I think we've all been deconditioned over time from tuning into what our bodies truly need. because of everything that's going on in our, in our heads and our logic and our obligations. Oh, I have to do X, Y, and z. I'm so busy. I'm so busy. But if we really take a moment and tune in, our body will tell us exactly what it needs, and that is Rest, nutrition Connect.
Welcome to Herz Like a Mother, a space to share the joys and pains of motherhood and life to spread the message that you are not alone in this journey. I am Megan Hansen, registered nurse, integrative nutrition health coach, and mom to triplets. It is my mission to empower you to create momentum in building the most helpful vivacious life of your dreams.
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Hey, what's up everybody?
Welcome back to Hertz Like a Mother. I hope you are having a fantastic day wherever you are. If you're in your car. I hope you have plenty of time to get to your destination. If you are on a walk, I hope the sun is feeling so good on your body, and if you're doing dishes, may the dish Gods look upon you favorably today, , wherever you are.
I love you. Thank you for coming back. Okay, so I wanted to focus today's little discussion on listening to your gut. Also known as your intuition and what that means in terms of creating lasting lifestyle change. Whether it be you wanna drop a few pounds, you wanna get stronger, you wanna fit in those pants that were pre covid pants.
You wanna be able to just have energy to chase after your kids, race them up a hill. , all of these wonderful lifestyle changes, right? And how do you do that by listening to your gut? And this came up because I was on a podcast yesterday with Christina Hudson, which I will be hopefully, um, being able to post soon.
But her podcast is called Rise Up, thriving, and she spotlights. Stories of hope, healing, and resilience. And I was on her podcast discussing my experiences with domestic violence in my early twenties and how I rose up from that. And we talked about red flags and what red flags did I see when I was in that relationship, but I chose to ignore.
And what were the consequences of ignoring those red flag?
And so that's how we got on the topic of listening to your gut and trusting your intuition
and the mindfulness piece that I think is so important in our daily life and how that can truly impact making long-term lifestyle change. So I'm gonna break it down to you how that's possible. So let's talk about first. That gut instinct and what that is. So it's that fleeting thought. You're going about your daily business.
You have a fleeting thought, like just like passes quickly through your brain of something, a thought, an emotion,
and that's usually your gut telling you something. My favorite example of this is getting dressed in the morning and you have. , a flashing thought that maybe you should bring an umbrella today. And you're like, well, that's weird. It's not. I don't think it's gonna rain, but sure enough, you leave the house and you're coming home and it's raining and you're like, wow.
Okay. So I want you to think about how this applies to creating lifestyle change. So say for example, you have a goal to eat. and choose healthier food options. So how are we gonna do that? Well, first is acknowledging what you know to be right for your body. We all have this innate knowledge within us to help guide our choices, but those choices get skewed day in and day out because of outside stressors.
the pressure's put on you by your job or certain constraints with your work schedule, your family responsibilities. Or being on the go and not prioritizing having, , protein, snacks, or healthful options.
But I think just being mindful is the first step to creating any change, because we all have that innate ability to trust ourselves inside, but it's a matter of are we listening to that voice? So maybe saying like, okay, well Megan, how do I listen? How do I listen? I might have a voice inside, but how do I even start?
Listening to my gut and what my gut is telling me, and that is practice.
and this is where that mindfulness piece comes in. because you're gonna first practice listening to those fleeting thoughts, those fleeting emotions that race through your head or through your body. And I want you to just acknowledge them that, oh, that moment of, oh, I should drink more water. Or, oh, maybe I should not have that piece of pizza, or, oh, I feel like I need to move my body in somehow, but I don't know how to do that.
Right. or that feeling of, I need a break. We all have these thoughts during the day, but how often are we listening? So first step is to just acknowledge the thoughts and recognize them. Like, oh, that's what Megan's talking about. That's my intuition. That's my gut.
The second step. Once you learn to recognize those intuitive thoughts that come up, your second step is to slowly start taking action on some of them.
And this is how over time you learn to trust your intuition and how you build confidence in that inner voice within. So taking action might look like this. You're getting dressed in the morning and you feel like you wanna spruce yourself up. You're like, I wanna feel good today. So instead of putting on your pair of sweatpants, maybe treat yourself to that sweater in the back of your closet that you only wear on special occasion.
Or if you have a day that you are like, I need a break. I need to rest. That feeling that comes across, that's when you choose your sweatpants, , we all have those days, right? That we are gonna choose comfort over anything.
Another example could be,
Going to the grocery store and you step in and you're like, oh, , I'm just gonna grab pizza. Make this a super easy dinner today. And you scoot by with the grocery cart, you pass the produce section, and your brain for a second looks at the produce and is like, damn, you should go over there, but you're in a hurry.
All you can think about is pizza and you bypass. Taking action would be taking an extra 10 steps and grabbing a bag of carrots on your way to get the pizza, because your brain recognize, Hey, this is some beautiful, colorful, vibrant health or produce, but the rest of your body, which is so conditioned to the comfort of pizza, ignores that fleeting thought, ignores that gut instinct.
and carries on with getting the pizza. So a small action step is again, the mindfulness piece, recognizing those super quick thoughts that are coming from your gut. Cuz your gut wants to keep you healthy. Your gut also wants to keep you protected.
But I think we've all been deconditioned over time from tuning into what our bodies truly need. because of everything that's going on in our, in our heads and our logic and our obligations. Oh, I have to do X, Y, and z. I'm so busy. I'm so busy. But if we really take a moment and tune in, our body will tell us exactly what it needs, and that is Rest, nutrition Connect.
if you have, and you will build on those three things, you are gonna go far. You are going to be a happier, more healthful, vibrant person.
So to wrap up, I want this to be your homework that you acknowledge your fleeting thoughts. Acknowledge your gut instincts, your little thoughts that spring up, and when you start acknowledging them, I want you to take action on some of them
and see where that takes you. Because I think if you start taking action on the voices , in your head that are telling you what to do, instead of fighting some of those, you can actually. Long lasting change in your life for the better.
So on that note, thank you so much for listening in and I appreciate each and every one of you. I would so love to see you guys sharing the show with someone that could maybe benefit.
and I'd love to connect with you. So if you do get some little nuggets out of these, let me know. I would love to hear what you were liking, what you wanna hear more of. And if you don't normally connect with me, my info is always in the show notes. So check you on the next one. Goose is me, Goose's.
