Melanie Wilson (00:01) Are you tired, fearful about your family's health, overwhelmed by conflicting health information, and not sure who to trust? You're not alone. And today's conversation is going to help. I'm Dr. Melanie Wilson, Christian psychologist turned homeschool mom to six graduates. And this is the Homeschool Sanity Show, where my guests and I share wisdom for making the homeschool journey a happy one for you and your kids. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Dusty Hess, founder of Upstream Health and editor and publisher of Upstream Magazine. Dr. Dusty is a father of four and is passionate about helping Christian families realign health back to God's original design. In this conversation, We tackle some of the biggest questions homeschool moms are asking. How do we steward our health without living in fear? Who can we trust for health advice? What do we do when we or our kids face chronic health challenges? And how do we teach the next generation to be healthy from the inside out? Let's talk about how to bring health into your homeschool ecosystem. without the overwhelm. Here's Dr. Dusty. Melanie Wilson (01:33) Dr. Dusty, thank you so much for joining me here on the Home School Sanity Show. I think you are the first doctor who is speaking to my audience about health. So I am really excited to dig into that. Before we do though, I would love to have you introduce yourself to our audience. Tell us more about you and your family. Dr Dusty (01:47) Wow. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah. So I'm a father of four. ⁓ We have a 12 year old, we have a set of twins that are three and a half, soon to be four actually. And we have a six month old. And so we're kind of spread out all over the place. We travel a lot as a family. And so ⁓ we're just really passionate about helping educate families about how God's designed our ecology, biology and physiology and how we can get healthy from the inside out and what we can do to be able to establish the home ⁓ as the center and bring invite health into it instead of inviting our families into the institution of health. And it's the same thing within homeschooling. So we travel a lot with greater homeschool conventions and other homeschool conventions because we're really connect with the families that connect with that overall priority. So I'm the founder of UpstreamHealth.com. ⁓ I am the editor and publisher of Upstream Magazine. And we're just on a mission to really give Christian families the resources necessary to get healthy from the inside out and establish that ecosystem. Melanie Wilson (03:05) Well, that is super interesting. ⁓ I imagine that our paths will cross at one of the great homeschool conventions or more because I will be at all five of them this year. shout out. Yeah. Okay, good. Well, shout out to great homeschool conventions. Please sign up to attend if you haven't already. So when you say realigning health back, Dr Dusty (03:19) Yeah, we'll definitely cross paths. Melanie Wilson (03:33) to God's design. Can you tell us more what you mean by that? Dr Dusty (03:35) Mm-hmm. Absolutely. You know, when we see the way that God's designed our environment, when we see the way that God's designed our biology and the relationship of the soil to the relationship of living things, and we see that all the way through into our physiology, we can't help but deny that there is order, that there is intelligence, that there is design. And through that process, we can have a connection to God's design that is so much deeper than just existing. ⁓ And so when we see that design, we can be able to have a relationship with it and understanding how God's food or animals or our soil or that relationship has within us consuming that, within us growing that, within us moving or incorporating the overall existence within that. This is an important distinction because it's similar to when we think about homeschooling, Dr. Melanie, when we're... Learning is a part of life and we can either invite learning into our ecosystem and we can enjoy such a beautiful thing that God's designed as learning or we're stepped into the world of an institution. that has a framework and a structure for learning. And we bring our ecosystem into that. And so if we look at God's design for health is really his design for the overall ecology, biology, and physiology of existence, we can invite health into our ecosystems and be able to teach it just like we teach everything else. And that should be really fun and incorporating with the right resources and leadership. It shouldn't feel like, this is a task to go to the gym. and lift weights. It really should be baked in. Melanie Wilson (05:22) Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm a big ⁓ fitness enthusiast, but ⁓ I absolutely know what you're saying. The reason I'm laughing is because ⁓ it should be fun. It. I mean, it hasn't been fun. ⁓ Dr Dusty (05:38) Yeah, it's so true. You know, what I've noticed, no, I mean, you're spot on, you're spot on. What I've noticed is, ⁓ unfortunately, we've just fallen into just the way that the world has designed our lifestyles to be. And sometimes we just need to slow down and take a step back and see kind of what we've created, you know? Because when it's not fun, we have to just really have a different perspective because it really should be. The way that God's designed movement and the way that God's designed our bodies to be able to break down and build up and function and eat real foods and what those fibers do to us and all those different things that are intertwined in such fine, beautiful detail, it is really meant to be enjoyed. And when we align it correctly, it really shouldn't feel like a task or a habit. And if it does, that right there is kind of like a red flag for us to take a step back and have the opportunity as a homeschool family to pivot. Melanie Wilson (06:41) Yes. ⁓ You know, I'm specifically thinking about ⁓ it is just so confusing to know what is true about health. ⁓ And, you know, I think we are going to get into that ⁓ as we go. But I would like you to discuss ⁓ Dr Dusty (06:53) Mmm. So true. Melanie Wilson (07:10) What you would say to the homeschool mom who is not feeling the fun, ⁓ she is, she's tired, she is ⁓ fearful, she is overwhelmed many times, not just because of the homeschooling or the homemaking, but because of health. Dr Dusty (07:17) Yeah. Mm. Melanie Wilson (07:36) ⁓ It's her family's health. It's her health and she doesn't even know what to do. How have you seen a misalignment ⁓ with God's plan for our health showing up specifically in homeschooling families? Dr Dusty (07:43) Mmm. Mm-hmm. Now this is spot on. This is spot on. Step number one, fear is not of the Lord. All right? When we come into a situation where we don't understand something or we feel like we're at a loss or we're uneducated or we don't know, we put ourselves in a vulnerable position. And that vulnerable position, we need to realign into the connection that God is there for us. God has a plan and we're not alone. ⁓ Leadership is key. Okay, so making sure that you're connected with a home church, making sure that you have a community, making sure that you've got a small group, making sure that you've got people to talk to that you know, like and trust, that you can align with the overall core values and principles that really define the side of eternity. That is crucial. If we find leadership, I know this is kind of an answer that you're kind of... potentially, and it's the beginning to a longer answer, but I promise you, if you create the right framework and understanding that your faith is not separated from your health, but it really is the foundation for your health, and if you have the right perspective and it builds the right perspective, it removes all the things that are out of the Lord. So it removes fear. You can be at peace, right? It removes all of these lies and all of these things that will foster and feed anxiety and depression and disconnection. Health is a topic that is very rarely talked about in church. And I think that there's a reason for that. I think that there's a gray area there that allows for the devil to seep in and to say, you know what, this is an area we're not gonna talk about because it's my domain. And yeah, go ahead. You got something to say. I'm gonna let you go for it. Yeah. Melanie Wilson (09:24) Hmm. No, no! laughing because it's like that is so true and I'd never thought of it that way so please please go on. Dr Dusty (09:44) You feel it, right? Yeah. Yeah. So for that mom that is trying to create order out of chaos within their home, and they're bringing things into their foundation of what they declare their home, like learning, like health, like all of the things that they prioritize. This is the construct that the mom really should be leaning on is these are the things that I value. I value faith, family, health, financial stewardship, learning. I value these things. These are my buckets. It's not that I see them as chores. It's not that I see my relationship with Christ as a chore. It's not that I see my family or my communication with my husband or my wife as a chore. I don't see my relationship with my kids as managing something. something to be managed, but something to be enjoyed, right? And this is really the side of eternity. We should have a relationship with health with the same kind of context and it shouldn't be built into fear. shouldn't step into parenting as feeling overwhelmed or there's no way that I'm capable of raising a child or there's no way I'm capable of teaching my child. These are all lies and it's the same thing with health. It's just we need different frameworks, we need different structures, we need different leadership, we need different perspective. And when we get those resources with that, all of a sudden we understand that health is not super overwhelming, it just needs to be defined. And I'd say to the second part of your question, that foundation first, perspective is everything. But the second is really important to establish. And that is that when we look at health, we have to look at health from not when it breaks, we try to fix it. And I think a lot of people hear that, but I want you to hear that from a different context. We have a healthcare system that focuses on acute care and we shouldn't demonize that. but we really need to, with a perspective, define that because that is not healthcare in the form of actually getting us healthy from the inside out. We take a responsibility in that, but we also have to have different leadership to help us get there. So if we establish that, then we can also establish that there needs to be other leadership to help us understand what health truly is to actually get healthy from the inside out. And when that topic comes up, then we look at God's design for health. That's where this comes in. The overall contemplation and understanding that... our ecology and our soil and our nutrient dense foods and our whole foods and fiber within things and what that does to our ecosystem. And when we you know what time we wake up and our rhythms and our stress levels and our overall relationships and our rootedness and identity within something that is greater than ourselves. All of these things our psychology our relationship with overall childhood traumas that we see all these different things come together in this ecosystem. that we can then define through a truth lens. And if we have that truth lens, then the homeschool mom, moms I'm talking to you out there, you're not basing this off of, oh, hey, I saw this pill on Instagram, or I saw this supplement or this herb, or I'm trying, you know, I have anxiety, I'm gonna take this, or this colostrum I heard is really good for the gut. It's not about patching a hole with a solution. or problem solution. It's about educating yourself and with what truth is. how God designed the gut, how God designed the gut to be able to relate and communicate to other organ systems, that it's not an isolated organ system, how what you eat affects your body, your mind, your energy, and everything else, when you eat, and what that looks like. All of those educational principles are no different than any other educational topic. So if you see it from that perspective, if you can teach a subject, you can teach health, you can understand it, you can study it. And this is probably the final step that I would say, Dr. Melanian, is don't stop with yourself. Don't wake up at five o'clock in the morning and get your exercise in. Exercise so that your kids see you doing it. Do it in an environment where you learn it yourself, but then you're teaching the next generation. My passion is way beyond getting people healthy, but families healthy, and transgenerational health and the future of that. Melanie Wilson (14:10) Hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (14:25) I mean, we'll have to unpack that a little bit later, but that right there is probably the most important piece for the future generations of your family of investment than anything else that you could possibly do. So make sure when you learn something that you teach it to your kids and you pass it on for them to understand what those principles look like and feel like. Melanie Wilson (14:45) You know, as you were talking about that, I was realizing that homeschoolers figured out ⁓ the game and realized that they had been sold a lie about education. That only experts, only people who have degrees in education can teach their children and provide a quality education. We know that's false. Dr Dusty (15:01) Mm. Melanie Wilson (15:13) It's absolutely Dr Dusty (15:13) Absolutely. Melanie Wilson (15:14) false. I know parents who did not even go to college and provided an excellent, excellent education to their kids and their kids are now grown and parenting their own children. So we know that is a lie, but it seems like the idea that only experts can provide Dr Dusty (15:34) Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (15:43) health education for us and our kids is still something that is holding on. mean, I'm not saying it isn't changing, but I'm going to introduce something that I have seen in myself and in other people who are homeschooling, other people I care about, and it is this. It's, okay, well, I know that I... Dr Dusty (15:52) Yeah. Melanie Wilson (16:12) can't necessarily trust traditional medicine, traditional doctors, especially doctors who don't share my faith. ⁓ But I have to have someone to trust. So now I'm going to go in this direction, and I'm going to only trust this type of health practitioner or this kind of health information. And then it can just, it can kind of Dr Dusty (16:20) Hmm. Melanie Wilson (16:41) add to the anxiety because again, we're not trusting God, trusting God to give us wisdom and peace about our health and our family's health. Have you experienced this with people too? Dr Dusty (16:43) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely, absolutely. And quite honestly, when we see healthcare for acute versus chronic, when we see healthcare from a perspective of, when something goes severely wrong, I have an institution or I have something that will be there to stop the bleeding. We understand that. Melanie Wilson (17:26) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (17:26) But then when it actually comes to getting healthy, this is very, very, very, very, very crucial for you to understand. Anybody listening out there is you play more of a role in that establishment of you being healthy than any professional or profession out there. So that declaration by you and your family, of saying, no, health is not optional or health doesn't take a back seat until something happens and then we go. It's we have to play a role in really creating a framework of education that puts awareness and intentionality, not legalism and not exclusion, but we base it off of truth and the design of the way that God's designed health for our bodies and our environment and our behavior and our lifestyle. that will then help establish a better, healthier ecosystem. That in and of itself is so crucial to understand because if you even walk into a doctor's office and they're not listening to you, they don't get to know you, they don't build a personalized rapport with you, they can't provide you what you need to be able to get healthy. It doesn't matter what tests. It doesn't matter if they run specialized tests and comprehensive labs and they're running Melanie Wilson (18:45) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (18:51) hormone metabolite panels and they're looking at your GI metabolites, everything, it doesn't matter how much information they have, if they're not sitting down and getting to know you, then they can't serve you. And this is a field of service when we're talking about health. It's not a field of intervention and control. If you have a brain tumor, you want a specialist. Melanie Wilson (19:04) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (19:16) right, to go in there and know exactly what's going on in that part of the brain to work on that. When we're talking about avoiding chronic disease, when we're talking about diabetes, we're talking about anxiety, we're talking about dementia, we're talking about cancers, we're talking about all of those things, PCOS, know, all of those kind of situations are not... Melanie Wilson (19:28) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (19:41) designed for specialists. If you go into those environments and go into a specialist, you get into a lot of trouble. And I promise this is going to circle back to something really important. Because when we're dealing with chronic disease, for example, polycystic ovarian syndrome of PCOS, and in our young ladies, this is just so sad when I see a lot of this disruption and disconnection, not that they're broken, but this disconnection within design. Melanie Wilson (19:49) Yeah, yeah. Dr Dusty (20:06) that it leads to a lot of hormone disruption, a lot of ⁓ insulin dysregulation, and a lot of gut issues and detoxification issues. as time builds up, then it starts to create this explosion of dysfunction. And if you look at that, ⁓ something like PCOS, and you find a specialist for that, you're gonna have symptoms in the gut, you're gonna have symptoms in the liver, you're gonna have symptoms within the pancreas, you're gonna have symptoms within... sex organs, you're going to have symptoms with myriad of different organ systems that are communicating together, the endocrine system, the neurological system, digestive system, but you can't have a specialist focused on that because they're specializing in one of those systems. So you really need a generalist to look at the whole, to look at the design, to look at the function of everything. And so when we come into the establishment of frustration of finding a healthcare provider that we know, like, and trust, or ⁓ what are you actually trying to accomplish, number one. And when you see what you're trying to accomplish, you're trying to get healthy from the inside out, you're trying to create an ecosystem that's specialized to your family. Your family is unique because it's your family. There's no other family on the face of this planet that's like your family. Your education is gonna look different than everybody else's and that's including other homeschool families. your priorities are gonna look different unless you align the core values. As a Christian, we're gonna have faith, family, know, stewarding finances, the things that are the big buckets. But outside of that, there's gonna be different things that you're gonna prioritize and that looks differently. And so you need, there's no difference within healthcare is you need somebody to get to know you personally, to be able to help lead you to be able to see what season of life you're in, where you're stressed out, what your morning routines are, your evening routines are, where you're at. globally to be able to figure out what the rhythms of weather or other situations that might be coming into your patterns. And from there, that support will come from that personalization, not from you fitting into a box of an institution. Melanie Wilson (22:12) Yeah, and you know as you talk about that it reminds me that ⁓ so many moms and I would say myself included, we often feel personally responsible if one of our kids and I think even sometimes our spouse ⁓ has health ⁓ issues, ⁓ chronic health Dr Dusty (22:31) Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (22:42) problems or a diagnosis of any sort, we think, we should have done something to stop that. It's our fault. And now it's our responsibility to find the answer, to find the treatment that helps and doesn't hurt. ⁓ Can you kind of speak to that? I would hope, especially from a spiritual perspective, because I think that is what we need. Dr Dusty (23:00) Hmm. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. number one, fear is not of the Lord. Number two, this victim mindset never serves anybody. Number three, we show up in a broken, sinful Genesis three fallen world. So we understand that sin exists, we understand that disconnection exists, and we understand that we're not in control. Let me tell you a little story that might help with this. ⁓ yesterday I was, I was on another podcast and totally different theme, totally different, ⁓ background, a little bit more, a lot more kind of scientific and kind of going into different things. ⁓ and the term longevity popped up. ⁓ and the way he asked it was very unique because he was like, what do you think of the word longevity? And what do you think of all of the different technological advances that are coming out to help with? keeping us alive longer. And the perspective on such a word, longevity, as Christians, we have a totally different relationship with the word longevity, ⁓ similar to self-care. And so on this secular podcast, it was, well, as a Christian, in my relationship with health, in my relationship with what's happening within my environment and around me, Melanie Wilson (24:23) Okay. Dr Dusty (24:35) My focus is not on longevity whatsoever, this side of eternity. And I worded this a little bit differently for that audience to understand, but you could imagine like this side of eternity, I turned to him and said, tomorrow the good Lord can take us, a bus could hit us in the road or whatever. We have no control over how long we live and we can't intervene with that. But what we can do is we can steward our bodies well. Melanie Wilson (24:43) Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Dr Dusty (25:03) And stewardship is a much better word than longevity, much better word than self-care. You have these terms that are very of this world. And so our relationship with health shouldn't be a victim mindset or this situation of feeling like we're in control and if we don't do X, Y, Z, we will get sick. And if we sin, we get sick. These relationships, Melanie Wilson (25:29) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (25:32) of this kind of ideology is very dangerous. But what we can see is God's design for health in a much detail of within his creation. And we can do the best for our families to create an ecosystem environment that can help steward that. And we do that the same way we're imperfect people trying to teach our kids. ⁓ And we can do the same thing. We're imperfect people trying to ⁓ really steward our health, this side of eternity. And when you do that, you know, we just hope and pray that God is, God says, well done, good and faithful servant. And that's really what it's all about. ⁓ There is times, I think, within this era where there are lot more things that we can't control than we can control. Melanie Wilson (26:06) Hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (26:27) Not necessarily. There's a lot more things that we can't control than we can't control. But there are more things that we can't control than there were before. We have industrialization. We have what's happened to our soil with our overall agriculture, what we're putting on our crops, what we're doing with our foods, with processed foods and stripping fibers. And, you know, the list goes on and on. And I'm not going to bore people with that because very much people can fall into a victim mindset with even that. And then they feel like this paralysis of not being able to eat or consume or do anything else. Melanie Wilson (26:34) Mm. Dr Dusty (26:56) And that is just the awareness of realizing that it might be wise to be a little bit more intentional with understanding what's happening inside you, irregardless of how you feel. And I think this is where comprehensive testing and this leadership from a health perspective can really help leverage an outcome that will take fear away and realign it back to God's design to know that what you're doing and what you're sacrificing and the effort that you're putting in. is actually doing the stewardship role of what you're trying to accomplish. Melanie Wilson (27:31) Yeah, you know, I mean as you were talking I absolutely love the concept of stewarding our health ⁓ and I appreciate the repeated affirmation that fear is not from God. I had a time in my life ⁓ where I was just nothing but fear about my health and I would spend Dr Dusty (27:57) Hmm. Melanie Wilson (27:59) hours and hours and hours and hours ⁓ late into the night researching potential ⁓ like supplements. I mean, I was on thousands of dollars worth of supplements trying to find some relief to for the symptoms that I had. And ⁓ it ended up for me. And I mean, the Lord was so gracious to show this to me. Dr Dusty (28:14) Yeah. Melanie Wilson (28:29) that the symptoms that I was having were primarily emotional and ⁓ spiritual. And that once I began trusting God with those ⁓ symptoms and with my life, and I love what you said too about longevity, it's like, of course that's not what it's all about. That's not the primary goal. you just didn't say live as long as you can. ⁓ Dr Dusty (28:35) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely, yeah. Right. Right. Melanie Wilson (28:59) That's not the goal. ⁓ But once I recognize that those symptoms just disappear. And so I have so much empathy for people who have that fear. ⁓ And one thing I just wanted to add that was useful for me, because sometimes when we learn more about like the pesticides and the GMOs and... Dr Dusty (29:22) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Melanie Wilson (29:29) you know, all these things we just are, ⁓ no, you know, you don't even know what to eat. And what I realized is that every single meal, I was asking the Lord's blessing on that meal. And so I, know, of course, I'm not going to serve poison to myself or my family. But if I'm doing the best that I can, as you were saying, Dr Dusty (29:36) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (29:58) ⁓ with what I've been given, I can trust God to bless my food and not use it to hurt me or my family. Dr Dusty (30:10) Amen, amen. ⁓ Yes, I mean, you're spot on and your story resonates with so many listeners out there ⁓ and just people that I see on a regular basis. ⁓ They need to hear those stories and they need to hear hope and they need to be able to reestablish a confidence. ⁓ You know, there's one thing that really stands out to me with what you just said here. And number one, we cannot separate health. from our faith. Here's a little aha moment. Christian, we're in relationship with the creator of the universe. We pray to a God that has created every cell, organ, tissue in your body, every animal, all the microbes, all the things that we see and we can't see, all the stars in the heavens. We have nothing to fear. So we cannot separate that relationship from health. Health is his design. Health is his domain. There's no doctor that is above the creator. Right? So we can start there. then we can start to step into a space that I'm really passionate about. Actually, I'm currently writing a book on this. Melanie Wilson (31:26) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (31:47) how health totally got pulled out of the church. Melanie Wilson (31:51) Mmm. Dr Dusty (31:53) If we look at our relationship with health and our faith and the incorporation of that, before it got really muddled with technology and intervention and control, we look at so many different philosophers, so many different scientists, so many different individuals, astrologers, astronomers, everybody that is at the forefront of physics, that were Christian, that were seeking out to know and understand God's creation better and deeper and Listener, I want you to know that those people are still out there very intellectual very smart individuals that see God's fingerprint and everything and you should too and with that is a freeing sense of realignment not legalism or this exclusion. And so when we step into the world's perspective on health, we end up actually buying a lot of supplements or buying a lot of pills or buying a lot of fixes for the things that we feel like we can't control, but trying to get to know truth, his design, and all the way down to, now not saying you gotta pull up your biology book and like look at everything, but. But as you're going through biology, is the connection. You are in relationship with the creator of that textbook. More than that textbook will ever know. Like you're gonna have the 50,000th edition of that biology textbook and it's still not gonna get to the full understanding of his design. So. Melanie Wilson (33:29) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (33:42) let's start bringing a little bit more confidence back into our step and let's start to bring a little bit more perspective of our faith and our relationship with Christ into our healthcare, into our families. ⁓ And knowing too that ⁓ we have awareness over GMOs, we have awareness over phthalates and a lot of other ⁓ industrialization, industrialized chemicals and PFAs and a lot of things. We have awareness over that and we have to because we are going to have a human fingerprint of brokenness through a Genesis 3 fallen world this side of eternity. And if we aren't aware of those things, they will affect us. And so having the awareness of what products we're using in the home or what we're surrounding our kids by and this, that and the other, that is something that we have to be intentional with. Otherwise, it will be intentional with our biology. Melanie Wilson (34:35) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (34:35) But we do not need it to be overwhelming or you don't have to do a full overhaul. If you're looking at your pantry, why don't you just start adding a good thing in and the bad will get pushed out. Focus on one thing at a time. If you're looking at cleaning products, you can just maybe add one thing in, change one thing this month. Don't allow it to consume you and overwhelm you. Melanie Wilson (34:46) Hmm. Dr Dusty (34:57) ⁓ But allow yourself to at least understand it and come into a place of power over it instead of it having power over you that you understand God's truth and God's design. And then you can be able to, here's another story and I'll close out on this this topic. When I studied radiology in school, I didn't study all the brokenness. What we studied was what does a good radiological picture and image look like? We can base everything off of the clarity of something that's right. And if it doesn't look right, then we ask questions. So if you base your healthcare off of, hey, this is the way that God's designed it. This is truth. This is his ecology, biology, physiology. When we align it, when we see something that's not in alignment with that, we know what truth looks like. And that foundational truth is what will help you look at what you're eating, how you're moving. Melanie Wilson (35:48) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (35:56) the chemicals you have in your environment, your air, your water, and it doesn't make you feel like you have to memorize and know all of the brokenness. You just have to know what right looks like, what truth is. Melanie Wilson (36:09) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That is very, very good. And I can give you an example of just one small step and kind of how, ⁓ my husband and I took that step. He had been reading an article about cookware and about how that non-stick surface flakes off and gets into our bodies. And I don't need. Dr Dusty (36:35) Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (36:39) ⁓ anyone to tell me that that is happening I can see that it's happening. ⁓ We have a pan that we've been using for quite a while and you can see the the surface is flaking off and where is it going? It's going into our food and into our bodies. Now do I know for sure ⁓ that it's having a negative impact on us? Not really because you know God's design for our bodies is that you know they're Dr Dusty (36:45) Yeah. Melanie Wilson (37:09) are all kinds of protective systems in place that, you know, I just want to affirm that for people too, that ⁓ God has designed our bodies as an unbelievably complex and beautiful machine that will protect us long-term. However, I don't want to keep ingesting non-stick, you know, coating. So, Dr Dusty (37:13) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Melanie Wilson (37:38) my husband and I made the decision that our primary pan that we use, we were going to replace with stainless steel. And it's expensive, it was a $50 pan. But, and this was my husband's actually, his idea that let's just replace this pan. And so I think that is a great example of how, what you were saying. can be implemented in our families, in our homes. It's like if there's something that you're using that you feel convinced is not ⁓ in alignment with good health for you and your family, then replace that and just do it step by step. ⁓ I could have taken it to the opposite extreme and then like I not only have to replace Dr Dusty (38:07) Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (38:36) all of my cookware but I have to replace my utensils and my plates and my glasses and you know every food container that I have has to be replaced you know I mean maybe I will at some point but for now that's what we're going to do. I would love if you could speak to a related issue to that which is Dr Dusty (38:41) Yeah. Melanie Wilson (39:05) Okay, either I am having chronic health problems or one of my kids is, or an emotional problem that I think could be biologically based. ⁓ What do I do? Who do I see? Where do I get my information? I think that is what is so hard because we can't open the Bible to the PCOS chapter. ⁓ Dr Dusty (39:18) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Melanie Wilson (39:32) to figure out what do I do or the ADHD chapter. ⁓ So I would love for you to address that. Dr Dusty (39:36) So true. Yeah, so in leadership with situations like that, it really has to be led in a way that allows for you to feel like you're the chief and the head of whatever you're trying to step into. You have to feel autonomous in health. If you don't feel autonomous that you're in control, then you're always going to be at the whims of somebody else that's telling you what to do, or a guru, or somebody that's the expert, right? Melanie Wilson (40:07) Hmm. Dr Dusty (40:10) in this type of actually getting healthy from the inside out and creating that healthy ecosystem, you're really at the helm of your own ship. And it should be the same feeling and the lies popping up in your head of like, no, there's no way that I can do that or like, I just can't. You're a homeschool mom, you can educate your kids. You can do this. You can do this. And so when we look at something like PCOS or you have these kinds of things, it's already downstream, right? So we're already thinking, okay, I'm broken and I'm trying to fix something, right? I don't even like to use the word broken because something like PCOS, we're looking at disconnected, right? Not broken. ⁓ And I love that you brought up the overall mental piece because we cannot silo healthcare. Melanie Wilson (40:42) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (41:03) into different categories of this is PT, this is chiropractic, this is MD, this is psychotherapy, is, everything plays a role within health, including your faith. This is where I go to church, this is where I go to get healed, this is where I go to, this is just crazy talk. But the... Melanie Wilson (41:18) Mm-hmm. Mmm. Dr Dusty (41:28) The resources come number one from you understanding that you play a role. You have to have the right mindset and you have to be the right, if you're coming in as a student to be taught, it's gotta be with the right heart. And what you notice with your kids, when you create an environment for learning and they come and they show up as students and they're ready to learn and they're excited to learn, you have a much better outcome than if you're forcing the subject. I grew up in institutionalized educational system and I will tell you, Melanie Wilson (41:52) Mm. Dr Dusty (41:56) The vast majority of kids that go to school don't want to go to school. Right? But we as homeschool families get the opportunity to create an environment where learning is fun and they get to grow through that. And so you have to come into an environment that allows for you to understand that that creating a healthy environment is also fun because when you realign it with God's original design, it is fun because it's designed that way. Movement is part of learning just as much as learning is a part of health care. Melanie Wilson (42:00) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (42:26) Right? So, ⁓ you know, when I established UpstreamHealth.com, it was to help get Christian families healthy from the inside out. But it was specifically targeting a cultural subgroup because when we're dealing with health care at this level, it's culturally driven, not scientifically driven. You have to align with your belief subset. Melanie Wilson (42:27) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (42:53) in what you're prioritizing. If somebody's gonna speak into this part of your life in ⁓ realigning your health back to God's original design, it's about making sure that there's checks and balances for what you're prioritizing during the day. Making sure that when you are creating an ecosystem, it's hard to speak to a family that drops their kids off at school and they're in school all day long and they have no relationship with them. or influence over them for them to talk and speak into their ecosystem, to change different things, to create a different result when there's already intervention being made. And so finding leadership that aligns with your values and aligns with your beliefs, because those beliefs turn into values, those values will turn into the things that you will prioritize. Okay? And this is where habits come from, because when we prioritize values, we will put time into that. Melanie Wilson (43:29) Mm-hmm. Right. Dr Dusty (43:49) we will do that and over time we'll turn into habits. And so when we're talking about avoiding chronic disease and getting healthy, we have to establish a good habit in different aspects of life and that has to correlate with something that we value or we won't continue to do it. And so when you have leadership that is in the sphere of your belief subset, then what we can establish is a great awareness of the things that you might... Melanie Wilson (43:49) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (44:17) ⁓ not be valuing or you want to value but you're not doing. And then we reestablish that ecosystem with good resources and commitment to that slow and equal realignment back to God's original design for that ecosystem. And so having resources like, that's what I love about our magazine is it's not a typical magazine. It focuses on Melanie Wilson (44:35) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (44:43) faith, family, and health and incorporates all of that together. It brings awareness to different toxic elements within our environment that we need to teach our kids about and hold away. It has a monthly workout. It has monthly devotions. ⁓ It has a health shift for the family to be able to participate into the month. It has a meal plan for the month with recipes and we highlight a family, a Christian family, and just how they're dealing with these different topics. Melanie Wilson (45:12) Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (45:12) so that you have people to relate to that you don't feel like you're doing this all alone. And that magazine comes to your doorstep and homeschool families love to have a resource like that, that you can be able to apply those different things within your home, within your ecosystem, at your own pace, with your own structure and design. Melanie Wilson (45:16) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love it. And I think people, they need that. We need to have information that is coming from a trusted source because so often, even when we're looking at alternative health advice, we know that there is a profit motive there. ⁓ And so it's not necessarily what is best for you. Dr Dusty (45:52) Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (45:56) ⁓ It's about what's best for their bottom line. So I know I sound kind of cynical, but that's kind of where I'm at with it. Dr Dusty (46:01) Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, yeah, for sure. No, no, no, I'm at the same place, Dr. Melanin, because I would say that, you know, we... We are products of the world that we've created ourselves for. And so many times we don't step back and see that. And when we see, you ⁓ I've worked in Northern Europe, I've worked in different places and I've seen different perspectives and different structures of things. But I will tell you, ⁓ we live in a free market enterprise. We live in a capitalistic environment. And through that, we live in a marketing world of trying to find a problem and then serving a solution. ⁓ And if we're constantly, we're not stepping out to be able to see the solution, we will never see it. We'll only see the symptoms and then patch it. And so this is why I love talking at homeschool conventions. I love talking with homeschool families because you've taken a step back and said, you know what, that institution, nah, it doesn't really have our best interests in mind. It's not structured the way I like it. I think that we could be a lot more personalized and have a better outcome. I want you to have the same exact perspective with your health. and then get the resources to be able to teach the next generation to be able to create awareness of what the world's not speaking about. And then you can be able to make sure that that aligns with your values and then you can be able to grow an ecosystem so when those kids get older, that when they start having kids, their ecosystems are a lot healthier, their genes are expressing themselves in a lot healthier way. What's being passed from host through the placenta to fetus. Melanie Wilson (47:18) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Dr Dusty (47:36) is totally different than the rest of the worlds that do not prioritize or value certain things of honor and stewardship of the body, which would then be a precursor for two generations of disorder within that ecosystem. And that's a totally different topic of transgenerational health, but this is why it's so important to be able to at least have a little bit of intentionality. Melanie Wilson (47:57) Thank Dr Dusty (48:01) Don't get overwhelmed. Just focus on one thing at a time. Learn from something, one thing in a month that can make a huge difference if you just have the awareness and the education and the resources to do that. We're gonna do a little bit of a change here. with our family. We're gonna add a little bit here. We're not gonna, don't feel like restriction and removing, just add a little bit here. We're gonna read about this today, kids. Hey, we're gonna read about this. And we're gonna include these different topics in here to be able to shape the next generation so that our next generation as Christians, I believe that Christian families will be the healthiest, happiest, most impactful families this side of eternity because we have truth to lean on. And that will allow for us to build our stewardship off of things that we value. And we can say yes and no to different things because it's not honoring to our physiology, our biology, or ecology. And through that, we can have those resources and pass it on to the next generation and pass it on to the next generation. And we can learn more about God's design. We can be excited about the details because we are in relationship with the creator of those details. And so we don't have to live in fear. Melanie Wilson (48:48) Hmm. Dr Dusty (49:04) And so we do have to play a role in it. We do have to educate it. We do have to bring it into our curriculums and have those resources. make sure not only to get the resources, but to apply them, apply them and make time for that because make time for the things that you value and you do that over time. That's how habits are born and fulfilled. Melanie Wilson (49:26) Well, I love that. Okay, so remind us how we can get your magazine coming to our doorstep. Dr Dusty (49:35) Yeah, simple as going to upstreamhealth.com. We have a health membership there, just focusing mostly on what I talked about here, that's also included in the health membership is our magazine. And it is just a wonderful resource to homeschool families. So you just go to upstreamhealth.com and you'll see magazine there. You click on that and you'll see everything that I just talked about, upstreamhealth.com. Melanie Wilson (49:57) Okay, and are you on social media too, where people can connect with you if they have other questions? Dr Dusty (50:03) Yeah, so Upstream Health Hub ⁓ on most platforms, you'll find us there and you'll see a lot of these different things that I'm talking about at Upstream Health Hub. Melanie Wilson (50:13) Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us about this. I feel like we could have gone on and on and on because I mean, health is such a huge part of our lives. And as you are saying, part of God's design for our lives. And I appreciate the perspective that you are sharing with us so much. So thank you. Dr Dusty (50:21) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Melanie Wilson (50:38) I hope this conversation with Dr. Dusty has given you a fresh perspective on health and maybe even a little relief from the fear and overwhelm you've been carrying. Here are the key takeaways I want you to remember. First, fear is not of God. God knew about every weakness and struggle when he called you to homeschool your children. The same is true for your health journey. Second, you don't need to overhaul everything at once. Choose one thing this month. Maybe you're like me and you can replace one pan. You can add more whole foods to your pantry or you can learn about one aspect of God's design for health. Small steps compound over time. Third, You are in relationship with the creator of every cell, organ, and tissue in your body. You can trust him with your family's health, and you can pray over every meal knowing he will bless the food you've prepared with the resources you have. And finally, remember that you're not just stewarding health for yourself, you're teaching the next generation. When your kids see you moving, eating real food, and making intentional choices about health, you're passing on wisdom that will impact their children and their children's children. To learn more about Dr. Dusty's work and to subscribe to Upstream Magazine, visit UpstreamHealth.com. You can also connect with him on social media at Upstream Health Hub. For these links, visit homeschoolsanity.com slash family health. And if this episode encouraged you, please share it with another homeschool mom who needs to hear this message. You can have a healthier, happier homeschool life this year when you align your family's health with God's design, one small step at a time. This has been a production of the ultimate homeschool. Radio Network.