What Your Body is Trying to Tell You: How Listening to Your Body Can Help You Heal with Dr. Brook Sheehan

Today's episode is all about how do we stop striving for better health and actually achieve that.

We're going to talk about how do we actually listen to what our body needs most and how that is the key to improving our health or our wellness.

We're also going to talk about why our body loves diversity and why it's so important to switch things up.

We're also going to talk about why it's so important to actually allow ourselves to feel our emotions and to release them and how not doing so is so tied to to our health issues.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and purposefully.

Each week, we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work here for your whole self, and live aligned with what matters most.

Hi.

Today on the podcast, I'd like to welcome our guest, Dr. Brooke Sheehan.

She's a chiropractor and functional health practitioner, helping women move from constant health driving to peaceful partnership with the body God designed.

And I'm excited because we're going to talk about so many things in that intersection between functional health and faith and why it's so important and why they are tied together.

We're also going to talk about how do we listen to our bodies so that we don't wait until we're in crisis mode to really address what's going on.

And we're going to talk about the importance of releasing our emotions and things that are kind of trapped in our body.

And then we'll.

We'll also talk about why our body loves diversity.

In other words, why is it important that we change things up?

So I'm excited.

I think you're going to get so much out of this episode.

So I'd love to welcome Dr. Brooke to the show.

Welcome, Brooke.

Thank you so much, Kristen.

I'm so excited to be here.

Thank you.

Can you just tell us a little bit about your functional health journey, your faith journey, and then sort of what your focus is now?

Yeah, absolutely.

So faith journey started when I was born, born and raised into a Christian home.

You know, grandparents were missionaries, parents, you know, got us involved in church, vbs, awanas, the whole nine.

And when I, you know, was a teenager going middle or early 20s, I kind of walked away from the faith and got myself involved in a relationship with a man that was very toxic.

Ended up having a baby, getting married to him, all of the things.

Well, got married to him first and then had the baby.

Eventually Got divorced and at that time really walked away from my faith.

I'm like, he claimed he was a Christian.

We did the church thing together and it wasn't or he wasn't and it was really bad.

And so I was like, you know what, God?

I tried this thing with Jesus.

I don't feel like I'm getting any sort of emotional heart healing.

I'm still a mess.

I left the relationship even more of a message and I went more into the spiritual New Agey type things.

That's kind of like where I started to find, oh, I'm walking through fear and I'm not experiencing the same sort of feelings that I had only to come to find out, you know, full circle moment.

That was about 12 years on that New Agey journey to recognizing like, oh my gosh.

What I did was I took my tree, like this brush broken, busted up tree that had no leaves, no fruit, just branches that were about to be broken off, and I replanted it into a pretty pot.

And that was me taking that broken tree and moving it, you know, into the New Agey world.

So it wasn't anything fulfilling.

There was no actual fruit that was being born or bared there.

And so I like, with all that, sorry, I'm going to go backwards again a little bit.

So with all that I had in the divorce, I had left my work as a financial accountant and moved in the health and wellness space, went to chiropractic school, graduated chiropractic school, became a chiropractor.

And through that I ended up meeting this doctor who practiced a lot of New Agey things.

And I was like, oh, I want to work for him.

Right.

I really, like, again, wasn't walking with Jesus at this time.

Well, through the process of working with him, I got like really shook in my faith and really like had a whole experience with Jesus.

Came back to my faith, went back to church, married a beautiful faith filled, God filled, God fearing man in the process.

And it's really kind of what led me on the journey where God is like, you know, you learned some of these New Agey tests techniques, but you're not going to be practicing those.

You're going to be doing it for my glory and you're going to be doing it this way.

And so I've learned the whole body theology, like all of these things like in the process.

And that's kind of what has led to the body os work and understanding our bodies the way that God designed them and the wisdom that God put in our bodies.

And so it's kind of been this very windy road.

And I'm sure a lot of your listeners have maybe experienced that.

You know, it's never like, straight.

It's always really.

It can be dark before it gets light.

And right now it's really, really light.

And I'm just.

Glory to God for that.

So, no, thank you for sharing that, because I think you're right.

While some people may.

May not have a similar story that many people that I've talked to or had on as guests do have similar through lines that you just told us.

Yes.

But even if somebody doesn't relate to the part of your story about, like, you know, going out and looking, like, seeking something else, right.

Which so many of us have seek.

Had.

Have tried to seek something else in a place where that hole for God really is, right?

Like where we're really longing for Him.

But I will tell you, if.

If we've walked through something like that, and I haven't walked through that directly in that way, but I'm sure there's been little things, right, that have detoured me and there's other things.

But what it does, though, is I think when we then work with someone or just in relationship with them, right, Connections, we have perspectives that we wouldn't have had had we not walked through that.

Do you know what I'm saying?

And so I think sometimes going through those things then allows us to come to the table or come to the patient room or whatever it is, or practitioner room and be able to relate to people in a different way, whether they align with our faith.

Exactly.

Or not.

Right.

And so I think it's actually, that's part of why we may be taken through things.

You know what I mean?

Or at least it's used for God's purpose, so.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

When Joseph is saying, like, what the enemy intended for evil, God turned to good.

So his journey, very different than my journey, but it was a journey that he went on.

God took that and was, like, able to, like, really bring the Israelites to an entirely different place.

Absolutely love that.

Okay, so let's talk about.

What would you first of all say from the functional health lens?

You know, it can be faith lens, too, but from the functional health lens, what are most of us like, what.

What's going on?

Right.

Like, I.

There's lots of tons of issues.

That's not the point.

But there's probably underlying currents, right.

That's like, kind of going on right now.

So what would you just share with us about that, right?

Like is it stress?

Is it the holding on to, is it the not listening or is it all the above?

Well, I would say to answer it easily, it is all the above, but to really kind of break down some of the nuances of it.

There's a lot of noise in the health and wellness space and not just within the faith filled part of it, but even in the faith filled, functional aspect of it.

There's so much noise.

We are inundated with podcasts.

Love podcasts, they're amazing.

We have gurus on Instagram coming in and, you know, talking to you influencers saying it's your cortisol belly or it's this or it's that.

You got to do this, you got to do that, right?

We, we have so much information overload and it gets to a point where then we no longer.

And, and I liken this to the discernment of the Holy Spirit, right?

Like when we're able to quiet ourselves down, when we're able to really spend time in those silent moments, we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit better with our culture, health and wellness culture that's screaming at us at every angle.

You're not doing enough here.

You're not doing enough here.

You're not doing, you know, and that was my story.

I spent so many years disconnected from my body.

Tylenol, antibiotics, everything for, for every ill will, you know, that was going on in my body.

Fast food, all the things to swinging it to the opposite end, where I became obsessed, obsessed about everything.

And I stood on my soapbox and I was screaming at people, don't use that soap, it's toxic.

You need to do this, you need to do that, right?

Like I'm some profit, like what?

And that's not what God intended either.

And so that's, that's the culture we live in is, especially as women we do start to, you know, consume all this information.

We feel like we're not doing enough.

And what I'm calling women to do is to quiet down.

The same way you would quiet down to like heed the voice of the Holy Spirit is quiet down and really discover what your body has to say.

Because God did create it with so much wisdom.

He put all of this function in here for our soul to thrive.

It's not just because, oh, we, you know, like, oh, I, you know, I just think I'm going to create a body.

It's like, no, this is what he houses our soul inside of.

This is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

We Got to take care of it, but not in the way that culture takes care of it.

We need to take care of it in the way that it is asking to be taken care of.

Yeah, I absolutely relate to that.

And, yes, I can get sucked into those.

You know, there's places and spaces, too, where I'm like, oh, that's really good information.

Ooh, that's really good information.

And I save it and I say it so I know exactly what you're talking about, because it's like, I love, you know, eating up all the wellness information.

But to your point, there's so much.

And if you.

You can't listen to all of it and you can't do all of it because it's just overwhelming.

And obviously there's, you know, some things that would say it's actually bad for you.

I mean, like, if you took every single supplement, you took every.

Right.

It's just.

It's too much because you don't know how it affects your body.

So.

So I'm glad that.

I'm glad that you shared that.

And, you know, and.

But I've found that in my own life.

You know, obviously, most of us are on a health journey, just like our faith journeys.

And so most of us probably have things where we'd still like to do better, improve, or, you know, it's an ebb and a flow.

Yeah.

But I will say, when I most listen to my body, for instance, I'm somebody.

I like vegetables, but, like, I'm better at eating vegetables if I'm like, okay, I made, like, a raw kale salad or a arugula, whatever, or I'll make a vegetable soup or whatever.

I mean, I eat meat, too.

But I'm saying I know that I'll get more vegetables in if I have something prepared that isn't by itself, but it can be multiple vegetables.

Whereas if it's just in my fridge, I'm kind of like, oh, I don't really.

What am I going to do with it?

Like, I have to have a plan, and then I'll eat the really nourishing thing.

I'm not saying I won't eat something else, but, you know, I mean, but it's like, for me, I have to listen.

Like, you know what?

Yeah.

If I made that soup, like, I know I would eat it versus trying to figure out the last minute, like, what am I going to make for the vegetables for dinner?

And sometimes it's not a big deal, like, oh, roasted vegetables or a salad.

But my point is, the more I listen to my body.

Like, does that feel nourishing to me?

You know, like, it.

It helps me make better choices.

But even like some of my friends, I mean, of course I walk every day and, you know, I do some, you know, exercise and stuff, but it's like, sometimes I'm like, you know, what I really need is, like, a walk, but then I want to go work out in the garden.

Like, I want to move my body by doing something.

I don't want to go in my garage and work out, you know?

And I'm not saying either is right or wrong.

My point is, if I listen to myself and I feel better when I'm doing whatever the thing is that's filling me up and is good for me, you know?

Amen, Kristen.

I'm like, for those of you, you can't see me, but I'm smiling, I'm grinning so big when she was sharing all that.

Because that is exactly what it's about.

It's about really listening to our body and.

And asking it questions.

And this is a concept I teach for a lot of people in my membership group.

This or that, you know, as you're building this relationship with your body, no different than the way you build a relationship in your faith.

Right.

The more that you practice, the stronger and stronger, the easier it is to hear God's voice, all of the things.

So as you're building a relationship with your body, it's asking questions.

Not difficult, hard, complex questions, but it's like.

Like you were mentioning.

I'm going to use your example.

Do I go for a walk and walk in my garden, or do I go for a walk and work out in the gym?

And you got a clear answer because you were asking those very simple questions and your body told you no.

You know, I feel like I just want to move my body in the garden.

And we were never designed.

I am not anti gym.

I love the gym in doses.

And when my body's asking for it, which it does ask for it often.

Yeah.

But we were never designed to be working out on machines and all those kind of things.

It was never to be intended that way.

And we live in a society.

Yeah.

Where we're on computers on the desk, getting hunched over, doing all the things, and then, you know, going on more machines to, like, work these muscles out that we should be working on in other ways.

Yeah.

And obviously we're going to jump into something else in a second.

But I mean, what it made me think of is the, you know, as I've gotten, you know, through More decades.

I, you know, keep learning more.

Just about.

It's actually the really simple functional movements we're doing.

Right.

So sometimes I know you.

I forget what the terms are, but it's like even, you know, the getting down and grabbing a bucket and lifting it up, like.

So it's the things where you can do every day.

Yeah.

So as we get older, you can do all the.

You can still have all of your ability.

Right.

To move your muscles and move your body and have balance.

And so it's actually often I see it's the simple things like, you know, doing rolls on the ground like babies do, and then getting up.

Right.

Crawling like.

It's things where you think it sounds so silly, but it's because it keeps your body using all the parts of your body.

And when you're just doing something in a gym and it's a. I forget what that's called.

Right.

But it's a singular motion.

You're not using your whole muscles and you're not moving your fascia at the same time.

So just understanding that.

I think sometimes a lot of us did not learn that growing up, I think.

Absolutely.

And to.

To add to that point, before we transition, we try to overcomplicate things because we think if we're not doing enough, then we're not getting the benefits.

But just like you said, the simple things like crawling on the floor, rolling around like a baby, like these kind of things, these simple maneuvers, these simple changes that we make in our lifestyles can have the most way more impact than us spending 45 minutes to an hour and a half at the gym.

Yeah.

And, you know, I just had that same, like.

Like the whole.

If you don't keep using your balance, right, like if you just went to the treadmill, but you're actually not making sure, like, you can get off the ground and you can.

The problem is we lose it.

Right?

Like, we.

We will lose the ability to do something.

You know, maybe not when you're 25, but when you' 65 or you're, you know, whatever age depends on who we're talking about.

But yeah.

So I think that's the point is that's why the.

The everyday movements and doing things around your house and even, like they say, bringing your groceries in and being able to still hold 50 pounds, you know, if you're 50 or what, it's like those things actually allow you to keep living life and be really vital.

How about, you know, vitality?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So good.

Okay.

So what can you tell us about.

We I mean, we already dug into it just a tiny bit.

But what about, how do we start listening to our bodies?

Because I would say most people, you, you, you hit it earlier when you said I was disconnected from my body.

Most of us at some point have disconnected or disassociated with some of the feelings or listening to signals that our body's been telling us.

So what can you share with us about that?

Absolutely.

So, yes, a lot of us do live in the disconnect the best way.

And this takes work.

So.

So I'm going to tell you that right now.

It takes work, but you can develop this skill and you can become more sensitive to your body signals, to your body's voice, to the things that it's asking you to do.

But you have to give yourself the time.

I'm going to say that first and foremost, out the gate.

So one of the things I did mention earlier is the this or that game, like, really work when you wake up in the morning.

You know, every single morning, you may wake up and do the exact same thing, like to the teeth.

You step out of bed, you walk to your kitchen, or you, whatever your journey is, every single morning.

And we don't ever question it.

We just continue just.

We're creatures of habit, right?

We just do the same thing over and over and over again.

My, my challenge that I would give to the listeners would be, you know, change up this morning routine.

So, for instance, if you drop drink coffee every single morning, the very first thing you get up to do is go make your cup of coffee and you're doing your routine in that, stop in your tracks and ask your buddy, do you want coffee or tea?

Or you can say, do you want coffee or water?

Right?

I mean, sometimes a lot of us aren't even drinking enough water and we don't drink water first thing in the morning.

And our body could just use a couple ounces of water and be smiling really big inside.

The other thing is, is too, is understanding that this is building a relationship.

So just like you had to take time to build a relationship with your spouse or your best friend or your coworkers, you did not get to know these people.

You know, Right.

As soon as, Hi, Kristen, nice to meet you.

And I know everything about you.

You have to give yourself time to really work through this.

And you will start to understand and maybe not understand at first.

I will, I will take that back a little bit.

You will start to hear or feel certain signals in your body, and then that's when you can start to Ask a little deeper questions.

Like when you feel something, like maybe like a icky feeling in your gut, like on one side, and you're just like, oh, that's kind of dull, achy, like, what's going on?

Did I eat something?

Am I feeling some heavy emotions that might be getting caught right there?

Am I.

What is going on?

And so I talk about the four pillars of health, and it's really about, yes, physical, we know that, but spiritual, emotional, and mental.

So a lot of times our bodies can be signaling to us things that might be going on in one of those other pillars.

And it's not just physical.

So we can't look at stomach pain and go, oh, well, you know, I ate too much, or it was too much of a fatty meal, or this, this, you know, logically, yes, that makes sense.

But spiritually, what's happening?

Emotionally, what's happening, mentally, what's happening?

And.

And trying to sort through that and that.

And those are easier questions too, where you can go, okay, body, what pillar is being impacted?

You know, and.

And being able to kind of work through that.

Like, if you get an answer, oh, it's the spiritual, then at least you've deduced down to knowing that it's something spiritual.

Spiritual.

And then you can really work with the Holy Spirit in prayer time, figuring out, well, what is blocking me, like, why am I feeling this in my body?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

That's good.

Yeah.

And I think.

I think so many people, more people now know, I think a little bit about this than.

Than maybe, you know, 10 or 20 years ago, but I think a lot of people still don't really realize the power of the connection between.

Right.

Those four pillars.

So our mind, our thoughts, our emotions, and then how they can present in our physical or mental health.

Yeah.

And so what would you just share with us about that?

Because I think it's so important, and I think a lot of times when we're dealing with something, whether it's like the, you know, the small signals, if you will.

Right.

Like.

Like a ache that we continuously get, like, but it's minor, versus it becoming some bigger health situation, illness or crisis.

Yeah.

Well, the one big thing that I say on that is that your body will whisper to you.

So it whispers in these signals before it starts to scream or shout at you.

And the screaming and the shouting is the autoimmune, the cancers, things like that did not just pop up out of nowhere.

You didn't wake up one morning, and then all of a sudden your body is starting to fail.

It's really extremely resilient.

God created it that way.

But if it's not.

Not getting heard, it starts to like, okay, I don't have the resources to help with this.

So in terms of, you know, the, the body, mind, soul, spirit connection and how important it is to understanding the mental, emotional, spiritual to the physical, is every single.

Okay, I'm going to, like, back up another second here.

Every single organ in our bodies, your liver, your kidneys, your gut, your small intestines, your stomach, all of them lungs, they all carry a emotional expression.

Now, emotions are meant to be visitors.

We are very emotional beings.

God created us this way.

But emotions are never supposed to be resident.

They need to come in, they need to be released.

They need to come in, they need to be processed.

We need to feel them, we need to release the moment they become residents.

For instance, grief.

If we do not process grief properly, we will.

And I can say this confidently because this is how God designed the body.

We will experience some respiratory things because our lungs are carrying that.

Now when the lungs are carrying the emotion of grief heavily, how are they able to function physically?

Right?

Because it's kind of putting a burden and a burden.

Like we think about the yoke, right?

The yoke getting put over, put over, put over.

Heavier, heavier, heavier load.

We have to be able to work through and pray through our emotions so that they do visit properly and that they can leave properly.

Yeah, I know.

I like how you explain that and it's so important, but I think a lot of us don't get that.

And then I think what happens is for a lot of us, we do hold on to.

Maybe we have the same thing going on, right?

Like we're suppressing emotions or feelings or we're repressing them because we're.

Maybe we're just trying to be a better spouse or a good daughter, right?

Like, in other words, we're doing it maybe in some ways for the right reason that we think, but we don't realize as we keep.

Like you just said, we keep putting the same emotion or feeling on top of us and never releasing it.

So we get a pile up, right, of these emotions or suppressing our feelings or holding on to anger or frustration.

And so how would you tell us that we should start releasing this out of our body?

Because I think most of us, right, have trapped trauma or emotions or something that we haven't.

Like you said, we've made it a visitor now.

It has not left.

So one of the tactics that, that I share with clients, patients alike, is actual Journaling.

Journaling is something you can do where you just.

And I apologize for using such a strong word, but this is the word I use when I talk about.

You're vomiting words on a paper.

You're getting that ick, that emotion, those, like, ah, God, like, you know, I'm just feeling this way.

Like, God wants our transparency.

He wants our honesty.

Like, like, you know, you, you're not, you don't need to dishonor him for who he is.

That's not what I'm saying.

But it's.

But it's being truthful with your heart and not trying to put on a face and put on a show.

And I lived so much of my life like that, especially dealing with the toxicity in my, you know, like in my prior marriage and trying to put on the face and show up to church and, you know, like, yeah, everything's great while I'm dying inside and I'm losing bits and pieces, pieces of myself you can't thrive in.

You cannot thrive in environments where you're not at least getting those emotions out.

And if you can't say it to a spouse right away, or you can't say it to a friend, or you can't work through this resentment, or, you know, I'm feeling all these feelings towards X, Y and Z, get it out on paper.

You don't have to, like, submit the paper anywhere.

You can get rid of it as soon as you vomit it all out, but you get it out.

Yeah, yeah, I agree with you.

I, I interviewed a woman years ago who, she literally is having lots of chronic health issues.

When she moved back, I can't remember if she moved back to her hometown or her parents did, and it wasn't like, right.

When they did, she started having health issues.

Right.

But my point is, is over two years, she was having all these health things and she had a lot of stuff going on in her life.

But she read an article about journaling and she started doing it.

And within six months she released her health, some, A lot of her health, chronic health issues.

And I'm not saying, like, just like, there's divine healing.

There's so many things we could talk about healing.

We're just saying this is another tool to release your emotions.

Right?

So we're not saying, hey, if you journal, every one of your things will be gone.

We're just saying, like, it is a tool to release that what you've been suppressing or repressing or holding on to right within your body or not expressing.

I just read, I'm sorry.

If I can add one piece to that.

The one thing also with journaling that I always tell people, just get the raw emotion out.

Get the feeling, get the, oh, I don't feel.

You know, and then you're able to kind of look back and read like, read on it after you finish.

And it's almost like when you're vomiting, right?

Like if you're sick and you have the flu and someone puts a bowl under you, at least that vomit is contained.

And then you could take it to the toilet and flush it, whatever.

But if you're just of lashing out on people and you're vomiting all over the floor and you know, it's a harder mess to clean up.

So journaling is a way of keeping it contained so that you can look through, figure out, okay, what am I really feeling?

Is this something that needs to like be talked about to these people or do I just need to get these feelings out and then you go dispose of it, you know?

Absolutely.

Well, and to your point, if you journal like you said, I would be one of those people where I'd probably.

Be like, I'm going to go burn.

It because I don't get to read whatever.

I mean, not that I have a lot of stuff right, right around, but I'm just private.

I mean, I'm not private, but I'm private.

You know what I mean?

I wrote something down because it's like that's for my.

Myself, right?

It's not for somebody else, but.

But I think you're so right.

It's.

It's also though, if you journal multiple times and some people love keeping their journal entries, like I'll keep prayer entries or other things, but if I was like full on emotion, I might not.

But it's that you can also start seeing repeat patterns.

Like it's the same issue coming up for you where you're really angry at this person or hurt or you know, and then you start saying like, can I, can I deal with this like.

By getting it out or do I.

Need to go work with somebody to help me right, with this repeat thing?

And so I think it lets us see like, like you said, it lets us self reflect.

Like not just keep it in our heads, but we're bringing it out.

I also just read something the other day and I'm not remember exactly what it was because I just glanced at it one time.

But it was saying that people that tend to just say they talk to themselves out loud.

I know that sounds kind of sort of funny, but they Actually were healthier.

They had less diseases than people that don't.

And what by that.

What we're saying is like, even if you're just like.

And I've done this before, I don't do it all the time.

Like, let's say my husband and I, the kids are in the kitchen and something silly happened.

But I'll be like, oh, you're driving me crazy.

Right?

Like, I'm not, like, actually mad, but there was probably that little low level of irritation with something he said.

And I just say it partly because I'm kind of just like, give me a break.

But I think actually doing that is keeping it.

You're not keeping it inside and, like, letting 10 of those things happen.

So while I wasn't doing it to have a.

Like, a conversation with them, I kind of just spoke it out.

And I think, actually, in whatever way you do that, I surely.

I'm not saying, like you said, don't have.

Like, I'm not trying to pick a fight.

Right.

Or anything.

But me saying that sometimes, like, my son, I don't know, he misunderstood me the other day because they're.

They're teenagers, like, college.

Oh, I know the teenager.

Like, he was like.

And I was just like, what?

And I did this whole thing, and they literally were all like, what is wrong?

Like, what just happened?

And I was like.

I was just getting irritated, so I just kind of, like, did this screaming thing, which is not normal for me.

Like, I don't usually do that.

Yeah, they were kind of like, what?

And I was like, well, maybe I need to do it more, because that felt really good, you know?

But I think that's the point is I felt that, like, thing in me.

So instead of holding it in, which I would do sometimes, I just let it out.

You know what I mean?

And.

And it feels really good because I was releasing that feeling I was having.

It's powerful.

And you're not doing it in a nasty tone.

You're like.

Like, you're driving me crazy.

You know, if you need to get stuff out, I do this a lot in my car, where I'll be like, after I drop off my teenager to high school, I'll be, you know, driving home and thinking about all my to do list or overwhelmed.

And I'm like, like.

Or do making sounds to release, like, feel feelings so they don't get, like, caught up in there.

But I think it's a really good thing to do.

For sure.

Yeah.

Funny.

Okay, so what would you tell us about.

You know, one of the Things you, you shared that you, you would talk about today was just like, why is it important that we don't, you know, listening to our body kind of said this or that, which is part of it, but then also doing the same exact routine every day is actually not beneficial to us.

I know from both a mental.

Right.

Brain perspective, but also from a body perspective.

So what can you share with us about that?

Oh, this is one of my favorites.

So our bodies, God created them.

You're going to hear me say that all the time.

God created them.

So wise and so beautifully.

They love diversity.

Our bodies love diversity.

So I know many of us that are listening to this today, like, can absolutely relate to this.

You start a brand new supplement, you heard somebody say something on Instagram or podcast or TV show or whatever, you started it, you're like, oh my gosh, I feel incredible.

I have the most energy.

I'm like sleeping through the night.

Like I'm doing a million things all at once.

And all of a sudden, maybe a week, 10 days later, you're like, like, you know, feeling like you fell off a cliff.

Now there's a reason for that.

A.

Well, one.

Supplements need to be dosed appropriately to you.

You.

And that's why I'm not a big, I'm a big proponent of supplements, but done correctly, not just taking everything, willy nilly.

But the other thing is this happens not just with supplementation, it happens with food.

So people who get into these routines where they're only, you know, they're doing all the meal prep and which is great.

Meal prep is great.

I am not saying do not do meal prep.

What I'm like pushing up against is the fact that we meal prep, like the same meal for two weeks on end, the same thing.

Your chicken and broccoli and maybe some green beans that you're packaging because you're, you know, working on trying to lose weight or you're trying to do these different tactics or you're just getting caught in a groove that is not beneficial.

So you may seem, you may see some benefits as you're doing it.

And then all of a sudden a plateau, like an absolute plateau.

And what it is, is because our bodies are so intelligent, they're so smart.

Like, honestly, like.

And I, and this is not talking about addiction or fleshly desires, but I'm talking about the body in a healthy state will always win.

You can try to willpower your way through.

You can tell your bladder you're, you're empty, you're empty, you're empty.

But it will not be empty until you use the actual bathroom.

Right.

Your body, when in these cases.

So when you hit that plateau, your body's like, hahaha, Kristen, I know what you're going to do today.

I know what you're going to eat.

We're going to stop responding to that.

We're going to stop responding to that supplement because hey, like this is like now I understand what you're doing and we're just not going to respond to it anymore.

And so it kind of kicks back and.

And so you really do need to create a diverse environment with workouts.

Right.

Whether you're going to the gym or going to the garden or taking a walk, whether you're drinking coffee or tea or water or what you're eating every few days or so, there needs to be a diverse environment.

It's not just for the microbiome because I know a lot of doctors will talk about, well, you need diversity for the microbiome.

Yes.

But also for your body as a whole.

Whole.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean they even tell you that trying to change up the route you take walking or driving.

In other words, it's the same.

Your brain needs diversity because it actually makes it stretch and grow.

Right.

It makes it more pl.

The plasticity.

Right.

Is better, I think is if I remember correctly.

But right.

It's.

In other words, our body is the same way.

It's just like why they say don't just do like arms every day?

Because it doesn't.

That's why a lot of people write very.

And like, I'm like you, I don't like going and doing gym days all the time.

You know, I know sometimes I'm like, oh, I haven't really worked out that part of my arm.

Maybe I need to do something.

But you know, what I'm getting is like the reason they switch it up is because your muscles actually respond better when you do different things.

Just like athletes that do all different types of athletics and strength conditioning training, they usually have less injuries than athletes that only do their own individual sport.

Right.

Because healthier for your body.

Absolutely.

Healthier for your body, healthier for your brain.

Like you mentioned the neuroplasticity, all of that.

You're building new neural connections.

It's learning to like do things differently.

Like you said, even taking, taking different routes when you do go for your walks.

If, if it's a walk day based on what your body's asking for, change up the routine.

If you're always leaving your house, coming out the front door and turning Left.

Turn right.

Exactly.

Turn right.

Because it's so easy to get stuck in our patterns.

And, you know, obviously some patterns are okay and good.

We're just saying that.

Switch it up some because, you know, it doesn't have to be some.

A different pattern every single day.

But, you know, giving variation, it's just like, I think they've studied kids, but it's the same with adults.

And they.

If you actually gave them healthy food choices, like, they actually pick what their body needs.

And it's normally varied different days.

Like, if we give ourselves choices.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Like, you.

And you actually listen for a minute.

You're like, okay, actually, I do want the banana day.

No, I don't really feel like eggs today.

I actually want the blueberries with the, you know, like, if you actually pause a minute, you know, sometimes I'm like, oh, I feel so turned off by that particular thing today, but I ate it yesterday.

It.

I think it's because I don't need it.

You know, my body doesn't really need it.

That's exactly.

It's like, hey, we want the blueberries.

Like, give us, you know, give me the blueberries.

So, yeah.

Because your point, Our body in brain is smarter than we are.

Right.

Like, we're thinking about, which is, I already had that kind of protein and that kind of.

Those kind of nutrients.

But you haven't buried it to giving me these other things that I could really use.

Right.

And that's really what it's telling us.

I mean, all the different things is it's saying, I know by my design, by God's design, that that variations actually makes us healthier.

Yeah.

Because you're giving your body the resources that it's asking for.

So like you said, if you're only eating chicken or this kind of protein, you're only getting this amount of amino acids, but you also need these amino acids and these enzymes and these, you know, parts, other pieces.

So it's.

It's important that we vary things.

I love that.

Yeah.

And it's good to hear because I think.

I mean, while I've read that obviously about different things, I don't think everybody.

I don't think we talk about that all the time.

You know what I mean?

So I think it's a good reminder to hear again.

Okay, so what would just be maybe another one or two just thoughts or tips that you'd have for us about, you know, how do we just be our healthiest, you know, self so that we can show up and do all the things that God really wants us to be doing in this life.

Can I share one of my favorite body signals that I think a lot of us miss so much, especially now in this season?

Now, this happens no matter what time of year it is, but a signal that the body gives you is, okay.

So one of the big ones is sneezing.

And a lot of times we brush it off, we hear somebody sneeze next to us, God bless you, God bless you.

Or we sneeze ourselves and somebody says it back to us, and we just move on like it's no big deal.

That signal right there is your body alerting you that there is immune system distress going on in the background.

So a lot of times we don't recognize that we're coming down with anything until we, like, are starting to feel like, oh, my gosh, like, I kind of feel achy, got this low grade headache.

You know, I'm just really tired.

But those sneezes showed up before that even happened.

And I'm not talking because some people try to get me, like, well, Dr. Brooke, I have allergies.

Yes, I understand allergies are one thing with sneezing, but that is where you see the watery eyes, the drippy nose when you're sneezing.

A lot of times we just sneeze.

And none of those things happen.

That is when the immune system distress is going on.

So in the medical field, there's things called subclinical infection.

So that means you can have bacterial infections, viral infections, parasite infections, all kinds of infections going on in your body.

But because your body is so wise, it's fighting it off in the background.

The moment you start sneezing is that immune system saying, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Surrender, white flag.

I need resources to help support me through this season or through these next few days.

And if you listen and adhere, you're not going to be flat on your back, like, sick as a dog, you know, all of the things.

And so the three things that I say the moment you sneeze and I say, do this over the course of like two days, two to three days.

So when I say two to three days, I mean, like, for instance, today, if I sneeze, well, hurt you.

Hurt you, right?

I'm going to continue out my day no matter what time the sneeze started, and I'm going to drink more fluid.

Now, when I say drink more fluid, I'm just saying 4-6oz extra than you normally would.

Now, if you realize at that point you haven't drank Any water.

I'm not telling you to guzzle down a whole gallon of water because you could be flushing good white blood cells out of your system.

I'm telling you, drink 4 to 6 ounces more of water than you would over the next.

That day, the next day and the next day.

So a total of three days, you know, fully take sugar completely out of your diet.

Completely.

Honey, fruit, all the things with sugar.

You eating an orange because you feel like some immune system distress is coming on.

That vitamin C in that orange is not getting offset by the amount of sugar coming in because sugar depletes the amount of magnesium in your body.

It also, the analogy, I like to use metaphor, it blindfolds your white blood cells.

So it's like fighting the battle blind.

So sugar has to be completely cut out and rest.

Like, do not try to push the candle at both ends.

Don't like, you know, I'm going to like stay up till midnight because I got this project.

I understand we have day to day life and there's kids and there's work and there's all these things that we may not be able to rest like we need to, but it's being mindful of it and taking breaks where you can so that you don't end up flat on your back, sick as a dog and feeling icky.

So that's one of the big, huge signals that people miss that I'd like to share.

So I'm glad you did.

Yeah.

I mean, I had seen that on one of your episodes or somewhere and I've heard that before, but I never, you know, like, because I do tend to get, you know, some congestion and so, you know, so I'm probably in the middle.

Like I probably sneeze because of that reason for sure.

I mean, the reason you just explained.

But also for other things that are irritants to me.

Yeah.

Which I know it's more of those are.

And so for me, like even pepper, it makes me sneeze.

Like I'm just one of those people that, you know what I mean?

Like, if we just ground pepper, like 10, within 10 minutes, I'll sneeze, right?

Yeah.

So whether it's with my immune, like, I do not like this allergen.

Right.

But it's.

Anyways, I think that's a great reminder because I have heard that before, but I have not actually heard somebody say, like, do these things as soon as you realize, like you've been sneezing, you know, so that's good.

What is fueling you?

You know, this Season.

You know, whether it's your faith or just something fun you're doing or just something that's just kind of bringing you joy.

So the biggest thing that's bringing me joy, and I know even by the time this gets released in December, it's going to be the same.

Thing is I have lived my life, and I've always been very entrepreneurial.

Always, like, striving, always going, you know, in the moments when I had Jesus, when I didn't have Jesus, now when I have him again, like, and this is a whole different ball game of now.

It's my faith, right, versus my family's faith.

I was a Christian by my identity or my family of origin.

It's like, no, this is.

My relationship with Jesus is.

I have developed, like, so as an entrepreneur and as a person who is in business for myself, I tended to, you know, always be, oh, God, I got to get this done.

I got to do the, you know, your to do list is running wild.

And, you know, I would be dealing or working with patients early morning hours, all the way to the night, taking myself to dinner, all of the things.

And within the last five weeks, I have.

I don't know why it took me so long, but I've made the Holy Spirit the CEO of my business because the Holy Spirit, Jesus gave him to us as our helper.

And I'm like, all right, Holy Spirit, like, what are we doing today?

Like, what is it that we need to accomplish today day?

And I will tell you, within those last five weeks, I have accomplished everything on the to do list.

Every single day, like, we lay out the exact to do list, and then he puts, like, kind of like Tetris.

It's like, this is what you're doing first.

This is what you're doing second, third, fourth, fifth, and so forth.

There was a one day last week where I thought, you know, this doesn't seem right.

Like, I need to do this in place of that.

And I kind of changed the.

The Tetris pieces around, and I didn't finish everything that day.

And I'm like, oh, Holy Spirit, you are so right.

Like, you knew.

Exactly.

So that is fueling me.

It's giving me just this, like, childlike faith again, where it's just like, he's.

He's bringing me to points of actual taking Sabbath and rest and not feeling like I have to do things, like, on.

You know, like, I have to work every single day, and this is not gonna happen.

I'm not gonna accomplish my dreams.

It's like, no I am going to accomplish everything that God's put on my heart to accomplish and all of the things he's called me to because I'm surrendered to him in that process.

And so that's.

That's where I'm at.

I love that.

Yeah.

I mean, first of all, I have some really good episodes on the Sabbath and rest.

But yeah, it just remind me of so many things I hear from people like pastor author Mark Batterson.

But, you know, he's always like that.

He's like, God can do so much more than you could ever do in your lifetime.

Like, he can do that in a day.

We just need to just stop and don't wrong.

I get it's hard too, because I'm like you.

I'll have a list.

And most days are like, okay, well, some of the list got done, or other days this gets done.

But to your point, the more we, you know, let him.

Right, like, take.

Try not to be in control because we are here to be faithful and do the work, be the mom, whatever it is, the spouse.

Our job is never to determine the outcomes.

I mean, it's to do the work right.

And do it well, whatever work that is, whether it's in our home or, you know, in our office or whatever.

But it's to just show up and be faithful, to do the best work we can do, but it's not to determine the outcome.

And so to your point, you're like, okay, God, like, you just tell me, like, what of these is the priority?

Even if I don't see it?

Because I thought this was more important.

Right?

Yeah, because it's like the dominoes.

One little domino can take out the next domino.

And we don't always maybe see that clearly, you know, because we're looking at it from, you know, you being a practitioner and running, you know, that kind of business.

Yeah.

So I love that example.

Okay, so can you share with us how people can reach you or learn more about your services on your website and your podcast and all that good stuff?

Yeah, absolutely.

So, Dr. Brooke Sheehan, I will say I don't have an E at the end of my name.

So if you spell Brooke with an E, you will not get to where you need to go.

So Dr. Brooke Sheehan.com has all the information you can learn about Body OS, the membership program.

I designed a tool tool called Talk to Me Body, and it is a card deck of different pieces of your body, so different parts of your body.

I am your liver.

I am your stomach.

I am your pancreas.

Statements from your body as a whole.

There's scripture on that, on every single card that really helps you anchor in and understand your body in a brand new way.

Because a lot of us live in fear of our body.

And if we can understand, like, wow, our liver does all these amazing things.

Our stomach does all these amazing things.

Each of the cards have a QR code at the bottom of them that allow you to do a reflex point, like so a touch point on your body that you can activate that helps support that organ or again, your body as a whole.

I have cholesterol, cortisol, hormones, mitochondria, all of the other little pieces that you may find on lab reports that might not be so icky.

And I always tell people, pull those cards if they're icky numbers and like read those and pray those over you understand your body is doing amazing things.

So design that tool.

And that's all on my website and I'm on social media Instagram @.

Dr. Brooke Sheehan.

Wonderful.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to come share, you know, such good, valuable information about, you know, just that connection, right, of those four pillars and how we really have so much ability, right, to make our bodies to align up the way God wants them to be and that he wants us to be healthy, mind, body and spirit.

And so.

And we can do that, right?

But we have to partner with him and slow it down and listen and like you said, and then you do all the things that you kind of advised us to do.

So thank you so much for the.

Time.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Kristen.

I also wanted to let you know, if you haven't already joined my community, you can head over to KristinFitch.com grab one of my free workbooks while they're still free.

But one is about a five day Energy Reset.

It's five simple practices that you can add to your life that will give you more energy and make you feel better.

This ties in perfectly with today's episode.

So head over to Kristen Fitch, go to my workbook section and grab the five day Energy Reset.

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