Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 951 | What Does the Bible Say About Our Diet? | Guest: Chelsea Blackbird

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

Today we're joined by Chelsea Blackbird, the "Christian Nutritionist," to discuss her story of healing her infertility through a holistic approach. She explains that our bodies are not against us but rather telling us what we need to balance better. How should we think of health and wellness and nutrition from a Christian perspective? What is the purpose of the body, and how should we view food? Should we really be eating bread and red meat when there is so much commentary on what is bad for us? How much protein and fat should we be eating? We cover all this and much more on this Wellness Wednesday! Check out Chelsea's work here: https://www.thechristiannutritionist.com/ --- Timecodes: (01:00) Chelsea's infertility story (06:40) How to view our bodies (13:10) Different diets (16:40) How to find good quality food? (22:25) Protein, fat & carbs (31:47) Typical day of eating (35:20) Spacing out meals / intermittent fasting (42:20) Sitting down to eat (51:00) Chelsea's work (53:30) Getting your kids to eat well --- Today's Sponsors: Good Ranchers — get 10% OFF your box today at GoodRanchers.com – make sure to use code 'ALLIE' when you subscribe. Jase Medical — get up to a year’s worth of many of your prescription medications delivered in advance. Go to JaseMedical.com today and use promo code “ALLIE". Covenant Eyes — protect you and your family from the things you shouldn't be looking at online. Go to coveyes.com/ALLIE to try it FREE for 30 days! Carly Jean Los Angeles — use promo code RELATABLE25 for $25 off an order of $125 or more, or RELATABLE50 for $50 off an order of $200 or more at CarlyJeanLosAngeles.com! --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 741 | How to Realistically Live Toxin-Free | Guest: Taylor Dukes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-741-how-to-realistically-live-toxin-free-guest-taylor/id1359249098?i=1000595318788 Ep 810 | Detoxifying Your Life: Birth Control, Cleaning Chemicals & Fake Food | Guest: Shawna Holman https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-810-detoxifying-your-life-birth-control-cleaning/id1359249098?i=1000614201869 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. What we eat matters. It matters not just for our physical health, but also for our spiritual health. It matters to God. God cares about the body.

Therefore, he cares about how we steward the body. So how should we think of health and wellness and nutrition from a Christian and biblical perspective? A Christian nutritionist, Chelsea Blackbird, is here today to break it all down for us. She has been doing this for 20 years and she has a lot of really interesting insights, not just into physical nutrition, but also into our spiritual health and how these two are tied together. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use code Alley and check out.

That's good ranchers.com code Alley. Chelsea, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Yes. Can you tell everyone who you are and what you do? Sure. My name is Chelsea Blackbird. And I love bringing together the topic of health and through a biblical lens. I never thought I would be doing anything like this. But about 20 years ago, I was facing my own health challenges. I grew up with a a genetic skin condition that I went to Doctors 4 for about 20 years, you know, finally kind of hit a dead end road with them. They couldn't do anything more for me. I took every cream, every pill that they recommended, had major surgery, and then it was kind of like, we can't help you anymore. So there was that. I had chronic digestive issues growing up,

but I just thought they were normal. But it wasn't until I was diagnosed with unexplained infertility that I really became desperate for a solution. Right. And my husband was not on board with the direction that the doctors wanted to take me. So I started researching, looking around, found a doctor with a holistic approach. I found a really great book called Taking Charge of Your Fertility. The holistic doctor changed my diet, gave me some supplements, filled in some gaps, and six weeks later I was pregnant.

Wow. Yes. So this is 20-ish years ago in small town Texas. How in the world did you go about finding this person? How did I find him? Well, he was in the bigger town, not far from me. I honestly, I can't even remember how I found him. It was just through researching. I guess God made the connection. Yes, yes. Absolutely a divine connection. And that really started me on the journey of just being hungry to learn more about that, about nutrition and health. I just started reading and reading and reading and reading. And finally went back to become certified as a holistic practitioner. And that is, that's what I've been doing for the last, you know, 10, 12, 11 years. As I was going through this and learning all of these things, I felt this strong pull from God to call myself the Christian nutritionist. Every time I would read my Bible, all I could see was health advice, frankly. It was like, God put a lens over my eyes.

And I was like, oh my gosh, just makes so much sense. There's so much information out there, conflicting information. And so it just started to make sense to me. You know, God made our body. Who knows better what our body needs than the creator of our body. Right. And so I really just started learning, diving into that. I really resisted.

God, I resisted that call. when he was calling me to that because I'm like, I don't know enough about the Bible God and I'm new to this nutrition stuff and who am I? And sometimes I like to, you know, eat chips and drink some wine. I'm not. Maybe I'm not the best person for this job. But when God calls you to do something, you just, you do it. You know, you, he wouldn't letting up. And so here I am. So what did your holistic doctor recommend to you that was so revolutionary in your life? And, And that quickly, you said six weeks later you were pregnant. Six weeks, yes. And it was a combination of reading that book, which really... Taking charge of your fertility. Yes, retaught me about my body, which honestly I really hadn't thought of since fourth grade when you learned. Yeah.

I mean, that's most of us. Yes. Who's talking about it? Who's really teaching you about your body and timing and hormones and all of these things, right, once you kind of get past that initial education? So it was a matter of that. Also, he put me on a gluten-free diet. Okay. and gave me some essential fatty acid supplements.

Wow. I was really lacking in essential fatty acids. Did he tell you what his thinking was behind the gluten-free diet? No. Because that was before gluten-free, you know, kind of has been trendier. And it's not trend for everyone. But over the past few years, it's been more common for people to be gluten-free. But 20 years ago, it wasn't really.

It wasn't. I'd heard of it. I have celiac in my family. I have a couple aunts with celiac disease. So it was familiar to me. And I'd kind of toyed with it often. on. He really didn't. I knew enough that gluten could be inflammatory, and so that, I think that was a big part of it. And at the time, I honestly didn't even understand the significance of the fatty

acids and why that was important. But it, you know, just looking back now, I can see my body was not ready to grow a baby. It did not have what it needed. And I think that is one thing that enough people don't pay enough attention to. When something's off with the body, that is a sign that there's an imbalance or a nutritional need or something that needs to be changed. And I always like to remind people that our bodies are not against us. Our bodies are for us. God made our bodies incredibly smart and resilient and wired for wellness.

And when we give it what it needs, it can do its job better. And so always just to be making those connections and being aware of those connections. So what did it look like? What has it looked like being a Christian nutritionist? What are you offering people? Really just looking at health and nutrition from the purpose of the body. You know, I think a lot of us, when we're thinking about health, we're thinking of it very much only from the physicality of our appearance and how we look, right? I think as Christians we really need to take a look at the true purpose of the body. What is the purpose of the body? It is not to hit a certain number on the scale or to hit a certain size of genes or even to eat perfectly.

Our bodies are meant to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit. You know, 1st Corinthians 619 says, do you not know that your body is a holy temple? You know, given from God, you are not your own. So we are image bearers. We are the hands and feet of Christ in the world. And I believe that God has given every person gifts and a special way to bless the world. And we just show up so much more fully to that, you know, to offer that to our family and our friends and our workplace and our communities when we feel well. When we feel well, we serve well, when we feel good in and about our body. And so that is a huge piece of it. It's just kind of reframing the way that we look at. taking care of our body and that self-stewardship, that stewardship that we are called to to be in these bodies. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country

aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave. even when it's unpopular.

This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. So how should Christian, that's how Christians kind of view the body. How do we view food then? Because there's so many different messages that, especially as women, have been kind of competing. in our minds. I feel like guys in athletics, they learn pretty early on that food is fuel for us,

or at least for me. I can't speak for everyone. But it felt less like I would use food for fuel and more like I was competing against it or like competing against my hunger. Right. And, you know, only wanting to eat as much as what would satiate you. You go through your preteen, your teenage years. The worst thing that you can think of is not. looking good in the mirror, not being comfortable in your skin, or not fitting into a certain size. And so you learn very early on to kind of compete against your hunger, to compete against food, to see your body as an enemy. And so how do you fight back against all of those messages that especially women have carried with us for so long about what we eat? Right. First and foremost,

we have to look, again, as I said, the creator of our body knows the perfect, thing that our body needs, right? And so when we look to scripture, we know that he gave us foods from the plant kingdom, Genesis 126, and he gave us foods from the animal kingdom, Genesis 9.3. And our body requires certain things from both of those kingdoms to be healthy. And again, you know, viewing the body as being healthy enough to do the work that we're called to do in the world, to glorify the Lord, to do our kingdom work, whether that is being a mother or being a professional or just being kind to the people in our community. You know, so much of how we show up to do that is determined by the foods that we eat, the functioning of our body, the way what we feel, our moods, everything that

we put in our body determines so much about that. And so as far as all the conflicting messages, yet there's so much, right? It's like, should you be keto or carnivore, vegetarian, or fats bad, are they good? I mean, so much has changed just in, you know, my lifetime, that it's overwhelming. And I think it's very hard for all of us to really know what is the best thing to do here. But just taking it back to those foundational elements, we need plant foods, we need animal foods. Each of those kingdoms offers something very important for the body to run well. From the animal kingdom, we get our proteins, our amino acids, essential amino acids, that our body must use to repair and rebuild our body. and from the plant kingdom we get carbohydrates we get phytonutrients we get fiber we get some vitamins

and minerals from both of the kingdoms we get fats from both of the kingdoms and so when we start looking at the as food kind of as fuel you know it is a good thing to come around and know that yes our body needs to be fueled our body is constantly rebuilding and repairing itself i think a lot of people don't think about that that our body is constantly making new gut cells new skin cells new liver cells, new bones, where do you get the material to do that? Where's your body get the material to do that from the food that you eat? So if you're, you know, eating ding-dongs and soda, well, you're not giving your body a lot of good material to use to build your body, to run your body, to fuel your body.

And so when we think of it that way, just really understanding that we need these good materials for our body to be well, to be sound, to be fit, physically, spiritually, and mentally. And again, I think as women, when we do change that viewpoint from, you know, thinking of food and weight and thinking all of these things that are against us and thinking, this is for us, this is for me. This is so I can live into everything that God created me to be. And it's just a shift of mind. Yeah, definitely. It definitely is, I don't know if it's a trend or if it's just. just popular, whatever it is, but to say that we should only be eating this or only be eating

that or we should cut all of this or cut all of that. And I'm thinking of carnivore. I'm thinking of veganism. And honestly, I know people in both of those camps who swear by how they eat, who swear that all we need is leafy greens and vegetables, juice, things like that and maybe even raw vegetables. And then I know people who do carnivism. for who swear by that. And they say it's so much protein. I'm so full. I'm never craving anything. I'm never hungry. I've built so much muscle. And so, and then I know people who have done veganism to help fight cancer and things like that. And so it's hard to argue with people's personal testimony because if that works for them, then that's great. But I've also heard other

nutritionists like you say, well, we really aren't getting everything that we need if we are only eating from one food group. But it's hard for someone like me who doesn't have all the expertise to really know what's true. Because these people who have these incredible stories, but also who seem to know a lot more than I do, are saying with such authority, no, if you eat meat, then you're probably going to get cancer. Or if you eat leafy greens, those leafy greens are telling you not to eat them because they're bitter. I'm like, I don't know what to believe. I don't know what to believe. I'll just go to in and out again. Right. Well, you know, I think there's a place. There's a time and a place for therapeutic diets.

And somebody could use a vegan diet or a carnivore diet or a keto diet therapeutically. And there's nothing wrong with that. And that it's for like one purpose, one ailment? Yes. Or for a specific purpose of trying to heal something. Right. Okay. Right.

And temporary. Maybe three to four months, maybe longer. It can depend. But ultimately in the big picture, I think the ideal diet again, we go back and look at scripture, Genesis 1-26, God, gave us plants, Genesis 9-3, God gave us meat. And really, that is the ideal diet. A combination of, you know, clean versions of plant food and animal food is really what we are best meant to eat.

You know, and I encounter a lot of people that believe that because we originated in the garden, you know, that we should be vegetarian. Yeah, I've heard that. You know, that comes up a lot. And I'd like to remind people that we did get kicked out of the garden. Yeah. And that God gave us the permission to eat meat in Genesis 93. And not only that, but he gave us direction about what is the best meat to eat.

And when we look at the food laws, he gave the Israelites in Leviticus. I think it surprises people to know that what he recommended were the ruminant animals, cattle, bison, deer, sheep, goat, all red meat. Right. Right. And that is very opposite of the narrative that we hear today. that meat will cause cancer and such. And so, again, that is one of those things, coming back to our godly campus, for me anyway,

that is when I come back to my godly campus and think, okay, God recommended this kind of meat, this cannot be bad for me. And when it comes to kinds of meat, how should we look at how things are being processed? I mean, that's not something that I know very much about at all. I mean, I get my meat from good ranchers, as people on this podcast know, but most people are going into the grocery store and they're just

kind of doing their best. They might look at the composition of, you know, lean meat versus fatty meat, but that's about all they know. And I don't even know how to necessarily control how it's being processed or anything. So how do we look at, if we're going to eat food from all these different camps, how do we look at their characteristics? How do we make the best choice for the best things within those groups. Sure. Well, when it comes to meat specifically, obviously it's just like it's best for us to eat our God-given diet, it is best for the animal to eat their God-given diet, right? So the more that we can source our protein from animals that were fed well, raised well, that is ideal. You know, my husband is a, as a grass-fed cattle rancher. So, you know, I see

this up-close and personal. That said, sometimes I can. be hard to find. Sometimes that can be out of people's budget. Right. You know, and even labeling can be kind of confusing, right? Because something can say, this is grass fed, but all cattle are grass fed for part of their life. Yeah. But not 100% of their life. So has to be grass finished? It has to be grass finished, right. Okay. So that means grass finished means that they're only eating the grass, right? Because if they're grass fed but not grass finished, it could also, it could mean that they're fattening up towards the end of their life with extra stuff that we wouldn't want. Correct. They're finished on grain. Typically, and unfortunately, it's usually not high quality.

It's genetically modified corn and soy. And so again, that's not, that can lead to illness for the animals, which would require what requires some shots, things like that. Right. And so, however, I don't like to scare people, put fear in people about what to eat. But I do have some tips about what you should do. You go to the grocery store and you're looking at your meat. The thing is when you are choosing your red meat, say your beef or your bison, and those come from ruminant animals. I think this is so fascinating. And what's ruminant?

Ruminant animals are animals that have a four-part digestive system. Okay. This is different from a monogastric animal like a chicken or a pig or a person. We are a monogastric animal. One stomach. Okay. Okay. Ruminants have four stomachs.

It takes them closer to 24 hours to digest. They are typically they're herbivores, right? And so they are utilizing plant nutrition, turning it into amino acids and all of these wonderful nutrients that they pass on to us when we eat them. And so it's something about this wonderful ruminant digestive process that they can do that. but also that longer digestive process allows them more time and more capability to process out some of the toxic effects of what they might be encountering. And so I tell people if you are on a budget or you have a lack of access to things, really going for your beef is going to be more forgiving or a ruminant animal food, beef, bison, sheep, goat, elk is going to be more forgiving in that kind of toxic. arena, whereas something like chicken or pork, they hold on to more toxins, if you will.

And another thing to consider is that animals, just like humans, hold toxins in our fat cells. That's where we store them and it's beautiful, God's beautiful design to keep toxins away from our vital organs. And so if you are unable to access or afford, you know, grass-fed beef or pastured chicken, something like that, or pastured pork, going for the leaner cuts is a good idea. Okay. So leaner cuts of beef? Leaner cuts of meat if you, yes. Okay.

So that's less fat, which means less toxins that you would be getting. The lower the quality, then I would stick more for the lower fat. But otherwise, if you are able to access, you know, grass fed beef, pasture pork or chicken, then I wouldn't worry about that. Okay. Because, you know, animal fats offer fat soluble vitamins. There are health benefits to eating the animal in its entirety if it's good quality. Okay. Gotcha.

And then because we do hear so often that, well, I eat meat, but only chicken. I don't want to eat any red meat. We are kind of made to believe that chicken is actually the healthiest form of meat for us. But you're saying because of that, the one chamber. The monogastric stomach, yes. Yes. we could get more toxins from chicken than we would from beef, possibly. Yes, and I don't want to scare people from chicken.

Eat chicken, eat fish, eat, you know, red meat, eat all of it. Just please eat protein. Yeah. Please eat protein from animal sources. That's, you know, I really try to get people, so many women, especially under-eat protein. It is a huge problem. Yes, I definitely do. And I want to talk, too, about that.

Yes. And so, but again, when we're trying to make the best choices we can, what we have access to what is in our budget. Food is so expensive right now and it's tough. And so if, you know, when we're in the grocery store, making those decisions, yes, that red meat is going to be more forgiving as far as toxicity and going for the, you know, lower fat cuts. It's not time to, you know, eat all the rib-eyes if you are, you know, you can't get a very high-quality meat. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about protein then. Okay. Because that is obviously one benefit to a carnivore. diet. They say you're going to get protein and that is one complaint that people have if they're

going all vegan or something. That's just tough to get, especially natural forms of protein. Of course, you can get protein powders and things like that, but then you run into all different kinds of ingredients. So you've already advocated for basically a diet that takes the best of every kind of group. But how much, how much should we be eating of what? Right. Because it's also been popular to say just do almost all leafy greens and then kind of add in the protein when you can. But it doesn't sound like that's what you would recommend. I would, I recommend a pretty high protein diet. I would say between 70 to 90 grams.

Okay. Most days, if you can swing it, that's high. But a lot of people, not a lot of people, but some would even recommend higher than that and recommend one gram of protein per pound of ideal lean. body mass. So lean body mass is everything in your body besides fat. It includes your muscle, the water, everything. And so it's not your weight. Yeah. But like my ideal lean body mass at my height at five six is, if I'm remembering correctly, is 108. Yeah. How do you know that? There's a chart. Oh, you can just, you can just search it. Okay. So it's not individual. It's really just for like your height.

Yes. Yes. Yes. And so for somebody that is really targeting maybe weight loss or trying to tone up, build muscle, I recommend going closer to that. Okay. But if it's just kind of your everyday person and maybe somebody that's not used to eating very much protein, 70 to 90 grams is kind of a nice range to go towards. And animal protein, because what we're after in protein are amino acids, essential amino acids. Those are the building blocks of the body.

That is what makes your body, that is what your body uses to re-reaching. repair, build your cells. And we get those amino acid, the essential amino acids, so much more bioavailably from animal protein than we do from plants. So animal foods, animal proteins are considered a complete protein because they have all of those eight essential amino acids that we need in the right ratios and the right amounts to each other. Whereas a plant protein has some of these amino acids, doesn't have quite the amount of them. and not in the right ratio. So for example, to get the same amount of protein from, say, like, quinoa and, you know,

a three ounce piece of steak, you'd have to have, like, three cups of quinoa or, like, a little three or four ounce piece of meat. Well, then what's happening? Well, I don't know about you. If I eat three cups of quinoa, I'm going to be bloated. Yeah. And I'm going to be hungry in, like, 30 minutes. Right.

You're going to be bloated. It's not that filling. And there's a high energy or caloric. load with that comes with that. When you can get those amino acids that you need so much more efficiently from a small piece of meat. And so that's where the animal kingdom shines, right, is the essential amino acids, where your plant kingdom is going to give you that fiber and some of those phytonutrients that you need. And so that's really what I like to remind people is that both kingdoms have their strengths, right? But the amino acids, boy, the animal kingdom hands down is

the winner there. Okay. So 70 to 90 grams of protein, you would say, And then what about fat and carbs? What are you aiming for? Okay. So with fat and carbs, carbs, I like to keep those under about 100 grams. And little, that can be ish. I'm kind of ish. It depends on how much you move.

It depends on the quality of those carbohydrates. But I would say the more real food, I would say real food the way God made it, the more real food carbohydrates that you're eating from plants, plants, you know, your leafy greens and your produce basically. Okay. You can eat more. You can get away with more. But about 100 grams or less is a good target.

Okay. So for our carbs, you recommend getting those mostly from vegetables rather than, say, bread? Ideally, yes. Although I'm not against bread. I have to tell you that, you know, I was gluten-free for 10 years. And in the last year, I started milling my own. wheat and baking bread. Wow. That's awesome. Huge change. And so I eat bread every day, practically. So I'm not. But it's bread that you are making. Yes, high quality.

Okay. High quality. And also that can fit in your carb range. You know, that's the thing is that, yes, you want to get a lot of vegetables. You want to get some fruit. Whole grains are not, you know, not a bad thing either. You know, quinoa's not a bad food. Beans are, you know, have some, absolutely have some protein and have some things in them. Fiber and such. Again, fiber, some of those phytonutrients from the plant foods. But the amino acids leave that to the animal kingdom for sure. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. And then fat, there are also some differing theories on how much fat we should have. There definitely was a craze at one point in the 90s in early 2000s where like every snack would say like zero grams of fat or no trans fat or whatever. Whatever. So what is your thought on how much fat we should be eating? Right. Everything was low fat. And now it's everything's like fat. Full fat. Yeah. Yeah. Eat everything like fat. So really, I kind of fill in the blanks with the fat after that. So if we're eating 70 to 90 grams of protein, we are keeping our carbohydrates at about less than 100 grams. Then the rest will be made up from fat. And that can vary. That could be, you, 70 to 100 grams of fat, 60 to 100 grams of fat. in there, once you kind of balance all those macronutrient ratios. The thing to remember is that carbohydrates and fats are both forms of energy.

Okay. And that's what our body uses as fuel. And so those are things that we want to consider in relationship together. You know, when one is up, the other needs to be kind of down. And so I always say proteins are steady, Eddie. We stay steady with the protein that's going to not going to change that much. but where we do some manipulation is with our carbohydrates and fats. And so with the higher fat diet, you're going to have less carbohydrates.

That might look more like 50 grams or 25 grams. Or if you're having more carbs, we're going to bring those fats down a little bit more. So it's kind of a balance between them. Just balance. And what would you say some of the best sources of healthy fatter? From the plant kingdom, I would say extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil. those are probably the best from the animal kingdom, your butter, high quality tallow, just those, again, if you are able to source those good grass-fed meats or pastured meats, that fat has some good fat soluble vitamins in there. So, you know, if you think of our early ancestors, especially here in America, that's, that is the fat that they would have eaten.

It would have come from these animal foods, right? because in the early 1900s, they're not importing a lot of olive oil and coconut oil, right? So they would have really relied on butter and tallow and lard and those things. And so that is, you know, and today it's like, don't eat, don't eat fat, don't eat better, don't eat beef and all those things. But we got to think historically. I think our common sense just flies out the window when it comes to this stuff. What is a typical day of eating like for you, breakfast, lunch, and dinner? So I eat a lot of eggs.

I love eggs. So I did have a question about the eggs because we talked about chickens and how sometimes just depending they can have more toxins or they have the propensity to have more toxins because of that single chamber of the stomach. But does that count for the eggs? Like that might seem like a silly question. No, it's not a silly question at all. But I don't know if it's the same concern that we have with the meat of the chicken. Right. we do want to be concerned and aware of quality of the eggs.

So again, the higher quality of the chicken, the higher quality of the egg, you know, depends on what the chicken was fed, how high quality the egg is. Again, you know, chickens are supposed to be out picking around, eating grass and grubs and different things like that. And when they do, they're very healthy. They have healthy meat and they produce healthy eggs. The more that is, most chickens are kept in a cage and they're, you know, they never see the light of day.

and they're going to produce these eggs, they're still going to have some nutritional value. They're just not going to be as healthy as ones that are, you know, pasture, right? And the chickens are stressed out in those little chambers, right? And I've heard that that can affect also what gets into the egg, just like the different hormones and things that are happening when you're under stress. They're different than the hormones that are present or elevated when you're where you're supposed to be. Exactly. Exactly. You know, when those chickens are fed, genetically modified corn and soy, you know, and there are people that are so sensitive that they could eat an egg that was not pastured and it could set off a reaction because of what the chicken ate and produced the egg, which is, you know, becoming alarmingly more and more common, you know, sadly with food sensitivities and such. But so there's something. to be said there. But again, you know, not to scare people. I don't want to scare people off

from eating eggs or chicken or meat or anything. You just do the best you can. Yeah. You know, you do the best you can. But the higher quality you can get, it's absolutely, you're going to get more nutrition. Right. It's going to be higher quality. If you, if you crack an egg, so we have chickens. And when you, when you see an egg that was passed from a pasture chicken, I mean, the yolk is just this beautiful, vibrant orangey yellow. Yeah. Right. And then when you see the yolk of an egg from a chicken that was, you know, didn't have as good of living conditions. It's very pale. Light yellow. Light yellow. It's just not as rich in those and those vitamins and those nutrients. And so you're just going to get so much more from those animals when they're fed well and raised well. Yeah. So you eat a lot of eggs. A ton of eggs. Yes, a ton of eggs. So breakfast might be something like scrambled eggs. Maybe I might scramble up some spinach in there. Some cheese make like an omelet. Maybe a piece of toast with that. lunch is usually leftovers from dinner or I might make some tuna fish with apple something like that dinner is usually a meat and a vegetable and some kind of carbohydrate

like meat and potatoes and salad like husbands love me I'm like yeah eat your meat and potatoes yeah tell their wives yes yeah make meat and potatoes it's wonderful yeah that's a very typical kind of meal. Okay, so that's typically what's you're eating. Are you a snacker at all? I try not to snack. Okay. And what is your thought on snack? That's another theory that I've heard over the years that we should just be eating little things throughout the day rather than the big meals. No. No, I know. You're right. I've heard, you know, that is definitely one of those things. And I'm not, the thing is, there's no one perfect way that works for every single person, right? It really depends. I think ideally our bodies should be able to have a meal and then go three to four hours

and then have another meal. What's happening in that time that you're not eating, there's a lot of digestion going on. Our body needs to complete that digestive process. It takes two to three hours. When we're constantly eating all day, we're keeping our digestive system engaged. And over time, that can be hard on the digestive system. Also in between meals, you know, your body is being able to better switch between fuels for burning between being a sugar burner or a fat burner. If you're constantly eating, you're really not giving your body enough time to burn stored energy, the sugar and the fat on your body if you're always eating energy. So we want our bodies to be able to have opportunity to burn some of that stored energy.

But if we're eating all day, that's not going to be happening. So eating, you know, three meals, sometimes two meals for people, two meals and a snack. In that case, you know, that's fine. That's not a big deal. Yeah. Sometimes I'm not that hungry for lunch. I might have something, a smaller meal, maybe cottage cheese or something like that. Okay.

Okay. So you're down with cheese. Oh, yes. That's another thing, though, that some people are like, no, I know that you're okay with dairy because of animal products, but some people are anti-chease. So that's good to know. I like cheese. I love cheese, too. I especially love goat cheese.

It's my favorite. Yes. Okay. What is your thought on intermittent fasting? Love it. You do. Okay. Okay. I wasn't sure. Because again, this is highly contested stuff. Okay, tell me. It's, you know, this is another topic because intermittent fasting has, you know, kind of had its glory and now it's being attacked, right? So I feel like everything has its moments, you know, like, eat all the carbs, you know, with the food pyramid.

No, don't eat the carbs. Eat all the fat. No, we're always, you know, building it up and then tearing it down. Same with intermittent fasting. I think what a good common sense thing to remember is that historically, people ate dinner and then the. they stopped and then they didn't eat until breakfast. And that was probably about 12 hours. And it really wasn't until the onset of all the processed food and food globalization and all the access to food all the time. Right? It's, you know, midnight snack. Midnight snack. I'm drifting in in the kitchen,

making popcorn or eating ice cream or whatever it is. That is not the natural, you know, what has been going on for forever and ever. This is all this eating all the time is really a new phenomenon. And our body needs that digestive rest. And so I love, yeah, stopping at about, you know, a decent time not long after sunset, ideally. And you give your body that time that needs two to three hours to digest and then you go to sleep and then your body goes into detoxification mode. When you eat too late, you extend that digestion time and your body can't go into detox mode. What is detox mode? Well, at night is when we do all of our repatriation. processes. We're synthesizing memories. We are our body's rebuilding muscle. It's repairing tissue.

Our hormones are resetting. Our hormones are telling our brain about how much energy we have to store to burn. All kinds of things are happening at night, right? And so those are the things that are supposed to happen when we are without food. And then there are certain things that are supposed to happen during the day when we eat food. So it's really our circadian rhythm. And eating is supposed to happen during the day, digestion, absorption, you know, utilizing and getting all this energy. At night, we're meant to burn energy, burn fat, burn calories, repair, detoxify, and do all of those things. Eating too late puts those processes off, delays those processes.

So we're really shortchange ourselves from our detoxification processes when we eat too late. Okay. Gotcha. And so that is one of the biggest advantages. to intermittent fasting. And it doesn't have to be a super long time, 12 to 16 hours. I average about a 14 hour fast. Most days sometimes it's closer to 12. Sometimes I'll go higher and it's 16. I think, you know, you definitely have to discern what's best for where you are in your stage and season of life. You know, there's a lot of hormonal components and such to it. But. And you don't want to

get into almost like starvation mode where, because you know, I have unintentionally fasted. to where like I'll say I'm running out the door and I just didn't eat breakfast and then I'm on the go and I can't eat until one. Well, then all I crave is carbs, sugar, that like quick energy because I'm so hungry. Yes. And so I guess there's some kind of balance and it also depends on the time of day that you're doing it. Obviously, if you're asleep, then I guess you can wake up and eat that's different than trying to go all day and constantly thinking about food. then just crashing, you know, at 3 p.m. or whatever. Right. Right. Ideally, we want to eat our food when the sun is out. Makes sense. Yes. I always say I like to eat with the sun and the sun,

eat when the sun is out. Eat with a very receiving grateful attitude. You know, give thanks to God for our meal that puts us in a state of receiving and really helps our body prepare to release the digestive enzymes and the hormones and everything we need to really receive and utilize that food well. Yeah. And then and then cut it off not long after sunset. If we look biblically, their largest meal of the day was dinner and they ate it right around sunset, but before it was completely dark outside. And so really trying to wrap up dinner about, you know, dark. And then going into that nice time in the evening and night when we're repairing, sleeping, repairing, rebuilding and resetting. So you mentioned kind of stopping and thanking God for the food and that that's not a good practice only spiritually, but also that that prepares our body. And so that just makes me think of how often we're on the go with fast food and we're just grabbing it. And when it's like when you know it's bad processed food, you almost feel bad thanking God for it. you're like, please help this go to the nourishment of my body, even though it's chicken fingers.

And so I could see how that kind of makes a difference in how we treat our food and how, I guess, our body receives those nutrients. Yes, absolutely. Digestion begins in the brain. And you have to be in a parasympathetic state, which just means in a relaxed state. And when we're moving and we're working and we're thinking about stressful things, things, we are in a sympathetic state. And so our body's not really in the state of receiving where it's going to release these important. It's in fight or flight. It's in fight or flight. Yeah. Right. And I know,

and I was thinking, you know, about you when my kids were babies, I mean, I was just standing at the counter with a baby like throwing food at people. Like, you're just doing the best you can. Right. I feel like I never sit down and eat. I really, I mean, yeah, it's bad. There's a season, right? But being more aware of that sitting down when you can because it is very hard for your body to digest. And this leads to a lot of digestive issues for people. And digestion is if we can't digest our food well, well, then you could be eating the perfect diet. But if the nutrients can't get to where they need to go because you're not digesting well, well, that's not helping your body out. So yes, sitting down is huge. What happens to your body when you're eating only in fight or flight mode?

I mean, I'm just trying to think through this logically. It seems like if you were really in fight or flight, like your body would be like, okay, I got to hold on to this because I don't know, I'm running from a bear or something. So I could see how it would be difficult to lose weight. Again, even if you're eating the right things, but you're always in fight or flight while you're eating running. And what I mean by fight or flight is like you're stressed, you're stressed out, which I know a lot of moms of toddlers are stressed out. It's not like you're sad or angry.

It's just you got a lot of different things, but for your attention. So I could see how it'd be difficult to lose weight in those situations because your body might be thinking I need to hold on to everything that I can because I don't know when I'm going to get another meal or whatever. Yes, exactly. Hold on to the energy. Absolutely.

You know, and so I do recommend as much as you can. I mean, being a mom of little is a challenging time. But I just don't think people even really. realize that we really we need to be seated. Number one, this was so funny when I was explaining this to my family. My dad was like, well, I just thought if you're staining up, it just says it's a bit straighter shot. You know, just go right now. That's not how it works. No, you know, we need to be seated. We have to be in that, that restful posture as much as we possibly can. We want to chew our food really well. And that sounds like old grandma advice,

but this is where we start releasing enzymes that help us break down carbohydrates. You know, people are like, like just cranking through, you know, hurry and eat. We don't release all those things. Our body has to release the enzymes, the stomach acid to break down our food. And that way, and move through the rest of the body so we can absorb the nutrients. And so, and yes, so if your body can't do that process well and it's feeling like it's not getting the nutrition it needs, yeah, your body will hold on to nutrition, hold on to weight for a rainy day. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. I'm doing every possible thing wrong. I eat that. I eat really fast have always been like a fast eater. My husband and I both, um, both do. And I am almost always

eating on the go. My breakfast does not contain protein. I'm just telling on myself here. It is typically, now it is like it's sourdough bread, real sourdough bread, not from the store that's actually made from scratch. So that's a little better. And butter and a little bit of salt. Maybe not the worst thing in the world, but also not the best thing in the world to last me until like I usually can't eat lunch until 1.30. Right. Lunch is honestly probably my hardest meal because I feel hungriest at lunch and I'm also still in some kind of hurry.

And so I also don't get a ton of protein. Typically, and I'm just saying this because I bet there's a lot of people that can relate to this out there. I typically don't eat a lot of protein until dinner. And then, okay, it might be a steak or chicken or something with like sweet potatoes, green beans. It's typically kind of the meal that you described to a green, some kind of carb and a meat. So I know I'm not getting anywhere close to 70 to 90 grams. And every day I want it to be different and every day it's not different. And even dinner, I'm standing up. And then sometimes

it's like, oh my gosh, we didn't even prepare for dinner. I forgot to take the meat out to thaw. Then it is some kind of like takeout or something like that. And I also, I know some people say that they lose weight when they're breastfeeding. I do not lose weight when I'm breastfeeding. I typically don't start losing weight until like six months to a year after birth because I start breastfeeding less. I don't know. When I'm breastfeeding, my body is like, I'm going to hold on to everything I possibly can.

And I have tried to cut things out or to eat last while breastfeeding and it affects my milk supply. And so, yeah, anyway, that's like the state of my nutrition, which is not great at all right now. A lot of it is just to be honest, like a lack of discipline and some laziness on my part, just plain and simple. And some of it is just like not knowing what to do and just do. Every meal feels like I'm just doing what works. Right. You know? So it definitely takes some planning. You know, but I would say, yes, protein at that first meal of the day is huge. It kind of sets the tone for the whole day, right? You'd be less hungry at lunch if you did that, right? And protein is really important. First meal of the day, as we have been doing a lot of detoxification process and repairing all night,

our body's using all those amino acids, right, that we get from protein to do that. So when we wake up in the morning, we're in kind of a catabolic, kind of broken down state, and our body needs a replenishment of those amino acids. And so it's a really important time to restock the body with the amino acids for the day. I would say, you know, the morning meal and then the evening meal are the two most critical times for the protein. And then also, again, you know, like you're not going to feel as hungry. And yeah, if you haven't eaten very much and by the time one o'clock is rolling around your body, it's like, just give me anything. Yeah.

Just put anything in here so I can keep going, right? Your body's really seeking energy. And we don't always make the best choices. But I make a one thing that kind of saves me, I make, I call it a high protein egg casserole. And it is a dozen eggs, a carton of cottage cheese. cheese blended together over a pack of sausage, you know, cook sausage, put it in like a Pyrex pan, put some grated cheese on top, and then pour that that egg mixture with the cottage cheese, lots of protein.

You eat a couple squares of that. It's 30 grams of protein, which is a really nice, a really nice target. Yeah, that is good because if you can do that for every meal, then you're good to go. It's easy. We eat on that all week. Yeah. You know, so if you make that and you can have bread with it too. Yeah.

That is super easy. You don't have to follow. A recipe. Right. It's four ingredients. I make, I make that every week. Okay. And if you had that with a piece of bread, oh, you would be, you'd be solid. Yeah. Way better than right now when I'm like always starving by lunch. And then you just, just like everything else, honestly, there's probably a spiritual

lesson there. But when you allow yourself to get super hungry and super desperate, you just don't make the best choices because you're really acting emotionally. Right. Rather than it's like your discernment can't even really feel. function because all you can think of is the immediate hunger feelings of starvation and panic. Exactly. Yeah. So if someone is coming to you for your services, like what does that look like?

Is it individual? Do you have different packages for different stages of life? Or what is that like? Well, I've recently moved away from one-on-one consultations. I feel like the direction God has put me in is to really, teach as many people as I can. And so I have a group. It's called the Christian Health Club. That's also the name of my podcast where I talk a lot about this information. And within that health club membership, I have all kinds of programs that address all of these things. We address carbohydrate load and

fasting and protein meals and timing and all kinds of different things. Because one thing I want people to also realize is that it takes time to implement these things. You know, there's, it's a habit changing, ongoing process of making choices for our body. It's not about a short-term diet, 30 days, three months. We got to wake up every day and make choices about the food that we make and, you know, when we're going to go to sleep and the movement that we're going to get. And so I, I've just decided to move to really group programs to teach people kind of more the comprehensive load of that and really take time to implement it with them. You know, and so that's the way that I work with people now.

Do you give advice to moms about how to get their children? Because you're a mom of three and they're older now. Yes. So, but when they were younger, how were you implementing these principles for them? Right. Just giving, cooking, making, giving this food. Did they always want it? No.

you know but what you have in the house you know as a mom we have so much influence over what our children eat and i always say also the most important thing to do first of all is to steward your body well to be that example right because they're watching they're watching what you do and they do soak up so much more by observing you just the way they observe your marriage or the way that you work anything also the way that you take care of yourself or don't so first and foremost that and when you are preparing and have that food making for yourself, you're also making it for your family. And it's just, it is, this is what we're having. This is it. This is what we got. If you're hungry, this is it. This is what we're eating. And, you know, also upgrading the best that you can. I won't say that I don't

eat perfectly. My family doesn't eat perfectly. But we do the best we can. And I always try to upgrade our food. So do my kids eat chips? Yeah, they eat chips. But I'm going to find the best upgraded version of chips that I can find, right? We're going to use, try to find something that doesn't use seed oils. We're going to try to find something that, you know, maybe is non-GMO. If I'm going to eat tortilla chips, they're going to be non-genetically modified. You know, just making the best decisions that you can. Now, when they do get older and they get in school, I will say I have teenagers and

they don't want to listen to my advice. Yeah. And when you start with... Oh, really? My parents who are listening to this are thinking, wow, Allie, always listen to Right. Every parent's like, yeah, of course they don't. Well, and when you have less control, that's the thing is when they're little, you have so much more control over what they're doing, you know, and then as they get older and make those decisions, they're not always great decisions.

But with my kids, I'm just praying and, you know, taking stock in the fact that they have good roots. I've planted the seeds. They know. And I feel like they'll come back around. You know, they'll come back around to it and they know that our food affects our body. And so when they want to feel better, they know what to do. You know, it's just a matter of them having to make that choice for themselves. And again, there's such a parallel there too with the Christian life. And I've heard that from so many parents. They plant those seeds of the gospel.

When they're young, they do everything they can to disciple their kid. Then maybe they're discouraged because in the teen years or early 20s or in college, it seems like their kids aren't following the path that they laid up. out for them. But gosh, so often those seeds bloom later in life and the kids look back and they say, gosh, I remember what I learned in church. I remember that Bible passage. I know that hymn. And so, gosh, there are so many different ways that we can sow those seeds for our kids, spiritual and also physical. You're right. They look back and they're like, wait, I remember those lessons. Right. I know. Yes. I know what to do. And so, yeah, I really do think they come back

around. And when they start caring, you know, kids are so much more resilient, but with that aging process, you know, things don't work as well as they used to. And so like, oh, yeah, maybe I should eat more protein. Maybe I should, you know, I'd like my skin to look a little clearer. Yeah. Mom told me that, this, you know, that. So, yeah, they will come back around. What is your, I would just say, like, final message, you're like, how would you encapsulate what you wish people knew? I know this is a big question. There's probably a million ways that you could answer it. But what do you wish people knew about being healthy food, our bodies? If you just had like, okay, you got 30 seconds to tell the world how to think about food and eating and weight loss,

dieting, all those things. What would you say? I say, the creator of your body knows the perfect foods for your body, made the perfect provision for your body. Use the Lord, use God's word as your compass, eat plant foods, eat animal foods, know that your body is designed with an amazing resilience. It is always for you. It is on your side. And when you give it what it needs, it knows exactly what to do. And just honoring that self-stewardship and knowing that we use our body to glorify the

kingdom, to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. As we started this, kind of coming back around, that our bodies take us through this gift of life. And steer everything well means that we show up to all that God has called us to do. And so always keeping that first and foremost, first and foremost, way over the scale, way over the, you know, am I going to fit in my reunion dress or whatever it is? That is a very crown for the day experience.

It's very fleeting. But when we're taking care of our body as a vessel of the Holy Spirit, it's just a complete different focus. And I think we do take it more seriously. And just, yeah, you know, have a different viewpoint about it. Exactly. And the Christian viewpoint is different because we actually care about the body more than anyone because it is the dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.

And that is the why behind so many of God's commands. Of course he cares about our hearts and our souls. and our mind and all of that. But nutrition, just as anything else we do with our body, it matters. It matters because God gave us these bodies purposely. And he loves our bodies. That's not just why he commanded the things he did about food,

but also part of why he gives us the commands that he does about marriage and sexuality, how we spend our time, how we're supposed to refuse the temptation to worry, to be anxious, to fear. All of these things have an effect on our bodies. And God really cares about our bodies. He loves our bodies. He wants us to love our bodies. And Christianity is so interesting in that it cares about the body so much that we actually

read about a resurrection of the bodies. Right. People sometimes think of human beings as just like, oh, well, the body is temporary. It's just about appearances. It's just superficial here today, gone tomorrow. partly true in that yeah we're all going to age and beauty fades and all of that but the body matters forever that's how much god cares about the body how much he cares about gender how much he cares about how much he cares about what we put in our bodies that it actually lasts it lasts forever and it really

is stewardship like you said it is it is stewardship and um you know and i'll just say that the body is a ground where the enemy really tries to to interfere and get in. Totally. You know, if he can get in and make us not only physically unwell with these health habits, but keep us in mind drama about our diet and our weight and all these things. And it just distract us from all that we're called to do here. I mean, Eve was tempted by food. So true.

Right? in the very beginning. And so truly it is spiritual warfare when we are not stewarding our bodies and thinking of it in the way that, gosh, this is the way that we show up in the world to be, to spread God's love and his message. Yes. And amen. And where can people find you?

The Christian Nutritionist.com. That's where I am everywhere on Facebook, Instagram, website, the Christian Health Club podcast. is where I go into all of these topics more deeply. And so awesome. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you being here. Thanks for having me. Hey, this is Steve Day.

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