When Your Body Speaks (And You Don’t Yet Understand the Language)

For a long time, I thought I was doing just fine, thriving even.

I was getting everything done, taking care of my large family, keeping up with the house, cooking meals, and showing up where I needed to be, mostly on time. From the outside, it looked like a fully functioning, productive life.

But underneath it all, my body was trying to get my attention.

I just didn’t understand what it was saying, or perhaps it’s better to say I didn’t know my body COULD or WOULD speak to me. 

Searching for a good analogy to describe how this felt, I thought about The Borrowers, a book that captured my imagination when I was in middle school. In the story, the Clock family (Pod, Homily, and Arrietty) were tiny people, only a few inches tall, and they lived quietly inside the walls of a home, borrowing items to survive. As the owner of the home, Mrs. May noticed missing sugar cubes, vanished pins, and misplaced trinkets. She never imagined an entire family was living unseen within her walls. Why would she? It was completely outside her realm of understanding.

That’s exactly how it was with my body. The signals were there—but I could not see what was going on inside. My body was whispering, trying to get my attention in tiny, persistent ways, and I just kept carrying on, blind and deaf to the evidence and clues all around me.

What sort of evidence? What clues?

Well, I was always cold, so I lived in the remarkably sexy outfit of sweats and big ol’ sweatshirt.

Whenever Russ grabbed my hands, he was always a bit shocked by the iciness of them, so he always rubbed them with his, trying to get some blood flowing.

I took nightly baths in the hottest water I could stand, just to increase my core temperature a few degrees.  

My hair fell out quietly and constantly. I love to cook, and I always had my hair pulled back, but somehow it still ended up in the food—and turns out, my kids don’t love the taste of hair. 

After meals, my tummy would bloat, and I would feel about five months pregnant. It was surreal.

There was also the sinus pressure that felt like a headache on my face, and the brain fog that made me forget why I walked into a room.

As the years passed, I also had persistent joint pain, always on the right side of my body. Sometimes the pain was in my fingers, sometimes in my elbow, other times it was my knee. My body HURT.

I’d love to be sitting down with you right now, steaming cups of coffee in front of us. I’d love to hear about your journey. Because if you’re still reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve lived with some discomfort or pain that you slowly came to accept as just part of who you are.

But what if it’s not?

What if your body has been trying to get your attention all along?

It’s a surprising thought—that your body might actually be communicating with you.

When I look back on my own journey, I can see how I missed that at first. Like so many women, I knew I had low thyroid, but I didn’t yet understand what that really meant. When I learned it was an autoimmune condition, it felt overwhelming, and then, unexpectedly, it felt like relief.

Because finally, there was a reason.

But even more than that, something began to shift.

I began to see that my body wasn’t being dramatic, or difficult, or random. It was communicating! It was kindly sharing information with me consistently, specifically, and with far more wisdom than I had been giving it credit for.

I thought I had been breaking down. Actually, every symptom was my body speaking up.

The bloating wasn’t just “my normal.”
The fatigue wasn’t just about being a mom.
The pain wasn’t just about aging.

It was evidence. Insight. Data. Clues.

So instead of brushing it off, I started paying attention.

I began to notice patterns—what I ate, how I felt afterward, what made things worse, and what made things better.

And slowly, over time, I saw that the aches, the inflammation, the fogginess…they weren’t random at all. They were directly connected to the foods I was eating.

Oh my stars.

Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.

So I started making changes—not all at once, and not perfectly—but intentionally.

I removed foods that consistently made me feel unwell, like gluten and excess sugar, and I began choosing foods that supported healing—real, whole foods that came from the ground or from an animal.

And my body responded.

The symptoms I had lived with for years began to disappear.

My hair stopped falling out.
The bloating went away.
My joints became pain free.
My brain fog lifted. I got my zest back.

And perhaps one of the most surprising things of all—I became HOT! Ha. My core temperature increased. I didn’t need to walk around in layers.

I also sleep through the night and wake rested, ready for whatever God has in store for me. I feel like Lori again—the version of me I was created to be, the one who is no longer merely surviving, but TRULY thriving.

There are foods I choose not to eat anymore, not because I “can’t,” but because I know how they make me feel. And the most unexpected part of this whole journey is that I don’t miss them.

I don’t feel deprived.

I feel free.

Hashimoto’s didn’t take something from me. In a very real way, it gave me something I didn’t have before—awareness, clarity, and a deep understanding of how to care for my body.

It taught me how to listen.  

So if you’re reading this and something is stirring in you—if you’ve been dealing with symptoms that you’ve brushed off or explained away, take it from me. Your able-to-heal-itself body is not quiet. It speaks. 

Pay attention to how you feel after you eat. Not just in the moments after, but thirty minutes after. Three hours after. Notice your energy, your sleep, your mood. Write things down if that helps you see it more clearly. 

You don’t have to overhaul your entire life overnight. But once you start seeing this little “family of clues” within yourself, you can start to make changes. Not sure what to eat? Here’s a free meal guide to help you get started. And your body WILL respond. It’s the most liberating, gorgeous process.

Now, that might be enough for you; you might be able to set your course and go on your merry way. But if you’re wondering what to do next, I want you to know this: I truly love this process. I love helping people understand how to improve their health via what they eat.

in the fall of 2024, after deep prayer, I knew I was being called to share this hard-earned knowledge with others. I knew I was to spend this next stage of my life walking with others in the realm of health and fitness.

Becoming a wellness coach with The FASTer Way to Fat Loss has been such a gift. It’s given me powerful, practical tools that support real change. Just this week, a newer client of mine, Gary, told me that after decades in the health and fitness world, he’s never seen a program like this—where everything that actually works is brought together in one place.

And honestly, I agree. It’s pretty incredible.

So if you feel that nudge; if you’re ready to start really honing in on your body’s signals, I would be honored to walk with you in that process.

When your body and your choices begin to line up, everything changes. And I mean everything. It’s glorious. 

My next six-week round starts March 9. Spots are limited so I can fully support each person inside my group coaching. 👉 Find out more here.

P.S. If you want to understand how it all works before deciding, I recorded a short video that explains the core pillars. 🎥You can watch that here.