Session two of "Is Sobriety Sexy" with author/coach Rebecca Weller discusses the reality of alcohols' impact on health, the Gut microbiome and the Brain-Gut connection.
Aftificial "Joy" is poured from a bottle but REAL JOY may be much better and worth moving beyond the bottle.
Part 2. A Drunk Brain-Gut is LIVE NOW
You can find Bex and her books at https://sexysobriety.com.au/
Thinking aout getting certified as a Holistic Gut Practitioner, looking for a personal Gut Restoration Program or maybe you want to try our FREE course "How to design a gut health coaching practice," find everything you are looking for at enrollhwca.com
Session two of "Is Sobriety Sexy" with author/coach Rebecca Weller discusses the reality of alcohols' impact on health, the Gut microbiome and the Brain-Gut connection.
Aftificial "Joy" is poured from a bottle but REAL JOY may be much better and worth moving beyond the bottle.
Part 2. A Drunk Brain-Gut is LIVE NOW
You can find Bex and her books at https://sexysobriety.com.au/
Thinking aout getting certified as a Holistic Gut Practitioner, looking for a personal Gut Restoration Program or maybe you want to try our FREE course "How to design a gut health coaching practice," find everything you are looking for at enrollhwca.com
What if every experience, every hardship, every obstacle was given to you not to break you, but to mold you and strengthen you. What if the center of your suffering was actually the key to ultimate health? And what if your own pain was meant to be the catalyst for your greatest purpose? Welcome to bud belly life, empowering purpose, mind to microbiome. Here's a que. And so I don't expect you to have all the answers to this, but because, so I specialize in the brain gut connection and gut health. So I certify coaches and gut health. Right. And so, and with my passion for mental health, the gut is just a huge deal. So as a health coach, I'm sure you're familiar to whatever degree that is. So alcohol and the brain gut connection is something that I feel needs to be talked about. What are your thoughts on alcohol and our diet and our gut and our brain mm-hmm<affirmative> um, just from a, a, a coaching so standpoint mm-hmm
Speaker 2:<affirmative>. Yeah. And this is such a good one, right? And we talk about gut health in the program, because it has such an impact on your overall health. And, you know, we know that a lot of serotonin is made in, in your gut as well, which use that feel good, neurotransmitter that I'm sure you talk about a lot that regulates mood and sleep and anxiety in depression. And when your gut is happy, you, you feel happier too. And I discovered this when I first embarked on my health coaching journey, where we were encouraged to experiment on ourselves. So you write down something that you eat and like two hours later, you write down how you feel, and then how do you feel that and night, and how do you feel the next day? And you start to see these patterns of like, oh, wow. When I eat these good foods, I feel good. I feel happier. I feel more energetic. I, I also feel like more, um, enthusiastic about life. I feel like I want to connect with others. Like it actually transforms not only your physical health, but this whole mental capacity. And when we drink alcohol, we destroy the good bacteria in the gut. And so this is why we talk about it, um, in the, in the program, because it's so important to, to sort of like detox from, from alcohol, but also to, to re store things as well. Like yes, when we we've been, we drinking for a long time and that those, um, neurotransmitters and neurochemicals and stuff are all being, uh, thrown out of whack, we need to bring them back on truck. And what I used to find was that, you know, my serotonin was very low, I believe because I couldn't seem to feel happy without alcohol. And so, you know, of course life felt very dull and boring, and I used to be scared of like, but it'll be like every days a weekday, if I stop drinking, you know, it'll be so boring. And that was because I was, I'd lost touch with joy. And I really think my gut health had a lot to do with that. Just the simple pleasures of everyday life. And when we stop drinking and we start getting more in, in, um, touch with our bodies and start listening to the feedback that it's giving us, um, it's really considered on this new journey where we have a deeper connection with our own bodies and where we feel, um, more joy and more connection with all of life. And for me, in particular, I, towards the end, I was drinking so much that I really destroyed my gut health for a long time. So I had to embark on a two year journey to, to heal it and to undo some of the damage. Um, and as I did that, like I really started to notice that difference in mood, as well as the physical health
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm<affirmative>. Yeah. I found it fascinating. I mean, when I know that some, um, of the professionals that I work with, um, that work with some of the really top probiotic, um, strains and, and, uh, supplements that I prefer to use with clients, they do a lot of research and stuff, and, and we've been, we were talking recently and they were saying how I think it was if PE the, it studies, one of the recent studies has shown that people that during even one about one drink a day is all it took 80% had CIBO so that small intestine, bacterial overgrowth. Um, and CIBO, I mean, if you're a lot of people struggle with it, but it is just, it, it can be really tricky to get rid of, because it's just feeding that gram negative bacteria, and it's migrating up into upper intestine and then we're feeding it constantly. And the acid buildup in the top of your stomach, like a lot of those hangover symptoms that we experience. I remember just the heart palpitations and the gut ache and the anxiety, um, the high, like burning feeling and stuff. A lot of that stuff is, is destroying our gut. And, and what I thought, what I think is really interesting too, is just how it's all so connected. Cuz like you say, our gut is responsible for, for producing our serotonin in our dopamine. And we drink a lot, you know, people will drink because of the momentary hits of, of happy, happy juice, you know, literally, you know, no pun intended the momentary hits of happy juice, but then it depletes it and it hurts our gut and a messed up gut messes with your brain. So it increases our compulsive behaviors, it increases our depression and uh, and then we turn to self-medicate more and it's just this vicious cycle. And I like that you touched on essentially despair and a loss of joy because I think it's important that more, more people talk about that so that they realize that this is the alcohol, this isn't your life. This is the substance and the decrease of happy juice that's going through your body. It is not forever. And you know, on the other side of that, there is joy and there is happiness, like real joy, the kind, you really feel the kind that's consistent that doesn't spike up on Friday night and absolutely drop you for four days following.
Speaker 2:Yes. Gosh. Yes. And it's such an important point because when you are in that sort of, of cycle where you are feeling bad and you're feeling low, it's hard to imagine what it can be like. And it can often be like a coming home to yourself. Like as you start to, to feel better, you're like, oh, I remember now when I was a kid, I found joy watching a butterfly for, for half an hour. You know, when I was a kid, I had found joy, all these things before I started drinking and it's can just be this, um, re awakening
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm<affirmative> and ambition ambition. That was something. So, so like I said, my husband and I, we have six kids between wanted family. Yeah. It is, it is absolutely nuts. And we're both very driven. We're both entrepreneurs. We both have businesses. Um, and I love Mondays I'm in one of those weirdos that loves Mondays because I get to do something really awesome. I get to help people and I love it. And I get escape my kids for a few hours and do it<laugh> and when we would drink the aftermath of that, just, it just depleted everything, all of our product, our own, my creativity, my, I mean, just everything. So it was like, I, I would say it was like borrowing from our future, right? Yes. We'd have a couple hours one night and then everything else was garbage for days. And if you really understood that, like, would you still choose it? Would you say, yeah, here life, I'll take a little extra high for a few hours and I'll trade you three days worth of low. No<laugh> we would not train that.<laugh> the ambition, right? It's
Speaker 2:Exactly. Especially when you look back, like if you think about, I know it's quite morbid to think about the end of your life, but if you do, then you and you look back, you realize how precious and how fast it really is. And you start to think, well, is that how I really would've wanted to, to spend it? And one of the mantras that kept me going in, in early sobriety when I was conducting my initial experiment was like, oh, you know what? Life is like drinking. You've had decades of experience with that. Like, why don't we try something new? Don't you wanna see what happens? Do you wanna try, try a new life experience? And I think that can be, um, really helpful when you are conducting an any kind of lifestyle change is to think, well, why don't we find out, like we want more life experiences, right? We wanna grow and evolve as humans. So this is a great way to do it.
Speaker 1:Do you have a desire for, for fulfillment, this helping people tap into their own health mentally, emotionally, and physically fire you up, do you believe in the impact of the gut microbiome on overall wellness, you may be an H WCA coach for more info on our cutting edge health coach trainings visit H w C a coach.com you know, with the, with the pandemic and everything. I mean, we already had like, you know, epidemic levels of mental health. You know, we know that, um, and when the pandemic happened, it skyrocketed and I was just so disappointed to the alcohol pushed and sell. I mean, not just by people, people, everybody has their own. There's no shame in where you are in your journey. Maybe you are, maybe you are a person that can have a drink or two and put it down halfway through it and not finish the cup. I've never been that person. I don't understand those people. So there's no shame. Maybe you're somebody that like, it's just not your time. You're not ready or whatever, like no judgment there, but like the companies were just promot. I mean the advertisements and everything, it was like, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink. And I'm like, we have skyrocketing suicide rates. We have massive depressions. You know, we have people that are lonely in everything. Why aren't we talking about subs and abuse? Like why, cuz alcohol's so commonplace because it's so accepted. You know, if you were to say it about a hardcore narcotic, you know, there people would be up in arms they'd, you know, be ridiculous except, but the destruction that we see with alcohol, you know, it was so unfortunate to me to watch that. Yeah,
Speaker 2:It is. It's so sad because as you, right. And it's sort of like the only as we say, the only drug that you have to, uh, make excuses for why you're not partaking when you go places as well, but why'd you drinking? No one would say that about anything else, including smoking. That was once normalized. So yeah. I mean to see them here as well, there was so much, um, of a push and also like having alcohol stores open as essential services and stuff, it was like, yeah, okay. Why are we teaching people coping skills rather than giving them a substance to lean on?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I know that that part was really frustrating for us here too, is this, to see these businesses open when, and you know, it was, they were trying to shut down our, our chiropractors and things like that, but they're gonna leave the liquor store open and um, yeah, it was, it was unfortunate. But so, um, as far just to, just to wrap up with the whole health part, um, I can speak from experience, um, in how much getting the body into alignment helps when giving up something. So we don't feel like we give it up. Like, so what is the difference now? Like being on the other end of it, do you ever struggle? Um, like how do you feel versus how you felt that and what keeps you going? Like, is there a feeling that keeps you, you going at this point?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, you mean like physically, how do I, um, how do I feel like
Speaker 1:Yes, your, your body, your mind, like, is it worth more now that you're on the other end of, because I think for a while it has to be kind of excruciating mm-hmm<affirmative> I remember those times where it did feel boring, it did feel painful. It did feel like there was nothing to look forward to. And I think it's important for people to understand that that's a part of the process that it will go away. That will alleviate. That's a part of, because your brain's not used to making its own happy juice yet. You've been relying on a substance to do it and your gut it's probably jacked up. And so once it gets going, it, you won't feel so low. You will have natural joy and natural, you know, juices starts taking in.
Speaker 2:Definitely. Yeah. I love that. And, and I think it it's a progression as well. Like in my first three month experiment, when I got to the end of that, I was like, I do feel better. I kind of met imagine like how I would feel even better. And I can't imagine like going another three months with alcohol, with alcohol, but I'm curious. So let me see what six months feels like. And then after that it was like, well, let me see what a year feels like. And I just kept expanding it like this. And I mean, now I just don't think about, cause now I'm just like, I'm a non drinker. It feels amazing. But with each sort of checkpoint work with each sort of, uh, progression to six months and, and a year and so on, I noticed this vast change in how I perceive the world, how I had this amazing clarity people used to talk about all the time and, you know, tying back to the, to the gut health where, and I was drinking, I, people used to talk about intuition and I had no idea what they were talking about. I'd sort of nod and go along with it. But I was thinking, what on earth is that they used to say, listen to your gut and all this sort of stuff. And I had totally lost that, that part of myself, where I could listen to the voice within, because I didn't trust myself. You know, when we make all these rules around drinking and we say, oh, I'll only drink on Friday, but then we drink Friday and Saturday, or I'll only drink three nights. And then we drink on five. Now you're weak. Yeah. Right. And then we break these promises to ourselves over and over again. So of course we don't trust ourselves. Why would we be like, if you had a friend who kept saying to you, oh, I'm gonna do this. And then they would break it every single time. Of course, you're not gonna to trust that they're gonna follow through on anything they do. And anything that they tell you, you're gonna take with a grain of salt. And I felt that way about myself. I was like, well, I don't trust myself. So any little voice that comes from within, I don't know where it's coming from. And so really when I, when I stopped drinking and I started to learn more about myself and I started to feel better and I started to experience these little moments of ordinary joy throughout the day, I would, I would realize that I could start to hear this little voice from within that would tell me, you know, whether I wanted to go to an event or whether I felt like this person was telling me the truth or, you know, these little, little, uh, nudges from within. And that was so precious to me because I realized that, you know, after a lifetime of betraying myself, suddenly I could find that I had my own back and the, the confidence and the security that came with that self love was like, wow, this really makes me feel more empowered throughout my entire life. So, you know, it was this, this physical getting better. And that did take a while because I had done so much damage to my physical gut health. Um, but you know, as I got better and better, and there were a few things I noticed straight away where was like, oh, I have clearer eyes. My eyes are actually white, not, not red all the time. You know, I, I, I don't feel so grumpy. My little wine pouch belly is going away. All those kinds of things happened quickly, but there were other things that were more of a slow burn that happened more slowly and more incrementally and just made it feel so burn valuable. So now, you know, seven years on being sober for this long, it feels even more valuable to me like with every passing year, because I see it, it only gets better.<laugh> yes.
Speaker 1:That's. And, and once you, once you experienced it, then I bet you now it's like the thought of going backwards on that road is such a farther, I mean, it would be like falling thousands of steps when you've climbed so many now.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. And you, you know, then you can see more clearly how your behavior was in the past to what your behavior is now that you have more coping mechanisms. And I was so, um, grateful that I had done that in a work, you know, before the pandemic started as well, because anytime some crazy things happen in our lives. When we have those healthy coping tools and mechanisms, then we can take care of ourselves rather than giving ourselves a way to an toxic substance.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for another empowering episode of Budda belly life. For more information on gut health and mindset, resources, visit Budda belly, life.com and remember heal yourself and then empower others to do the same.
Speaker 3:I.