One thing has become clear to me over my 15 years of clinical experience as a women’s health & wellness expert: women are suffering. They are not thriving with wellness the way they deserve. Rather, they are walking around feeling "good enough" (translation: they are functioning at about 70-80% of the optimal wellness). That is unacceptable to me and it should be unacceptable to you especially if you’re one of the women suffering.
Did you know that the incidence of autoimmune diseases have tripled over the past 40 years, affecting women 75% more than men? In fact, it is estimated that 30 million American women have at least one autoimmune condition, many of them completely unaware of it. As a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist, I became obsessed with autoimmunity as my clinical focus became women’s hormonal health.
It became very obvious to me that scores of women who are having hormonal challenges (from irregular periods to fertility issues to migraines and acne to anxiety and depression) are actually dealing with an undiagnosed or mismanaged autoimmune condition. As I just stated, the incidence of autoimmunity has tripled since the 1980’s and that has everything to do with our environment--from our stress levels, to the foods we eat, to the products we apply to our skin to the thoughts we think. Plain and simple our genes can’t shift this fast so it has to be the world we live in and how we treat our bodies that is behind this upsurge of illness. But, the good news is you have to the power to support your body in its healing process and get back to thriving health.
At the root of this epidemic of mediocre health are a few things, but most likely your beliefs about your body. You see, your beliefs dictate your behavior and your behavior dictates your health. Even more, science shows us that the thoughts we think, such as, “I feel exhausted” or, “I feel overworked” or “I feel stressed out” or “I feel so out of sync with my body” or “I feel like I’m on a treadmill and I’m barely surviving” actually impact our neurophysiology and ultimately impact the health and behavior of the 37 trillion cells in our body. I consider it a case of cellular hostility and it typically manifests itself as an autoimmune condition. Yes, if you are walking around feeling unwell, you could be dealing with an autoimmune condition that is rooted in cellular hostility, or said another way, your body attacking itself— cellularly and emotionally.
My latest book, Body Belief: How To Heal Autoimmune Disease, Radically Shift Your Health & Learn to Love Your Body More, has all the tools to empower you because you deserve to feel good, you are worthy of abundant health and most importantly, you are capable of healing yourself. Here are a few tools you can implement now to begin the radical health shift you are worthy of:
1. Say “Yes” to prioritizing you (and “no” to most everything else). As my spiritual teacher always says, “if it’s not a, 'hell yes!', it should be a 'no.'” I understand it’s not feasible to say no to all of our obligations but can you get pickier? Can you streamline your to do list and your relationships and rather prioritize yourself. Before you do something ask yourself, “Does this feel good?” If it doesn’t see if you can get into a mindset of feeling good. Try and look for some good feelings that are associated with the task or the relationship. And focus on how it is going to nourish you!
2. Talk to yourself. Every day take a moment and ask yourself, “How can I better support you? How can i nourish you? What’s something I can do today for you?” Then, listen to what yourself says, and honor it.
3. Shift your opening line. If you find yourself starting most of your sentences with things like, “I’m so stressed” or “I’m so busy” or “I’m overwhelmed” or really anything that makes you feel tense, shift it. Take it from a place of stress and worry to a place of ease and hope. Try these instead; “There’s a lot on my plate but I’m asking for support” or “I’m getting better at managing my stress” or “Life is good. It’s full. And I’m doing my best.”
