This summer I was struggling to think of something to write, and I posed the question at dinner to my husband and teenage boys. To my surprise, our son piped up, “Your teenage son who refused to believe that there was a connection between dairy and his acne, and how when he eliminated dairy, his acne cleared up.” Well I was stunned, and felt like I could just retire as a foodie-mom in that very moment; goals achieved, proud mamma.
Once I got over my elation, I reflected on the moment. What I found most surprising was that he actually noticed. It is that making of the connection, the listening to the signals that are being sent, that is critical to your path to wellness. It is important to notice how different foods affect you, even if it isn’t as obvious as a pimple.
It is hard to make the connection between diet and various symptoms, but there is usually a message. Maybe it is congestion, brain fog, aches and pains, headaches, maybe it is something else altogether. The point is NOT to take it as a given that you have these symptom(s) just because you are alive, the point is to connect some dots for yourself.
So what is the message you are getting from your body? Achy joints? Exhaustion? It may be something you’ve seen a doctor for, but perhaps not. You are a living experiment, a true “n = 1,” so it is up to you to create a hypothesis and gather the data. There is usually enough of it. Like my son’s acne, it usually shows up shortly after the irritant.
So start connecting the dots and get on your path to wellness. Sometimes all it takes is listening to your body, seeing cause and effect. As my grandmother used to say to her son-in-law (my dad), “get the banana out of your ear” and listen up, because there is a story being told beneath the surface that needs to be heard.
So true.