Do you listen to what your body is telling you?

So often we have little symptoms that we ignore or we justify them as a normal part of aging. Over time these symptoms can get worse and can lead to other symptoms and even disease. Many times, pain and symptoms are our body's way of telling us something is out of balance and needs attention. By identifying and addressing the root cause of these symptoms, they can actually go away. By listening to our body we can become healthier and even prevent disease. I will use my own experience as an example. Over the last few years I began to develop seasonal allergies. I’ve always considered myself a healthy person and had never been allergic to anything in my life, so this was strange for me. I thought it must just be what happens as you age. Looking around me at the health issues other people were experiencing confirmed this idea. Just turn on the tv or open a magazine and you will see an ad for medications for your health problem. Having a little seasonal allergy seemed like a pretty minor and even “normal” thing to have. I felt grateful that it wasn’t worse, with all the serious health issues people are dealing with these days. My allergies began slowly with red, itchy eyes. Then they progressed to sneezing fits and itchy eyes when I was working in the garden. It got so bad that I could only garden for about an hour before my eyes were so itchy and I was so miserable I had to stop. Pretty regularly, in the mornings, I would have sneezing fits. I would sneeze up to 20 times in a row. It was getting really annoying. I thought I must be allergic to something in my house, maybe dust. I thought I should probably learn to be a better house cleaner. There were a few times I even took a few over the counter allergy medications. If it would have continued, I’m sure I would have had to begin taking something regularly to help me with these symptoms that were progressively getting worse. Luckily for me, my symptoms did not get worse. Instead they have almost completely gone away. While putting to use the things I was learning during my training to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP), I discovered so much about myself. I was very surprised to discover that I have hidden food sensitivities to all grains and nightshades. These food sensitivities stem from digestive imbalances that weakened my immune system. By identifying and eliminating the things I was sensitive too and adding digestion nourishing foods (like homemade soups made with meat stock and homemade sauerkraut) to my diet, my symptoms went away. My allergies are completely gone now. I sneeze very rarely. Just about every time I do, I can trace it back to eating something I am sensitive to. Is your body telling you something? Take a moment to ask yourself these questions: Do I have any symptoms that I ignore? Do I have things that have been going on for so long, I consider them a normal part of life? Am I so used to people around me having symptoms and health problems that it seems inevitable that this is how life goes? If you answered yes to any of these questions, maybe it is time to listen to what your body is telling you.