The Struggle
Hi. My name is Joonas and for years I had issues with my gut. More or less daily I felt that something wasn’t quite right. I am sure you can relate, when you know your body you know when something is not quite right. Then every six months or so I used to get pain so bad that I couldn’t get out of bed for two days. During those few days I’d have as much energy as what my LG phone has after about two hours of usage, none. I’d know when it was coming on too since I wouldn’t feel hungry (me not being hungry is as absurd as someone not liking oxygen) and I’d get that, not pleasant, “here we go again” – feeling.
I’ve seen different doctors, both western and eastern, some were great and some were less than worthless. And although overall I’ve felt much better because of them (everyone should do an annual blood-marker checkup ) and my hectic two-day energy-zapping bouts of pain went away, nothing completely fixed my stomach. I lived with the constant feeling as if some tiny red-eyed, horn-bearing gut-devil was ploughing around the navel region.
The Diet (un)Solutions
What can a man do, I thought. So I tried different diets, some more restrictive and some a bit less. I’ve eliminated foods and felt a bit better for doing so. I discovered that I do better with a higher carb and lower protein diet. I learned that I have more spring in my step with mostly vegetarian diet and moderate to minimal amount of meat, especially red meat. I was, yet again, reminded that I shouldn’t eat yogurt by the tub. I had the pleasure to find out that soaking beans for eternity, frequently changing the water and cooking them with seaweed helps the digestion. I also learned that gluten is not the evil that needs to be blamed for everything that happens in the world. All wins worth boasting about.
Nevertheless, no diet change completely fixed whatever was going on with the gut and the vicious daily thunder that was brewing down under.
The Mind
I took a firm grip of the shovel and started to dig deeper. I thought it has to be more psychological and stress related. I began a more deliberate meditation practice as well as a daily gratitude journal. I’ve started to pay attention to the awesome, little but easy to miss things that life brings. I appreciate the sun hitting my eye sockets in the morning or hearing the birds chirp their jazz while welcoming the new day.
All of this to get a bit of perspective to the fact that life is actually really good at the moment and I should learn to let loose a bit instead of feeling constantly like grinding hip deep in mud.
This has had a huge impact on my mood, temper, stress and being more positive person to hang around with. And if nothing else, I am having more fun with myself than ever before. Those two practices have done more for my wellbeing compared to anything I’ve done in the past. My outlook on life is much better and I am happy on a whole another level. So there’s definitely that mind-body connection happening. Even if it’s all placebo. Which I doubt.
Still, none of them fixed whatever was going on with my stomach. I was still getting a whole lot of ferocious rumble from the jungle.
After trying all of that I was clueless. Nothing had worked and given my gut the much needed cure. To make things even more complicated, I was always doing great on holidays. I could’ve eaten a bucket of deep fried jam donuts and feel fine. On holidays my gut did to food what a decent paper shredded does to a pile of papers, destroyed it.
The “Aha”- Moment
As a final effort I took a step back and had a look at the pattern of how the stomach felt at different points of the day. And there, the answer stared at me square deep in my white, black and blue eyeballs.
The gut has been feeling off most of the day but considerably worse late at night and the first thing in the morning. “What happens at the end of each night”, I thought and started to put pieces together. Each night after being at work and sitting on the train for what feels like forever, I get home very late. So late that I feel rushed to get done with eating, dishes and shower and still get to bed in time to get a solid sleep before getting up again early in the morning.
What it all meant is that I always ate huge meals at night while practicing a diligent style of speed eating. During the days at work I always ate fast because I’ve wanted to get onto the next thing. I viewed eating as a necessary evil that I had to get through to move on. I mean, hell, man’s got work to do. But I couldn’t deny it and the answer was simple: food gave my gut a knuckle rub because I was stuffing meals down like a man who hadn’t seen a sandwich since the 80’s. I was approaching each meal time like it was a sprint.
The Solution
Now when I eat I am constantly pep talking myself to take the time chewing the food until it desecrates. The teeth finally get to do the work that they were meant to do. No longer does the gut have to the unnatural and chew the food. It was either that or go through a body morphication where I get teeth inserted in the stomach. After a delicately weighing on the decision, I decided to avoid the latter solution and rather focus on a simple habit of slowing down and taking each meal time as a break from being on the go. Food tastes better too!
But this all takes constant reminding which is why I am planning to install a “STFD” sign on our kitchen wall as a reminder. It is waiting for the approval from the wife who in the end, and rightfully so, decides what hang on the walls that we are surrounded by.
The Takeaway
Too often we are looking for solutions to our problems by doing the extravagant or focusing on the minutiae. When instead we should look at the big picture of what is happening. If you are trying to get healthy, ignore the supplements, nutrient timing and other smaller details and hone in the basic healthy eating habits: eat your vegetables, get in some protein, limit the amount of calories your drink and do some exercise at least few days a week. Focus on nailing down the basics. And don’t feel bad if the basics bring you some struggle. Just because it’s called basic doesn’t mean it will be easy. Otherwise the world wouldn’t be facing the lifestyle diseases that are savaging us today.
Setting up trigger to remind you of what to do will do wonders to help you remember to stick with your habits. I’ve also found it highly effective to make new habit goals public. I do it with this blog and it’s is often the one thing that stops me from failing.
Last, nobody is perfect. My gut is not always perfect but I haven’t missed a day because of it for few years now, and counting. As long as we keep challenging ourselves and working towards goals that are important we are making a difference.
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End note
This is not the cure for every stomach issue ever presented and it’s worth mentioning that you need to get yours checked by a medical practitioner to eliminate any serious issues. Obvious, yet only some of us do it.