Beauty in Battle Podcast

Healthy Life Healthy Marriage

November 08, 2022 Jason Benham, Tori Benham Episode 45
Beauty in Battle Podcast
Healthy Life Healthy Marriage
Show Notes Transcript

Before oneness in marriage, there's "two-ness." You have to be individually healthy before you can be relationally healthy. The second greatest commandment echoes this when we're told to love others (our spouse) "as we love ourselves."

A healthy life is the foundation for a healthy marriage.

In today's episode, we brought in an expert to show us how  we can be the best version of ourselves by thriving in our body, mind, and spirit.

A former middle school teammate with Jason, Dr. John Skelton has worked more than 20 years as an Emergency Room doctor. After seeing thousands of patients struggling with perpetual problems, he started his own Lifestyle Medical practice that focuses on holistic health - mind, body, spirit.

Tune in and find out what causes anxiety and what you can do about it, how to reverse diabetes, how hormonal levels play a role in everything, and a surprising three-step plan to deal with the stress in your life.

God wants you to be the healthiest version of yourself. Every part of you is linked - if one part is sick then it affects every other part, including your closest relationships. Listen to Dr. John as he dives deep to help you get healthy.

You can learn more about Dr. Skelton's virtual lifestyle medical practice by clicking HERE

So today we're talking about, uh, if you want to have a healthy relationship mm-hmm. , you've gotta be individually healthy. That's right. And, and I'm, I'm really pumped because I've got a buddy of mine I have not seen since high school. His name is John Skelton , but we have always called him Red. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, Red. And, and so we, we just had lunch together and he was in town and I walked into the, the restaurant and said, Hey, what's up red? He's like, Man, I haven't heard that in a long time. But anyways, so John, uh, has been a doctor for more than 20 years. Er, doctor at that, and right around Covid decided that he was gonna start his.

Uh, I would like to say, what would you wanna say? Functional. I wanna say functional, but it's not functional. It's a lifestyle medicine. Functional works too, but yeah. Functional lifestyle medicine just focused on the whole person. Yes. I love that so much. And the reason he did it was because of what was, what he seen in the er and just the number of doctors that just prescribe, prescribe, prescribe.

And it's all about medicines and, and then how the big pharma companies, and they're all kind of tied into this. The Lord put it on his heart. He's a believer, he and his wife and, uh, they're spirit filled and just some of the stuff that he was talking about with at lunch with Tori and I, I was like, Okay, we gotta have you on our podcast here.

So he started this company called Live Life. Well, it's, uh, live life well clinic.com, where they focus on comprehensive wellness in your body, your mind, in your. And so Tori and I were thinking, you know what I mean? One of the things that's helped us the most Yeah. In terms of our own individual relationship with each other as a married couple mm-hmm.

is making sure that we're focusing on, I, I need to be the healthiest person that I can be. Right. Tori needs to be the healthiest person that she can be. That way we can have the healthiest marriage that we can have. Exactly. Absolutely. Yep. And so we were talking about stress, we were talking about anxiety.

Mm-hmm. , and you have an opinion on that. But before we jump into some of that stuff, tell us about, you're focusing on body, mind, and spirit, and you're doing it all rooted in biblical principles to help the individual grow as healthy as God. Created them to be. So talk with us about that. Yeah, absolutely.

So, I mean, our, our Lord and, uh, Savior Jesus Christ and Father God, I mean, he's, uh, created us, uh, so uniquely and so dynamically that, you know, the body can heal itself. If you, if you put the right stuff in and, and think the right way, right way, then you know, your body can absolutely heal itself. And so Wow.

So that's what we're, we're based on and we know that. In any aspect. Mm-hmm. , be it your body, be it your mind, be it your spirit. Yep. Um, that's gonna create problems in other areas. Yeah. And so that's why we know that you have to absolutely focus on the whole person. Mm-hmm. . Yes. Which I, I and I, You said that at lunch where you said, we were talking about how people get physically sick and you said, well, A lot of times what it has to do with is stress.

And stress has to do with what you're thinking about. Right? And, and if you don't get your thinking right, then it spins anxiety up. Do you see anxiety, I mean, you're still working in an ER room right now and you're kind of directing the whole thing, but what, what, what's the percentage of people that come in.

and their sickness or their issue in that moment is really rooted in anxiety. Yeah. I'd say even up to 80% of the time, I mean, oh my God. Whether it's, That's incredible. Whether it's the mom or dad bringing the child in because they're worried about what this could, could be. Mm-hmm. , whether it's them individually, um, you know, or, or a family member.

Uh, most of the visits, the vast majority of the visits I see are, are rooted in, in some form of stress and anxiety that is bringing them into the. Wow. Wow. Yeah. What do you advise if, if you're able to advise them and you've got, let's say you've got 15 minutes, you're talking with somebody who's in the er, you know, it's related to anxiety and the thoughts that they're thinking is causing this rise in anxiety.

What? What are you gonna. Tell this person, like, what direction do you want to go? Yeah. So ultimately, if, if somebody's having a an acute anxiety reaction, I'm gonna talk them into trying to minimize those symptoms by controlling their breathing. Mm. Kind of slowing down that breathing, you know, concentrating on, on slowing your respiratory rate is gonna help decrease those symptoms that you're feeling.

Wow. And allow the anxiety to potentially pass. So in that acute moment, you really need to control your breath. Mm. After. Then you really need to get to you. What is it that is really causing the anxiety? Mm-hmm. , what is, what is the root there? And get down to that. And obviously that takes a lot more time than an ER visit to get to, but Right.

Uh, but yeah, controlling that breathing is gonna be the number one thing that you want to do right from the start. And you get 'em into a, a dark room. Get 'em, you know, slow, deep breaths in, hold it for a little bit and then slow breaths out kind of thing. Yeah, absolutely. Just 1, 2, 3, 4 in pause at the top, 1, 2, 3, 4, out, and do nothing but try and think of just inhaling and exhaling at that slow.

Whether you're at home, whether you're in the er, clear your mind. Wherever you, wherever you are, just clear your mind and just concentrate on nothing else but your breath in the moment. And then that will help to ease those symptoms. Wow. What have you seen has been some root uh, issues with anxiety? So you said the first thing that you do is you get 'em to handle their breathing The second.

is, you gotta try to get to the root of it. Mm-hmm. , as a professional that's been doing this for a long time, what do you see is the root of a lot of this anxiety just ransacking people? Well, it's, it's, I think our constant distraction. Wow. We're constantly distracted. Uh, we cannot have proper thinking to even work through, uh, anything that we may be feeling.

Wow. And, uh, when you can't work through, Why it is what you're feeling. You know, Feelings lie. You know, feelings aren't truth. And so, you know, really working through that, you know, cognitively is gonna help to decrease the anxiety, but, We don't know how to do that anymore. And we just tend to react and go to Google instead of thinking for ourselves and, you know, Okay, am I bleeding?

Am I, you know, or is something falling off? You know, do I need to run to the er? Yes. What, what's going on? You know? Right. So, um, but really just slowing down and, and, you know, thinking through things is, is, uh, kind of lost today. Wow. Yeah. We talk to our kids a lot about, um, distraction addiction, that we're addicted to find a distraction.

For whatever the pain point is, Right? Absolutely. So it's like we're feeling something and, um, okay, I'm not, I don't like this feeling, so I'm gonna get on my phone, or I don't like this feeling, so I'm gonna go, you know, go shoot hoops again. Like, you just, you're just always distracting instead of pausing.

Mm-hmm. and trying to get to the root. That's what you're saying is that we just have, we just have to be able to, to be alone with ourselves and to process, and to ask God to show us what is the root of this and, and get to the bottom of it instead of just distracting, distracting, distracting. Absolutely.

I mean, if you're, if you're constantly distracting and then you're Googling. Why am I feeling what I'm feeling? . Mm-hmm. . Yeah. That's just gonna make you feel that much worse. And so, uh, you know, instead of really processing through, letting the Holy Spirit, you know, talk you through it, walk you through it, and just slowing down, uh, you know, taking a breath, taking a minute, uh, to kind of let things calm down, uh, instead of just reacting.

And so you've got body, mind, spirit. That's what you really focus on. And what you said at lunch, you said that all of 'em are connected and you. That your body can start to literally, like, feel the negative effects of that, of, of, of wrong thinking, wrong attitudes. And you specifically said, you know, if, if you've been thinking negative thoughts toward another person and then maybe you've been going through a hard time at work, you, you're like, that's gonna affect your body.

Right. Absolutely. You've seen this happen? Oh yeah, absolutely. It, it's gonna cause changes within your hormone balance. It can, you know, cause changes with your gut, you know, And, and when things get bad enough, people lose their purpose. And that's what I mean by spirit. And, and so, you know, if you're under so much stress that, that, you know, you're, you're having physical manifestations or mental manifestations of that, of that stress on a daily basis.

That's, that's severe. Yeah. And it causes people to lose their purpose. Right. And when somebody loses their purpose, you're never gonna be the person that God created you to be. Yeah. And so, uh, that's my goal is to get people back to their purpose. Wow. So if somebody's really sick, , Um, and they're having a hard time either anxiety's crazy or their, their body is beginning to break down.

What you're saying is they, they lose that purpose because then they're just focusing on, I just need to get better. Mm-hmm. , what would you say to that person who says, Okay, I'm there. Like, I'm, I'm chronically sick. Mm-hmm. , you know, I wanna be the husband that, that I should be, you know, I wanna be the dad that I should be.

But man, I'm just not, I'm just not. Well, you know, like, what would you say to them to get that purpose back? Where do you start? Well, number one, there is no magic pill. Yeah. Uh, there's not a medication that anybody is gonna prescribe to you that's going to renew that whole system. Wow. So that, that's number one.

So, um, You need to find a healthcare professional who's willing to work with you. Mm-hmm. to get to what is the root cause of this. Yeah. Cause sometimes it's very difficult to tell, you know, sometimes, uh, you know, things that are going on in your thought life and you are having extreme anxiety. Can absolutely be related to gut and other hormone imbalances and, and those things that are going on.

And so if somebody's just told you, Oh, this is just anxiety. This is just anxiety, but they haven't really checked and it, it's really hard to know. So you've gotta find a physician that is, is willing to do the testing, do the work with you, and that's willing to support you through that. Because anytime you're gonna take, you know, lifestyle changes and, and try and make modifications to your life.

you're gonna need some accountability, right? Yeah. And you're, you're gonna need time. Mm. And so you're gonna need a little bit of grace and some discipline as well. So tell me how you kind of got into this, going from the er, um, just seeing patients and, and the protocol, You just didn't feel like it was the, it wasn't the only way and you knew it and you wanted to give them another option.

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, 20 years of being in the er, seeing. You know, diabetes is really my passion. Diabetes is, is, uh, one of the diseases I really like to, to work with clients that, that have that, and it's because it's so pervasive, it affects every body system. And so, you know, when, when I would see, uh, patients come in the ER and they're telling me, you know, Dr.

Skelton, I'm, I'm doing what my doctor says. I'm, I'm trying to eat right. I'm trying, trying to exercise and I'm taking my medications, but. I'm still just feeling horrible. Yeah. You know, and, and they tell me that, that I'm, I'm doing what I need to do. You know, I would try and sit down and, and, you know, uh, talk with the, the patient about what was going on and what things they could try.

But ultimately I just realized, you know, that's just not enough. Right. Right. Unfortunately, even trying to implement a, a few things, um, you know, just with a quick consultation in the er, Isn't gonna be enough to, to make that change. Right, right. So, so that was really kind of the impetus. Then, of course seeing everything with, with Covid and, and how really the obesity is such the, the trigger for Covid.

Um, even before that, I, I was moving towards that, but, but once I really saw. How many people were getting so sick, uh, with, with Covid, that really kind of helped. Yeah. To, to kind of push me to, to go ahead and take this step to where you realize, okay, this, this covid thing, it's, you know, the first thing that people need to do is, is stop, you know, stuffing Twinkies in their.

Pie holes. Mm-hmm. , let's get you healthy. Eat some real food. So yeah. Yeah. Like, like one, one, uh, one ingredient like chicken. Yes. Or something like that. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So that's good. Well, because I mean, obviously Tori and I we're all about here on Beauty and Battle. Let's, let's thrive relationally, right?

And we have this quote in our book, I forget which author I got it from. I think it might have been Gary Thomas, who wrote Sacred Marriage. But he said before oneness, like in in marriage, you have to have two. You have to be a healthy individual so that when you come into the marriage, you can be healthy.

And so it's, it's, you've gotta be thinking healthy, you've got to be physically healthy, and you've gotta be focusing on the things that are, that are the most important, you know? And, and one of those things is gut health, right? So gut health is a huge deal. Absolutely. Talk to us a little bit about gut health, because this is something that's really hurting a lot of people and I think what, you know, any of us that have ever struggled with anything in your gut, like it's very difficult to be fully present and available to your family.

If your gut's killing you. Yeah. Yes. Or if it's affecting you in some way. Yeah, absolutely. And we need to get over that so that we can be the husband or wife we need to be. Yeah. So anytime you're making, you know, a, a dietary change and, and those things like that, you know, I, Have you guys ever seen that leaf filter commercial?

Yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. , so, So, you know the guys. Cleaning out the gutters, you put the leaf filter over and, and so, and I guess they're not a sponsor of the show, so get 'em to be, But anyways, but you put the leaf filter over and so now you're not getting all that junk in your gutters. But you know, the gutters still aren't gonna work.

because they haven't been cleaned out. So you've gotta figure out what that root cause is there that's going in that, that digestive system you've gotta address that. Many times it's chronic antibiotic use. Wow. A lot of times it's stress that has messed up the, the. Flora of the gut. And so you don't necessarily have a lot of bad bacteria, but maybe your good bacteria suppressed and wow.

So we need to really go in and and figure out what that issue is. And then a lot of times just the medications that you're on are gonna create a, a system in which you can't really absorb the nutrients and, and things that you need to, to have a healthy gut. So, And so you were talking to us about this at lunch.

What are, what are the biggest gut killers, you know, Antibiotics. Yeah, antibiotics. Uh, sugar. Sugar is gonna be the big one. Uh, breads and in general, you know, carbohydrates. Okay. But processed foods, I mean, processed foods are gonna be the, the big thing. You need to eat whole foods. Uh, primarily like, like Jason said, Has the one ingredient.

One ingredient baby. It, it, it actually looks like a food. It's not a funn. Who knows what that is? Funn? Yeah. That's a last from the past. I was eating those in the lunch room when you and I went to school together. Oh yeah, absolutely. Onions probably throwing 'em across the lunch room too, so Yeah. That's awesome.

But, but I think you, you've just talked so much about the, the role of mental. You guys even do I see it right here on your list of services, which is incredible. If you haven't, you gotta go to live life. Well clinic.com. If you're listening to this, just, just go roll that that up, roll that website up and go look at it and see some of the stuff that they can help you with.

But one of the things you talk about is mental health coaching. Mm-hmm. , how big is mental health in this whole. Shebang of being a healthy individual. Oh, it's critical because, you know, we can get the right, you know, gut flora. Yeah. And that helps with your mental health. But if you're not taking that mind captive, taking those thoughts captive, uh, you're always gonna struggle.

Mm-hmm. . And so, you know, it, it, it's critical. Um, and that's the thing is, Each part, you know, works together. Right. And so if you just choose to work on the body, the, the gut issue mm-hmm. , but choose to ignore the mental health aspect of it. Yeah. You know, you're not gonna get to where you want to be. Right.

And so that's why I really think that that. It takes, you know, looking at the whole person and all those areas. And so we, we have all our clients go through what I call a blind spot evaluation. Oh. And so, uh, basically, you know, coming into the program, you know, what are the things that maybe triggers, you know, for you that you don't even necessarily realize?

And so kind of, kind of working through that process. And then, you know, we repeat that as often as we need to. What are some of the trigger. That you've seen. So generally it's any sort of stress. It could be a single word, you know, set you off on your twinki binge. It could be, you know, it could be, uh, just about anything.

Um, it could be a bad night's sleep, you know, it could be that, you know, Oh, well. You know, this bad thing happens, so I deserve this food. Right. Uh, so, uh, but then, you know, mental health wise, I mean, it, it, it can just be a, a look from an individual and, and can, especially if it's a close family member and send you down that bad path.

Wow. And so, um, really taking thoughts captive Yeah. Are, are key. How do you help them to determine what their blind spots are? How do you help them become aware of. Yeah. So we have a, a mental health expert. Okay. Actually that is part of our team. And, and she's the one that does the, the blind spot evaluation.

Okay. And she takes them through that process. And the way I liken our, our system, it really is similar to coaching. Mm-hmm. , you know, uh, and so sometimes we can see the potential in you that. You don't even realize is there. Yeah. Um, and so it's that coaching, coaching and mentoring process. Mm-hmm. . And so typically that first blind spot evaluation is gonna be an hour, an hour and a half, you know, that we're gonna spend with you.

You're gonna do some work prior to that meeting. Yep. Uh, filling out some information so that we can have all that, uh, about you so we can make sure that we can. Ask questions that will get to those blind spots i's just, That's really awesome. Just logging it is important. It's like the first time that you ever hire a nutritionist, one of the first things they do is they tell you for the next week, write down everything you eat.

Mm-hmm. . And you're like, Oh, I've never done that before. And the minute you start writing it down and you're logging it and then you're looking at it, you're like, Oh snap. I didn't know that I ate that much dark chocolate every single day. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's incredible. The value of that. Our, both of our daughters, um, when they were about 12, 13.

All of our kids right before they grow, they get kind of chunky. And the girls didn't like that too much. You know, They're like, Why am I getting so chunky? And so, um, both of them wanted to go to a nutritionist around that time. They're like, you know, all my friends are so are, you know, thin and I'm getting fat.

And so we sent them to a nutritionist just because they were eating a lot of sugar and we're like, Well, this could be a really good, you know, a good time for this. And when they started to log their food, it changed everything they had. They were completely unaware of how much sugar they were taking. It was life changing for both of them.

Like they, they both changed their habits drastically from just logging. Oh, absolutely. I mean, that, that I think is a key to opening up, you know, the, the door to, to change to really understand what it is that you're actually doing. Right. Well, you know, and I just think about the husband coming. Um, and he's not feeling really energetic and he gets home and he's, he's kind of depressed or whatever, and, and the wife is overworked and she hasn't had adult con conversation in a long time or whatever.

And then they end up getting in some type of conflict. Mm-hmm. . And it's perpetual. And I like to think that you have to figure out what is it, Why, why is it that after you ate lunch at work you felt tired? Cuz typically lunch is supposed to make you feel e. Right. Right. And, and so I think once you start thinking of those things, it's gonna help you be the dad that you need to be, or the wife or the mom that you need to be the husband, the wife.

And so you, you also talk about, um, autoimmune auto Autoimmune, Autoimmune, autoimmune stuff. Mm-hmm. right. There's issues there, like is that connected to like hormone imbalances or anything? Yeah, all of it. So food a lot of times, you know, creates that inflammatory process again, within the gut. Yeah. And so we don't absorb things correctly.

And so that can lead to inflammation. All autoimmune disease is based in inflammation. And so, you know, diabetes people, a lot of people don't think of diabetes as an autoimmune issue, or thyroid as an autoimmune issue. And so what we're seeing also, there are chronic infections that can lead to autoimmune.

Disease like Hashimotos thyroiditis and, and different things. So even things like, like mono, the Epstein Bar virus, um, those things we're finding, you know, more and more that that is, uh, causing thyroid dysfunction and, and those things. And you know, unfortunately, I think with Covid, at some point we're gonna see some of this, uh, these same issues.

Mm-hmm. You know, come up. But of course, you know, Tom will tell, right. So one of the things that we talked about at lunch was, you know, what, what are the supplements that you take and what are some of the things that just right off the bat you would recommend?

Um, yeah. Yeah. So I think everybody needs, uh, magnesium and vitamin D, uh, generally speaking, speaking, and a probiotic. Okay. Um, those are kind of the three that virtually. Everybody needs. Everybody needs because of our, our food source, uh, how much we live indoors. Mm-hmm. , you know, all, all those things. And so, so we need those.

The way we kind of approach supplements though, is, is we kind of take people down a path to where they. Um, go down to a, a very minimalistic diet, and then they start building that diet back up. Yeah. As to what is, you know, usable for them. We have them stay on that diet for a period of a few months and then do some retesting, and then at that point, if we need to continue supplementation, then, then we will, we'll target those specific supplements from Okay.

And, and treat 'em that way. But those are the three things that pretty much we, we all need more of. It's, we're all. Magnesium, magnesium, vitamin D and a probiotic. Correct. Now, what is it with magnesium? Why are we so deficient in magnesium? Yeah, so magnesium, as in every cell in your body, we're typically pretty depleted from that.

Um, regardless of whether you're working out or, or not, uh, generally people that are on medications are gonna have issues with that. And we're seeing more and more and more evidence that, you know, magnesium is really, really critical with regards to, to. Cardiac system. And so, uh, you know, making sure that that heart is working well.

In addition, magnesium is really gonna help with recovery and sleep. Sleep is absolutely huge. And so if you're not sleeping, that again is another component that is gonna, you know, uh, create issues with, you know, your thoughts, your digestion, you know, all, all those things. So that's why, you know, it's it's body mind.

It's all connected. So everything, like if you're not sleeping, it's probably because your thoughts are racing and if your thoughts are racing, you're not sleeping. So it's cyclical. And if you're not sleeping because your thoughts are racing, your physical body is gonna struggle. And if your physical body is struggling, chances are you're not gonna be the type of spouse that you need to be.

Yeah. You know, and I just, I think about Jesus, You know when he said that two greatest commandments love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it. Love your. But then he qualifies it as you love yourself. Like we miss that. We're like, We're just supposed to all be about others.

Well, yeah, but you have to love yourself first. Yeah. You're not supposed to be in love with your, with yourself. You're supposed to love yourself, which means I gotta love myself. Well, I gotta take care of myself in order for me to love my spouse the way I need to love him or her. Right. Right. Absolutely.

Mm-hmm. , And I just think this is good. I, I saw one more service on your website that I thought was really cool because I've never heard anything like, Diabetes reversal. Mm, yeah, absolutely. What is that man? That is, that's, that's really what I love walking people through. Um, so basically anybody that's a type two diabetic or started out on oral medications, you know, would be considered, uh, a type two diabetic.

That's kind of an older term now, but, Hmm. Using biblical principles, getting down to a whole food, you know, diet, um, implementing fasting, uh, we can absolutely, uh, reverse your diabetes and have you off of medications. Wow. I've had, I've had clients that had blood sugars, four and 500 were on multiple doses of insulin a day, as well as mul.

Medications and they're off of all of them now. Wow. By, you know, doing, you know, diet and lifestyle modification, fasting, uh, really putting in the, the work. But it's not, it's not for everybody. Yeah. That's for sure. Cuz you've gotta be willing to, to do the work and, and will absolutely help guide you down that path because that's what I see so often.

It's like, how do you love yourself? What is the best thing for me to be? That's good. It is so confusing out there Yes. To to know what is going to be best. And so, uh, that's why, you know, we take it down to the biblical roots cuz he's always given, he's already given us the best. Yeah. And so, uh, that's just the way we need to live every day.

And so if we can incorporate that, that's really gonna help every aspect of our life. You talk about intermittent fasting. Like that or like fasting for a whole day. Like what type of fasting are you talking about? So it really depends on the individual. Um, you know, people that have, uh, type two diabetes or diabetes or non insulin dependent, or even insulin dependent diabetes.

For them to reverse their diabetes, they may have to fast for up to 72 hours a week. Oh wow. So, you know, either consecutively or, or broken up. Um, many times they don't, though sometimes they can just, you know, do a 12 to 16 hour fast, uh, and just, you know, cut off any kind of food after about six, seven o'clock at night.

So, um, you know, and just. Just take water after that. But, uh, but it, it, it really kind of depends. And, and also, you know, that helps even with, with hormone issues and sleep. And, and so depending upon what we need to do with that individual, we will incorporate fasting or we want Hmm. Wow. So if we're gonna wrap this up, let's wrap it up with one last thought, but let's center it around.

Stress, anxiety, we talked about that earlier, but I just think it's, It's so much of a big deal now. Yeah. What would you say to the, the person out there who is under too much stress? Like what, what would you say Here, here, here are a couple little tips. Just manage your stress. Let's, let's you know the anxiety.

If you have to start with some medication, okay, do it, but don't try to stay on it kind of thing. Cuz you've already told us that antibiotics, you know, medications are what's really causing gut health issues for people the longer they stay on it. Anxiety, stress. Let's end it with that. We'll wrap it up.

Yeah. So, so stress in your body is, is can. Come from anything. Right? And so first of all, being able to identify that stress, but sometimes you can at first, right? So the first thing you need to do is learn to renew your mind. Oh, that's good. So, you know that's Romans 12. Yeah. Yeah. So, So take that time in the morning and.

And really sit there and, you know, take a verse, uh, you know, and, and do that if you, you know, need to, you can use a biblical meditation app if you need to, to help you. Um, but, but take those few minutes in the morning when nobody else is around and really take that time to help renew your mind. And then as often as you need to throughout the day, do that.

The second thing is, is, you know, develop a bedtime. A bedtime routine that that doesn't include any type of screen. Okay. Whether its your phone or anything else. And try and, you know, start that process as early as possible. Like an hour, two hours before bed, that kind of thing. Uh, preferentially, I like.

You know, if you could up to, up to three hours before anything that's right in your face, like a phone or a laptop. Um, you know, if you, if you're gonna bed at 10, stop at seven at least. Yeah. Yeah. So if you wanna, you know, watch TV a little past that from the other side of the room. Okay. But I wouldn't, uh, really recommend that a whole lot either.

Got it. Um, so, but, but really, uh, you. Doing that, that bedtime routine and, and making sure that you're cutting off that eating, uh, earlier in the day as well, because that's going to help you get better rest, better sleep, which is again, gonna help you renew your mind. That is so good. I mean, here, here's a doctor.

You've got 20 years plus emergency room experience. Now you're running an emergency room, right? And you're telling us the best things that you can do. Mm-hmm. is renew your mind in the scripture, which, Taking the truth of God's word and replacing the lies that you're tempting to believe to make sure that you get a bedtime.

Going, you know? Yeah. And not being in front of a screen too long and just kind of slowing down your thinking. Such practical advice. I love it. So helpful. Yeah. I love that. Okay, so each week Tori always does like a little recipe. She, she talks to our listeners and there's so many, especially the women out there, and actually, but it's not just the women.

I've got several of my buddies that are like, I tried your wife's recipe. Okay. So we, we always, I'm. We always end our podcast with food. Yeah. So you and your wife, uh, you're gonna have your favorite meal or whatever. It's gonna be healthy. Is there like a go-to? Yeah. Tell us what that is. What you guys love.

Something, you know, healthy, You know, as a kid growing up, my mom made the best lasagna. Um, it wasn't exactly the healthiest. Yeah. Uh, my wife and I don't know the exact recipe, but man, she has perfected it, you know, really with, uh, ground Turkey now. Okay. Like a paleo lasagna closer? Yeah. Not, not exactly.

There is some carbs in there. We still do some noodles, you know? Yep. Okay. Uh, but, but yeah, it's, it's absolutely fabulous. You do a gluten-free. Noodle or do you Yes. Many times. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, Oh, wow. It's, it's good stuff. The whole family enjoys it. Yeah. And she's absolutely knows how to rock it. Awesome.

You said something, um, and, and I'll let you end with this, but you said something about when you're teaching your clients on, on how to properly eat, you said start in the, Yeah. Start in the garden, right? What, what is that? Say that again. Yeah. So you want to eat the, eat the garden. Okay. Okay. In the past, You wanna skip the fields of grain.

Okay. That's good. So that, that's, that's kind of, uh, the process that we want to take people through. So the last thing you ever add into your diet is, is grains just because they've been, uh, they're, they're so not healthy for you. Yeah. But if, if you do have grains, it's gotta be tori's, uh, sour bread.

Double, double fermented. Yeah. Yeah, Absolutely. Double fermented men. When, when you say, start with the, Um, are you saying when you're eating your food, there's an order to eating the food, or are you just saying, um, with the specific diet that you kind of start your, your patients on, you start vegetarian and then you kind of introduce?

Yeah. So basically what I'm, what I'm meaning by that statement is, is that the vast majority of your food you want to be vegetables. Okay. Then a little bit of of meat, and then, uh, you know, if you're gonna add in grains, that would be the last. So it's actually the order first portion. Yeah. Okay. That totally makes sense.

I actually, um, have been, um, in touch with a, a nutritionalist and she told me the same thing. She said, Start with your, Um, and then your protein and then your carbs. And that's what I've been doing to help digest and to, to absorb the minerals she was saying that was really important for, for digestion. So that's, And greens are always better with butter.

there's not much that's not better with butter. That's true. Better with butter and bacon. Everything's better with butter. , I don't think, uh, pigs are, are in the pasture. Maybe they'll be in the garden. , We need some bacon. Come on red. Let's eat some bacon. Man, I can't do bacon. I love it. I'm out on the bacon.

This is awesome. Right? He's seen too much in the er, red, or I should say Dr. John. This was so weird. I haven't seen you since high school. We, Yeah, Jason's been referring to you as red. So right before we walked in, I said, I'm sorry, what was your actual name? Like Red. Red. Okay. So for, for those of you who would love to reach out, Dr.

John, go to live life well clinic.com. He helps people virtually. I think everybody's had to do that since Covid hit. Mm-hmm. , like you have to have that as a part of your business plan, right. Where you can help people virtually and he's doing awesome work. And so we, we just, uh, trust that as you love yourself well, which is taking care of yourself, you're gonna be the best spouse that you can be.

Absolutely. So, yeah. Thank you so much. This was so fun. Yeah. I love it. So you, we gotta do it again. You gotta bring your wife back. Absolutely. I'd love to, love to meet Sarah. She could eat some of Tori sourdough. Oh yeah. Oh, she'd go for that. Yeah. She could teach me her lasagna. We could incorporate that into the lasagna.

Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Can I just make one, just confession real quick? Mm-hmm. . So, um, I made red some, um, sourdough toast and, and I made myself some just before this podcast, and I ate all mine and he didn't eat his. He had to go use the restroom, and so he told me that I could throw away his plate and I actually ate the rest of the toast.

I saw that that was on his plate. I saw that went to waste. Sorry about that. , your toast is gone. That's great. All right. Hey, thanks for hanging out with us. We'll see you next week. See you guys.