In the next years, I would revisit health issues as I was challenged by, well, life doing what it does. Each of these challenges brought new gains. I fell in love with yoga and then meditation (one of the best medicines in my book). I met my dear friend and business partner, Skya Boudousquie. We would start a wellness business called Ola Loa Wellness. We would learn about Functional Medicine, some Traditional Chinese Medicine, and even a little Ayurveda.
Why won’t calorie counting and obsessively weighing myself work?
What about low fat diets?
And sit-ups?
So, what the heck causes belly fat?
Hormonal Imbalance
Microbial Imbalance (Dysbiosis)
Belly Water (Edema) and Gas (Bloating)
Unresolved Trauma and Unmet Emotional Need
When looking at root causes of illness, it’s crucial to approach from multiple perspectives, including both objective and subjective. While the above mentioned biological causes of belly fat are helpful to understand, real change doesn’t really happen until you get down to the root of the root, which is usually the thoughts and emotions that drive our biochemistry and behaviors. These patterns, in turn, lead to subsequent behaviors and biochemical reactions that become the ongoing programs we repeat over and over and, thus, experience as our “reality.”
For example, if you have unresolved emotional trauma, resulting self-esteem issues may lead you to poor self-care because you may not feel deserving or able to get in touch with a genuine feeling of wanting to nurture yourself. You may even have symptoms, like fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain and emotional numbness, that make self-care feel particularly challenging or unmotivating, especially if you have heavy feeling family and work responsibilities.
Furthermore, trauma alone can radically shift brain structure, function and biochemistry, including above mentioned hormones, microbiome balance, and immune function, leading the body to gain and retain “protective” weight, even if no changes to diet and exercise are made. So, even if you have an optimal diet and exercise regularly, if you don’t feel or listen to your emotions and attend to your deeper needs, it’s easy to stay stuck in biological patterns of illness and stubborn weight gain, especially around the middle. All the probiotics and adrenal support in the world can’t undo negative self concepts, unexpressed emotion and other unresolved wounds. This layer of healing can feel daunting and require great patience and compassion, but it is profoundly interesting, rewarding, and, ultimately, freeing.
We’ll be addresing ways to go about tending to your emotional needs in future posts, but for now, know that how you feel really matters. Only you can be more loving to yourself through your thoughts and actions. This will start to open you up to processes of emotional release and repatterning. Addressing your emotional needs is a powerful way to approach optimal health and happiness.