Gut Health, Discernment, And Aligning With God's Design

Today, I sit down with Jen Hewson, functional medicine practitioner, minister, and founder of Sifting Life Ministries, to explore the powerful intersection of faith, holistic health, addiction recovery, and trauma healing. Dr. Hewson explains why the human body should be treated not as a broken machine, but as a divine miracle created by God, and how modern medicine often ignores the spiritual roots of sickness. 

In this conversation, I explore Dr. Hewson’s personal journey through childhood trauma, addiction, and a life-threatening cancer diagnosis that forced her to question Western medical models and seek healing through prayer, repentance, functional medicine, and lifestyle transformation. We discuss gut health, anxiety, depression, addiction, discernment, and the biblical concept of pharmakeia, as well as how unresolved fear, unforgiveness, and generational patterns can manifest as physical disease. 

We also dive into Dr. Hewson’s book Gut Instincts, where she outlines a faith-centered approach to healing that combines Scripture, science, and practical application. From addiction recovery and sobriety to leadership alignment and street-level ministry, this episode emphasizes why true healing requires both spiritual restoration and physical stewardship. This is a conversation about discernment, repentance, discipline, and returning home to God’s original design. 

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*Couple O' Nukes LLC and Mr. Whiskey are not licensed medical entities, nor do they take responsibility for any advice or information put forth by guests. Take all advice at your own risk.

Transcript

 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Couple of Nukes. As always, I'm your host, Mr. Whiskey, and today's guest, I was looking through her website earlier this morning and I, you know, I want to share something from, you know, her video because it just really stuck with me, which was she talks about.

She was treating her body like a machine to be fixed rather than a miracle to be honored. And it's so perfect timing because I was literally watching bodybuilding competitions yesterday and saying like, how. Amazing. It is that God gave us a body that we can change, that we can improve, that we have the ability to work out and pursue strength and health.

Like it just blows my mind some of the crazy things that the human body is capable of. And I've heard so many testimonies. Like there was a doctor who was an atheist and he had a cut open a body for a scientific study, and the first time he ever cut open a human body. Is when he converted because he said this had to be made by God.

Like this is just insane. And there's some other testimonies out there about like how many cells work in the eye to make it work and how just one is wrong. The whole eye doesn't work like it is when you study just the human body by itself. And there are so many hidden, you know, signatures from God in our body that people don't even know about.

'cause you know, it's not blasted all over mainstream, but if you look up all the different little signatures that God has left in our body, it is really is a miracle to be honored. So I just wanted to share that first and foremost. But we are here with Reverend Dr. Jen Houston. Gonna get into a lot of stuff today talking about the integration of.

Functional medicine and holistic health and faith, how they need to be side by side. How, you know, we can't heal without God. A lot of us try to heal without him. And, and that's why we stay in sickness. And then we are gonna get into, of course, addiction and trauma and just, I think it's gonna be a great conversation.

So Dr. Jen Houston, so great to have you here. And could you please tell us a little bit about yourself? Thank you Mr. Whiskey. Thanks for having me. Thanks for all the viewers who are tuning in. So my name's Dr. Jen Houston. I live in a small little village in Ontario, Canada called Springfield. No, it's not where the Simpsons are from.

I get that all the time from all my American friends. So I really work in functional medicine and I really bridge the gap between the, the scientific world and, and God's great creation, this miracle as you've, you've. Nailed it. In my one-to-one practice, that's the work that I do. I also lead leaders into alignment by connecting their health, faith, and their decision making in boardrooms and on the streets.

And here's, here's why. So my heart of hearts mission is to help the broken. I always, I always go back to Isaiah 61, 1. Okay, that I'm here as a light and God has anointed me with all of these gifts and, and just blessings and that through the wealth and through the knowledge and through the honor of serving that I have a mission to really help the broken and forgotten on our streets that are lining North America as we know.

So I am, I'm not a one trick doctor. Reverend my work is really, like I said happens in my clinic off in my office. Online. I work with people around the world online. It happens in transformational programs with CEOs and C-suite people, and it happens in my own ministry work called Sifting Life Ministries, where we're working at street level in building missions.

To restore the spiritual disconnectedness, which often leads to this mental health, breakdowns poor decision making and addiction that we know is rampant around the world. Yeah. So there's a little bit about me. I wanna go straight to that word, sifting, right? A lot of people know it in one context, what is the context and purpose behind how you use it?

So when I think about sifting there's so much that we're intaking in this new age, new world, okay? Mm-hmm. And there's it's really important that we discern what is in alignment with God's plan for us. Okay. And that we're not getting in the way of that. So, you know, in the Bible it talks about sifting the wheat from the shaft, and often we have to do that every day for ourselves, whether it's with decisions of what we consume.

Consuming isn't just what you eat, but what we listen to, who we hang out with what we're tuning into, right? What we're allowing to penetrate. And and then we have to decide what's truth, right? We have to discern kind of a false narrative or a false messenger or something that doesn't belong with us.

Whether I, like I said, it could be people, places, things and, and what belongs. So, I think that's why we named our, my Own podcast that sifting life and then our ministry sifting life. Because really that's what God would have us all do. We're really supposed to be discerning all the time and leading it back to his truth for us.

And and that truth is always, you know, the way that we should be living. So. 100%. You know, people have been falsely prophesying since the beginning of time. You know, in, in the New Testament. It is written that people have always and will always twist the scripture, but now more than ever, it's interesting.

I was just talking the other day on this show about how there are now false AI generated Bible verses that are not real. There are fake and fictional Bible verses and scenes made by AI in the style of the Bible to match its exact writing and cadence and. Whatever, from whatever part it might be from.

And so discernment is more important now than ever before. Not to mention that's on top of the mainstream media messages, the social media messages, the, you know, societal pressures that we're dealing with. There is so much that we have to discern with, which is why, again, I always put out, we need to read.

Scripture. We need to keep it hidden in our heart. You know, we need to keep it anchored in our life because that is the number one part of discernment right there, right? The the Holy Spirit and, and feeling peace. And you know, you can feel discernment, but having this scripture is what helps you check.

That is your number one guideline of does it match the scripture? That's not just for discernment in what the world is telling us, but also within your church communities. When people are saying one thing and the Bible says another. When there are a lot of legalistic traditions that are not in the Bible, and so it's so important that we continually educate ourselves in the world.

And then again, praying before decision making. So many people don't pray before they make decisions, and that was re ha BOM's downfall. He consulted the two types of people in the world, the elders and the youngsters, but did not consult God, right? You look at people who did consult God before decisions in the Bible.

Very prosperous. Yeah. I mean, amazing. You've as, as much as two men defeating a whole, you know, battle camp to great victories, right? But it's all about discernment being, I like to put it into those three categories, reading the scripture, pre consulting with God, and then the spirit. And so I think it's so important and I, I agree with you a hundred percent.

And that goes with, even as we're talking about today, medical decisions, you know, what is. Right for you, what is in alignment with God's will and there's a lot of medical stuff being pushed that is not in alignment with God's will. That is, I mean, in fact, I see a lot of sick people who are sick because they have been made into dependency on medicine, medicine that they don't even need or so many different types of medicine.

So many people have. Just jump straight into these extreme medical procedures or medications rather than starting with the basic holistic and functional medicine that we're gonna be talking about. Right. You know, I was just, I was just really looking up on my bible thinking about medical right and thinking about going to scripture when we make medical decisions and, you know, so, one of the pioneers in this area, and I'm actually traveling to Rochester, New York in June with my ministry partner.

Jackie to listen to Dr. Henry Wright's be in health series. He won't be there, but his people that are his that he's mentored and he wrote an outstanding text called A More Excellent Way many years ago. And then a follow up exposing the spiritual re roots of disease. So, for any of your viewers that really wanna go and learn more about what the scripture is telling us about how we actually heal.

And, you know, Dr. Henry Wright would maintain that over 80% of human disease is something we're living in sin with. Mm. Okay. It's really incredible. Wow. And so the repentance and being delivered from something like fear. Okay. Fear of whatever it might be, or unforgiveness or unworthiness or jealousy or the spirit of comparison.

Like there's so many things and so I, you know, even, and then, and then, so there's one part, and then what you were talking about is like medical decisions. We're, we're under this, I call it a spell, I call it witchcraft. Pharmacia. And really it's written in Galatians five 20 and Revelations 1823, and it really, really talks about the sorcery and witchcraft of this Greek word pharmacia.

Okay. And we have about 120 year history in North America since the Rockefellers really took over our medical universities around the turn of the 20th century where they've been infiltrated by cia. Okay? And people believe that is the truth in the doctrine of how they heal. And it's, it's taken us right away from going to the scripture of, of God's plan for us in my view as a doctor.

That also practices from, from an edge of science, because let's face it, we need the science. Dr. Henry Wright in writing This doesn't say that there aren't physiological effects of living in this sin. There are. Okay. But we're, we're under this program and spell where we feel like where many people go to Western medical practices for the advice, for the healing.

And we have a sicker than ever population, right. You talk about like a lot of sickness being something that is in partnership with sin around life. And I, I instantly thought of, you look at all the STDs in the world that comes from sexual immorality. You look at addiction, that comes from, and again, alcohol itself is in a sin.

It's the abuse of it. And I actually wanna bring up, because you brought up a Greek word that I use. I have a sermon called spiritual warfare and sobriety, scripture against drugs, drunkenness, hypnosis, and mind altering substances that. Really unpacks what you were referencing there. So that's gonna be LinkedIn description below for those of you who wanna check out more about like what exactly the Bible says about alcohol, about drugs, about medicine because it does tell us throughout from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

And so I, I think that's so important. And just speaking of addiction, you know, I wanna talk about, you personally have mentioned addiction. So what did that look like in your life and how did that form. So I right from conception, my, my, both my parents were IV needle drug users, okay? Mm-hmm. So, so from the moment I became this beautiful spark of love that God created in his, his awesomeness in the miracle of life I came in.

Broken. Right, right, right from the moment. So I had parents that were using, and then I grew up my dad went to jail, so my dad was a criminal and didn't meet him till I was 40 in my forties. I'm now in my mid fifties. And and so my mom married an alcoholic. She, she, you know, she was young. She was a 15-year-old mom.

And so I grew up in a really chaotic violent environment and how, what I learned really young. Hopefully you're not hearing that. What I learned, my dogs are bing a little bit. I learned really young is that if they were doing it, and sometimes it was fun, sometimes there was guitars out, sometimes it was like, you know, it was a good old party, sometimes it wasn't.

So what I learned young is I wanted to kind of be like somebody, I didn't really have any mentors. I wasn't raised in a church or raised with what I would call any kind of moral compass. And so, I started sneaking alcohol. At around nine years old, 10 years old. Wow. I started sneaking it 'cause it looked like water.

Right? And and that lean led into like teenage, you know, you know, skipping outta school led into drugs you know, street, street level drugs for the drugs didn't really land or stay, although they did destroy parts of, in periods of my life I made some very bad decisions. But I saw alcohol as this constant, friend and really, you know, all, all the years later in the work that I've done, what I realized is, is that it was the loneliness. I was raised basically an only child till I was about 11 years old, didn't have any siblings, so I spent a lot of time alone. Right. And I know God was, I know now that wow, God met me on so many corners, in so many places.

But I used alcohol and then I had went through a terrible, terrible divorce. And then when I got sick and, you know, I was a functioning. Alcoholic, if we wanna call it that, or a functioning abuser of alcohol. I had a great job. It looked okay on the outside, but I used it for self-soothing.

And didn't always lead to bad decisions, but very often it did because that spirit you know, that's why they call it a spirit. And you'd know, I, I can't wait to listen to what you mentioned about earlier. Thank you. The sermon that you've, you've written, I'm really gonna tune into that. 'Cause I, I think it'll probably help a lot of my patients, but I really, and then I, I made a covenant between God and I to just, to just end it. I was like, okay, no more. Because even if sometimes it was fun and it was okay there was enough times where it was like God had to throw the boulders at me and say, I. This isn't for you child. Are you gonna listen? Okay. I'm gonna throw another boulder.

A bigger boulder. Right. And you know, one of the, the biggest boulders I got, I was really drunk up one night. I was in my thirties and I just tripped and fell out of a doorway and I broke my neck. Wow. I broke my neck. I ended up nine months in a collar, the screws in my head like I was in. Wow. And, and then I continued to drink, you know, and I, you know, just, you know, I think now, and I'm just like, I, I know that all those lessons and hard, hard lessons of falling down and being in hell literally made me who I am and made me a great, great, mentor and coach and doctor, because if there's something to mess up, I always say I, I got the t-shirt, I got the postcard, I got, I got the whole, the whole kit.

Right, right. I, I've been through it all. I've made poor decisions for the first 40 years of my life. Yeah. You, your exodus, period. You could call it that. 40 years. Yeah. This is it. I think, you know, it's just. I think it's a testimony of God's mercy that, you know, people do so many stupid things when they're drunk or high or they're living in sin.

Yeah. That really should have killed them. Or, or you know, and, and God is so merciful and I think of like a lot of the greatest pastors that I listen to, a lot of the greatest preachers I listen to, they live terrible lives. Like most of the ones I listened to were criminals. They were. You know, stealing from people.

They were holding people at gunpoint. They were doing drugs. They were doing alcohol, and you know, God, really, I, I love it because it really shows how much, you know, Christ can change a person's life. You know, because you see who they were and what they're doing now. Like you look at Philip Anthony Mitchell in Atlanta, Georgia doing a 28 19 church, I mean, yep.

He talks about what he used to do and Doug Bachelor, who runs amazing facts, which is great if you want to like really study scripture, you know, he was living in that cave in California, stealing from people, you know. So it's so neat to see how God has turned lives around and then, and then too, just how he uses regular everyday folk as well.

I think it's amazing. But to, I think it's so sad that, you know, people. I think of your situation like being born into that, not even really having a, a, a choice necessarily. You know, growing up thinking like, a lot of people think, I've done a, a lot of addiction recovery work on this show, and one of the interesting things I heard was like, well, growing up my father always had to beer every Friday.

So I thought that's what men do, that's just what men are supposed to do. You know, like you, you grow up mirroring your parents. Like I just had an episode the other day about how. Children were imitating the anger and violence of their parents at home. And then at school they were perfectly normal children, but at home, like they, they associated that with the place of anger and violence.

So it's so neat looking even into toxic relationships and how children end up dating people like their parents, you know, not because of an attraction to their parents, but because. That's what they grew up seeing. Okay, this is what marriage is, this is what love is. And unfortunately we have so many broken marriages right now because of this fallen world.

We have people getting into marriages because of finances or unexpected pregnancies from sexual immorality or you know, just convenience or whatever it is. And because it is not in alignment with divine design, you know, we have these children are being affected and I think that's one of the most.

Selfish things we forget is that our sin affects everyone around us. Even if we think it is a sin that is just our little secret that, you know, will only affect us. Like it festers out into our life in, in ways that you don't know. And even on on, people have talked on the scientific side, like negative energy and it's impact is like, yes, sin is like an AOR around you, you know?

I don't say that to sound hopeless, right? Jesus Christ saves, like he came down and died for us. But you, you have to live in repentance, you know, people, but there's a lot of people living in continual sin, just the continuation of it. So I, I think it's so important. And so how long have you been sober for now?

Like completely sober, like never even having a drink a couple of years since the last time I really abused alcohol has probably been at least six or seven, seven or eight years. But I was comfortable like from, from around seven or eight years ago to have a glass of wine here and there. Like I, I would do things like that, but there just came a time in this last couple years where I was like.

I don't even want it. Like, it just doesn't even land with me. I'm like, no, I'm good. Like I it. Whereas it used to be like this comfort, right? Like, okay, I need a glass of wine. Or like everybody, it's summertime and we're at the lake and I, you know, I, I'm from the Great Lakes region here in Canada, so it's like lake country.

Everybody's like boating and. Beaching it and whatever. And it's just, it became, you know, it's such a, a socially unacceptable to be a, a non-drinker in some circles. Yes. But I don't even hang out with those people. Right. It's like when your circle changes, that changes. And, you know, I think that's really important.

Like, like really key. And, you know, something came up when you were talking there and I was like, you know what? I think that this goes beyond just what children see. In this life. I think it's a bloodline curse, and there's a really powerful apostle named isi. She, she appears on another podcast quite often and, and I follow a lot of her work and I've been doing a lot of her work.

She's got a great book out right now and and this is their year of dominion. You know, we're, we're here to take back what's been taken from us, from the enemy, and I think a lot of these strongholds that stay in family lines and that become accepted of, that's just how our family is. Dad always has a beer in his hand, like you said, right?

Mm-hmm. Are generational curses, right. That need to be prayed over it over even if the people in the family aren't. Themselves doing it for the family line and bloodline for the blood of Jesus Christ to enter back into that blood because the enemy and Satan has taken over. Right. And so I know that that's part of my bloodline long line.

They're all alcoholics on my dad's side, right? They're all Irish. They, you know, it's just, that's what they do. That's what they do, quote, unquote. Mm-hmm. No, it's been happening for centuries. Right. And it follows in the bloodline, so. When you were talking, I was like, I think it's, it's beyond just my, you know, me being born, oh poor Jen, you know, to people doing drugs and, and then alcoholism.

I think a lot of people, I came as a chain breaker, so that's why I see, I think God chose me with this really hard task 'cause he knew my heart and he knew eventually Boulder after Boulder that I'd finally get it. Right. And Jerry Flowers, he's a great pastor. He actually had a sermon on, you know, routines and talking about how generational curses kind of enable routines because you know, people will say exactly, you know what he said, be.

Because so many people say, well, it's always been this way, so it has to always be that way, and that's not what it is. You know, God can change anything when we come to him. And I think one thing I wanna mention that you talked about, because this is so important, I know I've said this a lot on the show and I hate to always repeat myself, but you know, I've heard that when you set boundaries, you find out who your true friends are, right?

And you talk about that. Non-drinking boundary. And I've actually had episodes where he talked about like going to a party and it was like, oh, do you drink? No, you don't drink. Oh, why do you have a problem? Like, you know, oh, if you don't drink, you must be an addict. Or you know, you're not cool. Right. And it's like, but you smoke pot though, right?

It's like, you know, the woman who was on my show, she went to a party and it was like. If you don't do this, you have to do this. If you don't do this, you have to do this because you have to do something that is drug or drinking related. Otherwise it's not a good time. And I think it's so interesting, you know, seeing those boundaries, like I've even talked about my kosher diet boundaries.

Like a lot of people not respecting that or, or pushing that, instead of just respecting it, saying, Hey, whether you agree with it or not, I follow a kosher diet and you know, I have a whole sermon coming out about that, that I keep pushing off, but I'll get to it, you know? And. Yeah, it is very simple to respect that, whether you agree with it or not.

And it's like I really saw who my real friends were and not with that. And that's one thing. You look at toxic relationships, setting boundaries of physical contact or of whatever it may be. And it's, it's really interesting. So when you talk about. Like changing your circle. Part of that process is like when you first set that boundary, you're gonna kind of filter, you're gonna sift through.

Yeah. You know, it's gonna be lonely too. Yeah. I've had a lot of, like, God has spent a lot of time with me in this last decade, let me tell you, because I, you know, I had none, no friends, and then I kind of built. Kind of falsehood friends, like they were good, but they were more new agey, right? Mm-hmm. Like, you know, and then and then I went through another sifting season and, you know, and it just depends the season that you're in your life.

And now I'm, I'm building the community of people and leaders and, and Jesus lovers. Okay? I don't even call them, they're not religious, right? I don't really hang out with religious people. I hang out with people that are, are walking. Testaments of the Holy Spirit and that are doing, you know, for me it's like every day trying to decide what Christ would do in this situation, trying to live, and you know what?

I'm far from it, but I'm, I'm, I make it my mission to do what he would do. Yeah, Ben. I love that. And I, I think that relationship is so important, you know, and, and one of Philip Anthony Mitchell's greatest lines, I, I love that he said to some of y'all, Jesus is just a name on a bracelet, you know? And it's like having that personal relationship.

Yeah. People driving around with a fish on their car. Right. And they, they think they're righteous and you know, they're gossiping and lying. Smoking and stealing and doing whatever else. Yeah, it's all about, and you know, I I, I had a little bit of ritual religion in a United Church context as a kid, but here's the truth.

I really, I got church weary and scared early in life because God gave me this gift to be able to see through their mask, right? I was like, oh, I see you. Right. So I was like, if this is what church is like, where they're all whispering about each other when you walk outta the room and there's favorites and it doesn't feel loving and it doesn't feel accepted.

'cause you know, I was a, a, you know, a bastardized child. I was like a shouldn't have been there in some of their views. My mom was too young, child wedlock, a lot of shame and guilt. Right. And I tried several churches, even when, when I became a mom and I, I saw this. And one of our programs actually in sifting Life Ministries is Jackie and I are gonna go into churches that are having trouble in their leadership because that's what we wanna do is an empower aligned leadership, whether it's in boardrooms, the streets, or within our churches.

And Jackie grew up. Leading church. So she's seen a lot of this firsthand where there's the leadership, often there's a lot of false hoods in, in leadership and a lot of people going down paths they shouldn't. And so a lot of retention issues and people, you know, not staying and, and things like that.

That's another topic. But I, I see it happening. Right. And for the exact same reason of, of like, there, there, there's, there's a ritual, not a relationship. Very different. Well, and you know what that goes back to, you look at the books, the historical accounts of Kings and Chronicles. You know, it talks about people going and doing this routine at the temple and then leaving, and instantly going into idolatry and paganism and worshiping all these false gods, and like they just continue to go to the temple, you know, yelling at the top of their lungs.

You know, say this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, temple of the, they believe that if they just continue to do that. Then it negated all, all of their sin and they just did it because this is what we had always done. So we've seen it from Old Testament times to nowadays, especially with, you know, people, young women more than, than young men, but young men as well on Instagram and other social media is having Bible quotes in their.

You know, profiles and then having, you know, pornographic content on that page or, you know, whatever it is. In fact, I watched a guy who was finding people with bible quotes in their, their social media profiles and then interviewing them, asking them, what does this quote mean? And most of them didn't know what it meant.

Oh my goodness. They had it in their bio and could not quote it like over like 95% of them. And that is, is, that's just, you know, so heartbreaking to hear. But a lot of people. And you know, we've kind of mentioned and hinted upon it are using Christ for capitalism or consumerism, right? People are using it to market a product or to sell a merchandise or to lead their political campaign, their celebrity campaign, or whatever it may be in what they're doing.

And so we've seen a lot of that religious abuse, but I also want to get. Toward, you know what you do now, you know, talking about, we mentioned functional medicine and holistic health, integrated with faith. What got you into that line of work? You know, it's so interesting. God is just God is fun, right?

God can be really tough, but God can be, you know, really it just weaved it. It's what I did to heal my metastatic cancer. So I was diagnosed with HE two positive invasive breast cancer in 2016. This is really from, from that day forward. You know, it's been God and I building this relationship, me coming back and remembering who God made me to be.

Right. And, and losing the identities that were, were built for protection and safety from the life that I lived, right? Especially as a child. So, it started with I was in a walk with Western Medicine and I lasted about four months in their world. And I just had this sense and knew knowing that I didn't wanna do it or I wanted to die.

I was literally suicidal. I was, I could barely, I was over a hundred pounds heavier. My body hurt everywhere. I was getting corticosteroid injections in all of my joints just to be able to walk and live. I was always at appointment after appointment. I was like, this is what I was living for. And and I was young, right?

I was in my early forties and I was like, if this is what life is for me now, and this is gonna be it forever, I don't wanna be here. So I went away on a trip to Mexico. I drank my face off. I, I drank more tequila than any human should, even in a lifetime. Smoked cigarettes did it all. And my intention in going there was to end my life.

I was just gonna walk out in the ocean. I decided I was gonna drown myself. I was like, what a more beautiful place to just go to sleep and whatever. And, I met a person there during my drunkenness named Sarah Silverthorne. So a little shout out to Sarah, who saved my life that day, along with God, I mean, and God brought her to me.

I always give God the glory first. But that from that day on, I started making steps, and one of the first things that I, I did is God brought another, you know, when the student's ready, the teachers appear, as they say. I met someone who did this interesting test and it's called electrodermal Acupressure testing.

And and it was able, and it, and it was all about gut health. And instantly, well, I say instantly within about 30 to 45 days, something changed. I came back for, at that trip, obviously I'm alive. Hoo. I made it back. Found. God, there's a big story here. It's all in my book. There's the book. And came back and had this test done and I couldn't believe the difference.

And then I was like. There's something going on with this. This is something, what am I doing? I now know what that work does is it it doesn't get to the spiritual root like we kind of talked at the beginning of your show here. But it clears the pathways. And think about it like taking out the trash.

It cleans up the garbage. So it was a very, that was one of the first things I learned about is like the importance of taking care of God's perfect design. Okay. In terms of what we, we were actually putting in it. Okay. Garbage. Okay. Food. So I became really interested in that. I actually, le left my first career as a educational administrator here in Canada.

So I worked in education for 21 years. So I was an educator first. But I, I retired early. And decided I was gonna dedicate my life to learning how people heal, because at the same time, when that, when that happened, I actually walked away from Western medicine and said, Nope, not doing it, you know, God met me on my hands and knees in prayer.

After that trip to Mexico brought me this person, my body started to feel better. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna keep learning. I'm gonna keep figuring this out. And so I look back now and I'm like. God, you're just so, so good. Right. And you're just the, you work in the funniest ways, like in these darkest of seasons.

And hard, like some of this, you know, but he met me when I was ready to move. Right. And that's where he is gonna meet you. You can't be sitting on your knees and just pray, pray, pray, not, make any changes in your life and expect change to come. You have to be moving with him. And so I began the sifting, right?

Different friends, different environments gave up crutches and vices that I'd have a long time dedicated my life to a life of prayer of re repentance. And I continue to do that. So that's really where that started, the sort of medical side to it for sure. And, and it built like a thriving big practice.

That's a one, you know, I have over 800 patients that I've had been seeing over six, seven years. Helped thousands of people transform their lives, get rid of pain, chronic disease. But it, here's what I know where I'm moving into and have been over the last year, is that some of these things will come back.

Right when we don't get to that spiritual root. And a really good analogy or picture for your viewers to picture in their mind is when we cut down a tree that the stump is still there, right? So the tree might have been dead, but there will be little suckers that will try to grow. And those are the little suckers of that are those spiritual roots of fear.

Insecurity. Unforgiveness is a big one. Okay? Anger. Bitterness. We can go on and on. All of these living in the flesh, feelings and emotions that people get caught up in, we're not supposed to be caught up in the, in the mind, in our own understanding. So that's the work I'm really pressing with the leaders, with the people in my mission, with my one-to-one patients, is to work on those roots.

We're still gonna do the pathway work. We're still gonna clean the vessel. We're still gonna stop putting the toxic food in our body. Okay? Watching the toxic, you know, shows, listening to toxic things, whatever it might be, all of that is huge and important. But no matter how much you do of that cleanup, if that root is there, you, those issues will eventually resurface.

So. That's a long answer, but tried to do it as short as I could. No, no, no. Thank you. That was amazing. You know, my research into gut health started years ago because found out that gut health affects anxiety and depression, which most people don't know, and it affects a lot more than just that. I've worked with a couple you know, people on the show and, and, and you know, this industry who do gut health, and I wanna talk about your book Gut Instincts and unpack it a little bit more there.

I know you mentioned it briefly there, but could you please unpack that a little more for us? Sure. So I wrote this book it's sort of, well, not sort of, it's uh, it's 211 pages. So it's part testimony, part science of how our body works. So it really is bridging, bringing in God. There's a lot of scripture in it as well, so that it's grounded in God's design, this miracle perfect design.

What I did literally from when I got sick. How I got sick, first of all, which was 40 years of pushing away the trauma, living in that victim state, anger, unforgiveness. And I learned actually that the unforgiveness was mostly toward my mother. I always thought it was my abuser. I always thought it was my, you know, my stepfather who brutally beat me and, you know, verbally, mentally, emotionally, physically for, until I left home at 13, I always thought it was him, but it was actually my mom.

And so I, I've learned that. So I talk about that in this book. And then I talk about, okay, when God met me on my hands and knees after that trip to Mexico, what did I do? Like all these questions you've asked me, you know, I went to prayer. I, I, I leaned on my faith. I had to forgive myself and others. And then I go through step by step of what we're gonna do to clear the pathogens.

What are we doing to clear those pathways? What are the things you need to get rid of that you're putting in your body? So it's, it's really, and then there's a workbook that's weaved throughout it so people can use it as literally a practice. A daily practice. Read it, apply. Okay. Hear a testimony, what did I do?

Apply it to your own life. It's really powerful. And that's why it's called the Journey of Breaking, healing and Returning Home to God. So it's, it's, it's literally what I, what I, you know, I am the be, do, have, so I am walking it in alignment. And it's a, it's a way for people. Even my publisher level up with Tom, who's actually from, from Atlanta from the Georgia area.

He he, he, as he was helping me edit and, and create it. He's like, Dr. Jen, like, I've started to apply some of these and I feel better already. I'm like. Good. It's really the point, right? So, right. So that's how, that's what the book's about. And that's the reason I wrote it. 'cause I was like, okay, I can't keep all this good stuff just to the people who find me.

And really, up until now and appearing on podcasts, everything that I do has been referral and word of mouth, never spent a penny on marketing. That's a God thing. Yeah. God brings you the people you need and, and the, or really the people who need you in. That's right. You know, working through you. And I want to ask, what would you say is the biggest mistake most people are making about their gut health right now?

I, I think, listening to too many things, right? As, as we're sitting on a podcast listening to someone who, right. Yeah. They need to, they need to listen to their body's messages. And I would say that the, the biggest mistake is that people think that gut health is just a sore belly. Or not passing bowel movements or having, you know, acid reflux, right?

Like, it can look like autoimmune disease. It could be headaches, it could be anxiety, depression, as you said, it could be for women's cycle issues, infertility issues, it could be a lot of things. So I think the biggest false narrative out there is that my gut feels good. Right. That if you are eating foods, I call 'em Franken foods.

If you're, if you're including any of the whites, okay. Or the seed oils, so the white flour, the white sugar or seed oils in your diet, you will have permeation in your gut if you're living with trauma and PTSD, and I know you, you come from a military background at some point, or you speak to some of the people in military.

That if you are, have, aren't working with God through scripture to resolve some of that, that can show up as permeation in the gut. And if you're still leaning on Pharmacia, especially antibiotics, although they're the only drug in the whole Merck manual, 250,000 drugs that have the ability to save lives, that's it.

But they're overprescribed and they permeate and, and destroy gut linings as well. Okay. And cause leaky gut. So big answer there. But I would say that it's not just about the gut feeling poorly, it's so much more. So first and foremost, just the misconception and misinformation around it is the number one issue for people is, is what I would say.

And I, I agree. You know, it's funny, I was just talking to my neighbor yesterday. We were watching for quite a while, different workout videos. What's the best biceps workout? What's the best p? And you know, watching. Tens of groups of different people all giving different answers, saying this and this and that.

And there's just so much information out there nowadays and a lot of unregulated information. Yes. And of course I don't believe in, in censorship, I believe in freedom of speech, but you have a lot of people who don't have degrees or are not well studied, who are just putting forward something and because they have a large following or they look like they know what they're talking about.

Hopefully people aren't saying, yeah, Mr. Whiskey, you know, but people, you know, can look like they know what they're talking about and, and not be speaking correctly. And it is not always maliciously, sometimes it is accidental, especially people are getting their information from sources that aren't validated.

So I, I think it's so important to, you know, when you have that spirit of discernment to also just go back to fact checking and to researching thoroughly. But a lot of people just want to say. Wow. The first YouTube video I found, of course is correct. You know, it's on YouTube or you know, it's maybe we should pray over it.

Right? Right. Pray over those decisions. Like you had said earlier, I think people all too often, I have a, a keynote that I do and I talk about, you know, do my big introduction and then I say something that usually drops, drops all the jaws. I'm like, but of course, anything I say doesn't matter unless you believe it to be true.

Right, because that is the most powerful thing, is the power of belief, right? It's faith. So what, where does your faith lie? Okay. And and with whom? So, it's really important and yeah, it is discernment, but it's also, you know, it's a placebo effect. You know, here's the sciencey left brain part of me. It's like the placebo effect is always the strongest.

So what you believe to be true about yourself and the strongest one they ever did. This powerful, just share it really quickly. Hundreds of patients needing knee surgery, they're in pain, right? They're put into this clinical study and they all, nobody knows who's gonna get the surgery. 83% of them had a full recovery, no recurrent knee pain, and only half of them had the knee surgery.

It's crazy, right? So they, they believed that maybe, you know, 'cause it looked like they'd had this surgery. So healing outcomes are increased when we have the belief in what we're doing. Okay? So no matter what someone chooses, if they believe it's working. It just might work for them. Okay. It might not, but the belief is really powerful.

So. Yeah, in fact I had an episode a while ago about stroke rehabilitation using placebo effects, mirror therapy and other stuff, and the gentleman shared a, a milkshake study essentially, which was pretty neat, where this lady told to the class. This milkshake is, you know, almost zero calories. You know, like you will need to have multiple of the ease a day or multiple meals to sustain your calories.

And then later on in life, okay, this milkshake is super calorie loaded. You know, thousands of calories. If you have one of these a day, you won't need to eat the rest of the day. And people followed that. People ate in accordance to what she said. They were all the same milkshake. It was just a regular milkshake.

Yeah. But it, it was, I thought that was one of the coolest studies I ever read up on, which was that, that milkshake study and even like talking about priming the brain, like this group of this case study, you know, went to the movies. And watched a movie with all young people dancing and hip and energetic.

And then, you know, another case group went and saw old people and slowness in the movies. And the speed of which the two groups walked outta the movie theater was different based in, in correlation to that. So people who a hundred percent were inundated with oldness and slowness moved slower and had less energy than people who were.

You know, around youth and energy. So just some amazing stuff like the, the mind and body impact is, is just phenomenal and faith plays a, a huge part of that. And so I want to get into, one thing I always ask at the end of episodes with a faith-based guest is you could share one Bible quote right now.

What would that be and why? Isaiah 61, 1, right. You know, leading, leading the broken out of the darkness, you know, and I, my heart of hearts is really I just feel like that's the work that Jesus was doing. And I, I know that and it, it literally just came to me last year. I've, I've been seeing it and witnessing it and helping and doing philanthropic work and, you know, but what, what landed with me?

And it was like. Literally it was like God saying this is I will allow you, I will, I will help you build what you'll need. I'll allow you to steward that for me. 'cause I trust you. I've been watching you. And it landed in my heart of like, this is what Sifting Life Ministries is going to do. We're going to find those broken discarded people.

We're gonna be the lamp and the light for them. And, we, we need to be bringing humanity back to humanity. We've really, really you know, we've become a society and you know, whether I'm in Canada or you're in the us but we've become this society that we turn a blind eye to so many, depraved people on the streets just looking something up here.

And we have to get back into our, in, into our humanness of like, these people are broken and lost and we need to be just like Jesus was for people, right? He, he, he led them all back to through his way, the light and the truth. And I, I really believe that. The, the people that we see littering the streets of communities everywhere are spiritually broken.

Right. So, and they don't need, they don't need religion in their life. They need Jesus in their life. So I, I can't quote it word for word, but I know it's, I, I know the theme, but it is 61 1 and in the new yeah, the spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor.

Sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release the darkness from the prisoners. So, wow. Right. That's, that's, that's the mission that's in my heart and that's what's speaking to me in this season. It's what I'm all about. It's what I'm fired up about. It's what this book's about.

It's what building the mission's about. That's what's leading, you know, C-Suite executives is about. If we can, you know, teach the leaders to lead nations, to lead boardrooms better, they're gonna treat their employees better and have them live in aligned faith, health, and love. From a place of deep alignment and connection and, and what God would have us do, then that's how we change the world to me.

Okay. Loving them all back to life. So, yeah. So Isaiah 61, 1. It's powerful. Really, really powerful. I agree, and I think of, you know, to a, a very famous quote from the historical account, the New Testament, which is, you know. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. And you know, going after those people and spending time with them and trying to heal them is super important.

And I think of Isaiah, you know, I think of, who shall I send? You know, like God wants to send people to do his work, you know, he's waiting for us to volunteer and answer our calling. So I agree. Whether. And I, again, you know, that's never too late in life. You know, like in your case, for example, after years of addiction and trauma and everything, you went through answering this calling and doing the work you do now.

And I, I think it's so inspirational and I've had people on my show in their sixties, seventies, eighties, you know, answering God's calling in their life because you know, with God, no one is too young or too old or whatever it may be. So I encourage everyone listening, wherever you are in life, if you feel God is calling you to something, you know, pray about it.

And talk to him about it and answer that calling. And, and don't worry about your circumstances. You know, God, God is just looking for you to say yes, you know, and he, and he's gonna take care of the rest. So I think that's super important. We're also gonna have Reverend Dr. Jen Houston, your website in the description below for people to check out your, your book, your services to connecting with you and all of that.

But I really appreciate the work that you're doing and for you guesting on the podcast today. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Bless you.