paying attention to which ingredients and products you put into your body (via food, supplements, and more), it's just as important to know what your skin is being subjected to. Ingredients in your skincare, toothpaste, deodorant, and other bodily products can affect more than just your exterior—your skin. Especially for women, many products are classified as endocrine disrupters, which affect hormone levels and other natural bodily functions that undoubtedly impact your overall health.

Stick With the Season

Eating seasonally is so important when it comes to holistic nutrition. Shopping at your local farmer's markets or looking for the seasonal signage in your grocery store will help you know that what you're eating is fresh and in-season. Just as the weather changes, different types of foods are more plentiful and provide the appropriate nutrients, which naturally helps our bodies transition from warmer to colder months. It's like clockwork.

What Really Happens to Your Body When You Skip Meals

When your car runs out of gas, where can it go? No where. When your cell phone runs out of juice, who can you call? No one. When a light bulb burns out, can the lamp still be used? Absolutely not.

Our bodies react the same way when we don't provide them with a proper source of energy. While these are great analogies for what happens to your body when you don't give it enough food, I can provide some personal insight because I've experienced the consequences of skipping meals firsthand. So I'll start with my own experience, and then I'll go into the science so you have a solid understanding of what really happens to your body when you skip meals.

My Story

I graduated college and entered "the real world." When I got my first part-time job in my field, I learned what it meant to work eight-hours straight in the fast paced world of my chosen career. The first week, I was out and about every afternoon, then running back to the office to meet a deadline, not even thinking about how I barely ate breakfast because my hair and makeup took precedence (of course), and skipped right past lunch in order to finish all of my work. That's the time I hit my downward spiral, starting a routine of skipping meals.

My body revolted, and let me tell you — "hangry" isn't just a word I use to describe my boyfriend when he gets into one of his moods. It's uncontrollable.

While I spent as much time at the gym as I could, building a strong, healthy body, skipping meals meant my body started to feed on my muscle. Slowly but surely, I felt a difference in my day-to-day attitude. I wanted to sleep more, I had frequent headaches, I felt tired all of the time, I wanted to go to the gym less and less. Not to mention, all of my clothes started to look like sacks draping over my body (although, Kayne would have been into it).

I still remember the day my baby sister came up to me and asked why my face was so white. This was mid summer and I'm full Italian, so there was absolutely no reason for it. I remember all of the times my boyfriend commented, saying I needed to "get some meat on your bones." When I used to look fit and athletic, and then I just felt weak and impaired… it took a toll on my mind.

I was miserable, but I couldn't figure out how to get my eating habits back on track and still manage my hectic schedule. I learned the hard way that my extra-grande-mocha-whatever-you call-it caffeine source could not fill the void of a well balanced meal. The worst part was that the longer it took for me to get my eating habits back on track, the more my stomach shrunk, which made it even harder for me to get the nutrition that I needed.

Getting back on track hasn't been easy. It takes will power and planning. I just hope that by reading this, you realize that skipping a meal is never the answer, whether you're trying to lose weight, or simply don't prioritize nutrition, as I did. The day you start skipping meals is the day your body will begin responding like this:

Unhealthy weight loss

"One of the most common misconceptions about skipping meals is that by skipping meals, you save on calories and ultimately lose weight. Unfortunately, it's not that simple," says Lindsay Salvatore, R.D., a dietician in southern New Jersey. When you skip meals, your body goes into shock, storing all food you consume and turning it into fat. And it starts with your muscle.

"Going long periods without any food can [also] cause muscle breakdown aka catabolism. Long term damage can be lowered muscle mass, which can increase fat stores, which can lead to a number of health issues," says Michael Doehla, a nutrition specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine. So, despite seeing weight loss, more fat is being produced to protect your body from the loss of muscle.

And then unhealthy weight gain

Unfortunately, once the damage is done, it's not just a quick fix. According to Salvatore, "when you start to eat normally again, you gain weight in the form of fat, so you're really setting yourself back." Skipping meals can lead to overcompensating and overeating, which according to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, means weight gain. The American Heart Association has found that it's common for those who skip meals during the day to eat larger meals in the evening, which can cause higher BMIs. Overeating also causes sugar levels to spike. Your body will crash instead of feeling better, like you think it will. The insulin response to bring your sugars back down to a healthy level causes it to overcorrect by bringing it down as fast as you brought it up.

Your brain turns into a fuzzy tv screen

You lose your ability to work properly, and can feel lightheaded and unfocused — seemingly out of no where. Your body needs essential nutrients to produce brain power, and without those sugars, electrolytes and sodium everything can get foggy. "Vitamins and minerals play a huge part in our everyday functions that without them we feel sick all the time with headaches or stomach aches or many other common ailments," warns Salvatore. "When you're tired due to skipping meals, you lack the mental motivation and physical motivation to be active and make healthy food choices. People who skip meals will often make up for calories in the form of unhealthy foods later in the day, only making them even more tired and unmotivated."

Who wants to look frail and pale?

You can't hide the fact that you have unhealthy eating habits, and according to an Australian study, those who skip meals consume way less vitamins and minerals as they need. Those vitamins and minerals not only help with weight gain and loss, as mentioned before, but they also provide the shine and bounce in your hair and the glow in your skin – among other things. If you're not eating enough fats and proteins throughout your day, your body can't even use some of the vitamins you may intake when you attempt to make up for skipped meals.

Queue potentially severe outcomes...

It's important to note that skipping meals in an effort to lose weight can potentially lead to an eating disorder. As you adjust to the day-to-day lifestyle of skipping meals, it rewires your brain and eventually it's no longer a priority to eat at all. "One skipped meal every now and then leads to a skipped meal every day, which leads to skipped meals multiple times per day. At some point anorexia may be diagnosed and the individual would have to undergo treatment to not only literally save their life, but to then work to repair their relationship with food," explains Doehla.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, many young adults end up with eating disorders after looking for an alternative weight loss option. As already stated, skipping meals is not a proper way of dieting or weight loss. A recommendation on the NEDA's website states that the AAP (The American Academy of Pediatrics) is, "discouraging dieting, skipping of meals or the use of diet pills; promoting a positive body image by promoting a balanced diet and exercising for fitness rather than weight loss."

So, if you just don't have time, make time — plan your meals in advance. If you want to lose weight, hit the gym, eat multiple small meals a day, give your body the nutrients and energy it's craving. You'll find the outcome makes you feel happier, energized, and gives you the results you want to stay healthy.