Why i stopped trying to “fix” my body
There was a season (3 years, to be exact) when my health and the need to “fix” my body consumed my thoughts.
I monitored every meal, every symptom, every supplement… all in fear that what I put into my body would harm it.
I thought that if I could just find the “right protocol,” I would finally feel like myself again.
What I didn’t realize was that my constant striving kept my body in a low-level stress state. I was in a a steady loop of the fight-or-flight instinct, which is a product of your sympathetic nervous system.
Our nervous system responds to tension, not information. When it is dysregulated, it affects other functions and it becomes harder for our bodies to use its natural resources for healing.
Because the gut and brain are in constant communication, that low-level stress was not just affecting my thoughts — it was affecting my digestion, inflammation, and overall ability to repair. My body was not failing me; it was responding to stress.
Before you read on: This is a lengthy post. I know that you are a busy mom (or maybe not a mom, but still busy) and don’t always have time for hour long podcasts and mini-novels disguised as blog posts… BUT this is a deeply passionate post for me and if you are struggling with constant striving to fix your gut and/or your body, please know that I wrote this for you.
This post is written from the depths of my soul - not AI - and if you take the time to read through it fully, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. And if it speaks to you, I want you to know that I truly see you. Not in the way of knowing you or your story, yet, but in an empathetic way that I know what it feels like to try everything to heal your body, but continue to ride the rollercoaster of ups and downs that the journey brings. I hope you will continue to follow along in blog posts to come because there is so much more I can’t wait to share.
Can I be deeply honest and vulnerable with you?
In my opinion, a vast majority of women today are living in rhythms that are deeply out of sync with the natural rhythms that God intended for us. We see this reflected in the elevated stress levels and wrecked nervous systems of our sisters, our co-workers, our friends…ourselves.
We are sucked into following what is trendy instead of learning to listen and respond to the needs of our bodies through our God-given intuition. And, okay, I admit that the “nervous system” might be on that current hot topic list. But what if acknowledging the truth that many of us are living in a continuous loop of fight-or-flight and that we might be encouraging that loop further by trying to incorporate all of the trendy “bio-hacks” can co-exist?
Every time I open up Instagram and am hit with posts like this:
“Foods that Cause Bloat”
“How I Got This Body at 45”
“If You Eat Like This for 30 Days…”
My red flags immediately go up. And I feel frustrated because I have personally experienced the harms of constant striving in my health, so much so because I fell into the health trend traps.
When you’re already feeling confusion about symptoms you’re experiencing or how to care for your body in general, these might be immediate fight-or-flight triggers: feeling the need to eliminate certain foods, the feeling of envy of the way someone else’s body looks and why yours doesn’t even though you’re “doing everything right”, the feeling that you just need to do more.
All of this is magnified because our gut and brain are communicating constantly — our digestive system reacts to stress, and those spikes in tension can make symptoms feel worse, even if your diet and routine are “perfect.”
We are a body-obsessed culture
Health & Wellness is not one-size-fits-all but it is often sold that way. Sure, there are some good general rules to follow — hydrate, eat whole foods, move your body daily, prioritize protein, get outside in nature, keep a healthy metabolism — but it’s constantly being sold to us that if we’re not doing A, B, C, D, E, F and G and all the bio-hacks, that we may never heal or look a certain way.
We have become a body obsessed society under the guise of health + wellness, where it’s no longer just about our size and looks, but now it is also about how “healthy” we are. And health is important — I can’t shout that loud enough. Health is deeply important to me. But at what cost are we striving to be healthy? Sometimes, it is at the cost of our health. Consider the irony in that.
All of this striving and comparison keeps our nervous system on edge, which can disrupt digestion, energy, and even the body’s natural healing processes — so the more we chase perfection, the harder it can be for our bodies to feel safe enough to restore.
Body obsession is a tale as old as time. It’s just that, now, we are living in a time of excess information and we’re being constantly marketed to, therefore keeping it top of mind. I don’t believe that the intentions of these messages are bad. I believe that the people behind them passionately care about wanting to help others. They likely have a story to tell about what they have been through and want to share what they have learned.
a mission of better alignment
I am also that person. I have lived experience in frustrating health symptoms and a long, expensive journey of trying to get to the root cause and heal from it. And here I am, wanting to help others who are in the trenches of that journey.
But here is where my mission differs — I don’t want to prescribe the perfect protocol to you that will “solve all of your health problems.” I want to help you eliminate the confusion — all that noise, noise, noise! — so that you can come to really know your body. I want to help guide you into alignment with good, God-designed rhythms so that you can feel empowered in your body and live more calmly and at peace with it.
Because when your rhythms are aligned and your nervous system is supported, your gut and body can finally move out of chronic stress, allowing natural repair, steadiness, and ease to emerge.
my HEALTH + WELLNESS story
Hi, I’m Brynn. I am a 44 year old woman - wife and mother - who has dealt with her fair share of health and body obsession, so if you are struggling with this please know that I empathize with you.
In February of 2020, just before Covid took over the world, I started experiencing a trickle of symptoms that became a bombardment — brain fog, joint pain, chronic fatigue that left me wiped out and wondering where all of my energy had gone, eczema, odd rashes, thyroid issues (diagnosed sub-clinical hyperthyroidism), food intolerances, severe acid reflux, mood swings, constipation - there are likely some I am forgetting, but that was the bulk of it. I could have chalked it up to being 2 years postpartum, but I had so many friends who were also in the postpartum phase who were not experiencing what I was. These symptoms were impeding my livelihood, leaving me depleted day after day. After several months and many “Your labs came back normal.” (with the exception of my thyroid diagnosis, which they had no solutions for since it was “sub-clinical”) and "There is nothing you can really do.” statements from traditional medical doctors, I decided that there had to be a better option - a more holistic option.
This was the beginning of my wellness journey.
After sharing about everything I was going through with my sister-in-law, she connected me with a friend of hers who is a nutritional therapist (NT). Before I go into sharing my current reflections of my experience working with an NT, I want to be very clear on how incredibly grateful I am that she became a part of my story. In the two and a half-ish years I worked with her, she taught me valuable things I likely wouldn’t have learned on my own. I came to understand health + wellness in a new light. Most importantly, at the end of our time together, I felt completely empowered in my body and the choices I made in my health + wellness.
As I share my current reflections of the overall experience, please note that this does not diminish those sentiments. I simply want to share a retrospective point of view because we always see more clearly when we are an outsider looking in.
First, I’ll share the highlights of the process. Then, I will share how that reflects on my current lifestyle.
THE PROCESS I WALKED THROUGH
Changed my diet to Paleo (eliminated: grains, legumes, dairy, refined sugars)
Started a supplement protocol
Looked a sleep, hydration and exercise habits and began to make adjustments
Immediately felt better - lost a bit of weight (likely a lot of inflammation) and felt steadier in energy, symptom flares became less frequent
Continued to feel pretty great for a couple of months
Ran blood panels - mostly good, thyroid even improved
A few weeks later, started feeling really crummy
Took more labs - mostly normal, but thyroid was now less than optimal
Took stool test - results were an excess of H. Pylori and some other high bacteria levels
Started a new supplement protocol to eradicate excess H. Pylori (continued Paleo diet)
Encouraged to take a food sensitivity test, but I declined
Felt some improvements
Then felt terrible
Felt desperate - took food sensitivity test
More food eliminations - lemons, olives, cinnamon, gluten, dairy, coffee, chocolate, peppers
Felt a little better…for a couple of weeks
Followed by more symptom flare-ups
Continued to feel crummy
More food eliminations - started the AIP diet (auto-immune paleo) which is a rigidly strict elimination diet with strategic, timed reintroductions + started a new supplement protocol
Felt great for a while
Until I didn’t
Did another stool test - this time it came back with parasites + H. Pylori still presented in excess
Started a new supplement protocol to eradicate parasites and bacteria
Felt better
Felt worse
Rinse and repeat for the better part of 2.5ish years.
Sound familiar?
It was a roller coaster ride in both the journey itself and the emotions that resulted. The highs and lows were constant. This was to no fault of my Nutritional Therapist. She was doing as she had learned and been trained to do. She was wonderful to work with and an incredible support in a time of my life that I felt so broken and alone in what I was going through.
It also didn’t mean that the things I was doing weren’t working. It was the process of constant monitoring and the stress — that was placed on my psyche and, therefore, on my body — that I believe were keeping me on that roller coaster. Our minds are incredibly powerful and have more influence on the reactions of our bodies than we realize.
At the time, I didn’t yet realize that my nervous system was constantly in a low-level stress state, and that stress was amplifying my symptoms. My body was reacting to tension, not just biology. Because the gut and brain communicate constantly, that ongoing stress was not just emotional — it was affecting digestion, inflammation, and energy regulation, making it harder for my body to respond to all the protocols I was following.
So, after countless hours of putting in the work, “doing all the right things” to heal, the juice just was no longer worth the squeeze. It was causing too much added stress. I had been living in a loop of fight-or-flight that was deteriorating my nervous system, and therefore blocking my body’s natural ability to heal.
Something had to give.
the breaking point
Eventually, there came a time in my journey where I had managed to create just enough space to hear that small, still voice whisper to me:
“Enough.”
I obeyed. I let go. Of Everything. The elimination diets, the supplement protocols, the labs and stool tests. All of it. Poof, gone!
And guess what? My symptoms did not worsen. In fact, over time, I began seeing less flare-ups, less food sensitivities, and my energy became more stable. I am now able to eat the majority of the foods I had eliminated for years without any issue (dairy is the only thing that doesn’t want to be my friend, though I keep trying). No more brain fog. Steadier energy. And if a weird symptom pops up? I know it’s my body communicating to me that something is out of alignment (like maybe I shouldn’t have eaten all 6 of those cookies, or it’s not the right time for dairy to be back in my diet). It’s the wisdom in knowing my body well, the knowledge of the things I can do to bring it back into alignment, and the peace that I carry that allows me to be free of the fear that once consumed my ability to heal.
Letting go allowed my nervous system to settle, which in turn supported my gut and whole-body function — showing me that healing isn’t about controlling every detail, but about creating safety for my body to repair and thrive.
I realigned my focus and, little by little, I released the control I was trying so hard to hold onto and I gave it to God. I couldn’t bear it any longer. And that didn’t mean that I gave up and stopped living in a healthy way. No way. It meant that I chose to take a different path. It was a path that led me to be more intentional about living in a deeply healthy way — one that supported my tired, toxic nervous system.
walking through god’s process
For years, I prayed for healing. I just wanted my body to be “fixed” - to feel like myself again.
But when you know God, you know that 1) his timing doesn’t align with our expectations and 2) that he works in mysterious ways.
I can now see it all so clearly. God didn’t want me to suffer and he certainly didn’t cause my suffering. But he took the brokenness of it all and made it in to something really beautiful. He is the master of this and my gratitude is inexpressible through words.
He gave me a story that has given me purpose. And so much healing has been done in walking through his process - his good rhythms.
Those rhythms not only guided my spiritual life but also allowed my nervous system to rest and my body, including my gut, to respond, repair, and find steadiness in ways I couldn’t force on my own.
WHAT IS MY HOPE FOR YOU?
I want you to know that you don’t have to live in obsession and fear of every flare-up and every bit of food you put in your mouth. I want you to know that if you are afraid to stop trying to heal because you think that if you do stop, you will never heal, that there may be a gentler path for you. It is one that is not about perfection. It is about direction.
I want you to live in a state of awareness that breathes freedom in your life rather than depleting it. I want you to step out of the chaotic rhythm of trendy health hacks and into a natural, peaceful rhythm, so that you can break free from the chains of the vicious fight-or-flight loop you are living. A calmer nervous system allows your gut and body to respond and repair, making space for steadiness and true restoration instead of constantly fighting against the grain.
I want share the wisdom that led me to the empowerment I feel in my body and the health + wellness choices I make for it. (And no, I am not talking about pro-choice. I am a devout follower of Jesus and am wildly pro-life. Not to get political, but I’m here to be completely honest and transparent about who I am and want to be very clear on what I mean by a statement like that so that my words do not get twisted.)
CLOSING THOUGHTS
A health and wellness journey is just that. A journey. There is good reason we don’t call it a health and wellness destination. It’s a process. One that will never lead us back to who we once were. I’m sorry if that is a hard pill to swallow, but it’s true.
We don’t enter a journey hoping to come back the same. We enter it hoping for adventure and a new perspective — one that helps us to grow into better humans. We might get banged up a bit and walk out of it with a few scars, but it is those scars enrich us and the stories we live to tell.
I am not who I was before I experienced my symptoms and had to adapt to a new way of living. I am better for it - a better wife, mother, friend, and daughter because I grew in knowledge, wisdom, and empathy — and these are all wonderful gifts that I now get to share with others.
I don’t regret one bit of my journey. It all led me here, today, to share my story with you and to let you know that I understand the frustration you might be feeling in the ongoing battle of your personal health journey —and that there is a less prescriptive, more peaceful and sustainable path to deeper healing.
When we create rhythms that calm the nervous system, our gut and whole body have space to respond, recover, and function with steadiness — a key part of what makes this path obtainable, sustainable and life-giving.
a gift for you
If you’re curious what it might look like to walk in a more natural and peaceful rhythm, I want to offer you my complimentary SELAH Rhythms Mini Guide.
In the guide, I walk you through part of a method I created, called the SELAH Rhythms Method. I share about God’s naturally designed daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms for women and share a few practices that you can try implementing. It’s educational and practical, but simply a guide and is not prescriptive, meaning that you can apply your learnings as they best fit your lifestyle. You can access the guide HERE. If you do choose to use it, I would love to hear how it works for you! Share your experience and tag @selahandsaltwellness on Instagram.
With Grace and 🤍,
Brynn
Important Note: I am a certified Gut Health Coach, not a licensed medical professional. The information shared on this blog reflects my personal experiences and is intended for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical, mental health, or dietary advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
If you are dealing with a serious or chronic medical condition, please continue to consult and follow the guidance of your licensed healthcare providers. Do not discontinue or modify any prescribed treatments or medications without the supervision of your healthcare team.
This blog is intended to support women who experience a dysregulated nervous system and/or frustrating health symptoms and who are seeking guidance for reducing stress, cultivating healthy rhythms, and improving overall wellness. It is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition.
