If the whole world understood this, chronic gut issues would decrease by about 90% or more overnight. I am fully convinced. I’ve lived it and coached many through it!
Here’s why our gut issues become chronic and so frustrating to overcome: We start to experience gut symptoms like bloating, indigestion, inflammation, gas, etc., and turn to functional medicine. We might take a gut test—maybe even 12, like I did—and these tests reveal everything from parasites to candida, yeast, bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, multiple food sensitivities, and leaky gut.
Initially, we feel comforted by knowing exactly why we have these gut issues and what we need to do to ‘heal’ them. This is where we go terribly wrong! We believe that a protocol, supplements, or whatever the health practitioner we’re working with recommends will eradicate the bacteria, parasites, or whatever else we’re working on. We believe it will work, however, after about four intense gut protocols, when we still have symptoms, we start to believe our gut issues are so severe maybe nothing can help…
Alternatively, sometimes the protocol does work (thanks to placebo, though we might not realize it), but then another health issue pops up—like headaches, anxiety, or insomnia.
Friends, I can tell you that almost every single person on this planet has parasites, candida, bacterial overgrowth, and food sensitivities, but not everyone has symptoms. We now know that the difference is a fired-up nervous system. I’m living proof of this! After working with more than a dozen practitioners (three of them being some of the leading gut experts in the country), nothing helped. In fact, my gut issues got worse the more I focused on them. Once you understand the root cause of chronic gut issues, it becomes very clear why this happens.
Chronic gut issues are almost always mind-body-related, and the fuel source for mind-body syndrome is fear and focus. Nothing fires up the nervous system more than obsessing over health problems. NOTHING!
Once I realized this and focused on healing my nervous system, my gut issues went away. I haven’t had any symptoms since, and that was over eight years ago. Here’s the kicker: when I took a gut test three months ago, I did have some “findings”- bacterial overgrowth, etc., but I have zero symptoms. Why? Because my nervous system is calm. It’s not possible to live on this planet without having some of these findings in your gut, and it’s not necessary (or possible) to eradicate all of them to live without gut problems!
Another important point: Now that my nervous system is in a better place, when I do a gut protocol, I actually see improvements. Why? Because I’m not doing it out of fear. I understand the root cause of gut issues and I’ve removed the fear and hyper-focus that fuels them. My body spends more time in rest and repair, so it actually responds to supplements, protocols, and a healthy diet, etc!
So, if you think the ‘findings’ on your gut test are your root cause, think again. Myself and MANY that I worked with are living proof this isn’t true because again, we all have those ‘findings’ yet after healing the nervous system, we have no symptoms!!! None.
You cannot heal when you’re stuck in fight or flight! And keep in mind, a fired up nervous system will cause everything from gut issues to pain to anxiety to insomnia, skin issues, autoimmune, etc…
You don’t have to live with chronic gut issues or any other chronic health problem for that matter! But, if you don’t understand this and prioritize nervous system healing, sadly, there’s a very good chance you may…
