Gut Health Pt. II: Reforming and Restoring our Gut Health

As we have learned previously on the Reform Blog, the gut is often the root of dis-ease in the body and is one of the most foundational elements to healing. With this in mind, it is important to consider what is your gut feeling? We must first become aware of what your body may be communicating to you through its symptoms. Do you struggle with bloating, cramping, heartburn, or irregular bowel movements? Have you experienced brain fog, fatigue, headaches, anxiety, or depression? These are just a few signs that your gut is in need of healing. 

Let us consider how we can reform and restore the health of the gut using Reform’s nine Wellness Pillars. 

Faith 

Centering our whole lives on Christ is always the first and most foundational element of healing the whole person, regardless of symptoms or diagnosis. Without Him, we are nothing; and apart from Him, our efforts to heal are futile. If there is physical dis-ease in the gut, there is likely spiritual dis-ease in the soul. Prayer is a necessary component to creating an environment, internally and externally, that is conducive to healing. 

We invite you to commit to 30 minutes of prayer each day. 

Sleep 

As we say often, without adequate sleep we cannot be healthy. Getting a sufficient quality and quantity of sleep is critical for healing the gut. Most of us have experienced first hand the difference sleep makes in our energy and mood throughout the day, but it is also important for decreasing inflammation and allowing the body the space to heal on a metabolic and cellular level. This is when the digestive tract has a chance to heal without the presence of food in the gut. 

We invite you to commit to sleeping a minimum of 7 hours each night. 

Stress Management 

For many of us, our stress is one of the more obvious impediments to our well-being and it is also a major contributor to gut dysfunction. Stress can decrease immune function, compromise digestion, and contribute to imbalances in the gut microbiome. When healing the gut, it is necessary to prioritize rest in order to allow the body to come out of a chronic state of fight or flight. 

We invite you to prioritize rest by implementing a daily and weekly Sabbath. 

Functional Movement

In a season of healing the gut, movement is especially helpful for stimulating lymphatic flow and supporting regular bowel movements. This allows the body to more efficiently detoxify and eliminate waste - two critical components to gut healing. We want to be attune to the needs of the body and always remember to recover harder than you train with adequate sleep and time for recovery. 

We invite you to move your body for 30 minutes each day in whatever ways you enjoy. 

Nutrition 

When intentionally healing the gut, we place a strong emphasis on nutrition. Not because nutrition is the most important pillar or because it should be prioritized above all the others, but because it does play a very real and direct role in the healing of the gut. The food that we eat comes into the digestive system multiple times every day and will move us toward better health or further away from it. As you’ve heard it said before, food can either be medicine or it can be poison. So we want to take advantage of the opportunities we have to use food as medicine in order to support a healthy gut.

We invite you to eat whole and real foods and to limit inflammatory foods. 

Personal Growth 

In any journey of healing, whether physical or spiritual, there is a component of personal growth. Usually growth comes out of some sort of discomfort, dis-ease, or disquiet in our body or soul. This is an invitation to consider how we view ourselves in comparison to how God sees us. In order for us to grow closer to Christ and grow into the person we were made by Him to be, we have to make a shift, and learn to look at ourselves through God’s eyes, and see ourselves, as God sees us. 

We invite you to allow Christ to reveal how He sees you - as His masterpiece. 

Play 

Play is one of the most overlooked elements of our well-being. It is a state of being that’s fun, free, even impractical. When we play, we embrace our identity as a child of God. We let go of “grown-up” concerns and expectations, and let God the Father take care of them - and of us. We forget about time and agendas, and open ourselves to receive all that God wants to give us.

We invite you to consider how you used to play as a child and reincorporate that fun into your life. 

Community 

Community and relationship with others is one of the most powerful remedies to the stress, anxiety, and loneliness that makes our bodies and souls sick. When we live in right order, orienting ourselves to Christ first and then toward others, we are able to live in this authentic community that we all crave and need. We need people; they’re medicine for the soul, especially when we are doing hard work in digging to the root cause of our dis-ease physically and spiritually.

We invite you to consider how you can foster authentic and intentional relationships through community. 

Space 

Space is an integral part of the healing journey, because in order for the body and soul to return to a state of calm, there must first be space for healing to take place. We must let go of the excess that takes up space in our hearts, bodies, calendars, and homes so that we can live in greater freedom and focus on that which is truly essential and important. It is in silence, simplicity, and solitude that there is space for healing. 

We invite you to focus on eternal freedom rather than pleasures that temporarily fill space. 

As we implement the pillars to reform and restore the gut, let us remember that healing takes time and patience. In order for healing and change to be sustainable for the long term, we must consider the whole person and always keep Christ at the center. The Lord is our Divine Healer and our Divine Gardner. He works in tandem with us as we till our soil and plant new seeds. If we desire true wholeness, we can invite Christ into the deepest parts of our lives to prune back overgrowth. He is the One who can ultimately reform and restore us to new life. 

For graduates of Reform Online who desire to continue their reformation with a focus on healing the gut, we invite you to consider joining Dig to the Roots. In this class, we till the soil to uncover the current state of your gut health. With Christ as the Divine Gardener, we’ll help you identify the root causes of your physical symptoms and cultivate spiritual growth. You can learn more here.