Setting Goals For Gut Health + My Personal 2024 Goals!
It’s my first blog of the year and I’m GIDDY getting to share about my own 2024 goals + help you do some goal setting of your own!
As we reach the end of January, it’s common for the fire to die out a little when it comes to setting and sticking to new goals for the year.
Where are you at with your goals? Perhaps you didn’t set any but you’d like to, or maybe you’ve trickled off, or maybe you’re crushing them! Whereever you’re at I just want to say…
It’s ok. It’s ok to not be hitting your targets and on top of things ALL the time.
Give yourself some grace. But don’t stop.
First, I want to share some of my personal goals for this year, then I want to help you set some of your own. Or maybe just give you a little encouragement that you can improve your gut health and life.
My Personal 2024 Goals
I’ve been seeing my goals as “This month I will…”
In the past I’ve set big goals for the year, but didn’t break them down well, so they often felt too difficult to attain and I would never meet my own expectations.
This time, I’m saying to myself: “What will I start building and developing THIS MONTH?”, knowing that these healthy habits I’m developing will continue throughout the year. It just makes it seem less big and scary in my opinion!
Spiritual Habits & Goals
I always start with spiritual habits, because nothing else matters if I’m not aligning this area of my life. Success, wealth and even health mean nothing if I’m not prioritizing my relationship with Jesus.
On a tangible level, my goals here are to:
Spend time reading my Bible first thing, then journal and pray on what I’ve read and any thoughts that arise. This isn’t a super specific “goal” because it doesn’t need to be complicated to connect with God. I have no time limit or expectations for myself, so long as I do this first thing daily.
Attend Bible study at my church weekly.
Invite God into the small moments throughout my day.
Spiritual development can look different for different people, so it’s ok if yours doesn’t look like mine. I find when I prioritize my spiritual health, everything else in life feels lighter and gets better.
Mental Habits & Goals
Mental and spiritual health are often seen as the same thing, but they’re not. My mental goals and habits are very specific for this year because I’m restarting a brain retraining program called DNRS. The program involves a specific type of meditation and specific steps to help retrain and rewire the physical structures of the brain. This is called neuroplasticity and it’s fascinating how the brain impacts our mental and physical health - including digestive health!
This program is often used for people with chronic illnesses, such as Lyme Disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, Fibromyalgia, POTS and Mold Illness…Many of the issues I’ve personally dealt with over the past decade. Anyone can use it, but it’s quite the commitment.
I truly believe that addressing the nervous system, taking the body and brain out of fight, flight or freeze (aka stress mode) is the missing key to recovering the mind and body.
Physical Habits & Goals
I have 4 main physical habits & goals this year.
1. Supporting my nervous system is ESSENTIAL.
This is my #1 priority this year over EVERYTHING. The nervous system controls the body and affects so much more than we realize. (We have a nervous system inside our gut too! I have a whole module on this inside my Gut Restore Program)
Ways I’m supporting my nervous system include:
My spiritual practice, as mentioned above
DNRS daily
Slowing down, rushing less, being more present & taking the pressure off myself to always be doing more
Specific supplement supports (right now it’s magnesium, ashwaganda, thyroid support and a blend of herbs to support my stress response)
clean eating, specific to my body
sleeping 8 1/2-9 hours daily (early to bed)
2. Early to Bed, Early to Rise (Sleep 8.5 hours)
Getting up earlier is essential for me to be able to be able to prioritize my other habits, but going to bed earlier is even more important, because I will never sacrifice sleep for a “more productive” day! My goal is to be in bed at 9pm to read, to be sleeping by 10 and to wake up at 6:30. I find this routine works really well for me when I’m able to stick to it.
3. Eating paleo(ish)
Clean eating is obviously an essential for me this year and every year, but when I recently fell off eating as clean, I noticed HUGE changes in my mental and physical well being. So this month has been a reset month for me and the pay off has been INCREDIBLE!
Some benefits I noticed within DAYS of getting back on track with nutrition include:
better digestion
more mental clarity
better, more restful sleep
increased energy
more stable mood + feeling happier
better stress resilience
I can share more about why I choose to eat a paleoish diet and why it’s at the foundation of what I teach in my Gut Restore Program that has helped dozens of people in the past 6 months get relief from their moody gut issues like bloating, pain and irregularity!
4. Hot yoga 2x/week + daily gentle movement
Years ago some would have said I was a fitness freak… I love fitness. This is an area I’ve struggled with for a decade as I’ve been healing from chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromaylagia and other health issues. Right now hot yoga 2x/week seems to work really well for me and I want to include some gentle movement daily. The key for me is to avoid overdoing it because I get a little enthusiastic about fitness!
How to Begin Setting Your Own Health Goals
Now that you’ve seen mine, let’s set some goals for yourself!
Grab a notebook or open up a note on your phone. It’s important that you write them down to make them tangible.
First, picture what your ideal life looks like. You could write about areas of physical health, mental health, family, relationships, hobbies, etc.
Now write about what action steps you would need to take to become that person.
What does this ideal version of yourself do? How does she think? How does her body and digestive system feel? How does she spend her time? What does she prioritize?
Start by setting 1 goal in each main category:
Spiritual
Mental & Emotional
Physical
Spiritual goals could include setting aside a certain amount of time, at a specific time of day to do a specific task, such as reading a spiritual book or meditating.
Mental & Emotional goals could include implementing a mindfulness practice, scheduling in therapy sessions, journalling, reading a book, pausing to take a few deep breaths when you feel certain emotions rising up such as anger or frustration, etc.
Physical goals could include eating cleaner, cutting out sugar, drinking a certain amount of water each day, no alcohol, starting an exercise regimen, to begin working with a nutritionist or health professional, setting a bedtime for yourself, etc.
Start with 1 or 2 goals in each category this month, then consider building on them next month once you have these goals and habits automated.
Keep these simple to start and JUST START!
GET RELIEF from bloating, pain, food reactions, constipation and diarrhea in just 6 WEEKS!
I created the Gut Restore Program to not only give you the knowledge on how to eat to better your digestive health, but the SUPPORT and ACCOUNTABILITY to be able to develop healthy habits that stick!
With 1-on-1 video sessions, chat support between sessions, meal plans, goal trackers and more, you’ll be set up with all the tools you need for success!
Book your free call with me now to learn more and start taking action on your goals today so you can feel better tomorrow!
