October 23, 2025 • 35 mins
What if the biggest thing holding you back from healing isn’t your diet, your labs, or your supplement routine, but your beliefs about what’s possible?
In this episode, Dr. Heather shares a deeply personal look at how she went from being the “shy girl” no one expected much from, to struggling with gut issues and exhaustion, to finally building a thriving practice, all by learning to stop defending her limitations.
You’ll learn how the stories you tell yourself shape your physiology, why your nervous system can’t heal when it feels unsafe, and the small mindset and lifestyle shifts that can completely change your trajectory.
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “Must be nice for her…” — this one’s for you.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
- The difference between limitation and belief, and how both impact healing
- The science behind how your thoughts create neural pathways that shape your body’s response
- Real stories of fear, grit, and consistency from Dr. Heather’s own healing and business journey
- How to retrain your nervous system to feel safe enough to heal
- Five practical steps to start shifting from comparison to curiosity (and bring joy back into the process)
- Why the most successful clients aren’t the ones with the most resources, but instead they’re the ones who can hold the vision that healing is possible
Resources & Links Mentioned:
- ✨ Apply for gutTogether® VIP
(Our 6-month high-touch program includes personalized testing, mineral and gut protocols, and integrated nervous system coaching.) - 💬 Follow Dr. Heather on Instagram
for more daily gut and hormone tips - 🔍 Take the free quiz to uncover what might be keeping you stuck
Share this episode:
If this conversation helped shift your mindset, share it with a friend or tag @drheatherfinley
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Heather Finley (00:03):
Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Heather Finley, registereddietitian and gut health
specialist.
I understand the frustration ofdealing with GI issues because
I've been there and I spent overtwo decades searching for
answers for my own gut issues ofconstipation, bloating, and
stomach pain.
I've dedicated my life tounderstanding and solving my own
(00:24):
gut issues.
And now I'm here to guide you.
On this podcast, I'll help youidentify the true root causes of
your discomfort.
So you can finally ditch yoursymptoms for good.
My goal is to empower you withthe knowledge and tools you need
so that you can love your gutand it will love you right back.
So if you're ready to learn alot, gain a deeper understanding
(00:46):
of your gut and find lastingrelief.
You are in the right place.
Welcome to the love your gutpodcast.
Hello friends, and welcome backto the next episode of the Love
Your Gut podcast.
Today's episode is one I've beenwanting to record for a long
time because it's something Isee come up over and over again,
(01:08):
not only in my clients, but withdiscovery calls and honestly in
myself too.
This is a continual process forliterally every human.
We're gonna talk aboutlimitations, not the ones
outside of you, like yourschedule, your bank account,
your circumstances, but the onesin your mind and the stories
(01:29):
that you tell yourself.
So what if I told you that oneof the biggest things holding
you back?
Isn't about what you don't have,but what you keep telling
yourself you can't have.
I'm gonna say that again becauseI think once I realized that
this was such a big thing, ittotally changed everything.
So what if the biggest thingholding you back isn't what you
(01:52):
don't have, but what you keeptelling yourself You can't have.
If you have ever scrolled pastsomeone's story and thought, oh,
that must be nice, then this oneis for you.
Because the truth is the gapbetween where you are and where
you wanna be is often not a lackof resources.
It's a lack of belief.
(02:12):
And I wanna start by sayingthis.
I wasn't always in the placethat I am now.
I wasn't always running.
A successful business recordingpodcasts or confidently helping
women heal their gut and theirhormones For a long time, and a
lot of my life, I carried thebelief that I wasn't enough.
I was the quote unquote shy girlin high school.
(02:34):
The one who stayed quiet, theone who just kind of blended in.
The one who always got alongwith everybody I was friends
with everybody.
But I wasn't ever gonna rock theboat.
I was the kid, the very typicalfirstborn child.
Never got in trouble, never didanything wrong.
No one would have looked back atme and then said she's gonna
(02:56):
build her own company someday.
I was so shy and I just kind ofstayed in my lane.
I was very focused, especiallyin high school, on swimming, and
that was my life.
I spent hours in the pool and onthe pool deck and with my swim
teammates, but I just still kindof kept to myself and had this
(03:19):
like humble success that Ididn't really ever talk about.
And I had this narrative that Ireally let sink very deep into
my identity and it.
It shaped how I saw myself in myfriendships in school, in
swimming, in my career, and evenwhen I started achieving things
(03:39):
and getting better or seeingresults, there was still a part
of me that didn't fully believeI could succeed or that I even
deserved to.
But I wanna share with you justa few defining moments in my
life where I decided that Iwasn't gonna let those beliefs
define me anymore.
And I promise that this hassomething to do with your gut
(04:00):
health.
So just stick with me for alittle bit.
And this is also probably.
One of the more vulnerableepisodes that I've ever done.
Just sharing more about my storyand some of the things that kept
me stuck.
So the first defining moment forme was when I first moved away
to Texas for college.
If you don't know, I grew up inSouthern California.
(04:21):
That's where I was born andraised.
Actually, I was not born there,but I was raised there, and that
is where I call home.
It was a terrifying decision.
Like I said, I was the shy girlin high school and I.
Somehow decided to move halfwayacross the country to go swim in
college at TCU, and it wasterrifying.
(04:42):
I didn't know anybody.
I didn't have family nearby.
I had some cousins and an auntand uncle a couple hours away.
But for the first time, I had tofigure out who I was without the
people or the patterns or thefriendships that I had grown up
with.
I was so lucky to grow up with areally close community.
(05:04):
School friends, church friends,neighborhood friends, friends
that to this day I still keep intouch with and.
Call my best friends.
In fact, I'm going back homethis weekend to see two of those
friends.
So something inside me knew thatI needed to do that for myself,
to prove to myself that I coulddo hard things because I had an
(05:27):
offer to swim at a college.
At actually two colleges closeto my home.
And I just knew that if I didthat, I wouldn't fully immerse
myself in the experience.
And that move to Texas literallychanged my entire life.
I ended up swimming divisionone.
I actually was president of mysorority.
Fun fact, and also slightlyembarrassing.
(05:49):
And I learned that confidenceisn't something that you're born
with.
It's something that you buildthrough evidence, and that was
college for me, was findinglittle bits of evidence that I
could be a leader and that I wasa confident person and that I
didn't have to be the shy girland that I could step out in
(06:09):
faith.
So that experience taught methat when you put yourself in
new environments, your brainstarts to create new pathways.
You can start to see yourselfdifferently.
My college friends started tosee a much more confident
version of myself, of Heather,and I was the same person.
I just had a lot more confidenceand that really laid the
(06:31):
groundwork for.
Everything that came next.
The second moment was when Ifinally stopped doing the same
things that weren't working formy health.
You all know my story if you'velistened to really any of my
stuff, but for years I tried tooutsmart my gut issues, new
diets, new supplements, morerestriction, more exercise, more
(06:53):
of this.
Cutting things out of my diet,and I remember setting up my
very first appointment with afunctional medicine doctor,
deciding to possibly trysomething new because I felt
like I had exhausted all theoptions.
I kept kind of having thatnarrative like, well, I'll just
check back in with my GI doctorone more time, and knowing that
(07:15):
I wasn't gonna get a differentanswer.
And honestly, it wasn't my GIDoctor's fault, which that's a
whole episode for another time,but.
Everything was normal.
My colonoscopy was normal.
Everything was normal, and sothat's where I had to look
outside of the box and look atwho could actually help me with
these symptoms that aredefinitely not normal, even
though my blood work and mycolonoscopy is showing
(07:37):
otherwise, and I had to cancelout that.
Fear that I had of what if thisfunctional medicine doctor tells
me that everything's normal too?
I told myself for so long, it'stoo expensive.
What if it doesn't work?
What if they can't help me?
But underneath that was actuallysomething deeper.
We often make a lot of excusesfor ourselves of it's too
(07:58):
expensive, or what if it's notgonna work?
But the actual belief underneaththat is, what if I find out this
is my fault?
What if healing isn't?
Actually possible for me.
What if I mess this up?
I didn't have trust in myself,and months later I scheduled an
appointment with this functionalmedicine doctor that I had been.
(08:20):
Told to go.
See, I was still scared, but Iknew I couldn't keep living the
same way.
I had just met my now husband.
I was in my early twenties.
Life was supposed to be so fun.
I was in weddings and travelingand working at my first job.
But behind the scenes, I wasexhausted.
I remember a moment where I wasliterally sitting on the couch
(08:42):
with one of my roommates andfalling asleep, like
mid-sentence, talking to her,and she like looked at me and
was like, are you okay?
And I was like, what justhappened?
Like I was.
So on another planet, I wasbloated, I was frustrated, I was
stuck.
And the decision to finally trysomething new really changed
everything again.
(09:03):
And not that that doctor fixedeverything, because my journey
was definitely not short.
It wasn't like I saw her for acouple months and everything was
fine, but that's what finallycatapulted me to start believing
that things could actuallychange, even though I didn't
find full resolution.
With that provider, but it didstart things.
(09:25):
It wasn't just about running astool test.
It was about saying to myself, Ideserve answers.
And even though it took time,that was the first step towards
believing that my body wasn'tbroken.
So then the third moment came afew years later when I decided
to leave my first job, myclinical job on paper, that job
(09:46):
was safe.
I had a steady paycheck, I hadbenefits.
I had.
The approval of everyone aroundme.
But honestly, I was miserable.
I knew that I wanted to dosomething different.
I think I always had had a dreamthat I would be an entrepreneur.
I would see people as a kid,like people like Katie Couric.
(10:06):
I remember going and seeing heron the Today Show and wanting to
meet her, and I would see thesereally successful women.
I remember telling my mom acouple weeks ago, actually, we
were watching the Parent Trapwith my.
Daughter.
And I remember thinking, Ialways looked up to the mom in
parent trap because she justseemed so successful and that
she loved what she was doing.
(10:26):
And my mom's like, that's sointeresting that as a kid,
that's what you took from that.
But that always just kind ofstuck with me.
I'm getting on a tangent, but Itook a risk and accepted a
position at this eating disordertreatment center, which was a
completely different career pathfrom clinical dietetics.
It scared me, but it alsostretched me, and it forced me
(10:47):
to grow as a clinician and tolook at people through a more
compassionate, holistic lens,and honestly catapulted me into
what I'm doing now becausethat's where I was really forced
to look more deeply at gi, notonly for my.
Self, but for my patients.
And that's when I finally madethe decision I have to figure
(11:07):
this out because if I can figureout why so many people are so
constipated and so bloated andnot getting symptom relief with
low FODMAP and all the things,and I can figure it out, then I
can help all these clients too.
So that leads me to.
The fourth moment, the big one.
This is the biggest moment, theday that I finally went all in
(11:27):
to pursue my own business.
I had been running my privatepractice since like 2012.
Sometimes full-time, sometimespart-time.
But people thought I was crazyto leave that job that I had.
I had friends asking like, whyare you gonna leave a stable job
to build a business online?
(11:48):
And I remember I had a smallonline presence and hiring a
business.
Coach at the time, it felt likethe biggest financial risk I'd
ever taken, but I could just seethe vision and I knew that if I
didn't try that I would, itwould always be something that I
would look back with regret on,and I know I knew that I wanted
to build something someaningful.
(12:09):
I couldn't keep playing small orwaiting for the perfect moment,
and I knew that I neededsupport.
And I was willing to bet onmyself because I finally had the
confidence because of thosemoments in my life that gave me
the confidence to believe inmyself.
So that decision to investbefore I felt fully ready was.
Seriously, one of the mostimportant of my life, and I
(12:32):
thanks a lot to my husband forreally encouraging me and
supporting me in that as well.
But it's that same mindsetthat's also helped me heal my
body and grow my businessbelieving that something is
possible before you actuallyhave proof.
And that is the biggest shiftthat you have to make when you
(12:53):
are looking to heal your own GIissues.
So.
When I talk about limitations,I'm not talking about theory.
I have lived them.
I have wrestled with the fear ofbeing seen, the fear of failing,
the fear of investing in myself.
And I've seen firsthand howthose fears can manifest in your
body because when your brainstarts to believe that you're
(13:14):
stuck, your nervous systemfollows and it keeps you in
Survival mode.
And survival mode might keep yousafe.
But it will never help you grow.
Survival mode is the safe doingthe same thing over and over
again?
Checking the boxes, but you'llnever get to where you wanna be.
So the first step in healing,whether this is related to your
(13:35):
gut health or your life, iscreating safety in your body and
belief.
In your mind that you canchange, and that is what we're
gonna dive into today.
How do we actually do that?
That was probably the longestintro to a topic ever.
I think we're at already 13minutes, so let's start there.
When you see somebody who haswhat you want, maybe a calm gut,
(13:59):
steady energy, a thrivingbusiness, a balanced life,
whatever it might be.
It's easy to assume that theyhad a headstart.
Maybe you think they probablyhad more time, they had more
money, they had more support,but that honestly is rarely the
full story.
Every client that I've everworked with and even my own
journey began in the exact sameplace, tired, frustrated, unsure
(14:20):
of where to start.
Everybody is just figuring itout, one decision at a time.
So that must be nice of likeeasy for them creates separation
and it tells your brain they'redifferent from me.
They have something I don't.
And the second that your brainbelieves that story, it shuts
down the idea that change isavailable to you.
(14:42):
So the alternative is justcuriosity.
You don't have to change yourthought pattern first.
You just have to get curiousabout it.
So instead of saying.
Oh, that must be nice for them.
Ask, how did they do it?
How did they make that happen?
That one question keeps yournervous system open instead of
defensive, and it shifts youfrom comparison to possibility
(15:04):
because you're not totallychanging the belief of this is
gonna happen to me.
You're just curious, how did Imake that happen?
And that possibility is wherehealing begins, because here's
the truth, must be nice, or someversion of that phrase doesn't
apply to most transformation.
Healing is really hard work.
It's grit, it's consistency,it's continuing with it,
(15:26):
especially when you don't seeimmediate payoff.
That is something that all ofour clients go through.
None of our clients have.
Absolute linear growth.
I mean, sometimes we have somereally quick wins and it follows
that linear path, but there'salways setbacks, so it's showing
up for the unglamorous stuff.
Drinking water, prioritizingmeals, managing stress, saying
(15:50):
no, asking for help, believingthat what you're doing is gonna
matter even if it doesn't feellike it yet.
So when you look at someoneelse's transformation and think,
oh, that must be so nice forthem, you are seeing the.
Outcome, not the process.
What you don't see are thetears, the self-doubt, the
nights they questioned if it waseven working the dozens of times
(16:10):
they had to regulate theirnervous system to just keep
going.
Your nervous system has to beable to withstand challenge.
It has to learn.
That struggle doesn't meandanger.
That slow progress that you'rehaving at whatever you're doing
does not mean failure.
And discomfort is a part ofgrowth.
(16:31):
It's not proof that you'rebroken.
Being able to sit in discomfortis growth.
If every time something feelshard, your body goes into fight
or flight, your brain will startto equate that with a threat,
and that's where kind of that.
Self-sabotage shows up.
So skipping meals, abandoning aprotocol, well, it didn't work.
I'm a weekend, I'm not gonna doit anymore.
(16:53):
Going back to old habits or justdeciding like this is not worth
it.
When you're able to startbuilding resilience, when you
practice staying calm, when youface challenges, when you
breathe through frustrationinstead of quitting, you're not
just being disciplined.
You are teaching your nervoussystem.
That consistency is.
(17:13):
Safe.
You are rewiring your nervoussystem to hold the belief that
long-term change is actuallypossible for you, and that is
the part that people don't see.
Nobody sees you doing theinternal work.
Healing and success aren't aboutwho has the easiest path.
They're about who can keepshowing up, who can stay
grounded, who can keep believingthat it's working even when
(17:35):
there's no quick win to prove ityet.
So back a little bit to my ownstory about getting scrappy.
When I first started healing mygut, I was not running a
successful practice or doing anyof this.
I was in my first job out ofschool, literally making.
$37,000 a year as a dietician,that was not a lot, especially
(17:58):
while I was in grad school andon my own and didn't have the
time or energy to take anotherjob because I was in school
also.
So I was babysitting on theweekends just to pay for
groceries and the supplementsthat I was trying to use to help
my health.
Thinking about going back toschool to get a doctorate, and I
(18:18):
remember back to that functionalmedicine consult.
I remember when I booked that, Iwas literally just saving money
for that stool test.
It felt like such a hugeinvestment, but I knew that deep
down, if I figured this out, Icouldn't move forward.
Not in my career, not even inmy.
Relationship with my now husbandbecause my symptoms were all
(18:39):
consuming.
They dictated my mood, myenergy, and honestly my
confidence as well.
So things did not happen for meovernight, like I mentioned
earlier, and I surely didn'texpect them to.
But what I did have was thebelief that I'm getting answers,
and I'm going to see thisthrough.
Even when the progress lookedslow, I just looked for little
(19:00):
pieces of evidence that thingswere improving.
A little less bloating here, alittle bit more energy there.
Those tiny signs just kept megoing.
And there were so many momentswhere I could have said, well,
that must be nice for thatperson to not struggle with
this.
But instead, I just askedmyself, what can I learn from
that?
What's the one thing that I cantry right now?
(19:22):
And honestly, when I beganbuilding my business, the same
pattern showed up again.
I didn't have a team.
I didn't have extra time.
I was a new mom.
I didn't have the perfect plan.
What I had were nap times, latenights, and a belief that if I
could help even one person gether life back, it would be worth
it.
So you get scrappy.
You learn how to build systems,you learn how to do things, you
(19:44):
learn how to, uh.
Move forward when you can seethe actual vision.
And it's so wild to me, just theparallels like, but the same
mindset that helped me grow abusiness was the same mindset
that finally helped me heal myGI issues.
Because the moment you stopdefending your limitations, you
can start expanding what isactually possible for you.
(20:06):
So when I stopped saying, Ican't afford that, or I don't
have time for that, and startedasking, how could I make this
work because it's worth it.
Then everything changed and I'vewatched so many clients
experience the same thing.
One woman told me she almostdidn't join, got together
because she didn't think she hadthe time or the money, but then
(20:27):
she realized that not feelingwell was costing her so much
more energy, joy, being presentwith her family, and within
three months she was.
Feeling so much better.
She had energy to not take napsduring the day.
She was going on bike rides withher kids.
She was able to go on date nightwith her husband and not stress
about what she was going to eatfor the first time in years.
(20:49):
And that shift didn't start withsupplements.
It started with actuallybelieving that it could happen.
So let's talk about why this istrue from a.
Physiological standpoint,because I think sometimes it's
like, oh, this is so woo woo,you know?
But this isn't just mindsettalk, it's actual science.
Your nervous system is alwaysscanning your environment for
(21:11):
safety, literally every secondof the day, your nervous system
is asking, am I safe?
Am I supported?
Am I okay?
And here's the thing, it's notjust listening to your
environment, it's listening toyour thoughts.
And I don't know about you, butsometimes the mind can be a kind
of scary place.
So every time you think Thisisn't possible for me, or I've
(21:32):
tried everything, or this is notgonna work.
Your brain takes that as truth.
It's not judging you, it's justprotecting you.
And it says, okay, we've beenhurt or disappointed before.
Let's make sure we don't gethurt again.
And so it builds a neuralpathway to keep you in that
familiar story and to protectyou.
So neural pathways are liketrails in a forest.
(21:54):
The more you walk one, the moreautomatic it becomes.
So if you have spent months oreven years.
Reinforcing the story thathealing isn't possible.
Your brain gets really efficientat keeping you there.
Not out of cruelty, but out ofprotection.
So the problem is your brainthinks change is unsafe or
impossible.
(22:15):
Your body will listen to that.
It won't invest energy andhealing.
When it's stuck in survivalmode.
It stays in that fight or flightresponse.
The same one your body would useif it were being chased by a
bear.
And in that state.
Here's actually what happensPhysiologically, your digestion
slows down.
That's not a good thing.
Blood is pulled away from yourgut towards your limbs, so you
(22:36):
can run inflammation rises, soyour body's producing more
cortisol and stress hormones.
Your hormone balance shifts.
Reproductive and thyroidhormones take a backseat because
your body's priority isshort-term survival, not
long-term repair.
Detoxification and bile flowslow, so the liver will divert
energy away from cleaning upbecause there's a more immediate
(22:58):
threat.
Secretory IGA, your gut's firstline of immune defense will
actually drop, so that means youbecome more reactive to foods,
more vulnerable to pathogens,less resilient overall.
And then digestive secretionslike stomach acid and enzymes,
and bile decrease, which is whyso many people in a chronic
stress state have bloating orreflux or constipation even when
(23:21):
they're eating clean, quoteunquote, or taking the
supplements or insert treatmenthere.
So your body literallyprioritizes survival over
restoration.
And that is why you can take allthe supplements, you can eat
perfectly, you can do all thethings, and you can still not
feel better.
And I can tell you that that isthe case for so many people,
(23:43):
including clients that we workwith, where we have to have a
conversation with them of likeyour nervous system.
Is on high alert all the time.
What are we doing to change thethought pattern?
There is a reason that we havenervous system work built into
our programs.
We even have nervous systemexperts and coaches come in to
(24:04):
offer sessions to our clients.
For this reason because it's soimportant.
So we have to get the nervoussystem to feel safe, both
physiologically and emotionally.
It's foundational for healing.
And here's the good news, youcan actually rewire your brain,
and not only can you.
You must do this becausecreating a new neural pathway is
(24:27):
a requirement for healing.
So every time you choose a newthought, even if it's something
super small, like healing ispossible for me, you are carving
a new trail in that forest andeach time you walk it, that
trail becomes more defined.
So the more you look forevidence of healing, even tiny
things like, Hey, my bloatingwas a little less today, or I
(24:47):
actually had energy after lunch,or my mood felt more stable this
week.
The more your brain starts toassociate healing with safety.
So this is why we have ourclients track micro wins.
They probably think we're justdoing it to be annoying, but we
are helping them to look forthose neural pathways and
creating new neural pathwaysbecause your brain.
(25:09):
And your nervous system needevidence.
And if you're only looking forproof that things aren't
working, you're gonna keepreinforcing that old pathway of
frustration.
If you intentionally look forproof that change is happening
even in the smallest ways, youwill start to rewire the belief
at the biological level, whichis literally so cool.
(25:30):
I hope you love this as much asI do.
I think it is so amazing how ourbrains work with repetition.
You can create new pathways thatbecome your brain's default.
You probably know people in yourlife like that where they just
seem calm and regulated and theydon't get flustered very easily.
They have created pathways thathave allowed for that.
(25:52):
So you can't, you can start toexpect healing instead of
defending against it.
You start to notice possibilityinstead of proof that you're
stuck.
So this is, I wanna be superclear.
This is not about toxicpositivity.
It's not pretending thateverything is fine or forcing
yourself to be happy.
There is a big difference.
(26:13):
It is about neuroplasticity,your brain's ability to change
and adapt when you haveconsistent, safe signals.
You cannot bully your body intohealing, but you can teach it
that healing is safe, and whenyour brain and your body both
believe that.
Everything changes.
So if you're listening to thisand you're realizing that you've
(26:33):
been stuck in, that must be niceor I've tried everything spiral,
that is where you can startchanging that story.
And I want you to hear thisreally clearly is you are not
broken for thinking thesethoughts.
Your brain is simply trying toprotect you, and that is how we
are wired.
So it believes that by expectingdisappointment, you'll be less
(26:54):
hurt if things don't work out.
But the truth is that pattern iswhat's keeping you trapped.
So here's how you can actuallystart shifting.
I'm gonna give you a couplesteps.
So number one, you're gonnacatch the story.
Maybe you notice a thought ofthis food always makes me
bloated, or I've triedeverything, nothing works, my
body doesn't respond.
Maybe I can't afford to investin my health right now.
(27:16):
When those thoughts surfaceinstead of spiraling, just take
a breath and say, okay, that'smy brain trying to protect me.
You are not doing anythingwrong.
Your brain just prefers thatfamiliar thought, even if that's
uncomfortable.
So we're just creatingawareness.
The next time that thought popsup, just imagine yourself
literally stepping off of thattrail.
(27:38):
Every time you catch it, you'regonna pave a new one.
The second step here is asking abetter question.
So after you catch that story,maybe it's, my body just doesn't
respond, or I've triedeverything, or I can't afford
this.
So after you catch the story,replace judgment with curiosity.
Instead of asking, why can't Ihave that?
(27:59):
Which keeps you kind ofpowerless, ask, what would it
take to make this possible?
For example, maybe instead of,I'll never get rid of this
exploding ask, what could I trythis week to support digestion?
Just.
10% better, 5% better, 2%better, or instead of, I don't
have time for that.
Ask, how could I create time ormake one small swap because this
(28:22):
is important to me.
Or instead of, I've triedeverything, maybe it's what
haven't I tried with consistencyin nervous system safety.
So these are questions that arere gonna reengage your thinking,
the prefrontal cortex, insteadof letting your fear brain run
the show, curiosity is one ofthe safest states your nervous
system can be in because it'ssaying I'm open, I'm learning,
(28:45):
I'm exploring.
The next thing is justvisualizing safety and joy.
So this can be a really funexercise to give to yourself,
and each day I just want you tospend some moments imagining
what it would feel like to behealthy and calm and symptom
free.
Just go there.
In your mind, what would thebloat free version of you be
(29:06):
doing?
How would she eat?
How would she move through herday?
What would she wear?
What would she say yes to whenshe's no longer uncomfortable or
self-conscious?
What would she enjoy?
Maybe dinner out with herfriends, playing with her kids,
whatever it might be.
Your body doesn't know thedifference between a vividly
imagined experience and a realone.
So when you visualize health andjoy, your nervous system begins
(29:29):
to associate those feelings withsafety, and you're training your
body to believe that this ispossible.
This is where we're healed.
So I have a story about thisactually.
I've told this before, but wehad a client who came to us and
she was a couple months awayfrom her wedding and she said,
I'm going on my honeymoon.
And I just, I do not wanna bebloated, obviously.
(29:52):
So what I told her was, I wantyou to start journaling every
day about what your honeymoon islike.
When you are not bloated, whatare you doing?
What are you wearing?
All the things, and she thoughtI was crazy, but she was like,
okay, fine.
Kind of rolled her eyes at me.
I'll, I'll try it.
I checked in with her, shehadn't done it a couple weeks
later.
I'm like, please just do it.
(30:13):
So I'm like, commit to likedoing it for five days and then
come back.
So she came back, she had doneit then.
I asked her to continue it.
She went on her honeymoon andshe messaged me and she said, I
cannot believe it.
I was not bloated the entiretime.
And of course some of that hadto do with what we were doing
from a gut perspective, but shehad to hold the vision that it
(30:37):
was possible and see that shecould feel safe doing that.
So it was just so cool gettingthat message.
The next option is to just.
Pair your belief with biology.
If you're a more practical,logical person, this is where
you can match your mindset toyour body and you, you can't
(30:58):
mindset your way out ofdysregulation.
Your body also needs to feelsafe too.
So what I mean by this is makingsure that you're supporting your
biology, eating regular meals soyour blood sugar isn't on a
rollercoaster mineralized.
Making sure you support yourminerals so that your nervous
system has what it needs tobuffer stress.
(31:19):
To support your adrenals, tosupport stomach acid production,
to support motility, activateyour vagus nerve, do one thing a
day that connects you back tocalm, humming, singing,
gargling, whatever.
All of those things are gonnaget you into rest and digest.
And then the last one that I'llshare is just to celebrate the
micro winds.
Little, little winds.
(31:40):
I had more energy.
I didn't crash.
My mood was lighter, I feltcalmer, whatever it might be.
Just looking for those littlewinds.
So here's your big takeaway fromtoday.
The biggest difference betweenthe people who heal and the
people who stay stuck is notluck or time, or honestly even
money.
A lot of times it's belief.
It's belief that their body iscapable of change, it's belief
(32:03):
that they can do hard things.
It's belief that their effortsare working.
Even if the progress is notobvious yet, because the truth
is that healing takes grit.
It takes consistency.
It takes showing up when you'drather quit.
It takes holding the vision.
When you have zero proof, thereare days when your stories will
(32:23):
try to creep back in.
When you hear that little voicesaying, it's not working, why
are you doing this?
Must be nice for everybody else.
See, I'm never gonna get better.
But then you can pause andremind yourself, my body is
learning safety.
This is a part of the process.
I'm rewiring, I'm not goingbackwards.
You can teach your brain a newway to exist.
(32:44):
And when I look back at my ownjourney from just being the
quote unquote shy girl that noone expected much from to
struggling with gut issues that.
Literally ruled my life to nowrunning a business, helping
other women heal.
The common thread was notperfection, it was belief.
And that belief certainly didnot come overnight.
(33:05):
And it's something I stillstruggle with.
It's something we all strugglewith.
It came from small steps, fromconsistency, from nervous system
regulation, and learning how tohold the vision when the outcome
was not guaranteed, becausenothing's guaranteed.
And healing is a lot like.
That you don't have to see theentire staircase, mountain,
whatever visual you want, youjust have to take the next step,
(33:26):
and that faith will help yourbody meet you there because your
body wants to heal.
Your body was designed to heal.
It just needs safety, it needsconsistency, and it needs the
right support to actually do it.
So if you are listening to thisand thinking that is what I
need.
I need not another protocol, butI need someone to help me
(33:47):
rebuild the belief and safetywhile addressing, of course, the
physical side of healing.
That is part of what makes guttogether so different.
Our team combines functionaltesting minerals.
Gut support, nervous systemsupport because we know that
healing is not just aboutsupplements and food.
(34:07):
And the best part is likesometimes you need someone else
to hold the vision for you andremind you of what that is.
And we do that a lot for ourclients.
Because sometimes in thebeginning it's hard.
So we would love for you toapply to work with us.
You can find the link in theshow notes to learn more, and we
can help you dig in and figureout all the pieces and how they
(34:30):
go together.
So thank you so much for beinghere today and just doing the
brave work of showing up foryourself.
And remember that every time youchoose curiosity.
Over comparison or belief, overfear, you are rewiring your
brain for healing.
You are not behind.
You are building something new,and that means you're on your
way.
So take a deep breath, findsomething that brings you joy
(34:52):
today, and just keep holdingthat vision, that healing is
possible.
I will see you next week.
Welcome to the Love Your Gut Podcast.
I'm your host, Dr.
Heather Finley, registereddietitian and gut health
specialist.
I understand the frustration ofdealing with GI issues because
I've been there and I spent overtwo decades searching for
answers for my own gut issues ofconstipation, bloating, and
stomach pain.
I've dedicated my life tounderstanding and solving my own
(00:24):
gut issues.
And now I'm here to guide you.
On this podcast, I'll help youidentify the true root causes of
your discomfort.
So you can finally ditch yoursymptoms for good.
My goal is to empower you withthe knowledge and tools you need
so that you can love your gutand it will love you right back.
So if you're ready to learn alot, gain a deeper understanding
(00:46):
of your gut and find lastingrelief.
You are in the right place.
Welcome to the love your gutpodcast.
Hello friends, and welcome backto the next episode of the Love
Your Gut podcast.
Today's episode is one I've beenwanting to record for a long
time because it's something Isee come up over and over again,
(01:08):
not only in my clients, but withdiscovery calls and honestly in
myself too.
This is a continual process forliterally every human.
We're gonna talk aboutlimitations, not the ones
outside of you, like yourschedule, your bank account,
your circumstances, but the onesin your mind and the stories
(01:29):
that you tell yourself.
So what if I told you that oneof the biggest things holding
you back?
Isn't about what you don't have,but what you keep telling
yourself you can't have.
I'm gonna say that again becauseI think once I realized that
this was such a big thing, ittotally changed everything.
So what if the biggest thingholding you back isn't what you
(01:52):
don't have, but what you keeptelling yourself You can't have.
If you have ever scrolled pastsomeone's story and thought, oh,
that must be nice, then this oneis for you.
Because the truth is the gapbetween where you are and where
you wanna be is often not a lackof resources.
It's a lack of belief.
(02:12):
And I wanna start by sayingthis.
I wasn't always in the placethat I am now.
I wasn't always running.
A successful business recordingpodcasts or confidently helping
women heal their gut and theirhormones For a long time, and a
lot of my life, I carried thebelief that I wasn't enough.
I was the quote unquote shy girlin high school.
(02:34):
The one who stayed quiet, theone who just kind of blended in.
The one who always got alongwith everybody I was friends
with everybody.
But I wasn't ever gonna rock theboat.
I was the kid, the very typicalfirstborn child.
Never got in trouble, never didanything wrong.
No one would have looked back atme and then said she's gonna
(02:56):
build her own company someday.
I was so shy and I just kind ofstayed in my lane.
I was very focused, especiallyin high school, on swimming, and
that was my life.
I spent hours in the pool and onthe pool deck and with my swim
teammates, but I just still kindof kept to myself and had this
(03:19):
like humble success that Ididn't really ever talk about.
And I had this narrative that Ireally let sink very deep into
my identity and it.
It shaped how I saw myself in myfriendships in school, in
swimming, in my career, and evenwhen I started achieving things
(03:39):
and getting better or seeingresults, there was still a part
of me that didn't fully believeI could succeed or that I even
deserved to.
But I wanna share with you justa few defining moments in my
life where I decided that Iwasn't gonna let those beliefs
define me anymore.
And I promise that this hassomething to do with your gut
(04:00):
health.
So just stick with me for alittle bit.
And this is also probably.
One of the more vulnerableepisodes that I've ever done.
Just sharing more about my storyand some of the things that kept
me stuck.
So the first defining moment forme was when I first moved away
to Texas for college.
If you don't know, I grew up inSouthern California.
(04:21):
That's where I was born andraised.
Actually, I was not born there,but I was raised there, and that
is where I call home.
It was a terrifying decision.
Like I said, I was the shy girlin high school and I.
Somehow decided to move halfwayacross the country to go swim in
college at TCU, and it wasterrifying.
(04:42):
I didn't know anybody.
I didn't have family nearby.
I had some cousins and an auntand uncle a couple hours away.
But for the first time, I had tofigure out who I was without the
people or the patterns or thefriendships that I had grown up
with.
I was so lucky to grow up with areally close community.
(05:04):
School friends, church friends,neighborhood friends, friends
that to this day I still keep intouch with and.
Call my best friends.
In fact, I'm going back homethis weekend to see two of those
friends.
So something inside me knew thatI needed to do that for myself,
to prove to myself that I coulddo hard things because I had an
(05:27):
offer to swim at a college.
At actually two colleges closeto my home.
And I just knew that if I didthat, I wouldn't fully immerse
myself in the experience.
And that move to Texas literallychanged my entire life.
I ended up swimming divisionone.
I actually was president of mysorority.
Fun fact, and also slightlyembarrassing.
(05:49):
And I learned that confidenceisn't something that you're born
with.
It's something that you buildthrough evidence, and that was
college for me, was findinglittle bits of evidence that I
could be a leader and that I wasa confident person and that I
didn't have to be the shy girland that I could step out in
(06:09):
faith.
So that experience taught methat when you put yourself in
new environments, your brainstarts to create new pathways.
You can start to see yourselfdifferently.
My college friends started tosee a much more confident
version of myself, of Heather,and I was the same person.
I just had a lot more confidenceand that really laid the
(06:31):
groundwork for.
Everything that came next.
The second moment was when Ifinally stopped doing the same
things that weren't working formy health.
You all know my story if you'velistened to really any of my
stuff, but for years I tried tooutsmart my gut issues, new
diets, new supplements, morerestriction, more exercise, more
(06:53):
of this.
Cutting things out of my diet,and I remember setting up my
very first appointment with afunctional medicine doctor,
deciding to possibly trysomething new because I felt
like I had exhausted all theoptions.
I kept kind of having thatnarrative like, well, I'll just
check back in with my GI doctorone more time, and knowing that
(07:15):
I wasn't gonna get a differentanswer.
And honestly, it wasn't my GIDoctor's fault, which that's a
whole episode for another time,but.
Everything was normal.
My colonoscopy was normal.
Everything was normal, and sothat's where I had to look
outside of the box and look atwho could actually help me with
these symptoms that aredefinitely not normal, even
though my blood work and mycolonoscopy is showing
(07:37):
otherwise, and I had to cancelout that.
Fear that I had of what if thisfunctional medicine doctor tells
me that everything's normal too?
I told myself for so long, it'stoo expensive.
What if it doesn't work?
What if they can't help me?
But underneath that was actuallysomething deeper.
We often make a lot of excusesfor ourselves of it's too
(07:58):
expensive, or what if it's notgonna work?
But the actual belief underneaththat is, what if I find out this
is my fault?
What if healing isn't?
Actually possible for me.
What if I mess this up?
I didn't have trust in myself,and months later I scheduled an
appointment with this functionalmedicine doctor that I had been.
(08:20):
Told to go.
See, I was still scared, but Iknew I couldn't keep living the
same way.
I had just met my now husband.
I was in my early twenties.
Life was supposed to be so fun.
I was in weddings and travelingand working at my first job.
But behind the scenes, I wasexhausted.
I remember a moment where I wasliterally sitting on the couch
(08:42):
with one of my roommates andfalling asleep, like
mid-sentence, talking to her,and she like looked at me and
was like, are you okay?
And I was like, what justhappened?
Like I was.
So on another planet, I wasbloated, I was frustrated, I was
stuck.
And the decision to finally trysomething new really changed
everything again.
(09:03):
And not that that doctor fixedeverything, because my journey
was definitely not short.
It wasn't like I saw her for acouple months and everything was
fine, but that's what finallycatapulted me to start believing
that things could actuallychange, even though I didn't
find full resolution.
With that provider, but it didstart things.
(09:25):
It wasn't just about running astool test.
It was about saying to myself, Ideserve answers.
And even though it took time,that was the first step towards
believing that my body wasn'tbroken.
So then the third moment came afew years later when I decided
to leave my first job, myclinical job on paper, that job
(09:46):
was safe.
I had a steady paycheck, I hadbenefits.
I had.
The approval of everyone aroundme.
But honestly, I was miserable.
I knew that I wanted to dosomething different.
I think I always had had a dreamthat I would be an entrepreneur.
I would see people as a kid,like people like Katie Couric.
(10:06):
I remember going and seeing heron the Today Show and wanting to
meet her, and I would see thesereally successful women.
I remember telling my mom acouple weeks ago, actually, we
were watching the Parent Trapwith my.
Daughter.
And I remember thinking, Ialways looked up to the mom in
parent trap because she justseemed so successful and that
she loved what she was doing.
(10:26):
And my mom's like, that's sointeresting that as a kid,
that's what you took from that.
But that always just kind ofstuck with me.
I'm getting on a tangent, but Itook a risk and accepted a
position at this eating disordertreatment center, which was a
completely different career pathfrom clinical dietetics.
It scared me, but it alsostretched me, and it forced me
(10:47):
to grow as a clinician and tolook at people through a more
compassionate, holistic lens,and honestly catapulted me into
what I'm doing now becausethat's where I was really forced
to look more deeply at gi, notonly for my.
Self, but for my patients.
And that's when I finally madethe decision I have to figure
(11:07):
this out because if I can figureout why so many people are so
constipated and so bloated andnot getting symptom relief with
low FODMAP and all the things,and I can figure it out, then I
can help all these clients too.
So that leads me to.
The fourth moment, the big one.
This is the biggest moment, theday that I finally went all in
(11:27):
to pursue my own business.
I had been running my privatepractice since like 2012.
Sometimes full-time, sometimespart-time.
But people thought I was crazyto leave that job that I had.
I had friends asking like, whyare you gonna leave a stable job
to build a business online?
(11:48):
And I remember I had a smallonline presence and hiring a
business.
Coach at the time, it felt likethe biggest financial risk I'd
ever taken, but I could just seethe vision and I knew that if I
didn't try that I would, itwould always be something that I
would look back with regret on,and I know I knew that I wanted
to build something someaningful.
(12:09):
I couldn't keep playing small orwaiting for the perfect moment,
and I knew that I neededsupport.
And I was willing to bet onmyself because I finally had the
confidence because of thosemoments in my life that gave me
the confidence to believe inmyself.
So that decision to investbefore I felt fully ready was.
Seriously, one of the mostimportant of my life, and I
(12:32):
thanks a lot to my husband forreally encouraging me and
supporting me in that as well.
But it's that same mindsetthat's also helped me heal my
body and grow my businessbelieving that something is
possible before you actuallyhave proof.
And that is the biggest shiftthat you have to make when you
(12:53):
are looking to heal your own GIissues.
So.
When I talk about limitations,I'm not talking about theory.
I have lived them.
I have wrestled with the fear ofbeing seen, the fear of failing,
the fear of investing in myself.
And I've seen firsthand howthose fears can manifest in your
body because when your brainstarts to believe that you're
(13:14):
stuck, your nervous systemfollows and it keeps you in
Survival mode.
And survival mode might keep yousafe.
But it will never help you grow.
Survival mode is the safe doingthe same thing over and over
again?
Checking the boxes, but you'llnever get to where you wanna be.
So the first step in healing,whether this is related to your
(13:35):
gut health or your life, iscreating safety in your body and
belief.
In your mind that you canchange, and that is what we're
gonna dive into today.
How do we actually do that?
That was probably the longestintro to a topic ever.
I think we're at already 13minutes, so let's start there.
When you see somebody who haswhat you want, maybe a calm gut,
(13:59):
steady energy, a thrivingbusiness, a balanced life,
whatever it might be.
It's easy to assume that theyhad a headstart.
Maybe you think they probablyhad more time, they had more
money, they had more support,but that honestly is rarely the
full story.
Every client that I've everworked with and even my own
journey began in the exact sameplace, tired, frustrated, unsure
(14:20):
of where to start.
Everybody is just figuring itout, one decision at a time.
So that must be nice of likeeasy for them creates separation
and it tells your brain they'redifferent from me.
They have something I don't.
And the second that your brainbelieves that story, it shuts
down the idea that change isavailable to you.
(14:42):
So the alternative is justcuriosity.
You don't have to change yourthought pattern first.
You just have to get curiousabout it.
So instead of saying.
Oh, that must be nice for them.
Ask, how did they do it?
How did they make that happen?
That one question keeps yournervous system open instead of
defensive, and it shifts youfrom comparison to possibility
(15:04):
because you're not totallychanging the belief of this is
gonna happen to me.
You're just curious, how did Imake that happen?
And that possibility is wherehealing begins, because here's
the truth, must be nice, or someversion of that phrase doesn't
apply to most transformation.
Healing is really hard work.
It's grit, it's consistency,it's continuing with it,
(15:26):
especially when you don't seeimmediate payoff.
That is something that all ofour clients go through.
None of our clients have.
Absolute linear growth.
I mean, sometimes we have somereally quick wins and it follows
that linear path, but there'salways setbacks, so it's showing
up for the unglamorous stuff.
Drinking water, prioritizingmeals, managing stress, saying
(15:50):
no, asking for help, believingthat what you're doing is gonna
matter even if it doesn't feellike it yet.
So when you look at someoneelse's transformation and think,
oh, that must be so nice forthem, you are seeing the.
Outcome, not the process.
What you don't see are thetears, the self-doubt, the
nights they questioned if it waseven working the dozens of times
(16:10):
they had to regulate theirnervous system to just keep
going.
Your nervous system has to beable to withstand challenge.
It has to learn.
That struggle doesn't meandanger.
That slow progress that you'rehaving at whatever you're doing
does not mean failure.
And discomfort is a part ofgrowth.
(16:31):
It's not proof that you'rebroken.
Being able to sit in discomfortis growth.
If every time something feelshard, your body goes into fight
or flight, your brain will startto equate that with a threat,
and that's where kind of that.
Self-sabotage shows up.
So skipping meals, abandoning aprotocol, well, it didn't work.
I'm a weekend, I'm not gonna doit anymore.
(16:53):
Going back to old habits or justdeciding like this is not worth
it.
When you're able to startbuilding resilience, when you
practice staying calm, when youface challenges, when you
breathe through frustrationinstead of quitting, you're not
just being disciplined.
You are teaching your nervoussystem.
That consistency is.
(17:13):
Safe.
You are rewiring your nervoussystem to hold the belief that
long-term change is actuallypossible for you, and that is
the part that people don't see.
Nobody sees you doing theinternal work.
Healing and success aren't aboutwho has the easiest path.
They're about who can keepshowing up, who can stay
grounded, who can keep believingthat it's working even when
(17:35):
there's no quick win to prove ityet.
So back a little bit to my ownstory about getting scrappy.
When I first started healing mygut, I was not running a
successful practice or doing anyof this.
I was in my first job out ofschool, literally making.
$37,000 a year as a dietician,that was not a lot, especially
(17:58):
while I was in grad school andon my own and didn't have the
time or energy to take anotherjob because I was in school
also.
So I was babysitting on theweekends just to pay for
groceries and the supplementsthat I was trying to use to help
my health.
Thinking about going back toschool to get a doctorate, and I
(18:18):
remember back to that functionalmedicine consult.
I remember when I booked that, Iwas literally just saving money
for that stool test.
It felt like such a hugeinvestment, but I knew that deep
down, if I figured this out, Icouldn't move forward.
Not in my career, not even inmy.
Relationship with my now husbandbecause my symptoms were all
(18:39):
consuming.
They dictated my mood, myenergy, and honestly my
confidence as well.
So things did not happen for meovernight, like I mentioned
earlier, and I surely didn'texpect them to.
But what I did have was thebelief that I'm getting answers,
and I'm going to see thisthrough.
Even when the progress lookedslow, I just looked for little
(19:00):
pieces of evidence that thingswere improving.
A little less bloating here, alittle bit more energy there.
Those tiny signs just kept megoing.
And there were so many momentswhere I could have said, well,
that must be nice for thatperson to not struggle with
this.
But instead, I just askedmyself, what can I learn from
that?
What's the one thing that I cantry right now?
(19:22):
And honestly, when I beganbuilding my business, the same
pattern showed up again.
I didn't have a team.
I didn't have extra time.
I was a new mom.
I didn't have the perfect plan.
What I had were nap times, latenights, and a belief that if I
could help even one person gether life back, it would be worth
it.
So you get scrappy.
You learn how to build systems,you learn how to do things, you
(19:44):
learn how to, uh.
Move forward when you can seethe actual vision.
And it's so wild to me, just theparallels like, but the same
mindset that helped me grow abusiness was the same mindset
that finally helped me heal myGI issues.
Because the moment you stopdefending your limitations, you
can start expanding what isactually possible for you.
(20:06):
So when I stopped saying, Ican't afford that, or I don't
have time for that, and startedasking, how could I make this
work because it's worth it.
Then everything changed and I'vewatched so many clients
experience the same thing.
One woman told me she almostdidn't join, got together
because she didn't think she hadthe time or the money, but then
(20:27):
she realized that not feelingwell was costing her so much
more energy, joy, being presentwith her family, and within
three months she was.
Feeling so much better.
She had energy to not take napsduring the day.
She was going on bike rides withher kids.
She was able to go on date nightwith her husband and not stress
about what she was going to eatfor the first time in years.
(20:49):
And that shift didn't start withsupplements.
It started with actuallybelieving that it could happen.
So let's talk about why this istrue from a.
Physiological standpoint,because I think sometimes it's
like, oh, this is so woo woo,you know?
But this isn't just mindsettalk, it's actual science.
Your nervous system is alwaysscanning your environment for
(21:11):
safety, literally every secondof the day, your nervous system
is asking, am I safe?
Am I supported?
Am I okay?
And here's the thing, it's notjust listening to your
environment, it's listening toyour thoughts.
And I don't know about you, butsometimes the mind can be a kind
of scary place.
So every time you think Thisisn't possible for me, or I've
(21:32):
tried everything, or this is notgonna work.
Your brain takes that as truth.
It's not judging you, it's justprotecting you.
And it says, okay, we've beenhurt or disappointed before.
Let's make sure we don't gethurt again.
And so it builds a neuralpathway to keep you in that
familiar story and to protectyou.
So neural pathways are liketrails in a forest.
(21:54):
The more you walk one, the moreautomatic it becomes.
So if you have spent months oreven years.
Reinforcing the story thathealing isn't possible.
Your brain gets really efficientat keeping you there.
Not out of cruelty, but out ofprotection.
So the problem is your brainthinks change is unsafe or
impossible.
(22:15):
Your body will listen to that.
It won't invest energy andhealing.
When it's stuck in survivalmode.
It stays in that fight or flightresponse.
The same one your body would useif it were being chased by a
bear.
And in that state.
Here's actually what happensPhysiologically, your digestion
slows down.
That's not a good thing.
Blood is pulled away from yourgut towards your limbs, so you
(22:36):
can run inflammation rises, soyour body's producing more
cortisol and stress hormones.
Your hormone balance shifts.
Reproductive and thyroidhormones take a backseat because
your body's priority isshort-term survival, not
long-term repair.
Detoxification and bile flowslow, so the liver will divert
energy away from cleaning upbecause there's a more immediate
(22:58):
threat.
Secretory IGA, your gut's firstline of immune defense will
actually drop, so that means youbecome more reactive to foods,
more vulnerable to pathogens,less resilient overall.
And then digestive secretionslike stomach acid and enzymes,
and bile decrease, which is whyso many people in a chronic
stress state have bloating orreflux or constipation even when
(23:21):
they're eating clean, quoteunquote, or taking the
supplements or insert treatmenthere.
So your body literallyprioritizes survival over
restoration.
And that is why you can take allthe supplements, you can eat
perfectly, you can do all thethings, and you can still not
feel better.
And I can tell you that that isthe case for so many people,
(23:43):
including clients that we workwith, where we have to have a
conversation with them of likeyour nervous system.
Is on high alert all the time.
What are we doing to change thethought pattern?
There is a reason that we havenervous system work built into
our programs.
We even have nervous systemexperts and coaches come in to
(24:04):
offer sessions to our clients.
For this reason because it's soimportant.
So we have to get the nervoussystem to feel safe, both
physiologically and emotionally.
It's foundational for healing.
And here's the good news, youcan actually rewire your brain,
and not only can you.
You must do this becausecreating a new neural pathway is
(24:27):
a requirement for healing.
So every time you choose a newthought, even if it's something
super small, like healing ispossible for me, you are carving
a new trail in that forest andeach time you walk it, that
trail becomes more defined.
So the more you look forevidence of healing, even tiny
things like, Hey, my bloatingwas a little less today, or I
(24:47):
actually had energy after lunch,or my mood felt more stable this
week.
The more your brain starts toassociate healing with safety.
So this is why we have ourclients track micro wins.
They probably think we're justdoing it to be annoying, but we
are helping them to look forthose neural pathways and
creating new neural pathwaysbecause your brain.
(25:09):
And your nervous system needevidence.
And if you're only looking forproof that things aren't
working, you're gonna keepreinforcing that old pathway of
frustration.
If you intentionally look forproof that change is happening
even in the smallest ways, youwill start to rewire the belief
at the biological level, whichis literally so cool.
(25:30):
I hope you love this as much asI do.
I think it is so amazing how ourbrains work with repetition.
You can create new pathways thatbecome your brain's default.
You probably know people in yourlife like that where they just
seem calm and regulated and theydon't get flustered very easily.
They have created pathways thathave allowed for that.
(25:52):
So you can't, you can start toexpect healing instead of
defending against it.
You start to notice possibilityinstead of proof that you're
stuck.
So this is, I wanna be superclear.
This is not about toxicpositivity.
It's not pretending thateverything is fine or forcing
yourself to be happy.
There is a big difference.
(26:13):
It is about neuroplasticity,your brain's ability to change
and adapt when you haveconsistent, safe signals.
You cannot bully your body intohealing, but you can teach it
that healing is safe, and whenyour brain and your body both
believe that.
Everything changes.
So if you're listening to thisand you're realizing that you've
(26:33):
been stuck in, that must be niceor I've tried everything spiral,
that is where you can startchanging that story.
And I want you to hear thisreally clearly is you are not
broken for thinking thesethoughts.
Your brain is simply trying toprotect you, and that is how we
are wired.
So it believes that by expectingdisappointment, you'll be less
(26:54):
hurt if things don't work out.
But the truth is that pattern iswhat's keeping you trapped.
So here's how you can actuallystart shifting.
I'm gonna give you a couplesteps.
So number one, you're gonnacatch the story.
Maybe you notice a thought ofthis food always makes me
bloated, or I've triedeverything, nothing works, my
body doesn't respond.
Maybe I can't afford to investin my health right now.
(27:16):
When those thoughts surfaceinstead of spiraling, just take
a breath and say, okay, that'smy brain trying to protect me.
You are not doing anythingwrong.
Your brain just prefers thatfamiliar thought, even if that's
uncomfortable.
So we're just creatingawareness.
The next time that thought popsup, just imagine yourself
literally stepping off of thattrail.
(27:38):
Every time you catch it, you'regonna pave a new one.
The second step here is asking abetter question.
So after you catch that story,maybe it's, my body just doesn't
respond, or I've triedeverything, or I can't afford
this.
So after you catch the story,replace judgment with curiosity.
Instead of asking, why can't Ihave that?
(27:59):
Which keeps you kind ofpowerless, ask, what would it
take to make this possible?
For example, maybe instead of,I'll never get rid of this
exploding ask, what could I trythis week to support digestion?
Just.
10% better, 5% better, 2%better, or instead of, I don't
have time for that.
Ask, how could I create time ormake one small swap because this
(28:22):
is important to me.
Or instead of, I've triedeverything, maybe it's what
haven't I tried with consistencyin nervous system safety.
So these are questions that arere gonna reengage your thinking,
the prefrontal cortex, insteadof letting your fear brain run
the show, curiosity is one ofthe safest states your nervous
system can be in because it'ssaying I'm open, I'm learning,
(28:45):
I'm exploring.
The next thing is justvisualizing safety and joy.
So this can be a really funexercise to give to yourself,
and each day I just want you tospend some moments imagining
what it would feel like to behealthy and calm and symptom
free.
Just go there.
In your mind, what would thebloat free version of you be
(29:06):
doing?
How would she eat?
How would she move through herday?
What would she wear?
What would she say yes to whenshe's no longer uncomfortable or
self-conscious?
What would she enjoy?
Maybe dinner out with herfriends, playing with her kids,
whatever it might be.
Your body doesn't know thedifference between a vividly
imagined experience and a realone.
So when you visualize health andjoy, your nervous system begins
(29:29):
to associate those feelings withsafety, and you're training your
body to believe that this ispossible.
This is where we're healed.
So I have a story about thisactually.
I've told this before, but wehad a client who came to us and
she was a couple months awayfrom her wedding and she said,
I'm going on my honeymoon.
And I just, I do not wanna bebloated, obviously.
(29:52):
So what I told her was, I wantyou to start journaling every
day about what your honeymoon islike.
When you are not bloated, whatare you doing?
What are you wearing?
All the things, and she thoughtI was crazy, but she was like,
okay, fine.
Kind of rolled her eyes at me.
I'll, I'll try it.
I checked in with her, shehadn't done it a couple weeks
later.
I'm like, please just do it.
(30:13):
So I'm like, commit to likedoing it for five days and then
come back.
So she came back, she had doneit then.
I asked her to continue it.
She went on her honeymoon andshe messaged me and she said, I
cannot believe it.
I was not bloated the entiretime.
And of course some of that hadto do with what we were doing
from a gut perspective, but shehad to hold the vision that it
(30:37):
was possible and see that shecould feel safe doing that.
So it was just so cool gettingthat message.
The next option is to just.
Pair your belief with biology.
If you're a more practical,logical person, this is where
you can match your mindset toyour body and you, you can't
(30:58):
mindset your way out ofdysregulation.
Your body also needs to feelsafe too.
So what I mean by this is makingsure that you're supporting your
biology, eating regular meals soyour blood sugar isn't on a
rollercoaster mineralized.
Making sure you support yourminerals so that your nervous
system has what it needs tobuffer stress.
(31:19):
To support your adrenals, tosupport stomach acid production,
to support motility, activateyour vagus nerve, do one thing a
day that connects you back tocalm, humming, singing,
gargling, whatever.
All of those things are gonnaget you into rest and digest.
And then the last one that I'llshare is just to celebrate the
micro winds.
Little, little winds.
(31:40):
I had more energy.
I didn't crash.
My mood was lighter, I feltcalmer, whatever it might be.
Just looking for those littlewinds.
So here's your big takeaway fromtoday.
The biggest difference betweenthe people who heal and the
people who stay stuck is notluck or time, or honestly even
money.
A lot of times it's belief.
It's belief that their body iscapable of change, it's belief
(32:03):
that they can do hard things.
It's belief that their effortsare working.
Even if the progress is notobvious yet, because the truth
is that healing takes grit.
It takes consistency.
It takes showing up when you'drather quit.
It takes holding the vision.
When you have zero proof, thereare days when your stories will
(32:23):
try to creep back in.
When you hear that little voicesaying, it's not working, why
are you doing this?
Must be nice for everybody else.
See, I'm never gonna get better.
But then you can pause andremind yourself, my body is
learning safety.
This is a part of the process.
I'm rewiring, I'm not goingbackwards.
You can teach your brain a newway to exist.
(32:44):
And when I look back at my ownjourney from just being the
quote unquote shy girl that noone expected much from to
struggling with gut issues that.
Literally ruled my life to nowrunning a business, helping
other women heal.
The common thread was notperfection, it was belief.
And that belief certainly didnot come overnight.
(33:05):
And it's something I stillstruggle with.
It's something we all strugglewith.
It came from small steps, fromconsistency, from nervous system
regulation, and learning how tohold the vision when the outcome
was not guaranteed, becausenothing's guaranteed.
And healing is a lot like.
That you don't have to see theentire staircase, mountain,
whatever visual you want, youjust have to take the next step,
(33:26):
and that faith will help yourbody meet you there because your
body wants to heal.
Your body was designed to heal.
It just needs safety, it needsconsistency, and it needs the
right support to actually do it.
So if you are listening to thisand thinking that is what I
need.
I need not another protocol, butI need someone to help me
(33:47):
rebuild the belief and safetywhile addressing, of course, the
physical side of healing.
That is part of what makes guttogether so different.
Our team combines functionaltesting minerals.
Gut support, nervous systemsupport because we know that
healing is not just aboutsupplements and food.
(34:07):
And the best part is likesometimes you need someone else
to hold the vision for you andremind you of what that is.
And we do that a lot for ourclients.
Because sometimes in thebeginning it's hard.
So we would love for you toapply to work with us.
You can find the link in theshow notes to learn more, and we
can help you dig in and figureout all the pieces and how they
(34:30):
go together.
So thank you so much for beinghere today and just doing the
brave work of showing up foryourself.
And remember that every time youchoose curiosity.
Over comparison or belief, overfear, you are rewiring your
brain for healing.
You are not behind.
You are building something new,and that means you're on your
way.
So take a deep breath, findsomething that brings you joy
(34:52):
today, and just keep holdingthat vision, that healing is
possible.
I will see you next week.
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