I healed my mental health starting with my gut health. When I started the journey to healing my gut, I had NO idea what I was doing!
I saw other people taking care of their gut and I knew how important it was, but it was still new. I started trying everything I saw: food recipes, detox tools, gut-healthy swaps, and more.
I knew I was making great changes for my body, but I was so overwhelmed about all the changes that I wasn’t truly healing my gut.
I took a look at what I was doing and realized I was trying to be someone I’m not. I was eating foods I didn’t love and overwhelming myself with the process along the way.
When I started eating foods I love (that also love my body) is when I really started making progress.
I took a few steps to make sure I was doing me while still healing my gut.
- Eliminating gluten, dairy, and refined sugar
I had already been gluten free for some time and knew this was a trigger food for me. I also was limiting dairy but became more conscious of it. Sugar was the biggest food to eliminate for me. I learned how refined sugar inflames my body and was likely causing many of my symptoms.
Once I eliminated these foods, I focused on adding foods that were great for the gut but that I enjoyed. I am picky so I eat a lot of the same foods every day, but I always focus on having a variety.
Finding your trigger foods is the first step to healing your gut.
- Not doing what everyone else was doing
Like I said, I found myself doing what everyone else was doing. I do believe it’s great to learn from others and I wouldn’t have started this journey if it weren’t for others encouragement. But I am a different person and have different preferences. So I had to learn from others while still making changes to make the process right for me.
When I started I was eating all kinds of foods (which were great to try) but I didn’t enjoy most of what I was eating. I was eating a lot of vegetables I just didn’t like but was making myself eat because they were good for my gut. I started making substitutions with vegetables I did like and then I truly started enjoying the journey.
You don’t have to like everything you see on the internet! Take the inspiration and make it your own.
- Listening to my body
Listening to my body became a go-to for learning what foods work for my gut. Our body instinctively knows what is meant to be in the body and what is not meant to be in the body. When an object the body doesn’t like enters the body, it will react by not functioning properly, leaving us with symptoms that are not so enjoyable.
When we learn these cues, we are better able to discern what foods work well for our body.
I went through a process of listening to what works with foods that I enjoy eating and found the ones that are really fueling for my body. My body does great with foods like oatmeal, carrots, and green beans. I’ve found a variety (this is key to gut health) of foods that support my gut and that I actually enjoy.
The process of learning the foods that work for your body is exactly that, a process. It’s not always simple and it doesn’t happen in a day. The process can take weeks or months to learn what works for you. Don’t give up!
Tracking food and symptoms can help to learn your body and what foods work for you.
Gut healing does not have to be complicated. Healing your gut should be empowering, fun, and enjoyable. The process is not always easy, but it is always worth it.
If you are ready to heal your mental health but don’t know where to start, I created a guide to help you start healing your gut in order to heal your mental health that you can grab here!
