"The whole person must heal for the gut to function optimally."
Rachel Scheer
EFR 620: Bridging the Gap Between Fitness and Functional Medicine and How to Improve Gut Health Through Trauma Healing with Rachel Scheer
She shares how she came to discover her natural talent for weightlifting which, combined with an insatiable work ethic and trust and belief in herself, led her down an unexpected path that would challenge everything she knew about health and wellness. After a series of gut-related issues reared their heads at the beginning of her fitness career, it all came to a head when the motility in her gut completely halted.
After being told that the only solution to her condition was the removal of her entire large intestine (an option she seriously considered for a while), Rachel eventually decided that there had to be another way. She threw herself into studying as much as she could about the gut, leading her to discover the power of the microbiome and a pathway to healing she never realized existed.
She talks about how to identify and eliminate the stressors that contribute to gut-related problems—whether they be dietary, emotional, or environmental stressors. “Our body has an innate ability to heal,” says Rachel, “once we can get out of our own way.”
Rachel reflects on the final piece of the puzzle she had to solve on her healing journey: addressing unresolved trauma. She shares how she forced herself to practice brutally honesty in order to evaluate the stories she told about herself and rewrite the ones that didn’t serve her.
Needless to say, Rachel’s progress has completely surpassed all of her doctors’ expectations. To her, healing and growth ultimately comes down to embracing our truth and choosing what brings joy and love into our lives.
Follow Rachel @rachelscheer
Follow Chase @chase_chewning
Key Highlights
Rachel never grew up expecting to be the most talented person in the room. However, what has served her well in life is her trust and faith in her potential coupled with a lot of discipline to fully unlock that potential.
The rock-bottom moment for Rachel was when she was told that the only solution to her condition was the removal of her entire large intestine. She talks about how she dealt with the weight of this life-altering decision and how it all led her to pursue functional medicine.
Rachel breaks down the three main stressors that lead to disease (i.e. dis-ease) in the body: emotional stressors, dietary stressors, and environmental stressors.
The less obvious healing work that Rachel had to do was address unresolved trauma to rekindle the link between her gut, her head, and her heart. She explains how she was able to do this, starting with forcing herself to embrace radical honesty.
Powerful Quotes
At the end of the day, hard work is going to beat talent ten times over.
My interest is in mimicking ecology as best as I can. I don’t think we’ll ever really be able to do it quite like our planet does, but I find it a really interesting challenge to imitate different environments that exist in the wild.
The whole person must heal for the gut to function optimally.
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