I'm pretty sure just about everyone who is familiar with me at all knows I've been on a healing journey. It started about 14 years ago and you can read all about it here.
The short version is:
✖️ I was riddled with anxiety, short tempered, stressed. The kind where you feel like you sometimes can’t get a deep breath or feel like someone stacked weights on your chest.
✖️ My stomach never felt right no matter what I ate. It was in knots. I was bloated & uncomfortable. Even when I ate right & exercised I still looked and felt puffy.
✖️ I had unexplained aches & pains that I either shouldn’t have or I started to explain away with “I’m getting older”
✖️ My skin was sensitive, rashy, itchy, red....I knew I had allergies or food sensitivities, but to what?
✖️ I lacked mental clarity...it’s like my brain was coming in and out of a fog. It made everything more challenging. My memory was garbage!
✖️ I was just fing tired...exhausted! Tired of feeling like crap, tired of trying to figure it out & actually physically & mentally exhausted most days.
And I know I'm not alone in having these feelings.
I've been surveying my community of over 75,000 people on Instagram, 95% of which are women, and I've found that a huge percent of them are experiencing symptoms of an unwell gut. And since you're here reading this, I'm guessing maybe you are too. Am I right?
Look at these numbers. And these are just the people who vote and actually see my stories, which is less than 10% of my overall community.
Gut issues are plaguing so many of us and we don't even realize it! Because the truth is, as you can see from the numbers above, some of the most common signs of an unwell gut don't actually show up as actual gut issues. Things like gas and bloating, weight loss plateaus and cravings were significantly lower than bigger issues that are often even more disruptive to our daily lives like stress and overwhelm, anxious feelings, brain fog, fatigue, low sex drive, increased belly fat and sleep challenges. And I didn't even put everything not the list. Bad skin, allergies, headaches, hormone imbalances, painful periods and even infertility can all be linked back to issues that begin in the gut.
So with so many of us walking around feeling like less than our best selves. With so many of us having lost sight (or maybe never have truly experienced) what it feels like to actually feel good!
WHAT DO WE DO?!?!?!
So when it comes to healing the gut, if we even realize that's what we need to be doing, the question of how remains! If I polled you all to see how many of you have tried some form of healing work for your gut, I bet those numbers would be pretty high as well. The problem is that most people only do 1 to 2 healing steps in a process that actually has multiple touch points.
If you've only done an elimination diet to remove potential triggers, but never worked on repairing the existing damage to your gut lining or rebuilding the diversity of good gut bacteria, then you probably got lack luster results, decided the foods weren't really the problem or gave up because you just weren't feeling better.
If you started taking probiotics and even probiotics and increasing your plant in take but didn't remove the trigger foods then I'd take an educated guess that you'd didn't experience the vibrant healing you were hoping for.
If you did all of these things at once, but didn't address stress or sleep then again...you were probably left feeling underwhelmed at the results of your healing journey.
Here's what you need to know:
Things like stress, sleep, exercise, and the food you eat can all impact the health of your gut. Along with toxins that we take in day to day from our foods, skin care products and the environment because they can cause inflammation and also bog down our elimination systems.
So what next? If you're someone struggling with any of the symptoms you saw in my surveys above. If you've tried healing your gut in the past but didn't get the results you were hoping for. Is it worth trying again?
The answer is yes! Because we're bringing all the pieces together to not only jump start your gut healing journey, but to actually teach you what you need to know to continue it and/or come back to it as needed in the future because healing is never linear. And the reality is that you will likely need to revisit these activities again at some point in your future. (After a round of antibiotics, after a particularly stressful period in your life, after having a baby.) The more you know, the more power you hold to control your health and happiness.
Begin March 28 I'll be taking a group of women on a 4 week journey to not only heal their gut, but empower their understanding of gut health so that you can maintain and reclaim your gut health whevnever a disruption occurs. This is health in your hands.
Here's what we're gonna do...
! Learn to uncover your unique food sensitivities so you can avoid them long enough to allow healing.
! Learn how to add them back after your healing is complete.
! Add in no-impact exercise. Because exercise is actually a powerful gut healing tool. But reducing inflammation is important to speeding up the healing process. So we've got the perfect 30 day program that will keep you active and fit without overdoing it and triggering inflammation. It's easy to follow and easy on the joints.
The program we'll be following is called The 4 Week Gut Protocol — it's a comprehensive nutrition program that shows you how the food you eat can impact your gut health and how much your gut health impacts your overall health.
The program can help you discover foods that are impacting your digestive health and give you the tools to help overcome discomfort.
Because studies show gentle exercise can help positively impact your gut health, I'm offering 2 options for you for low impact workouts to compliment your healing journey.
Option 1: 4 days a week of 30 minute low impact workouts. This program uses weights, builds strength and burns calories without jumping or over-training. It also suggests a 5th day of movement of your choice. I've created a special calendar of restorative workouts for you to choose from on this day to aid your body's lymphatic movement, hydration and oxygenation of your fascia and muscle soreness and recovery. These day 5 workouts will also help you manage your body's stress response and move you out of fight/flight mode and into rest/digest.
Option 2: 5 days a week of 30 minute workouts that are mostly body weight. These workouts incorporate rhythmic, low impact movement that gets your heart rate up and torches calories, plus resistance band and ankle weights added to body weight movement to sculpt and define without creating excessive inflammation or strain on the joints. All set to upbeat music to keep your energy and mood high.
What is The 4 Week Gut Protocol?
The 4 Week Gut Protocol is a unique, comprehensive nutrition program designed to help promote overall gut health, as well as isolate the most common foods and ingredients that can cause gastric distress and undermine your health and well-being.
What should I expect from this program?
Step-by-step instructional videos to show you exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it in a way that isolates the potentially problematic foods.
Over the course of 4 weeks, we'll learn how to remove 7 characteristically troublesome foods so you can slowly but effectively remove, replace, and rebalance.
You’ll remove the most common foods known to cause gut issues.
Four program videos walk you through the protocol so you can get started right away.
Four weekly FOCUS videos educate, empower, and encourage you to keep going.
A reintroduction video helps you add foods back in and continue to support your gut health.
You’ll use color-coded containers along with revised food lists to get the perfect mix of nutrients while identifying potential food sensitivities.
You’ll get 8 delicious new 4 Week Gut Protocol recipe videos plus 12 snack recipe PDFs.
A program guide, trackers, and more help you stay committed. (All materials are digital.)
Healthy supplements like Vegan Shakeology, Optimize and Revitalize feed your body key nutrients while helping support gut health and digestion. And these are key and intentional to the healing process. Many of my clients have said they tried and failed at healing their gut. But when we did into their actions, I find they only eliminated foods. Elimination diets support gut healing, but they are only one step. If we eliminate trigger foods, but don't heal the damage they caused, it's like taking the nail out of flat tire and not patching the hole. You still have a problem. That's where the supplements come in to aid in healing and repairing the perforated gut lining and rebalancing the gut microbiome.
Who should do this program?
Anyone with digestive issues can benefit from The 4 Week Gut Protocol. As well as anyone with any of the symptoms I listed above. I honestly believe everyone can benefit from doing gut healing work. If you don't have symptoms yet, count yourself lucky. This is a great way to make sure they never develop!
Will I receive recipes and advice on what foods to eat?
Of course! You’ll get food lists to make staying on track seamless, 8 program-friendly recipe videos and PDFs, and weekly tips to encourage and educate along the way.
Plus, I've created a weekly gut friendly meal plan with plant-based recipes to compliment the program. I'll be sharing these in my private support group.
Which supplements should I be taking?
The program includes two of my personal favorites for optimizing gut health. They're supplements I've been taking for the last 18 months and that most of my customers use daily for maintenance.
1. Optimize Digestive enzymes that help support nutrient absorption and bioavailability.
2. The pre- and probiotic Revitalize to help support beneficial flora in the gut.
3. Plant-Based Shakeology— all taken daily to help you get the most out of The 4 Week Gut Protocol.
These supplements can help support digestive health and help the body maintain the right environment for healthy intestinal flora.
For those of you in Canada and the UK, we have a list of alternatives available in your market. AND, as a specialist in gut healing who has supported nearly 300 women on their personal journeys, I will be making recommendations for additional supplements where needed to help you overcome road blocks on your healing journey.
Additional Support From Me As Your Coach:
When you join my Gut Protocol test group you'll get my support going through the 4 week program.
Plus:
A weekly bonus video from me with additional education on the gut brain connection, managing food sensitivities, plant-based benefits and how to's and food addiction.
Weekly plant-based, gut friendly meal plans and recipes
Prep week support to help you prepare for success including a getting started right call
Moving into maintenance mode call to walk through your plan for maintaining your healing and building on it if there's still work to do.
A supportive community of like minded women working on a similar goal encouraging each other.
A weekly affirmation and stress management tool to help you manage stress and improve sleep.
My toxin free recommendations to help you slowly replace toxic beauty, personal care and home cleaning products so you can reduce your toxic load without emptying your bank account.
A daily email that will walk you through a more in depth explanation of what's happening in your gut, why we're taking certain actions and how to maximize your personal healing including self-assessment quizzes to guide your choices.
Are You Ready To Heal?
If the answer is yes, which I hope it is, because I honestly just need you to understand how good it feels to feel good!!!! Then here's what I need you to do.
Fill out this form so I can understand where you're at in your journey now and your goals and get you the best option to get set up to join me next week.