Self-Care Is the Work That Changes You
Ali Segersten Dec 02, 2025
Self-care is the practice of supporting your body and nervous system in ways that create real, lasting change. This is the transformative work that changes your health and your relationship with yourself at the same time.
The work of removing inflammatory foods, identifying food sensitivities, reducing sugar and alcohol, supporting detoxification, healing the gut, prioritizing protein, and restoring sleep is not easy. It requires consistency, awareness, and the willingness to disrupt familiar patterns.
It is through this work that self-worth strengthens and your capacity for life expands.
How Self-Care Changes You
First, your body changes.
Inflammation decreases. Blood sugar stabilizes. Cortisol rhythms improve. Digestion becomes more efficient. Energy becomes more available. And your nervous system spends less time in overdrive.
Every time you let go of what isn't serving you anymore, you give yourself the self-love and validation that you are worthy of change. With each new action, you build momentum on a new trajectory of your life. This increases your capacity to move through daily life with more balance, resilience, and clarity.
Second, you change.
Each time you let go of something that harms you—a food, a habit, a pattern, a lifestyle choice—you reinforce a quiet but powerful message: I am worth the effort.
Self-worth strengthens through the aligned choices you make again and again.
Over time, this changes how you relate to yourself. The bar moves.
What once felt normal starts to feel misaligned.
What once drained you becomes harder to tolerate.
This is life’s exquisite feedback system.
“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”
—Stephen Covey
When Alignment Becomes Natural
As you spend more time in self-care, your boundaries to what depletes you become stronger, and you create the space for what replenishes you. This is how you become aligned for what is best for your body, your health, and your needs.
When your actions consistently support your health, your internal standards rise. What once felt familiar begins to feel costly. What once felt “fine” begins to feel misaligned. This is how self-care changes you.
It's the challenges we face that help us grow and evolve into the versions of ourselves that we are meant to become. It often feels easier to hold onto what we know, rather than take a leap into the unknown and let go of what is no longer serving us, however, life always awaits beyond our known comfort zone. Letting go of whatever habit or food that you know is causing issues for you clears the way for more health, vitality, and abundance to flow into your life.
About the Author
Alissa Segersten, MS, CN
Alissa Segersten, MS, CN, is the founder of Nourishing Meals®, an online meal-planning membership with over 1,800 nourishing recipes and tools to support dietary change and better health. As a functional nutritionist, professional recipe developer, and author of The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, Nourishing Meals, and co-author of The Elimination Diet, she helps people overcome health challenges through food. A mother of five, Alissa understands the importance of creating nutrient-dense meals for the whole family. Rooted in science and deep nourishment, her work makes healthy eating accessible, empowering thousands to transform their well-being through food.Nourishing Meals Newsletter
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