Setting the Stage to Heal

BY JOANNA CHODOROWSKA

Ibelieve the body can heal, given the right tools. Over twenty years ago, I learned this first hand. Five months after my first Ironman triathlon, I was diagnosed with adrenal exhaustion, also known as chronic fatigue. I was so tired that I needed a nap after I walked to the mailbox and back. How is it that I could do a twelve-hour endurance event and now be exhausted? I was like a horse with blinders on, focused on the goal and only the goal. My body was shutting down, yet I ignored it because training was the only thing that brought me joy and the only way to escape my stresses.

My diagnosis was my wake-up call to start taking care of myself in a different way. I needed to learn how to listen to what it was my body was asking of me, and how to find new ways to cope with stress in my life. With my alternative team of doctor, nutritionist and me, I revamped my nutrition and my way of coping with stress, and started to notice where it was that I was lacking in balance in my life.

Years later, I started Nutrition in Motion, an intuitive nutrition therapy coaching company, to guide athletes to optimize their health naturally and help them set the stage to help their bodies heal. We often need a team to help us get past our own blinders and set the healing stage into reality.

Recently, I read the book Cured: The Science of Spontaneous Healing by Dr. Jeffrey Rediger. It provided case studies of the body healing from incurable conditions. This is where I first read the phrase that we can “set the stage [for the body to] heal.” The body innately knows how to hea, yet we often choose to do more, rest less, take on more obligations, and add stress unknowingly. We create the stage for imbalance, ill health, and, like me, extreme fatigue. And it sometimes hits us like a ton of bricks. Ouch.

If you want set the stage for the body to heal, there are some easy options you can commit to. It may be several of these, or all of them. It is different for each of you.

The truth is, your body can heal from almost anything. You just have to give it the space to do so, which means making some adjustments to how we eat, move, sleep, and cope with our stressors.

In the coming months, I will be writing about each one so you can start to implement some of these steps to optimize your health and recovery from pain or painful conditions. I may even create a webinar series where you can learn about each in more detail. Stay tuned!

Here is my list of things you can consider when setting the stage for your body to heal:

1Optimize Your Nutrition with Real Food

• Eat real food and more nutrient-dense foods! Try my Detox

Plan for Athletes (www.nutrition-in-motion.net/services/ detox-plan), which uses real foods without fancy supplements. • Learn to balance your blood sugar to minimize cravings, burn fat, and improve energy naturally. • Implement an anti-inflammatory plan to optimize your energy, reduce pain, and reduce stress naturally. • Learn to cook, or join my Cooking Fun with Joanna classes every first and third Tuesday!

2Optimize The Way You Move

• Find activities you love to do and bring you joy. Include them for twenty minutes a few days a week to start, and increase either the duration or frequency every week.

3Optimize How You Handle Stress

• If you perceive something as a stressor, it is a stressor. If you change how you perceive challenges, with love and light, you can respond differently and remain calm. Energy work and essential oils can be really helpful for this.

4Optimize Your Relationship with Yourself and Who You Are

• Be kind to yourself no matter what. You want to be compassionate and kind just like your best friend! Getting there may require amplifying your self-love. Energy work does wonders for minimizing the self-critic!

5Optimize Your Relationship with Food

• Give yourself permission to eat whatever it is you really want. Creating restrictions may be a form of control but it triggers guilt, resentment, and anxiety. Work on getting better sleep, not just more. If you wake up often, deep breathing when in bed can increase the deep sleep cycle so you feel more rested. The body can repair in this deep REM sleep zone.

7Optimize Your Immune System

• Increase your intake of vitamin-rich foods, raw garlic, greens, and other vegetables. Get adequate intake of fluids, rest, nutrients, and pro and pre-biotics so you don’t catch the next bug.

Your body can adapt to most anything. Your body can also heal if you set the stage to do so. These are my seven steps that you can include to set that stage. When I work with my clients, or even myself, optimizing nutrition and reducing stress tend to be most beneficial. As we work through triggers that derail you from your plan, you find fun in the process and amplify your health without crazy food rules.

What one thing can you do from this list to optimize your body’s ability to heal? If you have trouble deciding where to start, reach out and schedule a fifteen minute chat with me (www.nutrition-in-motion.net/contact). We can discuss your situation and help you get pointed in your optimum stage to help your body heal.

Joanna Chodorowska, BA, NC, TPTH, METS, CSG is an intuitive nutrition and energy therapy coach for athletes, optimizing athletes’ health and performance so they love their body and life! She teaches nutrition for body, mind, spirit, and sport. Visit Joanna online at www. nutritioninmotion.net.