
Looking at the Health of Your Gut
GMOs, processed sugars, gluten, dairy, chemicals, preservatives, hormones, pesticides, etc can all help to create an imbalance in the gut and in some cases can cause undigested particles to leak into the blood stream. Not good.
Hippocarates said "All disease begins in the gut". Could this mean that many mental health problems can originate here too? ABSOLUTELY.
Probiotics, Pre-biotics and Enzymes Can Positively Impact the Gut
Within proximity of my workshop, I began to have abdominal discomfort and distress. Because of my recent training, my instinct was to grab my son's enzymes. What happened over the course of the next 3 weeks surprised me.
Targeting Mental Health Proactively and Purposefully
The Voice of the Body. Don't Quiet the Chatter, Listen to it!
Within a week of taking the enzymes for abdominal discomfort, I noticed a noteworthy change in my own anxious level. Lately, I had been awaking with anxious feelings, going to bed with them and felt emotional distress in my chest waxing and waning during the work day as well.
What I though was an understandable anxious preparation for a difficult day at the office, was actually gut related...NOT work related. My evening jitters were not due to this trigger or that, but was my gut trying to get my attention.
Two weeks into routine enzyme support, I found myself feeling much more calm and balanced throughout the day. My out of the blue anxious feelings were down by 95%! I thought I had reasons for the anxious buzzing and internal chatter. What I didn't know was that this chatter was actually my body trying desperately to be heard. My gut was speaking to me, but I wasn't listening.
Listening to the Words Within the Voice of the Body.
While researching for this article, I ran across a research study that looked at autism and gut health. In this study, children on the autistic spectrum were given enzymes for 3 months. The children in the non-placebo enzyme group showed significant changes. " ...the parents of this group rated significantly improved emotional response, general impression score, general behavior and gastrointestinal symptoms..." When I read articles like this and I experience the emotional difference myself, I become SO thankful that my gut became distressed a month ago. SO grateful that this ailment was able to bring me down this path to be able to bring this information to my family and to you.
Gut imbalance is more than emotional. Food allergies and sensitivities, itchy patches of skin, blemishes on the face, fatigue, joint pain and imbalances in digestion are examples of physical symptoms that can occur in the body when the gut is swinging out of balance. Learning to listen to what the body is trying to tell you can give vital information.
I Think my Gut is Trying to Get my Attention, Now What?
Finding the link between physical and mental health can be a gift. Learning how to listen to the body and becoming familiar with it's voice is an amazing tool that can help decode a multitude of symptoms and lend its way to empowerment. What is your body saying to you today?
Gabrielle Anderson is a family therapist at the Family Therapy Center of Northern Virginia in Ashburn, Virginia. She enjoys writing about mental health concerns from a natural, health related perspective. This and other posts are NOT to be used to diagnose a problem, but are rather information to be taken to your medical health professional to explore possibilities and options.
Sources:
Kuhn, Merrily RN, Ph.D. What is in our Food, Institute for Brain Potential: CEU Training
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4540030/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/04/gut-bacteria-mental-healt_n_6391014.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/gut-bacteria-on-the-brain/395918/
http://4abettermemory.com/memory/how-digestive-health-impacts-mental-health/
http://www.drcarolyndean.com/articles_depression_and_yeast.html