I’m Tired, I’m Fat, My Life Sucks.

Ladies, most of us have said this, if only in our heads, at least once in our lives.  You certainly don’t have to have autoimmune to feel this way on occasion.  For many women with Autoimmune, this becomes the daily mantra “I’m tired, I’m fat, my life sucks”.

How many of you feel this way?  Despite all your efforts, the scale won’t budge.  No matter how much you sleep, you seem to be permanently out of energy.  And the result over time is that yes, your life sucks.  There is no light at the end of the tunnel.

What’s happening?

How did you get here in this place of misery and self-deprecation?  

Not really understood by those suffering but it isn’t a mystery.  As you have probably heard by now, our health starts in our gut.  We have genetic weaknesses and we have triggers.  All play a role.  Genetics don’t have to be kicked off.  But the triggers wreak havoc on the gut, dysfunction in the gut develops and the genetic weaknesses are kicked off.  It’s a sad story.

I have a webinar on the process of the dysfunction in the body.  If you are interested in learning more about that, you can watch it here.  And I have a webinar on autoimmune disease and the progression of autoimmune that you can watch here.  That is more than I want to get into here.  Here, I want to talk about why you are tired.  Why your have weight gain and why your quality of life is in the shitter.

Let’s start with fatigue.  It happens for a couple of reasons. 

1. Lack of nutrients making it to the cells
   1. When the lining of the gut, meaning small intestine, performs two functions.
      • Absorb nutrients through the brushed border. Say what?  I know.  The brushed border is made up of fingers lined with cells that have more fingers on them covered in little itty-bitty hairs.  The entire purposed of this design is to increase the surface area through which nutrients from the food you eat is absorbed.  Now, if you are eating crap, then the lack of nutrients you are getting is on you.  But, if you are truly eating healthy and still exhausted, this process has likely gone awry.  And likely your brushed border experience some damage and is blunted.  Meaning the hairs are damage and the lining of the small intestine is damaged.  You can no longer absorb the nutrients from the food well and you are now malnourished due to malabsorption.  Result is no food for your cells, and no energy for you to exist on.
2. Lack of sleep
   1. Also related to the gut but in a different way. Let’s talk about the gut a little more.
      • The gut as I’m talking about it now goes from where food enters to where food exists your body. And in this space, we have a microbiome.  We actually have several in our bodies but let’s just talk about this one for a moment.  We have over a trillion bacteria in our bodies which seems crazy.  More than cells in our body.  Just a funny question I think about.  Do they exist for us or do we exist for them?  Hmmm.  Anyway, they have a balance.  Not everyone has the same balance.  We all have our own unique balance but to live optimally, and healthy, the balance must be maintained.
      • When we eat poorly, or are exposed to stress, or exposed to chemicals, or environmental toxins, have hormonal imbalances, take antibiotics, etc, etc, we impact the balance of the bacteria in the microbiome. For awhile it will compensate but over time, if the triggers are not eliminated, the balance of the bacteria will shift allowing bad bacteria to increase, allowing parasites to flourish, fungus to flourish and all affecting the level of good bacteria in a negative way.  The balance that is needed to ensure we breakdown our foods properly, protect our body from those triggers, absorption of food, etc, is significantly impacted and our health starts to go sideways.  And symptoms develop.  Food sensitivities develop.  Genetics get kicked off.  Serotonin isn’t being made properly or in the needed quantities.  Let’s stop there for a minute. Yes, serotonin is made in your gut.  90% of it.  Not in the brain like you might have incorrectly believed.  Only 10% is made in the brain.  Is this an Aha moment for you?  If not, it should be.  The way we live life now makes having a healthy microbiome very, very hard.  Wonder why so many people are struggling with anxiety and depression?  Yep, the microbiome deteriorates, serotonin deteriorates, anxiety and depression set in.  Oh, and yes, it is fixable.  Sounds like another blog to me.
      • So next big Aha for you. Melatonin is made from Serotonin.  If you aren’t making enough Serotonin, you won’t make enough melatonin to support sleep.  We use melatonin as a marker to determine the level of gut dysfunction.  Go figure.
      • And there is more. When the gut microbiome starts to go sideways the immune system is activated and your body will move to a state of fight or flight because it is in the middle of a battle.  With that, our cortisol which allows your body to be in that fight or flight mode and your body will be on this constant hum while it fights making it difficult to sleep.
      • And more still. When the microbiome breaks down as I described above, and the balance of bacteria gets out of whack and bad things like parasite and fungus grow.  Well, these little buggers are nighttime active.  When that happens, you aren’t sleeping well.  They also kick off the fight or flight activity in the body.
      • Food sensitivities can also play a big factor in your ability to sleep. I know for instance that potatoes will give me hot flashes and my sleep suffers for that.  Food sensitivities are not the same as allergies.  They usually develop due to dysfunction in the body.  When the lining of the small intestine breaks down and can no longer keep food from entering into your system in a way it was not intended.  Instead of the nutrients being absorbed through the brushed border and then the body eliminating what is not used, pieces of food make it into the blood stream in bigger chunks.  When this happens, food is seen as an invader and no longer recognized as being good for you.  It is now an enemy and a sensitivity to the food develops.  The reaction from the body is not immediate like an allergy, it is more delayed in the form of a headache, joint aches, bloating, gas, skin issue, hot flashes, etc.  And they can be delayed several days.  Sleep can be affected.
      • Lack of minerals needed to support sleep. If your brushed border (small intestine lining) is damaged, and you aren’t absorbing the minerals needed to support sleep, you aren’t sleeping.  Also, a contributing factor.
      • And all of this is interrelated. Very rare that you have one contributing factor to poor sleep.  And yes, all of this can be fixed.

I think I have tackled sleep pretty good.

Let’s move on to the topic of weight gain.

The worst for women isn’t it?  We can’t win with this one.  And if you have a slow thyroid, good luck.  It won’t matter what you do.  It is like trying to budge an elephant.

Beyond the standard contributors to weight gain like hormones and diet there are more contributing factors which I will cover below.

1. Gut dysfunction
   1. Losing weight involves the proper processing of food in the body and detoxing of the stuff the body needs to eliminate like fat. Particularly belly fat.  It is toxic and difficult to detox if the digestive system is not healthy.  So, no Bueno on losing weight.
2. High cortisol
   1. When cortisol is high and the body thinks it is in a state of fight or flight, the systems and processes in the body that are needed to support fight or flight become primary. Hormones meaning procreation and sex are not important, so they go sideways.  Fat is needed to maintain fuel for energy because the body was designed to run from sabre tooth tigers.  No longer required and that fuel is not used up, sadly.  This means fat that cannot be lost.
3. Clogged liver
   1. The liver processes fat, sugar, cholesterol, etc, etc. If it is clogged, it isn’t doing its proper job, no weight loss.
4. Dysglycemia
   1. It is a condition in the body when it loses the ability to maintain a stable blood sugar. It is a steppingstone to Diabetes.  Contributes to the following:
      • Negative affect on your adrenal function, drives them to exhaustion
      • Weakens and inflames your digestive track
      • Weakens immune barrier in your gut, brain, and lungs.
      • PMS, PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), difficult menopause transition.
        1. Affects your ability to detox
        2. Impairs fatty acid metabolism
      • Contributes to hormone imbalances
      • Slows down metabolism
      • All of these contribute to hypothyroidism.
      • Cannot improve Hashimotos or hypothyroidism without addressing dysglycemia. Big big issue for Hashi’s and hypo thyroid people.
      • And it contributes to weight gain. As long as you suffer with whatever form of Dysglycemia meaning hypoglycemia, insulin resistance or a combination of, you will not lose weight.

And all of this contributes to feeling really, really bad.  Quality of life goes right out the window.  You become a zombie, barely existing, living ½ a life.

But guess what.  You can actually fix this.  It isn’t an overnight fix, but you can actually fix this.  You really can.

I know, what can I do?

The reality is that people struggle to fix these issues without testing to see what the heck is going on but what you can do proactively and immediately is to change your diet.  Commit to the Autoimmune Protocol and begin helping your body begin the healing process. Next, find yourself a practitioner that can help you take the next steps.

And I’ve writing many blogs about the Autoimmune Protocol.  You can find one of them here.

If you want to know more, contact me at clientcare@yourhealthmadesimple.com.

Have a wonderful rest of your week.

Tracy