How stress wreaked havoc on my body

I just finished shooting a video for Dr. Oli Wenker’s latest Global Online Essential Oils Symposium which I think will be starting next month. It was a super tough challenge to tackle but was really helpful for me to connect a lot of dots. The topic of my video talk? The simple answer is “Frequency: Demystified” but at a more detailed view it was all about some things you may not know about your cells and how your bodies is electric. It is taking a look at our bodies like an electrician would vs. a physician.

Anyway…this blog post isn’t going to be all about that but it is related – I will let you know when the symposium starts so you can listen to it. This blog post is about one key A-HA related to frequency, our thoughts and our cells that impacts our health so it’s important information for all of us.

Thoughts –> Dis-ease

Our thoughts turn into signals which then create proteins within our cells which then get expressed into behavior (aka DIS-ease). Our thoughts literally become things within our body. We know this but do we truly KNOW it? I mean we hear all the time stress creates cortisol. So something happened and we thought – hey this is super stressful – and then some chemical hormone was created – cortisol. This can happen with ANY emotion – not just stress. Our thoughts literally shape our REALITY and our HEALTH. This truly should be MINDBLOWING news. It is actually super critical and yet our healthcare system IGNORES it completely. They give you some truths (like stress creates cortisol which can lead to belly fat) but obfuscate the actual mind-blowing truth of all health: our thoughts actually change our bodies…so good positive thoughts would lead to health and bad negative thoughts would lead to disease. This is truly Occam’s razor. The simplest answer is the right one. Truth can’t be avoided forever.

So this last year has been super stressful on everyone. Every single human on the entire planet is being dragged kicking and screaming (or simply blindly walking as the case may be for people who can’t yet see it) into a new reality. What that reality is is actually up to our COLLECTIVE thoughts. But putting that aside for a moment…we have THOUGHT a lot about FEAR of the UNKNOWN this last year and half. We have thought a lot about CONFUSION in the last year and a half. We have thought a lot about LONELINESS in the last year and a half. We have thought a lot about ANGER and REVENGE in the last year and a half. Are these positive thoughts? All of these thoughts have created DIS-ease in many of us.

15 Pounds of Thoughts

This is my story of how this DIS-ease manifested in me and how I have worked to resolve it. Whatever thoughts I was having (probably something like “everyone is running toward a cliff and I am running the other way and don’t understand how they can’t see the cliff” so maybe the emotion is incredulity) were expressed in my body as feeling super tired and “off” and also weight gain of about 15 pounds in a year.

I have a small frame. Those who meet me in person often say to me “wow you are a lot smaller than I envisioned when hearing your videos”. So most people probably didn’t notice the 15 extra pounds on me. But I noticed. I noticed because I felt “inflamed”. I could tell my digestion was off and that I just didn’t feel like me. I also wasn’t hungry at all which is completely NOT ME. I love to cook for a reason – I love to eat! I have always been able to eat 3 meals a day and I was always hungry for each of them. I have never had a weight issue. I mean the opposite might have been true – I ate a lot and was almost too thin most of my young adult life. My mom used to say “that I looked like I had rickets”. And yet I ate like a horse. So to not be hungry and to eat less food but still gain 15 pounds was a huge red flag for me. The other huge red flag was that my monthly cycle had shortened to just 24 days down from 28. Something was clearly off with my hormones.

Clearly the stress of the last year was taking its toll. I had a chiropractor tell me via some testing she did that my body was stuck in “rest and digest” mode. And when I went to see a Functional Medical doctor who ran a lot of tests on me – bloodwork, urinalysis and and saliva hormone – she said it was evident that I was having miscommunication between my hypothalamus (or maybe it was my hippocampus – I can’t remember!) and my thyroid and that my thyroid was like ok let’s just shut down your metabolism because you are clearly stressed and need to just rest. I didn’t show hypothyroid so that was good…I was literally just showing signs of being truly shut down from stress. My testosterone and estrogen were showing low but my other hormones looked pretty good. One bright spot was that I did show a lot of serotonin so I was still “happy”…like super happy.

So that’s the scientific explanation of what actually was going on (somewhat)…but I sprung into action before I had the results of all of these tests from my doctor because I likely had all the answers I needed already. The hormone test in particular took a while to take – you have to spit every few mornings all throughout your cycle so I did it while I was conducting my plan of action. I saw the doctor and ran the tests merely to confirm my suspicions and be sure nothing more serious was going on.

I reminded myself about a podcast I had listened to which explains that stress does cause leaky gut which causes all kinds of other issues like acne, thyroid issues, etc. If I was gaining weight and I wasn’t hungry then my metabolism wasn’t working correctly and I wasn’t hungry then I probably had something going on with my thyroid and my gut. Because you know me…all answers reside in gut health! LOL. The Functional doctor helped me with the testing but the diet chosen and the work I did with my supplements were things I came up with on my own. She suggested a few things and we discussed back and forth some of my plan but overall – this was MY PLAN and as I shared my results with her she was taken by surprise at my quick progress. I need to do some follow up with her soon but feel great and my results before didn’t show anything alarming so I am hesitant to simply pay for more testing to confirm what I feel – which is great.

My plan of action

So I had a few options to tackle to “heal” my gut and nourish my thyroid and reduce my stress. I have had gut issues before. I spent over a decade avoiding all soy, gluten, dairy, and even eggs at one point. All of this changed when I got pregnant with my daughter over 13 years ago and noticed my immune system and gut changed with the pregnancy and breastfeeding. I was able to eat whatever I wanted and had great digestion during that time but once I stopped nursing all my symptoms came back. It was at that time that I worked with Lyn Genet as she was developing and writing her first book The Plan.

At a high level The Plan helps you determine which foods are causing inflammation in your body. So it’s not a one size fits all diet. I loved this aspect of it. So much of what we see out there are simply to make you feel confused and like a failure because they take a one size fits all approach. Salmon is always healthy and gluten is the devil in most cases. But is this really true? No it isn’t. In some people – salmon is the devil and gluten (depending on how it’s grown and how it’s prepared) can be just fine. I wrote all about this and interviewed Lyn Genet on my blog back in 2013.

But now Lyn Genet had taken it a step further with her new book The Metabolism Plan. I couldn’t wait to read it as I just knew it would help me in this moment. This new book marries all the work from the first but enhances the individual testing by including Basel body temperature testing along with you trying different types and durations of exercise to see what works for your thyroid. See we are often told this myth if we are to lose weight – eat less calories than you burn and you will lose weight. HA! Not always the case with women. Because of our thyroid and our stress levels and other emotions involved. The book keenly describes that many women are working out too much which further exacerbates the issue causing you to either keep gaining weight or just never lose weight! So the types of food are important but also the type and duration of exercise. I wanted to focus on both of these so this book and diet was a perfect fit I suspected.

The book isn’t just a book…it’s also a 30 day diet plan. The first 20 days of meals and recipes are laid out for you. You can actually look at them here (for free) without even getting the book. But I highly recommend reading the book so you understand how to test your body and learn what is causing your inflammation and weight gain. This is an individual discovery process and it’s important to follow it to the letter. Was doing this easy with 5 other mouths to feed and focus on in my home? Not on your life. And I love to cook and know how to cook and it was a lot of work. It was not easy at all. But the results I got and the things I learned made it all worth it! Nothing worth doing is simple but the results speak volumes.

I of course adjusted my supplements accordingly and I will address that in a moment…first the results of the diet specifically…

The Results

I lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks and now know what foods and exercise were causing my new leaky gut and tired body issues. I started back in March following the diet to the letter. I quickly realized dairy was causing me issues. I didn’t even try gluten because I already know that causes me issues. One very interesting find that I have confirmed over and over again over the last 5 months is that another food that was wreaking havoc on me this time around is TOMATOES. I was devastated. I love tomatoes. But such is life. I do not think tomatoes will always be an issue for me but for right now – even eating one bite of them can cause a pound in weight gain overnight. No joke. So now I avoid them like the plague.

I was also working out 3 times a week with a trainer for an hour each time. Clearly this wasn’t helping me because I was still gaining weight! I took a break from working out at all with my trainer for the first 6 weeks to test my BBT daily. I tried small things like walking my dogs at first. Swimming. Hiking. Now I work out once a week with my trainer for 30 minutes of almost entirely strength training. The other days I simply walk my dogs at a brisk pace or take a bike ride for about 15 minutes.

Throughout all of this I was very intentional with my supplements too. I stopped taking everything I had and tested them as well. Two supplements I took from the start of the diet which tested well were Thyromin for my adrenals and thyroid AND ComforTone for my gut health (it helps you go). I quickly added in some Magnesium and then Probiotics. My functional doctor highly recommended I take B vitamins (for my mitochondria) and Magnesium and Vitamin D (which I was low in). It took me some time to test everything via the plan and add in everything incrementally but my regimen now is as follows:

• take 1 Thyromin at night
• take 1 ComforTone at night
• take 2 DetoxZyme at night
• take 2 Magnesium Unwind at night
• take 1 Super Vitamin C Tablet at night
• take 1 Thyromin in the morning
• take MineralEssence in the morning
• take 2 Super B vitamins in the morning
• take Vitamin D in the morning
• take Life 9 probiotic in the morning
• take SulfurZyme (MSM) in the morning

Shop for these supplements here.

_{You will be taken to the website and you can search for the item by name and either add it to a monthly ‘subscribe to save’ to save 24% off or just purchase one for now. When you purchase 100PV (100 bucks worth) of items you will automatically unlock the 24% discount as well. You no longer need to buy a starter kit to become a member with Young Living – simply buy what you want when you want it.}

Oils regimen (related to my endocrine system):

• EndoFlex on my thyroid in the morning and over my adrenals at night
• Sage on my abdomen in the morning
• SclarEssence on my abdomen in the morning
• DragonTime post ovulation and during my menses over my abdomen
• Lady Sclareol over my heart in the morning

Shop for these oils here.

_{You will be taken to the website and you can search for the item by name and either add it to a monthly ‘subscribe to save’ to save 24% off or just purchase one for now. When you purchase 100PV (100 bucks worth) of items you will automatically unlock the 24% discount as well. You no longer need to buy a starter kit to become a member with Young Living – simply buy what you want when you want it.}

Oils regimen (related to stress reduction):

• Valor 3-4 times daily on my wrists and spine
• White Angelica morning and night on my shoulders and head
• Harmony on my solar plexus morning and night
• Joy over my heart in the morning
• CBD Calm roller at night on my forearms, neck and spine

Shop for these oils here.

_{You will be taken to the website and you can search for the item by name and either add it to a monthly ‘subscribe to save’ to save 24% off or just purchase one for now. When you purchase 100PV (100 bucks worth) of items you will automatically unlock the 24% discount as well. You no longer need to buy a starter kit to become a member with Young Living – simply buy what you want when you want it.}

All of this has totally reset my endocrine system and my menstrual cycle has extended back to 28 days now 5 months later. My premenstrual and menstrual complete exhaustion has subsided and I am not as irritable either. My skin acne related to my cycle hormones has also disappeared.

The All Important Water

The biggest MINDBLOWING lesson learned for me and one that has completely changed my sleep and digestive patterns too is something I never would have ever tried. In the book it talks about getting enough water. You divide your weight in half and that is how much water you need daily in ounces. I didn’t know how I was going to drink so much water. I have a tiny bladder and frankly don’t like drinking a lot of water as I end up having to pee all day long. It is super annoying for me plus it kinda hurts when my bladder gets super full. Or so I thought.

Lyn Genet suggested drinking your water in 3 parts 45 minutes before each of your three meals and NONE during or after dinner. So for me that was a big 20 oz bottle right when waking up, before lunch and dinner. The first few days of this was miserable and then some amazing things happened.

Firstly, my bladder seems to have “learned” how to handle this volume of water so now I don’t have to pee all day long I just go a couple of times after drinking all that water. Usually about 20-30 min after. I am able to hold it longer and it doesn’t hurt like it used to!

Secondly, after drinking that large volume of water on an empty stomach, it makes me go to the bathroom (you know for a bowel movement). Gary Young always taught that a truly healthy gut means going number 2 after each meal. Well who knew simply drinking larger volumes of water all at once would help so much in this department!

Thirdly, I am no longer up all night having to pee! I am sleeping much more soundly.

So this small change with respect to how I consume my water daily was a complete game changer for me!

I am so thrilled with the results. I still find that managing my stress in today’s world is a constant and ever changing battle. Focusing on my frequency and positive thoughts and releasing those negative ones is simply a daily discovery process that will never end! I hope this helps you in some way shape or form…because I know it’s always hard to get to the root cause of any form of DIS-ease you may be suffering from. Just always remember that every thought you make is what caused the issue so that is the root cause of it. Focus there first and then focus on the symptoms. Both are required to truly heal.

Sending light,

Lindsey