Gut Feelings summary

While gut health influences mental and physical health more than previously thought, the same is true of emotions and your gut. That means that optimum gut health isn’t a matter of juice cleanses, restrictive diets, or relentless exercise routines. It’s about feeling and expressing your emotions with self-compassion. That’s because shame, like bad gut bacteria, thrives in environments of stress, disconnection, and exhaustion. To end shameflammation, it’s vital to slow down, tune in, and reconnect.

For instance, many seeking treatment at the author’s clinic have eliminated all possible trigger foods, and suffered through severe elimination diets, but still have symptoms of irritable bowel or ulcerative colitis. Others have exhaustive exercise and diet routines, but their bodies still carry excess weight due to unprocessed past trauma. These people may feel their lack of success in treatment is their fault, leading to increased stress and shame.

It seems like social media is unavoidable these days. With perfect highlight reels of everyone’s curated lives on display, it can feel hard to keep up. But there’s a secret to reconnecting with yourself and healing your gut: stop trying.

Let’s face it, at the heart of FOMO, or fear of missing out, is the belief that you somehow don't measure up to the perfect lives you see while scrolling. Perfect bodies, perfect smoothie bowls, perfect relationships — comparing real life to someone’s latest reel is a recipe for shameflammation. To curb this, it’s important to fast from endless self judgements, and cultivate self-compassion.

So, for gut healing,  reconnecting with your feelings and examining your feelings about food happen together, just like the first day described earlier.

During day two, try to give your gut some rest by eliminating snacking. Breaks of four hours or more between meals give your gut a break from digestion. If you feel the need to keep snacking, it's a good sign that your regular mealtimes lack sufficient protein, like nuts and eggs, that deliver lasting energy.

The following days of the plan bring even more small changes to savor. Dedicate a day to exploring sources of healthy fats, like walnuts, avocadoes, wild-caught salmon, or extra virgin olive oil. Another day, try probiotic foods like sauerkraut or kefir. Choose a day to examine your sleep routine to see whether you can set yourself up for better rest by turning down the lights and logging off screens at least an hour before bedtime. You might need to eliminate caffeine in the afternoon, too, and lower your thermostat to trigger deeper sleep. 

During the three weeks of the plan, you can also dedicate a day to upping your protein intake, which has a host of healing benefits and gives your body the building blocks it needs for repair. Similarly, you can choose a day to get some safe sun and up your vitamin D intake. It’s important to get natural sources of vitamin D, and sunshine for short periods can boost your mood, too. 

Your gut has a lot more going on than simple digestion, with its ecosystem of microbes that aid immunity, regulate mood, hormones, and blood sugar levels, and curb inflammation. Keeping this ecosystem healthy means connecting with and feeling your emotions, especially shame – because millions of neurons are responding. Slowing down, and becoming aware of the emotional roots of your relationship to food, cultivates the most powerful healing force of all: self-compassion.