Feed Your Gut, Change Your Life -

Our modern lifestyle and fast-paced culture is oftentimes at odds with living a healthy lifestyle. We’ve all heard the saying “You are what you eat!” right? Unfortunately, many of us have sacrificed our health on the alter of convenience because of our busy lifestyles and unhealthy eating habits. I have always preferred to find natural and holistic ways to support my health and wellness goals, however, for far too long I was undermining those efforts by making unhealthy food choices.

Eating healthy is simple, it just isn’t easy sometimes. We have to unlearn poor eating habits and replace them with healthy ones by making healthy choices. When we do this we can begin to live life the way it was meant to be lived. Living a rich, vibrant, healthy life is within our reach when we begin to make healthy lifestyle changes.

If you want to change your life then you need to feed your gut. What I mean by “feeding your gut” is feeding it real, nutrient dense, wholesome, preferably organic, pesticide-free, non-GMO, un-denatured food as much as possible. Our healthy food choices should far outweigh our unhealthy choices unfortunately for many people the exact opposite is the reality. When we choose to consistently eat pre-packaged, convenience foods which oftentimes require the use of a microwave oven to heat, or to eat at fast-food restaurants we must tell ourselves that there is a price to be paid, above and beyond the cost spent on the food at the time. The price is our health, and we should remind ourselves that if we continue going down this path that there will come a time to pay the devil his due. Recently I began to think of eating convenience foods this way… as if eating poison. Some would argue that is exactly what we are doing. The sooner we come to that realization the better off we will be. Planting that thought process in your mind may be just the thing that is needed to inspire a commitment for real, lasting change.

NATURAL SOLUTIONS FOR GUT HEALTH

Years ago my mother-in-law was in the habit of taking anti-acids thinking it would help her. Unfortunately she didn’t realize at the time that it was the worst thing she could do. Such medications don’t address the real cause of the problem, they only address the symptoms. Her doctor did a test on her that required putting a scope down her throat in order to take a look at her stomach. It was BRIGHT red and totally inflamed. Every time she tried taking just a tiny bite of food she suffered with SEVERE pain. He gave her medication but she didn’t receive any benefits from it. Ingesting the slightest amount of food left her in terrible pain. She literally lived on yogurt and jello for a couple of months. Finally, I had heard enough of this nonsense and decided to try and find something that might help her.

I found a recipe for Oatmeal Water in the book, Back To Eden by Jethro Kloss and suggested she give it a try. Once she started taking this, to assist the natural digestive function of the stomach, things turned around. She began by taking a tablespoon of this several times a day. After a couple of days she was ready to try to start eating real food again and began with fruits first, because they are easy to digest. She drank about a 1/4 cup of this about 10 minutes before eating and worked her way slowly back to eating normally over the next week.

Although there are two ways of preparing this, I prefer the overnight method to the cooked one as it is loaded with enzymes which are beneficial and necessary for digestive health.

Directions: Soak oatmeal in water overnight. In morning, strain through a fine sieve or cheese cloth. Use in soup stocks, stew, or breads in place of water. It increases vitamins and makes soups creamy.

QUICK-SIMMERING RECIPE
2 (heaping) oatmeal- organic
1 quart water (boiling)

Directions: Place the oatmeal in quart of water and let simmer for half an hour and then beat it up with a spoon or egg beater: strain it through a fine sieve.

Later she returned to her doctor and told him what had finally helped. You’ll never guess his reply. He said that he had “heard of that before” and was glad that she was feeling better. I relayed this story to my father. He told me that he remembered when growing up that his mother would do something very similar to that when they weren’t feeling well. He described it as very watery, or soupy oatmeal.

Personally, I find it infuriating that her doctor didn’t recommend this simple, natural solution FIRST instead of a prescription that comes with a whole host of adverse, harmful side-effects. Although he knew about this, he let her suffer for a couple of months, yet never once mentioned about the POSSIBILITY of giving oatmeal water a try. I have given this recipe out to others too and they also have reported positive results too.

ANOTHER SIMPLE SOLUTION

I learned this trick years ago and used it successfully whenever I felt like my food was just sitting in my stomach and not being digested. Its super simple. Just take a small piece of carrot and a sprig or two of parsley and thoroughly chew; then swallow. It’s a great way to get the digestive juices flowing and I have found it to be very effective.

CULTURED FOODS

About a year ago I learned about the benefits of superfoods such as homemade bone broth, and cultured foods or fermented foods- kombucha, kefir and cultured vegetables, otherwise known as lactic fermentation, and started incorporating them into our diet. This ancient method of food preservation has been around for millennia. It is still wisely used by many peoples throughout the world today. Before refrigeration every culture used some form of this. Cultured foods are are considered SUPERFOODS. They’re not only amazing and provide us with a multitude of benefits when we consume them, they are simple and cheap to make. It’s literally something EVERYONE on the planet should be doing.

Loaded with living enzymes and probiotics cultured foods not only preserve our food, they help preserve us too. One spoonful provides us with billions of beneficial bacteria otherwise known as probiotics. This practice of making and eating them should never have been discarded. The more you learn about this topic the more you’ll realize the truth of why many health advocates state that health begins in the gut and that the gut is the second brain! Fortunately there are simple, inexpensive steps that everyone, rich and poor alike, can take that can dramatically improve one’s overall well-being. When we begin to feed our gut nutrient dense, real food that is loaded with vitamins, enzymes and healthy bacteria that’s when we one begins to see real changes over time.

My goal is to help you find natural, holistic ways to achieve your health and wellness goals that will provide you with long-term benefits. I believe that using premium-grade, authentic essential oils, cultured foods and bone broth are some of the most important things that you can do, and will help you accomplish your health and wellness goals. All have have been used by various cultures throughout history and come with incredible health benefits.

Subscribe to THE ESSENTIAL CONNECTION Newsletter & Tips (located on the right side of this page). I share health and wellness tips and information on Young Living’s products along with various other ways to live a healthy lifestyle, which includes incorporating cultured foods into your everyday life. I can’t stress enough how important this is and the amazing changes you’ll begin experiencing once do. I want to help you see just how simple and oh so beneficial it is for you to begin incorporating all of them into your life.

“There is treasure to be desired and oil in the house of the wise.” – Proverbs 21:20