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Your gut does more than just digest food. It influences your emotions, your energy and even how you make decisions. So, what if your Human Design could offer insights into how to optimize your gut health and in turn, your overall well-being?

Welcome to The Live FAB Life Podcast. I'm your host, Naomi Nakamura, and today, we’re chatting about two things that I’ve spent a lot of time nerding out on – gut health and Human Design!

Gut health has been one of the specialty areas in my health coaching work – that and blood sugar regulation; and then as you know, expanded to Human Design. So, you can imagine how excited I am to bring these things together!

So, this is how our conversation is going to flow.

First, we're going to talk about why gut health is foundational and is the basis for your energy and resilience.

Then we're going to connect how Human Design relates to gut health.

And then we're going to get specific and talk about actionable steps that you can take today to align your digestion with your own design.

Sounds good? Okay let’s dive in!

A balanced gut isn't just about digestion. It's about resilience and how you show up in the world.

You may have heard the gut referred to as “your second brain.” and in fact, your gut and your brain are connected. They're connected through your Vagus nerve, which is the largest nerve in your body. This connection is the direct correlation between managing your stress and emotions, and if you think about it, how you make decisions. And how you make decisions truly is the basis for how you take care of yourself every day.

The connection between your gut and your brain is called the “gut-brain” axis. Think about a time when you felt nervous or unsure about a decision you made – you might have felt butterflies in your belly. That’s a gut-brain connection.

This connection is intricate and impactful, and this is why having optimal health is essential to your mental and emotional and your overall health; it stabilizes your energy. And when your energy is stable, you have clarity and when you have clarity, you’re mentally focused.

When gut health is poor, it affects so many other functions because your digestive system is connected to all of the other systems in your body,

It impacts your endocrine system which means it impacts hormone regulation--whether your hormones are balanced or not, which is a prominent concern especially for women. If your thyroid hormones are imbalanced, you likely have other hormones imbalanced too, like your adrenals.

Poor gut health impacts your immune system, because part of your immune system is in your digestive system, and your immune system is how you're able to fight off sickness and disease. So, poor gut health could make you more susceptible to illness.

Poor gut health also impacts your emotional balance, so, this is what is meant when you hear people say that “everything is connected”, because your body is not -- your endocrine system is here, your immune system is there, your cardiovascular system here, your urinary system is there.

Your body is one full system and to be healthy means to have all of its systems working well, each pulling its own weight and working together. Because when one system is dysfunctional, then the system's areas are going to have to somehow go into overdrive to compensate for it.

This is why it’s important to take a “whole-istic” approach to your health. You’re a whole being with one body and it should be treated whole, just as your physical health, mental health and emotional health is just your health. We can’t segment these things because they are intricately connected. And at the center of it all of that is your digestive system, i.e., your gut health.

It’s been gratifying to see gut health become more widely talked about. There’s commercials on TV about it, more people talking about it on social media, but it’s also become somewhat of a buzzword, because how many people actually know what the digestive system is--it's not just your belly. And more importantly, how many people understand how the digestive system works, or is supposed to work?

What does good gut health actually look like? This is what I cover in my Digestion 101 program.

Now, does Human Design connect to gut health?

Human Design Digestion is really what piqued my interest in Human Design. It’s what made me want to learn more beyond just my own design, and my program, Digestion 101, bridges digestion and Human Design Digestion together. Now, all of that said, Human Design Digestion is found in the Variables, specifically your Determination, along with the other parts of your Variables--your Cognition, your Environment, all those things as they work together.

However, that’s not what we're going to talk about today, because just like the analogy of “having to walk before you can run”, the Variables are Advanced Human Design, and if you skip to the advanced topics because mastering the basics, you won’t be able to reap the full benefits of it because your foundation isn’t solid.

Think of it this way--you might perceive yourself to be super healthy with an advanced knowledge of health, so you focus on trying to bio-hack your health--trying to find the “secret sauce”, or the latest products and tools.

You might be engrossed in supplements, lab tests, or the latest wellness trends, but….and I say this from the POV that at one time this was me—like the time I was obsessed with figuring out if I had MTHFR--but the reality is that all of these things—bio-hacks, supplements, wellness gadgets will only take you so far, because if you're not tending to the core basics - hydrating, eating nutrient-filled meals, sleeping well, moving your body regularly, then none of those things will have even have half the impact that you’re hoping it will.

When I was marathon training, I would do some sort of workout seven days a week, sometimes doing two-a-days. I was obsessed with what I ate to make sure that it was fueling my next workout, and, on the surface, it seemed that I was at peak-health. But really, I wasn’t sleeping and what sleep I was getting wasn’t restful, my digestive system was a hot mess, and I was overtrained and completely burnt out.

I wasn't prioritizing ALL of the core basics which left me with a shaky foundation and all the biohacking that I was experimenting with wasn’t as effective as I hoped they would be.

When I was going through nutrition school, much of the curriculum was focused on the core basics. But being the arrogant person that I was at that time, I thought, “Wow, this is so basic. I already know this stuff, I want to learn more advanced stuff.”

But here's the thing, yes, the core basics are, well, basic, and yes, we all know that we should be hydrating, moving our bodies, eating nutritious meals, sleeping, but how many of us are focused on all of these things, prioritizing them and practicing them every day?

It’s likely that we go through ebbs and flows, which is normal. That’s life and we’re human. If you listened to my last episode, Episode 300, I shared a personal update, that I recently was diagnosed with hypertension. When I learned that I had high blood pressure, my first reaction was, “How can this be?!”

Well, when I took a step back and reflected on my core basics, I realized that I was essentially dehydrated, drinking maybe 32 oz a day. And honestly it was because once I sat down at my desk, I couldn’t be bothered to get up, walk to the kitchen and refill my water bottle. Seriously!

So, I downloaded an app specifically to track how much water I drink—and surprisingly, there are quite a few apps to choose from! The first few months I was obsessed with hitting my goal every day. But after a while, I’d be out and about and not able to refill my water bottle and I could see how easy it is to fall out of the habit, but since I had been focused on it, it was something that I had more awareness of and could course correct.

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent, but the silver lining of finding out that I had high blood pressure was revisiting my core basics.

Are my meals balanced? Am I eating enough fiber? Am I sufficiently hydrated? Am I moving my body with intentionality?

So, this has been a long, roundabout way of making the same point with the Human Design Variables.

The Variables are fascinating and there’s so much curiosity about them—I mean, my episode on Human Design Motivation, one of the Variables--Is by far my most listened to episode and the show notes for that episode has gotten far more hits than any other page on my website.

It’s a sexy topic, I get it, but, if you don't know the basics of your Human Design--and not just know them, but put them into practice daily, you're not going to fully grasp the variables.

So, I want to go back to the basics and look at some of the core basics in Human Design—the fundamentals and how they’re connected to your gut health.

First, consider the role of your Strategy and Authority in supporting your gut health. You might be rolling your eyes right now, because, of course, we all know our Strategy and Authority, but hear me out.

I'm a Projector, so my Strategy is to Wait for Invitations, and I have a Splenic Authority. However, if we think about gut health, poor gut health can be attributed to stress, and we experience many different forms of stress.

Dehydration is a form of stress, a lack of nutrients is a form of stress, not moving your body or moving it too much are forms of stress.

Mental stress, emotional stress, physical stress – stress is stress. Your body doesn’t differentiate, the hormonal response is the same.

Following your Strategy and Authority reduces stress, and, indirectly, improves your digestion, because not following them results in unnecessary adversity. Opportunities don’t come and doors feel shut. Life may have you feeling like you’re a salmon swimming upstream. Everything is a constant push, a battle, it feels like you’re always fighting a fight. Whereas when you follow your Strategy, you create opportunities for yourself--doors open and you move in flow.

So, I’m a Projector and my Strategy is to Wait for Invitations. We all know what not waiting for invitations looks like. It’s unsolicited advice that’s neither welcomed nor followed because it wasn’t asked for, which then leaves me, the Projector feeling bitter, which is Projector sign of not being in alignment.

That bitterness results in feelings of resentment, inadequacy, not being seen, feeling like my voice isn’t being heard, which all has physical impacts on my body.

Not following your Authority looks like making poor choices and/or poorly timed choices which can create a whole different set of challenges all on its own. More forms of stress because your nervous system is sent into fight or flight mode.

So, not following your Strategy and Authority creates stress and tension in your life, and since your body doesn’t differentiate what kinds of stress it’s under, the hormonal response is all the same and has a domino effect.

Your adrenal glands (where stress hormones are produced), affect your thyroid gland which is the master gland in your body because it touches so many different functions which leads to impacting something else and so on and so on.

Your Strategy is how you communicate and interact with others, while your Authority is how you make aligned decisions, so when you and when you're following them both, you’re creating a safe place because you’re reducing the possibilities of resistance. And in turn, you’re optimizing your digestive function.

Think of it this way--there's so many stressors that you’re exposed to, some that are internally created, and some from external sources that you have no direct control over, things like what’s in the news, on social media and what’s going on in the world; things like pollution and harmful ingredients in personal care products that we use on our bodies—topics that I’ve touched on in various episodes over the years.

All stressors impact your well-being on various levels and your Human Design is absolutely connected into them and while you may not have control over some of these things, you do have control how you act and respond.

Beyond your Strategy and Authority, are your energy centers.

The Solar Plexus Center, the center of emotions, influences your digestion, because your emotions are how you process your life experiences. Thinking about how you process and respond to things, are you being influenced by other people's emotions, or perhaps you’re not understanding your emotional waves, if you have a Defined Solar Plexus Center. So, if you don't know how to process your emotions, that’s a stressor on your mental health, and remember the gut-brain connection?

Your Sacral Center is the center of your lifeforce energy and how you sustain life every single day. As a Projector, I have an Undefined Sacral Center which means I don’t have consistent access to Sacral energy. Yet, thanks to societal conditioning, for much of my life I thought that I was the Energizer Bunny, or at least that’s how I was “supposed to be” and I really did try to be. Instead, I overtrained and burnt myself into exhaustion, which just left my gut health a hot mess.

And then, is your Root Center, which is the center of drive and motivation. It’s also a pressure center and it’s embodied by the adrenals. The adrenals are where stress hormones are produced. Pressure, adrenaline, cortisol – the stress hormone? Need I say more on how the Root Center impacts your gut health?

When you align your life to your Human Design, you’re honoring your body's natural rhythm, and when you honor your body's natural rhythm. You’re removing unnecessary adversities and challenges, and ultimately, supporting your digestion and gut health.

So, I always want to share practical tips with you on how to put these things into action so let’s talk about how to support your gut health.

First, keep your blood sugar balanced. As I shared at the start of the episode, the two areas I specialize in as a health coach are blood sugar regulation and digestion – two things that go hand-in-hand.

For a long time I thought only people with diabetes had to worry about blood sugar regulation, but if you look at the commonalities of people who suffer from chronic illnesses, blood sugar dysregulation is a commonality that many share. So, keep your blood sugar balanced by making sure that your meals have protein, fat, and fiber aka “PFF.”

Different foods work for different people and we each have different ways of eating and personal preferences. This is what the principle of bio-individuality is about—the belief that we are all unique, and what Human Design affirms. So, choose to fill your plate with foods that you enjoy but make sure it’s a healthy mix of protein, fat and fiber.

Be mindful in how you choose to feed and nourish yourself. To do this in mindful alignment means to follow your Authority, which is your unique way of making decisions—decisions made by following your unique intuition which can also be applied to how you choose to feed yourself which directly impacts your blood sugar and digestion.

Another critical piece to gut health is being able to activate your parasympathetic system, i.e., being in a “rest and digest” state which is important for everyone, not just Projectors, Reflectors or Manifestors (those with Undefined Sacral Centers).

Rest is essential for everyone to prioritize sleep. So many critical functions that happen when you.

Your brain processes memories, your liver goes to work allowing your natural detoxification process to happen.

This episode is airing towards the end of the year and very soon, if not already, going to see a lot of “New Year, New You” types of content including “holiday detoxes” but simply by sleeping, and allowing your body and brain to rest and your natural detoxification process to take place can do wonders and something that, let’s be honest, many people simply don’t allow to happen.

I've done several episodes on sleep that I'll link to in the show notes, but energy alignment isn’t just a spiritual, intangible thing – sleep is a huge part of it and transcends all Human Design Types, because it’s critical for everyone.

Speaking of Human Design Types, in addition to everything I’ve shared thus far, there’s also some specific strategies for each Type.

If you’re a Generator or Manifesting Generator, eat regularly, meaning that you’re moving around a lot and have a lot of lifeforce energy to burn so keep yourself sufficiently fueled and make sure that you’re using all of your energy because unused energy can disrupt your sleep which can look like tossing and turning at night from pent up energy.

If you're a Projector, you’re not moving around as rigorously as a Generator or Manifesting Generator might so lighter and smaller meals might be a better option for you so as not to overload your digestive system.

Digestion requires the most energy of any other process in your body because it requires a lot of energy to digest what you eat, which is another reason you want to be mindful in what you feed it.

Mindless eating, overeating – these patterns can overburden your digestive system contributing to your fatigue and exhaustion.

Manifestors, trust your impulses, especially when it comes to how you time your meals—follow your Authority here.

Reflectors, because you’re so sensitive to your environments, pay attention to how your environment impacts your digestion. How do they impact your stress levels?

There are no “one-size-fits-all” solutions for anything, especially gut health and your Human Design gives you a roadmap on what your solution is for you. This is bio-individuality.

Personally, my Human Design supports my gut health by teaching me to let go of rigid rules and societal influences and allow myself to follow my intuition, my Splenic Authority, to make aligned decisions that are correct for me.

Instead of eating what breakfast food “should” be and eating at the “appropriate” or traditional mealtimes, I’ll eat what I feel my body needs in the moment and when it’s in the mood for it.

I'm recording this episode in early December, shortly after Thanksgiving, and I have all these leftovers in my kitchen including the three pies that I took to my Thanksgiving gathering. Of the three pies, I think there were only four pieces in total that were eaten so I have three leftover pies in my fridge.

I can practically feel my blood sugar skyrocketing just thinking about having to eat all of them, yet I feel pressured to do so because I don’t want to be wasteful. I can almost hear my mother admonishing me to finish my plate and not let food go to waste.

But let’s get real – I’m not going to eat three pies, so, sorry not sorry, but I ate a few pieces and all the crust, then threw them away. So, follow your Authority including in guiding you how and when to nourish and feed yourself.

Follow your Authority when deciding what or how to workout too.

When I trained for marathons, I was always on a training plan, and no matter how sore, exhausted or poorly I was feeling, I pushed myself to follow my training plan—no matter what and that led to overtraining and really poor gut health. And then the domino effect led to a host of other health challenges, including mental stress.

It took a lot of reframing, but now I wake up every morning and ask myself, “What does my body need today? What is the best way for me to move my body today?”

While I go to bed with penciled in ideas for the next day’s workout, when I follow my Splenic Authority to guide me to what I need in the moment. It might be a more intense workout or a recovery day instead, and my gut health is all the better for it.

So, the key points I’d love for you to take from this episode is:

1. Understanding that your gut health is the foundation for all health. It’s foundational to your energy, emotions and resilience
2. Aligning to your Human Design creates harmony between your mind, body and energetics
3. Practice self-observation with non-judgement and take care of the core basics of health, allowing for small shifts with grace for yourself

I don’t just talk about these things, but I practice them myself. One thing that I started doing this year, that is classic 3rd Line energy, is 30-day challenges to help me adopt different habits. One of them was challenging myself to drink 100 ounces of water a day. So, I downloaded that little app to track my progress throughout the day. I have a 32 oz water bottle, so I figured that with my morning smoothie that I have every day for breakfast, if I drank three of my water bottles—one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evenings, I’d hit my target. All it would take is getting up from my desk, walking into my kitchen and refilling my water bottle. I set a 30-day challenge to see if I could stick to this for a month. And guess what—I did it and now, it’s a habit. In fact, I’m not even sure how I got away with drinking significantly less water before this. I now had the differentiation (something I’ve discussed in recent episodes) of knowing what it feels like to be hydrated versus dehydrated—how good I feel hydrated and how poorly I feel when I’m dehydrated.

Little steps can have huge impacts. So, now, the next steps are up to you. Think about how your digestion and energy levels have felt lately.

If it’s less than optimal and you want to learn more, I recommend taking my “Healthy by Human Design” program. It's free and the first program that I recommend of my suite of self-study programs.

Not only does it go into more depth on bridging your Human Design and your health, but I’ve also included handouts that will help you get to know your Human Design better, and how to correlate between what you're eating, with how you're feeling, and how your body's functioning, which is foundational to starting to take care of your gut health.

I’ll have a link to the program in the show notes for this Episode which you’ll find at www.livefablife.com/301 for Episode 301.

If you want to learn more about Human Design and blood sugar balance, check out my “Eating for Energy” program.

Then, if you want to understand how to bridge the gap between your digestion and your Human Design Digestion, check out “Digestion 101”, my program on that. All will be linked in the show notes.

When you honor your gut and align with your Human Design, you're taking a step forward toward health and resilience.

Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you right back here again next time. Bye for now!