It could be all in your gut…..
Have you had times where, for no particular reason, your energy simply drops, you can’t think and your motivation simply disappears?
Many people describe this as “Brain Fog” but what is it?
As I do with most of my blogs and posts, I use my personal experience or experiences from clients that I’ve coached over the years. But here is a personal experience of mine.
Around 6 years ago I started suffering from an upset stomach that wouldn’t go away, you know that nervous butterfly type feeling? So I went to the doctor and they gave me a medication called Omeperazol, It was used to reduce stomach acid, it worked a treat. Then I had a reoccurrence, and it seemed that it got worse every time. The last time was the worst, I simply couldn’t function, my brain was literally 10% of its working ability.
I then went back to the doctor who arranged for a camera to be put down my throat, I chose to be awake (big mistake!) After one of the worst experiences that I can remember, the doctor who worked the camera said that it wasn’t serious, but the lining of my Gut was inflamed and to continue to take Omeperazol.
After a couple of weeks I was back to feeling ok again. But the question is “why was my stomach in such a bad way”? I'm the sort of person who has to get to the bottom of something.
By chance, in the gym that I own and run, I happened to tell a lady member, who was very knowledgable about nutrition. She recommended that I cut out all dairy, I did, and guess what? no more stomach problems! They would, I have to admit, come back if I started having any milk products. So, I'm lactose intolerant, as is by the way, about 70% of the population to some degree!
Here’s the issue it seems (although the exact details are still being worked on) When the body ie gut in this case, has an intolerance for something, wether its lactose or gluten, the immune system kicks into gear and starts attacking the threat, however, while attacking the “enemy” it begins to attack our good cells, and its reported to even turn on our brain cells!
Wether its this attack on our brains by the immune system or some toxin that’s produced because of the food intolerance that’s causing brain fog is unclear, but, whatever way we look at it, food intolerances can have a major impact on out brain health
Moving forward a few years and I had the same issues, but this time, I wasn’t milk products (I don’t eat them anymore) it was wheat! Only through eliminating them did I feel in much better health, even my joints were less achy. So now my diet is gluten free and lactose free, and the brain fog has pretty much gone. It’s not easy cutting out those foods, but its far more important for me to have a brain that’s functioning well than to have those “treats”. There will always be other issues that can cause Brain Fog, lack of sleep, lack of rest, stress, low blood sugar, poor diet etc, but looking at taking out the “usual suspects” is a good way of telling wether that’s what is causing your brain fog.
Good luck with your clear thinking!
Wayne
