Functional Nutrition Blog

Focusing on gut health and Functional nutrition

Planning for Your Gut Health Journey: Part I

Oct 4, 2021 | Gut Health, Nutrition

Today, I wanted to actually talk about your journey.  Little less in your face with information on how to change your diet or supplements to take and things like that, more internal, more mindful, a little bit more being aware. Which actually, I think can sometimes be a lot harder. But it’s important, because this has a lot to do with how you decide when to take action. How you decide when it is time for you to start reaching out, and not only deciding to reach out, but what are you reaching for, and why.

Let’s Journal Your Journey!

So I’m going to pose a few questions. And if you are the journaling type.  The type of person who enjoys pen to paper, or even typing something out, or putting it in your note in your phone.  Now might be a good time to kind of pause and grab that because I think having a little understanding of exactly what it is that you actually need. or more importantly, what it is that you aren’t quite aware of yet. What do you not know about the things that you need and are looking for.

   This is going to be really, really helpful.

These questions are for those of you who are anywhere on the spectrum of not feeling well.

  • So on one side, you might just start to have experience things like bloating and diarrhea and constipation or heartburn or, discomfort that might have anything to do with your digestion or an autoimmune disease perhaps.
  •  On the other end, are those of you who have been suffering for months, two years. So this stuff is not new to you, you’ve tried everything, you don’t know where you’re going at this point. You feel really hopeless, and a little bit desperate.
  •  Then there’s all of these things that sort of fall in between. So you could be anywhere on that spectrum.

Where Do I Turn?!

The point is that once you get over here, and you no longer have any understanding of what else you can do for yourself, the next step in this journey, is figuring out, what is the next step? Who do you reach out to? Who can you reach out to?   What are the available options?  That’s what I want to try to help people figure out for those of you who are on the other end, where you’re just sort of starting to realize, oh, man, this might be me, I’m not really sure.

Or maybe you just got a diagnosis of IBS or IBD.  And you’re wanting to try some things on your own, which I completely think is wonderful. But at some point, you’re going to be in a position where you might have to take action, you might have a really good understanding of what you’re looking for and what you need.  That’s what this journey is about.  I want you to plan for when that time comes. So that you know exactly what you’re doing, what you’re looking for, who you want to say yes to, who you want to say no to.

Ask Yourself

So here are some questions that I think are going to be really helpful. I asked my, clients some of these questions before I even agreed to get on a phone call to see if we’re a good fit, because it’s that important.

So the first thing that you might ask yourself is in the next three to six months, maybe you pick a different timeframe? What if nothing changes? What if nothing changes in the next three to six months? And you continue to feel the way that you are feeling right now? How does your world look?  What does that feel like physically, emotionally?

What’s the meaning for your family? Or your children? Or your partner or your friends? What does it mean for your job?  Or going places?  What does it mean for you? What does that look like? So get really clear about that maybe even jot it down.

On the flip side, in three to six months, if you could solve every single complaint that you currently have about your health, or that feel like would it give you a sense of freedom? Would you no longer have to worry about where the bathroom was? Could you be able to come off of a medication?

Maybe you will be able to stop carrying around a small bathroom cabinet of supplements and, and medications?  Go out to eat freely? Would you be able to feed your family without having to think about it? Would you feel less stressed about food in general?  And again, depending on where you are on the scale, these things are going to change and be different and as you move up or on this scale, your answers to this might change.

Your Journey Is Your Timeline

So maybe you revisit some of these questions in another two or three months and see, have my answers changed? How am I  progressing through the way that I’m feeling? What is in your way from reaching out, for help and guidance?

Is it because you’re afraid of having a better understanding of what’s really going on? Because what if it’s something really terrible? That’s totally valid?

Do You Have The What Ifs?

What if I have a parasite?  Or I’m really actually quite unwell? What if?  It could be really overwhelming and a little bit scary to learn about those things?  Maybe a question to ask yourself is, will you be more unnerved, learning what’s going on with you, so that you can take action ? Or Does it feel more unnerving knowing that you don’t feel well, and worrying about the anticipation of understanding more?  it’s gonna go either way for some of you.

What’s Holding You Back

  • So it’s a fair, really, really real question. Is it money? Is the person that you want to do work with the person who you think could get you the best answer is just really expensive.

  • Is that not covered by insurance? Should you work on saving up to be able to do the thing that you want? Do you  put it on a credit card?  Do you get a loan?  I’ve seen people do some crazy things. In order to get support, answers and healing that they’re looking for.

  • Here is a really big one.  If you do not feel supported internally by the people who are closest to you, and the most important to in your life.  That can be really challenging. Those are really hard conversations. But being aware that might be something that’s in your way, is a really important starting point.

  • You can’t have those conversations if you don’t even know that they’re part of the problem. So just a question that’s worth thinking about.

  •  This question is really important.  This is especially important for those of you who might just be in the beginning or middle stages of starting to feel like wow, something is really not okay here. I want you to ask yourself.  I want you to develop an answer, a bottom line for yourselves.   What needs to happen, in order for me to throw my hands up and say, I’m going to get some help.

Everyone’s Journey Is Different

I don’t mean that it has to be some really tragic dramatic thing. That’s not the case, maybe it is for you. For some people, it might simply be the first time that I cannot have a bowel movement for four days in a row.  I am no longer willing to deal with that level of discomfort, I am going to seek help. For somebody else it might be, I’m going to try this medication.  If I don’t feel better in three months, then I’m going to reach out for somebody.

Decide what that thing is for your journey, so that you can plan. That way you have next steps to look forward to all the time. This will help you avoid getting into a place where you’re like, I just have no idea what the hell to do.  You might still not know what to do, but you’re going to know what steps to take to be able to figure it out and that changes everything.

Your Worth It!

This question can be really interesting. I want you to think about how much is your health worth to you? Can you put a number on it? Maybe you can, maybe you can’t? Is there a number that is going to describe how much your health actually is worth to you. I think it’s important to think about in that way, simply because a lot of the things that we find the most supportive and most helpful are often outside of what insurance is going to cover.   That can make it a little bit challenging and really frustrating.  This is YOUR journey !

So these are just some things to think about. I encourage you to really sit with them and see what comes up for you and decide exactly how you are going to take action for your journey. This is a plan for you. See what comes up. Good luck.

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