Sensitivity and Digestion

I have noticed that there is a high correlation between sensitive people (who are also perfectionistic) and digestive issues. When I met Caroline van Kimmenade, who runs the website The Happy Sensitive, I connected with her about the relationship between sensitivity and digestion.

She also had a long history of digestive issues but has learned how to manage both her sensitivity and digestion to improve her quality of life. She describes her healing process as a road back to herself and awareness was her best healing tool. Because we are both perfectionists we went back and forth with this blog post to make sure it was perfect and we were both happy with it.

We finally decided on this unusually diaglouge format to mimic the first conversation we ever had about sensitivity and digestion.

Caroline: As a child I was expected to eat anything that was put on the table. No one talked about food sensitivities back then. I thought digestive discomfort was some kind of deficit in me. I often needed to huddle in child’s pose to deal with my post dinner cramps.

Angela: Some doctors think that digestive issues are stress related (It’s in your head) and some people think it has to do with nutrition (a lack of dietary fiber). But neither viewpoint is quite right.

Caroline: If you are a highly sensitive person, food and additives (hormones, pesticides, added sugar) that don’t bother others can give you cramps, stomachaches, rashes and other symptoms. That was definitely one part of the equation for me.

Angela: Balancing beneficial bacteria in the gut can mitigate the symptoms caused by problem foods and in some instances eradicate them altogether.

Caroline: Yes, probiotics definitely helped. A big part of my digestive issues was emotional however. My lower body became an emotional storage space of sorts for “undesirable” emotions. On top of that, much of my intuitive awareness was feeling and belly-based. A lot of HSP’s have this kind of intuitive awareness and it can be confusing and overwhelming to deal with. For me, my intuitive belly area was “trouble and discomfort” and I purposely ignored it for a long time.

Angela: Healing digestion is often a balance game. In times of increased stress, eating a clean diet can keep symptoms at bay. Or you may have noticed that when you are on vacation, relaxed, happy and having fun, your gut is more forgiving and typically triggering foods don’t bother you.

Caroline: My gut taught me to listen. The more I paid attention to it, the more I realized I was drowning out the messages it sent me. I realized I had been cut off from my belly for years. Without awareness however, your gut is no longer able to communicate with you the way it’s meant to. As a result, digestive issues may seem like a mystery that arise out of the blue.

Angela: When IBS symptoms happen out of the blue, combing over everything you ate may not be the whole picture. Also consider what is going on emotionally.

Caroline: I’ve slowly learned how to restore my relationship with my body. When I started seeking info and advice on digestion my gut calmed down. I started learning how to decipher the energetic info I was picking up. I also learned to talk to my body.  These days, I consult with my body daily. My gut decides what to eat and this varies daily.

Angela: If you have a food intolerance, there is no good time to eat these problems foods but stress can make the difference between borderline foods bothering you or not.

Caroline: There was one time in particular when I ignored what my body wanted and I literally had to vomit up the supposedly healthy alfalfa that I forced myself to eat.

Angela: The truth is that everything in the body is connected. Stress and emotional turmoil can cause foods that were fine yesterday to disagree with you today. It makes figuring out what foods trigger symptoms a complicated process.

Caroline: Each of us has a body with its own unique language. We can start tuning in to that language by noticing how things affect us physically. For me, my food issues were the first real wake-up call that prompted me to connect with my body on a whole new level. Once I did, I discovered that my body was far from a problem; it was my road home. It helped me figure out what was right for me, not just on a food level.

We often like to think that reason, knowledge or meditation will connect us to a higher self to guide us but it is actually our bodies that want to show us the way.

Tell us in the comments what you have learned from your gut.

You can read more about being a sensitive person at: http://thehappysensitive.com