Way back when in 2000 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at a birthing center. He was taken from me, rushed to the hospital and there he stayed for the next 5-days. He had a high fever, and no one understood why this was happening. Our baby was put in an incubator, given antibiotics and poked with a spinal tap. Till this day, the only explanation I have is one I formulated myself, the midwife was new. We had a tough labor and I pushed for over an hour. Finally, when he came out, he had the cord wrapped around his neck. I heard her scream “stop pushing! He has the cord wrapped around his neck!!” He swallowed amniotic fluid and was super stressed and that is why I believe he got sick.
Call it mother’s intuition, but something told me this baby was going to need a whole lot of care. We got him home and without a moment to spare he showed all the signs of developmental issues. He had trouble walking, but was a great talker, he was afraid of the playground, afraid of the pool, wouldn’t look anyone in the eye and definitely wouldn’t let anyone touch him. His tantrums were uncontrollable, I can still hear the screams, his obsessions were just that, obsessive, just try to take that fan away from him, oh man. If you’re reading this, you are probably thinking “your baby was autistic”. I thought that too except there wasn’t a doctor who would diagnose him with anything other than anxiety.
I wasn’t perfect, but that’s not required when you become a mom. What I was is determined. I didn’t want my baby to suffer the outcome of my lack of care to my own body and mind. I wanted him to live his happiest, healthiest life. My dream was to give him the life he deserved. What does this all have to do with gut-mind connection? Here’s what it has to do with it, while I was trying to figure out what I can do to get our baby boy healthy, I participated in yoga workshops at Integral Yoga in the west village. They had a series called “Detox for Your Healthy Body” He was tiny, but I wanted to go and learn more, so I wrapped him up and headed to the 3-day series. Three whole days of learning what it meant to detox and how you can do this in your own home without a doctor. This was back in 2000 when the information on gut health was still not mainstream and detox was what we used to identify the process an addict has to go through, not what we did to heal ourselves from the toxic, free-radicals in our bodies carried from our lifestyle.
From the moment our son was home, I went on a long journey of finding healers, practitioners, and doctors that would help me understand him more and what I can do to help his brain work better, to help ease his anxiety, to help him sleep, to help him rid of the fears that existed within him. This baby went to Shaman healers, eastern medicine practitioners, Integrative doctors, cranial sacral therapist and but of course, a conventional psychiatrist. We all collectively as a family worked hard to get this baby’s body and mind healthier and by learning what detoxification does for our body, I was able to begin yet another journey of healing. I went on to become a Holistic Health Coach, a Lifestyle Nutrition Coach and a Brain Health Coach.
To clearly answer the question, “why you should care about your gut? The answer is because your body needs it as much as your mind. You see, our son showed signs his gut was lacking diversity and inflamed due to his experience when he first came into this world. I was who fed him his guts microbiota. Yes, he had some based-on DNA, but most of his gut’s bacteria was coming from my mom, from me and into him. I was not healthy at all when I learned I was pregnant. I was the absolute opposite of this. At that time, I did everything I tell my clients they absolutely shouldn’t do from sleep deprivation, to drug and alcohol abuse. I surrounded myself with toxic people and I did not have a care for anyone other than me. I was toxic. And now our baby was carrying the weight of that in his little gut. Detoxification was an understatement on what needed to happen. We needed a whole lifestyle over hall, but a gut health was a great start and so I learned how to put together a plan that was easy for me to follow and easy for me to share. I wanted to create a meal plan that met the needs of my clients demands, with the healing powers of medicine.
In 2009 I formulated the first e-commerce national 3 and 5-day cleanse. I worked day and night for years mastering the recipes to be as clean and easy so that anyone can do it. That cleanse was called Joulebody Cleanse. It included 3 juices and 2 meals and a snack. It was to mimic what the body needs to get the mind to do what it needs to do to feel joy, love and health…and of course to get you to reach PEAK PERFORMANCE in all areas of your life.
9am - Energy
12pm - Focus
3pm - Detox
5pm - Reboot
7pm - Serenity
And that became the Joule(body) Cleanse. That is how I formulated every recipe, using ingredients for the gut-mind experience. By using the superfoods and anti-inflammatory herbs you are able to heal the inflammation and help the communication between the gut and the mind. The gut creates 80-90% of your serotonin, that is your feel-good hormone. The gut is your endocrine system, that is what connects you to your intuition. Your gut helps trigger your ghrelin if you need food, your melatonin you’re sleepy, your dopamine, you’re focused.
If you are feeling foggy brained, you should cleanse, you’re feeling tired or can’t sleep, you should cleanse, you’re gaining weight or carrying belly fat, cleanse. If your skin looks bad, cleanse. The Joule(body) Cleanse is simply filled with lots of plants, healthy fats, herbs and spices to help relieve the inflammation that may be getting in the way of your gut-brain connection.
It is a low-calorie meal plan so don’t be afraid to add in a few nuts, avocado, or a green apple. And if you aren’t sure if this is suited for you and your health, reach out to your doctor and share the plan with them or use your intuition.
Today our son is an entrepreneur. He’s been living on his own since the age of 18 for an apartment he pays for with the money he made while building businesses in Middle school and high school. He keeps his home immaculate; he sticks to a strict routine and cooks healthy meals for himself which includes ginger shots and green juice. He knows when his brain is breaking and will recenter himself with probiotics and other supplements. He has never been on pharmaceuticals and doesn’t allow himself to be medicated. He is rigid about this.
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