"When I first heard of the concept of primary vs. secondary foods I was very curious. You may be wondering (like I was) what this means.
Primary foods are the foods that feed us beyond our plate 🍽️ Relationships, careers, spirituality, hobbies, and recreational activities are all foods that feed the soul. They sustain you, give purpose, and bring passion into your life, and as a result, have an impact on the state of your emotional and mental well-being 💖
Secondary food is the foods that nourish your body and what you actually consume - your meals, snacks, and drinks.
So what does this mean for your holistic health?
Our bodies crave balance and when it senses an imbalance, they will do their best to restore that balance. It can be helpful to think of the primary and secondary foods as a tank or a bucket. This means that when any one of the primary foods is low, your secondary food tank will increase in an attempt to try and restore balance in your body. This could look like emotional eating, possibly consuming more food, or having cravings. Our secondary food tank is trying to make up for the deficiency in our primary food tank 🪣
This makes a lot of sense to me and perfectly describes past experiences. I can think of particular times in my life when several primary foods were unfulfilled and my attention and focus turned solely to secondary food.
This topic is one that I dive deeper into with my clients and one that will always be at the forefront of my mind when I start to feel imbalanced! "