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Hi there, 

Happy Good Friday. It feels a bit strange going to service online, but the beautiful thing about Jesus is we get to meet Him anywhere because of what He did for us on this day so long ago.

I am curious how you’re doing? I’ve been praying for you and hope you’re doing ok. 

We haven’t chatted for a while because I’ve been a bit behind. My husband and I got COVID. The real one. 

You probably have heard of plenty of really sad stories. I wanted to share ours to hopefully encourage you and add one story to the “FAITH pile” in your heart.

How do we know we got it? Well after a grocery store cashier sneezed on my husband a few days later we got flu-like symptoms and then we both lost our taste and smell! 

​​(JFYI it’s SO weird to not be able to taste or smell anything).

For me, I had super mild symptoms (thanking God!) and my husband has fairly mild symptoms though he’s yet to be 100%.

When she found out me, my husband or my 2 sons (ages 5 and 6) hadn’t crossed the threshold of our cozy NYC apartment in 13 days and we’ve had a peaceful and contented existence throughout, (by God’s grace)… a friend asked “what is your secret weapon?” 

Well, that’s what I share in our conversation today, so you have it too: “Your COVID Secret Weapon”. 

I think there are a few things you can focus on amidst the chaos, anxiety and stress that will benefit you, your marriage, your health and ultimately the Kingdom of God. 

(At the end of the broadcast I share the specific health things I do that I think helped our situation as well, in case you’re interested in hearing my opinions on it — immune health is a personal passion of mine.)

Spoiler alert: I talk about intimacy being vital during this time. 

​​So I would love to have you listen for encouragement and PRACTICAL insights on how to use this time to HEAL your marriage. 

Blessings & love, 
Belah

transcript

0:02
Welcome to the delight your marriage podcast. You’re joining me belah rose as I dive deep into the beauty, power and truth about intimacy, learn not only the practicals, but the heart behind what making love is all about. delight your marriage.

0:21
All right, welcome, welcome. Thank you so much for joining. If this is your first time with the show, I am so grateful that you’re here. And this is a really strange time in the world, I don’t have to tell you that. I’m curious if you would do one thing with me, as we get started chatting together today. Would you take a deep breath in, hold it for a moment. And then blow it out. And as you’re breathing out, notice how the breath feels on your lips, like just have your concentration on the way your breath feels on your lips. So let’s do it again. Deep breath in. Hold it let’s do it. Again, a really focus. Hold it. Awesome, great job, okay. And I hope that actually brings you a little bit of calmness, with whatever’s going on in your heart and mind. Because what I’ve learned recently is your physical body focusing on those sensations actually can calm you and make you more present, which is because this is the dy M podcast, I can tell you, that’s one of the reasons that sex is such a healthy part of having stress relief, because you start focusing on your bodily sensations, the feelings that you’re feeling physically. And the focus stops being on the worry and the concern and the things going on. So that’s what I would invite you to do. Alright, well, let’s dive into what I wanted to talk about today. So our family got COVID. The COVID-19 Yes, we did. Which is partly why the podcast is not out on on schedule, if you will. So thank you for your grace on that. God is good. And we live in New York City, as many of you know. And so it’s a big hot spot for Coronavirus right now as I’m releasing this, and the news definitely shares with us the tragedy and the sadness and the difficulty that many, many people are going through right now. And so my invitation on this call is so you can have a bit of encouragement and have a story in your arsenal that says you know what, there are people that survived this, even with mild symptoms. And that’s our story. Thank God. Again, thank God. But here’s what happened. My husband, it was my fault, really. We were texting with some neighbors that are older, and they live in our apartment building. And they’ve got some pre existing conditions. So I was like, Okay, what do you need? Let’s we’ll get it for you don’t don’t even think about going out. Which is great. I think it was the right thing to do. But then I had my husband go rather than me. Anyway, and there was a lady, she was actually the cashier and she was sneezing. And you know, when you’re in a grocery store line, you can’t get out right? Because the the I don’t know the aisles or whatever. There’s, there’s something in the way you can’t leave. If somebody is sneezing and that’s what happened. She was sneezing and he knew it by the time he got home. He took a shower, but you know that that’s way too late to I mean, if you inhale it, that’s the issue. So that’s what happened. I think that happened on a Wednesday. I started feeling sick on Saturday, my husband started feeling sick on Monday. And then it’s been almost two weeks since I started feeling sick. So the symptoms in terms of for me, we’ve been like it was a headache, achy body kind of moving between cold and sweaty you know back and forth throughout the day, and really tired. But by God’s grace, it was not.

5:11
It just wasn’t even close to as bad as what so many people are experiencing. My husband’s was worse, he definitely had a fever off and on, it would be like one really tough day. And then one day that was much better. So it seemed like he was climbing out of it. And then another tough day. And so it was just very strange thing. The reason we’re sure that we had it is because we both lost our sense of taste and smell. And let me tell you, that is weird. That is very weird. So it was like, in some ways, my smell and taste are now coming back, which is great. But in some ways, it’s kind of nice, without having smell because there’s no bad smells, everything seems fresh and normal. So I kind of, uh, you know, I appreciate I definitely do appreciate good smells. But yeah, there’s bad smells that now I have to experience again. Just kidding. Okay, so why do I want to tell you this, like I said, I want you to have at least one story if wherever you are in the world, if you don’t know anyone who has been okay with COVID, I wanted to share my story. And after that, I really do think that a lot of our health has to do with our mental attitude. In fact, that’s definitely supported by studies. stress affects your immune system, quite literally, as does your sleep. So if you’re so anxious and concerned, you’re not able to sleep, and you’re stressing that literally has a impact on how you’re going to do with this virus. If you get it, it was helpful for me to hear from a friend of mine, that was just a few days before I started feeling sick, it was really helpful to hear that she had the virus and got mild symptoms and also lost her sense of taste and smell. So they’re sure it was the virus. So anyway, that’s my invitation to you is to have faith to have belief, and be super proactive at the end of this podcast. Obviously, I’m not a doctor, but one thing that happened at sorry, let me just say at the end of the podcast, after the music, I am going to tell you all the health stuff that I have done and do. It’s, you know, everyone kind of has their own take on health stuff. So that’s totally fine. If you’re not interested in listening to that, skip it. But if you are interested in hearing what I do and have done with my family during this time, and even before this time, I’m going to share that because I’m fascinated with some of the things I’ll share. Okay, great. Well, here’s what I want to invite you to do. I was sharing with a friend that we got it and that we have not left the threshold of our granted large for New York City standards. But we have not left the threshold of our one bedroom, New York City apartment for 13 days. And we have two kids that are five and six. So no one has left. Just because there are people in our apartment building that are way more susceptible. And of course, you know, everyone’s learning about this virus and if you if you don’t, if you don’t need to go out don’t and there were just many reasons that we were like, listen, we don’t even want to risk giving this to anyone else. And that’s I think what everyone should do is not risk it and stay home right that’s what the the biggest thing is here. So she said What is your secret weapon? And I thought that my initial thought that came to mind I didn’t say bye but here and then I set it after after a little bit of conversation and laughing but secret weapon she’s trying to ask given the almost two weeks that you literally have not left your small apartment Have you know rather than, you know large house with a yard or something like that, you know, what’s been the thing that is has kept you guys strong? So I mean, I think a few things but the first thing that popped in my mind is generous intimacy between me and my husband. Yes, we both were feeling sick. And yet, that is the thing that keeps us glued together, keeps us having peace keeps us unified. Keeps him feeling feeling loved, and then he loves me back in the ways that I feel loved. So it’s, it’s been huge. And it’s not just him. I

10:09
mean, sex is important for me too. But when I’m not 100% sex is definitely not my go to. However, I know it matters to his heart, his mind his well being. So sex is important. I think in this time people need really do, they need to feel connected, human connection is vital. There are studies to suggest that loneliness is a literal killer. And so in the midst of what’s going on in the world, right now, you have an opportunity to love your spouse, well, you have an opportunity to make sure that the first human assignment you have is filled up, is filled up. And then your kids, but let me tell you, the nature and quality of your marriage directly affects the way you parent, the way you love your kids the way you model love to your children. If you or your spouse, it doesn’t feel filled up in their marriage, it will affect your children, their feeling of peace, their feeling of safety, especially since everyone’s in tighter quarters, no matter how much space you have. There’s much less distraction to separate couple. And so how do you respond to that? Let this be the healing time that you have needed to reconnect as a couple let this be a lot of people have a lot more time on their hands, whether they’ve been let go from a job, whether it’s because now they’re they’re working at home or their job is slowed down their businesses slow down all those things. Yeah, that’s not fun. But the thing is, we can only control what we can control. We can only control what we can control. So if you’re focused on what everyone else is doing and what you can’t do, then there’s no productive thing that’s happening. Nothing. Nothing productive. I I’m definitely one that likes to learn and is fascinated by health stuff. And, you know, I want to know what’s going on. But I have very specifically had boundaries around what I choose to allow myself to watch. Listen to think about. Because Jesus specifically tells us to not worry about tomorrow. He tells us to not worry Philippians four specifically says do not be anxious. Now usually we take the Bible pretty seriously. If it says Do not murder. We’re like, Yeah, not doing that. Do not commit adultery. Okay, not going to do that. Do not steal. Alrighty, I won’t do that. And then it says Do not worry. And well, I have. That’s I think he’s not serious about that one. No, I think he is. I think he is I think that’s unbelief. Because if we truly believe that we have the God of the universe on our side, then our worry and our anxiety isn’t founded. It’s not a it’s not. It doesn’t make sense. Now, it’s not that Jesus just says Do not worry and doesn’t say anything else. I mean, it gives clarification on what that means. And I’ll go specifically to Paul in Philippians, four. You know, you might be saying Bella, I literally just lost my job. There’s no way that I’m not going to be anxious in this time. And that is hard. And you know, there are I definitely have clients and people that have emailed that they are healthcare workers and so they definitely haven’t slowed down. In fact, the the level of need has increased and the concern about health is increased in all of these things. But if anyone I think biblically speaking can can give us insight around not worrying is I mean, there’s so many in the Bible, but I’ll say Paul is definitely one of them. In Philippians he’s literally In jail, flogged, beaten,

15:05
and scoffed at and lonely in prison. And this is what he says, For verse four. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer, and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So there’s so much to that, I would encourage you to write the Scripture down Philippians four, four and read it in your own Bible. Write it down verbatim in your journal, write out what it means to you ask God to clarify, ask him to show you ask him to help this to be your consistent go to that when you feel anxiety, you pray, and you thank God. That’s that’s the, that’s the key. When you are anxious. It says do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. let your requests be made known to God. Well, what do I have to be thankful for? Bella? Well, the truth of the matter is that there is if a gentleman who has been doing God’s will preaching the gospel, gets thrown into jail, is beaten, thinks that he might get killed, and he is writing encouraging letters to other churches. If he has something to be grateful for, then you do too. You do to if you look for it, you have something to be grateful for. And you know why? I think gratefulness thankfulness I think it is a very active help in time of need. I mentioned for women stress does not usually I would say 98% of the time. Stress does not encourage intimacy for women. We’re just like, No, that’s not gonna help. Now afterwards, we’d be like, oh, yeah, that helped. But before it doesn’t feel like that would help in the least it’s like the farthest thing from a woman’s mind generally. Now for men. Sex is a really great stress reliever, and and so a lot of times he’s, he’s craving that in the midst of stress. So what is my encouragement for both parties is to choose gratefulness in the midst is to pray. You know, you don’t have to ignore your fear you, you ask God to help you. You ask him to end the crisis, you ask him to, to maintain your business, you ask him for financial provision, you ask him for a new job, you ask him for creative solutions you ask him for, for relief, financially, or whatever is it that you need for health for protection. But then you are focused on the things that you have to be grateful for now. There’s so many things you can be grateful for now. And even if you have a horrible marriage, you still have things to be grateful for now. I’m serious about that. I’m serious about that. Even if you have a bad marriage right now, there are things to be grateful for you know it, it is the most productive thing you can do. And what do I mean by productive I mean, if you are looking for something that will help your marriage, being grateful for the things that are currently there is actually going to help your marriage, it’s going to move it in the right direction. Let me give you an example of kind of like a metaphor. If you have two children. And you give a very small thing for Christmas, let’s say maybe like a bag of candy, you know a small handful of candy to each of them. And one of them is just so grateful and so thankful and sings about it and thanks to you for it and and dances around and is happy and smiling and enjoys every hour balance of what she’s been given.

20:04
What is your feeling towards that child? Does it feel like oh my gosh, I want to give that that girl some more, you know, I

20:12
want to give her more things because clearly she is just so appreciative. Now contrast that with the other child. Now she received the exact same thing. And yet moans and groans and complains and criticizes and throws it across the room and humph’s and, you know, crosses her arms. She says, Why didn’t you give me more than this? Sally and Susie got China dolls and got a horse and got three bags of candy. And this is all you gave me. You don’t love me, you don’t care about me. So it really, I imagine your response to that child would be well, I’m never giving her a single present again, with that kind of attitude. No, thank you. So the quality of your attitude, being grateful actually encourages your spouse to love You more and better. Even if right now it’s a drop in the bucket of a very large bucket of things that they should quotes be doing for you. But listen, it was one drop. And if you’re not grateful for the drop, you will not get more. That’s just human nature. We don’t like entitlement. Entitlement is not attractive. So if you want to be strategic and making your marriage better, in this time, healing in this time, then Gratitude has to be one of the top things you do prayer and gratitude. The next one I want to say is playfulness. Playfulness is so vital. Oh my gosh, it’s just so vital. I think that if we can’t Lighten up, you know being serious all the time, there’s actually studies to suggest that you are smarter. When you laugh. You literally playfulness actually makes you smarter. So if you’re struggling in any area of life right now, when you laugh, it actually makes you able to think outside of the box, able to be more creative, more relaxed and have new ideas and opportunities. Not to mention, if you’re a husband, your wife will always feel silly, before she feels sexy. Even she if she’s doing something sexy. Inwardly, she’s gonna feel silly first. And so if silliness is not normal between a husband and a wife, and just in terms of every other area of their life, then it’s going to be really hard for a wife to act Syl act in a way that makes her feel silly, because that’s not normal between you two, you don’t come out of your comfort zone to be silly out of the bedroom. Why should she come out of her comfort zone to be silly inside of the bedroom? It just doesn’t work like that. So you want playfulness to be a bedrock of the culture of your marriage. Especially right now. I mean, you’ve got so much opportunity to do it. Yes, I’m talking about board games and card games and games. Things that make you belly laugh. But it doesn’t have to be that it can be friendly, good natured teasing knots on anything that the other person’s insecure about. It’s got to be superduper not insecure stuff. But you know, just playfulness. Art. Our family does tickles quite a lot. We have young kids it it works out well. So sometimes I’ll take my husband, he’ll do that same to me. I mean, there’s just so many things you can laugh about. And it literally also it now this one I’ve got to think of where I where I heard or read this the other ones I’m like yes, I remember exactly where I read this, but I believe it actually is good for your immune system as well. laughing Oh, it is I did read that okay. Yes. Anyway, so again, immune system booster is laughter Okay. One thing that’s funny is my kids love playing hide and seek. And in a one bedroom apartment you can only have Imagine that there are just so many places to hide just

25:06
beyond they actually get superduper creative about where they hide. And yesterday, oh my gosh, I could not believe it. But I was playing with them. And I had a really fantastic hiding spot I was, you know, standing on the couch. But you know, I didn’t get found right away. But after my son found me, you know, of course, he looks in the refrigerator, and lo and behold, my other son is hiding inside the refrigerator. Not a joke. That’s exactly what he did. I did take a short video of it because it was so hilarious, but they will not be hiding in a refrigerator that future that was all him, I did not encourage that. Or even know, that’s what he was doing. So there’s just so many ways. I think there’s, um, I was laughing with my mom about the phrase, I think it’s like necessity is the mother of invention. And I think you can use that principle in a lot of ways. It’s kind of like, necessity is the mother of creativity. Necessity is the mother of curiosity, or, or, you know, outside of the box thinking, I mean, I think those are all the case when you have to be cooped up in a small space for a long time. I mean, why not make it awesome. You can’t you can’t do anything about it. So So make it amazing, and have boundaries around the way you think. Of course, you know, there’s, there’s definitely I try to stay updated. But I would say 98% of what the media is sharing, I can’t do anything about it doesn’t directly affect me. I want to be able to empathize with what other people are going through. But also, if I don’t emotionally have the capacity to serve those that matter most to me, and the assignment God gave me. Then I’m losing at this thing called life. If I’m emotionally so stressed, and so sad, by everyone else’s suffering, that I can’t love my husband, well, so now he’s suffering, and I can’t be present to my kids. So now they’re suffering that I’m losing. There has always been sadness in the world, there’s always been suffering in the world, there’s been genocide in the world, there’s been disease and sickness in the world. It’s been a little farther away, geographically speaking. But I have to decide, I can control what God has assigned me to. And right now, especially the enemy wants to tempt us to take our focus on what’s most important. So if I’m focused on all the horrible things, I can’t do dy M, well, I can’t support my clients. Well, I can’t do practically speaking the things that I actually can control. So there has to be a level of focus on the small that I can control. And the reverberations are much, much larger. But I have to start from the inside. has to start by the little little things that I can control. So I mentioned sex. I mentioned prayer, mentioned gratefulness, time with Jesus. I mean, I said prayer, but time with Jesus. We’ve got extra time. Most would say most of you, not everyone, right, but you’ve got extra time. Use this time wisely. When you have, you know, thought of sermons in the past, but oh, I can’t really look into that. I can’t really read that book. I can’t really pursue that thought process because I just don’t have time. While you do. You do have time. So do it. See what God thinks about your life? See what God thinks about your heart. Take your journal, start asking some hard questions. asking hard questions, answering hard questions. Having that time with Jesus. I mentioned playfulness. And as I said at the after the music I’m going to be talking about health that happens to be something important to me and definitely a passion to help people with that. But but not necessarily part of the the mission of dy M if you will. But I think the belief in your heart really does matter

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though You see this crisis, the purposes you assign to it for you, really does matter to you, they’re going to empower you, or disempower you, it’s either going to invite you and encourage you and inspire you and motivate you to do really, really good things during this crisis, or it’s going to make you feel like, there’s, there’s no hope. I’m wasting time. This is so annoying, and all this grumbling. And it’s like, listen, here, not in prison, about to be executed. I mean, if Paul can say rejoice in all things. Rejoice in the Lord, always again, I will say, rejoice, then you can too. You can, too. So, practically speaking, I want you to initiate, if you’re a woman, I want you to initiate sex tonight. If you’re a husband, I want you to really focus on playfulness and gratefulness. I want you to journal every day and get closer to Jesus. And really focus on the good in your marriage and let your spouse know that that’s what I think is going to be most helpful as you’re as you’re home, or whatever role you’re playing during this crisis. Alright, let’s go ahead and pray. Father, I thank you so much for the person on this podcast. Thank you for their heart, Lord, thank You that they are seeking to do Your will. I pray in Jesus name that. So often we learn something in we learn it very passively. We let the thought or the idea or the inspiration come in and kind of one in one ear and out the other Lord, and we don’t take real action to cement it in and make us change as humans as what we do in our behavior and our action in our ways of thinking. I pray in Jesus name for transformation for them. How do they change practically speaking in who they are, in who you want them to be? Because it’s very clear in your Word, you have a will for us. It’s it’s specific, and we can be off Matthew seven. Look at that scripture. It’s very specific that God cares about what we do with our life. It’s not just what we think about. It’s what we do. And so I pray God for the person who’s on this call, Lord, what is it that you want them to do during this time? And yes, the way they love and serve their spouse and their kids is very spiritual. It’s not just having faith, but works. Faith without works is dead. And who you are with your spouse is who you are before Jesus, those interactions, that is the quality of your character. It’s not your reputation amongst other people, if your spouse knows who you are, that’s who you are. So I pray for the grace for a more significant vision of what this cost time can be. For the person listening to my voice guide, give them a greater vision for them to invest in their sex life for them to invest in the person that you want them to become. Whether it’s reading books, whether it’s taking courses, whether it’s journaling, more specifically, whether it’s setting goals about what they’re supposed to be pursuing, at what season. God I asked for an intentionality and a focus during this time, God in Jesus name. Lord, thank You that You were walking with us that we don’t have to be afraid. And you have purpose for us, even in this time. In Jesus name, I love you. Thank you. Amen. All right, well, thank you for for joining me. And I encourage you one thing, I would love to have you as an email subscriber, I want to give you a couple of free things. So one is the eight keys to stay present if you’re a woman, so you can go to delight your marriage.com/present PR, E, S, e and t. When you do that, you’ll be signed up for my email newsletter. I don’t email a ton, but sometimes when there’s either something important that I want you to know about or I want to encourage you or there’s a new podcast, every now and then somewhere around once a week. I do send emails so hopefully that’ll encourage you and keep you up. to date.

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And then if you’re a man, you can go to delight your marriage.com/the number seven blocks, which is a PDF, all about what are the seven blocks that may be happening right now that’s blocking her libido. So there may be things that you’re doing that you actually had no idea that you were doing. So I want to invite you to have that understanding and insight. Wonderful, okay. Again, thank you for your time. And God bless you. One last invitation is if this encouraged you, I would love for you to share it with someone else. And if dy has ever impacted you in a positive way, I would love for you to write a review on whatever app you listen to a lot of people listen via iTunes. So there’s a you can just easily click, you know, five stars, how do you do that? Just search delight your marriage in the search thing. Click on the icon. Even if you’re already subscribed, you have to search for it to get to the star ratings. So you have to search delight your marriage in the in the search, click on the icon, and then scroll down just a bit. And you’ll see all the stars and if you hit five star more people will be more encouraged to come and listen. Again, thank you so much. God bless you and I look forward to speaking to you next week.

36:48
Okay, so what did I do in terms of health stuff, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder back in the fall of 2019. In fact, I was diagnosed with low thyroid a couple of years before that, like extremely low. So I started taking medicine and then I was silly enough to stop because I thought it wasn’t important. And so I had had some really poor symptoms for a long time. And Hashimotos is the autoimmune disorder. And so after three months of following a woman named Isabella Wentz who’s actually a pharmacist, I did her program to the tee, where I cut out gluten, I cut out dairy, I cut out what was the other one soy, I cut out probably 98% of my sugar intake. And I cut out caffeine for a while. And, and then carbs processed carbs. I saw aside from veggies, very, very few carbs. So that’s my, that’s my regimen. Three months after getting the diagnosis, and I was implementing these things, I went to a new doctor. And I told her what I was doing. And she’s like, Yeah, there’s really no evidence that that stuff makes a difference. And I was like, Okay, I’m happy to take the medicine if I have to. But you know, I wanted to try this out just in case. So she took drew my blood. And the next day she called me she’s like, well, you definitely have the autoimmune disorder because you’ve got the antibodies, but your thyroid levels are normal. So keep doing what you’re doing. And we’ll check back in six months. So praise God, He healed me of this autoimmune disorder back in the fall, and I’ve kept up that diet. Very, very few cheat situations there. There have been some but I would say 95% I’ve kept it up. And and then that’s that was the biggest health change. There’s some things that I’ve added into my diet, a lot of and so for my lunch and like, I don’t really have breakfast anymore. So it’s it’s intermittent fasting. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with that. But there’s there’s some some evidence that that fasting is good for your immune system as well. So intermittent fasting just means for me, I start eating around 12 or one o’clock after not having eaten since the night before. So anyway, so I do that and then one thing I eat for lunch is green smoothies. And so those are pretty Part of Elizabeth’s is Isabella Wentz the pharmacist I mentioned, that’s her protocol, which is actually delicious. It’s an avocado, coconut milk, celery, carrots, some kind of greens, whether it’s kale or spinach, lemons and then protein powered or I use plant based poach protein powder organic, the brand I use is or gain o RG A I N, you can buy it at Target or places like that. So it’s it’s just plant based pea, pea protein mostly, but also it’s got superfoods, and it’s really good, just tasty even. So all that mixed up and in blended in a smoothie. With some salts, it’s just delicious. So I eat that most days, again for my lunch. And then for dinner, there’s it’s heavily vegetables, I will say that we do eat some grass fed meat, but I will say much less than I used to for sure. And I may need to come off even more of that. So I’m I’m debating about that I’ve been doing some more research around that. One thing that I do eat a lot of is actually coconut milk, which if you’re eating carbs, then I’m following a very healthy keto diet. So I just described I mostly eat vegetables, and I mostly don’t have carbs. So fat in something like coconut milk doesn’t scare me at all, because that’s actually good for me. It’s feeding my brain the fat that’s needed. But

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it’s also not the calories are not an issue because I’m so limiting my carbohydrate intake. Now, of course, there are two different, you know, theories around whether or not this is good. What I’ve read, I’ve read both sides, I’ve read plant based things of saying no, you need to limit your fat intake as well. But I’ve also read enough around the health benefits of keto, from doctors to say that I think I like that perspective. And I’m pursuing that perspective right now it could change but that’s what I am focused on. But like I said, I may end up limiting more meat because I’m seeing some some pretty exciting things around. Why to limit that more. So let’s see what else. Oh, so the coconut milk, this is actually delicious, the coconut milk I mix with tumeric and crushed black pepper. And I heat that all up together. On the skillet, not on the microwave, we don’t have a microwave but in a skillet and then I drink that. And it is so delicious. It’s another way to call it as golden milk. And I’ll also add cinnamon into that. And that is just delicious. But the tumeric and freshly ground black pepper together have extremely anti inflammatory properties. Sorry, the Tumeric has anti inflammatory properties. But the crushed black pepper extends the anti inflammatory property, it extends the effect in terms of time like it, it makes it so it’s anti inflammatory for longer in your system. So have those two together. Another thing is I’m fascinated by the microbiome, which is your guts, which is basically your large intestine. Somewhere around there, they have found out some really cool things, they say that 70% of your immune system is in your gut. And so that’s why eating healthily is so important. Because it directly affects the health of the bacteria in your gut. So if you think about bacteria, as there being good bacteria and bad bacteria, and the bad bacteria is what causes a lot of sicknesses and the good bacteria that is your immune health as well as you know the things that the white blood cells and all that that’s going into your your bloodstream, and that basically ends the extent of my scientific knowledge around white blood cells. But I do know that gut health is also really important for your brain health

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because there’s actually a lot of excuse me, there’s a lot of brain cells that are created in your gut, it’s really wild.

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And what else I think there’s, I don’t think it like ends up traveling up to your brain if there’s like a lot of brain cells that are just hanging out in your gut. Alright guys, you’re going to have to look at this up because I clearly can’t remember all the details. But the insane part is there is so much in your gut. And it’s so important for you to keep it healthy. If you think about it even affects your mood, good feeling hormones, and chemicals like serotonin, it affects, like all of this stuff. It’s impacting, and yet, we don’t even, we don’t even know. So I’ve done a lot of research around it. Obviously, I can’t remember all the details, but it has impacted basically, I’m the kind of person that I’ll read a ton. And I’ll learn a ton. And I won’t always remember the details, but I’ll be convinced by, you know, the doctor I’m reading and then I’ll do what they say even if I can’t remember all the studies as to why I’m doing it. So yeah, do your own research. But this is these are my conclusions. So with all that said, How do I impact my gut health? Well, fermented things are phenomenal for your gut health. So we do something called kombucha, which is fermented sweet tea. It’s delicious. It tastes like a carbonated beverage. It’s just wonderful. And it’s incredibly good for your gut health. We also ferment garlic, raw garlic, so it’s just raw honey, covered, covering raw garlic cloves, crushed ROG our lick. Not with like, not like, not like squished up, but like, How can I describe it? Well, you know what, I’ll have the I’ll have a link to how to ferment raw garlic. And that’s how I learned how to do it. Okay, what else do we do in terms of fermentation, we also do apple cider vinegar, which is super easy, you just take apple cider, and you just let it sit out covered with some kind of cloth on the on a inside of a glass jar. But it just takes like three or four days and the whole thing turns like very acidic and tastes like vinegar. But it’s also apparently very good for your gut health. So that’s exciting. I’m trying to think what else do we ferment? I think there’s Oh, sauerkraut we ferment sauerkraut in frequently. But I’m fermenting them right now at that’s super easy to make. It’s just crushing up crushing up cabbage, so like slicing cabbage, super thin, and then crushing it with salts. And then like packing that into glass jars, making sure there’s liquid on the top, and then covering that putting it in a dark place. And then like two weeks later, I think it’s like really great fermented, awesome health for you. And then just some other things that are really good for your gut health are vegetables and the vegetables that are super fibrous, so things that kind of like onions, and celery, there’s also prebiotic foods and probiotic foods. Both of them are basically food for your gut bacteria that’s really good for them. So and also variety diversity in in what you eat. So asparagus, and like I said, onions and celery and raw garlic, and big leafy greens. All of those things are extremely good for your gut bacteria. We hide a lot of greens in our smoothies. That’s how we consume a lot of what we eat in terms of health wise, because a lot of times personally speaking, that stuff is not the tastiest for me, but if I combine it with things like avocado and in coconut milk, and it just is delicious. So I want to invite you to not feel like you have to eat salads all the time because I am not a big fan of salads, honestly. But that’s kind of what I do instead is just lots of smoothies and my kids too, because we’ll add blueberries, that kind of thing. Oh, another thing I eat a lot of is because I don’t eat sugar. You know, I still have cravings much, much less than what I used to but

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when I do, I’ll put coconut milk and chia seeds in blueberries, frozen blueberries, and I’ll mix that up in in a wineglass so it looks fancy and then I’ll eat that it’s delicious. I We’ll say be careful not to eat too many chia seeds because it, it’s high in fiber, but it’ll be pretty hard to go to the bathroom the next day if if you eat too many of them. So just be careful. It’s good. It’s very good for you, but just don’t overdo it. The other thing I eat a lot of nuts. So Brazil nuts is really good. It’s got selenium in there, it’s really good for your brain health. We also cook with olive oil or coconut oil, or on occasion, avocado oil, we do not cook with vegetable oil or canola oil. Both of those I’ve read it just not good at all. But coconut oil. I’ve read lots of really good stuff around as well as olive oil and avocado oil. And I think those are the main things. I really think a lot about my gut. And by God’s grace, He healed the autoimmune disorder in had I not been healed through this process through this journey of cutting out so many things. I would have been high risk by the time I got Coronavirus. And so I would really highly suggest you take your immune health seriously now, so that whenever your area of the world experiences it, whether it’s tomorrow or a month from now, you can be fully ready. So that’s my encouragement to you. I am young, I’m not I’m not, you know, so there’s definitely a thing to that, that. However, I will say that I also our family are extremely careful around our food choices. So I also have to take medication, which affects things. So I have to take medication every day heavy duty ones for some other health things. So that also impacts your immune system, just taking medication. So So yeah, there are things that are in my favor in terms of how my body responded to COVID. But but like I said, I mean, this is our lifestyle, this is what we do. exercise and sleep are also a really important part of my lifestyle as well. So those are my encouragement. You know, just making small changes day by day by day, and just recognizing it matters. So anyway, that’s my that’s my encouragement to you. And I hope it’s encouraging and I hope it makes you want to learn more not feel overwhelmed. But no matter what, I love you and I’ll talk to you next week. Bye