Читать книгу Trust Your Gut - Gregory Plotnikoff - Страница 13

To begin the healing process, you must first become aware of yourself, your bodily sensations, and the various forces that keep you out of balance. Only then can you restore your balance. However, many gut sufferers tend to ignore their pain, mask it with medications and painkillers, or distract themselves from their physical sensations by worry and anxiety. Chapter 2, “Observe Your Gut,” teaches you how to pay attention to the unpleasant sensations in your gut with greater acceptance and how to interpret them as meaningful clues about your problem. The very act of shifting the focus of your attention helps you to become more centered and calm.

Chapter 3, “Observe Your Stresses,” looks at the five main sources of stress on your body/mind system: environmental, physical, emotional/spiritual, pharmaceutical, and dietary. Most gut sufferers carry a negative connotation of the word stress and take it to mean “your digestive problems are all in your head.” Stress is actually a normal part of life, but it can directly affect your gut distress. We will guide you through a self-assessment of the five forms of stress in your life. From this will come the awareness necessary for effective and lasting change.

Chapter 4, “Observe Your Diet,” presents ways to start tracking how the food you eat may be correlated to your symptoms. These results can help pinpoint foods that need to be removed from your diet.

Chapter 5, “Observe Your Sleep,” examines the very close relationship between chronic gut distress and sleep problems. Abdominal pain, cramping, and diarrhea during sleep hours keep you awake, and the lack of sleep makes you more vulnerable to gut distress the next day. This chapter features a self-assessment of the most important dimensions of sleep along with specific solutions to guide you out of this vicious cycle.

Chapter 6, “Observe Your Life: Your Health and Wellness Autobiography,” will teach you how to write your own medical biography. The better you know your own health backstory, the better prepared you are to write the next chapter—one featuring health. The key point of observation is that the more aware you are of your physical sensations, stresses, emotions and thoughts, and lifestyle, the more you can activate self-healing resources. Writing your medical biography is a vital tool for this healing awareness.