Dr. Will Cole - Gut Feelings

Gut feelings. Is there anything else more important than these guiding pings from our deepest intuition? Dr. Will Cole, a colleague and friend of mine, has written a paradigm-shifting way to truly understand the inherent and foundational connection between our body and mind. The pages of this book offer a new way of thinking about your gut as a second brain and will open you up to an entirely new way of taking control of your health. By the end of this book, youll feel fully empowered to create true and lasting wellness for both your body and mind.

Today so many of us feel depressed, anxious, and completely apathetic toward life. With more and more access to mental healthcare, the question becomes: Is there something deeper going on here? In Gut Feelings, Dr. Cole drops mind-blowing education on just how deep it goes. He takes you on a journey to the root cause of many common symptoms and chronic health issues in a scientific yet incredibly accessible way.

Dr. Cole shares the science of inflammation and gut issues, like bacterial overgrowth and leaky gut, that can lead to depression, mood swings, and other mental health symptoms. His explanation of the underlying source of many common symptoms offers the missing piece from traditional medical practitioners, who focus primarily on symptom management. Understanding the factors that contribute to your daily health struggles will offer many of you relief from a lifetime of unanswered questions and may even bring up deeper emotions from those of us who may feel that, for the first time, a doctor finally gets me.

Most notably, Dr. Cole makes the connection between emotions and health problems that stem from what he calls Shameflammation. As a holistic psychologist who now runs a global membership community, I have witnessed the role emotions, especially stress, play in the physical wellness (or illness) of individuals everywhere. I have also seen innumerable instances of different emotional struggles stemming from physical imbalances caused by nutritional and lifestyle choices. I can only hope that this book gets in the hands of every mental health professional to better equip them with more information about the mind-body relationship.

I believe that the best healers are practitioners of their craft, and Dr. Will Cole is a true practitioner. His experience working with thousands of people around the world translates into a depth of wisdom that is unparalleled. He works daily to embody his own mind-body wellness and graciously shares this information and these transformational tools with innumerable others across his social media platforms. He is truly an inspirational guide pointing us all to a path toward a healthier and happier life.

I am so grateful this life-changing book landed in your hands. The information presented will shift how you think, how you eat, and, ultimately, how you exist in the world. The practical toolsespecially the 21-Day Gut-Feeling Planwill show you just how much the food you eat daily truly does impact your mood and health. By the end of this book, you will have the information you need and a road map to change who you are at your core (literally!).

Spend time with this book. Take notes if you want to. Then, most important, begin to put these things into practice. Your body and mind will thank you.

Nicole LePera, PhD

INTRODUCTION

Thought for Food: The Gut-Feeling Connection

Its been said that gut feelings are guardian angels. They provide that deep-knowing, discerning intuition that has guided and protected you throughout your life. They are the ineffable inner sixth sense with its still-small voice, giving you the visceral understanding that it has your back. Gut feelings, trust your gut, and gut instinct are all sentiments with ancient origins. Somehow humanity has always known that the gut is the seat of the soul; and today, in our modern world, we know that at our very creation, when we were in our mothers womb, our gut and brain were formed from the same tissue, inextricably woven together for the rest of our life in sacred union.

Your brain-gut connection is a galaxy of brilliance, a cerebral garden of wonderment and dreams. The vast confluence of synapses and neurons contained within your mental masterpiece could stretch farther than the moon. Your gut is equally vast, with more bacteria than you have human cells, more in number than the stars in the sky. In fact, the trillions of cells that make up your brain and body were formed from the same carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen as the stars that shone brightly billions of years ago. You are literally stardust personifiedthe cosmos incarnate.

If youve ever gotten that quick thrill of butterflies on a first date or felt the ache of your stomach dropping when you received bad news, youve already experienced the gut-feeling connection in real life. Theres no way around it: The bidirectional relationship between your gut and feelings is intimately at play every single day of your life. These gut feelings can contain innumerable inspirations for hope, healing, and self-protection, but they can also be tainted with shame, anger, and fear, becoming the single biggest saboteur of your health. When these gut feelings work against us, they can end up sabotaging our health and creating very real physical health imbalances. From autoimmune conditions to anxiety, blood sugar issues to brain fog, and hormone imbalances to heart problemswhatever it is that ails you, your gut-feeling connection is playing a role.