Good morning, and happy Sunday! I want to tell you about a conversation I had with a patient this week. She was someone I’d never met before, and, like many before her, she was absolutely flummoxed about what to try next. She had already done everything she could think of to lose weight. I think you know this story. I’ve told it many times before, and you may even have experienced it yourself. Maybe you’ve been on practically every diet, eaten cabbage soup, denied yourself your favorite foods, carved out time you didn’t really have to get more exercise than was comfortable at the time. Of course none of this was sustainable. You can’t eat cabbage soup for breakfast forever. So what’s next? Next comes balance.

When I started this blog in 2009, it did not yet have a name. I knew that I wanted to talk about food and health but that was as far as I’d gotten. I had posted once, maybe twice, but I still did not have a name in mind. Then, on the same day my op-ed on doctoring was published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, my husband and I happened to attend a wedding and have the good fortune to be seated next to an elderly aunt of the bride, a Russian immigrant with a distinct accent and distinctive wit. I was in rare form that night, blabbing happily about the bride and groom, the newspaper piece, my new blog. She listened with interest, interrupting my proud gushing between bites of salad with the occasional question until finally she blurted out, “You know, there is a saying in my country. Your health is on your plate.” I stopped talking. She had gotten it. And I got it, too, because the moment she supplied it, I knew I had just heard the name of my new blog. Your health is on your plate. It was perfect.

But here’s the thing — good health is not just about what we eat. It’s also about activity, and about rest and relaxation. And most of all, it’s about the synergy among the three: Go for a great walk and you sleep better; get a lousy night’s sleep and you circle the vending machine (or refrigerator) all day, eat too much and you don’t feel like moving. Everything is connected, and so small improvements on all fronts can translate into major changes in health. In this country, we tend to put all our eggs in the “diet and exercise” buckets. There can be no synergy unless you add in being kind to yourself. Rest is not optional. Relaxation is not optional. Self-respect is not up for grabs.

Where am I going with this? Well, I’ve learned something along the way. It turns out that while, sure, your health is on your plate, it’s not only on your plate. Your health is on your pillow. It’s on your yoga mat. It’s on your couch. It’s on a massage table. It’s on a hill at sunrise. It’s on a hike in the mountains. Your health is on a picnic blanket in the park, at a ball game with your friends, in your running shoes, in a soaking bath or under a waterfall. Your health is definitely in your kitchen. But it’s also everywhere else that brings you joy, or comfort, or inspiration, or peace. We talk about nourishing ourselves not just with food but with gratitude. Nurture your soul with love, kindness, music, nature, and whatever else your heart desires. Your health depends on it.

Til next time…have a good week.