Did you know your thoughts can impact your physical health?
What you should know about the Mind-Body Connection…
I love to cleanse the body at least a couple times per year to do a little reboot. During this time, I implement different strategies that bring me what I need to clean up debris from old toxic patterns that I’ve allowed to creep in over the previous season.
Today I want to focus on cleansing from a mind-body
perspective. I believe the way we get the most bang for our buck (if you will)
is to see them as one.
THE PROCESS
It takes preparation when we decide to cleanse or detoxify
the body. I’ve found that it’s super important, especially in this day because
our environment has become a dumping ground for toxic waste. As a matter of
fact, detoxification was a complete game-changer for me during my health
journey, to the point that it’s something I use with every one of my clients
today. After experiencing health symptoms that I just couldn’t get rid of, like
foggy thinking, headaches, gas, bloating, indigestion, joint pain, waking up
tired in the mornings, and inability to sleep through the night, I worked to develop
a seasonal cleansing protocol based on the knowledge and experience I gained
from many of my mentors. In working with others, I also found that sometimes
all it takes for them to see a complete turnaround in their health is to give
them the same tools to implement these detoxification strategies on a regular
basis.
Cleansing has been a part of my life from the beginning,
since embarking on my journey to health. Along the way, I learned that cleansing
and detoxifying can be quite different. In short, we can cleanse the body by
eliminating certain foods and allowing the body to rest or reboot. You’ve probably
seen juice cleanses, and heard of people implementing certain types of fasts,
and even teas and other potions that are supposed to cleanse the body. There’s
nothing wrong with this, but if you are attempting to completely detoxify the
body, and clean up the cells, there needs to be certain components in place for
that to happen.
I come across many teachings that focus on detoxifying the
body but there are 2 things I want to focus on today that I feel are many times
missed in these discussions.
#1 the importance of the liver
#2 the importance of cleansing toxic thoughts
I know… these may seem super random, but I believe we
cannot cleanse a toxic body and leave a toxic mind alone. This is what I like
to refer to as the mind-body connection for cleansing and detoxification.
If the body goes through this detoxification process, but we
are still in a pattern of addiction and self-destruction due to traumatic
events that we have not processed, then we never move into a place of freedom.
PHYSICAL DETOX
I mentioned that cleansing and detox are quite different. The
process of physical detox actually requires a 3-step process. This is known as
the 3 phases of detoxification. For detoxification to take place in the body,
there must be certain vitamins, amino acids, and nutrients on board. The body
then goes through a systematic process to do the clean-up work.
Our liver is our major detoxification organ – so learn to
love your liver.
What happens in the 3 phases?
In phase
1, the liver uses enzymes and oxygen to break up the toxins.
In phase
2, the toxins are packaged up into a water-soluble package
In phase
3, the liver, kidneys, and intestines work to excrete the toxins
There are many things that can get in the way of
detoxification taking place in the body, but some of these include things like:
Overgrowth
of pathogenic microbes (parasites, bacteria, fungus) in the digestive tract
Lack of
fiber
Magnesium
deficiencies
Food
intolerance
Signs that you need to detox are:
Belly
bloat
Abdominal
fat – also known as “the spare tire effect”
Joint
and muscle pain
Feeling
exhausted all the time
Acid
reflux/heart burn
Dark
spots on your skin and dark circles under the eyes
Excessive
sweating or stinky sweat
Unexplained
weight gain
Headaches
Menstrual
Irregularities
MENTAL / EMOTIONAL DETOX
So now that you have a better understanding about what it
takes to do a physical detox, let’s talk about the mental/emotional aspect.
This is one topic I rarely see approached when there is a discussion around
detoxification. I imagine it is one of the most toxic things in our environment
though.
Thinking back to my own healing journey, this was one of the
most important for me. It’s actually where my journey began.
I remember when I wasn’t the most positive person. Growing up,
I wasn’t necessarily negative, but my self-talk wasn’t very good. I imagine
it’s something we could all work on. Most of us probably tend to be a little
harsh on ourselves compared to how we are with others we love.
We pick this up from those around us many times. And we also
have false notions of what’s really important in life because we watch things
go on around us and feel like we have to live up to the worlds ideas instead of
creating our own.
Conforming to those around us and the things of this world
can be very toxic to our mind and emotional state.
In my time of working through my own issues and helping
others do the same, I’ve found that our mind has the ability to control us and
bring us into negative thought patterns if we allow it.
We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind,
on a daily – and even moment-by-moment basis. This means we have a choice in
where we end up emotionally. We can either become victim to our emotions,
sickness, or other circumstances, or we can go THROUGH them and find strength
to endure.
We detox our thoughts and mind by casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. That
means casting down negative thought patterns like fear, anxiety, worry,
depression, and doubt. We are to process our experiences and go through them.
If we don’t bring our thoughts into captivity and choose to process them, then
they will hold us captive and we will assume the position of being a victim to our
very own thoughts.
MIND-BODY CONNECTION
Toxic thoughts become toxic to us physically. When we believe
we are sick, overweight, broke, ugly, then we become those things, because
whatever we focus on, we bring about.
I work with people on a daily basis who believe these things.
I work with them to shift these thought patterns so they believe what is true,
instead of believing a lie. The things we worry about are things that we dream
up in our subconscious. They are many times things that don’t even matter.
Other times these are thoughts that arise because we’ve been through a
traumatic event. But if we fail to process these thoughts, then we will become
their slaves.
In the physical body, there’s a shift in our cellular makeup that actually can create physical matter. Dr. Caroline Leaf is one of the greatest researchers in this area. She says that disease is created first as a negative thought.
Whatever you meditate on and think about it in your heart,
you will become. This world was created by a thought that was verbalized, when
God said, “let there be light.” And there was light. So that thought became a
physical reality. That’s exactly how your thoughts and language and body work
together.
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
ARE YOU READY TO TAKE ACTION?
As you can see from above, there are things that need to be
in place for you to physically clean up your cells appropriately. I encourage
you to work with a qualified professional if you are feeling any of the
symptoms mentioned. You want to make sure you have the right things in place,
including nutrients as well as make sure you are eliminating properly before
implementing any detoxification program.
My desire is that you understand this information in a way
that allows you to implement it on a regular basis – not only that, but learn
the tools you need so you can one day do it on your own.
If you’re ready for a different take on losing weight,
getting rid of depression and anxiety, and ridding things like digestive upset,
headaches, pain and inflammation, swollen legs and feet… if you want to learn
how to live in health in your mind and body so you can live your best life,
then join me and the others who have already made the decision to invest in
themselves for my seasonal
cleanse challenge.
If you missed the window to register, that’s okay! Check out my coaching page and stay tuned for other coaching programs you can access to invest in your health.
In my last article, I talked about warning
signs your body gives you when something isn’t right. I mentioned several
inflammatory foods like grains, dairy, sugar and artificial sweeteners, soy,
and alcohol. These are some of the most inflammatory foods you can put in your
body. The list is not all-inclusive, but it’s a good start.
So How Do You Know If You Should Remove These Foods?
The answer is simple. You could run a range of food
sensitivity panels, or you could just remove known inflammatory foods for at
least 30 days to see how your body responds, which is known as an elimination
diet. Starting with the ones mentioned above is a good start, but if there are
additional foods you feel your body doesn’t respond well to then go ahead and
remove those during this time as well.
Do Elimination Diets Work?
The truth is, there is a little controversy here. The foods
that are recommended for removal on an elimination diet are typically those
that many people have a reaction to. But as we know, everyone’s body is not the
same. The best way to learn which foods you react to is to run a food
sensitivity panel. This gives a clearer picture of what’s going on in the body
when a particular food is consumed. The reason this is the case is because
there is sometimes a delayed reaction, and it can be hard to tell which foods
are actually causing it.
You also want to consider that one man’s meat is another
man’s poison. Take a healthy fish like salmon for example. It’s a healthy fish,
right? But what if you’ve developed a food sensitivity? If that’s the case,
then that healthy salmon could actually cause an inflammatory response in your
body, which in turn leads to stress on the body and can have all sorts of ill effects
in the long-run. The great thing about food sensitivities is that we can
usually remove the foods, heal the gut, and reintroduce those healthy options
again later on down the road.
Common Mistakes People Make When Eliminating Inflammatory
Foods:
I’ll use gluten in my examples below, but this is true
for all inflammatory foods.
Removing one and not all inflammatory foods. If your body is having an inflammatory response to something you’re consuming, and you don’t work to remove all the things that could be causing inflammation at the same time, it may be difficult to recognize a positive/negative response from removing certain foods. For example, if you remove gluten, but fail to remove dairy, then you could still continue to have those symptoms in your body related to gluten exposure. One reason is because gluten and dairy have similar molecular makeups and when the body is attacking one, it will likely attack the other as well. This is true for many food groups.
You don’t give the body enough time to respond. I hear people say all the time, “I tried gluten free and it didn’t work for me. We can actually have delayed reactions to foods when there is a sensitivity in the body. We tend to think of it in the same way as we do a food allergy sometimes, but the 2 are quite different. Your body can react to a food or other substance for up to 3 weeks, so if you only give it a couple weeks and call it quits because you don’t see a change, then you may be giving up too soon. Again, commit and stick with it to give your body the time it needs to respond.
You aren’t satisfied without your dairy or
gluten. I get it. I love those foods too. But much of our dissatisfaction
after a meal when eliminating inflammatory foods comes down to 2 things.
1) Not eating enough protein, fats, and carbs to
actually fill our bellies. Filling up on processed foods makes us feel
satisfied because that’s what we’re used to.
2) Food cravings, which can be expressed in the
form of hunger.
The way you can avoid this is to make sure
you’re eating enough, and to balance your plate with plenty of healthy meat, cooked
vegetables, and even starchy vegetables until your body begins to adjust. If
you truly are hungry, then eat more of the whole foods and play around with
your ratios of carbs, fats, and proteins to find your unique ratio. This
depends a lot on how fast you metabolize certain foods. So if you find that
you’re super hungry and tired within an hour or 2 after consuming a plate full
of veggies, then try adding more dense proteins and see if that helps. Play
around until you find the ratio that works for you.
Filling up on gluten free processed
alternatives. If you’ve read my book, “Healed His Way,” then you know I
discuss this in detail. Foods that are labeled as gluten free are not always
truly gluten free, and if you are attempting to avoid gluten, then you want to
focus on whole foods instead of gluten free snacks. This is not to say you
can’t snack on a food from a bag here and there, but if you do, look for grain
free over gluten free. Why? Gluten free is not technically gluten free. It’s a
big lie! “What? How can they do that?” you ask. Gluten, by the FDA’s definition
does not include ALL types of gluten. It only includes 1 type, called gliadin. While
the 2 main types of gluten found in wheat are gliadins and glutenins,
they are not the only types. Gluten free foods do not take into consideration
the other types, because by FDA regulation, they are not required to. So, if
you are consuming a piece of bread labeled gluten free, is it really? Likely
not. The best way to avoid it is to avoid grains altogether.
Starting a countdown timer to the end of elimination
challenge and just going back to old habits when it’s done. Consider paying
attention to your body when you eliminate certain foods. Take an inventory. How
do you feel? What is your mood like? Do you have more energy? If you are seeing
positive change, why would you jump back into the same old habits that were
giving you negative results? If you choose to bring those toxic/inflammatory
foods back in your body, the best way to do that is to go very slow. Introduce
foods one at a time, and pay attention to your body. Give the food a couple
weeks, and if there are negative effects, then consider removing it for good.
As I said before, if you’re body is not responding well to a certain food then
it is causing inflammation and with that comes disease.
My favorite way to find out how your body is responding to a
particular food or group of foods is to test for specific food sensitivities by
running appropriate lab tests that show the foods you’re reacting to. And when
you do this, I would highly recommend removing all of the foods on this
inflammatory food list while removing anything that shows up on your food
sensitivity panel. These tests are not all created equal. So work with a health
professional to help you understand which tests are right for you.
But here’s a little recap – leaky gut forms when tight
junctions in the gut become compromised or loose, allowing things like toxins,
pesticides, and large food particles to pass into the bloodstream where they don’t
belong. When this happens, the body elicits an attack on these particles. When
certain foods are seen as a foreign invader, they cause inflammation in the
body. So that’s exactly why you may see some of the foods you consume on a
regular basis show up on a food sensitivity test. Your body is simply attacking
it because it doesn’t belong in the bloodstream. The only thing that belongs in
the bloodstream from our food is things like vitamins, minerals, amino acids,
and other nutrients. The actual protein is a foreign invader to the
body.
While cleaning up inflammatory foods, you may want to work on your gut health. Some of my favorite products to do that are collagen protein, immunoglobulins, and the loved Ganoderma Lucidum. I often use Turmeric while getting to the source of inflammation in the body. You can learn more on the benefits of using Turmeric (or Curcumin) for inflammation in this great article. Again, work with your practitioner or doctor before implementing these supplements or others, because you are uniquely created.
In the event that you are looking for your own health
practitioner, I would love to hear more about your unique story and help guide
you as you work to resolve those. You can access my services here and if you
would like to chat after reviewing them, simply fill out the form on my site
for a complimentary
discovery call to schedule your appointment. I’m here to see you succeed in
reaching all your health and wellness goals.
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