No One Knows You Better Than You

During a recent appointment, a patient told me, “The goddess flows to that which is nurturing.”

At the time, we were discussing something in the patient’s life that was going smoothly. The statement was her way of describing that when you listen to your body and your intuition, and act accordingly, things just seem to work.

Her phrase stuck with me, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how much it captured our philosophy of health care.

You Versus Science

The human body is a complicated place. The reductionist approach of modern research science wants your body to be like a machine, but it really isn’t. One person will respond to a drug, when another won’t. One person will develop lung cancer from smoking, where another will live to 100 smoking a pack a day. One person will gain weight just looking at chocolate and then other can eat all they want and never gain an ounce.

Our patients consistently look for advice on what is the best thing for their health. What is the best diet? How much exercise should I do? How much sleep should I get? How much water should I drink? There are guidelines in the research for almost all of these things, but the real answer is that it’s likely different for everyone.

To our patients, we say this: You are a beautiful little snowflake. Each and every one of you has your own individual biochemical beauty. And that means that each and every one of you may need different things to find your best level of health. For example:

  • Some people do great on a paleo diet, others feel sluggish and bloated.
  • Some people’s lives change on a gluten-free diet, where others feel no difference at all.
  • Some people feel amazing doing intense exercise, while others only feel good with yoga.
  • Some people can roll with the punches and process stress like a champ, while others need more time and space to weather life’s changes.

Only YOU know what is the best for you. You’re the world’s leading expert in you. Think of a time when you felt the best. You had energy, you were happy, your sleep was restful and your digestion worked perfectly. What you were doing at that time is a clue to what is best for you. It’s a signpost on the path to great health. If it was eating low carb, sleeping 9 hours, running or meditating, this is what is nurturing to your body.

North American lifestyle can definitely get in the way of what is nurturing to your body. But so can not trusting your inner goddess (or god, gentlemen). If you find you spend a lot of time worrying about what the media says is the new super food, ideal exercise, or fad diet, perhaps it’s time to sit quietly and tune in to a new source of health news: your own inner wisdom.