It’s the RIGHT time… but then what do you do?
If you’ve been reading my last two blogs (RIGHT TIME and WHAT IS UNWELLNESS COSTING YOU) then you’ve got a couple of TIPS that begin orienting you towards improved health.
Those actions would IMMEDIATELY begin changing your health for the better.
SO… did you take those actions? Because if you did you’d be off to a great start.
But then… WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO???
I get your dilemma!! Should you do the… Alkaline diet? Atkins? Pegan? Blood type diet? Carb cycling? Keto? Paleo? Pritikin? Raw food diet? Low FODMAP? Low calorie? Whole Food Plant-based no salt, no oil? Zone diet? Intermittent fasting?
Or should you be… Dairy-free? Gluten-free? Lectin free? Phytic acid free? or maybe a… Flexitarian? Fruitarian? Pescatarian? Vegetarian? Nutritarian? Vegan?
Or maybe a… Juice cleanse, Celery cleanse, Soup diet?
Guess what?
It took me 3-yrs to find the RIGHT time (why did I wait?!?!?) and IN that time… I tried just almost every single one of them!! Seriously!!
What happened?
Well with some of them I felt ALOT worse, with others I felt better for a while, then the minute I stopped I felt terrible again. The weight piled back on, symptoms returned with a vengeance and I was back at square one.
Actually, I LIE…
I wasn’t back at square one… I was a MINUS 10.
My back pain became worse… in fact, unbearable at times… with days or even weeks at a time being bedridden.
And then…
One night, when going to the loo (as I sat down) the most excruciating pain shot through my body. Next thing, I woke up on the floor with my husband running in to check what happened (he’d heard a loud clang). There I was, on the floor, in a pool of blood. I had hit the shower screen which left me with a 6cm gash in my forehead and a gash through my eyebrow.
Ambulance… hospital… stitches…
Returning home the next day, I was now in MORE pain and with more damage to my poor body.
As I laid in bed I thought WHAT am I missing here??
So, made the decision to head back to Uni in search of answers.
It was during my Nutrition studies I came across ‘the Gut Microbiome’.
Finally something that made sense
That was (and still is) backed by EVIDENCE.
I discovered that our bodies have around 100 trillion cells — and that 90% of that is our Gut Microbiome.
I learned… that when our Microbiome flourishes… we flourish.
When IT struggles… WE struggle.
AND then a piece of research, a quote I read, that changed EVERYTHING for me…
…“diet and lifestyle interventions transiently alter the gut microbiome community structure, but long-term changes are required to shift to a new steady-state”.
I realised that I had ONLY seen HALF the picture.
My FOCUS had only been on diet… not LIFESTYLE
AND
I was ‘transiently’ shifting it, by hopping on and off the diet merry-go-round but never making the long-term changes required to shift it to a new-steady state.
So, here are 2 TIPS that I did… and it worked…
1. STOP thinking of your health as a destination, with an end point. START thinking about every single day being a part of a bigger picture.
Think of your inner garden (Microbiome) like you would a plant in your garden that you were trying to help flourish.
2. STOP focusing on the FOOD and consider ALL the lifestyle elements that are NEEDED to shift your Microbiome (stress, lifestyle, sleep, how you eat, medications, movement, skin and home products etc.)
Like that plant you want to flourish… think about ALL the elements needed… soil, water, sunshine, right weather conditions, pesticides etc..
I hope this article helps you and your health.
If you want to know more about my programs that are designed to IMPROVE your Gut Health then head HERE or if you want to eat your way back to health — one meal at a time — check out my Gut Health Recipe Compendium. Nat xx