Gut wisdom: another benefit of getting older

My friend and I were talking the other day about how we can’t treat our bodies the way we used to, now that we’re in our 40s. Even if we want to go out and drink our faces off, our bodies give us unmistakable cues to, say, start filling our glasses with water so our friends stop topping us up with more Shiraz.

Where we used to shrug off the inevitable wretchedness to come the morning after, now we know it’s just not worth losing several hours of a precious day, feeling like hell because we overindulged the night before. (Artist Michelle Rial has captured this truth beautifully here.)

Is losing your will to white-knuckle through a hangover or stomachache something to mourn?

Should we feel deeply uncool and shamefully old?

Not a chance.

There’s all kinds of wisdom to accumulate in this lifetime, and enhanced sensitivity in our bodies is one of the more powerful kinds of wisdom. I’ve come to really appreciate the increasing discernment of my body as I’ve gotten older. The cues I get to eat this, not that, and to stop after one or two drinks, are such a blessing.

My body has likely been speaking to me like this my entire life, trying to help me make better choices so she can thrive. But often in my youth, I didn’t hear that voice — or I deliberately ignored it. Everything else was too loud: friends, TV, magazines, the lure of fast food grease + salt, the promise of alcoholic or cannabis-induced obliteration when I was feeling too self-conscious to be myself.

I can’t ignore this voice now. What was once a whisper, is now a dull roar in the pit of my stomach.

The great news for me is, I now trust this primal voice over everything else — including diet gurus, or Instagram nutrition trends. It makes life a lot simpler, and a lot more enjoyable. I still have the wine and cheesecake, don’t get me wrong — but I put my glass or fork down when that wise voice tells me to. Not because I’m worried about gaining weight or seeming gluttonous, but because there’s room for hedonistic pleasures and taking care of this one miraculous body I’ve been gifted in this lifetime.

We say “trust your gut” because its wisdom is ancient and incorruptible.

When I ignore that voice, usually to overindulge in something fried and covered in cheese, I’m blessed with a near-instantaneous reaction from my gut. It’s a powerful feedback loop that I’m now grateful for, as grotesquely unpleasant as it may be at times.

And while I’ve been talking about food and drink here, we all know our guts are the source we should turn to for a lot of our life decisions, big and small.

Are you listening to your gut more as you get older?