5 Truths That Will Change Your Health

Today, I'm sharing five truths that will change and transform your health. Now, if you're new here, I'm Brigid. I'm a functional medicine dietitian. I've worked with more than 7,000 people to help them improve their blood sugar control, decrease inflammation, and improve or reverse chronic illness. I also have a nutrition company where we help people do the same with my team of functional medicine dietitians. So from the thousands and thousands of people that we've worked with, I want to just share these five truths that can change your health that I've seen In my last 10 years of experience and that I hope resonate with you. So the first truth is that your symptoms are rarely happening randomly. Maybe you have congestion, constipation, joint pain, you have a lot of menstrual irregularities or a lot of pain during that time of the month. You have high cholesterol levels, all of these things that are typically common indicators of some kind of underlying dysfunction. But what happens in conventional medicine often is that it's made to seem like it's just randomly happening and it randomly started out of nowhere and this is just something that you can medicate your way out of now. The good news is, is that because these symptoms are rarely ever happening randomly, if you're able to get to the root of what's driving the symptoms, you can figure out the things that are necessary in order to improve the dysfunction that's happen underneath the surface. The most common drivers of all dysfunction in the body are going to be driven from blood sugar imbalances, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and poor gut health. Those are the five key ones. So if you're able to support those areas of your health, you're going to see a decrease in your symptoms. We see this with so many people, I mean, literally thousands of people. It's hard to explain and express what we see when people change their diet, their lifestyle to better address the underlying root causes of these symptoms. And then they're like, wow, I can't believe how much I was normalizing that brain fog or that congestion or those allergies or asthma or other things that they were experiencing before without knowing that the choices that they were making day to day were driving some of that dysfunction. Okay, Number two, you are so much more powerful than you know. Okay. This is a really important one. This actually came from one of our My foodish Health clients. My Food Is Health is my signature nutrition program. That's 10 weeks where we incorporate personalized nutrition and group coaching. And she Said, I'm realizing that each of us is so much more powerful than we even realized. As she was taking the bet on herself, making the investment in her health and starting to really see that her power is actually innate, right? It's not something that she's getting from external sources. It's something that she can tap into at any given point in time. And this is so important when it comes to making those lifestyle choices or changes. If you know of anyone else in your life that has experienced a health transformation, use them as proof of what's possible. They provide proof that it is possible for you, too. If it's possible for them, it is possible for you. So it's important to give yourself more credit than you probably do to realize that you have more power than you typically give yourself credit for. And being able to start to slowly practice tapping into that power so that you're able to see all of the amazing rewards and benefits that come on the other side of doing that. Okay, number three is people heal in community, not in isolation. When you're surrounded by other people that are trying to invest in a better version of themselves, that are trying to prioritize their health and that normalize prioritizing their health, it becomes so much easier for you to do the same. It becomes something that you're inspired by and something that you want to achieve on your own. It becomes truly contagious when we think about eating out and feeling peer pressure from people that you're at dinner with when they're eating something that's less healthy or less optimal, and you're like, I'm gonna get the sal. And then everyone's like, why are you getting the salad? That's so boring. The peer pressure that comes along with when you're at the family barbecue and you're opting out of the dessert and the other potato chips and things that everyone else is eating, you feel like you're isolated. It feels like you're alone. And so when you're around other people who normalize making those healthier choices, it takes a lot of burden off of you to not have to explain, explain yourself. And the other thing that actually I've seen In the last 10 years of practicing nutrition is that people heal in community instead of thinking about just health happening in your doctor's office. So when you're in a silo in your doctor's office, it's just like one on one. It's harder for you to feel that motivation, the inspiration and the empowerment that comes from being surrounded by. By other People who are trying to improve their health as well. That's why we have group programs, because I believe that they are so pivotal for providing that environment for you to really thrive. When I worked at the Cleveland Clinic, we ended up creating these programs in the inner city of Cleveland because the doctor that I worked with, Dr. Mark Hyman, he was such an advocate of the importance of community based interventions, not only in the hospital, but also outside of the hospital in order for us to actually help people create health. So we implemented these programs in the inner city churches throughout Cleveland. And I would go to all these different churches to walk people through the nutrition and lifestyle program. And the true transformation that happened from the group support of these churches was one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen in my life. And these were lower income communities. They had all of the things stacked against them that people typically make for as excuses for why people can't transform their health. And they were doing it through the power of community, through the power of having that support from one another, through the power of not feeling like they were in it alone. And it was one of, like I said, the most remarkable things that I've ever witnessed in my life and makes me feel like if it's possible for them, with the right community, it's possible for you too. So try to go about it in a way that isn't totally isolating, where you're able to find community, where you're able to find the support that you need to not only feel motivated to make the changes, but then sustaining the changes long term so they become a part of who you actually are as a person. Number four, food is one of the largest drivers of disease or of health. There is an overwhelming amount of research and studies that show that food directly impacts our health. So food driven diseases include things like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disease, but then also other things that are very common as well, like asthma, psoriasis, which is technically an autoimmune condition, various thyroid conditions. So many other things that we see. In my anecdotal experience of the last 10 years of working with thousands of people, there is zero doubt and should be zero debate of whether food actually impacts health, because it directly drives the health of our cells and it can also directly drive disease. Whether you choose foods that are supporting your health or that are going against your health. And the more that you actually believe that, the easier it is to make those changes, because it becomes so much larger than just the context of trying to lose five pounds on the scale that is not enough of a motive for most people. What we want to look at is how food can drive health and decreasing foods that drive disease. And that is a very empowering state to be in. It is a truth that can change your health. And if you're interested in learning more about the power of using food as medicine, click back to one of my first videos where I explain more of why this is such an important concept for everyone to embrace. Like, there is not one person on the planet that should not be embracing the power of using food as medicine. Tip number five, or I should say truth number five, because it's not even a tip. It is truly a truth that I want you to start to think about and hopefully embody. And that is the idea that using food as medicine is one of the best ways to actually improve your relationship with health, your relationship with health, and your relationship with food. You can improve your relationship with food without taking this all foods fit approach and instead tapping into how food makes you feel. So a lot of times when people are trying to improve their relationship with food, experience less shame, less guilt, less anxiety around food. All these things are actually very normal. We see in so many people that we work with a history or a tendency of being very judgmental with themselves and thinking about themselves as being a failure for not being able to stick to diets in the past, or judging themselves for having the cravings that they do or giving into the temptations when they're in different environments. So really improving your relationship with food. A lot of people will say that you just need to say all foods fit. This is the idea that every food, there's no food that's off limit, there's no good food or bad food, and that you should be able to eat anything that you want without judgment. And that that's what helps to your overall food relationship. Now because 60% of the food in our food supply is ULTRA Processed food, 50% of actually the foods that Americans consume are ultra processed foods. The idea that having an all foods fit mindset is healthy is very unhealthy to me because these ultra processed foods, they drive you to want to eat more, they drive you to have less willpower, they alter your brain chemistry, you to make you more dependent on those food choices. So when it really comes to improving your relationship with food, it comes down to thinking about how food makes you feel and leaning into food that makes you feel better. And the more that you're able to do that, the more that you're able to eat whole foods, the more that you're able to use food as medicine, not in an obsessive way, but in a way that actually is very supportive and not judgmental. The better that you're gonna feel and the better that your relationship with food is gonna be. So this is an unpopular opinion for sure, because I know that there are a lot of people that will push against this. But in my experience, I have, hands down, seen incredible transformation in people's relationship with food when they're thinking more about how food makes them feel and using food as medicine. So those are my five truths that can change your health. Unfortunately, our healthcare system is not incentivized to help you learn about these truths that can transform your health. This is something that you have to step into on your own, as your own healer, as your own empowered being, as an individual that wants to take part in having a more vital, energized and vibrant life that is up to you. Those are the choices that you get to make on a day to day basis. And I hope that you embody these truths in your day to day life and that they help you to believe in your untapped potential when it comes to transforming your health, your mindset, your relationship with food, and so many other aspects of your overall health.