When I was young, I would always look down on emotions.

They were these pesky, uncontrollable little things that would cloud my logic.

• Anger would rob me of my peace

• Sadness would ruin my productivity

• Anxiety would prevent descent decisions

And so the fact I wasn’t very fond of them wasn’t very surprising.

Because of my disdain for emotions — I built my life around what would logically be the best one.

I worked on the things others told me to and I ate the diet with the most reasoning behind it.

But without realizing it, I had chose a life someone else prescribed for me

As a result, I was hammered by emotions left and right (and rightly so).

Anger to get me moving, sadness to pull me from the path I was walking. But I still refused to listen to them.

I kept telling myself they were only accidental. There was no logical reason for me to feel terrible — but why did I?

My life may have been fine on the surface, but I couldn’t do the only thing anyone ever wants — enjoy it.

But every now and again — I would get this gut feeling. A sense to quit what I was doing or to chase something new.

To go speak to a certain person, to quit my job or start a new project. And every time I listened to it — things always got better.

Like a compass pointing true north, my gut would always show me the most fulfilling way of life.

And even though it went against my whole idea of emotions — it always ended in a life more worth living.

For the longest time, I just couldn’t understand it.

What was the difference between that feeling pointing north and the emotional chaos rocking inside my head? And how could I tell the difference?

But after some time — I think I’ve discovered the answer (or at least one that’s practical).

A way to harness your intuition by using your biology.

Or in other words — how to heal your gut.

The Art Of Listening To Yourself

Your life is a mess because your emotions are.

The average person lives life in complete emotional chaos.

Because of this, he loses touch with his deeper sense of self. He can’t hear the quiet voice from within telling him where to go.

He becomes doomed to live a life by logic and chases the things he should want.

But as a result he builds himself into a life he despises.

When your mind is in constant emotional turmoil, you can’t really tell signal from noise. You’re pulled in so many different directions that you don’t know which way you really want to go.

Sadness pulls you right, anger pulls you left and your true desire gets lost somewhere in between. Your intuition and gut feeling blends into your emotional chaos.

As a result, you can’t do the things you really want — because you don’t know what they are. You become trapped following someone else’s path in life, because there really isn’t any alternative.

In a sense, you lose touch with who you are.

Because you’re never managing the chaos in your mind, you never see what emotions are showing you the way and which aren’t. And so the chaos in your mind appears in your life.

You start to slack on projects, put your health to the side and let pessimism dominate your life.

All because you couldn’t hear your deeper self screaming from within.

If you want to live a life you’ll actually enjoy — the only logical thing is to learn to listen to yourself.

To tell apart the flashes of anxiety from your deeper self showing you the way.

Because when your mind becomes clear and freed of the chaos, you can actually see the path that will be the most fulfilling to you.

You’re no longer held back by a million different emotions pulling you in every direction at once. And you can actually do the things you want in life.

And the easiest way to do that — is by eliminating the noise.

The Circuit That Runs Your life

Your emotions are a mess because your gut is.

Have you ever thought about what the term ”gut feeling” really means?

It comes from the fact that your gut and brain are connected. Your gut and brain connect through a set of neurons called “the gut brain axis”.

The majority of the communication is from your gut to your brain. And the quality of the messages depends on the health of your gut.

Because your gut isn’t only responsible for digesting food. It has a much more important job — keeping you sane.

• Your gut is responsible for 95% of your serotonin production (the well being chemical)

• Your gut protects you from pathogens and inflammation (brain fog & tiredness)

• Your gut keeps the balance in your mind by producing neuro-modulators (preventing mood swings)

What most people don’t realize, is that your gut microbiome is very sensitive to changes.

And when it’s disturbed, you don’t just feel it in your belly…

Your whole mind collapses:

• The neurological signals robs you of all your focus

• Inflammation in the gut wall appears as fatigue and brain fog

• The messed up production of neuro-modulator causes mood swings and emotional chaos

If you’ve ever eaten a bunch of junk food and felt like garbage afterwards — this is why. It’s why people with major depression disorder have messed up guts.

What I’m trying to get at is this: the source of your emotional chaos is your gut.

The reason you can’t feel your intuition is because the state your gut is in, is creating a storm out of your emotions.

It clouds your thoughts, feelings and sense of self. You get pulled in a million different directions and life becomes literal chaos.

So few people realize this, and suffer because of it.

They can’t see past the fog of emotions pulling on them, and so picking the right direction becomes a matter of chance.

And too often, they get stuck in an eternal cycle of staying the same (but we’ve already talked about this).

They think that their problems exists only in their minds, in their lives. They give up on their dreams because they’re hammered with hopelessness — when it just was a result of their stinky diet.

They aren’t aware of one simple fact:

You can’t listen to yourself, if ”yourself” is clouded in emotional chaos.

When your gut is screaming at you — you can’t tell signal from noise and lose touch with who you are and what you really want.

To listen to yourself and walk the path in life you want — you have to get your gut to start complaining.

You have to let it heal.

Cultivating Your Gut Feeling

To hear yourself, you have to cut out the noise.

The noise from the world around you, the noise from the endless distractions but most importantly — the noise from your belly.

When your gut is peaceful, chaotic emotions fade. And the ones left actually become useful.

You start to feel the pull of emotions in a certain direction. You can call it intuition but I like the term gut feeling (especially in this context).

When your mind isn’t clouded with emotional chaos caused by your gut, your emotions start having a purpose.

• The feelings of depression tells you that you’re not satisfied with something in your life

• The feelings of anger tells you there’s injustice you’re not taking care of

• The feelings of sadness tells you that you need to change what you do

You can actually use your emotions without having to fight them. They become your compass for life.

People tend to think of emotions as completely irrelevant. That you gut feeling is some wishy washy stuff you shouldn’t pay attention to. (And I was one of them).

But your gut feeling is really your subconscious.

It’s your subconscious mind making so complex calculations that your conscious mind can’t understand them. Because your conscious mind is only 1% of your mental capacity. The real supercomputer is your subconscious.

But the answer it presents to you, is not in the form of a how to guide — it’s a feeling.

This is why fixing your gut is so valuable. Because it allows you to actually see where your compass is pointing.

I’m not saying that every emotion you have with a healed gut will be intuition. Of course your mind plays a part in it. But don’t underestimate how much influence your physical health has on the mental side.

But to fix our guts, need to know what a healthy one actually is.

So here are some markers:

• You shouldn’t be farting all the time. Farting is not a normal thing, it’s your gut acting up because of your diet. Despite what many people want to brainwash themselves into.

• You shouldn’t have frequent mood swings. As we’ve already gone through, the brain and the gut are connected. A healthy gut is a stable mind.

• You should have a strong immune system. Your gut is intimately connected with your immune system. If you have a healthy gut, you shouldn’t catch the flu 2 times a week or always have a stuffy nose.

• Your mind should be clear. A messed up gut causes a lot of inflammation. And because it’s connected to your brain, the inflammation will appear as brain fog (although sleep deprivation can cause this too).

• Your trips to the bathroom should be pleasant. I don’t think this one needs too much explanation.

If you have any of these, chances are your gut need some work.

And even if you don’t, you should still care for your gut. Because you won’t know how good your health can be before it is.

The reason these markers are so subjective is because we have a very limited understanding of a healthy gut.

Despite what people will tell you, we don’t know which bacteria are healthy and which aren’t. Because it’s the combination of trillions of them that create the effect in our lives.

The best metric we have is biodiversity — or how many different species of bacteria you have. In other words, because we don’t know which bacteria are ”good”, ”good” becomes the amount of different bacteria you have in your gut.

This becomes important when we want to create a method for supercharging them.

But before we dive into the actionable part — you need to understand some biology.

The Gut Wall

The lining of your gut is made out of a cell layer called ”epithelium”.

These cells are responsible for letting nutrients pass through and into the blood stream (while keeping everything else out).

The function of these cells are essential for your gut to work. If they would let other particles than nutrients through, your body would be a mess. You would be filled with inflammation, autoimmune diseases, brain fog and all other sorts of troubles.

When this happens, it creates a condition called ”leaky gut”. Because things ”leak” through the epithelium and into your blood.

The Gut Microbiome

You are a landlord.

The tenants are all the bacteria in your stomach.

And they pay their rent with dividends:

• They break down food, promoting nutrient absorption

• They create neurotransmitters like serotonin, keeping you sane

• They protect your epithelium from harmful pathogens, preventing inflammation

But the gut is much larger than most people think. It stretches from your mouth, all the way down to your back end. The bacteria in your mouth are as much part of your gut as the ones deep within your belly.

(This will be very useful when we get into the practical).

When you’re eating, you not only feed yourself. You feed the bacteria in your stomach. And certain food will promote a certain bacteria. If you eat a lot of sugar, you feed bacteria responsible for breaking down sugar and hence — change your microbiome.

The problem is that our body have evolved to a certain microbiome. This allows the bacteria to live within us without our immune system attacking them. But were the microbiome to chance, so would our immune response.

When your gut microbiome changes in a negative way, it’s called dysbiosis, which is just another word for — a messed up gut microbiome.

And it causes all kinds of troubles such as mood swings, inflammations, autoimmune diseases, IBS etc. Which isn’t something we want if our goal is to harness our gut feeling.

The goal is to create an ideal environment for the tenants in our stomachs.

Which we’ll get into soon.

Congratulations, you’re now 2% closer to becoming a professional biologist.

But now, let’s dive into the methods!

Strengthening Your Defenses

I want you to think of your gut wall as a fortress.

It is constantly attacked by other clans, bandits and crusaders.

But before we launch a counter attack, the first step is to up our defenses.

Here are 3 simple but very effective solutions:

1. Olive oil

Every time you eat, you create damage to your gut lining.

Even though the damage isn’t that serious, in the long term this can lead to leaky gut, inflammation and a very tough existence. Which we don’t want.

However, a study found that extra virgin olive oil tinkers with the cell pathways of your epithelium and reduces oxidative stress. In more plain language, it protects your gut cells from taking unnecessary damage.

By adding a tablespoon of olive oil to your meals, you’re protecting the cells responsible for everything about your life. (Not an exaggeration)

Which is something we want.

2. Fermented foods

To strengthen your gut defense, you have to give it with what it needs.

In this case, short chain fatty acids (SCFA). These are the fuel and building blocks of your epithelium. Several studies have shown that by getting more of these as a result of your diet, you’re strengthening your epithelium and preventing things like leaky gut.

You can think of these as the building blocks of your fortress.

Some of them include:

• Acetate

• Butyrate

• Propionate

There are 2 main ways of getting these.

Fermented foods:

Butyrate and other SCFA are by-products of the fermentation process in food.

Logically, by eating fermented foods, we get these beneficial building blocks. But the kinds of food matter.

The gold standard is most likely fermented raw dairy. It prevents the loss of the beneficial protein structure that disappears in the pasteurization process. It also keeps a lot of the beneficial bacteria found in the milk.

But getting access to raw milk can be quite the challenge.

In that case, look for high quality pickles, raw cheeses or even pasteurized fermented dairy like kefir.

Manipulating your gut microbiome:

By feeding your microbiome certain foods, you can get the bacteria to produce these SCFA as a result.

This is why the WHO loves to preach about the importance of fiber.

When you eat fiber, your gut microbiota produces SCFA and creates a layer called ”mucus” over your cell wall, protecting it from damage.

I’m a little skeptical about how much fiber you actually need, but I think it’s at least important to mention.

3. Choline

This is one of those non optional things about diet.

Choline is essential for brain function, fertility, cell integrity and especially your gut health.

It increases the strength of your epithelium by contributing to the production of phospholipids. Which are the building blocks of your cell membranes.

The stronger they are, the more integrity the cells have. And the more integrity the cells have, the less susceptible they are to damage. When the cells that make up the lining of your gut becomes stronger, you prevent leaky gut, inflammation and emotional chaos.

Which is very beneficial for living life :)

Here are the best sources:

• Eggs

• Organs

• Red meat

Aim to get 550 mg of choline a day. This could be in the form of 11 eggs. 1kg of ground beef, or 150 grams of liver. Or you could just mix and match.

You can get choline through plant foods, but it’s often not very bioavailable (and you would have to eat A LOT)

Meat, organs and dairy is your best bet.

Taking Care Of Your Tenants (And Riling Up Your Army)

The tenants in your stomach does so many life inducing things that it’s only natural you return the favor.

In other words, it’s only natural you create the best environment possible.

Your gut microbiome also works as a defense against pathogens from the outside world. By giving them what they need you’re also making them fit for battle.

They are the guards of the your biological fortress if you will.

Here are some ways to go about doing this:

1. The Mouth Microbiome

People are so obsessed with the gut microbiome, they forget the mouth is a part of it.

You are always breeding bacteria in your mouth. This can be detrimental for your teeth but beneficial for your gut. The key is to get the beneficial bacteria down in your gut and clean your mouth from the detrimental ones.

This is how: Directly after waking and before going to bed: take a sip of water, swish it around your mouth and swallow. This will transport the beneficial bacteria down to your gut and increase your biodiversity.

Which is as you may remember — a good thing.

Another quick point is to brush your teeth AND FLOSS. This prevents bacterial overgrowth and breeds a more diverse set of bacteria. It also gives you a nice and healthy smile.

”But flossing takes time”.

So does living life with a chaotic mind and a compromised immune system.

Put on a podcast and get your teeth as clean as you can.

2. Sunlight

I’m always stunned by the amount of positive effects sunlight has on your health.

In the case of gut health, sunlight has been found to increase the alpha diversity in your gut. Even thought it could be because of the increase in vitamin D — it still shows the importance of getting out in the sun.

Do some sun salutations — it will do you good.

3. Nature

According to science (my favorite phrase), biodiverse soil increases butyrate producing bacteria in your gut. Which you may remember is a SCFA crucial for your gut lining.

In other words, breathing forest air improves your gut microbiome.

Here is some inspiration:

• Get out everyday and take a walk through some trees

• Buy a bunch of indoor plants (and take care of them)

• Go on longer hike sin nature every once in a while

4. Choline

I wouldn’t include it twice without a good reason.

A very interesting study found that choline supplementation caused the pathway activation in gut microbiota that increased the creation of steroid hormones such as testosterone or DHT.

You’re essentially fixing the code that runs your body and life (as we talked about in ”you are the programmer of yourself”).

It also increases the breakdown of environmental pollution — making your bacteria fit for battle.

Know thy enemy

Just as there are things that will improve your gut and microbiome…

There are thing that will do the opposite:

1. Processed sugar - When your gut microbiota ferments these sugars, they create a lot of nasty by products like ethanol acetaldehyde, and hydrogen sulfide which causes damage to your epithelium. When you’re eating a lot of processed sugar, you’re also over feeding certain bacteria and causing dysbiosis.

2. Seed oils - These little rascals cause damage to your epithelium, destroys the metabolism of your microbiome (causing emotional chaos), causes whole body inflammation and messes up your immune system. I go more in depth in the letter “how to lose fat without trying”

3. Spices - Strong spices like chili pepper damage the tight gap junctions in your gut which causes leaky gut.

4. Artificial sweeteners - Cause leaky gut, low grade inflammation, disrupts the gut microbiome and messes up the gut wall. Use real sugar like honey, fruit and berries.

5. Stress - Because the gut and brain are connected, what influences the brain will also influence the gut. This is especially the case with chronic stress. It causes dysbiosis, leaky gut and also negatively impacts the metabolism of your gut microbiota. Read this letter if you want to learn how to manage stress and anxiety

6. Gluten - Everyone is gluten intolerant, just to different degrees. It is composed of carbohydrate binding lectins that are well known to open tight junctions => leaky gut = not good.

Seeing Through The fog

When your gut actually works, you can begin to hear your intuition.

You start to actually notice your gut feeling.

By strengthening your defenses, riling up the army in your gut and avoiding the enemies, you master the gut brain axis. You create tan environment where your mind can actually function.

You’re no longer pulled in a million directions or being forced to follow someone else’s path in life.

What you want and who you are becomes clear. And even if it doesn’t, it’s still a lot clearer than before.

When you fix your gut — you can actually trust it.

Thank you for spending your valuable time.

Press the button down below to not miss out on future letters and I’ll see you in the next one!

I have no idea how to end this…

-Simon