Welcome to the 8th edition of Massey’s Magazine!
In the News: Let’s talk about stress as related to our gut health! When researching what I wanted to cover this week, I was pleasantly surprised to see more and more articles at least whispering words of how what we eat affects the survivability of pancreatic cancer, Alzheimers, immune disorders, etc.
I decided to land on this article about stress rashes to illustrate what can happen outwardly—even in a non-life-threatening-manner—when our insides are a mess.
Here’s the article, and then let me give you my two cents worth:
The stress-gut connection is extremely profound and cyclical, and up to us to break that cycle once we have this knowledge. What we put in our mouths has a direct effect on the health of our gut. This affects the bacteria and microbiome which our guts house.
If we eat toxins, we can kill off the good bacteria. If we eat too much sugar, we can create an imbalance of bacteria and fuel the candida/yeast (fungus) in our guts and cause an overgrowth. If we have an imbalance of bacteria and a poor gut microbiome, we can create dis-regulated immune function, creating leaky gut syndrome, leaking the bacteria into our system, causing inflammatory responses throughout our body. Hence this article on stress rashes.
It would also be important to note that 90% of our serotonin levels are created in our gut. So, if we create gut dysbiosis by fueling our bodies a poor diet, you create more stress, more sleeplessness, more depression, more anxiety, etc. Many people don’t associate these conditions with food, but they are all—in large part—directly affected by our food choices. Furthermore, all of these conditions create higher levels of cortisol (the stress hormone), causing further increased gut permeability, decreased immune function, increased inflammatory processes and disease in our body, and on and on.
But the struggle doesn’t end there. When you are under stress, you are then more likely to make poor food choices, and thus the cycle continues.
One other addition to this cycle to be aware of. One of the doctors first responses to your poor gut health in connection to stress is to put you on a proton pump inhibitor like Protonix, for example. Well, while this might be ok temporarily for symptoms WHILE IMPROVING YOUR DIET (which many docs don’t mention), PPI’s have been linked to thinning gut membranes meaning increased gut permeability causing worsening leaky gut & inflammation. You need to get off of these meds, which can easily be done with a clean anti-inflammatory diet.
If you are a super science lover, like I am, and want to dive in even deeper. This is a thoroughly detailed PubMed article from the NIH on the connection between stress, depression, diet and the gut.
What do we do about this y’all? WE HAVE TO BREAK THE CYCLE!
- First and foremost, adopt a clean eating lifestyle. This is non-negotiable for your optimal health. Stop adding toxins to your body that promote poor gut health. Diet determines which bacteria will thrive in the gut. Though optimal health requires a longterm lifestyle change, in as little as 24 hours, the gut biome begins to change based on what ones current intake is.
- Become Fiber-Focused. A high fiber diet (35g a day for women, 40g a day for men) promotes optimal gut health and improves the lining of your gut wall, reducing gut permeability.
- Give your gut adequate rest every night! Intermittent fasting for a minimum of 12 hours nightly without fail gives your hormones a chance to rebalance – especially important referencing this topic – your serotonin, dopamine, cortisol levels. If you eat late and then wake up eating a heavy breakfast, you are not giving your gut the adequate rest it needs to find balance.
- Hydrate minimum of half your body weight in ounces of water every day. If you are 200 lbs, drink 100oz of water daily. Not only is this important for your livers, kidneys, skin and overall health, but it will help you to feel more full and less likely to make poor choices, and also facilitates flushing toxins from your body.
- Take a good high quality probiotic. After decades of destroying our guts, promoting good bacteria by taking a probiotic is a good idea for most everyone.
- Consuming fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, clean pickles, homemade coconut yogurt, etc are great for gut health.
- Reduce or eliminate alcohol, smoking, drug use, and unnecessary medications (which can often be eliminated by your physician once symptoms are controlled by a clean anti-inflammatory diet.)
- Prayer/meditation in the first 30 minutes of your day and the last 30 minutes prior to falling asleep will improve cortisol levels.
Need help with any or all of this? Or would you like guidance to help you break this cycle of poor gut health causing tremendous stress, lowered energy levels, seemingly impossible weight loss, chronic pain/headaches/fatigue, cardiovascular disease, and so much more? I’d be honored to help guide to you to a life free or at least significantly reduced of these symptoms.
Client spotlight: I’m wrapping up a special 3 week program I ran for a Spring 2023 Reset, and in addition to weight loss, these participants have made statements such as:
“Stomach not as bloated and increased energy”
“Really enjoying my meals. This is the only meal plan I have not veered from ever.”
“Satan attacked my health and thought he had me! But God placed Wendy on my journey.”
“My wedding band is too big.”
“I have some joint issues that haven’t been bothering me as much and one of my regular customers told (me) my skin looked good.”
“I haven’t been on a scale! But I feel amazing. Aches and pains gone. Foggy brain and extreme fatigue gone. So thankful for my new life! Only by God’s grace and your guidance!”
Absolutely grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to help guide these folks—albeit a much shorter period than I usually do. As you can see, they are already making great strides in just two and a half weeks! Imagine where they’d be at sixteen!
Book launch: The Ultimate Meal Prep Guide to Simplify Clean Eating: How to Cook Once to Save Money & Feel Better …in Just 4 Hours a Month is available in both paperback and Kindle forms!
If you haven’t gotten your copy yet and would like to, please go to:
If you have gotten your copy, can you PLEASE submit a happy testimonial, even if it’s just a small comment as to how this book has spoken to you or has motivated you to do something positive in your life? I HAD NO IDEA what a powerful weight these reviews are to newbie authors like me!
NOW LIVE!!! Our MONTHLY MEAL PREP CLUB is up and rolling! MY SISTER AND I COMPLETED HER FAMILY’S ENTIRE MONTH’S PREP (14 recipes) IN 3 HOURS AND 22 MINUTES TWO SATURDAYS AGO LIVE ON CAMERA FOR CLUB MEMBERS!!! Plus, we gave away two prizes to a couple of lucky folks who were watching live!
That was such an exciting morning and we loved sharing it with everyone who was present!
For all club members: The segmented video from March’s livestream is now available, so you can just watch the parts which interest you, instead of the whole three and a half hours.
ALSO for club members, the April resources are uploaded, and there is also a new section titled “Last Month’s Resources” so you will have an entire extra month to download the recipes, shopping list and links, printable labels, sample one week meal plan, money saving tips, and step by step guide before those resources are gone!
If you haven’t signed up for your free 30 day trial of our Monthly Meal Prep Club yet, you can do so at the link below and enter the code FREE30 at checkout to start your free trial. You can cancel at any time (but you won’t want to with all of the info we provide 😉 ) and your card won’t be charged until your free month is over!
***ALSO LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL HOST KITCHENS TO HOST OUR MONTHLY LIVE COOK WITH ME WEBINAR IN THE FUTURE! I’M ALREADY BOOKED THRU JUNE! Contact me for more details!***
***STAY TUNED FOR MULTIPLE NEW SERVICES, TOOLS AND EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES TO BE OFFERED BY MASSEY WELLNESS! My goal for 2023 is to increase the IMPACT we have on the health of ALL people, so the best way is to offer a variety of options to make that happen. I CAN NOT WAIT TO SHARE ALL OF THE NEW DETAILS! JUST WAITING FOR IT ALL TO BE LIVE ON OUR WEBSITE! (still… this is the 3rd Thursday I’ve said this… out of my control… sorry y’all…)***
NEW EXCITING OPPORTUNITY!!!: I will not wait for this to appear on my website to share that I have a new opportunity for people who want to become a future WELLNESS WARRIOR with me! I am creating a 6 month training program for those who want to lead a revolution of health in your family, church, community, or even the world!
We will FIRST focus on your own healing, as I provide the knowledge you need to help others heal. This is the perfect program for anyone who simply desires to lead their own family into good health, or who wants to be compensated and partner with me, or even learn the tools to start your own business to save the world in the future… one gut at a time!
Reply to this email for more details!
Dates for upcoming events:
April 10-13 – 4-Day Clean Eating Challenge – 7pm EST live webinar nightly; join our public Facebook group for all of the information:
April 15 – IF Women’s Conference Reisterstown, MD
April 22 – NEXT “COOK WITH ME” Webinar exclusively for Monthly Meal Prep Club Members
June 8-12 WOW Retreats Christian Womens’ Retreat Timonium, MD
June 17 – Evermore Farm Health Conference Westminster, MD
Weekly Scripture:
“Lazy people don’t even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find.”
Proverbs 12:27
(resonated as I’m planting my summer garden and have an abundance of purple dead nettle to harvest!) 😉
I hope you all have an amazingly blessed remainder of Holy Week, Easter and upcoming week!
In love and health,
Wendy