Creating Habits By Self-discipline For Better Health In Celiac

There’s a powerful quote from a children’s book by retired US Navy Officer, Jocko Willink (1), that helps in preparing the mind to achieve any goal a person desires: “Discipline equals freedom”. Acts of self-discipline like eating more vegetables (or achieving a certain fitness level such as bodybuilding), can create freedom from acquiring chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, or obesity. To have discipline is to work a little on your goal each day even if it means “mastering the art of showing up” (2). Eventually, in doing so, this act will become habitual.

Creating habits through self-discipline

The quote of “mastering the art of showing up” comes from the Atomic Habits book which states: “A habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can’t learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Master the art of showing up.” This becomes important when introducing new modifications and making them stick to your new healthy lifestyle. Just showing up and introducing this change little by little in addition to progressing slowly will make it easier to form a new habit. 

Putting your gym attire and walking outside for at least fifteen minutes, incorporating salads before your main meals, trying out one meatless meal a month, or even starting a meditation practice for five minutes, are some examples of small changes we can add to our lives that upon improvement and habitual learning, are helpful to our well-being and mental health.

Self-discipline and autoimmune diseases

In autoimmune diseases such as asthma, arthritis, celiac disease, Hashimoto’s disease, and others, creating healthy lifestyle habits and modifications through self-discipline are the key to helping your body perform its best and stall the downsides of aging such as forgetfulness, memory loss, loss of muscle mass and deformities that may come with advanced arthritis. Habits, in this case, should focus on getting enough exercise, and sleep, as well as eating the right foods to promote healing and avoid inflammation even when there are times you don’t feel like it. When this happens, self-discipline is needed to stay on track.

Self-discipline yourself to set a time to plan and make your meals each week so that you are not tempted to eat whatever you see first which may cause further pain and inflammation. Plan a time to meditate daily to avoid stress and frustration (which cause hormonal imbalances and thyroid issues), set a time to exercise daily or at least five times a week to get your organs and muscles oxygenated, and lastly, set a time to take care of YOU as no one will do it best. As stated previously, start slow and work your way up through creating habits by self-discipline. Eventually, this change will become a habit where your body, as well as mind, will ask and beg for it.

Manage Celiac disease by creating habits with self-discipline

The body is an amazing machine, and it is your best doctor. In auto-immune disease, some factors cause inflammation and it is a way the body communicates when there is something wrong internally. Learning to listen to it is important and patching things up with medications may complicate things further by overworking your liver and kidneys. It is important to learn what is causing inflammation to prevent deterioration in the body and then create habits by self-discipline to prevent it. This is similar to a car malfunctioning unless you have the means to buy a new one (whereas you can’t buy a new body), you want to fix the problem before it breaks down and leaves you stranded on the highway. 

In celiac, for example, the protein gluten found in many simple carbohydrates such as bread, baked goods, and pasta, causes damage to the gut lining. The damage makes the tight junctions in our gut loosen up and causes many of the bacteria and particles that do not belong outside of the gut to seep through its lining. Once this happens, the body uses the immune system to attack these unwanted organisms and particles with a cascade of chemicals leading to inflammation. It is believed that many of these immune responses are the cause of many of the aforementioned autoimmune diseases (3).

Conclusion

Creating healthy habits through self-discipline is important after we have adjusted to a certain type of living, such as not watching what we eat or not taking priority of our health through sleep or exercise. Some people might give up after two weeks, but in reality, it takes three weeks to even four months to stick to a habit depending on the person. 

The benefits of implementing self-discipline will be amazing in the end. You will be free from constant pain as reported in arthritis and celiac, you’d be able to avoid a leaky gut which may cause other issues from bacteria leaking into our blood, and you will be free from taking medications that cause harmful side effects or that interact with each other causing other problems as well. 

Furthermore, with habitual learning, hopefully, you will be free from costly health care prices, free from becoming immobile due to pain, and, more importantly, free to be able to watch your kids grow and/or enjoy your time with your loved ones without hindrance. The body will gratify you with glowing and youthful skin, better digestion, as well as more energy to be more productive in whatever endeavor you partake in.