Re-framing Health Issues to Come Out Stronger than Before

Practical ways to look beyond the surface level and go deeper. Improving health by going to the root causes.

Photo by Leni on Unsplash

Last November, I prepared a birthday cake for a young boy who turned 4, a week before my birthday. His mother came to me after I had shared information about ecological stores and places in the area to buy organic fruits and vegetables. Along the way, she asked how I became so knowledgeable. A chance to share my private vegan chef services and cooking classes. Two weeks later, she returned to me for the birthday cake, something I had created a couple of times before. Gratefully, I received the order and invited both mother and son over to discuss the details. After all, it’s a birthday cake, an important occasion for any child. He wished for a cake with mango, peach, and cashew cream – the ultimate combination. And so it is! The feedback I received after delivery spoke volumes. As a bonus, the young boy brought me a bag of fruit and lots of love. It still lights up my heart when I think about it.

While discussing the birthday cake details, the woman mentioned that she would be interested in the case if I started a meal delivery service. Out of the blue, she dropped it on my lap. In the weeks before, it already came up twice, the seed was planted. Grabbing my notebook, I wrote down how I wanted it to look. Followed by a message in two chat groups one day later. Within three hours, four families signed up. It increased rapidly over the first month, to a maximum of nine. The mother and her son also joined to nourish themselves with plant-based soul food. Long story short, it’s been six months now where a rhythm has established itself. And I love it!

Earlier this month, one of my clients reached out to pause for a while because of a health issue popping up. The doctor had diagnosed her with SIBO, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. And prescribed a restrictive diet to tackle the symptoms straight on and starve out the toxic bacteria. Instantly, some questions popped up – it’s a specific diagnosis, yet most of the time, there are underlying issues. And the eventual disease coming to the surface is a reaction to these underlying issues. Like a protective mechanism within the body. Treating only the visible symptoms would create a vicious cycle of disease-health-disease. An invitation to look deeper below the surface to see what’s hiding and needs some love.

As a response, I suggested a different view regarding health issues (and problems in general). You’re already underway to make positive changes in life, but some parts haven’t made the transition yet. The body compensates for it by protecting the old situation before the changes were made. Something that was hidden under the surface is being brought up. Many times it happens that you don’t feel coping with something, especially when your focus is on creating the best life experience possible. Intentions are good and expansive. Why would you worry about that? There’s probably something else going on; time to create a different perspective.

Personal Experience with Treating Health Issues

Once I started changing my nutrition, all kinds of digestive issues that I wasn’t aware of before came to the surface. Not even directly when I switched to plant-based eating and did a digestive system reset. No, after that, when I came face to face with my life I had left behind. The potency of the plants, fruits, and vegetables brought up old-life residue lingering in the background. As if all the buttons were triggered by what was going on inside of me. An important choice I had to make was to 1) continue on the path I had entered already, or 2) turn back around and fall into old habits by treating the symptoms. Once I’ve got a clear goal in mind that I can feel, I intend to start living like that from the first moment. And stick to it until this is fully integrated into my daily life. Like changing one identity for another, no looking back. Instead of seeing symptoms as a problem, I embrace them as encouragements of my body to pause and look deeper. By creating a new life/reality, changing lifestyle, and noticing what I need to do to make the changes.

One example is losing 12 kilos overnight during a candida cleanse. It was when I lived up in the mountains at high altitude. A couple of things were unfamiliar and came all at once. Living in solitude in a place that’s mostly abandoned during the summer months. No access to organic produce, and the need to order deliveries from the biggest city nearby. A lower amount of oxygen available. And every walk outside was on mountain roads with steep slopes (at least 10% or higher). All of these aspects asked much more from my body than I was used to. The most important one was facing my old life that I had left behind, including all the mistakes, guilt, shame, and fears that I still carried around. Escaping was no option anymore.

Instead, I was determined to release them permanently, I chose to stick to my path, and feel the depths of my soul. I trusted that my body would guide me through the process. Even though I was able to move through all of this, the rapid weight loss came as a surprise. I went from 68 kilos to 56 – counting my ribs was never so easy, and the biggest trigger to change something with meal preparation. A scale in one of the apartments I rented back then made my jaw drop. How could this be? Doing a candida cleanse at that moment meant no fruits, no sweet vegetables or ingredients, no fungi, and also a couple of beans and legumes were excluded in the first phases. Besides that, low in fats like nuts and seeds, which are high in calories. Despite that, my goal was to regain weight within three months.

From a problem, I made a challenge to get out of it stronger than I was before. A few months earlier, I had downloaded a calorie and nutrient tracking app. Never would’ve guessed it could be of use, let alone to become a navigation tool. Tracking macro-nutrients (fats, proteins, and carbs) was my intention. Having a new challenge turned it all into higher gear. Within the app was a functionality to fill in current weight, desired weight, period, and the intensity of daily activities. After filling in the details, with three months to reach my goal in mind, consuming around 3.200 calories a day came out as a result. While keeping in mind that most high-calorie ingredients are either limited or excluded due to the candida protocol. Ouch!

Using Proactive Meal Prep to Outgrow Former Health Issues

In my memory, I was familiar with 68 kilos, something I had embodied for years. No matter what I did, ate, or left out, it went up or down by 2 kilos, but that was it. I started by giving the brain instructions to look for proof in line with the picture I had created. Changing everything from day one, lifestyle, meal prep, habits, and thought patterns. To live as if I were already there, making symptoms and issues non-existent. By looking at how far I had come at the end of the day, instead of looking at how much I still had to do. A simple trick to build confidence and remain peaceful, even under the most challenging circumstances. Determination in its strongest form.

Starting from the first day, I planned meal ideas to see how I could reach the daily calorie intake. By tweaking meals in the app to see where I could grab something extra. Within two weeks, I had learned more about vegetables, grains, and beans than in all the years before combined. Their nutritional value, macro nutrients, micro nutrients, what to use them for, and the effects on the body. Also, what ways of preparing maintain the highest nutritional value and nutrient absorption? It felt as if I had treated myself with a personal masterclass. The hours, discipline, and energy needed were easy to keep up with, seeing such a high value in return.

Some tricks I taught myself helped me to get to the right amounts effortlessly. Liquid meals over solid meals gave both higher calorie amounts and easier digestion. Using seeds, herbs, and spices brought extra flavor to the meals, while being able to have the same amount of food. Adding seeds, herbs, and spices (not necessarily the spicy ones!) to soups, smoothies, and other dishes helped a lot. Garlic and onion turn out to be examples of vegetables with a relatively higher amount of calories. Loading meals with these ingredients was a blessing. I love both of them, and so does my liver! Lastly, cruciferous vegetables fall in the same line as garlic and onion, easy to add more of those. Cruciferous vegetables are great for fertility, hormonal balance, and communication between the gut and brain via the central nervous system. All examples were double wins, having effects on multiple levels.

Three months after I noticed the weight drop, I was back to normal. While being on a candida cleanse, with a restrictive diet, a big increase in movement, and changing from the mountains to a small city by the sea. Not only did I get back to normal, but my endurance increased significantly. A stronger body came in return through hiking and yoga, and my breathing capacity was at its highest point ever. Living at a high altitude, with less oxygen, in solitude, and without direct food distribution was challenging. It also helped me through one of the most intense periods of my life. A first year in a new country, speaking a new language, building a new life in the sun. No wonder the weight loss, all the heaviness fell from my shoulders as well. I came out physically reborn.

Photo by Nadine Primeau on Unsplash

Three Levels to Look at a Health Problem

Look at your current situation as if there are three levels:

1. Your reality – as you experience it every day, including all the symptoms of health (both positive and negative).

2. Your lifestyle – how you design to live your days and life in general, including your daily occupations.

3. Your identity – what and who you identify or associate yourself with, including habits, thought patterns, likes and dislikes, and beliefs.

At the first level, you find what attracts your attention straight away, as well as your voluntary actions. Something happens during the day, whether instantly or repeatedly, demanding you to have a look. Regarding health, that can be low energy, digestive issues, sleep problems, and anything else that pops up. Also, the joyful, uplifting, and energizing feelings and experiences.

At the second level, you have what you want to invest the most time, energy, and attention in daily. With what you’ve got available to you. Work, time with friends, sports or exercising, traveling, investing, shopping, home life, studying, and creative activities. Regarding health, the way that you design your lifestyle either affects your health in a good way or a bad way.

At the third level, you come to who you are and how you stand in life. Here are the deep-rooted beliefs, patterns, and habits that influence your health on a core level. Involuntary actions come from here, the connections between gut and brain via the central nervous system, and the life-death-life cycles of every cell within your body. Regarding health, either leading you to death or life.

Solving Health Problems That Deplete You

See image what it looks like to live from disease. Something comes in from the outside world, for example, a doctor’s diagnosis. All attention and energy are absorbed by this problem and how to fix it. Affecting daily actions, lifestyle, and eventually leading to self-identification with the problem. When one symptom is gone, another appears. Whether within the body as a health issue, or someone in your environment who triggers the same buttons. Whatever you do to solve a problem, it keeps bouncing back straight in your face. It’s reactive and needs constant active input from your side. You’re on the giving side all the time, until there’s no more energy left.

Solving Health Problems That Excite You

See image what it looks like to create your life. You’re deciding what you identify yourself with, despite anything within current circumstances coming in to block you, limit you, or slow you down. All of these are reasons to keep being who YOU are. Shaping your lifestyle and bringing your daily actions to fruition. Instead of facing problems on a surface level, you look for the root causes. Changing the parts of you that identify with it and creating something better. The problem that depletes you is not the one you face – only at the start, when it first comes up – no, you dig deeper and create a better problem. One that makes you stronger. It’s proactive, living from a healthier and stronger place already, and needs little cognitive input from your side. Since you’ve made it obvious already that this is what you choose. You’re now on the receiving end, welcoming with open arms the state of being you imagined at the start.

SIBO As An Example to Look Deeper

Curious about what SIBO actually means, I did some online research. A general diagnosis doesn’t give me much information usually, because it tells nothing about the individual case. There are important aspects though, to help understand what happens within the body. The first search result gave a lot of those nuggets.

Note: this is not for medical advice, but to create a different perspective to look from.

Here’s what stands out:

• SIBO has to do with the wave function of the intestines, stool, and food waste moving through the intestines as a wave. Picture yourself the movement of a caterpillar.

• SIBO prevents the absorption of fats. The liver can process 15% of fats and 20% to 25% of proteins from daily calories (in general). Anything above that gets stored in the body as fat waste.

• SIBO can be related to bile and enzyme issues. The stomach releases more acids and enzymes to fight off bacteria. Insufficient acids and enzymes mean that the bacteria can survive.

• The stomach can only process a small amount of food every 20 minutes. Eating too much or too fast has a similar effect, surviving bacteria.

• Saliva also contains enzymes to break down foods and fight off bacteria. It’s the first defence system and the first stage of digestion. The better you chew, the fewer bacteria enter the small intestine.

• The incorrect working of the immune system cannot kill or efficiently move out bacteria from the small intestine, thus allowing them to overgrow.

Regarding these points, the following questions come up:

• What happens when you increase the intake of fruits and vegetables that stimulate the wave function (like spinach and watermelon, or raw salads in general)?

• How does lowering fat and protein intake to normal rates support the intestines? For example, by increasing carbs that are light for the digestive system (like leafy greens, berries, and fruits and vegetables high in water content, which are easier to digest)?

• What effect does eating slower for producing acids and digestive enzymes? Note: a portion the size of your fist goes through your stomach every 20 minutes. Keep that as a marking point to how much and how fast you can eat.

• Chewing food thoroughly helps to create more saliva. It also helps to activate the throat and larynx, where purification takes place. The more you chew, the less energy your digestive organs need to digest and absorb the nutrients. How can this support the intestines and remove toxic bacteria?

• Note: even smoothies and green juices need to be ‘chewed’ to activate saliva and consumed slowly to give the stomach time to process.

• Cruciferous vegetables are known for their healthy bacteria and for balancing the gut flora. Raw salads have a similar effect. What restoring effects can consuming more of these foods have?

In general, to assist the digestive system, a couple of things are highly effective:

• Eating mono-meals, meals consisting of one ingredient only.

• Liquid meals, like smoothies, green juices, shakes, and (raw) soups.

• Increasing antioxidant intake.

• Juice fasting to give the digestive system a break and restore nutritional balances in the body.

• Coffee enemas to clean the colon and intestines and increase glutathione (the master antioxidant) levels up to 700%.

• Note: juice fasting longer than 3 days without coffee enemas can lead to long-term irritation of the gut and intestines due to toxins and stool residue in the side-pockets of the colon. This is not recommended and unsafe.

I use questions like these to create a new perspective and look at all the opportunities that can lead to improvements. Approaching issues in this way reveals things you weren’t aware of before, while solving the ones that pop up now. It’s a way of shifting from health problems to health improvements and from health problems that deplete you to health problems that excite you. It puts you in the driving seat, rather than being a passenger and hoping for something better. Helping you to get your health, energy, and power back.

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Only Step Into Healing When You Know How to Get Out

Coming from the root causes within, is observing the whole framework on which your life is built. You go to the heart of things and listen to your heart for answers. Choosing what you want to keep and eliminating what no longer fits. Entering into healing via the heart helps you to get back on track quickly and effortlessly. The way out is the same way as how you went in, asking your heart for answers instead of your mind.

The other way around, entering healing via the mind, is chasing each symptom like Sherlock Holmes. Not only does it take more time to solve something, but other symptoms keep popping up like fireflies. With the mind actively providing suggestions for what to pay attention to next. While having no time to enjoy life the way you want to. It’s a dead-end street and keeps you stuck in a never-ending loop. The scenery might change, as well as the actors, but the root causes still bring forth how the plot plays out.

Train your brain to listen to your heart, and it never fails you. By slowing down, going into nature, and putting thoughts aside temporarily. Know that whatever health issue pops up, it’s an invitation to go to the root and clear it permanently. Consuming fruits, veggies, and plants that do the cleansing for you. Becoming a stronger version of yourself in return. Any investment you put in like this pays itself out a hundredfold. Putting you back in the driver's seat, choosing the healthy life you’d love to experience.