3 Common Barriers On Your Gut & Hormone Healing Journey

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Abby, a functional dietitian and gut health expert.

[00:00:04] Hi, I'm Jillian, a functional dietitian that specializes in women's health and hormones.

[00:00:09] And this is Your Body Has Your Back podcast.

[00:00:14] Together we have over 20 years of experience supporting clients in healing their gut and

[00:00:18] hormone symptoms and guiding them from overwhelmed to ease in their body.

[00:00:22] We help clients reconnect with their body and transform their lives using targeted

[00:00:26] nutrition, lifestyle, and supplement therapies.

[00:00:29] Finding optimal health in our modern chaotic world is more challenging than ever.

[00:00:33] And now it's our mission to provide you with the tools you need to strengthen your

[00:00:37] relationship with your body, to resolve your gut and hormone symptoms,

[00:00:41] and become your greatest health advocate.

[00:00:43] Join us for honest, inspiring, and offbeat conversations on health that will

[00:00:47] leave you feeling empowered to take action so that you can trust Your Body Has Your Back.

[00:01:05] We are back post-New Year's.

[00:01:08] It's 2024.

[00:01:10] We took some time throughout the holiday for a little rest and recuperation.

[00:01:15] We hope you all did too, but we are so excited to be back with some new stuff.

[00:01:20] And we wanted to kick off this year's conversation with exploring some of the most

[00:01:24] common healing barriers that we see in practice when it comes to gut and hormone health.

[00:01:30] It is our goal to help guide everyone in knowing that you can heal your gut and hormones

[00:01:36] without practicing restrictions or extremes.

[00:01:39] So with that theme in mind, we are here to help guide you on educating around what

[00:01:46] are the three healing barriers that we see and what to do instead.

[00:01:50] So Jilly's going to kick us off with number one.

[00:01:54] All right.

[00:01:54] So first up is only focusing on food.

[00:01:58] Now this might come as a surprise given that Abby and I love food.

[00:02:03] We talk about food all day long.

[00:02:05] And as functional medicine dieticians, we are clearly super, super passionate

[00:02:10] about food and strongly believe in the healing power of food and nutrition.

[00:02:15] Nutrition and building a supportive foundation with your dietary pattern is always one of

[00:02:21] the first places we start with clients because it has such a profound ripple effect

[00:02:26] really on every system and organ in the body.

[00:02:29] But a huge barrier that we see for clients is when the focus is only on food and nutrition.

[00:02:36] And really important lifestyle factors like stress, sleep, circadian rhythms, movement,

[00:02:42] phone use, and boundaries with phone use.

[00:02:45] When these things are neglected, that's where we see the big barrier pop up.

[00:02:51] I want to preface this by mentioning that it's unrealistic to expect yourself to focus on

[00:02:57] all of these things at once.

[00:02:59] So when we say only focusing on food is a barrier, that doesn't mean you need to focus

[00:03:04] on food, sleep, stress, movement, all these things at the same time if you're exploring

[00:03:09] new habits and new strategies.

[00:03:11] And it's really important to prioritize what you're working on and really avoid trying

[00:03:17] to change too many things at once to avoid creating overwhelm and that type of a purchase

[00:03:22] isn't sustainable.

[00:03:23] But it's super common for us to see situations with clients where they are really frustrated

[00:03:29] when they reach out to work with us because they've been working really diligently to

[00:03:33] make dietary changes and they're not seeing results.

[00:03:36] They're not seeing improvements with their digestive health symptoms.

[00:03:38] They're not seeing improvements with their hormonal imbalance symptoms.

[00:03:42] To give you a specific example here, maybe a client comes to us for support with chronic bloating,

[00:03:50] miserable periods and weight loss resistance.

[00:03:53] They've done a ton of work to balance their blood sugar.

[00:03:56] They're eating a whole foods diet.

[00:03:58] They're eating enough.

[00:03:59] They're meeting their carb protein fat fiber needs really well and their symptoms haven't

[00:04:04] budged and they're like what the heck is going on?

[00:04:07] After doing a little digging, we might learn that this client's sleep schedule

[00:04:11] is super, super erratic.

[00:04:13] They go to bed late.

[00:04:14] Maybe they go to bed at midnight 1 a.m.

[00:04:17] They're up late using social media and on their phone and using screens late into the evening.

[00:04:25] Their wake-up time is super erratic.

[00:04:28] When they wake up in the morning, the first thing they do is check social media.

[00:04:31] They check their email.

[00:04:32] They check their work slack and they get no exposure to sunlight.

[00:04:36] They have no calming practices in their morning routine to ground themselves to start the day.

[00:04:42] If you remember back to our circadian rhythm episode in season one,

[00:04:47] we talk a lot about the importance of sleep and circadian rhythms for gut health or digestion,

[00:04:53] for hormone health, for metabolic health.

[00:04:55] Digestion is circadian and if circadian rhythms are dysregulated or disrupted,

[00:05:01] digestion likely will be disrupted too and this could be a big driver of bloating regardless of

[00:05:07] what we are eating.

[00:05:09] We also shared a study in the circadian rhythm episode that basically took a group of people

[00:05:15] that had healthy metabolic parameters and disrupted their circadian rhythms for three weeks

[00:05:21] by keeping them up late at night and exposing them to blue light.

[00:05:25] At the end of three weeks, they experienced an 8% decrease in their metabolism,

[00:05:31] their metabolic rate and they had pre-diabetic blood sugar parameters in just three weeks.

[00:05:37] There was no dietary changes or interventions happening in this study and the dietary factors

[00:05:42] were confounded for or accounted for rather.

[00:05:45] Just to point out that something like dysregulated circadian rhythms and altered sleep schedule,

[00:05:51] poor sleep quality, all of these things could be driving symptoms outside of food.

[00:05:58] We might also learn that this person also has a really, really busy high pressure job.

[00:06:04] They work long hours and therefore they eat meals while they're distracted doing work,

[00:06:09] scrolling on their phone and they also have to eat super fast because they don't have a lot

[00:06:13] of time to sit down and enjoy a meal.

[00:06:16] In season two, episode 16 of the podcast, we discussed some of the core reasons that you might

[00:06:22] be bloated that have nothing to do with food. One of the core things that we discussed in this

[00:06:28] episode that we talked probably for far too long about because we love this topic was eating hygiene

[00:06:33] or how you eat and the importance of optimizing how you eat for supporting digestion.

[00:06:38] We could eat all the nutritious nourishing food in the world,

[00:06:43] but if we are not supporting digestion with something like eating hygiene and really supporting

[00:06:49] that top-to-bottom process with digestion, this could be a huge culprit with bloating and discomfort

[00:06:56] and GI symptoms. Maybe we talk to this person and they also have no outlets for stress reduction

[00:07:02] in their daily life outside of the orange theory classes that they go to.

[00:07:07] Movement, of course, has a laundry list of health benefits and can feel really,

[00:07:11] really great mentally, so it can feel like a stress reliever in that sense.

[00:07:17] Ultimately, workouts, especially higher intensity workouts like orange theory,

[00:07:21] can be stressors in themselves. If we're operating in a state of chronic fight or

[00:07:27] flight, cortisol is dysregulated. This is absolutely going to contribute to

[00:07:32] impaired digestion and bloating, weight loss resistance, and likely miserable,

[00:07:37] unpleasant, painful periods. Just to highlight a more specific example and one that we might

[00:07:45] actually see in real life in terms of getting too focused on food and neglecting some of the

[00:07:50] really important lifestyle factors that impact our holistic health. The overall message we really

[00:07:56] want to drive home here is that food and nutrition are incredibly important, but this is

[00:08:02] just one piece of the health puzzle and we really have to assess all of our habits and work to support

[00:08:09] the body holistically to see significant results with our health and symptoms over time.

[00:08:17] I think it's so common when we're just focusing on food to then get pulled into

[00:08:23] this restriction-based mindset of, oh, maybe I need to stop eating XYZ food or

[00:08:30] we see a lot of, oh, maybe I have to go plant-based. It's the animal protein or it's the

[00:08:36] seed oils or it's whatever all of these pieces that are more really getting into micro strategies

[00:08:42] that are most often not the big rocks that we see really being the dynamics that are keeping

[00:08:49] someone entrenched in their gut or hormone habits. You really hit the nail on the head with so many

[00:08:54] of those examples. I feel like in my own life too. I just got the aura rang and I'm such a

[00:09:00] obsessed user right now, even though Jilly said she's had it for three years and is still obsessed

[00:09:04] user so I feel good. 100% obsessed still. But what I've noticed is I love walking. I'm a pretty

[00:09:11] fast walker and it's like, you know, I may be wearing like a badge of honor on my shoulder

[00:09:15] about it but I've realized like my walks are not stress reducing. Like my aura is like,

[00:09:19] what are you doing? Like you're stressed to the like, I'm the highest on the chart after

[00:09:23] a walk and through it. And so even that reflection that I use very much feel like,

[00:09:29] oh, they feel really like my mind feels expanded. Like I feel like they're a more energetic

[00:09:34] expander for me but my body does not view them as being a stress experience or stress reducing

[00:09:41] experience. So I'm working on maybe slowing down and breathing more throughout my walk

[00:09:47] but also recognizing that those go into a different bucket that my stress practices

[00:09:55] are my meditation, they're my time on the acupressure mat. They're the times that I do

[00:10:01] the softer stillness pieces, not my movement practices and the walking is a different bucket.

[00:10:08] So even that, once we kind of get some of this intel into like our unique body of like, oh,

[00:10:16] maybe we're doing some practices that we can look at through a different lens especially

[00:10:20] when we start to think of all the ripples that impact our gut and hormones from the lifestyle

[00:10:25] perspective as well as the nutrition perspective. I love all of those points that you bring up,

[00:10:31] especially kind of the first thing that you mentioned around if the nutrition,

[00:10:35] if we're not seeing results with the nutrition strategies, we often think that we need to go

[00:10:40] harder, right? We need to be more restrictive and we need to keep digging. And sometimes,

[00:10:45] oftentimes with clients we work with, there are deeper layers and kind of micro strategies and

[00:10:52] deeper things we work on from a nutrition perspective. But we would never dive into those

[00:10:57] things if all of these lifestyle factors and foundations weren't in a good place. So that's

[00:11:04] such a good point and a helpful reminder. And I also think what you're bringing up about your

[00:11:09] stressful walks, which I'm most definitely guilty of as well, a lot of other people can probably

[00:11:15] relate to. And I think it also speaks to the fact that sometimes our body does perceive things

[00:11:21] differently. Same thing we were talking about this over the weekend, Abby, in terms of cold

[00:11:27] exposure and cold punches where cold therapy being a hermetic stressor can have a lot of

[00:11:36] benefits. But as always, the context is incredibly important. We have to consider female physiology,

[00:11:41] all sorts of things. And cold exposure really increases the production of all these feel-good

[00:11:48] brain chemicals. So we can be like, wow, I feel amazing and energized in this and that,

[00:11:54] but it is a stressor. And sometimes our system might experience something different. So we need

[00:11:59] to kind of think about all of these different factors, the context, and just make sure that

[00:12:05] our stress outlets aren't actually stressors. It's such a good thing to think about. And I think

[00:12:14] even more so as these more gadgets and gizmos, and I'm a big fan of the sauna kind of cold plunge,

[00:12:20] but recognizing that it has a place and almost like, I'm almost thinking like two different

[00:12:26] buckets now. Like one is the nervous system support that's more in stillness. And that's

[00:12:32] more like gentle, really deep grounding breathwork and meditation and journaling and

[00:12:39] kind of the things that we do in a stillness practice. And then we can have the tools of

[00:12:47] sauna, the cold plunge, the walks, the things that do have a degree of stress to them,

[00:12:55] different degrees for different things. Certainly walks are probably not the level of cold

[00:12:58] plunge unless you're like having the zoomies like I am around my neighborhood. But that there is a

[00:13:04] degree of stress that gets stirred up by those. And then sometimes as a result of that, our body

[00:13:10] comes into a lower level of stress on kind of the come down experience. That's typically what

[00:13:16] we see after like a sauna or sometimes after a cold plunge. But we have to have the resilience

[00:13:22] to withstand that initial stressor in order to get the benefit of the come down. And if our bodies,

[00:13:29] if we've got maybe our bucket of stress is too high because of other dynamics,

[00:13:34] this is where we want to start with those stillness practices and the very like,

[00:13:38] if we think about like pulling all the fancy stuff away and just doing like the bare minimums

[00:13:43] of looking at like, am I eating whole foods? How is my sleep practice? Am I getting sunlight

[00:13:49] in the morning? Like the very unsexy foundations that we talk endlessly about like those are the

[00:13:54] level of which we want to be starting at and really making sure that those are like

[00:13:59] present and accounted for. Then we can kind of transition to say like, ooh, some of these fancy

[00:14:04] bells and whistles, are they appropriate for me? Do they feel good for me? All of those

[00:14:08] pieces and we'll get a clearer picture as to do they feel good for you or are they just kind

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[00:14:55] Yeah, and I will also be the first to admit that on my own healing journey, stillness practices

[00:15:02] were the hardest. And you know, for me they actually, and I find this for a lot of clients,

[00:15:09] they ended up being the most impactful or one of the most impactful pieces of my own

[00:15:15] healing journey. And it's kind of, I always like butcher any type of saying, but like the things that

[00:15:21] you resist the most are the things that you probably actually need the most or however the

[00:15:26] saying goes. But you know, we live in a world that is very stressful and a lot of us are,

[00:15:32] you know, our bodies get used to and adapt to operating in that chronic fight or flight and

[00:15:37] operating in that, you know, sympathetic state, and it can be very uncomfortable,

[00:15:41] you know, to lean into stillness. But you know, I think a lot of us can relate to that. And if

[00:15:47] that's something you observe, you know, start small, start small and work from there. But

[00:15:52] you know, overall, I think we really again just want to highlight that food and nutrition

[00:15:57] so important such such a foundational piece of health and, you know, such a foundational

[00:16:03] piece of any healing journey. But we have to think about all these factors that impact

[00:16:08] the holistic body and kind of leading perfectly into our second healing barrier is

[00:16:14] under eating. Talk about a foundation. We talk about this concept a lot kind of throughout the

[00:16:21] podcast, we opened on our first episode really touching on this. So definitely tune back into

[00:16:27] that first episode to get a little bit more. And it comes up so often in our work with clients.

[00:16:32] So we just wanted to spend, you know, some time really bringing this to the forefront for

[00:16:37] maybe the hundredth time that we've talked about it so far. And this is one of the most common

[00:16:42] dynamics that we see in our clients in both of our private practices, you know, I think part of

[00:16:48] maybe one of the major part of our jobs with clients is to coach and a lot of this comes up

[00:16:54] with women, but really coaching to increase caloric intake kind of gradually as we start

[00:17:01] working with clients because it is so, so common. And why we are so passionate about this optimal

[00:17:08] caloric intake. So avoiding this under eating is that under eating is a huge driver of so many

[00:17:14] gut and hormone challenges. It in its own right is a root cause. So you know, all this

[00:17:19] conversation about this being a root cause, mold toxicity, parasites, like all of these big

[00:17:25] pieces, this is the biggest root cause that we all individually have the most control over.

[00:17:31] So again, this is where we want, you know, people to really start and bring context to

[00:17:37] some of these, you know, associated symptoms that we see with this under eating are chronic

[00:17:42] constipation, cortisol imbalances, blood sugar dysregulation, low thyroid function or hypothyroid,

[00:17:49] period problems, including the loss of your period, hair thinning, dry skin, mood imbalances,

[00:17:55] the list goes on and on. And all of these are associated with this under eating. And many,

[00:18:02] many individuals, many women are maybe unintentionally under eating. There might be some intentional

[00:18:08] restriction or on this kind of desire to, to maybe lose weight or shift body composition.

[00:18:13] But there also just might be a familiarity with this is how much I typically eat and always have.

[00:18:18] And it hovers around 1500 to 1800 calories. And that could be just too low. And one of the reasons

[00:18:26] why for many years you might be struggling with these kind of low experiences of, of symptoms

[00:18:32] that are kind of almost the snowball effect building and building and building to bigger,

[00:18:37] more intense symptoms over time. And this is really because under eating is a massive

[00:18:43] stressor on the body. So reversing under eating, this is where it can be challenging because

[00:18:52] when we approach it just from listen to your body and only eat when you're hungry. This is

[00:18:59] where Jilly and I kind of pushed back on the like intuitive eating crowd a little bit.

[00:19:03] When you've been low grade under eating for quite some time or even a history of yo-yo dieting

[00:19:08] or exploring intensive fasting or any type of lower caloric intake or diet for a longer period

[00:19:15] of time, it's normal to experience low grade hunger signals, especially low grade hunger in the morning.

[00:19:22] So you wake up and you're not hungry. So that you're like, Oh, intermittent fasting feels really

[00:19:26] good for me. I start with just black coffee. And then we start to run on, on stress hormones.

[00:19:32] We want to be waking up with an appetite. This is really a positive sign for metabolism.

[00:19:38] And metabolism, we mean more of your body is taking in and utilizing energy effectively and

[00:19:44] efficiently. So we have to be eating optimal amounts of calories in order to have a robust

[00:19:50] metabolism in order to utilize and create energy in our body for that optimal gut function for

[00:19:58] those optimal hormones for optimal mood, brain, hair, skin, you name it. And things that impact

[00:20:05] appetite throughout the day are stress, pushing off breakfast, coffee before breakfast, intermittent

[00:20:12] fasting, going long periods between meals. All of these practices ramp up our stress hormone

[00:20:18] that drives so much of that gut and hormone challenges we see because in the absence of food,

[00:20:23] we're going to increase our stress hormone to mobilize blood sugar from the liver so that we

[00:20:28] can actually have the fuel to run the body. So if we don't give it to our body, our body's

[00:20:32] going to find it but not in the most graceful way and definitely not the way that we want if we are

[00:20:37] seeking a healed gut and balanced hormones. So with that, you know, if you are wanting to heal

[00:20:45] your gut and balance your hormones and you are under eating or even might think, am I under

[00:20:50] eating? If that's like a question that's really like coming up in the back of your mind,

[00:20:54] it's probably present. I will tell you as a chronic under eater for most of my life,

[00:20:59] it's work to start to take in optimal amount of calories. But this is absolutely something that,

[00:21:07] you know, you want to be making the choice to do because if we continue to under eat,

[00:21:13] we're going to continue to struggle no matter how many supplements or greens,

[00:21:16] powders or functional testing or elaborate routines that we bring into our lives. It is

[00:21:21] the most foundational level of healing. So our greatest hope is that awareness around the impact

[00:21:27] of under eating starts really trending in a major way in this kind of 2024. I've definitely seen it

[00:21:33] more. So we're moving in the right direction, but I think we got to make it louder.

[00:21:38] And we know that increase in caloric intake is not as easy as it sounds, especially when just as

[00:21:45] women, we've been inundated with this like eat less exercise more just mentality and that I

[00:21:52] idea of taking up less space physically, energetically, all of that kind of comes into question. So it

[00:21:59] certainly can be an emotional direction to move into to start to kind of eat more calories,

[00:22:05] eat more food in general. And this is where you know, we want to recognize that it's not only a

[00:22:11] relationship to food, but it's a relationship to our body. And so just allowing yourself to

[00:22:16] put that onto the table and we certainly do with clients so much, it's typically a bigger

[00:22:20] conversation than just like, Hey, we're going to eat more at breakfast, lunch and dinner and add in

[00:22:24] a snack or two. And like if so fact, oh, here we go. So we want to recognize that that certainly,

[00:22:30] you know, brings bring that attention to it. But we like to think about this as really

[00:22:36] making the intention for yourself, the decision to say from here on forward, I am going to

[00:22:42] deeply nourish my body by taking in the optimal caloric intake that my body deserves

[00:22:49] to optimally function every single day. I remember Jilly, when I made this decision,

[00:22:56] I think this is now like four years ago, somewhere around there to stop kind of

[00:23:03] under eating because I knew I was doing it, but I was like chronically constipated and I

[00:23:07] like really had low energy levels and just was like, but I'm not hungry and this feels so

[00:23:11] uncomfortable. And I remember having a conversation with Jilly, I think I've said this before,

[00:23:17] but she was like, we were just having a big conversation of under eating and how that

[00:23:21] was something that I really needed to like step up and make the make the decision around.

[00:23:26] And she was telling me that yeah, even on days, like if I, you know, recognize I reflect back

[00:23:31] on my day and I've recognized that I haven't taken in enough protein or just enough calories,

[00:23:37] like I'll do that right before I go to bed. Like I will eat another snack. Sometimes

[00:23:43] it's even a full meal if I need to, if just to hit that level so that my body is fed. I'm

[00:23:48] going to set myself up for better sleep. I'm going to have this whole experience. And I remember

[00:23:52] hearing that being like, you would even eat right before you go to sleep because I was in a big

[00:23:57] like fasting because I felt better fasted because I was chronically constipated all of

[00:24:01] these things. But really, I was just creating this vicious cycle for my body that was

[00:24:06] keeping me stuck in that subclinical hypothyroid low energy constipation dynamic.

[00:24:12] And I feel like it was literally after that conversation and like the shock and all that

[00:24:16] I was like, Oh my gosh, she's having like a big meal sometimes right before she goes to sleep,

[00:24:20] like revolutionary. But I was like, that's what I have to do. Like I have to make the decision

[00:24:25] so intensely to deeply nourish my body because I deserve it and I want healing so badly.

[00:24:33] And my body deserves it. That like that was very much the thing that like sunk in that I was

[00:24:38] like, okay, I'm open and willing to like eat a snack before bed or have a whole meal before bed.

[00:24:43] Like if the if I haven't done a diligent job that day in like deeply nourishing. So it's

[00:24:50] it's just such a such a massive part of our health. And that that sticks out to me so much.

[00:24:55] I remember that conversation so so vividly. And you know, many, many people here know,

[00:25:02] or if you've, you know, say followed me on Instagram for a long time. I have I have been

[00:25:06] talking about under eating for what what feels like a decade. And I do think we are, you know,

[00:25:12] especially in relation to women's health and female physiology. And I agree with Abby,

[00:25:17] I think we are making progress. I think people are starting to get curious to

[00:25:22] think about nutrition a little bit differently. But I think we have a long way to go.

[00:25:27] And, you know, let's let's make 2024 the year that you really become best friends with your body

[00:25:35] and you commit to working in alignment with your body to showing up for yourself to focusing on,

[00:25:42] you know, nourishment. You know, we've said this before, but you know, results with your

[00:25:47] health results with digestive symptoms hormones are never going to come from deprivation,

[00:25:53] restriction or bullying your body. And we live in a world that makes it really challenging to,

[00:26:00] you know, work work in flow with our bodies because we're told that, you know, we need to look at,

[00:26:05] you know, externally, we need to do this quick fix or that quick fix. And, you know,

[00:26:09] ultimately, I think one of the most powerful things that you can do is to,

[00:26:13] you know, really work on everything that Abby just mentioned in terms of showing up for

[00:26:17] yourself making a commitment to intentionally and adequately fueling your body every day.

[00:26:23] And I remember like that is very much, I think a year from that day,

[00:26:28] I like reflected with Jillian that I was like, Oh my God, my health has done a 180 in the most

[00:26:33] positive sense. And I and I was like reflecting back of like, what, you know, what did I do

[00:26:37] over this past year? Like I'm in such different place. This that and the other thing. And I

[00:26:41] was like, Oh my God, the one major thing and of the many million things that we always like

[00:26:46] explore on ourselves just as practitioners was that, that choice to intentionally deeply nourish

[00:26:54] my body. And I always said this to my when I was teaching and I guess at this point,

[00:27:00] I wasn't totally practicing what I was preaching when I was teaching this. But like you said,

[00:27:05] like treat your body like a best friend to the students, they'd say like, if your best

[00:27:09] friend turned to and was like me, I'm like, I really love a snack. Like I'm a little hungry,

[00:27:13] like you'd be like digging through your backpack being like, I think I have an old kind bar in

[00:27:17] here somewhere. Like there's got to be like a morsel of food or like, I've got enough change for the

[00:27:20] vending machines, like you would find your best friend to snack. Like you'd go to the ends of

[00:27:24] the earth to find your best friend to snack. And it's like, can we do that for ourselves?

[00:27:29] That it's like, even if you're like, Oh, am I hungry? Am I not like, Okay, it's been like

[00:27:32] four hours. Even if I'm not hungry, I'm gonna, I'm going to fuel this body because I know

[00:27:37] that based on that period of time, maybe my hunger hormones need a little bit more time to

[00:27:42] like get into where, get into the groove of what they, you know, optimally will be, but maybe

[00:27:46] they're not there yet. I'm going to help to teach them. I'm going to help to educate them

[00:27:50] that this is, you know, our pattern of which we eat. So eating by the clock when we're kind of

[00:27:55] moving ourselves out of that kind of under eating dynamic is a really helpful strategy

[00:28:01] that again, this is kind of where in that intuitive eating world, they, you know,

[00:28:05] you might have be guided to say like, no, just listen to your body. And that's where

[00:28:08] a little bit like we get to educate our body just as much as our body gets to educate us.

[00:28:13] So it's, it's this two way, like beautiful kind of communication of how we show up for our body

[00:28:17] and our body shows up for us because your body has your back.

[00:28:20] Your body has your back. Oh my gosh, I love it.

[00:28:30] When it comes to supporting gut health and hormones, balancing blood sugar is step

[00:28:34] number one. The foundations for supporting blood sugar balance that we discuss extensively on

[00:28:38] the podcast are an amazing place to start, but everyone is unique and really responds differently

[00:28:43] to nutrition and lifestyle changes. To get a clear sense of what's going on with your blood sugar

[00:28:49] and for understanding your unique response to nutrition and lifestyle strategies,

[00:28:53] we really love using various continuous glucose monitor. Very pairs a CGM with an easy to use app

[00:28:59] that gives you the ability to understand how your nutrition and lifestyle habits are impacting

[00:29:04] your blood sugar. These insights can help you improve your digestion, hormone health and metabolic

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[00:29:14] guide you with establishing supportive habits that improve your health, you can use code BSM-YBHYB

[00:29:22] or use the link in the show notes to enjoy $30 off your order.

[00:29:29] And I feel like I, you know, I could sit here and continue to talk about this point for

[00:29:34] the next hour. However, we have one last barrier that we want to make sure that we chat about. It's

[00:29:41] an important one if you are currently thinking about, you know, making diet lifestyle changes,

[00:29:48] you're, you know, in the trenches of a healing journey or even you're just looking to

[00:29:52] make some tweaks to optimize your health. So our third barrier here is an all or nothing

[00:29:59] mindset or black and white thinking as another way to put it. So all or nothing

[00:30:06] thinking when it comes to health and nutrition is truly one of the fastest ways to set yourself up

[00:30:13] for failure and a lot of frustration on your healing journey. Ultimately, an all or nothing

[00:30:18] mindset is rooted in perfectionism. Would you agree, Abby? That's kind of what really,

[00:30:25] you know, comes to surface for me in terms of thinking about that, you know, all or nothing

[00:30:29] black and white, you know, approach with food and nutrition and health.

[00:30:34] Oh, absolutely. And I think so much of that like perfectionism has an undertone of like stress

[00:30:40] to it. 100%. And, you know, in terms of perfectionism, so many of us just get

[00:30:46] paralyzed or derailed by the fear of not being perfect. If we can't do something 100%

[00:30:52] perfectly, we don't allow ourselves to do it at all or we just throw in the towel and say,

[00:30:57] you know, eff it. But the reality is that, you know, we are all different. We are all unique.

[00:31:04] We have different needs. Human bodies are incredibly, incredibly complicated and we are not robots.

[00:31:12] We were not designed to be perfect and we were not meant to follow these strict, rigid

[00:31:18] plans perfectly. This is always relevant in the online health space and in particularly,

[00:31:24] it's very relevant this time of year when people might be feeling a little off post holidays and,

[00:31:30] you know, good old diet culture swoops in and tells us that we need to do a 21 day fix,

[00:31:36] a whole 30, a sugar detox or some other random arbitrary elimination diet. And,

[00:31:43] you know, we're feeling a little bit off and we're getting all of this marketing about,

[00:31:47] you know, feel better fast in 21 days. You know, we totally get an empathize with why these

[00:31:53] things sound appealing. You know, oh, it's all laid out for me. That's perfect. That sounds so easy.

[00:31:58] But ultimately, these things in a long term sense, they inevitably set us up for failure.

[00:32:04] We are chasing essentially just this impossible standard and we're setting ourselves up for

[00:32:09] failure perfection with your diet, your nutrition, your lifestyle. It just doesn't exist.

[00:32:16] But the good news is you do not have to be perfect to see results with your health.

[00:32:22] And we often argue that the pursuit of perfection is something that will likely keep you stuck and

[00:32:29] it will really prevent you from seeing true progress on your health and healing journey.

[00:32:34] So this is where we really want to think about prioritizing the inner work,

[00:32:39] the mindset work while we're working to implement new strategies and to create

[00:32:44] new health promoting habits, especially if you have some of those perfectionist tendencies like,

[00:32:50] you know, many of us do. We need to normalize the fact that there is always trial and error

[00:32:56] involved when you're making changes to support your health. We don't, you know, set out to,

[00:33:01] you know, create a new habit or implement a new strategy tomorrow and have everything just,

[00:33:06] you know, go perfectly. And for that to, you know, integrate seamless, seamlessly

[00:33:11] into our lives, it just doesn't work that way. So when things don't go as planned,

[00:33:17] we really encourage clients to almost see this as a win because we are learning what doesn't work

[00:33:23] and that's going to help lead us to what does actually work. So when road bumps happen,

[00:33:28] this really just gives us the ability to, you know, be more observational and to work

[00:33:33] towards creating the path of least resistance and to work towards more consistency with

[00:33:38] approaches that actually feel realistic and fit within the context, you know, of our lives.

[00:33:44] So overall really biggest piece of advice here, do not let perfectionism be the enemy of progress.

[00:33:51] Something inevitably will come up as you are making changes to your nutrition and lifestyle.

[00:33:57] It might throw you for a loop. You will have setbacks, you will have challenging days,

[00:34:01] challenging weeks and just situations where things don't go as planned. And we just want

[00:34:06] you to know that this is a very, very normal part of this process. We don't need to beat

[00:34:11] ourselves up about this. We just want to get curious, be observational and look for opportunities to

[00:34:17] better support and show up for ourselves moving forward. So what we want you to really do as

[00:34:23] you're thinking about making shifts with your nutrition and lifestyle in the new year is

[00:34:27] to move out of this idea that you have to be perfect. Focus on showing up for yourself,

[00:34:33] doing your best and really, really getting comfortable with taking imperfect action on

[00:34:39] your health and healing journey. That's so perfectly said. I mean we see it all the time in

[00:34:46] clients that there is massive healing that can happen within a, you know, a very comfortable

[00:34:55] lifestyle where someone is, you know, eating the whole foods and doing the practices

[00:35:00] like 80% of the time and then 20% of the time is just filled with joy. And you know, you fill in

[00:35:06] whatever that joy is. Is that joy food related? Is that joy activity related? Is it, you know,

[00:35:12] glasses of wine? Is it, you know, whatever that is? And we see, you know, incredible healing

[00:35:17] with that balance. So the idea that I must be 100% all the time in order for my body to

[00:35:25] heal. And if I take one step, you know, out of my 100% perfection, it's going to throw me for a loop

[00:35:31] like you might when you first get into it notice a little bit uptick in symptoms. If you, you know,

[00:35:37] dabble in the joy part a little bit more, but just an uptick in symptoms does not mean that you

[00:35:43] are now like on the road to demise in terms of your gut and your hormones. It's more just

[00:35:49] a little bit of that like white flag from the body of being like, Oh, you know, right now

[00:35:52] we like didn't love that. Like maybe let's tomorrow or the next meal kind of go back to,

[00:35:58] you know, the foods that settle with us the best and more of just that like helpful communication

[00:36:03] with the body. But I mean, we have very much in practice, you know, we see clients able to like

[00:36:10] plug more fully into their lives at the same time that they have massive healing.

[00:36:15] 1000%. And to give you one last real life example here from Abby and I who were together this weekend

[00:36:23] in Charleston, we, I forget what night it was Thursday or Friday night, we went out to a fun

[00:36:30] dinner. And Abby and I are grandma's and like to eat an early dinner and both of our bodies are

[00:36:35] pretty used to that that pattern. And we ended up going out for dinner a little bit later than

[00:36:40] we had expected. And then there was a wait, and then we had a really nice leisurely dinner

[00:36:45] where we were catching up eating great food. We had a couple drinks and just much,

[00:36:51] much later than we are typically eating day to day. And then there was some alcohol in

[00:36:57] the mix as well. The next morning, both of us were kind of feeling a little fuzzy,

[00:37:01] not feeling our most optimal in terms of energy and just brain function.

[00:37:09] So we went to the beach, we went on a big walk, we got fresh air, which felt really good. We came

[00:37:14] home and actually I will mention too, first thing we did was fluid and minerals. We had a snack,

[00:37:21] then we went on a big walk, came home, had a great breakfast and felt so much better. And

[00:37:27] we moved on with our day and had a wonderful day. So to give you an example here sometimes

[00:37:33] if we wake up and say something that we engaged in the night before didn't make us feel good,

[00:37:39] there can be the tendency to say, screw it, I already don't feel good. This weekend's a wash

[00:37:44] or this day is a wash and I'm not going to bring thought and intention to how I feel my body

[00:37:50] and the habits I'm engaging in. So I point this out just to highlight the fact that

[00:37:55] there are so many opportunities every day to show up for yourself. It doesn't mean we're

[00:38:01] going to do things 100% perfectly. And if a situation doesn't go as planned or maybe it did

[00:38:06] go as planned, but you didn't feel your best afterwards, that's okay. Let's look at the

[00:38:11] next opportunity to show up for ourselves. That's like a perfect example. And mind you,

[00:38:17] we spent the entire weekend together. We didn't take a solitary photo of together,

[00:38:22] which I realized when I was flying home, I was like, I don't have any photos of Jillian.

[00:38:27] I almost texted you that yesterday and I was like, how is this possible? I have photos of food,

[00:38:32] I have photos of drinks, Mowgli, weird supplements, all the things and none of us.

[00:38:38] It just means you have to come back and visit again. Exactly. But these are, we use the exact

[00:38:45] same tools that we educate about and did we feel perfect on the other side? No, it's also

[00:38:52] recognizing that it was leading up to, I was just going to start my period in the next couple of days.

[00:38:57] So I was more sensitive. We were just talking about this, more sensitive to alcohol. So I felt a

[00:39:02] little rougher than maybe if I had been having this right after my period or in those first two

[00:39:08] weeks or things too. So it's also just reflecting on the context. Also of why am I feeling a

[00:39:14] little junkier or fuzzier than usual? And it's like, okay, all right, all that makes sense.

[00:39:18] Okay, then that means it's like, let's do a gentle walk like we did. Let's do these practices

[00:39:25] that are going to help us to get back and then maybe plan to go to bed early the next night,

[00:39:30] which I did not do. You did. I didn't. So I was asleep at 9.15. I was on the town for the weekend,

[00:39:38] which definitely made it so my Sunday felt a little fuzzy.

[00:39:42] I love what you emphasized though about gentle practices. So what we didn't do is wake up and

[00:39:48] say, oh, I feel a little bit off. Let's go to a berries boot camp class or an orange

[00:39:52] theory class and layer it on and punish ourselves for last night. No. And this is the

[00:39:59] perfect example of, again, treating your body like a best friend with kindness,

[00:40:05] being gentle, giving yourself some grace and flexibility.

[00:40:09] Amazing. Well, we hope that this was helpful. You know, three big barriers we see come up with

[00:40:15] clients. If any of this resonates for you, we'd love to hear from you. Make sure to shoot us a

[00:40:20] message on Instagram. Let us know what resonated, what you're working on. We're always here

[00:40:24] to support you and as a resource. Thank you for listening to the Your Body Has Your Back

[00:40:37] podcast. If you enjoyed today's podcast episode, please take a minute to leave us a five star

[00:40:42] review and make sure to share the podcast for the friend or family member that you think might

[00:40:45] benefit from listening. Make sure to follow the Your Body Has Your Back Instagram and to share

[00:40:50] your favorite episodes and definitely tag us as you start to live out the Your Body Has Your

[00:40:55] Back lifestyle. We can't wait to see it. If you're looking for more support on your gut

[00:40:59] and hormone healing journey, connect with Abby and I over on Instagram. You can follow Abby

[00:41:04] at Above Health and you can follow me, Jillian, at JillianGreavesRD.

[00:41:09] Thank you and see you in the next episode.