We all know about gut instinct.
It’s that inner compass that guides you day in and day out – even when you choose to disregard it’s message.
Most of the time, it’s ‘spot on’ – helping you determine whether something might be harmful to you, or not – be it another person, a situation, or even the foods you choose to eat.
You can either honor that innate directive in the moment it occurs or ignore it completely.
All to often you might choose the latter – despite knowing, on a gut level that you really ought to pay attention!
The thing is, you have a direct gut-brain connection in your body – with these two seemingly distinct entities constantly in communication with each other.
Yet while your thinking brain knows how to separate fact from fiction – the brain in your gut (literally your 2nd brain) doesn’t have that ability.
Instead, you’re relying entirely on instinct – which doesn’t always register on a conscious level.
It’s why you might suddenly feel an urge to run to the bathroom in a stressful situation – or experience butterflies in the pit of your stomach right before an important speech or presentation.
With all this in mind, let me give you a personal example of how your gut and brain can often fool you:
For months now, I’ve had more than a few ‘in-your-face’ clues indicating I might have a sensitivity to all things coconut – yet I’ve been resisting the idea with every ounce of my being.
Why?
I didn’t want to face it!
For starters I LOVE coconut! Plus, I use it in EVERYTHING – be it coconut oil for cooking and baking, coconut flakes in my faux cereal, or creamy, full-fat coconut milk – which in my opinion is hands down the best substitute around for dairy.
Secondly, for those of you who know me – I already have such an incredible long list of foods that I avoid for various reasons (for the sake of brevity it’s way too long to list in this space – but feel free to message me if you’re curious to know more).
After all, this is EXACTLY what I specialize in – helping others identify and remove their environmental and dietary triggers, so they can finally start to feel better.
So if anyone knows the drill, it’s me!
Even so, I resisted. And resisted some more – before finally deciding to take the plunge. I set myself a goal of ‘surviving’ without coconut oil, milk or coconut anything for a minimum of three days.
And you know what?
Just a few days into it, I started to feel so much better that I don’t want to stop! Lighter, calmer, with more stable blood sugar and moods, and very little in the way of cravings.
But wait a minute!
How can something so good for you be bad? Aren’t healthy fats supposed to contribute to those very feelings of satiety and stable moods?
Yes, they are!
And that’s the paradox – whenever you’re eating a food that for whatever reason doesn’t agree with the uniqueness of your particular immune system – your body will send out signals letting you know to STOP.
More often than not it’s human nature to ignore those symptoms, despite blatant indications that something’s amiss.
So let me ask you – what is it that you’re resisting? What is your body telling you that you simply don’t want to hear?
I’ll leave you with these two thoughts:
Your idea of ‘normal’ might not be normal
For a complete list of symptoms that are anything BUT normal, go here.
Or, to put it another way – especially if you chalk things up to getting older: “Cognitive decline is clearly not inevitable.” (Mayo Clinic, July 2002)
If your mantra is “I don’t have a problem”
I hear this one often, usually in the form of “My digestion is working just fine.” Again – check out this list of symptoms and see if any of them describes you.
If you find yourself saying ‘Yes’ to even one – it’s time to listen up and take action.
For my go-to tips on getting started, check out my FREE download “7 Steps to Healing Your Gut – banish inflammation, ease your symptoms & lose weight”.
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