Fort Monroe formed the Civilian Health and Resiliency Program for DoD civilians earlier this year. This program models the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program in structure and its goal of keeping workers healthy by tending to five core pillars. The pillars are spiritual, mental, physical, family and social. Each element is holistically dependent upon the next to create a whole body, mind and spiritual health to maximize a person’s ability to rebound from difficult situations, or be resilient. The goal of CHRP is to meet or exceed the U.S. Army’s expectations for its civilian workforce.

To demonstrate the manner in which each of the five core pillars are independent yet synergistically dependent upon each other, consider the relevance of diet and nutrition to all of the core pillars of resiliency. The average person makes more than 90 decisions a day about eating, mostly without even being conscious of pivotal decision points that can affect health in either a beneficial or adverse way.

For instance, the foods we consume are affected by our spiritual beliefs, since most religions encourage periodic fasting, dietary restrictions and avoidance of gluttony. Many believe that we can focus on our spiritual life more when our stomachs are not that full. It is thought that eating modestly strengthens the will to pray and focuses our attention on humility.

Prayer and modesty might be overlooked if food was the center of our universe. This explains the rationale of eating to live not living to eat.

How and what we eat also affects our mental status and mood. Depending on how many carbohydrates we consume, determines how happy or agitated we feel. Eating affects our blood sugar and certain body hormones that impact our moods. Much is currently being discovered about how food and nutrition affects brain health. For example, blueberries and other foods high in antioxidants are thought to keep nerve synapses open and make thinking clearer. They also help us remember things better.

The more dietary carbohydrates the higher the serotonin levels in the brain which makes people feel calm and relaxed. The more fat people consume, the higher the body’s endorphin level. Endorphins increase the feeling of pleasure and relieve pain in the body.

Unfortunately a diet high in fat increases the chance of becoming diabetic, having heart disease and cancer and becoming obese. Fat also increases the neurotransmitter galanin which enhances the desire for more fatty foods. It is a vicious cycle. Instead of eating fat to increase endorphins, why not simply exercise more since this also increases endorphin production in the body.

It is obvious how much eating affects our physical status. Eating disorders include both overeating and undereating. Obesity is normally caused from overeating and not being able to distinguish between physiological and emotional hunger.

Feeling physiological hunger should occur every three to four hours, as blood sugar levels are decreased. Feeling “emotional” hunger persists throughout the day for one specific food item at a time; never to be satisfied with that food item once it is consumed.

The physical status of the body can suffer from overeating or undereating. Ailments like diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and muscle pain are all related to overeating. While cardiac problems, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), electrolyte imbalances, anemia and a low immune system can be attributed by undereating.

Many of us practice eating for social reasons all the time. Go into any office and notice the doughnuts, snacks and candy in the work area available to everyone. Count the number of times that you eat out with friends or go out for work functions that revolve around food. We can eat up to 25 percent more whenever we go out with friends and because our friends are encouraging us to eat like they are. It can be important to choose our battles and friends wisely when it comes to eating out.

Similar to social settings, family members can either help us make wise choices or sabotage our efforts to be successful in dietary decision making. It may be important to speak to family members and share goals and aspirations to practice resiliency in all five of these areas. Enlisting their constant support is often crucial for your success since they are usually our biggest support structure.

Balancing lifestyle choices to maximize our resiliency depends on how well we can balance all aspects of life in each one of these five pillars. Eating habits and nutritional practices are just one element that can be applied to each of the five pillars of resiliency.

Building positive behavioral habits in any one area will strengthen the preponderance to do the same in another pillar because the five pillars of resiliency are linked and inseparable.