Body Aligned™ collective

You may not be a stranger to this topic but stay with me… I promise it’s worth the reminder and hopefully you'll learn some new stuff. 

Having regular bowel movements is KEY for proper natural detoxification, hormonal balance, healthy skin and hair amongst other things. 

Let’s for example take the hormone estrogen... Did you know that your gut (your liver and your intestines) plays a critical role in detoxifying and excreting excess estrogen? 

So, constipation amongst other things can lead to reabsorption of estrogen back into your bloodstream.  This can lead to estrogen dominance and hormonal imbalances that affect everything from your mood to your menstrual cycle. 

And you may say: “but my estrogen levels are normal on my blood test so why should I worry?”

Well yes perhaps… but remember your blood test just shows the amount of estrogen that is circulating in your blood at the time of the blood draw, but you also store estrogen in other tissues such as your breasts, bones, liver and of course your fatty tissue. So, just because your blood labs show estrogen levels are within normal limits, it doesn’t mean your overall whole-body estrogen levels are balanced.

Back to the topic at hand… I define regular healthy bowel movements as at least one complete bowel movement per day without straining and without the aid of coffee or laxatives (natural or over the counter).

Are you thinking but this is not me?! I hear you and here are a few simple, low cost and practical solutions to help you regulate your bowels:

Hydration - this one is HUGE!!! How do you start your day? With a black cup of coffee that dehydrates you even further?? Please don’t do that! Instead wake your system up first thing in the morning with a big cup of warm water, freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice and a dash of salt or a good quality electrolyte powder and see how things begin to shift beyond even just your bowel movements.

Abdominal rubs - Gentle clockwise belly rubs can be magical. You always want to move in the direction of the bowels, which means from the right lower corner of your abdomen and up and to the left and then down to the left lower corner. Remember you want this to be gentle, this is not supposed to be a deep tissue massage. You’re just providing a sense of warmth, relaxation and safety to your body and gently waking it up.

Nervous system relaxation - you may be one of the many people who can not have a bowel movement on mornings that you feel rushed and stressed. Remember you’re not wired to poop if you’re in a sympathetic state and ready to run from the metaphorical tiger or stand and fight it. So, to get yourself in more of a parasympathetic state you need to plan better! Give yourself enough time to wake up without stress.

And here are some additional measures that you can take: don’t look at your phone or emails as soon as you wake up, sip on the morning concoction we just talked about, sit outside and expose your eyes and skin to natural light and take a few slow and intentional breaths while you gently rub your belly.

And no this does not have to be a 2-hour process, you can do all of it in less than 10 minutes and I know it because I do it every day myself. And remember you can combine these things, meaning you can sip on your warm drink while you are getting sunlight and while you're gently rubbing your belly.

The beauty of this is that the benefits go wayyyy beyond regular and healthy bowel movements. 

Salt is one of those foods that has been demonized, even though you absolutely NEED it. Salt is crucial for life!

Good quality salt can truly be life-giving and life-saving!

It improves low blood pressure, keeps you hydrated, provides you with electrolytes, minerals and trace minerals and supports your adrenal glands.

Salt provides you with both hydration and nutrition. And the hydration is at a cellular level.

Salt allows for proper electrical conduction in your body – think your brain functioning and heart beating!

But as with most things - the quality of the salt matters!

So, what type of salt should you be using?

Many of you may be using pink Himalayan salt because you’ve been told that it’s better for you. And trust me, I’m all for replacing your table salt with a better option. But that pink color comes from iron oxide and too much iron oxide is not a good thing!

Iron is one of those minerals that you do not want too much or too little of. And this is why I’m not a fan of randomly (or indefinitely) taking iron supplements – but that’s a conversation for another day.

So, even though you need iron for several key processes, such as being able to carry oxygen around in the body, you don’t want too much of it.

And what’s the problem with excess iron?

Excess iron is an added source of stress for your body. Oxidative stress!

And, oxidative stress is a form of physiological stress that can lead to premature aging and hormonal imbalance among other things.

Another issue with pink Himalayan salt is its potential contamination with heavy metals.

So what are some better options?

White sea-salt and Icelandic flake salt are examples of good mineral-rich salts that you can use instead of your regular table salt or pink Himalayan salt. 

I was recently gifted a book called Habibi, written by Craig Thompson. It’s a beautiful book (I mean the actual book is gorgeous with compelling imagery) and it tells a powerful story. The book chronicles the story of a girl who’s forced to grow up way too fast and a boy that she decides to adopt on a whim just to spare his life.   

So, there’s the main story but intertwined with it the author brings in a lot of little (ancient) stories that can each be life-lessons for the attentive reader. One of the many things that you’re reminded of, throughout the book, is the power that words, YOUR words, carry. And how important it is to be intentional about your speech – internal and external.

And the reason why I'm sharing this with you is because of a quote that I read early on in the book and can’t since stop thinking about. 

It says… “They say every slave - more than freedom - wants a slave of their own…  ”

It’s been one of the most moving sentences I’ve read in some time. It shook me to my core…

But instead of going on about my thoughts about this powerful sentence, I just wanted to share it with you and let you sit with it and get what you need from it!

And don’t worry in case you decide to read this book, none of this is going to ruin it for you. There's A LOT of story left for you to enjoy…