256 Gut Health, Allergies, Inflammation and Proactive Solutions with Emily Macleod-Wolfe

256. Gut Health, Allergies, Inflammation and Proactive Solutions with Emily Macleod-Wolfe

 

1 Corinthians 6:20 CEV "God paid a great price for you. So use your body to honor God."

 

**Transcription Below**

 

Emily MacLeod Wolfe is a Nurse Practitioner wellness professional with a passion for helping individuals achieve their health goals in a holistic and practical way.

 

With 5 years of invaluable experience in the field, Emily has developed a deep understanding of the importance of a balanced lifestyle for a vibrant life.

 

Emily firmly believes in treating the whole person, not just the symptoms, and takes a comprehensive approach to healthcare. She learned these from her own personal experience of dealing with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and eczema and found the root causes to treat them naturally. She is passionate to help others with the personal knowledge and health freedom she has received.

 

By combining her medical expertise with a focus on nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness, she empowers her clients to take control of their health and make sustainable lifestyle changes.

 

With a warm and empathetic demeanor, Emily creates a safe and supportive environment where clients feel heard and understood. She works closely with each individual to develop personalized wellness plans that are tailored to their unique needs and circumstances. Whether you’re looking to improve your physical fitness, manage stress, or simply lead a healthier life, Emily is dedicated to guiding, encouraging & supporting you on your wellness journey.

 

Emily's Website

 

Find a Functional Medicine Provider in Your Area

 

Questions and Topics We Cover:

1. Will you define what it means when you refer to our "gut" and explain why our gut health is vitally important to our overall health?
2. What lifestyle sets us up to have a healthier gut?
3. If you had to simplify it and leave encouragement for each of these areas, what's a good starting point for something we can all start doing, stop doing, and continue doing?

 

Thank You to Our Sponsor: Dream, Build, Grow: A Female's Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business by Francie Hinrichsen

 

Francie Hinrichsen's Previous Episode on The Savvy Sauce:

Episode 132 Pursuing Your God-Given Dream with Francie Hinrichsen

 

Other Related Episodes on The Savvy Sauce Podcast:

Being Intentional with our Health, Finances and Relationships with Elizabeth Dixon

Simple Changes for Healthier Living with Leslie Sexton and Vasu Thorpe

Pursuing Health, Not Vanity Before and After Childbearing with Blogger, Speaker, and Coach, Megan Dahlman

Sustainable Health & Nutrition with Molly Pfleuderer and Ryan Parnham

Rhythms of Renewal with Gabe and Rebekah Lyons

Healthy Living with Dr. Tonya Khouri

 

Connect with us through The Savvy Sauce Website.

 

Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)

 

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

 

Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

 

Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” 

 

Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” 

 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

 

Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” 

 

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

 

Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

 

Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”

 

Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

 

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“

 

Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“

 

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

**Transcription** 

Music: (0:00 – 0:08)

 

Laura Dugger: (0:09 – 1:15)

Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Duggar, and I'm so glad you're here. 

 

If you are looking to start a business or side hustle, but you're not sure how to begin, I want to encourage you to pick up your copy of Dream, Build, Grow: A Female’s Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business. You can find it at foundingfemalesco.com. 

 

Emily MacLeod-Wolfe is my kind and brilliant guest for today. She's a nurse practitioner, wellness professional, and she loves helping individuals achieve their health goals in a holistic and practical way.

 

Emily packs this conversation full of practical tips, and she sprinkles them throughout the entire episode. So, I hope you enjoy learning from her now. Here's our chat.

 

Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Emily. 

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (1:16 – 1:20)

Thank you so much for having me, Laura. I'm so excited to be here with you today.

 

Laura Dugger: (1:21 – 1:33)

I'm thrilled for the opportunity to get to interview you. And just doing a little bit of research, I recognize you are such a gifted photographer. So, then what also led you to pursue a career in the health arena?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (1:34 - 5:05)

Yes, thank you so much. So, first of all, with photography, from a very young age, I just started disappearing from family photos because I wanted to start taking them. And so I was blessed to have a couple of photography mentors, and I loved the ability to be able to capture someone and show them their worth and their beauty and give them maybe even an outside perspective of sometimes we can be so critical of ourselves and to be able to show someone their beauty and their worth in a photo, it was just incredible.

 

And so, I just have always, always been a people person and always loved really just showing people that. And then I started that and then it was actually my own health journey that ended up prompting me to go towards the health route. And so, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's and eczema.

 

My skin, it was just I just became a bleeding open wound at one point where I literally couldn't I would cry myself to sleep. My mom would put mittens on my hands so that I would not scratch at night. We went to doctor after doctor and no one could figure out what was going on with all these health issues.

 

And they just kept prescribing medications and steroids, and it was it was making it worse. And there was a point where I went and did like a UV ray treatment and for my skin and my skin with the hydrocortisone had a reaction to the UV ray light. And then I went from like already looking really terrible, my skin falling off to like a burn patient.

 

And it was just horrible. And so from that point, I had prayed and felt prior that I was being called into medical missions. My parents are pastors.

 

And so, I really had a heart to do medical missions and be in ministry. And I thought immediately doctor. But then after I saw a nurse practitioner and she asked me all the questions that the doctors were not asking.

 

And she was like, what are you eating and what is your sleep like? What are your stress levels like? And we did allergy sensitivity testing.

 

And oh, my gosh, I was my gut was so imbalanced that I just could not eat anything. And I ate I was literally eating chicken and green beans for like nine months. But my gut reset because it was so inflamed and allergic to everything.

 

And we did certain things to calm the lining, heal the lining of the gut and my skin cleared. And it was incredible. That prompted me to go on this journey.

 

I was able to get off thyroid medication. The Lord healed my thyroid and prompted me into doing medical. And so I knew I wanted to go to Vanderbilt and I wanted to be a nurse practitioner and do the traditional training.

 

But go into holistic, integrative kind of have the best of both worlds, the traditional training. But then the functional medicine knowledge and then integrate the two. And so that's why my practice is called pure integrative health, because it's kind of blending both.

 

And I still do both. And I still do photography because I just love that creative aspect. And then I like the right and left brain.

 

It kind of gives a little change.

 

Laura Dugger: (5:05 - 5:27)

I love that. That's such a good point. And I've learned so much from hearing you speak about these topics.

 

But it seems like people are starting to pay more attention to gut health in recent years. But will you just start baseline? Will you define what it means when you refer to our gut and explain why gut health is so vitally important to our overall health?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (5:28 - 8:59)

Such a great question, Laura. Yes. So, first of all, the microbiome, which is it's our gut is essentially all the different intestines that colon, large intestine, small intestine, stomach.

 

That's the gut. Now, the lining of that, we've got billions of bacteria, trillions of bacteria in the gut. It's the only organ that is constantly communicating like through the vagus nerve.

 

There is continual communication called the set. The gut is called the second brain for a reason, because there is a constant stream of communication. The gut can actually send signals to the brain and then vice versa.

 

And so, it is the precursor to I mean, if we can heal the lining of the gut and if we can heal and balance out, when I say microbiome, it is the amount of good and bad bacteria that are all in in the gut. And so, we want a really healthy microbiome, which would be we want lots of strains of good bacteria outweighing the bad bacteria, very little to or just like not pathogenic, bad bacteria. So how and what do we do to kind of balance those things?

 

One thing is the good and bad bacteria. We want so many different strains of good bacteria. Now, studies have shown that over the last 100 years, the number of good back just even strains of different types of bacteria, the microbiome diversity has gone down dramatically.

 

And what could be causing that is the introduction of antibiotics, because since the introduction of antibiotics, there are far fewer. Good bacteria strains that are even possible to have and cultivate now, that's what keeps our immune system resilient is the abundance of many different types of good bacteria. And so, then when pathogenic bad bacteria viruses, we get sick, then the body has a strong enough immune system and the bacteria can just destroy the bad bacteria much quicker if we have that.

 

But just antibiotics, the chemicals in the food, toxins, even America's gluten, because it is genetically altered. It's not Italy's, but really good stuff. It's all affecting you.

 

Alcohol, the lining of the gut and weakening the immune system. Not why is this so important? Anyone that has autoimmune issues needs to be paying attention to the gut.

 

Hundred twenty percent because 90 percent of the immune system is made and synthesized in the gut. And so, then if the gut is sending out unhealthy signals, it will send those things. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Hashimoto's thyroid disorder, just arthritis, anything with inflammation.

 

Yeah. So anyhow, all of those things, inflammation and it can be traced back to imbalances in the gut.

 

Laura Dugger: (9:00 - 9:23)

And as you're sharing even what the gut is, just thinking food passes through all of those places as it gets processed. So, I'm assuming that I'm sure there's lifestyle factors as well. But is food the main reason beyond the antibiotics that are stripping it of the good bacteria?

 

Is that the main lifestyle change we can have is to eat a certain way?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (9:25 - 9:26)

Great question.

 

Laura Dugger: (9:26 - 9:26)

Yes.

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (9:26 - 14:25)

So food is the game changer because it is true. You are what you eat and the foods that we're eating, some of them are just the quality in the food. We could get organic, but they're showing now that sometimes we're not even getting the nutrients from the soil anymore.

 

They're not putting the right nutrients in the soil that the food was even grown in. So we're not getting the minerals and we're not absorbing things like B vitamins are not even being absorbed as well. Into the lining of the gut.

 

It's not even there to begin with in the foods or they are grown, but sent across the country and then gone to a grocery store. And they are no longer like three, four, five, six days after harvesting the mineral content in our foods drastically drops. And so.

 

As much as possible, I recommend getting to know your farmer, getting to know local farmers markets, places that can really go back and get food that was just freshly harvested, because we're going to increase the chances of getting cleaner, more nutrient dense foods that way. That's one thing. And the other is.

 

Sometimes we can be eating foods that are healthy that could actually be causing damage to the lining of our gut. And what I mean is some of you might have heard something called leaky gut. Well, what is that?

 

And like, where does it come from? It's in the lining of the colon, large and small intestine, and the stomach. There are these tight junctions of the cells that just keep everything in the digestive tract as properly.

 

We need food to stay in the digestive tract. We don't need it anywhere else in the body. And so, if there's a stressor to the body, then it can be from toxins, chemicals, food additives, preservatives, pesticides.

 

It can start to wear. And like I said, genetically altered gluten can wear away at the lining of the tight junctions. And all of a sudden there's holes in the lining of the intestine causing food particles to leak into the bloodstream, which what is the problem with that?

 

And that can contribute to food allergies and food sensitivities popping up like crazy. So, for example, an allergy usually is pretty immediate. Most people know their allergies because hives, throat closing, etc.

 

Sensitivities present up to 72 hours after eating a food. So we're talking joint pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation. We're talking mood swings, depression, anxiety, brain fog, acne, psoriasis, eczema, all sorts of things.

 

And it can show up 72 hours after eating the food. So, all of a sudden playing a guessing game. Well, I ate eggs three days ago.

 

I was feeling fine. I ate eggs today and I feel bloated. Was it this or was it was it the broccoli or was it this?

 

And so then there's this and it could be continual exposure. Now there's more inflammation in the body because then that increases inflammation that can cause weight gain. And then there's foods leaking into the bloodstream.

 

It's going to weaken the immune system. So oftentimes with the intestinal permeability, we'll see heightened seasonal allergies are getting way worse. We'll see food sensitivities popping up like crazy.

 

We'll just see overall getting sick more frequently, all of those things as well. So I do highly recommend doing a food sensitivity test because, for example, I had a patient just last week who was trying to eat as healthy as she possibly could. And she was eating salmon, spinach and rice.

 

Well, we did a food sensitivity test and she came back to find out that salmon, spinach and rice were three of the top most foods causing inflammation, sensitivities and allergies in her body. And that was contributing to the inflammation and all the ways that she was she was feeling terrible, which is crazy because those are healthy, good foods. But the body, if there's if there's, you know, breaches in the lining of the gut, it doesn't start to recognize good food versus it's just it could pop up from eating the same food every single day or from from vaccines at a very young age that hijack the immune system and then or antibiotics from a very young age or.

 

Yeah, I'm spilling out lots of information.

 

Laura Dugger: (14:25 - 14:45)

So helpful. I'm going to try and remember it. There's a few follow up questions.

 

Just thinking back to when you talked about eczema and skin issues, I think I've heard you say before that the skin is the last place where it shows up, where your imbalance and overall health will show up. Is that correct?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (14:45 - 17:06)

That is correct. That is. Yes, exactly.

 

And so even a lot of skin issues are oftentimes an indicator of there's something deeper going on. Acne, psoriasis, eczema, what's going on? Eczema, psoriasis are autoimmune also.

 

So, looking at the gut is absolutely a game changer. I like a gut analysis. I will say with food sensitivity tests, they're not all created equal.

 

I have one that I do with my patients that checks for allergy, sensitivities and inflammation because some tests just test sensitivities. Some just test allergy and some will not.

 

There's none that really just test inflammation on their own. But how much better if you can look at all three and add them up? What foods could be causing inflammation, which is going to increase like almost every disease out there can be linked back to inflammation.

 

And then we can get inflammation down or be preventative. Maybe you're not feeling bad but just want to be on the preventative side. Great.

 

We want to reduce inflammation. And then the sensitivities and then the allergies. So IgE, IgG and then inflammation markers and the lining would be like the best way to look at everything.

 

And you want to pull them out, heal the lining of the gut best we can. There are foods, there's supplements and things depends on the person to exactly what is going on with their lining of their gut. But generally it can be repaired, which is great news.

 

It's like, is it forever? Is it like you guys? No, it's not.

 

It's just because the lining of the gut can regenerate in two or three weeks. So even two months of true two or three months of truly pulling out any foods that could be causing inflammation is just incredible because it gives the body the opportunity to finally heal. If it's not always continually having stressors coming at it from something that we can control.

 

Laura Dugger: (17:06 - 19:54)

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Laura Dugger:

And I'd love to eventually unpack how some of these symptoms may present, whether that's insomnia or brain fog, low energy, all kinds of symptoms.

 

But first, I think you've given us a little glimpse of hope, so I want to run with that for a moment. So, eating whole, healthy, organic when possible foods that are locally sourced. Then you mentioned supplements and this testing.

 

So what are those proactive ways with both lifestyle and supplements? What do you generally recommend?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (19:54 - 27:50)

I will say that foods in general that increase the microbiome diversity, which is good, the good bacteria that increase can be foods like kefirs and sauerkraut and kimchi, the fermented foods. Even sourdough bread is more easily digestible because it is fermented. And so some of those type foods that are rich in probiotics.

 

So probiotics, the good bacteria. But then there's prebiotics. I'm like, you know probiotics maybe.

 

But the prebiotics are the food for the probiotics. So we really want to feed the prebiotics so that the probiotics can multiply. So what are foods that are rich in prebiotic?

 

Chicory root, inulin, like the greenish like bananas, like not too ripe, but greenish, closer to green. Those are rich in prebiotics. Asparagus, onions, leeks, garlic.

 

Those are rich in prebiotics. And yeah, and so increasing some of those foods can help fuel the probiotics and help them multiply. But I and then as far as supplements go, a really good high quality probiotic is good.

 

I will say not all probiotics are made or created equally. And I would recommend you that you that are listening to consider seeing a holistic practitioner that can partner with you to do like, you know, a gut test and a food sensitivity test. And then when you do a gut analysis, it's not super fun.

 

It's a stool analysis. But it looks at the lining of the gut. Like we talked about, it looks at bacterial overgrowth, looks at bacterial undergrowth.

 

Like, is there something that's growing that's that used to be good, but now it's overgrown and it's bad bacteria that needs to be killed off? We can figure that out. And then we can look at is their yeast overgrown in the colon that can be contributing to skin issues and frequent infections, different things.

 

And then it looks at like not all of them, but like the top 20 parasites. So, we can know, okay, at least we know which ones most of us have some degree of parasites. Unfortunately, I don't like to think about it too much.

 

None of us do. But just need to come in from anywhere and just need to kind of get that flushed out. But I don't recommend people just starting on parasite cleanses without like fully knowing what else could be going on.

 

Sure, we can assume parasites and could cleanse. But if there's other bad bacteria that needs to be killed off that is you don't know about, that could worsen the situation. Or there's something called small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, SIBO.

 

And that can be caused by like someone who maybe errs towards constipation. And so the stool is sat in the stomach and then it's backing up into not just sitting in the colon, but backing up into the small intestine. Now, that can present as eating foods and immediately feeling like bloated or waking up feeling really bloated and full all the time and don't know why.

 

A lot of gas, a lot of problems with constipation or diarrhea. In those cases, that's why I say consider a holistic practitioner to kind of partner with you. In those cases, feeding the probiotics is not a good idea because that can be overgrowing small intestinal bacteria or bacteria that should not be continually to grow.

 

It can make you feel worse. So that's why there's like a yes, these are really good. But also you just it's good to know exactly where your gut is at because not everybody's microbiome and gut is the same.

 

There's different pieces like mine. I was very sick at a young age and I had a lot of antibiotics when I was at a young age. I know that weakened my immune system.

 

I think that made me more susceptible to having eczema at such a young age and then that worsening. And then when you have one autoimmune issue, it's likely that it can continue on to another one. So then I had Hashimoto's, which is another autoimmune disorder of the thyroid, but kind of snowballing all having to do with the immune system and the gut.

 

And so the more that we know the bigger picture and figure out, OK, what stressors have been here and what do we need to do about it, then definitely helps with that. Oh, and something about the with brain fog, anxiety and depression. I just want to touch on the mental effects of the gut because that is huge.

 

So one thing is a lot of people have been put on antidepressants like Lexapro, SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors is what they're called. These antidepressants actually work more on the brain, which is not where we really want them to be working, because 80 to 90 percent of our serotonin receptors are in the gut. So dopamine, serotonin, melatonin, all of those really happy hormones that keep us happy and healthy.

 

There's a lot of people who haven't been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and been getting on these antidepressants and the antidepressant medications are not even working on the right organ. Isn't that crazy? So even in the gut, it's that's why a lot of the side effects of those medications are gut imbalances, because it's causing imbalances in the gut because of the gut brain access.

 

But really, what could we do if we can heal the lining of the gut? I have seen brain fog start to disappear because of bad bacteria or things that needed to be cleared out. I've seen more that you heal the gut, the more the thyroid gets balanced, the more that you heal the lining of the gut.

 

You can help heal the adrenals, which is just the way that body processes stress. That organ sits on top of the kidneys and vice versa, healing high cortisol stress hormones made in the adrenals. You could go back and heal the lining of the gut.

 

They're so interconnected, like each organ. And so anxiety, depression, ADHD. Oh, my goodness.

 

Kids with ADHD, I would say first thing, gut and food sensitivities. Check the food sensitivities, check the gut before going on ADHD medications, because there are likely mineral deficiencies that are happening, like B vitamins that are just not even being absorbed. D levels, different things that could be contributing to the problem that might not even be addressed.

 

Laura Dugger: (27:51 - 28:22)

Well, and it sounds like the gut is the root cause of so many of these symptoms, but it's also very nuanced. And so seeing somebody like you would be ideal. Are there ever blanket statements that work?

 

I am thinking lifestyle, just how God created us to be outdoors and how that early morning light, that's kind of like a bio hack that helps all of these. Can you explain more about why that works or just any other things that would work for anyone?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (28:23 - 31:12)

Yeah, that's great. So, one thing for sure is when you go outside first thing in the morning, you get 10, 15 minutes of that sunlight. The sunlight affects our vitamin D receptors and vitamin D is the precursor to melatonin.

 

So, melatonin is what helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. And so naturally increasing that melatonin so that it's funny, but you wake up that morning and then that night you're going to have a better sleep because of the morning sunlight. So, getting out even better is walking and moving because the more that we do exercise and that's going to increase the endorphins.

 

I know you've heard it before, but it's really true that if you exercise, it's going to increase serotonin and dopamine. It's going to give the body those surges of those things. And also in American culture, we're not moving enough and we're not tiring ourselves out physically.

 

I mean, we sure are tiring out the brain, but we're not tiring out the body. And so, there's this like discrepancy between an exhausted brain and then the body hasn't even had enough exercise. And then we try and go to bed and the brain keeps racing and the body's not as tired as it should be.

 

And so that's why also exercising daily and trying to get somewhere between that six thousand to seventy five hundred steps a day. That's like an hour of walking. I mean, you can walk around the house to that counts.

 

That's great. But just intentional walking and doing those things, that's going to help our mental health. And then weight bearing exercises are huge for prevention after the age of 30.

 

Twenties and the 20s is the decade in which well, teens and 20s, that is where we can build muscle. Lots of muscle can be built. And essentially after 30, it's just whatever muscle has been built will just continue to deteriorate until we die, which is unfortunate.

 

But that is why it is so, so, so important to do weight bearing exercise. It's not a doom and gloom. It's OK, let's be aware.

 

Yes, it's we're working against the natural decline in the muscles. That's why it's so important for prevention of osteoporosis, bone density, helping with sleep. So many things that weight bearing exercises one to three times.

 

If you need to start at one great work up to three times a week. Weight bearing exercises are incredible for men and women. It's good because it increases testosterone naturally.

 

Laura Dugger: (31:13 - 32:25)

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We heard all of that and we now have provided transcripts for all our episodes. Just visit thesavvysauce.com. All of this is conveniently located under the tab Show Notes on our website. Happy reading. 

 

It also makes me wonder just about hydration, sleep and stress management, too. How do those play into the brain gut connection and all of these symptoms?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (32:25 - 34:21)

Yes. So, the sleep and stress, I will tell you that high levels of stress zap good bacteria from the lining of the gut. So, we can do the right probiotics.

 

You can do that gut test. You can do all those things. And then if there's high levels of stress continually exposing the body, it will contribute to just some bacteria will literally be zapped.

 

I've seen gut analysis where like the lactobacillus strains just fully gone. And that's what stress can do to our bodies. And that's going to weaken the immune system because we don't have all the different strains that we need to.

 

And so that makes us more susceptible for that. And then cortisol levels is melatonin and cortisol. Melatonin helps us.

 

It's a bell curve that helps us fall asleep and stay asleep. And then cortisol helps us stay awake. But if there's high levels of stress right before bed, then we're not going to be able to calm down, wind down and be able to rest properly.

 

So a lot of it with that lifestyle of our bodies need rhythm. We have to our bodies crave the balance of a rhythm and consistent schedule, because then the body can, you know, just little signals of I'm winding down. This is what I do.

 

My body needs extra help sometimes. And like, OK, it's winding down. I'm drinking some tea and taking a shower.

 

I'm meditating on the word. I'm not going to be looking at my screens too much because blue light really does signal the body to produce cortisol and stay awake. That's the blue light is the morning sunlight.

 

So, you don't want to be giving yourself screen time right before bed, because then that will be giving your body the signal to stay awake.

 

Laura Dugger: (34:22 - 35:01)

That's fascinating, because I think there's even studies that show that blue light, I think approximately between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., that exposure to that blue light can even eventually lead to, I think, more depression and anxiety. And just how you're talking, God did not rhythmically design us in that way. And we knew we wouldn't have time to fit everything in.

 

So, I can't wait to have you back to discuss hormones. But as we're winding down this conversation today, if you want to package it up, Emily, and just share an easy takeaway, what can we start, stop and continue doing with this information?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (35:02 - 37:56)

So, I would say I'm going to start with the morning sunlight, starting with gratitude. And I am a huge proponent of spending time with the Lord in the morning. And the physical aspects to our emotions and physical, spiritual, emotional is also interconnected.

 

So, like thanking the Lord, spending time in the scripture, quoting those things, truly physically changes our body. Like the scripture that says, renew your mind daily, truly has an effect on the neurotransmitters in our brain. Because 90% of what we remember is from the day before.

 

And then 90% of our thoughts are usually negative. So, if we're continually going on a trajectory, we're going to go downhill. Unless we are continually renewing the mind in the morning to truth, to scripture, to like, what does God say about me?

 

What does God say about my health? All of those things. So, so, so important because we got to shift the 90% narrative.

 

And we've got to shift what we thought yesterday to today. So, I would say, pair it with a little 10 minute walk in the morning. And I would say, do eat for blood sugar management.

 

We can get into this more into the next episode, for sure, because we're going to smaller, more frequent meals. And I'll get into why that is so important, but not skipping out and going, you know, five, six, seven hours. That was the blood sugar and glucose is going to spike and crash.

 

And then that's going to affect the gut, the hormones, and we'll get into that 100%. But the morning sunlight, taking time to really meditate on truth and scripture in the morning, and then cutting out processed oils. I would say that would be a really big one that we can start cooking with.

 

Baking it, broiling it, grilling it, cooking with whole, real foods as best sourced as you can control from local, if you can. And having a good protein source and then fiber, like a vegetable and a fat for a meal or like a protein fiber and complex carb, like sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa, something like that. It's going to give you more longer energy and lasts a lot longer than just eating fruit or just eating a piece of toast or just drinking a glass of orange juice.

 

Which is typical for American culture, but that's just spiking sugar and crashing it.

 

Laura Dugger: (37:57 - 38:03)

Okay, so that's the start and stop. Is there anything to continue?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (38:04 - 39:20)

Anything to continue? Continue with the working out and just being consistent in that. Because also, the more that we walk, we do workouts, exercise, cardio, mixed with weights, it is bringing oxygen to our tissues.

 

And I don't think most people think of it in that way. Most of us know a handful of our friends and family members, loved ones that have passed from cancer or dealt with cancer before. But we need to remember that exercise increases oxygen to the tissues and cancer cannot survive in an oxygen rich environment.

 

So the more that we are pumping our bodies with oxygen and getting it to the tissues, it's going to prevent a lot of those cancers. And it's going to improve cardiovascular health. And just walking 6,000 to 7,000 steps a day can reduce the risk of dying between the ages of 20 and 65 by 40%.

 

Just the walking part or cardiovascular events. So, I would say keep walking.

 

Laura Dugger: (39:21 - 39:39)

That's incredible. Well, you are such a wealth of knowledge. And as you shared, even getting these food sensitivities and allergy and inflammation tests, is that something that we can seek from you even if we're living in a different state?

 

Or would we have to find somebody local?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (39:40 - 40:28)

Great question. Yes. So a couple of different options.

 

I have an option, opportunity that I can. I would need to see. I do see out of state patients.

 

I just have to see them for their first evaluation. And then after that, we can do like a hybrid telemedicine. See you back once a year, that kind of thing.

 

So that's definitely an option. And then obviously in person will just work. I can order testing, you know, even to wherever it is needed.

 

As far as finding a local practitioner in your current state, there is a website, ifm.org. And then you can go to that website and find a practitioner. If you prefer someone right there local, then you can do that too.

 

But there's options. Yeah.

 

Laura Dugger: (40:28 - 40:30)

Wonderful. Okay. Well, we will.

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (40:33 - 40:40)

Pureintegrativehealth.com. That's the website, my website, that they can find out more information on how to become a patient if they were interested.

 

Laura Dugger: (40:41 - 40:49)

Yeah. Wonderful. We'll link to those websites in the show notes for today's episode.

 

And I hope we all get a chance to meet you in person.

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (40:50 - 40:50)

Thank you.

 

Laura Dugger: (40:50 - 41:07)

Wonderful. Well, Emily, I've enjoyed this time so much. But I do have one more question for you because we are called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge.

 

And so, as my final question for you today, what is your Savvy Sauce?

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (41:08 - 42:45)

I would say that my Savvy Sauce for today is the importance of eating smaller, more frequent meals centered around protein and never having sugar by itself. Including fruit, including carbs, always pairing it with protein and the order in which we eat a meal can affect glucose. Because if we can get the blood sugar controlled, it came out this year, type 3 diabetes, Alzheimer's, type 3 diabetes, sugar in the brain.

 

So we can prevent Alzheimer's, blood sugar issues, adrenal issues, thyroid issues, all of this getting down to the order in which we eat foods. And that is on a plate. If we can have the vegetable first, that's the gastric juices.

 

It gets it going and flowing. Then we eat the protein next. And that will stabilize and tell our body when we're full longer. 

 

And then the carb. And that order, even on a plate, makes a big difference to glucose levels in the blood after eating. And so that, as well as just when we're pairing foods, we do not want to have the fruit by itself.

 

Have it with a little bit of protein, you know, a turkey stick or something with the fruit. It's okay to have, you know, treats. But just doing it with the protein is such a huge game changer.

 

Laura Dugger: (42:46 - 43:06)

Wonderful. Wow. You are just a wealth of information, Emily.

 

And wrapped up in a very warm and engaging and likable personality. But there is so much more to dig into. And I'm so grateful that you've agreed to be a returning guest.

 

So, thank you for everything you've shared today. And I look forward to getting to host you again.

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (43:06 - 43:10)

Thank you so much for having me, Laura. I've really had a great time. I appreciate it.

 

Laura Dugger: (43:10 - 43:11)

My pleasure.

 

Emily Macleod-Wolfe: (43:12 - 43:13)

Okay, let's see you next time.

 

Laura Dugger: (43:14 - 46:54)

One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before? It simply means good news.

 

And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners.

 

But Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves. This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.

 

We need a Savior. But God loved us so much, He made a way for His only Son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute. This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with Him.

 

That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.

 

We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” So, would you pray with me now?

 

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today, right now, is touched and chooses to turn their life over to You. Will You clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare You as Lord of their life?

 

We trust You to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

 

If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring Him for me, so me for Him. You get the opportunity to live your life for Him. And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.

 

We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So are you ready to get started? First, tell someone.

 

Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.

 

I selected the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. You can start by reading the Book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.

 

I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ. We also have Show Notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process.

 

And finally, be encouraged. Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.

 

And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.