A message for the group:

During an era of diet culture focused on “elimination”, “good/bad foods”, “detox”, etc. we have lost our connection with our bodies. We buy products to attempt to alter our pH and “hack our metabolism”, but we are missing the gift that was there the entire time. Our bodies, our metabolism. Our kidneys that detoxify and absorb, our liver and pancreas that participate a nuanced dance of metabolic sugar metabolism, our small intestine; a beautiful tube of balance (carefully balancing our absorption of nutrients)! Your body is amazing, just the way it is. Our intuition is there, we just need to listen.

What if we stop counting calories, stop measuring grams, stop eliminating the things that we love and that nourish our bodies?

Here’s an example… we know that the kidneys are a phenomenal filtration system, so amazing that we even have two of them! In order to keep our kidneys healthy we should keep them hydrated, keep blood sugar from spiking, and maintain a healthy blood pressure. We can do this both with our lifestyle and with medication:

Hydration/blood pressure: We try to achieve this by buying expensive “electrolyte drinks” that likely are full of sugar, or we can listen to our own internal cues of thirst and prioritize hydration during moments of self care. We can take a blood pressure medicine, like lisinopril that will preferentially dilate the afferent vessel (going towards) and constrict the efferent vessel (leaving the kidney) in an effort to perfuse (hydrate) the kidney. What if we also add the priority of self care through hydration during the day, physical movement to mobilize edema? There is no rule that the key to keeping the kidneys healthy involves the dilation of the afferent vessel and constriction of the efferent vessel. These medications can help, but what our bodies are craving is balance. Metabolism is balance, and while we aspire for balance in our lives, we will achieve balance with our food and metabolism.

Blood sugar balance: We can listen to and honor our cravings when they are present to prevent future binges, we can become an “AND” person- (I’m craving some icrecream, I’m going to have a scoop AND see how I feel. Or, I’m going to have a scoop of ice cream AND have some strawberries (providing fiber and antioxidants, but also a delicious tart flavor)! because I love the sweet and sour combination. We can ADD fiber, add mindful check-ins with ourselves while we eat, all to improve our balanced blood sugar. We can also add exercise which augments metabolism of sugar. Then we can also use medications like metformin as a tool to help improve insulin sensitivity, but our foundation will be our lifestyle and attunement with our eating and movement.

Our group will spend the next three months listening to our intuition, whatever that looks like for us. We will steer each other into attunement with our bodies, while building a foundation of practices that nourish ourselves. We will support each other and ourselves. There will be no Powerpoint presentations, and no meal plans. We will talk about these concepts, but we will also practice them. Together. We will begin the night with community connection and dinner, followed by time to share and learn about nutrition about ways we can achieve balance in our lives and health. Come to one group meeting or all of them! Take some free stuff! Come an hour late if that’s what you can manage this week.

You become a member of grassroots by just reading this sentence. Gotcha! We are happy to have you as a part of the group. See you guys soon and be well!

-Gaby