Own your Story
27 Jul 2021, Posted by in FYS News
Part of my mission for the Food for Thought community is to help people understand their body and brain.
As some of you may know, I created and edited the book “Case Studies in Personalised Nutrition”. One of the key takeouts for practitioners is that helping people to own their health by using tools that help them plot their own health and wellness history is powerful and important when it comes to making a lasting lifestyle change.
In my Food for Thought programme I combine these tools with an education to help people join up the dots to remove the confusion, contradiction and compromise people tell me they often experience from all the nutrition advice they read.
Archetypes is a tool I use.
These are “stories” compiled from the hundreds of case studies I have worked with over the past 13 years. Their role is to help people identify things from their own health history.
I thought I would share one of these with you to see if it helps you.
Jane : in her mid 40s
- Jane had a lot of tonsillitis problems when she was young and quite often had to take antibiotics as a teenager and in her twenties
- For the last 10 years Jane realises she has quite a lot of digestive problems often feeling bloated and can be quite constipated
- She has a stressful job and a very busy social life
- Jane doesn’t eat junk food – she describes her diet as “pretty healthy”
- She eats the same breakfast each day (sugary cereal and milk)
- She used to eat the same sandwich from the café close to her work
- Now she is working from home, lunches are quite repetitive, soups and bread roll or a basic salad
- She makes dinner for her family and tends to rely on the firm favourite. A spaghetti bolognaise, chicken with vegetables and oven chips are examples
- She doesn’t feel very satisfied after eating, she often still feels hungry so then she eats more
- For the past 3 years, she feels her energy levels have dipped quite a lot
- She doesn´t do any physical activity – she doesn’t really have the energy or enthusiasm to do any
- She doesn’t feel quite a sharp as she used to
- She isn’t “depressed” but she doesn’t feel very cheery either – just a flat mood most of the time
Jane quite likely has a low level and diversity of good bacteria in her gut due to the antibiotics, stress and repetitive diet.As a result, she probably isn´t digesting her food very well, which is perhaps why she doesn´t feel that satisfied after eating and why she is lacking in energy.“What´s on your plate might not be making it into your Body”
You could be eating a great diet, but if the gut isn´t working properly, it might not all be making it into your body.
What do we do with this insight?
Focus on the gut-brain axis:
These 3 tips get you started:
- Apply the diversity challenge (increasing the variety of plant-based foods – we aim for 40 a week in the Foundation FFT programme)
- Use an overnight fast of minimum of 12 hours (house-keeping for the digestive system)
- Introducing fermented foods and drinks
Inside the FFT community (either the Foundation or Live programme) there are a tonne of resources on how to do this as well as more support on the impact of the stress response system and the 6R programme for digestion. The 3 tips are only a start point but will get you on the right track.
Do you relate to Jane?
Does this help you see your own health and wellness in a new light?
Let me know in comments below
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