How you approach your health challenges is a critical piece of the health puzzle. Ultimately, your route can determine how long you feel unwanted symptoms and your progress. We'll discuss two ways to approach your symptoms today: Bandaid and Root Cause.
A band-aid approach is a temporary solution. A route like this offers relief in times of need and can be helpful to suppress symptoms, but they do not address the deeper issue: why these symptoms are occurring in the first place. Band-aid approaches often mask the actual problem going on in your body. An approach like this isn't necessarily wrong and is usually incredibly helpful for people (like taking Tylenol when you have a headache). My goal, however, is to address why you feel the way you do and how to find the best solution for change.
As a personal example, throughout my teens, dermatology appointments for acne typically looked like a routine 15-minute visit where I was given a prescription to tackle my skin problems. I was told if I stopped taking the pill, my acne would come back (more so, I was told naturally healing my skin won't work, so don't waste time on it).
It was a miracle because these prescriptions worked effectively. Finally, I got the clear skin I desperately wanted. However, my symptoms resurfaced as my doctor predicted when I stopped taking my prescription. From there, the snowball kept rolling until I found a root-cause approach.
A root-cause approach dives deep to see what is happening in your body. If you don't know already, your body constantly communicates with you. Your body lets you know when issues arise because, simply put, it's designed to keep you alive. These signals can show up differently for everyone, but often you can see them in areas like:
Energy levels
Skin
Digestion
Bowel Movements
Stress levels
A root-cause approach looks at the core of your symptoms and approaches it from there. It supports the body at a foundational level to properly function and see better health outcomes.
When I started to see my symptoms as a form of communication, I was able to transform the way I felt. And you can too! When we work together, we start with a root cause approach to deeply understand the reasons behind your symptoms.
Need a bit more help understanding how your body communicates? Here are some supportive questions to reflect on:
Notice how you feel after meals
Do you feel bloated or gassy?
Do you burp soon after eating?
Do you experience acid reflux?
Keep track of bowel movements
Do you go days without BMs?
Check the quality: bristol stool chart
Are you often running to the bathroom after meals?
Notice your daily energy levels
Do you wake up feeling refreshed?
Do you experience an energy crash mid-day?
Do you feel shaky/hangry between meals?
Keep track of how you sleep
Is it hard to fall asleep?
Do you often wake up in the middle of the night?
Do you feel groggy in the morning?
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