8 Signs your body is sacrificing long-term health for short-term survival

Is your body running on empty? Consider these signs as a wake up call that your body is trying to tell you something...

1) Slowed pulse and low body temperature

Do you work out chronically and have a slow pulse (ie. below 55 beats per minute?? The pulse is driven down by a cellular energy deficit (not eating enough food and/or nutrients) to support your energy expenditure. Slowing the pulse allows your body to go longer on less, because you use less of your body’s energy.

Ideal pulse rate for a high metabolic rate is a pulse rate of 80-85 beats per minute. According to Dr. Ray Peat, PhD, “Healthy and intelligent groups of people have been found to have an average resting pulse rate of 85/minute, while less healthy groups average close to 70/minute.”

Then there's low body temperature. According to the research of Broda Barnes, MD, PhD and his Basal Temperature Test, a waking temperature of less than 97.8 degrees upon waking indicates slowed metabolic and thyroid function. This is because the body temperature is an accurate representation of how well the cells are generating energy. A reading of 97.8-98.2° is considered normal. According to Barnes if the thyroid is under active, a temperature of 1-2 degrees below normal will be present. A temperature of 1-2 degrees above normal can suggest an overactive thyroid.

2) Skin Issues (eczema, psoriasis, acne, dryness, etc.)

Way back when I was 20 years old I remember getting a cream from my dermatologist to help with my occasional acne encounter, and I remember how it would help the acne but leave the area so dry, red and just not healthy. The approach just lacked common sense to me — I wanted to get to the root of the issue, not just address it at the skin level with products that irritated my skin. Back then there was so little understanding behind the gut-skin connection, but luckily, times are changing!

Skin issues are a sure sign that there's something off with your gut-liver axis. This often from an overgrowth of pathogens or opportunistic bacterial contributing to leakiness in your gut lining. This allows toxins to escape your gut and enter your bloodstream where over time they create inflammation and an added burden to your liver. 

The science linking your skin to your gut microbiome keeps getting stronger. They've now found:

• links between staph aureus (tested for on the GI Map) and eczema [1]
• confirmed connection between intestinal dysbiosis and psoriasis [2]
• clear confirmation that intestinal microbes have significant impacts on acne[3]
• a H pylori infection (in the stomach) is associated with the development of rosacea [4]

The good new is, you can stay ahead of the science by having microbiome testing done using the GI Map. It's a simple at-home stool test that can set your skin up for a glowing future.

And don't forget to address your liver too. Poor detoxification can result in toxins coming out through the skin instead of the normal routes (bowel and urine).

3) Chronic stress or "Adrenal Fatigue"

While adrenal fatigue may be real thing, I call it something different based on what I see in my nutrition practice — not eating enough and liver stress. Typically, this is the result of chronic stress and nutrition imbalances mixed with dieting or not eating enough, which really starves your body of what it needs.

4) Insomnia and sleep disturbances

Got insomnia? This is an important warning signal that your body is exhausting its fuel (ie. not eating enough or not eating enough carbohydrates), and that you are being forced to run on stress hormones all the time instead! Learn more about how to get a hold of good sleep here or learn about some mineral imbalances that can impact sleep in a big way.

5) Very poor digestion or chronic bloating

Very rarely does poor digestion happen overnight. Digestive changes usually happen slowly over a period of time, so by the chance you notice something's very wrong, it's been festering for some time.

This is where your health really starts to unravel. You see, your whole body and all of it's parts depend on nutrients. And you can't break down and absorb those very nutrients without robust digestion.

Get to the bottom of your gut issues with an at-home stool test and addressing the root cause, your liver-gallbladder health.

6) Low energy or plagued by fatigue

Can't get out of bed in the morning, make it off the couch, or get out of the house due to low energy? Or maybe you can never seem to make it through the day with sustained energy. This is a very important message that your body is sending you — you're not fueling it properly to allow it to perform!

Change your diet and habits so that you can experience new energy levels. It really is that simple, but at Butter Nutrition we do this strategically, so you can get results better and faster than you ever would on your own!

7) Crazy food cravings and/or binge eating

Food cravings are a sign your body is not getting what it needs or it can't make energy efficiently, so it's asking you in a not so subtle way.

8) Inability to lose weight

Are you always trying to win the battle of the bulge, but your strategy never quite goes the way you planned? Perhaps you are reading this after tireless attempts to lose the weight through unsustainable methods that can make you feel like a failure for not being able to stick with it.

Your body doesn’t seem to be cooperating... but WHY?

Could it be the simple fact that the very dieting methods you're imposing on yourself are the very same things that are sidelining your progress? I mean, if the body perceives there's a famine going on with a low calorie or restricted macro-nutrient diet, why on earth would the body shed the very weight that was designed to help keep it alive in a famine?

Maybe it's time to try a common sense approach with sane nutrition so that you can finally get results while avoiding the yo-yo dieting cycle.

And of course, address your liver detoxification, the most common factor I see in weight balance issues.

The common theme

Do you notice a trend here? Your body is always talking to you, trying to send you messages to keep it in tip top shape, so you never get yourself in trouble. The problem is that we live in an age where these messages are suppressed, medicated, and downright ignored... until it's too late and your health is in serious trouble.

I want to encourage you to listen now.  All of these are signs that your body is operating in SURVIVAL MODE. That means your body is sacrificing long-term health for short-term survival. Your body has learned to operate this way, and you can teach it differently!

If you want to flip the switch without having to feel overwhelmed by trying to figure everything out yourself, start learning NOW how you too can turn your surviving into thriving by becoming a client.

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References:
1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16965415/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7350295/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678709/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6042414/