This was my very first episode of Gut Guru. 

In this episode I talk about cravings and how they are meant to be heard, they are meant to be listened to, and they typically have a message for you.

How do you typically approach your cravings?  What do you find yourself craving on a regular basis?

Happy Day after July 4th!  You might have gone to a big BBQ yesterday, ate a lot of food, and now today feel perhaps sluggish, tired, bloated, and gassy.  Additionally, often times after a large meal there is a judgmental voice that pops up.  "Why did you do that?"  "You are such a failure for eating that much." "I have to restrict what I eat today to make up for yesterday." "I have to go to the gym today and work this all off." 

Do any of these sound familiar to you?  This list goes on in terms of what that voice can say, but it is a voice that is loud, mean, and not looking after your health and well being.

So here are a couple of steps you can take after eating a big meal:

1.  Focus on Emotional Nourishment

Being with friends and family nourishes us in a similar and different way than food.  We can get filled up by the experience of being around loved ones.  Chatting, catching up, funny stories, playing games, effect the way we digest our food.  When you are being emotionally nourished by the situation your body is in a relaxation response and your digestive tract can handle any input of food easier.  So as those voices pop up, redirect your thoughts toward how you were nourished by the situation.  Often big meals are eaten in the company of others.  Instead of focusing on how much you ate, reflect on how the people, the situation, the environment was ultimately very fulfilling.

2.  Be gentle with yourself

Think of the negative, harsh, internal voice that arises after a large meal as your inner child.  The more you ignore the fact they are whining, the louder they get.  Listen to what your inner child is saying, rub their back, and tell them everything is going to be alright.  The voices may still be there but you can acknowledge them and choose not to do anything about them.  This can be an opportunity to delve deeper into what the voices are really trying to say.  Is eating a large meal mean you deserve less love?  Is feeling overly full mean that people won't like you anymore?  Be super gentle with yourself after a large meal and think about what you can emotionally nourish yourself with throughout the day that doesn't have to do with restriction or self punishment.  Take a bath, take a walk, listen to some music, call a friend, do something that nourishes your soul.  It is all about coming back to self love.

3.  Eat something fermented/take your probiotics

I of course had to add this in!  After a big meal, there might have been a lot of sweets, sugar, or carbs that were consumed.  By eating some kimchee, sauerkraut, taking a probiotic, drinking some Kevita, you will be flooding your gut with beneficial bacteria which will go to work to make sure those foods are not sitting in your stomach and fermenting.  Getting in the good bacteria after a big meal will help keep your mood up and aid your belly in digesting all the yummy food you just ate.  Additionally if you take your probiotic with a glass of water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in it you will increase your stomach acid to also help break down the large meal.

And just remember every time we eat is an opportunity to learn more about ourselves.  Every meal is a chance to explore our relationship with food and others.  There is no judgment here.  Be curious like a child and explore the situation with fascination and inquiry.

Have you ever spent an entire day lost in your head, only to arrive back home in your body after dinner, and wonder, "where the hell did that day go?"  I find my mind amazing.  It is smart, intelligent, amusing, and it plays tricks on me constantly.  I have had to learn that what my mind says, is often not the truth or fact and even writing this my head is arguing with me (which is quite amusing) saying, "nooooo I'm always right!"  It is an arduous and difficult task to differentiate between the mind and the body.  And for some of us (raises hand) it takes some time to first build up the courage to battle with our mind, and then more time to sit with the emotions in the body to figure out what the true message is here.

I often struggle with this like I did today.  My brain has been on triple warp speed asking every possible question it can ask and doubting just about every action I make.  Am I doing the "right" thing, am I making a mistake, am I eating the right things, drinking at the right time, involving myself with the right people, in the right jobs....blahblahblah goes my brain.  And finally I asked my brain this afternoon (as I have realized I often have to engage myself in conversation to stop the yaddayaddayadda of my mind) why is being "right" so important.  I had an ah-hah moment.  I was so lost in the questions in my head that it was difficult to see and hear the underlying rock blocking my way.  I have found that usually fear is underlying most mental rants.  In my case, engaging in "right" action means I am not failing and that my life has purpose (something I often fear-losing my purpose or not even living up to it at all here on earth).

The monkey mind is a protective mechanism, hiding us from our deep core wounds from childhood, from family, from relationships.  We all have them.  One of my favorite yoga teachers constantly talks about how we're are all broken and to embrace the shattered broken pieces because they are truly beautiful.  She asks each one of her students to share their broken pieces because she has been just as broken before as well.  It is a beautiful thing when we can finally get out of our heads and accept ourselves even with all our fears.  With tears rolling down my face in the arms of someone who truly cares about me this evening I realized that I can share my own broken pieces with others and be truly accepted and actually appreciated for sharing the fact that I do not have it all together.

It is quite a conundrum how often we accept others with their insecurities, fears, worries, tears, rants, etc. and yet we fear revealing our own.  This blocks us from self acceptance and has us heading into the fridge/cupboard/restaurant/grocery store to stuff down our fears.  Perhaps if we could breath into our fear and face it with total acceptance that we would not try and stuff our emotions down.  I have noticed in my own life the more I speak my truth and let myself be truly seen for who I am instead of who I feel I should be, the less I feel like being up in my head, off some place else, and reaching for food to comfort some emotion that I am not allowing myself to feel.  Let yourself be seen.  For even just one minute a day get out of your head, breath into your body, and speak your truth, even if it is just to yourself.

A third solar eclipse is about to happen on Friday July 1st; the third one to happen, which is very rare.  A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between earth and the sun, totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth.  So what does this mean for us exactly and why should you even care?  Think about the fact that the power of the moon can change the waves of a tide.  Now in some organisms, up to 90% of their body weight comes from water. Up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water.  Needless to say we are mostly made of water so the moon will ultimately have a very powerful affect on us as well.

Plus the fact that this Friday is also a New Moon, which means new energy and a good time to start new endeavors.  When an eclipse is taking place dramatic things can happen and emotions can be heightened.  So if you are having an emotional week or Friday things just blow up in your face, there are larger factors at play here.  Astrology fascinates me as it reminds me to: 1. come back to self acceptance of who I am because I was born with a blueprint and it is just a matter of getting to know me instead of trying to change me and 2. it brings the awareness that most things in life can not be explained with a simple answer....there are many factors working at the same time all the time.

So often I find myself wanting answers and understanding why I do the things I do or why my digestive tract suddenly starts acting up when I mentally feel nothing has changed.  Yet, things are changing all the time: our relationships, jobs, for women where they are in their cycle, our energy can wax and wane depending upon the thoughts going through our head.  And then there are the bigger things that we consciously don't stay awake to: the sun, the moon, where the stars are, the cycles of the earth, the season, the weather, the energy being emitted from our wireless router, our computer, the telephone wires, our cell phones.  All these things affect us.  Ever sat in front of the computer for a really long time and just got more and more tired.  It is not just because you are working so hard, or blinking less as you stare at the screen, but the energy that is being emitted from your computer can be toxic to your body.

So what is the message here?  We can't walk around in fear all day thinking about all the things that could be affecting us (trust me I've spent a day or two like that and I did not get a lot accomplished that day needless to say).  It is a matter of coming back to earth, coming back to the ground.  It is about lying on your floor and staring at the ceiling and walking barefoot in the park to connect back with the earth's natural energy, which is ultimately soothing and healing.  When life or emotions get stirred up how can you nourish yourself to come back to the stillness that resides within you?  How can you ride the wave of your own emotions and watch yourself from the outside like a curious observer?

It is not an easy thing to do, but the more you can completely empty yourself and get out of the thoughts of who you think you are or should be and accept what is, you can root your energy and presence back into the present moment.

P.S- this Friday...stay close to earth and it will help you connect back to your smiling heart.

I once saw on a poster: "Remember you are unique, just like everybody else."  I laughed out loud, but secretly I could feel the hurt pride of my ego.  For me, there has always been a wish and a hope that I was unique and I had special gifts to bring to this planet.  The conundrum of this thought is that on another level I consistently wish for communion, a feeling of togetherness, and that I am not a lone island.  This has had me explore the difference between the messages from the mind and the messages from the body.  The mind, I often feel, is where our ego lies.  It tells us what we want to hear or what we want to believe or what we desire.  It is our mind that often tells us I really want chocolate cake or sugar or ice cream or chips; it tells us we deserve these things, especially on hard and stressful days.  On a body level, our bodies remind us that we are never alone.  We are connected to ourselves every moment, even when we are not consciously aware.  We are connected to really everyone and everything.  When we exhale the trees/ the earth inhales and when the earth exhales we breath it in.  It is our body that tells us what will nourish us on a more profound and deeper level.  It will tell us whether we need vegetables, protein, what kind, how it wants it cooked or not cooked and it will be very specific about its desires and all we have to do is slow down and listen.

Beyond food though, our bodies will tell us when food is not the form of nourishment that we need.  When we get out of the ego and the mind, we tap into deep desires of perhaps needing a hug, a touch, connection, understanding, a deeper understanding of ourselves.  How is your body being fed by your relationships? your spirituality? your physical exercise? And I am not going to say something like it is all a matter of finding balance; I stopped believing in balance a long time ago as I am someone who lives (as my mother likes to say) on the outliers.  I feel it is a matter of slowing down, coming back to the breath, and viewing life with child's eyes of curiosity, especially in the moments when we feel "out of balance."  How can we sit with the feeling, the sensation of being out of balance (whatever that means or feels like to you) and get out of the ego of the mind that we shouldn't be there.

When we tap back into the body and stick with description of just what is then we begin to get out of the need to be unique and different than everyone else and there comes a realization that we are all one.  When you help someone else, you are also helping yourself. When you reach out into the world the world will reach back to you.  It is all a matter of our own perspective.  We can view ourselves as being an "over extender" or we can view every action we make as an offering back to ourselves.  I have been told too many times this past year of my life that I don't focus on myself enough.  I'm not even truly sure what this means exactly because, for me, when I am helping someone else out or being present and holding space for another individual I am learning so much about myself and life in the process that I feel being in relationship with others allows me to come into a deeper relationship with myself.

How have you discovered the different and often contrasting messages from the body and the mind?  And what have you done in those moments when you are not sure which one to trust?