Listen To Your Body

About 6 years ago I can remember being in my shower and hearing the word coffee. I was asking my body to tell me what was affecting my skin since I had out of nowhere it seemed acquired eczema. My palms were itchy and sore as well as the back of my neck and I felt out of control and I scratched and irritated my skin to the point of bleeding. Not a pretty picture I know. 

And when I heard the word coffee, I dismissed it. 

I thought, well if it’s coffee that’s creating my eczema then I’ll just have to suffer! Because I love coffee way too much. 

If you’ve been following my podcast, then you may have heard my podcast called Passion For Coffee (#23) where I express my gratitude and pure happiness for coffee. I’ve loved it for as long as I can remember. 

Medium to bold and black. I learned years ago to drink it without milk or cream and sugar. Just the pure taste. 

But what I recently came to really understand was that I have the power to heal my body. And the word coffee kept coming up, so I knew it was time to take it out of my daily routine. 

You might wonder why I didn’t go the cortisone cream route? Well I honestly have tried almost everything over the years and once I became a mother I knew that this wasn’t even an option for me. I always looks for natural ways to heal and what I started learning about was all the foods that were triggers for eczema and all the foods that were healers and so I began avoiding the most of the triggers (except the coffee) and introducing the healers in a bigger way than before. Fermented food for example.

But I still wasn’t feeling the results and my body still kept telling me that it was coffee. And finally, I knew it was time to listen. 

I’m sure there are a handful of you who think I’m crazy and that there’s no way you could give even consider giving up coffee. And trust me. I hear you loud and clear.  It was my nutritionist friend Anna Ellis who gave me the suggestion to try something called Dandy Blend which is caffeine free and made of water-soluble extracts of roasted roots of dandelion, chicory and beets, and the grains, barley and rye. There are no headaches or other withdrawal symptoms when switching from coffee to Dandy blend, which they market and which I can totally attest to. 

And honestly it tastes just like coffee. It wasn't the caffeine kick I loved. It was the taste. And this coffee like replacement has become my new daily habit and my skin is starting to heal. 

And I find this really amazing. I’ve cut out dairy and grains and sugar on numerous occasions thinking it would help but cutting out the coffee is a result I can see and feel. My hands aren’t in pain anymore. I can hold my children without crying on the inside. I can pick things up without numerous bandages on my palms. And sure I miss coffee. But this is really worth it. 

So how did I listen to my body? And how can you listen to your body? 

I believe that when you ask the questions and you really listen, you go inward...your body can tell you exactly what you need. And it may take numerous times before you’re really ready to listen. And that’s okay too. It took me 6 years! The message will keep repeating itself until we're in a place to accept it. We just need to stay open to receiving it. And trust it. 

It really starts with awareness. Your body knows when you’re feeling stressed or when you’re unhappy. And you know if you’re being honest with yourself. 

I’ve made another change since listening to my body. I used to come home from work and eat and sometimes this is 10pm.  I began to realize that sometimes I wasn’t even hungry. It had just become a habit. And so I began to pay attention to how I was feeling and it wasn’t hunger. I’ve been able to say no to things I don’t actually need.  And I can do that by listening to my body.  And you can do that too by listening to your body. 

Make some time and space to sit quietly and go inward. Ask yourself questions and really listen to what you feel.  And make decisions that work for your body. Eat healthfully, and choose sleep over another episode of Stranger Things or whatever you’re currently watching on Netflix. Don’t get so caught up with how busy you are that you lose perspective of the things that really matter. And that’s you. You’re number one.  And your body will tell you exactly what it needs if you're open to listening.

My friend Anna Ellis also mentioned something called "self sabotage".

I can remember a Sunday at work where I wanted to have a coffee, I was so tired.  And she said "self sabotage".  And she's right.   I think I waited until she left and then I actually poured myself a coffee and then my skin reacted.

Which again if you trust everything you recognize or at least I recognized that I needed to try it to see that reaction to really believe that it was coffee.  And that's okay.  Trust it exactly how it's happening.