You eat the salad. You take the supplements. You do everything you're supposed to do, and you're still bloated, still tired, still not feeling like yourself.
Dr. Meg Mill, a Doctor of Clinical Pharmacy and functional medicine practitioner, says the missing piece often isn't what's on your plate. It's the state your body is in when you eat it, and the thoughts running in the background that keep telling your body it's in danger.
This is for you if you've been thinking:
I eat pretty healthy, but I still feel bloated after most meals.
I usually eat standing at the counter, in the car, or at my desk while I work.
I take a lot of supplements and I'm not sure they're actually doing anything.
My wearable says I'm stressed even when I don't feel stressed.
I'm kind to everyone else, but the way I talk to myself is pretty harsh.
I've seen a lot of practitioners and no one is looking at the whole picture.
I want to know if stress can actually affect how well I digest my food.
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Digestion Starts in Your Brain
Most people know Pavlov for his dogs and the bell. Fewer know that he won the 1904 Nobel Prize for his research on the physiology of digestion. The conditioned response came out of that work, but his bigger contribution was showing that digestion doesn't start in your stomach. It starts in your brain.
Researchers call this the cephalic phase of digestion: as you see, smell, and anticipate food, your brain starts signaling your digestive system to get ready. That means your mental state at the moment you sit down to eat is part of digestion, not separate from it.
Why Stress Shuts Down Digestion
Your autonomic nervous system runs the things you don’t have to think about, like your heart rate, digestion and, most of the time, your breathing. Two of its branches work like a balancing act. The sympathetic side drives fight or flight, built to keep you alive when there’s a threat. The parasympathetic side supports rest and digest. A third branch, the enteric nervous system, lives in your gut and manages digestion itself, taking cues from the other two.
Meg explains that in rest and digest, your body gets the signal to release digestive enzymes from the pancreas, bile from the gallbladder, and stomach acid, and to move food through your system.
When you're in fight or flight, your body pulls resources away from digestion and sends them elsewhere, like your limbs so you can run. The problem is that your stress response doesn't have a setting for "full inbox." It can't tell the difference between a lion chasing you and the running thoughts of "I'm late, I have a million things to do, I'm not good enough."
If those thoughts are on repeat, your body can spend a lot of time in a state that doesn't prioritize digesting your food. And you might not even feel stressed. Many people notice on their wearables that their body shows signs of stress during stretches when they felt fine.
Why Doing Everything Right Might Not Be Adding Up
Meg describes this as upstream versus downstream. Downstream, you might be eating the perfect plate and taking well-chosen supplements. But if your body can't digest and absorb what you're eating, you're not getting the full benefit.
She uses hormones as an example. A woman in perimenopause with symptoms that look like estrogen dominance may be given a supplement to help clear estrogen. If it doesn't work, Meg's approach is to go upstream: Is she eliminating well, or is she constipated? Is she digesting and absorbing the nutrients her body needs to make hormones? And is her body getting the signal that it's safe to do all of that? In her view, many women aren't failing because they're doing the wrong things, but because they're skipping the foundation.
How Your Thoughts Keep Your Body on High Alert
Meg's starting point is simple: notice how much chatter is going on in your head. Most of us are endlessly supportive of our friends and much harder on ourselves. If someone else spoke to you the way you speak to yourself, you'd feel threatened, and your body responds to that internal voice the same way.
She also teaches looking for the thought beneath the thought. Surface thoughts can seem harmless. "I'm always late" doesn't sound like a big deal. But ask why it matters ("because I'm letting down people I love") and why that matters, and you often land on a core belief like "I'm not good enough." Those core beliefs are the ones Meg says keep sending your body the wrong signals.
What Is the Seven Second Switch?
The Seven Second Switch is Meg's method for interrupting these thought patterns, built on neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to form new pathways. She compares old thought patterns to highways you've driven for years and new ones to walking through tall grass. With practice, the new path becomes the road you take.
The steps: recognize the thought and dig to its core, notice where you feel it in your body, question whether it's true, physically move it out of your body (brushing it off or shaking it out), replace it with a neutral thought, and reset your nervous system. The replacement thought is intentionally neutral, not a big affirmation your brain won't believe. Something like "I'm okay right here in this moment." It takes a few minutes while you're learning it, and Meg says it gets faster with practice. Expect your mind to snap back to the old thought at first. That's normal. Repetition is how the new pathway forms.
One addition Jessica uses: instead of only asking "is this true?", ask "could something else be true?" Arguing for every other possibility tends to soften the original belief until it loses its grip.
What to Do Before You Eat
Meg's simplest recommendation is also the easiest to skip. Sit down to eat. Take a few deep breaths before you start. Look at your food. Give your body the message that it's time to eat, not time to run. Then notice whether anything changes, like less bloating after meals.
She's clear that sometimes deeper work like stool testing or rebalancing the gut is needed. But she has also seen women for whom changing the input, both the environment they eat in and the messages they give their body, made a real difference on its own.
FAQs
Can stress affect your digestion?
Yes. Digestion is controlled in part by the autonomic nervous system. In the parasympathetic "rest and digest" state, your body supports digestive functions like releasing enzymes and stomach acid and moving food through your gut. Under stress, the sympathetic "fight or flight" response takes priority, and digestion becomes less of a focus. Functional medicine practitioner Dr. Meg Mill points out that the stress response can be triggered by repetitive negative thoughts, not just by obvious stressful events.
Why am I bloated after eating healthy food?
Bloating has many possible causes, so if it's persistent it's worth talking to a practitioner. One factor that often gets overlooked is the state you're in when you eat. Eating quickly, standing up, or while stressed may make it harder for your body to digest well. Dr. Meg Mill suggests a simple experiment: sit down for meals, take a few deep breaths before eating, and notice whether your symptoms change.
What is the cephalic phase of digestion?
The cephalic phase is the first phase of digestion, and it starts in the brain. When you see, smell, or think about food, your brain begins signaling your digestive system to prepare, including the start of saliva and stomach acid secretion. Much of the early research on it came from Ivan Pavlov, who won the 1904 Nobel Prize for his work on the physiology of digestion. It's one reason your mental state at mealtime matters.
How do I get into rest and digest before eating?
Start with your environment. Sit down to eat instead of eating on the go, put your phone and laptop away, and take a few slow breaths before your first bite. Slow breathing with a longer exhale is one of the most direct ways to signal your parasympathetic nervous system. Taking a moment to look at and smell your food also supports the cephalic phase of digestion.
Meet Dr. Meg Mill:
Dr. Meg Mill is a Doctor of Clinical Pharmacy and Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner with over 20 years of clinical experience.
Through her global virtual functional medicine practice, she helps women with chronic fatigue, hormonal imbalances, digestive disorders, and histamine-related conditions.
She is the founder of the Women's Functional Health Institute, where she trains Certified Women's Functional Health Coaches, and the author of The Seven Second Switch.
Connect with Dr. Meg Mill:
megmill.com | A Little Bit Healthier Podcast | @drmegmill | The 7 Second Switch Book
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Jessica Long (00:00)
I personally cannot wait to learn more about how stress and negative thoughts can impact digestion and nutrient absorption. So Dr. Meg, thanks so much for coming on the show today.
Meg Mill (00:11)
Thank you so much for having me.
Jessica Long (00:13)
I am very curious about this because as we know, stress is super common. I'm sure every listener is like, yep, I feel stressed at least some of the time. And then we also are learning from some of our wearables and things that we actually might be experiencing stress when we don't even necessarily feel it or feel like we're consciously aware of it. So it's just something that I think the more we know about, the more informed we are, the better choices we can make. So here's what I want to start with.
I heard from you that a single stressful thought can physically shut down digestion and reduce nutrient absorption by up to sixty percent. And that stops the scroll for me. So first off, can
Meg Mill (00:51)
Yes.
Jessica Long (00:54)
you walk us through the evidence that proves
Meg Mill (00:57)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (00:57)
this?
Meg Mill (00:58)
Yeah. And what's really neat is the science isn't new science. And I think that that's one of the keys I want to point out because it's just something not a lot of people are talking about, the physiology of how your thoughts affect your body. It's it's like I think sometimes we have sort of like the mindfulness camp, you know, where we're looking at things, breath like those kind of things where we're looking at, and then we have functional health where we're doing looking more at like
you know, digestion and nutrients and you know, lifestyle things and but really actually marrying the two and saying, okay, let's look actually about how this is affecting you physiologically. It's it is actually creating impact in the body. So little fun fact when we're going back to the research is that Pavlov, you Pavlov's dogs, everyone
Jessica Long (01:46)
I sure do.
Meg Mill (01:47)
has heard about that. That's the condition response. But he actually wasn't studying
Condition response. That came out of his research, but he actually won the Nobel Prize for the physiology of digestion. And not many people I think actually know that. So yes. Mm-hmm. A trivia, yes.
Jessica Long (02:01)
I did not know that, so now everybody has a trivia topic that they just learned, okay.
Meg Mill (02:06)
Mm-hmm. New trivia topic. And so what he discovered in that research is something that amazing that we now call the cephalic phase of digestion.
And what that is showing is that our digestion doesn't just begin in the stomach. And so I think a lot of us, when we think of digestion, we think of our stomach, we think of our intestines, we think of, you know, all those functions. But we actually digestion actually begins in the brain. And so we have what we call the cephalic phase of digestion that actually starts processes in your body as you're anticipating your food. And so
We want to so I'm gonna kind of switch gears here and talk a little bit about the nervous system. So in our nervous system, we also have different parts of the nervous system. So we have like a central nervous system, an enteric nervous system, but one of the parts of our nervous system is called the autonomic nervous system. And this is part of the nervous system that controls the things that you're not automatically thinking about. So it's like auto like autonomic, automatic, like you're so it's controlling.
your breath, your heart rate, things that are just happening in your body, but it also is controlling digestion and the functions of digestion. And so parts of the nerve, this part of the nervous system are your sympathetic, which is your fight and flight. So that's like I'm gonna run from a lion, you know, that's what our body thinks. And then we have our parasympathetic, which is our rest and digest. And so we should be spending most of our time in our parasympathetic nervous system.
To give the body the right signal. So we're saying, okay, when we're in that nervous system, it's saying, okay, you know what? It's time to release your enzymes for your food. So your pa your pancreas release enzymes. Your bile gets released from your gallbladder. We have what we call a migrating motor complex that pushes food, you know, through our system in order to be able to get waste out. And all of these things are supposed to be happening. But
We're spending a lot of our time in this sympathetic dominant nervous system. It's actually telling our body the wrong messages. So it's saying, wait, I'm running from a lion right now. I'm I shouldn't be releasing enzymes. I shouldn't be releasing bile. You know, slow down that migrating motor complex. I'm gonna need to conserve and I'm gonna need to put the bl send the blood to my limbs so I can run fast. And the thing is, your brain can't tell the difference between your
I'm running late, I have a million things to do, I'm not good enough, I'm not enough, you know, that is spinning through our minds and we'll get into the mental chatter that goes on all the time. And a lion is chasing me. It just can't tell the difference. So we're responding in a way that, okay, we're in danger when really it's a lot of messages we're sending our body. So we're downstream. I like to kind of say upstream and downstream. So sometimes like downstream.
We're trying to do all of these things often, like we might be eating the best diet, we might be doing, you know, all of these other things, but we're giving our body oftentimes the wrong signals. And so if you even eat the perfect plate, but you can't digest and absorb the food you're eating, you're not getting that full benefit. And so when we're going back to some of these signals and and really w neuroplasticity is an amazing thing, and how you can rewire your brain, we're doing that. We're giving ourselves the right signals to amplify the other things that we're trying to do for our health.
Jessica Long (05:25)
And so you're describing the sympathetic nervous system. It's really designed to keep us alive when there's a threat
Meg Mill (05:30)
Yes.
Jessica Long (05:31)
to our survival. And to your point, there's no third option of, this is just a full inbox stress response. It's either a threat to survival or no threat to survival.
Meg Mill (05:39)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (05:44)
and so if we are living in a chronic state of stress, which a lot of us are, even if you don't
Meg Mill (05:49)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (05:50)
Feel like you're stressed, you can look at some
Meg Mill (05:51)
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (05:52)
of your markers from your aura ring, for example, and it will tell you, like, hey, you were showing signs of stress. And during that time period, what was going on? if we're living in that state more often than is the right balance for us, does this mean we could eat like a full meal of healthy food and not actually absorb up to 60% of the nutrients from that meal?
Meg Mill (06:13)
So you n
and so you need to, you know, and everyone varies. That's like up, you know, a a maximum. It's like up the that's what the stats say up to that point. But it is so you need to digest and absorb your food. So we need to be able to, you know, a lot of people don't have good digestive function. And so if you don't have good digestive function, you might not be absorbing all of the nutrients that you think you are even from healthy food. And so I think that that is like
You know, in order to benefit from the nutrients, they need to be digested and they need to be absorbed into the system. So if your body isn't doing that, you know, if you're one of the things that I was doing, so I I came to this place because I had a lot of my own health issues. So I started out as a clinical pharmacist. I was in the you know, conventional side of medicine. I was having n not faith in the the way things were being done in the system that I was working in, and I was having my own.
health issues and I was seeking out answers and not getting them. And that's what brought me into functional medicine. then I opened my virtual functional medicine practice. And actually now I train functional women's health women's functional health practitioners. So that so now I teach it. But it started from that point of like not being able to, I couldn't, I didn't know what I could eat. I was having anxiety all the time. I was
But I also was eating at the counter when I was like stri you know, stressed and on the go and shoving food in my face. And then I would be driving around, you know, one of those things, you know, driving around like, after that my stomach's upset. I did you know, didn't well, I was eating in the worst way I could. So, you know, we'll talk about the messages we're getting from our minds, but then also in the environment that you're eating, you're not if you're not giving your body the right instructions on what it should do, it's it's not set up to do what you're what you want it to do.
Jessica Long (08:05)
And this reminds me of sleep hygiene, right? If you don't actually
Meg Mill (08:08)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (08:09)
go through the process of clueing your brain in that it's time for rest well in advance of be expecting to be asleep, then it's not gonna happen when you want it to happen. And it sounds like it's a similar pattern with food. Like you need to actually get your whole nervous system on board that it's time to eat, which means
Meg Mill (08:26)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Jessica Long (08:28)
we are calm so that we can digest our food without getting a stomachache or without missing out on.
all the wonderful nutrients that we're getting from our kale salad that we're eating and feeling so good about, right?
Meg Mill (08:38)
Yes, exactly. I know.
Jessica Long (08:41)
so what are some of the signs of eating when you're under a state of stress or symptoms and also symptoms of lacking in nutrients that maybe we should be looking for.
Meg Mill (08:54)
Yep. Yeah. So you know, I guess, you know, if you're fe as far as symptoms of d like digestive symptoms specifically, are you feeling, you know, are you feeling bloated? Are you feeling stomach pain? Do you feel nauseous? Do you feel like any you know, heartburn or burning? Are you constipated? Do you have diarrhea? How are you know, so a lot of those things people are feeling digestively. But that's where it's tricky because it goes beyond digestion, because again.
Nutrients are building blocks for a lot of things. So I'll give you an exam. I'm gonna give you an example because we're talking about like midlife women and the, you know, so so I'm gonna give you an a hormone example. It's because I think it's a good way to kind of look at this and kind of look at the the backstream of how how we look at it. So, you know, we're in midlife and our hormones are changing and we feel like, okay, I match with every estrogen, you know, I'm probably in perimetopause. My
every symptom I'm having matches with estrogen dominance. So, you know, maybe you have
like yeah,
Jessica Long (09:53)
Sounds like me.
Meg Mill (09:54)
breast tenderness, heavy periods, you know, mood swings, like all all the things. Headaches, all of them. So you're just like, okay, well that, you know, that matches with est with estrogen dominance. And so you go potentially even to a practitioner, maybe they run a Dutch test or a blood test, and it's like, yeah, your estrogen levels are higher than your progesterone levels. And
you know, that makes sense for where you are. And so it's all like, okay, that's, you know, yeah, it's perimonopause. So so one of the supplements that are given out at that point is dim, because dim, there's three phases of estrogen metabolism. So you have two phases in the liver and one in the gut. And DIM helps clear estrogen. So when you think of estrogen, you think of use it and lose it. And so if you add dim, you're pushing the pathway over and you're you're trying to clear the estrogen and push it down a CYP1A1 pathway so it can leave the body.
So you you think, okay, got the answer, gonna click lower my estrogen, we're gonna be in bound. So it's then a few weeks later, you're like, either it doesn't help, or you're like, you know what, that maybe helped a little bit, but now I'm just back. Like it's not, it's not working. And it's not working because a lot of people wanna start with hormones. But when we're looking back at this pattern, so if you are, so let's kind of reverse. So if you're not eliminating, so if you're constipated, you're pushing estrogen out a different pathway in the liver.
But you're not eliminating right. And so you're you could just be reabsorbing it because we can we have to eliminate through the stools. So one are your elimination pathways open. Okay, then let's think about that. Now going back another step. Do you have the nutrient building blocks? Like so, you know, hormones have nutrient building blocks. We have to be able to build hor you know, build hormones. And so we don't have if we're not digesting and absorbing, we're not necessarily having the right nutrients in order to get the balance.
And so we need to have digestion and absorption to actually get these. And then when you're digesting and absorbing, are you giving your body the right messages to be able to do this right? So it's like going back. And sometimes I think what happens is what I've seen, because I've worked with close to a thousand women and I I have seen people come from other practitioners saying, like, okay, this just isn't working. And then we start to get like, I'm broken or I'm not gonna be able to be fixed or I'm not, you know, like, and then that's actually giving our body more.
wrong messages, but it's like we're not looking at the whole picture and we're not putting all of the pieces back in place. We're looking at it like, this is one symptom and I'm gonna do something about that symptom without looking at the big picture.
Jessica Long (12:21)
I think that's such a huge complaint of so many midlife women is like I am a holistic person, but there's no one looking at me holistically, except maybe myself, right? Every practitioner
Meg Mill (12:31)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (12:31)
I go to has their specialty and they're not talking to each other. I don't know which point of advice to take. So it one thing that popped up for me as you were speaking was, okay, so does this mean it would behoove us to begin with the central nervous system? Like, should that be our foundation? Should we be
attempting to work on that before we're trying to add in supplements or hormones or whatever else the next step might be.
Meg Mill (12:57)
Well, that's why I wrote the book, The Seven Second Switch, because I I do think so. Yes. And I think like that's why I was like, I there's a lot of books that I have like thought about writing over the years. And I was like, I have to write this book because I literally think everyone can use it. So I use this alongside of everything else I'm working on. And I'm not saying don't run tests or don't do all these other things because you know those can give you good pictures and they're important. But I think you can do you should do this alongside of everything else you're doing because I've found
that when you're doing it, everything else works better. Cause when you can give your body the right signals, the other things actually help you more because we're not fight we're not fighting against it. And I I we don't one of the first things, cause like one of something, you know, where do you even start? So I think one of the things that you can even start is just paying attention tomorrow or today or later today of how much chatter is actually going on in your head.
And I think we're we're so kind to everyone else. So we're like, you know, your friend's like, you know, like you know, feels bad about something. You're like, you're wonderful, like, you should never feel that way. But then what do you say to yourself? Because most of us are unkind to ourselves and we're kind to everyone else and we support everyone else. But then when it comes to ourselves, we're beating ourselves up all the time. And so what is that chatter that's going on in your head? And even just recognizing like
those things, like how are you ta like, how do you talk to yourself? And and then we go a de l level deeper and we go to the thought beneath the thought because a lot of the surface thoughts don't seem like they're that big of a deal, maybe, but it's like when we go to the layers of what's underneath them and the core of what that means to you, it often is signaling like the I'm not good enough, the I'm not worthy, the I'm broken, that I'm not gonna get better.
Or some of the core thoughts. So even things that you think are harmless or meaningless actually have a core that you're telling yourself and giving it the wrong signals.
Jessica Long (14:53)
Yeah, because like if you think about somebody else speaking to you the way you speak to yourself, that would feel like a threat to your safety,
right?
Meg Mill (15:01)
Mm.
Jessica Long (15:02)
If somebody said you're not worthy, you're not good enough, you don't deserve this, get out of here, like you don't look good, whatever it is, you would feel threatened. What does
Meg Mill (15:14)
Yes.
Jessica Long (15:15)
that do? That puts you into fight or flight, right? We just said there's
Meg Mill (15:18)
Exactly.
Jessica Long (15:19)
only two options threatened or not threatened.
Meg Mill (15:21)
Mm.
Jessica Long (15:21)
So if you're
constantly having that kind of chatter in your brain, you're actually perpetuating this vicious cycle of keeping you in that chronic state of stress. So tell us what the seven seven second switch is.
Meg Mill (15:35)
Yes. So it's a combination of several different practices together to rewire like to help rewire the brain. So we're we're trying to work on neuroplasticity. So there is a concept in you know in in science that's says is about neuroplasticity, and it's that the neurons that fire together wire together and we can actually change the thought patterns and the sh and the pathways in our brain, which is really like when you think about it, quite amazing, I think. I know, seriously. So the problem.
Jessica Long (16:00)
What a gift. Thank you. Now let's use it.
Meg Mill (16:05)
The problem is is that the pathways, you might have heard the saying you rather like a lot of times we'd rather be right than well. Like so a lot of times these pathways have been going for so long that they're like highways in there. So, you know, these highways are going so we they've been going for so long, we're believing their beliefs now because the thought you keep thinking turns into a belief. So now you're you're believing these things because you've just been going through them for years.
And so what we need to do is we need to create a new high we need to create a new highway. So and I'll tell you that we can go through the steps, but w the point is, so it's it's almost like I say like walking through tall grass at first. So it's kind of like, okay, you're in a field, you're trying to pave this, and then you know, then after practice you get a a path and then the road, and then you have a new highway. So once we have the new highway, the old highway loses steam and we have a new path. So we can we can really rewire these things.
but it just takes practice. The good news is the practice is really quick. It's not like another, you know, wellness practice that you need to throw in and spend 20 minutes. It's it's just taking these steps through. So the first thing that we do is we re we recognize our the thoughts. And so we have we we go deeper. So I'm gonna give you an example because I wanna kind of point out what I mean by like the meaningless chatter versus the core thoughts. so example would be.
Like, I'm always late. I'm just always late for everything. I'm running around. I'm all okay. Well, so why, you know, why does that actually so you might be thinking that, like, I'm late all the time. why does that matter? Okay, because I'm letting people down that I love. Okay, well, why does that matter? The core thought would be, I'm not good enough for love, or I'm not good enough. So while you're chattering, I'm always late. There is a w core thought in there that's really a negative thought.
even though that you know that's not what's surfacing. It's kind of figuring out what that means. And and then when you're like, I'm not good enough, you're always feeling like I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not I'm not good enough. And so we want to take we want to identify those. And then we actually want to feel them in our body. So we have a practice to s go through where we feel it. A lot of times like when we feel it differently. So I mean for me a lot of times I'll feel it like the back of my neck and my shoulders.
Some people feel it in their stomach, your tightness in your head. Everyone has like a different way. But what you realize is, and you probably aren't likely aware of this, but most of us, we do like we do feel thoughts in our body. it's it's really interesting. Like I've been doing it for so long, I can like feel one of a thought. I'm like, what did I just what just happened? wait, that happened. Like I'm feeling you know, because I I can sense the shift in my body. So so we feel it. And then the important step is we question the truth.
So we also have to say, is this true? Because 99.9% of those pathways, those high that highway that we've been doing, they're not true. And so we just believe it because we've been thinking it for so long that it we filed it under true, but it's not true. So actually understanding like that's not even a tr a truth. That's just something that I've been thinking helps you be able to let that go. Like it's not you, it's actually your thoughts that aren't even real.
and so then we have a practice where we remove it from our body and then we and then we replace it with something, and this is really important, neutral. So that's not positive thinking. It's not affirmation. Cause I think what happens when you're saying, Okay, positive thinking affirmations, it's like it's too big. Like and then you you feel like, that's out of reach for me. Like I can't actually believe that. So it's like it could just be as simple as, I'm okay right here in this moment. Like I
I am good enough. Like something that's just can stick with you. And then we do a practice where we reset the nervous system. after that. So you go through this and it takes you once we you get, you know, you read the book and you get into it takes a few minutes and you know, to get used to it. And then as soon as like once you get it, you can just do it, you know, like anytime, anywhere, thoughts cut you know, it comes up, you know how to get rid of it. and it's that's why it can take seven seconds. It's real it's really a fast process once you
can do it. And the in the interesting part though, I do have to say, is that the first time you do it, you will do it and you'll feel likely feel the shift because when you put all the things together, if you feel lighter, you feel shift. It's like, I feel better. And then like 30 seconds later, your mind's gonna say, But wait, and it's gonna go right back to that thought because we've been thinking like again, we've been thinking those thoughts
For so long that it so it takes it just takes practice. It's just like, okay, you repeat it, you repeat it, and it's almost building it's building muscle memory in your brain to do it. And then and and then it starts to shift.
Jessica Long (20:45)
Yeah. And as someone who has been working on this for a while, I think the hardest part for me was actually even being aware that I was having the thought
Meg Mill (20:52)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Jessica Long (20:54)
because I'm like such a good storyteller, or to what to your point, like it had I'd just been telling myself this for so long that I did actually believe it
Meg Mill (21:02)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:02)
was true. so I didn't even notice when the thoughts were happening. So it can be hard to even just start noticing.
Meg Mill (21:09)
mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:10)
so give yourself some grace. That takes time. And then
Meg Mill (21:12)
Yes.
Jessica Long (21:14)
When you're you were talking about challenging the truth, one of the things that really helped me was not not just asking, is this true? Because a a lot of my body thought it was, right? But it was,
Meg Mill (21:23)
That is true. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:25)
could something else be true? And you
Meg Mill (21:27)
Yes.
Jessica Long (21:27)
start, it's almost like you become a lawyer and you start arguing for
Meg Mill (21:29)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:30)
any other side other than yours, which is kind of a
Meg Mill (21:33)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:33)
fun experiment, but it it and it really stretches your thinking and it forces you to fire a new neural pathway and say, like, wait.
Meg Mill (21:39)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:41)
This could be true. This could be true. This
Meg Mill (21:41)
This is a yeah.
Jessica Long (21:43)
could like a hundred other things could be true. And then you almost start
Meg Mill (21:45)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (21:46)
laughing, right? At your own original belief. You're like, okay.
Meg Mill (21:50)
Yes.
Jessica Long (21:51)
And then you they just start to soften, soften, soften until they kind of fall away. but one thing I did want to ask you about was you said you were talking through the process and you said, and then we move it out of our body. Well, how? How do you move it out of your body?
Meg Mill (22:03)
Yeah. So we do a somat
we do somatic work. So it's kind of it's a combination of a lot of different processes together. But you know, you can we can do it in different ways. and we've kind of we walk through that, but like you can you pull you physically often like want to pull it out. So you so you're feeling like okay, you've identified it, you felt it in your body, and then you remove it. So you're, you know, like wipe it out of your mind or pull it out of your body. So you're like you you actually can feel like I'm just I'm taking this away from me. It's not like sometimes you can like cut it off.
push it away. Like I'm get rid of it. So it I'm not holding on to that. I don't have to r take responsibility of this. I I don't have to hold on to it. Because again, like you're saying, you are feel it, it's a part it was a part of you. Like it was like you were saying you couldn't even think that you're believing it. And so it's it's saying you don't have to, you can remove this and we remove it so we can actually feel later and feel the shift that we're not holding the burden of that thought.
Jessica Long (23:01)
Okay, cool. I love that. I'm in a somatic coaching certification program right now. So you're definitely speaking my language and like brushing, brushing things off of you, shaking your hands. It's almost like you're flicking a bead of water off your hand, right? So you're just flicking
Meg Mill (23:03)
Yeah. good. Okay. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, you could brush it off. You could do mm-hmm. Yes. Off. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (23:17)
it off of you, and you do feel so much lighter once it's gone. And I think we're also
Meg Mill (23:22)
Once it's gone, it's yeah, you don't need to carry it.
Jessica Long (23:24)
we're kind of circling around the whole observation versus identification.
Concept, right? So like I was so
Meg Mill (23:30)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (23:31)
identified with my thoughts and my beliefs that I couldn't actually even observe myself. Really, I'm the observer of those thoughts
Meg Mill (23:39)
Yes.
Jessica Long (23:39)
and beliefs, right? But I was identifying with them. So I would say, like, as an example, I am anxious instead of I am feeling anxiety in my body right now, which makes me the observer versus identifying
Meg Mill (23:51)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (23:51)
with the feeling.
So really being able to step outside just the tiniest bit. And it's for some of us somatically you almost feel like you're looking at yourself from a couple feet away as that's the person having that thought or that belief, but I'm not attaching to it and it's not going to now affect the entire rest of my day. I can recognize it for what it is and move it through.
Meg Mill (24:13)
And it's such a relief, right? When you can do when you can do that. Cause we're all carrying things for a l and a lot of this stemmed in childhood or you know, we've been carrying it for so many years. And you're just kind of you're carrying it with you. And a lot of things come I think a lot of things come back to a lot of these cores, you know what so it's even identifying what are those unique cores for you. And I'm not saying like again, I do wanna stress that because I think sometimes people are like when you think of like a thought reframing or changing your thoughts.
It's not like, just pick a new thought, just be happy, just, you know, you like, no, we we're doing a process that's actually trying to change, you know, change outcome in your, you know, physiology and and you're it it's it's more than that. And so I think that like when you're in pain, you know, like when you've been in pain for a long time and it's it's hard to feel that that that there is belief, that there's hope. So even that like I am sitting here in this moment and I
I'm okay right now. And and that's enough. Like if you you're you're surviving this moment right now and that's a that's enough of the place to be. And that's, you know, so it's like that belief ladder and you can go as that raises, you can go a little bit higher and a little bit higher and a little bit higher. And you know, those steps are more achievable. Then sometimes I think we shoot too big a little bit too, and then it it our brain doesn't actually believe it.
Jessica Long (25:35)
That totally makes sense. And what we need at the root is safety to feel safe. So I like what you're saying
Meg Mill (25:39)
Yes, mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (25:40)
is can you actually stop what you're doing and look around and say, like, am I physically safe? Am I emotionally safe? Am I relationally safe? Am I spiritually safe? Okay. And that's where it all starts. And then once your body feels safe, that's when you can actually start to more successfully do some of this other work that we're talking
Meg Mill (25:58)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (25:58)
about. And to your point too, like you're talking about thoughts in somatic
program we talk about feelings and we don't talk about numbing it or or just moving it. You actually identify it, honor it, n acknowledge
Meg Mill (26:10)
Mm.
Jessica Long (26:11)
it, let yourself feel it, and then move it on, right? So you're not trying to just get rid of it. You're trying to process it. And we're
Meg Mill (26:14)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Push it down. We're not trying to push it down. Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (26:21)
just what we're chewing is we're trying to get faster at processing, right?
Meg Mill (26:24)
I d yes.
Jessica Long (26:25)
So instead of taking days or weeks or months, can we do
Meg Mill (26:29)
Yes.
Jessica Long (26:29)
this in a much faster process?
And then
Meg Mill (26:32)
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Long (26:32)
we just to your point earlier, we just feel so much lighter. So I do want to actually bring this back to what we were talking about at the beginning, which is digestion, nutrient absorption. So are you saying that the process that you have outlined is something that we can do when we do this regularly? Will it improve our digestion, our nutrient absorption? And is it something that we should maybe think about practicing as we sit down to eat?
Meg Mill (26:58)
Yeah, well for sure. So yes, I think it it does because again you're sending the right messages. So you're saying, Okay, in d in the rest and digest state in order to have your so there so you have what y is called the vagus nerve. So the vagus nerve, I'm sure you probably have talked about it, like goes from the stem of your brain in d the whole way down through your digestive system. And it has efferent and afferent pathways. So it's set so those mean like
know one way to the brain, one way to the gut, and they talk all the time. And so when we're in this sympathetic dominant state, the brain is sending the messages to the gut saying, okay, we are like again in danger. So stop these these functions are not, it's not time. It's it's a different time. We're running from the line right now. So if we can get ourselves to be calmer while we're in general and while we're eating, then we're saying, okay, we're in parasympathetic. So
This is a better time to release the enzymes. This is a better time to release the bile. You know, let's let's get some stomach, you know, your stomach acid there and let's move the migra great. Well, the migrating motor complex comes when you're actually when your stomach's empty. But you know, let's do the things, the motility things to digest and absorb your food, and so that we actually get that more out of our meals and the nutrients. So
So you can't even just sit down and do this. you know, sometimes I even say in addition, take a few deep breaths before you eat. It's something that's so simple, but are you actually just like sitting down, first of all? And that was something I had to work on because I I think I was telling you, I was like standing on my island, shoving my like reading really quick because I was on the go.
Jessica Long (28:35)
I do that every day.
Meg Mill (28:37)
I gotta go. And and then and so it's like sitting down, taking a few deep breaths and
you know, looking even look at your food and like think of like your food and I'm gonna just relax, I'm gonna eat, I'm gonna set myself up in a place that's going to optimize the digestion. So, you know, s see if that has any difference in your like how do you feel after your if you do those things, do you feel differently after a meal? Is the bloating down? Like what changes are you starting to see? And sometimes people can start to see even without the other thing, you know, yes, sometimes we need to run a stool test and sometimes we need to
rebalance the microbiome or do antimicrobials or fix the gut line. Those all those are all things that do sometimes do need to be done. But there's people I've seen that just changing the input is actually enough to change how they're even feeling. So sometimes you don't even need to go there when you're changing the input into the messages you're actually giving your body.
in doing that, then it's like, okay, now that's just like I just needed the right input. Now I c so our body wants to be in homeostasis, imbalance. So you know we we want to be balanced. We want to be healthy. Our body doesn't want to be out of balance, but we're doing things and creating that, you know, loss of of balance. So it's really bringing it back to doing the functions that we were meant to do.
Jessica Long (30:04)
Yeah, and I think they're just easy to look past because they're so simple. It's like our mind will immediately take us to like, I have to do a stool test. my God, this is gonna be terrible. That's disgusting. Instead
Meg Mill (30:06)
Mm-hmm. Yes, exactly. Yes. Yes. Mm hmm.
Jessica Long (30:16)
of what if I took five deep breaths before I put a fork to my mouth? What would happen? It's it's it's so funny. my gosh.
Meg Mill (30:21)
Yes. Mm-hmm. Well, I think it's
I think there's just like so many factors that go into that. But one of them is that we are set up to think the answer is outside of ourselves because in our medical system,
Jessica Long (30:34)
Mm.
Meg Mill (30:36)
we're set up to think that age even though like in our in our camp, we don't always think that a drug solves a problem, but like that's what we've like been born to say, you know, like okay, you you put take a drug.
And that's what you have to do. Okay. So that's outside of ourselves. And so it's like outside of ourselves are the answer. So maybe you're like, you know, realize like, I don't that I'm not in that camp. But then a lot of people go to supplements. And then it's like, okay, well, I don't want to take drugs, but now I'm going to take all of these supplements and they're going to be my answer. And so that is an easier thing to think, I'm just going to take something else that's going to fix me rather than actually empowering yourself and taking responsibility and be like, hey, I can do some of these changes.
To give myself better signals, better input. And then do I even need those? Cause it aga not all these things are just the you know, the answer. They're it's it's complicated and it's really more than one thing generally. And so it's it's saying, Okay, let's set ourselves up and empower ourselves to do make some of these changes. And they're simple.
Jessica Long (31:35)
I love that. You're reminding me of a quote from my breath work and somatic coaching mentor. She says, Samantha Skelly, she says, You are the drug. Right? You it to your point,
Meg Mill (31:45)
Yeah. Exactly.
Jessica Long (31:48)
it a lot of a lot of our healing and feeling better can come from within. So and it could be it could be that, but what's one thing that you hope our listeners walk away from our conversation with today?
Meg Mill (32:00)
Yeah, I just I hope that you can, you know, take a step back and look think about this. You know, really look at, okay, how am I processing my thoughts? Do I have these thoughts? And really knowing that there's something that you there's something free that only takes a few seconds that you can actually do to change signals that can actually physiologically we you know, we couldn't cover in this period of time all the different things, but we get much more in depth in the book that there are
things that you can actually do to change inputs and signals to your body. So it's something worth investigating.
Jessica Long (32:36)
I love that. Where can everybody find your book and find you
Meg Mill (32:39)
Yes.
Jessica Long (32:40)
and learn more about your work?
Meg Mill (32:42)
Yeah, so the book is Seven Second Switch. So the number sevensecond switch dot com. It can also be found if you search Amazon, but on that website, we actually have some free gifts that go along with the book. So if you go to sevenseconds switch.com, you can find it there. If you you can find my website is Megmill dot com. So I have a lot of information over there.
I also have a podcast called A Little Bit Healthier. So we're talking about things that are always that make you a little bit healthier. I'm trying to give everyday tips. if you're if you feel like you're interested in doing this for other people and that's something you feel called to, the Woman's Functional Health Institute is at women's functional health.org. So I certify women's functional health practitioners and health coaches over there. So we're trying to change lives for women. And I'm also
on Instagram at Doctor Megmill. It's just D R Meg Mill. Thank you so much.
Jessica Long (33:35)
Thank you
for all the work that you're doing for us women. We appreciate it. And thank you for sharing just a a little bit of your wisdom with us today.
Meg Mill (33:43)
Thank you so much for having me.
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Disclaimer:
Belong Wellness and its members, managers, employees, contractors, and other agents or representatives are not licensed medical care providers and do not provide medical services or advice, including without limitation diagnosing, examining, preventing, treating, or curing any medical conditions. The information shared in this podcast is meant to be educational, not prescriptive. Please consult your medical doctor before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle. Further, the opinions of guests on this show do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Jessica or anyone affiliated with Belong Wellness.
