Health for Highly Sensitive People

Hay House Radio Episode Recap

Episode Name: “Health for Highly Sensitive People”

Live Broadcast: February 1, 2016 at 3:00 pm Pacific Time

Special Guest: Dondi Dahlin – Author, Speaker and Energy Medicine and Five Elements Expert. She’s also the daughter of Energy Medicine leader, Donna Eden. Dondi joined Heather for her first show on January 4th, 2016 to discuss setting your New Year’s Health Goals! LearntheFiveElements.com | Facebook | Eden Energy Medicine

About Dondi

Dondi is the daughter of Donna Eden a leader in the field of Energy Medicine and founder of Eden Energy Medicine. Dondi has a diverse background, having grown up in the world of Energy Medicine and show business!

She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and won the titles of both “Belly Dancer of the Universe” and “Outstanding Speaker in the Nation.” She has performed in over 30 countries, and is one of the few American dancers to have had a successful career in the Middle East. She has even performed for celebrities, such as: Omar Sharif, Angie Dickinson, Peter Fonda, and Jimmy Buffet.

Dondi co-authored The Little Book of Energy Medicine with her mother, Donna. She also just finished her own book, The Five Elements, which will be released by Tarcher in 2016. She also created “The Wednesday Energy Minutes” which are 60-second clips based on Energy Medicine techniques and filmed at locations across the globe.

Dondi travels with her Mom, Donna Eden spreading Eden Energy Medicine and the Five Elements through international workshops, and she is a sought-after speaker and MC for conventions and conferences.

Episode Summary Re-cap

In today’s show, we talked about the special health and wellbeing concerns for those of you who are highly sensitive, intuitive or psychic. Have people told you that you’re too sensitive? Do you feel affected by the things and people around you? Do you feel anxious, depressed or overwhelmed over small things or for no overt reason? Do you pick up on people’s moods easily? Do you know things or feel things before they happen? Do you take a long time to make decisions? Are you finding that you have emotions or physical sensations so often that you wonder if there’s something wrong with you? These are some signs of highly sensitive people (HSPs).

How Common is it to be Highly Sensitive?

Dr. Elaine Aron, the author of the bestselling book, Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) estimates that 15-20% of people may be highly sensitive. If you are highly sensitive, your nervous system is more sensitive to the world around you. Your brain responds stronger to the signals sent by your sense organs. You may find yourself easily over stimulated or overwhelmed by stress that others are not as aware of.

Smart and Stressed

Most people have no idea about this, except that they may not feel comfortable in their own skin and others call them “too sensitive.” HSPs are intelligent, creative and often very accomplished, yet also easily overwhelmed and stressed.

Typical Characteristics of HSPs, Intuitives, Psychics, Empaths

Sensitive to moods or distress of people around you

Needs a lot of alone time – especially after a busy day or being around a lot of people

May overeat or use substances, like food or alcohol to dull senses

May be a people pleaser or perfectionist

Malls and large group events may be extra stressful

Tends to have difficulty making decisions

Feels overwhelmed or stressed more often than those around you

Feels things very deeply – may even feel like you take on energy, emotions and physical symptoms of those around you

Knows things before they happen

Becomes stressed when you have a lot to do in a short period of time

More sensitive to sensory input – perfumes, noise, lights, fabrics, etc.

Foods or toxins may trigger a stress response or symptom in you that others don’t seem to notice

Sensory overload – Sounds, visual stimuli and smells may really bother you

Things may feel off with no overt reason

Change may feel especially challenging

Vivid dreams

Health Symptoms of HSPs, Intuitives, Psychics, Empaths Could Include…

ADD, ADHD
Adrenal fatigue
Autoimmune conditions
Low thyroid
Weight gain
Cravings
Addictions
Migraines or headaches
Fibromyalgia
General malaise – feeling off
Hormone imbalances, PMS or peri-menopause symptoms
Insomnia
Chronic fatigue
Overwhelm, anxiety or chronic stress
Physical or emotional pain for no real reason (why do I feel this way?)
EMF sensitivity (electromagnetic fields)
Mood swings
Blood sugar challenges
Digestive issues – irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), constipation, diarrhea, nausea, indigestion, etc.
Allergies (food, environmental)
Asthma
Skin issues – eczema, psoriasis
Sensitivity to pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, caffeine, recreational drugs and other substances (your body may process these differently)

Nutritional Protocol for the Highly Sensitive Person

Keep a Food Diary For At Least 2 Weeks

Let’s learn about the foods that work for you and foods that trigger symptoms. While you may be able to correct food allergies with a targeted nutritional protocol, it can help to remove triggering foods at first, to allow your gut, brain and nervous system a chance to heal. The key with keeping a food diary is to pay attention to the food you are eating and how it affects you. As you remove foods that trigger you, watch for patterns in how you feel. The questions below can help guide you. Loving Yourself to Great Health has more tips for keeping a food diary, improving your diet and improving digestion.

How do you feel while eating?

How do you feel after eating?

What symptoms did you experience that day (and how soon after eating?)

How did you sleep?

What are your moods like?

What is your energy like? (Any times of day where you have more energy or more fatigue?)

How is your concentration?

Common Food Allergens/Triggers to Avoid

Sugar, processed sweeteners (like high fructose corn syrup) and artificial sweeteners (like NutraSweet, Splenda, Equal, etc.)

Gluten

Dairy

Corn

Processed foods

GMO foods (genetically modified)

MSG – excitotoxin and can create mind-body symptoms and cell death

Keep Your Blood Sugar Stable

Most highly sensitive people notice a drop in blood sugar when they feel a strong energetic hit. It is helpful to carry healthy snacks that have protein and a good fat, like nuts or seeds, a hard boiled egg or some animal protein. If you have fruit, you may want to pair it with some protein fat, like apple slices with almond butter. If your blood sugar drops, it becomes a body and brain stressor, inhibits decision-making and kills willpower. It’s very difficult to stay calm and grounded in this situation.

Include Whole Foods and Grounding Foods in Your Diet

(choose what works for your body)

Look for foods as close to nature as possible – these are most often found in the perimeter of the grocery store.

Plenty of raw or cooked green vegetables

Nuts, seeds and nut butters

Healthy unrefined fats – raw pastured butter, extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, borage oil, flax seed oil, hemp seed oil, pumpkin seed oil, etc. Look for words like: raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered, unrefined and cold pressed on labels.

Bone broth or vegetable broth – bone broth in particular can help the body recover from stress and the amino acids and minerals can help the body stay grounded. Louise Hay says bones are the structure of the universe. The collagen in bone broth is like glue and holds the body together. It’s a very grounding food for our blood sugar, moods, energy, immunity and hormones. See our recipe for a Grounding, Blood Sugar-Balancing Chai Elixir from The Bone Broth Secret.

Drink Pure Water

Tap water has toxins and additives that can be harmful for your body and HSPs may react more strongly to these chemicals and additives. Staying hydrated is very important and it’s especially helpful to drink the most pure water you can get your hands on. While the most pure option is to find a spring and use that water, here are some options that get high marks:

Multi-Pure – the top of the line Multi-Pure is a reverse osmosis with carbon block filter, but it’s also the priciest option. There are many other options in the Multi-Pure line that may also fit your budget.

Berkey – this is a high quality and more budget-friendly option.

Do your best – choose whatever fits your budget and start there! Here’s a great resource from The Environmental Working Group for choosing the water filter that meets your needs.

Make sure to add minerals back into your water. They help us deal with stress, among other important functions in the body. You know my favorite by now is Anderson’s Sea MD.

Energy Medicine Techniques to Help Calm and Ground HSPs

The Hookup – great for relieving stress and calming your central nervous system:

The Zip Up – protects you from negative energy of toxic people or a toxic environment:

Weaving Figure 8’s – Helps protect your aura, so that you create a healthy energetic boundary and create crossover patterns in cells so you can heal:

The Four Thumps – to gain more energy, think better, improve immunity and boost metabolism:

Set Healthy Boundaries!

When we don’t set healthy boundaries, our body can start to feel unsafe. Saying yes out of obligation, responsibility of fear of seeming selfish may not seem like a big deal, but over time, your body starts to think that it’s not okay or safe to get its needs met. You may even have a limiting belief that you have to meet everyone else’s needs before your own. This lifestyle of always doing for others rather than yourself can set the stage for unhealthy, permeable boundaries. As your lifestyle and beliefs reflect this, a chronic low level stress results.

When we begin to look at health issues, we can see the body playing out our lifestyle with issues like leaky gut (permeable boundary in the small intestine) and leaky brain (permeable protective boundary around the brain). In homeopathy, cancer is described as an issue of poor boundaries in the body, allowing toxic cells to take over.

One way to begin to recover is to check in with your body before saying yes to anything and asking, what is it I truly want (if I didn’t have to please anyone or be responsible)? Then say no when you truly want to say no. Your body will be so relieved that it will start to relax. This is one way to truly love yourself! You are telling yourself and your body that you matter and what you want and need matters. This is very healing.

Listen Again!

Hay House Wisdom Community Members can listen to this show again anytime, and you can download and podcast this and over 10,000 archived audios from your favorite authors.

Tune in Next Week

Tune in next week to Loving Yourself to Great Health, I’ll be talking about why your environment matters if you are highly sensitive, with best-selling Feng Shui author, Terah Kathryn Collins, founder of the Western School of Feng Shui.

JOIN ME EVERY TUESDAY AT 12PM PACIFIC

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Heather Dane

As a coach, writer and recovered former executive, I understand the challenges of creating a balanced, healthy lifestyle when over-scheduled. In my journey to radiant health, I created a whole health system of eating, exercise, renewal and recharging -- a roadmap toward health & vitality. I empower clients to create their own whole health systems, in their own unique ways. I have seen amazing results in working with my clients!