29: Why You’re Exhausted: The Overlooked Link Between Light, Sleep, and Hormones ft. Chelsea Blackbird

In today’s episode of your body speaks, Dr. Brook sits down with Chelsea Blackbird—Christian health practitioner, host of the Christian Health Club Podcast, and co-founder of the School of Christian Health & Nutrition—for a powerful conversation on self-stewardship as an act of worship.

Chelsea shares her personal health journey (from chronic skin and digestive issues + “unexplained infertility” to healing through diet and lifestyle shifts), and how God led her to connect scripture with real, practical health guidance. Together, they unpack why the “noisy wellness world” leaves women overwhelmed—and how returning to God’s original design (real food, natural light, sleep, breath, Sabbath, and community) can restore your body’s rhythms and your peace.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• Chelsea’s journey from corporate recruiter to Christian health practitioner—and what sparked the shift
• How nutrition and lifestyle changes supported fertility, gut health, and chronic skin symptoms
• What it means to view wellness as worship (and why that changes everything)
• Why simple biblical rhythms matter more than trendy, conflicting health advice
• Chelsea’s “Genesis Prescription” framework: sunlight, water, real food, movement, breath, rest, and community
• What quantum biology actually means (in simple terms)
• How natural light impacts cortisol, melatonin, sleep, mood, hormones, and metabolism
• Why artificial blue light at night can disrupt your body’s healing processes
• The “whisper → stern voice → slap upside the head” pattern of body signals—and how to listen sooner
• How to start small without overwhelm (seconds and minutes count)

Memorable Quotes

• “There’s no better expert in the world than the Creator of your body.”
• “Your body is always on your side—working for you, not against you.”
• “Wellness as worship is a whole different vibe… and it sticks for a greater purpose.”

Resources Mentioned

Chelsea shares free resources at thechristiannutritionist.com, including:

• Genesis Prescription Tracker
• Breath Video
• God’s Grocery Guide
• Protein Guide
  …and more free downloads that can be accessed here. 

🎧 Listen to Chelsea’s show: Christian Health Club Podcast

Connect with Chelsea

• Instagram
• Facebook

Call to Action

If this episode encouraged you, would you take 30 seconds to rate + review the podcast? It helps more women find this message and learn to listen to their bodies with faith, clarity, and peace.

Your body has been talking to you your whole life.

On July 11, join me live for Body of Wonder and learn how to decode the signals behind your symptoms so you can stop guessing and start understanding.

Save your spot: https://os.drbrooksheehan.com/workshop

✨ Your body has been trying to tell you something.

Find out what it's saying with the free 30-second Body Signal Decoder Assessment. Pick your signal, get your personalized guide straight to your inbox, and finally start making sense of what's going on inside.

Get it here: os.drbrooksheehan.com/decoder

🎧 And if you caught the mention of the Talk to Me, Body affirmation card deck during the episode, here's where to grab yours. 63 scripture-anchored cards to help you trust the body God designed for you.

Get yours here: drbrooksheehan.com/talk-to-me-body/

📱 Come say hi on Instagram: @drbrooksheehan

⭐ If this episode spoke to you, would you take a second to leave a five-star review on Apple or Spotify? It helps more women find this show. And more women learning to listen to their bodies is exactly why I do this.

Transcript

Chelsea Blackbird (23:55.293)

is studying the body at the subatomic level. So taking us back to electrons and protons and neutrons and photons, which are light particles. this again, here we go. I mean, I am an, I was originally an English major, Dr. Brook. mean, like my brain does not work scientifically. Okay. So this is why I just. 

Dr. Brook Sheehan (24:03.444)

Mm-hmm. 

Chelsea Blackbird (24:19.95)

God 

Welcome to the body speaks podcast with me, Dr. Brook Sheehan. Join me, on a journey, in discovering how to interpret the subtle signs your body uses to communicate with you - the whispers, the screams, and everything in between. Your body truly holds the answers for your health and wellbeing. It’s time to discover them, together. Let’s dive in. 

Dr. Brook Sheehan (00:00)

Welcome back to another episode of your body speaks. I am Dr. Brook and I am so excited to be sharing my guest with you today. Her name is Chelsea Blackbird. Hi, Chelsea. Welcome to the show.

Chelsea Blackbird (00:12)

Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (00:14)

Absolutely. I want to share a little your bio and then I want to jump into the meat of everything because I want people to kind of get an idea of who you are right now and then we'll take a step backwards and talk about who you were prior to the Chelsea you've become. So Chelsea Blackbird is a Christian health practitioner who helps Christian women, yay women, prioritize self-stewardship and healthy living based on a biblical foundation. She hosts the Christian Health

Chelsea Blackbird (00:36)

you

Dr. Brook Sheehan (00:43)

Club podcast woo hoo the creator of numerous biblically focused health programs, including feast to fast the Genesis prescription and 10 X stronger. And she's the co-founder of the school of Christian health and nutrition, which certifies Christian health practitioners. Chelsea has advanced training in nutritional therapy, gut health hormones, nutritional blood chemistry, and applied quantum biology. Welcome to the show Chelsea. That is

Quite the body of work right there.

Chelsea Blackbird (01:13)

it's so funny. know we're going to talk about before I did all that because it's funny because I never thought I would be doing what I am doing today. You just never know where the Lord's going to lead you, which is beautiful and scary all at the same time.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (01:17)

you

And

that's the beautiful journey with him, right? He calls the unqualified and you're like, but not me, Lord, I don't know. And He's like, nope, nope, you are called. I'm gonna bring you forth and I'm gonna strengthen you and fortify you in that calling. So tell us who was Chelsea before all of this amazing stuff? What were you doing before? What was your upbringing kind of like bring us up until this point?

Chelsea Blackbird (01:50)

Sure. So I am originally from Houston, Texas. That's where I grew up. Big city, you know, all that good stuff. I ended up marrying a cowboy, which is funny, and moving to a very small town in West Texas and my husband is a grass-fed cattle rancher. So that in and of itself was a complete curve ball to my life. I never thought that that was going to happen. So that's kind of fun, but...

Dr. Brook Sheehan (02:11)

you

Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (02:16)

You know, I was a, when I lived in Houston, I was a corporate recruiter. And, and so when I moved to the ranch, I just thought, well, I mean, there's no corporate recruiting in West Texas. There's no need for that. So, you know, I was just helping him ranch and stuff, but really what led me to what the work I'm doing today was my own health journey. And that's how a lot of us get here in the holistic health world, right? We run up into these brick walls and the conventional medical system. And that was true for me.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (02:36)

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Chelsea Blackbird (02:42)

⁓ I had always had digestive issues growing up. had a genetic skin condition called hydrogenitis superativa that I saw specialists for, for 20 years and did every kind of everything they told me to do. Every pill, every cream, every shot, minor surgery, major surgery until we got to the place they're like, we, we have done everything and we just, there's nothing more for us to do. And I was like, okay, well.

I guess that's it. This is my cross to bear. all have our thing and I guess I just have to live with this skin condition. And so that's kind of how I left it. And it wasn't until my husband and I were ready to start a family and I had trouble conceiving, we went to my doctor and they diagnosed me with unexplained infertility, which means they have no idea what is wrong with you. And we're ready to kind of take me down that infertility.

route and journey, which I was like, all right, let's do it. Because all I had ever wanted to be was a mom. So was like, whatever we got to do is fine with me. My husband was not of the same opinion. was like, we're not doing that. And I was devastated, frankly. was kind of a tough time in our marriage because I felt like He was preventing me from us from having children. And you'll love this. He was like, listen, babe, they don't know what's wrong with you.

And sometimes these things take time. Sometimes when the heifer is in the pasture and the bulls are turned out, it just doesn't take for a while. So He was like comparing me to his heifers, which I just really wanted to wring his neck. ⁓ anyway, so for that reason, I did not go that route. And so I just started looking into anything that I could do. there anything I can do to help myself along this journey?

So I did a lot of reading and studying and I ended up going to a naturopathic doctor who I worked with very, very briefly. I only went one or two times and we talked about diet. He changed my diet. He gave me some supplements to kind of bridge the gap and I was pregnant within six weeks. Yes, praise God. So, you know, I was elated obviously, but frankly I was also kind of ticked off because I was like, wait a minute.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (04:39)

Wow. Praise God.

Chelsea Blackbird (04:49)

Because also what happened along the way and after a little time, my skin condition went away, my digestive issues got better. So just changing my diet and also if you lifestyle things over time, took care of those things. And so I was upset that no doctor had ever asked me, hey, what do you eat? Or checked my hormones in a way that was more meaningful. So that is really what was the catalyst to me just.

Verociously reading and studying and reading about nutrition and you know making changes and finally I got to the point I'm a very practical person Brook and I said I probably could have a certification by now all this reading I've done so I pursued that really just because I was you know really wanted it for my friends and my family so they would listen to me because they were not and honestly they still don't sometimes because that's how family is but

But I just really wanted it for my own credibility with my family and friends so they would listen to me and make these changes. yeah.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (05:45)

Real quick, you know a prophet

is a prophet is not without honor in his hometown. So that's what's going on with you See it same for me Yep, right exactly

Chelsea Blackbird (05:53)

Yeah, 100 % right exactly. Does anything good come out of Nazareth, right? so yeah,

exactly. That is exactly what I've experienced. But so yeah, I ended up, you know, going through this course getting my nutritional therapy certification and I was just, you know, gonna really just work with family and friends. But after I went through that, I realized like, oh my gosh, there's so much that people don't know.

And if I could help one person like me, like, you know, like the position I was in, wouldn't that be amazing? And so, you know, I was like, all right, well, I'll just start doing that. And in, in this process, um, I was, you know, going to church. I've always, you know, was raised Christian, always going to church, going to Bible study and, know, in the word and reading, but it was all around this time. I, every time I read my Bible, I felt like all I could see was health advice. like God had put like a lens over my eyeballs and I felt him.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (06:23)

Mm.

Chelsea Blackbird (06:49)

calling me to call myself the Christian nutritionist and to relate health to scripture, to make that connection for people. I was like, no, no, God, what do you, absolutely not. No way, because well, I'd always been Christian, but very private in my faith, right? So that felt very ⁓ bold and.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (06:58)

you

Chelsea Blackbird (07:13)

quote unquote, evangelical to me. And I was like, if I come out with these evangelical guns ablaze and my family and my friends are gonna be like, what, what is going on? This is where is this coming from? And you know, where is she? Also, I was like, not me, Lord, I'm like a brand new baby nutritionist. I mean, I read the Bible, I don't know enough about the Bible. don't I don't know, I can't do this. And you know, I was like, no, no, no. But He just kept you know how the Lord is. It's like just had that

Dr. Brook Sheehan (07:23)

Who is she?

Chelsea Blackbird (07:39)

that pressing upon my brain, like it just would not go away. And I knew it was of him and not of me. And finally, I was like, all right, I guess we're doing this. And so that was about 13 years ago. And wow, what a journey it's been since. Yeah.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (07:44)

Mm-hmm.

That is incredible. Just hearing where He took you from. Well, it's cool that you married a grass-fed rancher. Because that's almost.

Chelsea Blackbird (08:02)

Well, He was a cattle

rancher before. I changed him into a grass-fed cattle rancher. So, yes, I did have a little influence on that.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (08:07)

Okay, okay, I Was like wow that's Yeah,

I thought wow, it's good that He's got that knowledge, but I now I know that you've you brought it in Because food is definitely medicine and in doing like you like in your story, right? You were talking about your diet Being such a huge portion of what was going on in your body and all of the things that you had done prior with no results

Chelsea Blackbird (08:18)

Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (08:33)

the skin condition, the surgeries, the creams, the potions, the steroids, the, that, that, that, that, that, a lot of people go on in their health journey. And then to find out that there is a way of doing things that God has given us, He's given us these beautiful resources through food, through quality. And I, and I really hence the word quality supplementation, because there's a lot of stuff out there that is not quality.

Chelsea Blackbird (08:38)

Yup.

Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (09:01)

but He's given us these tools to utilize. And a lot of times we have the wool over our eyes and we're not being able to see things. And similar to your story, just really briefly, I started reading the scripture in a whole new way where He was just pulling off the pages, all these things about the body, the amazing thing about the body, right? And just like you were going, my gosh, my gosh, my gosh, health advice, health advice. And it's so true. And He takes us on these journeys and

strengthens us every step of the way and He gets you stronger and He makes you more bolder in your faith and all of these things and gives you the education and puts you in the surrounding with the people and so yeah maybe you aren't a prophet in your own hometown but there have been people who've been impacted by your work and there are still people that are being impacted by your work and it's such a beautiful thing so thank you so much for sharing that.

Chelsea Blackbird (09:50)

Absolutely. It's been, yeah, it's been a wild ride. And I always joke that I haven't been comfortable for about 13 years ever since. know, it's like, just what I think, okay, we got it down the knee. You know, there's another step He reveals and I'm like, no, this is too scary. I can't do this. But it, but I think He calls us to these things to keep us close, right? We know we can't do it without him.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (10:12)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (10:16)

And so

part of even though what I do does help people, which is such a beautiful fruit of what I do. I truly believe that the, the crux of it and the whole reason for it is just, it's about He and I, right? It's about me becoming our relationship strengthening. And He knows I cannot do this in my own strength and that He can keep me close.

you know, because I've got to have this guidance ⁓ from him. So it is amazing. I love how you said that because isn't it amazing how it's so humbling to think that God meets you where you are, you know, for you and for me, He met us, you know, in his word with our passions and our curiosities and the things, you know, the desires He put in our heart to learn more and made that connection. just, it's so, it's amazing.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (11:01)

It is, it is so beautiful. So that actually leads right into our next question, is you often actually talk about wellness as a form of worship, a way of honoring God through how we steward our bodies that He's given us, these really wise bodies, these masterpieces that we get to house our soul inside of, house the Holy Spirit inside of. So how did that revelation shift your own approach to health and the way that you teach others now? And I know you've

briefly might have already started speaking about that, please share more.

Chelsea Blackbird (11:32)

Sure. Well, I think it's just a whole different lens when you're looking at eating well, you know, getting to sleep at a decent hour, prioritizing sleep, whatever our health habit is through the lens of being a good steward of the gift of your body and looking at it as a way to just make sure that you're honoring this body, this gift God gave you, because that is, it is your holy vessel. Like you said, it is the way that we show up in the world and interact with the

Dr. Brook Sheehan (11:38)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (11:59)

the people that we love, that we serve in our God given calling, our purpose and our work. I mean, this is it. This is the vessel that does it right here. And for me, it is just my passion is just to help people feel good in and about their body so that they can show up and do their kingdom work. Right? Because I always joke, look, we need all hands on deck. Like we need all hands on deck here, all of the body of Christ.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (12:06)

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (12:27)

all the bodies in the body of Christ doing their kingdom work. Cause we've each been giving this really beautiful gifts and unique way that we're supposed to bless the world. And there's just so many people like, like I was, cause I, you know, I was living okay before I got into all this, but I didn't feel well on that. My digestive issues, my skin condition was really embarrassing and I was living on under the radar of my potential and what I, know, what I could do. And that's just, it's such a shame. And, I just don't want that for other people. want other people to.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (12:28)

Mm-hmm

Yeah.

Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (12:56)

not let their health be a barrier to what they're called to do. And so I think when we do look at stewarding our body through that lens and through it honoring the Lord, it's just, it's different than being like, I want to lose 10 pounds to fit in this dress for a reunion. There's nothing wrong with that. And it's a beautiful byproduct of taking care of your body. But when you do it as unto the Lord and not, as unto men, it's just a whole different vibe and you just, you take it to a different level. And I think

That is what helps it stick more, so to speak. It's for a greater purpose than just your own. And that means something. And you'd feel that difference.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (13:27)

Yaaaayyyy

that's so beautiful. It's really about honoring the body. Like you were saying to be able to do that kingdom work to walk out your full calling because if you're stuck at home dealing with so much pain and inflammation and feeling icky, that's all you can think about really. I mean think about the last time you were in pain. It is honestly it can consume so much mental real estate in your brain. It's unbelievable.

Chelsea Blackbird (13:47)

Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (13:56)

That is literally all your brain will focus on. And so if that's the case, all you're doing is working on trying to get out of that pain versus God, what are you calling me to? God, where do you want to take my life? God, what is my calling in the world? God, how can I best be a servant unto you, right? So I just think that that is so beautiful, the way that you responded to that question in such a beautiful way that really taking care of our health is beyond just losing the 10 pounds.

Chelsea Blackbird (13:56)

Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (14:23)

and being able to fit in the dress or to look a certain way. And so many times women are just really just talking so negatively about this thing and it just breaks my heart. It really just breaks my heart at the core, core level because God designed our bodies with so much wisdom and we just need to like learn to love it in the way that He loves us and take care of it so we can steward and do his beautiful work. So yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (14:45)

Yes.

Exactly.

Exactly. And kind of going back to your question before, you know, when it came down to it, when I was getting all these revelations and like reading scripture and it made just made so much sense, like who knows better about what you should eat and take care of the body than the creator of your body.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (15:05)

Amen.

Chelsea Blackbird (15:07)

Is there any better nutritionist in the world than the one who

created you and the one who created your food? And, you know, I can tell you one of my first kind of aha moments, if you will, and this has been a long time ago and this will age it, but this was before avocados and, you know, healthy fats made a comeback. But I remember thinking at the time, at that time,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (15:13)

Yes!

Chelsea Blackbird (15:26)

You know, people are like, don't eat avocados or so high in fat. And I remember thinking, OK, wait, avocados grow on trees. God made trees. I don't understand why this could be bad for you. just didn't compute. It didn't make sense. And that was one of the first kind of revelations. And I'm like, yeah, if God made it, then it's not going to be bad for me. And so I think when we start thinking like that, it helps cut through a lot of noise out there in the health space.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (15:41)

Mm-hmm.

Amen. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of noise out there. And so coming back to what you just said about avocado and knowing that God made it and being able to like feel okay eating things and tuning in and asking your body is this like, is this okay for me? Right? Because we live in a culture where there are people saying you have to have this you can't have that you need to do it this way you need to do this. And people get so overwhelmed with that yelling loud culture of

Chelsea Blackbird (16:20)

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (16:20)

wellness, wellness,

wellness, wellness, that they don't know how to even like build this beautiful relationship with themselves to go, yeah, you know, that avocado actually would work for me. However, I'm only gonna eat half of it instead of a whole. Like sometimes we're consuming too much of a good thing. And that is a total tangent. I don't wanna get in on that, but it's all about really honoring our body. And I think that that's kind of the thread we're weaving right now through this whole thing. So.

Chelsea Blackbird (16:35)

Right?

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (16:45)

One of the things that I absolutely love about the work that you're doing and what you're doing through the podcast and the people you're bringing on is beautiful. It's how you bring women back to God's original design with real food, real rest, real, hence the real, real rest, not just closing your eyes and not sleeping, but real rest, real movement and community, real community. So why do you think that these simple biblical rhythms matter so much right now in today's

noisy wellness world.

Chelsea Blackbird (17:16)

Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, going back to this noisy wellness world, I mean, you find such what's frustrating is you find conflicting advice on almost everything, right? And you can honestly find studies that are opposing studies that one study says this, the other study says the opposite. And again, it's like, who do you trust? How do know what to do? And that's why I think just coming back to our godly compass, using our godly compass, using

Dr. Brook Sheehan (17:19)

Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (17:39)

the word is our anchor is just makes so much sense and just gives you this sigh of relief, right? And so we can look back into scripture for all of this guidance. you know, part of my story and where God has led me along the way is, you know, I started solely working in nutrition only. And after about five or six years into that, God started to be showing me other important factors. And He pointed me to the book of Genesis.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (17:45)

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (18:07)

to the creation story. And what I call now the Genesis prescription is teaching about the way our body works in relation to creation. So we are part of the creation story, right? He made humans, but as part of that creation story, we are made alongside sunlight and water and the earth, nature and plant food and animal food, which is why we can go back and know that both of those are good for us.

Breathing through our nose. That's how God created us breathing through our nose and rest He calls us to rest He calls us to sleep. He calls us to move our body calls us to be in fellowship. Those are all elements of again what I call the Genesis prescription and so while food is important it is so Incredibly important. It's not the only input that we need to examine in our lives when we put all of these other things together and honor the way that

God made our bodies work in relation to creation. That's when we can really achieve our more optimal wellness.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (19:05)

So beautiful, so true. I love that. I wanna jump in right now, because I know it's one of your freebies, the Genesis prescription. Will you break that down just a tad bit right here, just as you brought it up?

Chelsea Blackbird (19:13)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, sure. ⁓ I teach it in all of those elements. think it's really amazing when you dig into the science of it. And that's where, you know, God kind of led me in the interest and passion of quantum biology. And around the time He, you know, kind of led me to the Genesis prescription, if you will, and they, they ⁓ weave in so amazingly. And so just the way that the sunlight

Dr. Brook Sheehan (19:33)

Hold on.

Chelsea Blackbird (19:42)

⁓ affects our body, for instance, like, you know, we get vitamin D, we get a lot of things for them. Sunlight was most well known as vitamin D, but there's a lot of other ways that, we can talk about that later if you want. you know, obviously our body is mostly made of water. we need grounding, we need plant foods, animal foods. Like you said, breath, you know, when the Lord created us, He breathed life into us through our, our nose. You know, I think a lot of us think if you look in scripture, that's what it says. A lot of us kind of picture that like mouth to mouth resuscitation, but

Dr. Brook Sheehan (19:47)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (20:10)

It's not He breathed through our nose. We are made from the soil from the dust of the earth Which is why you know being in touch with the earth is so important But and so that's a really important element breathing through the nose, which is why I have that that That video that I offer to people where I have the teaching on breath because people don't realize how important it is to breathe through I know a lot of people breathe through our their mouth, which is our secondary

Dr. Brook Sheehan (20:14)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (20:33)

So it's be the secondary way we breathe and we breathe through our mouth primarily. It's signaling the body to stress and that fight or flight mode. And so that's really significant. You can't heal when you're in constant fight or flight. The body can't heal. So that's important. And then of course, resting, not only on a nightly basis, ⁓ which is when we do all of our detoxification when we're sleeping, but on a weekly basis, He calls us to Sabbath, right?

Dr. Brook Sheehan (20:33)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (20:57)

And so just each of these elements, mean, I could spend an hour just talking about each one of these. It's just incredible when you really understand the biology of all of that. It just makes you in so much more awe of your creator and this amazing design of the body. It will just blow your socks off.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (21:13)

you

my gosh, Chelsea, I'm like over here. I know people listening can't see my face, but I'm like, ⁓ yes. Because it's so, I mean, we're such kindred spirits with that. is so, it's awe inspiring. And this is what I tell patients. This is what I tell people in my community. It is so awe inspiring. And if you honestly understood what was happening behind the scenes, underneath your skin, at any given moment, there's so many things happening in your and I's bodies right now, as we're having this conversation that we can't even.

Think about Fathom, all of the things and it's going on without us even thinking about it and how amazing it is. And it's not something to fear, it's something to understand and learn and build trust with and all of that. But yes, it's so awe inspiring. I want you to, just for my listeners, because I know a lot of people might be like, what is quantum biology? Like, can you briefly define that for them in your terms?

Chelsea Blackbird (22:11)

Sure, I know it sounds big and fancy, but really what it is is studying the body at the subatomic level. So taking us back to electrons and protons and neutrons and photons, which are light particles. this again, here we go. I mean, I am an, I was originally an English major, Dr. Brook. mean, like my brain does not work scientifically. Okay. So this is why I just.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (22:22)

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (22:37)

God is hilarious when, know, or these things He calls us to, I'm like, are you kidding me? But it's very subtle the way, you know, He led me to the, but it was just through the Genesis prescription, understanding, you know, the light and then, sorry, I started looking at photons and how the light particles of the sun interact with the subatomic particles of our body and how our body runs on this electric energy and, know, how the sun helps provide that. And so,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (22:38)

He is.

Chelsea Blackbird (23:05)

really, again, that's all it is, is really looking at biology from a subatomic level.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (23:09)

So beautiful, love that. Since we're talking about the light and the sun, I wanna jump into this question, because the way that you teach about light is so beautiful. So God created the sun, S-U-N, for our bodies, and then gave us Jesus Christ, the sun, S-O-N, who heals our spirits. So can you share how natural light does impact our hormones, our mood, and our overall wellbeing, and why?

reconnecting to God's design for light is such a beautiful part of healing.

Chelsea Blackbird (23:39)

Yeah, this is one of my favorite things to teach. Like I said, I think a lot of us are aware that the benefit of the sun for vitamin D, right? And getting that sun in our skin to make vitamin D, although a lot of us are fearful of the sun because that's what we have been taught so many years. You got to cover up. You got to put all the sunscreen on, block the sun, block the sun. And science is finally catching up. I always say science is always catching up to what the Bible already tells us.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (23:48)

Mm-hmm.

Amen, right?

Chelsea Blackbird (24:07)

But

what science really shows is that the impact of the sun, not only on our skin, but through our eyes is signaling our brain a lot of things. One of the main things it is anchoring us in is our circadian biology, our circadian rhythm, which is basically just the processes that are happening in the body throughout the day and throughout the night. Those are signaled by light and darkness.

That's how your body knows what time of the day it is. You are mentally reading a clock that says it's 3.30, but what your body is reading is light cues, light signals. are, our body, God designed our body to tune into these different light frequencies based on these photons coming from the sun. So, and so what that does is really signal our body about our processes. There are certain processes that are supposed to be happening during the day. There are certain processes that are supposed to be happening.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (24:40)

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (24:57)

during the night, have certain hormones, certain bacteria in our gut microbiome that are active during the day and ones that are supposed to be active at night. And all of this is dependent on and triggered by light, which is just so incredibly important. So just for instance, the earliest morning light, which is sunrise. So as soon as the sun rises, it is emitting red and infrared light and blue light.

blue light is directly tied to your cortisol. And so that is one of the things that is, you know, wake up, that's giving your energy, it's helping you manage your, ⁓ your fat burning and your, just all kinds of things is what your cortisol is doing. And then with darkness, that is the time that your body gets the message, ⁓ turn off cortisol and turn on melatonin. So this cortisol melatonin rhythm is so incredibly tied to

Dr. Brook Sheehan (25:26)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (25:49)

your exposure to sunlight. if somebody is experiencing a lot of stress, lot of cortisol, dress regulation, one of my just the easiest things you can do is go outside and let your eyes be outside to get that earliest morning sunlight. And then it is giving your body the signal about where it is in time and space, what processes, what hormones should be kicking off. And then same at the end of the day, people that can't sleep. And so it's just, it's subtle things like that.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (26:05)

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (26:18)

that are free, are totally free for us to do. We can certainly support our cortisol with wonderful supplementation, like you said, and other things, and our stress levels, taking care with these other things. But also, we can go outside and let the sun signal these blue light receptors at the back of our eyes that tell our body, tell our brain to message the rest of the body about what to do for the rest of the day. mean, that is one.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (26:20)

Yeah, right.

Chelsea Blackbird (26:46)

small example and I'll give you one more again because I could go on and on but one of the most exciting cool things I think is UVA light and what that does and so I kind of teach about four main points of sunshine during the day. Sunrise, UVA rise so that's when the UVA comes into the atmosphere then UVB follows not long after that

and then sunset when everything starts going away. And throughout that entire day when the sun is out, it's emitting different like frequencies. But when the UVA enters the atmosphere and we get that UVA exposure through our eyes, it is doing a lot of hormonal signaling. A lot of hormonal cascades are occurring based on that information.

That is when it's telling your body to make melatonin for later, making serotonin that will become melatonin later. It is what is signaling certain amino acids that end up becoming thyroid hormone. It is telling your body about dopamine. It is signaling all of these hormonal conversions and syntheses just by the exposure.

from UVA light, have these little rings behind our retinas that are specific to catching UVA light that then signal the rest of the body to do all these things. mean, literally, like only God could design this, right? I mean, when you think, I know when you think of like the intricacies of the body, there's just, I mean, there's no other that's why I just the more I learned, it just puts you in so much more of your

Dr. Brook Sheehan (27:53)

Mm.

That's why I geek out. This is crazy. ⁓

Yes! Yes! Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (28:19)

than you thought you ever could be. You're like, oh my gosh, this body is so

Dr. Brook Sheehan (28:20)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (28:24)

amazing. And so again, so when people are, you know, want to be supportive of their hormones, again, that cortisol melatonin, you know, kind of hormonal pathways with sunrise, and then also your neurotransmitters, you know, the dopamine, the serotonin, the melatonin, all of those things are really triggered by that UVA rise.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (28:25)

you

Chelsea Blackbird (28:46)

when it comes into the atmosphere. And you can use apps to know when all of these things are happening. but anyway, just in just a little bit, exposure goes a long way.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (28:53)

Chelsea, that is so incredible. Everything you've just shared right there. And one thing I would like you to, if you can, in just over a couple minutes or so, is share with the listeners why it's super imperative to get outside and to get this natural light. Because in a society where we're on computers all day, we've got artificial light coming in through fluorescence in our workplace or in our home, whatever that looks like, that really disrupts our hormones.

our neurotransmitters, our eyesight. It can really impact our eyesight because our brain is taking in so many signals a day. I think it's like 20,000 signals a day through our eyes that our brain has to interpret. And when you have artificial light coming through, artificial light that you're staring at all day long, all these things coming at you, really does, you over time you're like, well it's no big deal. I'm still seeing fine. Yeah, well, over time, little by little by little, micro paper cuts.

Chelsea Blackbird (29:20)

Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (29:48)

to the body over time just builds up and you wonder why you end up in a situation where you're just like, I'm not feeling well, you know, and then you, everybody chalks it up to age. I'm just getting older. I'm sorry. I don't buy that. So yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (29:48)

Yep. Yep.

Yeah, right. Yeah, well, that's,

that's, yes, I'm so glad you brought that up. Well, I know people are skeptical. Let's just think of this. We, I think we can all grasp that eating real food, like real food that God made, you healthy plant food, healthy animal foods is better for us than fake artificial food. We probably would all agree on that. It's the same thing with light, real light, real light that God made, that God put in the atmosphere is always going to be better than manmade artificial light. Okay, so just for that.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (30:11)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Chelsea Blackbird (30:29)

But here, yes, the blue light. So as I mentioned, blue light comes in with the sunrise. It is available most of the day, but then it is cut off, right? Blue light goes away and then our red or infrared light goes away and it's darkness. And that darkness is what signals our pineal gland with silver leaf melatonin. But what do we do? We're sitting inside after dark. We're looking at computers. We are under LED lights. These all give an abnormal

Dr. Brook Sheehan (30:39)

Mm hmm. Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (30:57)

⁓ intense blue light signal. Okay. And so, and what does that blue light tell your body? It tells your body it's daytime. Yeah. It's daytime. And in fact, the blue light that we get through our screens signals the, it's about the same strength signals the body that it's about noon, that is about noon time. Okay. So it might be seven o'clock at night and your body thinks it's noon. So what is it going to do? It's going to keep on cranking out cortisol, cranking out cortisol, keeping you awake.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (31:04)

Stay awake. Yup. awake.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (31:26)

blocking melatonin, blocking those nighttime processes, those healing detoxification hormones, synthesizing all those, you know, those there's a major hormone that goes left in that goes in and tells your brain about how much energy, how much fat you can burn. That gets thrown off. So then your body doesn't know how much fat it can burn. So it holds on to fat. I mean, ⁓

Dr. Brook Sheehan (31:41)

Yeah.

And you don't stop eating

because you don't get that stopping cue. Because your body just keeps wanting to eat and eat and eat. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Chelsea Blackbird (31:48)

Your body doesn't know how much energy it has on board. So it's gonna keep putting energy on.

There are so many things and there's even studies now showing that this cortisol is related to these, this blue light at night pumping out this cortisol is related to hormonal cancers. And so, you know, we're learning a lot, but it just makes sense. Like your body is supposed to start winding down, but that cortisol,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (32:08)

Mm.

Chelsea Blackbird (32:17)

triggered by the blue light is keeping you in stress mode. And we always hear and everybody's got these stressed out adrenal glands. Well, a lot of that has to do the fact that your adrenal glands are having to work overtime because you're messaging it through the blue light to keep on cranking out cortisol all night when it shouldn't be doing that. And that in and of itself can just throw off so many systems on the body. know stress in and of itself is really hard on health. And this is just one piece of it. When your adrenal glands are being signaled to keep cranking out

cortisol due to that blue light exposure at night, it's very hard on the body. just eyesight, like you said, our body is not used to taking in so much blue light. It's very, very, very difficult on the eyes. And so you'll get a lot of degeneration in eyesight from that. yeah, the implications are a lot. earlier, like, don't be fearful. And I don't want to ever anybody to be fearful. It's just.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (32:53)

Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (33:09)

It's learning this and really understanding it. again, honoring our bodies in the way that God created a simulation to creation and just understanding this. We need real light and there are things we can do to kind of offset. can't live in the dark. We don't live in the Stone Ages, right? We live in these modern times. There's things we can do. But the first step is just awareness and being aware how much you're exposed to it.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (33:30)

Absolutely. Awareness is key. And I was going to crack a joke there when you were like talking about the adrenal glands. I'm like, wait, so what are you saying? I can't take all my adrenal supplements and be up till two in the morning? That's what people try to do sometimes is they may have the awareness that all this is going on. And rather than taking some proactive measures. And my listeners know Dr. Brook is not about creating so many different protocols where it's so difficult to follow and you're so overwhelmed with

Chelsea Blackbird (33:39)

Right!

Dr. Brook Sheehan (33:56)

trying to do all your steps and get all your things in and da da da. It's not about that, but it's about having the awareness and really honoring and supporting just like Chelsea was saying, honoring these bodies that God gave us. And if that means not picking up your cell phone an hour before going to bed and working on just creating a daily habit with that, or starting out the daily habit of getting outside for that morning sun, just like Chelsea was talking about.

making these incremental changes can really shift things exponentially in your world health-wide. So it's really, really key that we do that. So yeah, we can't just oversupplement with adrenal supplements if we have all these other things going on, but that's what people want done now in today's culture. It's like, me take the quick fix, let me take the pill. And what we're saying, both of us in agreement, is there's more to that. And you really have to be

intentional about honoring God and honoring your body and honoring God through honoring your body. So thank you for that, Chelsea. Appreciate it.

Chelsea Blackbird (34:52)

Yes. Yeah,

absolutely. We're all totally 100 % on the same page with that. That is right. Absolutely.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (34:59)

Yeah.

So when women come to you exhausted, inflamed, dealing with all these reoccurring symptoms that you've, nicely talked about too, what are some of the overlooked root causes you can help them explore, whether that be physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and any of those, ⁓ what I call the four pillars of health?

Chelsea Blackbird (35:19)

Yeah, well, you know, going back to I think sunlight and sleep are just so underrated, overlooked. mean, we hear sleep is important, but it true it is. It is so incredibly important. Like I said earlier, you can't heal, you can't properly detoxify your hormones, can't synthesize your gut microbiome can't work. Your brain can't get the message that it can burn fat. I mean, just it goes on and on. Right. So sleeping, just honoring that time.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (35:23)

Yeah.

Yep. Yep.

Chelsea Blackbird (35:48)

you we live in such a go-go busy society or we want to take that time to unwind at night or watch a little more Netflix or scroll to try to wind down, you know, but it's just getting to bed at a decent hour. There are so many processes that are really supposed to start happening about 10 o'clock and after that we need to be in a good deep sleep for. so just, you know, again, working on that incrementally, like you said, because this can feel overwhelming, just 15 minutes, just trying to honor that, get to

Dr. Brook Sheehan (35:56)

Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (36:18)

gets a bed a little earlier, you're gonna feel so much better. So working on that and then getting outside more, I think people, if you really consider how much that you're outside at all during the day, it's so minimal. And when I'm working with people, like, okay, let's just start with 30 minutes, doesn't even have to be consecutive over the day. And that can feel impossible to people, but...

Dr. Brook Sheehan (36:21)

Yes. ⁓

Chelsea Blackbird (36:40)

And when you look at it in the entirety of your day, 30 minutes, that's like such a little drop in the bucket can be, you know, we're like in front of our computer for eight hours and 30 minutes of just being outside, it doesn't even have to be consecutive, can just feel so overwhelming. But just like think of that in context, you're like, wow, I really am never outside of 30 minutes feels really hard for me. ⁓ I think that just that morning, you know, those bookends of your day are so key, you know.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (36:43)

I know.

Yup.

Right.

Chelsea Blackbird (37:08)

And then it's also a good time in those bookends of the day, like rise with the Lord and set with the Lord. They're just really wonderful times to check in with Him and to pray, to set the tone for your day. When you get started, mean, one of the most important things I do to set the tone for my day is just spend a little time in the Word in the morning, in prayer, even if it's five minutes, it just sets the tone for the whole day. And then that bookend at night. So your son, your sleep.

And the Lord on both ends as your book ends, your Alpha, Omega of your day, it just goes such a long way.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (37:40)

Yes, so beautiful. Yes, I am so one of those huge big proponents of the bookends and having especially that quiet time. And it doesn't have to be again, this overwhelming adding another thing to yet the to do list, but just really focusing on that being the priority spending time with the Lord that being the priority.

You are learning so much through this episode. If you've already been following Chelsea, you've learned a ton from her podcast. If you're following me, you've learned a ton from the other prior episodes. You know certain things to put into practice. Start with God morning and evening and then ask him what little, know, if you need to get outside for six minutes, six minutes is better than no minutes. And then the next day you get out there for eight minutes and 12 minutes. And pretty soon you're like,

Chelsea Blackbird (38:19)

right.

Out.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (38:26)

my gosh, I'm waking up earlier than I normally wake up. I don't have an alarm. I'm hungry to spend time with the Lord. I want to get into my prayer time. And you start seeing these new habits start forming. I know I've seen that over my life in the last two years where I'm just like, I need to get in the scripture. I need to get into the word. Like I'm yearning for it. So it just, yeah, it just builds upon itself. So awesome, Chelsea. Well, thank you so much for your time on this.

Chelsea Blackbird (38:33)

Yes.

Yes.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (38:53)

episode with me and my listeners know that I asked this question to every single guest since the show is about your body speaking and how our body is so wise and it does dialogue, it does talk to us all the time. We may not understand it because it doesn't speak English. It doesn't say, hey Chelsea, I need more protein, right? But it starts acting out where you get a little shaky and blood sugar starts dropping. like, why am I wanting to fall to the floor? Your body's telling you something.

Chelsea Blackbird (39:11)

Hmm. ⁓

Right.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (39:22)

in your personal experience, how have you seen, or with clients, doesn't have to be your personal experience, how have you seen the body speaking?

Chelsea Blackbird (39:30)

Yeah, well, it's just like you said, generally speaking, the body is always talking to us. And sometimes that's a little quiet whisper and maybe a little ache or pain or something's off. And then if we don't listen at that whisper, it's going to become more like a stern talking to you, like your parent pointing a finger at you. OK, listen. And you might feel some kind of body symptom more intently.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (39:34)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yup.

Chelsea Blackbird (39:52)

And if you don't listen then, then it's gonna slap you upside the head. And that's when we have some serious medical issues, right? Our health issues is when it gets to that point of slapping you upside the head. But I think what I would want everybody to know is that your body is always on your side. Your body is not against you. I feel like so many of us, you know, feel like we're fighting our body. Like we've got our dukes up, you know, we got our fists up and our bodies.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (39:55)

Yuck.

Yeah.

Yes.

Chelsea Blackbird (40:18)

Our bodies against us is giving me a headache. It's giving me pain. I can't sleep and all of these things. But those are just these signs. Like you said, their body doesn't speak English, but it speaks in these different language. so it's really just taking the time to, again, listen, honor the body, knowing something's off, praying about it, seeking God's word, knowing what do need to do? And kind of going back to where we started, there's no better

there's no better expert in the world than the creator of your body. And so if we can just get back to these inputs and again, I don't want to overwhelm anybody. But everything we talked about today, whatever kind of resonates with you, whatever sounds like doable, that's where to start. Whether it's changing a food, getting to bed 15 minutes earlier.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (40:49)

Amen.

Chelsea Blackbird (41:08)

you know, getting outside for morning sunlight, I, you know, I'm a busy mom. I've I'm like cooking breakfast and getting things ready for school. So sometimes it is literally like opening my back door and just sticking my head outside for 15 seconds. If that's all I can do. It's something it's, you know, I always say, try to get out for about three more minutes in the morning if you can. yes, even in the winter and, but just, you just do the best you can, but again, to bring it back just home, your body is.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (41:22)

Yeah. Yeah.

Chelsea Blackbird (41:34)

always on your side. It is always working for you, not against you. And I think it is our call to work along with it, to get to where we need to be. Just like, you know, meeting God in His word, we have to, He is there, He is waiting for us, He is ready to help us, but we've got to meet Him there, right? So we have to do our part.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (41:51)

Yeah.

⁓ you guys heard it from Chelsea and not just me because just like I was mentioning to her, you're not a prophet in your hometown. What that means for any of you who don't understand that terminology, it means for the people closest to you, they don't take you serious. So I want you to know this is a different voice. You know my voice. I tell you all the time, your body is working for you, not against you. And Chelsea said it so beautifully. So.

If you want, don't listen to me, listen to her on that one. So thank you so much, for your time. Thank you for being here. I'd love for you to share with my audience. We talked about the Genesis prescription that they can download for free. I'll have that in the show notes. The breast stuff, the God's grocery store. Can you tell us a little bit more about those resources?

Chelsea Blackbird (42:36)

Yeah, so on my website, thechristiannutritionist.com, I have a whole list of free resources, the Genesis prescription tracker, which will go into more what we talked about today, this breath video, God's grocery guide, ⁓ a protein guide. I think, I'm sure you've talked about before, feel like a lot of people, especially women, know, under eat protein, so important for so many ways.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (42:55)

Yes, yes.

Chelsea Blackbird (42:57)

And so those are just all resources that I hope people find helpful and supportive and you're welcome to download those and they'll give you a lot of guidance.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (43:05)

Awesome. Well, is there anything I may have not asked you that you would like to share beyond what we just talked about with the giveaways?

Chelsea Blackbird (43:12)

I don't think so. mean, yeah, you can learn more at the Christian Health Club podcast. I talk a lot about all of this stuff and the quantum biology and the Genesis prescription. so if you like what you heard today and you want to nerd out more, boy, I got it for you.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (43:30)

I love it. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Chelsea. And for those of you listening, we will see you next week with a brand new episode. Bye for now.