Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - Getting Back To God’s Design In A World Of Conflicting Health Advice | Jordan Dooley

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Is the health world actually making you more stressed, confused, and disconnected from your own body? 😩🌿Jordan Lee Dooley — bestselling author of Be Good To Your Body — shares how her struggles with disordered eating, painful acne, and infertility forced her to rethink everything she believed about “wellness.” She explains how to cut through overwhelming trends, focus on what’s truly timeless, and treat your body like the God-given gift it is—offering simple, sustainable ways to nourish yourself without restriction or obsession.Thank you to our sponsors!ZEBRA: Use code ALEX for 10% off any orderJOOVV: Get an exclusive discount on your first red light therapy orderA'DEL NATURAL COSMETICS: Use code ALEX for 25% off first-time ordersVANDY CRISPS: Use code ALEXCLARK for 25% offCOZY EARTH: Use code ALEX for 40% offGEVITI: https://www.gogeviti.com/amfestOur Guest:Jordan Lee DooleyJordan's Links:Website“Be Good to Your Body” BookInstagramFacebookPinterest👗 Get Alex’s freshest fashion picks and exclusive guest recommendations—delivered straight to your inbox!Sign up for the newsletter HERE:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEEKLY NEWSLETTER SIGNUP⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW ALEX:Instagram |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @realalexclark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @cultureapothecary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @yoalexrapz⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @RealAlexClark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to ‘Culture Apothecary’ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. New episodes drop 6pm PST/ 9pm EST every Monday and Thursday.

What does it mean to have discernment when it comes to filtering advice given to us in the health and wellness space? Anytime you're receiving or seeing information advice, because we live in an information overload culture, right? But I think it's just having a pause. Is this for me to apply right now? It's good to know. I'm thankful to know it. But is this something that I need to do something with now? I think having that mindset when it comes to our bodies as a vehicle given to us to carry out our calling.

So when it starts to give you problems or it starts to have symptoms you don't like or you start to experience breakdown, You can care for it well, not because you're obsessed with your body, not because you love your body like culture tells you to, but because you love the one who gave it to you. We're either obsessing over health and our bodies and how we look and things like that, or we're like, I'm going to die anyway. God knows what I'm going to die. So why does it matter what I eat? Literally every single thing you do has weight in eternity. And I think we forget that. Well, I've read your DM, so I know that the answer is yes, but I'll just go ahead and ask the question anyway. Are you feeling completely overwhelmed by the health and wellness world? Maybe you're just, you're just, just totally checked out entirely because it feels too complicated or contradictory. You're not alone,

and neither extreme, by the way, is the answer. On today's episode, I sit down with my friend Jordan Lee Dooley, bestselling author of Be Good to Your Body, who knows firsthand the struggles of navigating health, faith, and motherhood. Jordan shares her personal story of battling disordered eating, severe acne, infertility, and more, and how she discovered timeless God-honoring principles for caring for her body without shame or extremes. We talk about how to shift your mindset from my body is a problem to my body is a God-given gift, distinguishing timeless health habits from trendy advice that can overwhelm us, practical ways to nourish your body without restriction or obsession, reconciling physical health with spiritual wellness and internal perspective,

whether you're exhausted by conflicting health advice or apathetic because nothing seems to work. This episode will give you clarity, encouragement, and actionable steps to steward your body well without guilt, shame, or burnout. Pause right now, leave a five-star review letting everyone know why Culture Apothecary is your favorite health and wellness podcast. Watch this episode on the Real Alex Clark YouTube channel or Culture Apothecary on Spotify.

You can follow the show on Instagram at Culture Apothecary and find me at Real Alex Clark. Please welcome Jordan Dooley, mom of 3 under 3 and author of Be Good to Your Body to Culture Apothecary. You're a regular mom helping other moms fight overwhelm in the wellness space, which I think everybody is kind of feeling now. like, you know, almost six years after COVID.

You have battled severe acne, infertility, disordered eating. Can you walk us through your body's story? The thing that I always say is I struggled a lot with not liking the form of my body when I was younger. I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to be as thin as possible, kind of the cultural beauty standard, live up to that. So that was kind of the initial, I don't like my body because it doesn't look the way I wanted to. Did a lot to try to change that in terms of restriction over exercise. all the things. Fast forward, I think I did a number on my hormones in college and in that time

when I was restricting and just pushing my body to the brink. And not only that, but just staying up late studying and not eating well and all of those types of things. And so flash forward into my mid to late 20s, I all of a sudden started struggling with things like acne and miscarriages and really heavy periods, things that were suddenly like, wait, why is my body having all of these, like, why is it failing? It's kind of what it felt like. Why is it doing all of these things wrong. Why am I having all these symptoms? Because I had multiple providers, OBGYNs, etc. I say, oh, you're young and healthy. You'll be good, you know, because I was fit, essentially. And so I didn't really understand why I was experiencing breakdown, why I was experiencing loss, why I was

experiencing infertility, why my face was breaking out like that of a 14 year old, you know, when I was 24, 26. And so that was kind of what prompted me to start investigating and looking into health and wellness from a more holistic view because before that, I always looked at health as fitness and green juice and kind of being as lean as possible. And I really discovered, wow, actually I've gotten so far from how God designed me to live. Like I'm living at such a fast pace. I'm staring at blue light. I'm, you know, working myself into the ground. I'm restricting major food groups because I've heard that's healthier, you know. And so I had to kind of unlearn a lot that I thought health was and relearn what does it look like to actually care for my body well.

And so the last several years of my life have been the journey. of implementing that and seeing the fruit of doing that. Yeah, so you literally went back to Genesis and you looked at the basic principles of health what God lays out for us and you completely ended up healing. What were those principles that you saw God lay out for health? It was actually really simple. When I looked at when God created not only man and humans, but the world, that was all at the same time. And he put us in a garden is one of the first things that really stood out to me. And the reason that stood out to me is because I'm like, well, it's a God. God could have put us in a city. He could have made the same. He could have made the

city. He could have made, you know, offices with fluorescent lighting and bad coffee. Like, he could have done anything like that, but he put us in a garden and he told us to tend to it and care for it. So that told me, okay, we're made to be outside. We're made to be in nature. We're made to work with our hands. He commanded us to rule over creation, to eat plants and animals, to eat from the earth. He could have created DoorDash at that time, you know, but like he made it so simple. He gave us food from the earth. He told us to move our bodies and work with our hands. I think another big principle in creation that we often overlook in the health. health space is community and relationship. He created another human. He said it's not good for man to be

alone. Yes. And so we often think about health in terms of what we eat and how we move. And those are huge pieces. But I'm like, gosh, the community and the relationship part is so important. And God himself felt that that was important enough for a man or humans goodness and flourishing that he created more human beings. And he told us to be in community with God and others. And so that was another one that really stood out to me, especially because we tend to overlook it. So those are just a few. How do we change our mindset from my body is a problem to fix to my body is a God-given gift. It's hard. It's really hard because we can, we're constantly being told that our body is a problem to fix. Like, we're always sold the next solution. And we, and we do experience breakdown in our bodies.

We do experience problems, but that doesn't make our body the problem. Sin is the problem, really. Like if we're honest, that's like we live in a fallen world. And so that's what can create, I think just shifting like, what do I actually believe and asking ourselves. that honestly because everything we're told essentially is your body's a problem. It's giving you problem. So it's a problem. No, it could experience problems. But I think to shift your mindset, you have to ask yourself, like, well, ultimately, do I take God at his word? Do I believe that when he said, when he was finished creating the earth and he said, he called everything in creation good. When God called everything in creation good, remembering that your body was part of that. Like your body was part of God's

creation and he said everything that he created he called good. So like do I believe that? Do I take him at his word? It's tricky because our culture does kind of make us, it can make us glorify our bodies as a God. Didn't say our bodies are a God, but they are good part of creation. And do I believe that? Do I take him in his word? Because if I do, then I don't have to treat it as like this project or problem to fix. I treat it as a God-given gift to take care of and to Stewart. And it's a gift given to us so that we are able to use it to carry out the work. God has put forward for us to do. Yeah.

You know, and that looks different for everybody. Yeah. But there's certain things, you know, even if it's like waking up and literally leaving your house to be able to be in fellowship with your church body. Yep. If you are too sick, you know, to get up and get out of the house all the time or in too much pain or whatever, I mean, that is literally preventing you from being with, you know, your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yeah. One thing I want to talk about with that is, Exactly that. I thought about when I was thinking about the mindset we have when it comes to, am I looking at my body as a problem to fix or a project to work on or as a God-given gift to care for well? I often think of this metaphor of like if you borrowed your friend's car. If you let me your car because mine was in the shop or broke down, I'm probably going to take the utmost care of that car, right? I'm going to take probably better care of it than I would if it were my own car. Not that I don't care for my car, but like I let junk pile up in the passenger seat.

Sometimes I like have been known to run on empty and my husband has to come safe. me, you know, things like that. But if it's your car, I'm not going to run out of gas. I'm going to make sure that I get the oil changed. I'm going to keep it tidy. Why? Because I'm obsessed with your car. No, but I care about you. I care about the one who lent it to me. Wow. And so I think having that mindset when it comes to our bodies as a vehicle given to us to carry out our calling, like our bodies really are. Like, they're kind of like that borrowed car. It gives you more of an eternal lens on the body that you've been given. And so when it starts to give you problems or it starts to have symptoms you don't like or you start to experience breakdown, you can care for

it well, not because you're obsessed with your body, not because you love your body like culture tells you to, but because you love the one who gave it to you and because you view it as a gift. And so when you view it rightly, you're much more likely to care for it well. What does it mean to have discernment when it comes to filtering advice given to us in the health and wellness space? That's a good question because there's so much advice. I think at the core it means to take it back, like anytime you're receiving or seeing information advice, because we live in an information overload culture, right? And I love to share information. You love to share information. It's good to have knowledge. But I think it's just having a pause. It just means like, is this for me to apply right now? It's good to know. I'm thankful to know it.

But is this something that I need to do something with now? Because I know I spiral when I learn new information. I'm like, oh my gosh, we have to have our house tested for mold and I need to change all these things. And it's like, well, yeah, at some point, I think that would be great to do. But is this for me to do something with now? Or is it something for me to put in my back pocket? I want you to pause right now. And then I want you to rewind. 10 seconds. And I want you to listen to that about five times before you comment and DM me and say, well, this guest said this and this guest said this now. What am I supposed to do? Exactly what you're talking about. And part of this is knowing your own body. I mean, I obviously, I do this for a living. People are like, well, how do you know what to take from all these different guests that come in?

I'm like, I know my body. I know what's going on with me at any given time. I know, you know, what advice I might need from Jordan versus Ashley versus whoever. Like so, um, you know, um, It just depends on like the season I'm in and what's going on. I don't apply every single thing everyone says. You can't. You literally can't. And that's like what I want every woman to hear is like you can't do all the things. And even if you did, the reality is you can do it all right and things can still go wrong.

And some of these people, I love what you're saying about putting it on the shelf for later. Yes. I just love learning. Yes. I love learning. And I'm like, why we need to get back into you don't have to do everything, but learn everything. that you possibly can. And so there's so many episodes where it's like, okay, I'm not going to be able to do anything

with this, like, especially parenting advice ones. Obviously, I don't have kids yet. So it's like, I am learning this stuff and I'm like, okay, I'm going to put that on the shelf for later. I know that when I do have kids, I'm going to go back and listen to my interview that I did with so-and-so, and then I'm like, oh, yeah, that's the thing I need to buy or do or whatever because, you know, for having a newborn. It's like, but no one is, especially me as the host, I'm not expecting everybody to, like,

start doing all this stuff. It's just whatever works for you. And that's why there are some episodes that contradict because somebody else and their body might really need the advice that this guest is giving. Yes. It's like that. I don't know if you've heard people talk about it, but kind of the what about me kind of culture that we live in. It's like not everything applies to you. Not every piece of content is something for you to implement in your life or that you need to do something about right now. You're going to come across a lot of content. You're going to come across a lot of information. And it is good to learn. But also, When you start to feel overwhelmed by all of the things, whether it's, you know, this show or something else, I think the important thing to ask yourself is like, am I even doing the basic things? Like, am I even getting outside enough? Am I, like, before you block all the blue light and do all of the things that you could upleveling your environment, are you getting sunlight like every day? Are you laughing?

Are you like in healthy community? Are you drinking enough water? Like the free things? You know, it's like free to shut your phone off, you know? So if you're experiencing that information overload, it's like, okay, well, one of the healthiest things that you can do if you're spiraling is like just take a pause from it. Just take a break. You don't have to constantly be kind of consuming, I guess, is the right word. And then applying or feeling wrong, like feeling like you're failing if you're not applying.

Because you just can't apply every piece of information that you learn. And it's not always for you. I call this bean soup culture. I don't know if you saw this, but like a couple years ago, there was this viral TikTok of this girl making bean soup. Yeah. And it's like, what if I don't like beans? And somebody said, well, I can't have beans. So what's the substitute?

It's like, this is a bean soup present. And my OG audience knows because I did like a really viral video like making fun of this. It's those people. It's like, well, this doesn't apply to me. Oh my gosh. I don't remember what it was the other day.

You think I'm making this up? I posted something and I don't know if it was about shoes or what. But I got a DM saying like, well, my husband's a paraplegic. This doesn't apply. I'm like, do you think maybe not everything on the internet has to do with you? Like you can see something. You like, okay, that's obviously not going to apply to my unique situation. But yeah, it's weird that like everything has to be for me on the internet.

Yeah. It doesn't. Yeah. And it's like, has my algorithm not learned perfectly? You know, it's like, come on. But I will say, I think that to answer your question in a nutshell, it's to take a pause and not lunge forward at everything. I think it's just like, oh, that's interesting.

I didn't know that. And then even just taking your own like response, like temperature of your own response. Like, is this enraging me? Is this stressing me out? Is this making me feel like anxious? Okay. Maybe I just need to sit with that for a second. before I feel like, oh my gosh, we have to overhaul this or change that or I need to see this doctor.

It's like, maybe you do, but maybe you should do it in 30 days or maybe you should do it next year. Yeah. Like table it. Maybe you should do it when you have kids, whatever it looks like. So it's just kind of like, I'm the same as you. I love to learn, but it can be really easy to start spiraling when you learn more and more and more. And it's like pause. Just take a breath. I love that tip about 30 days and taking a pause before some of these big purchases because, look, I do that. I'm the same way with expensive designer items.

If it's a really pricey clothing item, I am somebody that will wait several weeks or a couple months. And if I am obsessively thinking about it, I'm like, wow, I really love that. That's going to be an investment piece for me. Like, I'm going to use it for a long time and get a lot of use out of it. If I, you know, decide not to purchase it and then I completely forget about it. I'm like it that much. So I'm glad I didn't spend that much money. I mean, the same thing can be said for some of these price, your extras when it comes to health and wellness.

And also just do the honest evaluation of, am I even doing the basic things consistently? Because why would I go buy these expensive additional gadgets and tools that can help my health? But why would I go do all of that? If I'm not even like opening my windows consistently and eating like mostly home-cooked food and, you know, like doing the basic things. You know that moment when it's negative 10 degrees outside, you've got four layers on, two scarves, a hat, and somehow you're sweating through your armpits like you just ran a marathon in the desert. Yeah, that used to be me every winter until zebra.

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New Year's resolution, aren't you? January 1st, fresh start, new you, you're finally going to figure out why you're exhausted, why your brain feels foggy, why you just don't feel right. But let me ask you this. Why are you waiting? What magical thing is going to happen between now and January 1st that's suddenly going to make you take your health seriously? Oh, you feel convicted? Oh, you. want a tissue, stop putting it off, start taking action. The good news is that for those of you attending AM Fest from December 18th through December 21st, my friends at Jevity are going to set up right in the center of the exhibit hall doing on-site blood draws, which means in 10 days,

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you. Head to the link in the show notes right now to secure your spot and start acting on those New Year's resolutions. When we're on our healing journeys, do you think we're making a mistake? where we tend to separate the physical from the spiritual. Yeah, I think it's really easy to kind of start focusing on the body and then like my faith and my spiritual life over here. And the reality is like there's an Elizabeth Elliott quote that I love that says like it's a failure to not recognize that everything really begins with the body. Like the body is simply the starting place because if your body is experiencing breakdown

or you're neglecting the health of your body, then that will take a toll on you physically. And on the contrary, if you are obsessing over everything that you, are doing for your health and you're just so like focused and fixated on that, it's so easy to make that your God. Like that can become the end all be all and it can really take a hit on your mental, your emotional, and your spiritual health. Like all of those things are so closely intertwined. And so often we tend to think we can separate them. And then we're like, well, gosh, why do I feel terrible? It's like, well, either you're completely neglecting the body or you're potentially obsessing over it. And either can be like there's a ditch on either side of the road. Yeah. I think.

that we tend to oscillate as people, especially women, when it comes to health between idolatry or complete apathy. Yes. We're either obsessing over health and our bodies and how we look and things like that or we're like, I'm going to die anyway. God knows what I'm going to die. So why does it matter what I eat? Why does it even matter? Why does any of this matter? I'm not listening to the show anymore because you know what? None of this even matters. And neither of those I would say are correct. No, literally every single thing you do has weight in eternity. And I think we forget that. If you are neglecting the vessel that you've been given or you kind of take this whatever, anything, everything is going to kill me approach. And I think we say that whole phrase,

everything's going to kill me one of two ways, either from a place of fear and obsession or from a place of like apathy, essentially, like of like whatever, like everything's going to kill me. Exactly what you just said. And the reality is everything that you do on this side of heaven, Yes, it's temporal, but that doesn't mean the decisions you make, the things that you do, the way you care for your body doesn't have eternal impact. And why? Well, because if you go back to the truth that your body is a vehicle given to carry out your calling, think about what your calling actually is. Like, it's ultimately loving God and loving people and making an kingdom eternal impact. And so when we are living a life that glorifies God and that has an eternal impact,

that's going to impact other people in some capacity, in the work that we do, whether you're a veterinarian or a podcast host or something else. And if you're showing up dragging to that and not feeling well or, you know, pushing yourself to the brink or you're just obsessed with your health. Either way, like getting too obsessive or too apathetic can really detract and take away from the impact you're made to have, right? Like, it can really take a hit on that. And what you're doing in your day to day life, even if it seems mundane, has eternal impact. It's impacting other human beings. And I think if we lose sight of that, that's when we begin to completely separate the spiritual and the physical. I think it just takes a lot of honest self-reflecting.

and just constantly taking like a little bit of a pause to be like, am I getting too apathetic about this to the point where I'm actually like not even thinking about how how I feel now does impact other people, which does have an internal impact? Or am I getting too obsessive and too focused on the temporal that there's a bigger picture? When it comes to the apathy piece, Jordan, what I think is interesting is like, you're like, well, I'm going to die. So it doesn't matter what I do to my body forgetting, especially if you are still having children or you are or you haven't had children yet and planned to, what we do to our body's impacts are granddaughter's eggs. Yes. So it does matter. Yes, it does. It is not just like it ends with you. This is multi-generational

in your family line. Your health right now is impacting. So I just think that's important to put in perspective. But what I'm hearing you say is that it's not necessarily longevity that needs to be our main focus and that we need to be after, it's stewardship. It's that and legacy, yeah, like exactly what you're saying. Yeah, stewardship. What are some tips to replenish the body with good things created by God versus just restricting bad things? Well, the world constantly tells us to restrict things, right? Like, whatever the next new hot thing is bad, whether it's sugar or something else.

And it's like, okay, but going back to what did God create, right? What are the good things he's invited us to put back on our plate? and to put more of on our plate. Well, real food from the earth, plants, animals, and it's most whole form. And it's, you know, like, we've tried to make food faster, quicker, better, cheaper. We've adulterated food as humans, right? Lots of processed food, lots of pesticide use, lots of preservatives, all of that. And so it's just like, now in our generation, it's like, it takes a little work to get food in the form that's closest to how God created it, unfortunately. It takes a little bit of intentionality. It's not always the most convenient or easily available thing.

choosing to rest and not looking at it as a reward, but actually looking at it as a rhythm. And as something that is like, well, if God himself rested when he created me and when he created this whole earth and when God came to earth and was a human rested, like, okay, that's the example that's been set. So putting more of that on my plate or my, you know, metaphorical plate, intentional movement, living purposefully, being in relationship. There was actually, have you heard of the Rosetta effect? No, tell me. Okay. So there's this town, I believe it's in Pennsylvania, don't quote me on that because I could be wrong. But basically they looked at this town that lives like a really close-knit community. And that community where they had really strong ties,

they had lower rates of things like heart disease. Ooh, obsessed. And they kind of were like, okay, when people are living in good, intentional, healthy community, they're less likely to be making decisions that are poor for their health. They're more likely to be joyful in life. And therefore, that has a positive impact on their health and their well-being. And so just putting more, like if you think about, um, choosing the good things God created and giving yourself more of those things. It's not just the food, but that's a big part. And putting that on your plate literally is a good thing. But also just like on your life plate, your metaphorical plate, like filling your time with intentional connection, intentional

relationship, rest, fresh air, healthy movement, you know, and not movement that makes you miserable, but like movement that you actually want to stick with, right? So filling your plate, filling your time, filling your life with these good things God made for you, relationship with him, relationship with others, real food, movement, fresh air, sunlight, rest. Like these things are the things that are kind of the foundation for like caring for your body well and also feeling good and being able to fill out that calling we talked about. What are the big Cs that are sabotaging our health? Okay, so I just made this up.

But I feel like these kind of embody the big things we're up against in our culture. One big thing is cultural beauty standards. There's just so much pressure to look a certain way, to change certain things, to modify the, and there's nothing wrong with caring for your appearance. And I want to be very careful with this because I think you can, again, swing to the opposite end of the spectrum and start to feel like, well, I should just neglect my appearance then. Like, it's not. It's more wholly to neglect my appearance and just focus on the spiritual. It's like, well, no, it's not. It's just we can, I think, face a lot of pressure. And there's a lot of things from a beauty standpoint in our world,

whether it's like injections or implants or anything that have a negative health effects. Botox is literally toxic in many ways, right? Or breast implant. illness or just all of the things that are like, gosh, like, yeah, it might help the appearance, but is it hurting my health? Like, am I sacrificing health for beauty? And if that's like, yes, then it's probably maybe something to consider making a no careers. Not that working is wrong, not that having a career is bad, but I think that the work culture and the whole girl boss culture, I feel like we're all just recovering from a little bit. Yeah. You know, it's like hustle, get up at 5 a.m. Like, it's very masculine. It's like very much in no way supportive to our

hormone cycles and especially for women, right? It's just like, gosh, like working and working ourselves into the ground chasing after some elusive goal or breaking some glass ceiling or whatever pressure or idea we have in our minds. Like I think that I know for me there was a period. I'm like, gosh, I'm up till like 11 p.m. on my laptop every night. Just what am I chasing? Like this is hurting me. It's like no wonder my hormones are a mess and everything's all over the place. So I think just the career culture of our modern world and that we've all kind of, walked through, or many of us have walked through, takes a toll on our health. It takes a toll on our cortisol levels, our hormones, all of that. So I think careers, cultural beauty standards,

convenience. We just live in a convenient-driven world. Huge. I think we are sacrificing our health at the altar of convenience majorly. Yeah. I think getting back to God's design, getting back to a more sustainable way of living and a healthier version of not only ourselves, but just a healthier society, requires a slower life, might require us to do the things that aren't as quick and convenient, right? Like, perfect example is cooking meals at home.

That's not to say I never order out, right? But, like, I think we've just become such a door dash culture and we've just become such a like packaged food, quick everything that it's like, gosh, we've almost lost the art of like cooking a meal. For me, one thing that was really eye-opening during COVID was like, if I didn't at the grocery store, like, where would I sort, how, would I know how to source food? Like, can I go out of my way?

same aha moment. It was such a like, wake up call. Yes, yes. And I was like, gosh, I need to know how to go out of my way to source good food for my family if it's not just available on like a quick Instacart. And again, nothing wrong with utilizing those tools now and then. But I think when we've become so heavily dependent on them as like culture, it's like, well, no wonder we're also sick. Right. Well, I interviewed a couple years ago, this fifth generation rancher, AJ Richards, such a good interview I did. I love, love, love him. And he gave me one of the biggest

light bulb moments when he said that if Walmart, you know, due to another pandemic or what have you, were to run out of food, Americans would starve in as little as three days. I believe that. Because hardly any of us know who our local farmer or rancher is we don't know where to get food. We only, most of us are getting food at Walmart. The average American shops at Walmart. And so without that, what do we do? And that is very scary.

Yes, it is really scary. So, you know, just convenience in various forms. specifically when it comes to food. We have a lot of great tools that can make life easier, but it can also make us a lot less active. It can also take a toll on our ability to feed our families and feed ourselves. Like convenience is a blessing and a curse. So that's one of the things that has definitely taken a toll on our health for various reasons.

So corporations and chemicals is another one. I kind of put those together in one because I kind of blame corporations sometimes, obviously not all corporations, but our products for the last however many years have been filled with hormone disruptors, known carcinogens, allergens, things that take. a huge hit on our health. And a lot of those have been put out by corporations that for the last several decades, we've just trusted baby products, household products. Oh, yeah, like Johnson and Johnson or DePont with Teflon. Yeah, exactly. They've all been just kind of in these like conglomerates

and they're all. And honestly, even a lot of the like healthier brands are bought by big corporations and then their formulations or their recipes are modified or changed. And suddenly they're no longer as clean or healthy. And so you think about all the just toxic sludge that we live in. And unfortunately, some of that's just not avoidable. Like, you can't avoid every toxin you're going to come into contact with, but you can be the gatekeeper of your home. And so I look at, you know, the amount of chemicals that you're exposed to, that we are exposed to through so many of the products we used growing up. I mean, I think about my Bath and Body Works era. I think we all had that, right? It's just like all the body fragrances, all of the tide. Like, all of that is,

there's just been a toxic sludge. I think that so many of us have been exposed to for so long. And so that's taken a toll on many of our health. I know so many women in our generation have struggled with things like fertility endometriosis, post-PCOS, chronic illness. And so all of that can be like tied to our toxin exposure and toxins and hormone disruptors and all of that can influence our health in various ways, especially negatively. And then the fifth one is conflicting health advice. Like we can talk about all the chemicals and all the things and all of those things absolutely impact our health. But we also are just in a world of a lot of information like we talked about earlier. But we can almost instead of just taking a pause when we come across advice, we're like, oh my gosh,

I'm confused. Can so-and-so said this and so-and-so said that? Or there's, I remember at one point in my health journey, I was sipping almond milk because I had heard like, you know, dairy is so bad for you and it's causing acony and all of these things. And so I'm a year into my almond milk phase. And then I come across a whole different school of thought that's like, wait a second, almond milk may not actually be the most beneficial for your health and it doesn't have all these bio-oven and I'm like, I like, I like, I like, was this even good or not? Like, I don't know. But it's the confusion. I think because we live in an information age and we're constantly consuming information and it's good to learn. But that can take a toll on our health too because our cortisol is spiking and we're all over the place and we're just like cherry picking all this stuff and not actually going to like, well, what does my body need? Maybe I should just work with a provider and help me, like that can help me understand where to start for myself and make some small changes here and there. We actually can start to really spiral into the information overload and then the overwhelm that comes from that. and then just start throwing random supplements and stuff at our body without actually understanding,

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There will be an automatic discount that applies. juve.com slash Alex. One of the parts of your book that I think will relate to so many women is talking about how, you know, when you were kind of experiencing seeing this disorder eating in college and really you're like running a ton and working out a time, but you're not getting enough calories and all this. You were the thinnest you ever were.

Now you're saying, I think you said you are now the heaviest you've ever been, but also you are like, I know I'm my healthiest. So can you kind of talk about that relationship with weight and the epiphany that you've had there? Yeah. And it's a really nuanced conversation because I don't want to make the suggestion that like just gain a bunch of weight, right? Like, that's not always going to be the healthiest thing. But when I was in a period of really intense restriction and honestly chronically under eating even at some even at the point where I didn't intend to a lot of a lot of women actually under eat you're so busy you're skipping lunch like you're not actually eating enough nutrient that's food yeah well and you might be eating a lot of like

snacks or processed food or whatever but you're not actually getting enough um like nutrients in your diet every single day and so um there was definitely a period when I when I struggled with that and so what I actually really found was when I started nourishing my body well and being really intentional about like, am I getting enough, like, collagen? Am I getting enough protein? Am I getting enough fiber? My body actually started to gain a little bit of weight. And now I've like had a couple kids. So it's a different weight gain. But I was like, wait a second, why I thought being skinniest was was like the healthiest thing. But as my body gained a little bit of weight, I started to have clearer skin. And I started to like have more balanced hormones. And my body was like, thank you. We just

needed to eat more. Not more of anything, though. More nutrient dense real food. Right. And so, You know, for me, it was like, okay, sometimes getting healthy looks like losing weight. There are absolutely situations where it's like, okay, I actually am overweight. I need to work on this. But there are also situations where it's like you're chronically under eating. You've spent so many years restricting and overburdening your body with trying to be as thin as possible that it's taken a toll on your hormones, your thyroid, your adrenal glands. And that was my situation. So when I started giving my body more nutrients, my body was like, oh, we can heal now.

We can feel better now and my skin cleared significantly, my hormones balance, and made such different. So it's like the point of it is like weight is a nuanced conversation because sometimes being a little bit heavier than your leanest possible weight might actually be where your body finds that equilibrium and can heal. And other times it's like, no, I actually need to lose weight. So it's really individual. Why is body positivity incompatible with the Bible?

Because it makes the body the focus. It's not to say don't be positive about your body or thankful for your body. but it's going back to that metaphor of do I love my body or do I love the one who gave it to me? Health becomes the end. But if you look at it from a biblical worldview, health should be a means to an end. Caring for the vehicle you've been given to carry out your calling while, caring for your body, the vessel you've been given, is so that you can fulfill your calling, right? It's not because you want to create this like perfect body that just is optimized in every possible way for the sake of what.

If you think about body positivity and the way that we've kind of seen it in culture, it's self-love, it's loving the body. It's why. Why do we love the body? If you're honest with yourself, we love our body a lot. Like, we love ourselves. We think about ourselves. We spend most of our time thinking about ourselves as it is. We do most of the things we do to make ourselves more comfortable, to make ourselves feel better. And again, nothing wrong with wanting to heal and care for your body well, especially if it's showing signs that breakdown. But that's so different. That's biblical stewardship is very different from body. positivity or self-love or obsessing over the body itself. It's saying, this is a vehicle to carry out my calling, so I want to take good care of that

so that I can accomplish that. We could stand to love ourselves a little less. Exactly. If anything, not more. People go through something hard. They're like, I just need to love myself more. No, you know. We actually really already love ourselves.

Yeah. Sometimes it can actually be like kind of masked in self-hate and like self-deprecation. But it's ruminating on yourself 24-7. So you're thinking about yourself and your body all the time and how you can, like you're actually starting to make the body a God. Yeah. And you know, you were asking me earlier, how to fill our plate with more good things, God made things. All of these things that we do for our health are all good things. It's like, yes, please exercise.

Please put real food in your body. Please get some rest. But also like be careful not to turn good things into God things. And your body is one of those things. Be careful not to turn the body into a God because it starts to like, it's going to let you down. You're going like, what the heck? I've been doing all this stuff to take care of it. And now it's like going bonkers for some reason. Why? Because we live in a fallen world. I feel like we've had so many messages about our body thrown at us. Like, whether it was like skinny culture and diet culture growing up or then it was like whiplash, body culture, just love your body as it is. It's like, what am I supposed to do here? It's been a roller coaster for millennial women.

It's like, are we okay? Like, I don't know. Is everything going to kill us? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know that sounds a little morbid, but the reality is like if you're honest, yes, at some point, we live in a world that is full of toxins and full of all sorts of things that we can do our best to reduce our exposure to and we can do our best to care for for the bodies

we've been given. But the reality is like, yeah, we all have an expiration date. And that doesn't mean we just throw in the towel and don't care. But in some way or another, like, yes, everything on this side of heaven is in some ways working toward our end. Because, I don't know, last I checked, the death rate's 100%. Right. Like everybody dies at some point. And so I think caring for our bodies and pursuing health and wellness should not necessarily be for the sake of avoiding death, but to, again, care for the vehicle we've been given so that we can live as best as we possibly can while we have days on Earth. You had surgery, you were diagnosed with endometriosis. What have you learned about the condition, its prevalence, and how to heal it?

My gosh, it's like one of the most prevalent illness or like reproductive illnesses and chronic illnesses among women, like young women. And it takes for most people over 10 years to get a diagnosis. Wow. Isn't that crazy? Most women wait 10 years either in pain or unexplained infertility or both. And they're just told like we don't know. And unfortunately, up until now, like one of the most accurate ways to get a diagnosis is surgically. So again, that's kind of a big commitment.

I know for me I was very hesitant. I'm like, I don't know that I want to go through surgery to be told that I might have, you know. So it's incredibly prevalent. It's one of the most common chronic illnesses, reproductive issues that women are facing today. And it's really connected to like hormones, like estrogen dominance, having excessive estrogen is a huge piece of endometriosis. And stuff that fuels excess estrogen in your life are the chemicals in these endocrine disrupting beauty products and fragrance. Yep. It makes sense why so many women in our generation are experiencing things like PCOS or endometriosis. These illnesses

or these diseases that have been really heavily influenced by the amount of endocrine disruptors or Hedocrine means hormone, right? So hormone disruptors that we've been exposed to since the time we were infants, like literally in diapers all the way through the detergents, through the beauty products, like thinking about the different phases of your life. It's like, well, of course. Like that's, it's no shock then that so many of us are experiencing these things that are so influenced by hormone disruption and by imbalance in our hormones. It took you many years before you got results on several different health issues that you were struggling with. When we are in a battle for our health and the answers and the results do not come quickly. How do we keep trusting God? I think it's ultimately

like trusting that God is sovereign over even when we don't get the outcome we want or as quickly as we want. So often we can look at it like, gosh, my body's just failing and I'm not getting the answers I want. I know for me when I did get the endometriosis diagnosis when I started to get some answers from a health perspective, I was a lot more like, oh, okay, God. Like I can better understand because I just felt like my body was revolting against me for no reason, right? You can get so mad at God or your body or if you're not getting the answers to the fertility struggle or you're not getting the clarity as to why something is happening. But I think it's, for me, the biggest lesson I learned is like, God is trustworthy whether or not we get the outcomes we want on this side of heaven. That doesn't

mean it's easy. But I think that's where, again, the community piece is really helpful too. It's just going back to like, I need people who can rally around me and help me remember, like that this is so much bigger than the healing, the hope for outcome, the answered prayer in the timing that I'd like it to be. Because if it were up to me, I would have had answers a lot. lot sooner. I would have had things solved a lot quicker, right? And I think that's how we all feel. But just trusting, like, God is sovereign over even the things that are out of my control and the timing of everything. And it's so much easier said than done, but that's where I think asking for help with that is actually really, really beneficial. Can you articulate the importance of

timeless health habits versus trendy ones? The question that I always have to ask myself, I'm like, before I jump on any new information that I come across or any new really awesome tool that could really help my health and that would be beneficial to have in my home, whether it's, you know, fitness tools or air doctors or whatever, air purifiers. It's, okay, but am I doing the timeless things? And the timeless things are things like sunlight, movement, real food, rest, honoring my circadian rhythms, not looking at a screen till midnight, right? Like shutting my phone off at a decent hour. Am I doing those basic things? The trendier things are like the biohacking things that we come across. Absolutely beneficial. But am I jumping on like the next,

biohacker gadgeter tool or even like healing diets, whether it's like keto or whatever we come across. It's like those are things intermittent fasting. Like again, it's kind of like you'll see it come in waves where all of a sudden everyone's intermittent fasting or everyone's doing keto or everyone's using these, you know, the next gadget or tool. And so if you're like, okay, wait, we weren't just talking about that five minutes ago. And now it's like everything, if you're not doing it, something's wrong with you. That's probably in the trendy category might be really worth, worth it and beneficial for you. But again, before you even jump into the trendy. It's like, am I even doing the timeless kind of basic free things? And if I'm not, then like I really can't afford to be adding trends into my life. Yeah. What did you find out was causing

your severe adult acne? A huge hormone imbalance and gut issues kind of in tandem. Was it leaky gut? Yeah. Leaky gut and then like estrogen dominance and that went right with the endometriosis. So it was kind of one big old mess. And then I also had some thyroid issues too, which is hormonal. What were the changes that you implemented where you started immediately noticing results in the acne going away? A couple different things. One was significantly reducing my toxin exposure. I started changing my beauty products, my personal care products, my household products. Not all at once, but I did some of the big stuff that I was using every day really quickly. Things like laundry detergent and deodorants and what I was putting on my skin all day like makeup, you know, those types of things. So that was one of the big shifts I made. And then after I focused on reducing toxin exposure, another. big thing I tried to do is support my cortisol and my circadian rhythms because the adrenal glands or your adrenal health is kind of like the foundation for your thyroid and your hormones in general is essentially the biggest thing I learned. And I'm like, okay, well, let me get that checked and see kind of,

I thought I have to be so burnt out. Like I was just feeling so exhausted. I would be like wired at night, tired in the morning, didn't sleep well. There was like some sort of, something was off. So I did this test with like a functional doctor or a functional practitioner. We did a Dutch test. Are you familiar with Dutch. Yep. I tell everybody the dry pee test. This is the number one thing. You should, everyone should do it, men and women and it will change your life. It was so eye-opening for me. It's worth it. I learned so much, but I did the such test, okay, and I wanted to see where my cortisol was because I'd been learning like cortisol can influence your adrenal glands, your hormones, your minerals, your thyroid, all the things. And so it's like, okay, I get this test. And my cortisol line, like, it's like,

you test your cortisol over several, like, I think it's 24 hours, if you're, you. I'm saying that right. 24 hours or 48 hours, but over the course of a period of time. And so you should have like this curve. Well, mine was like flat. Like my curve was just like, like it was not not there. And I was like, oh my gosh, amazing. I'm not stressed. That's what I thought. And the practitioner was like, no. Actually, you've been so, like your cortisol's been just like, chronically evalated for elevated for so long. Yeah, you're fried. Just like you have severe adrenal fatigue going on. I was like, oh, well, how do I fix that? So anyways, that was kind of where I was like, okay, I have to focus on supporting my sleep, my circadian rhythms, and getting my cortisol to a healthier place because cortisol

does give you energy. So that's a huge thing I started doing as well. I was at the grocery store last night and there's this guy just standing, watching, but get this, he's carrying a book of memes. Like he's judging humanity one Pepe the frog at a time. He's muttering to himself about John Pork and 6'7. I'm like, okay, this is Gen Z TikTok rot gone so bad. I run home. I throw myself on my cozy earth bamboo visco sheets and it's like a wormhole

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Upgrade your sleep. Go to CozyEarth.com, use code Alex for 40% off. CozyEarth.com, code Alex for 40% off. Okay, it's Christmas shopping season, which means many of us are about to walk into a store, pick up a skincare gift set, flip it over, and immediately panic because, well, if you listen to this show, you're too educated now. You know what endocrine disruptors are. You know what synthetic fragrances do.

So the guilt hits hard when you imagine handing someone a gift packed with chemicals that you actively warn people about. That's why this year, I'm gifting Adele Natural Cosmetics. and honestly it's become my guilt-free go-toe. Adele is a Christian-founded family-owned company rooted in 1-Peter 3-4, and everything they make is handcrafted with purpose, integrity, and love. Their studio is right in central Texas where every batch is artisan made, small, intentional, and clean, and their products are nourishing, not harmful.

From their lightweight aloevira hydrating sprays to their rich essential moisturize, to the body oil that locks in hydration all day, it's exactly what our skin needs in the dry winter months. Plus, they partner with sustainable U.S. farmers using locally gross, own organic ingredients. Their top sellers, the moisturizing foundation, it feels like wearing nothing at all. They're buttery soft lip conditioner with hylronic acid and their gorgeous glow highlighter. It gives you a bright, lifted, Christmas morning glow all year round. Go to Adelaturalcosmetics.com. Use code Alex for 25% off. That's Adelanaturalcosmetics.com. Code Alex for 25% off your first purchase. What were the first steps you took to fix your circadian rhythm? Huge boundaries around the

phone. I mean, really, like getting daylight for six. in my eyes before I looked at a phone, turning it off an hour or two before bedtime. Like that was one of the easiest simplest things. And then adding minerals into my water, trying to support just like my, because again, adrenal health and minerals and all of that goes together. So I was really trying to support my adrenal health. Do you take Kington? No. Oh, that's a good one. Okay. They're like these little glass vials is called Keenton. Q-U-I-N-T-O-N-I-N-I. I talk about, I've talked about this in so many episodes. Okay. Like everyone in the Hellspace knows, like this is the bees knees, but it's this teeny tiny

glass vial that has like mineral seawater in it. It just tastes like salty water. Okay. You snap the end of it off and then you just down it. Okay. It sounds similar. So I do the buoy hydration drops. Okay. Or um, um, ravy mineral mix. Those two are really like clean, good options as well. So I'll do, I'll do those. But I mean, I've done all sorts of stuff. I've done mineral mottails. But the biggest thing was like supporting my minerals, making sure I was getting qualities like sea salt even just in my water. And now I think this is important because people, when I talk about circadian rhythm and optimal light diet and all that, they're like, well, it's so easy for you. You live in Scottsdale. It is easy for me. But you live in Indianapolis,

which is actually where I moved to Phoenix from. And I know that it is gray all winter. So what do you do in the morning when it's, you know, negative 20 out? Well, just at least open your windows. There's, even if it's, even if the sun isn't like bright light, you're still getting natural daylight. So that was a big thing. Um, my mom and I got into red light. We have like red light little machines. And so some red light like just, and one thing that that practitioner had suggested for me at the time. You can actually get like little like daylight bulbs that instead of like looking at your phone. You can have that. So she would be like, hey, when you do your skincare in the morning, like turn that on. So I did get one of those when I was in this period of trying to kind of

heal the adrenal fatigue and kind of get back into a healthier place from a cortisol and adrenal health standpoint. And honestly, just supporting quality sleep, like reading before sleeping or before sleeping instead of scrolling, shutting off screens, getting enough protein, minerals, like all of these things kind of help regulate. And it did really help my adrenal health because I, I started sleeping better when I wasn't living on 17 shots of caffeine a day. I mean, I was literally drinking two to three double shot lattes a day to stay awake, like to have energy. I didn't have kids then. That's crazy. I'm like, something is wrong here, right? So once I kind of toned down the caffeine and up the minerals and toned down the blue light before bed and up to the red light and

just went to bed earlier and red before bed, like it's not complicated. I just kind of started doing a few of those things. Still, even when it was a cloudy gray day, still opening my window because there's still UV light. Like, it's still coming through the clouds. It may not be amazing. But, like, just little things like that. It was wild. Like, within six months, I did the cortisol test or the Dutch test again. And it was like I had this really normal, like, cortisol curve. Crazy you're saying that. Because this summer I did an interview with my friend Ily. And she pissed a lot of people off because Ily was saying, if you are relying on multiple copies a day, you are sick. There's something wrong. No, it's true. And what you just said, you know, talking about your adrenals being shot. And so

you know, Ily, she's done all this. She has this, like, product that's sold everywhere called Minerals and Chill. And it's an adrenal, like, drink mix. But she talked about that with the coffee. So it's interesting you bring that up. Okay, so now I'm a mom of three under three. So it's interesting because I found myself, like, reaching for coffee a little bit more. But what's interesting is when I shifted a lot of this and I started supporting my minerals, especially, so my last postpartum experience a couple years ago, I found that even when I wasn't sleeping that well, I wasn't, like, reliant on coffee.

I enjoyed it. Like, I looked forward to, like, having a cup in the morning. But there was a period where my son just was not sleeping. And I was like, maybe I just need to cut out caffeine all together. Maybe he's getting it through my breast milk. And I was able to do that without, like, dying. Like, I was like, because I was supporting my minerals, I was getting enough protein. Like, yeah, I would have, I kind of missed my coffee a little bit.

But it wasn't like I was getting these terrible headaches or like falling asleep at 2 p.m. And I got two kids. Did he sleep? Neh. He wasn't a kid that slept very well. But, yeah, until he was like 14 months. And that was, yeah, that was humbling. But I was able to, is the point.

Yeah. Three or four years prior, before I had any kids, I was like, you know, I could get all the sleep I wanted. I could not easily do that. It was like a process. And so that was like a huge thing for me. I was like, wow, I kind of have like freedom from this where it's a ritual and something I enjoy. And I've learned how to consume coffee properly. Have you talked about this in the show? No. Tell us. Like not just waking up and drinking coffee on an empty stomach. Oh, yeah. That messes up all the adrenaline. It's like you want to try to have coffee with like a balanced breakfast. Yeah. And quality coffee. Right. So I switched to organic and molded mycotoxin free. and then if I have coffee, I put like some Taylor Duke's wellness protein in it and I have it with some eggs or something to balance your blood sugar out.

So you're not just like having this huge caffeine spike and on an empty stomach essentially. What protein powder do you put in your coffee from her? Oh my gosh, it depends on the day. Pumpkin spice in October and candy cane in December and vanilla all year round. Do the candy cane people or in my DMs like rabid animals like candy cane? I'm like, what is going? I texted Taylor the other day. I was like, what did you put in this stuff?

No, for real. I know. Malina, I was talking to her the other day and she's like, I'm giving it to my kids. I'm like, oh, yeah, because it's bone broth based. Yeah, it's so good. So I'm, like, putting like a little bit of a candy cane protein in milk and giving it to my boys. And they're like, I want the candy cane drink. It's the best of our little candy cane lottesies.

But just getting some protein and some nutrient in your ideally quality coffee. I just shifted the way I was doing it. And I'm like, I still can enjoy it. It's not like coffee's the end of me. But I kind of try to keep a pulse on that. I'm like, am I relying on this? Right. Because there are days where I'll have a second cup because I want to, but not necessarily because I

need you and that's a big difference. As somebody who struggled with over-exercising in your past, what fitness routine have you settled on now as a mom to three little kids? Um, well, none. Routine? Like, I don't know. Um, if I'm just being honest. Just walking, keep another kids. That just might be your season. That's okay. I love the honesty. No, it's true. Like, honestly, the biggest thing, I wouldn't call it a routine because it's just kind of like, we're just doing what we can here. Sure. Um, but in terms of what it looks like in this season, it looks a lot like getting outside going for walks or like inclined walking on my treadmill. And then I have the moves app.

Have you seen the moves app? No. They've got really great like postpartum stuff. So I've done like some just focus on like core and strength and whatnot. But I literally turned to my office and my house into my workout space because it used to be in the basement. But I couldn't hear the kids when they were napping. So I just kind of like use that space. And my routine looks like honestly intentionally trying to move my body every single day.

Sometimes that's chasing kids, which is just built into my life now. But usually that looks like trying to get some sort of walk or. just like a 10, 15 minute quick, like strength training in if I can. By the way, there's no shame in starting with walking. Yes. Especially like postpartum, you know, you've gone through all of that. It's like, okay, how do I start like getting moving again and everything? You want to know my first workout when I was postpartum, a year postpartum with my son, my first like official workout. What? It was literally a walk jog. Like I was like, I'm just going to go around the neighborhood and just like jog and walk a little bit. Because I don't know if you know this whole story, but we had two under a

year for a year. So we adopted my son when I was a few months pregnant with my youngest son. And so we had two that were under six months for a period. And I had a C-section. And so I just was like in survival mode. And so when like there were opportunities to like go to a workout class and I was like, no, no, we're just not there yet. And so then I had gotten to a point where I was like, gosh, I just have regressed so much. I'm like afraid to start. Like I was afraid to embarrass myself to myself. Like no one was watching, but I was just like, I don't even know where to begin anymore. And I used to be such like a fitness freak. It was crazy. And so that was the first thing I did. I was like, I'm just going to go for a walk and jog like 100 meters, walk 100 meters. And I did that for like a mile or two.

And it was humbling. But it kind of got me back in the rhythm. And then I was able to kind of get back into something from there. But yeah, start with walking. Start with walking and like jog a little where your baby and walk. Yeah. Yeah. Walk up and down your stairs if you need to. Like that's something I do sometimes during nap time. I'm like, well, I just need to do something. I was honestly a good hack for if you live in a really cold state during the winter. Yes. As a stay at home mom, what is your budget advice for living a healthier non-toxic lifestyle. Take advantage of sales, first thing. Second of all, it's, you know, doing what you can where you can. The biggest thing I think we've kind of forgotten is the goal is to lower your toxin burden, not replace every single thing you possibly could at

one time. Like, yeah, that would be ideal and optimal. But if you want to kind of do this on a budget and you want to do it from a financial stewardship standpoint, too, because you don't want to just put yourself in a financial ruin to take care of your health, right? Like, there's going to be cortisol spikes with that if you do that. So just change. what you can as you run out of things, like, okay, can you find a healthier swap that maybe is just somewhat comparable, even if it's not, like, in terms of, from a price point standpoint, even if it's not like the clean as best top of the line? Okay, but is it better? Can you find something that's a little bit better? And just like doing that a little bit at a time and taking

the pressure off yourself of like, I have to overhaul everything overnight and I need to get the top of the line brands. It's like, or you could just get something a little less hormone disruptory. Yeah. You know, just like a little better. And start with like the things you use most often and take advantage of sales. How did you get your husband on board with a healthier lifestyle? And what's your advice for other people? I think because for us, it really began during our fertility struggle. He was like, okay, I'm on board. Like, he was on the same page. You're like, I want to do anything we can. But at the same time, there were definitely things he was resistant to. Like, the man still hasn't given up his AirPods. It, like, kind of stresses me out a little. I'm like,

honey, I got him on board, but I think it was not so much that I was trying to get him on board. I was just making changes I needed to for my health, and he was part of it. And so it wasn't like, hey, you need to do this, this and this. I just kind of shared what I was learning. And that was a big thing. He was, he was so much more likely to get on board with something or participate or willfully change something if I was able to share what I was learning. Because I think sometimes what we can do is we consume information or we learn something. And then we're like, blah, I need to change all this. And they're like, what is happening? Like all of a sudden, it's like, it's fear base. It's scary. It's, it's emotional. It's whatever. And I found that when I would just present like, hey,

here's something I learned. Here's, you know, the study that they did, or here's the information or here's what this doctor said, like, what do you think? Do you think maybe we could change this? He was so much more receptive than to the times where I was like, hey, we shouldn't get this kind of yogurt because it's bad for you. And I go down this whole tangent. He's like, okay, where did this this come from? This is good advice. Yeah. So just, I mean, he gave it. I did a whole podcast interview with him where it was just kind of like, tell me from the man's perspective the way that you're most likely to receive this. And also, I just had to compromise on some things. Like, I just had to be like, okay, like, I'm not going to get you to give up everything and change.

everything, but what are the biggest things that we can get on the same page about? Honestly, and the other thing is I had to kind of present it to him. Like, I feel like my role as the woman is to be the gatekeeper of the home. Like he is too in some ways, right? Like we, but we both have ways of protecting our family. And at the time, we didn't even have our children yet. But I felt like I was making parenting decisions before the kids were even there because what you do for your health, like you were talking about with the eggs, right? Like, what I was doing for my health and my fertility impacts our future family. Right. And so, you know, I kind of presented it to him like that. Like, I'm the gatekeeper of our home. The way, the things that you do protect our family,

whether that's have weapons or have a security system or research the best, you know, car safety things or whatever. Like that's totally your world. And I'm going to trust your recommendations and choices on that. When it comes to the things in our kitchen, the things in our bathroom, the things like in our home that we allow in, those are going to influence our kids as well. Not just the media we allow in and not just the people. Those are things that influence our kids. But the products we use, the foods we eat, et cetera, like that has an influence on them too from a from a from a from a, not only like on their ability to potentially exist, but also on like their future health, their future fertility. And so kind of presenting it to him like that. Like I look at

this as a holy and sacred and important role to be the gatekeeper of our home. And these are the areas I feel like I want to make really intentional choices. He was so much more receptive for that than than if I were to be like, oh my gosh, this is so scary. Like we need to change it. Because I did that too and it wasn't very effective. Yeah. Yeah. I think just having a going back like why do I even care about this. And what's the bigger eternal value here? You could get on board with a lot more. Tell us again the name of your book and who should read it. Yeah, it's called Be Good to Your Body. Really, I feel like anyone who's felt overwhelmed when it comes to health and wellness or just kind of apathetic. If you feel like you've kind of like toggled between those two or been stuck in

one camp or the other, this is really going to be refreshing for you. But also I feel like a survival guide a little bit in our world of like, we have so much information and information overload that we can either become very like, whatever, everything's going to kill me or, oh my gosh, everything's going to kill me. I have to do all the things to fix it. Right. And if you've ever felt one of those two mindsets, like read this book. It is so good, you guys. I loved this book. She covers every single aspect of physical health, emotional health, struggling with mom guilt, mom shame, even before you had kids. Oh, yeah. You had gone through this. You talk about that in the book. I really, knowing my audience, like I do, I know this book will be an absolute must. So good for Christmas.

and get it for your sisters, your daughters, nieces, what have you, at any age, really. I think this would be a great book for a high school college age girl to read also. It's what I wish I would have had when I was younger and also at the beginning of my health journey. Like I was looking for a book that kind of gave me like a biblical but practical, like this combined scripture, science, like all the things that I care about. I wanted something like that that was like a biblical worldview like map to wellness essentially because there's so many body image books. There's so many books on confidence from like a Christian lens. But there was nothing that was like, okay, but like what about when I'm wanting to like pursue health and wellness and heal my acne or I'm struggling with infertility like with the practicals of that? Or like if I want to get into taking care of my health a little bit more, but I don't even know where to start. And I'm just like kind of like whatever right now. I'm just kind of floating. So I wanted to write something like that for the person that I was for the person I was when I was just like fitness and green juice and the person I was when I was struggling with fertility. And I'm just like, went on like the deep dive into all things holistic and was like I have to fix everything and then

you know to kind of find like a balanced and um practical approach to doing this and to caring for your body well in a world of self love and body positivity and toxins and all the things that just like crowd our minds and can really take a toll on our health so be good to your body jordan lee dully available anywhere books are sold anywhere books are sold yeah what's your instagram at jordan lee dully if you could give one remedy to heal a sick culture physically emotionally or spiritually, what would it be? All the good things we talked about on our plate, the rest, the moving our bodies, the real food, all of these things. You can put all of these good things on your plate and they are good things, but be careful not to turn them into God things.

Don't turn health or anything that the world tells you is good for your body. Don't turn that into a God. Go back to God. Get back to God's design. In the small, in the small simple ways, I think if we're going to heal a sick culture, we have to encourage the culture and individually choose to just do one simple thing a day to get back to God's design in our life. We're never going to go back to the garden. We're never going to go back to Eden on this side of heaven. And it's a delusion to think we can recreate that here. But we can do little things to get 1% closer to God's design. And I think the more that we do that, the healthier we're going to get. Jordan, it has been so fun to watch you grow, become a mom, all of the blessings that God has bestowed on your life.

I love you and Matt. I just, I am so happy to call you a friend and have you on the show. It's, it's so cool having an Indiana girl on. Yes. It's so fun to be here. You know, you interviewed me for my very first book. Do you remember this? No. You interviewed me on a radio station in Indianapolis when you were working there for Own Your Every Day. I did? Like six or seven years ago. So it's like full circle. Well, I remember going to lunch with you, but I don't remember interviewing you. Yeah, it was like a brief little like radio spot. Oh my gosh. So I was like this is fun.

That's so cool. Yeah. Such a cool. Like full circle. Thank you for coming on Culture Apothecary. Thank you for having me. I love Jordan so much. Put this book in your Amazon. on cart for you and a friend. It will edify you, uplift, bring peace and encouragement. New episodes of culture apothecary drop every Monday and Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern. Full disclosure, there are a few weeks that are coming up here during the holiday season where episodes are going to release on different days just because the holiday may fall on a normal release day. So, you know, just be surprised. We're trying to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally,

and spiritually. Let me know how I'm doing with that with a five-star review on Apple or Spotify. My name is Alex Clark and this is Culture Apothecary.