Mollie Engelhart on Regenerative Farming, Food Freedom, and the Root of Health

Cathy Meehan: Today’s conversation on the Meehan Mission podcast, we are gonna focus on the root of health, which is our food system. I’m joined by Mollie Engelhart. She is the founder of Sovereignty Ranch. This is a regenerative farm in Texas that really focuses on the connection of how our food is grown, how that food nourishes our body. and how good food really impacts our overall wellness. Mollie has been in the real food industry for years where her family had a very successful vegan chain of restaurants in California. but Mollie’s critical thinking skills actually led her to regenerative farming. So now in Texas where they support regenerative agriculture, they also focus on helping people understand where their food comes from. So we know the truth behind good health is good food. So I’m so excited to introduce you all to Mollie. Let’s welcome her to the show. Cathy Meehan: Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Meehan Mission podcast. My guest today is Mollie Engelhart and she is the founder of Sovereignty Ranch. I am so excited to have you here today, Mollie. Thank you for joining us. Mollie Engelhart: Thank you so much for having me. And we had different times trying to get this done, but today is the day that we’re getting it done. Cathy Meehan: Absolutely. So let’s start because you know really the root of our health really is I think it starts with our food and our nutrition and I know that you have had this incredible journey of restaurants to regenerative farming. So if you want to just maybe start you know California to Texas how did it happen? Mollie Engelhart: So I am most well known for being a vegan chef in Los Angeles. I had five very well known vegan restaurants in LA. I was super committed to environmentalism. I had been indoctrinated with the idea that vegan food was the way forward. I was raised in a no meat household. My mom is still vegetarian to this day. And so I was really passionate about the environment. And in 2013, my brother came home from New Zealand and he had listened to Graeme Sait at this conference. And he just was totally inspired about regenerative agriculture when he got home. And regenerative agriculture was not a thing. It wasn’t like, I mean, it was a thing, but it wasn’t something that people knew this term. It was like, there was organic and conventional, but nobody knew about regenerative. And it was an aha moment for my brother and he started Kiss the Ground and has subsequently made a bunch of films and a nonprofit, blah, blah, blah. But so I got really inspired through my brother about regenerative agriculture. And I wasn’t ready to give up the idea of veganism yet, but I was like inspired. And so I started trying to convince every customer that would come into the restaurant. Hey, you know what, you should have a farm and I’ll bring all the compost from the restaurant. It’s gonna be awesome. We’re gonna make humus. It’s like soil. It’s really important. Microbiology, human health. And I’m like trying to explain it to every customer. And it’d be like, Courtney Love or the Clippers coach or some, anyway, I thought they had the money to do it. I would try to convince. And they were just, you know, customers like, yeah, I’m trying to eat my food. Thank you for your ideas. So I realized like I had to do it myself. And so, through a whole journey, it took from 2013 to 2018 to really buy a farm, save up, find a place, all the stuff. And then through a habit, I’m going to have this vegan farm. I’m going to do vegan regenerative agriculture. I’m going to be the first one. I quickly realized that nature doesn’t have any veganism. It doesn’t even exist. Life and death are constantly cycling. And we can’t make dietary choices that move us away from God’s design. And God’s design just started becoming more and more present to me and through, where does our fertilizer? Organic fertilizer comes out of the consolidated feedlot system out of animals that are filled with antibiotics and feed that’s filled with glyphosate. And I’m wondering, what have I been committed to? It doesn’t make any sense. And so I start, but I’m terrified of the vegans because they are the original cancel culture. And so I’m secretly feeding, start feeding my kids raw cow’s milk and I don’t let anybody come to my farm. Cause I don’t want them to know that we have all these animals or that my husband eats animals or anything, right? And so the secret life of Mollie, the secret life of me. Cathy Meehan: Yes. Cathy Meehan: The secret life of Mollie Engelhart. Mollie Engelhart: And then COVID started happening and there was all these other lies similar to the lie about veganism being the best, best thing for the planet. Environmentalism that we are a plague, a pestilence. We are the problem on the planet. And I just started to see, I’d already woken up about veganism and environmentalism, but, and I had never been vaccinated. So there wasn’t a chance anywhere that I was going to take the COVID experimental gene therapy and I had known about this kind of gene therapy because my best friend died in 2018 of cancer and she was actually trying to get in a trial that used this same kind of gene therapy for attacking specific cancers. So I knew that this was not a vaccine, this technology that it was, and she died, she did not get in that study. But there wasn’t a chance in the world that I was gonna take that vaccine. Mollie Engelhart: And all these friends that I had that drove Teslas and had homeschooled their kids so they didn’t

Andrea Reed on Fascial Maneuvers and Holistic Healing Through Community

Cathy Meehan: Welcome to the Meehan Mission podcast. I’m your host, Cathy Meehan. And on today’s episode, I’m so excited to introduce you to something that I was not very familiar with. It is fascial maneuvers. I hope I said that right. So my special guest is Andrea Reed. She is the founder of the Oklahoma Center for Wellness and her special gift is being a connector of like-minded people who are seeking and practicing natural and holistic health. Andrea has just been the best resource for me because she is always and constantly gathering like-minded people together so that we can share our knowledge and help spread that to help everyone become the scientists of their own health. So in today’s episode, I hope you guys participate and do some of the fascial maneuvers that she had me do. It was fun, it was relaxing, and I think you’re gonna find benefits too. So right now, let’s get started and let’s welcome Andrea. Cathy Meehan: Hello everyone, and here is my special guest today. Hello, Andrea, how are you? Andrea Reed: I’m great, Cathy. How are you? Thanks for having me on today. Cathy Meehan: You are so welcome. So let’s start this off because I have questions for you. First of all, give us a little bit of your background on how you got into the whole holistic movement because I think it’s really, you know, that personal journey really helps people. Andrea Reed: Yeah, most people that are in this industry for work or on this journey for themselves, you know, have come through something, through a need. And, you know, I’m second generation, holistic, natural health and wellness. My mom had a decade long illness when I was growing up. So the formative years of my life, she was struggling, working full time, building her house, raising a child. And she was seeking ways to heal herself from a misdiagnosis. and didn’t know she was misdiagnosed with an incurable disease at the time. When she found a naturopath in Vancouver, because I’m from Canada originally, that could help her, her symptoms were reversed in three weeks. So I grew up knowing, right, and she doesn’t say she had a decade long illness. She says it took her nine and a half years to find the right answers. And so that has really been informative for me, right? Because it’s like if we shorten the length of time it takes for people to find answers. Cathy Meehan: Wow. Cathy Meehan: like that. Andrea Reed: the quality of their lives and their families and for themselves and their children and for generations to come drastically changes. So that’s how knowing that the body could heal itself. When I had my own health crisis, shortly after becoming a new mother, I got into the emotion side of things. So I learned the nutrition side really early, just through the experience in our family. And I learned how like, Cathy Meehan: Mm-hmm. I agree. Andrea Reed: repressed trauma and emotions, physical and emotional stuff stuck in the body, all came to the surface through my first birth experience. And so I had a choice. mean, I’m holding this new baby who’s not a baby anymore. He’s almost as tall as I am. And think he’s lot taller now. He grows every night. But I had this choice and I was like, I need to heal myself for him so I could be there for him. And so that got me searching for ways to somatically remove Cathy Meehan: Hahaha! Cathy Meehan: Mm-hmm. Andrea Reed: move through stress in the body just so that I could feel more free and light and less pain in my body. Cathy Meehan: Well, know, it’s very often it’s either our own health issue that makes us seek other types of remedies and therapies and healing, or it’s somebody very close to us who’s gone through some sort of a crisis in their medical condition. so often, like you said, your mom was going through probably like this Western medical system. that really wasn’t looking outside of the box. They’re not digging into kind of root cause things or natural holistic ways to heal, which is why I’m so thankful that there are more people really out there learning. And not only are you learning, but you’re sharing that information that you have learned so that you can help other people. And I just want to commend you, Andrea, because what you have done for the state of Oklahoma and our area is just phenomenal because you are really a connector and you help connect people together to ensure that our messages get out. So I just want to thank you for that. So thank you. Andrea Reed: Well, and thank you. Thank you so much. I had to pop up. Cathy Meehan: Yeah, it’s been great. So specifically why I wanted to bring you on for our community is what you are doing with the Human Garage and with fascial maneuvers, because that’s really a new concept for me. I’m not that familiar with it. And so I would love for you to kind of take us down that road on maybe a little bit of the history of it and how you are utilizing that now and helping people. Andrea Reed: Yeah, that would be great. Thank you. And truly, like, I appreciate you saying that, Cathy, and also the work that y’all do nationwide with people and really informing parents what options and choices and freedoms that they have. It’s huge. So I appreciate you very much. I love doing this. Yeah, so, Fascial Maneuvers is a radical self-care movement practice that was started by Human Garage in 2020. Cathy Meehan: Thank you. Cathy Meehan: You bet. Thank you. Andrea Reed: And the Human Garage had been doing clinical practice in like the one-on-one treatment room method for a very long

Del Bigtree on Informed Consent, Public Health, and Choosing Courage

Cathy Meehan: I love to interview movers and shakers and today’s guest is someone who’s been at the center of some of the most controversial conversations in public health and media. He is an Emmy Award-winning producer and investigative journalist. He has spent years challenging the mainstream narratives. He advocates for transparency, informed consent, and open debate in science and medicine. I’m joined by Del Bigtree. He’s the creator and host of The HighWire and the must-see documentaries, Vaxxed and An Inconvenient Study. I want to welcome you all to the Meehan Mission podcast where we explore the intersection of faith, science, truth and health and who better than Del Bigtree to join in our conversation. So let’s get started and let’s welcome Del to the show. Cathy Meehan: Well, everyone, today I have the man, the myth, the legend, Del Bigtree. Del, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s great to have you. Del Bigtree: It’s great to be here, Cathy. I’m looking forward to this. Cathy Meehan: Good, good, good. I know that we’ve both been flying all around the states, you all the time. And I just really take this opportunity to thank you for all that you have done and all that you will continue to do to help educate the people, just being the brave person that you are and spreading that braveness to everyone else. So let’s start with that, Del, because you are brave and you don’t step down. Del Bigtree: Okay. Cathy Meehan: So what is it that sparked that personality or that character trait that you have of never giving up, of always telling the truth? I mean, were you born that way or did your mama teach it to you? Del Bigtree: I mean, you know, that’s that’s probably the biggest question I grapple really honestly you know nature versus nurture. I do wonder what I am you know is just a natural being would I have had ethics or morals or things, if I hadn’t had parents, my mom especially, that were very very committed to raising children and. Cathy Meehan: you Del Bigtree: in a very specific way. My mom knew she was raising us different than anyone she’d ever met before. you know, was sort of, I think my mom and dad were on a really powerful, you know, spiritual trip coming out of the 60s. You know, they’re hippies, not like the drug hippies, but more like the political activists. And apparently there were different things, which is interesting. I don’t think a lot of people know that. They were getting deep into some spiritual work, a lot of dream interpretation, Bible reading, and they raised us to believe we could change, that not just we could change the world, that we were here to change the world. And so, you know, I’ve said it, you know, I gave a talk in San Diego at Tracy Slepcevic’s event, Autism Health Summit, and Cathy Meehan: good. Del Bigtree: you know up until Vaxxed there’s a lot of cool things that happened in my life and I did, I was in theater in New York, I was into performing I, you know, got the Broadway touring company and Hair, the musical sort of ironically to play a hippie like the parents had grown up with. But I always had and you know I won an Emmy Award on The Doctors, but I always had this this hole I couldn’t quite fill that I really. I just had this profound sense that I hadn’t found my calling and was even doing, you know, there was a men’s group in California where a great Native American guy was doing sweat lodges and we would all sweat together once a month and pray and chant. you know, I every my prayer was the same every time. Like, I want to find that thing I’m supposed to be doing. And I’m sure, I’m so completely sure it was Vaxxed. I mean, when I, you know, through all the miracles that I told, it was a lot of fun to tell that story. So many beautiful details, but the moment I sat and finally saw this documentary and sitting in Andy Wakefield’s basement, I had a really, just a unique thought, which is not only am I qualified to make the adjustments to this film that it needs, I actually thought given how I was raised, the work I’d done on The Doctors, how many people have made science into entertainment. There was probably about 15 total, the team working on Dr. Oz and the team working on The Doctors and I was on The Doctors. and then I would have understood this topic. So yeah, I felt like of all the people in the world, I’m the single most qualified person for this one very specific task, which was a… a life passing before your eyes moment that I still grapple with, is it seemed like every failure and every success, the ones I cried about, like I didn’t end up being Steven Spielberg, the filmmaker I thought I was going to be. And it just seemed like everything was designing me for this moment. I truly felt like God had been preparing me. Cathy Meehan: Thank Del Bigtree: And so the other biggest question is, people say, how’d you get where you are? Kids will come up, you know, I’m getting the film or theater or whatever, you know, how do you get success? And, you know, I honestly wonder, was there any other door to a successful life that I somehow walked past or missed? Or were all those missed opportunities, like they had to be missed? Cathy Meehan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Del Bigtree: because there was one thing I was here to do. don’t know. That’s why I really contemplate that a lot. Cathy Meehan: Yeah, well, I feel you because, I mean, who ever thought I’d

Eric Barber on Choosing the Right Reps for Strength, Muscle, and Fat Loss

Cathy Meehan: Are you doing the wrong number of reps and actually sabotaging your health? Should you go heavy weight and low reps or should you go light weight and high reps? I mean, really, what is the answer? Well, on today’s episode of the Meehan Mission podcast, we’re going to talk with Eric Barber from Barberic Training. He’s going to help break down the strategy behind the reps. So really, how do they impact strength and muscle and endurance? So if you’re ready to find out the right approach for you, let’s welcome Eric to the show and let’s get started. Cathy Meehan: Well, hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Meehan Mission podcast. And it is our favorite online trainer, Eric Barber with Barberic Training. Eric, so great to see you today. How you been doing? Eric Barber: Mm-hmm. I’m good, I’m good. How are you, Cathy? Cathy Meehan: I’m doing great. Actually, I do have to admit my hamstrings are a little bit sore, but I wanted to get you on today because there is a lot of confusion and discussion on reps. And I know me personally, I have the question. I mean, am I supposed to do heavy weights and low reps? Am I supposed to do, you know, light weights and high reps? Eric Barber: Yeah. Cathy Meehan: Am I trying to bulk up? Am I trying to lose weight? There are so many questions and I know you are the guy to answer them all. So let’s just start off with that. What does a person need to know about reps? Especially if you know I’m working out and I want to see certain results. Where do I start? What’s the strategy? Eric Barber: Yeah. I love this topic. I know I say that every time, but I do. I geek out on this stuff. What we’re talking about is not just reps. We’re talking about sets and reps, okay? Different training modalities. To break it down, you know, there’s a lot of noise out there now. A lot of know-it-alls, a lot of people saying, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. I’ve been doing this for 30, 40 years now. Cathy Meehan: Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. Eric Barber: What I like to do is always go back to the basics. There are people that paved the way for us a long, long time ago and did all of this work. And we learned from them and we’ve been adding to it, adding to it, and then we just get more scientific about it. But then sometimes it just gets to a point where it’s just so much. Cathy Meehan: Okay. Eric Barber: data and so much science and everybody’s a know-it-all and it’s getting hard to know the difference between what’s real and what’s not anymore. So I like to take people back to the basics, okay? And so the basics are if you keep your repetitions between one to five reps, you are training for extreme strength or you are training for power. So when you look at people like Cathy Meehan: I agree. Thanks. Eric Barber: Olympic weightlifters, what you see in the Olympics, versus power lifters, right? Huge difference between the actual look of each of those kinds of athletes as well as what they’re trying to do. Okay, but they’re still using the same rep range. So, in that, like just starting there alone, like how in the world do you even break into this? So a power lifter… Cathy Meehan: Thank you. Eric Barber: Is basically, they’re training on three events, right? The deadlift, the back squat and the bench press and those are known as the slow lifts. Okay, so power lifters are going for extreme strength in that one rep range a one rep max, right? That’s what they train for in three events and to me, it’s awesome, but I can’t train like that all the time for year after year after year. That would drive me crazy Cathy Meehan: Okay. Eric Barber: Right? I’m more of a multi athlete adventure style. You know, everything I train for is to be able to do cool things out there. Right? So, the power lifters, they really, they really are trying to prove how strong they are on those three lifts, but they call it the slow lifts because the barbell moves very, very slow. Okay. Now an Olympic weight lifter, what you see in the, in the Olympics way more Cathy Meehan: Yeah. Eric Barber: Complex. It doesn’t mean that it’s harder it’s just more complex of a movement because now you’re adding speed Okay, but their three movements are the snatch and the clean and the jerk the snatch is one movement where you take a barbell from the ground to overhead in one fast explosive movement right, and the clean and jerk is where you break it up into two movements you clean it up to your chest You take a deep breath and then you punch it overhead for a jerk. Okay, so the back squat, deadlift, and the bench press are the three slow lifts of powerlifting and the snatch, the clean, and the jerk are the Olympic lifts, the power of the explosive Olympic weightlifting. So those guys train for one rep as well, but two totally different athletes. When you look at a bodybuilder, I mean, I’m sorry, a powerlifter, They, they’re usually big and husky and they’re going for that maximum weight. When you look at an Olympic weightlifter, they’re all lean and muscular and ripped. And it’s like, what? Well, when you add that speed in there, you have to train a totally different way. So when they train, they usually train in the one to five rep ranges. Okay. So that’s, that’s the first, that’s the, that’s where we start. Right? Those guys are extreme athletes in strength and extreme power. Cathy Meehan:

Macy Hamilton, NTP on Simple Nutrition Habits for Healthier Families

Cathy Meehan: Let’s be honest, many of us know that we need to start eating healthier. But with all the information out there, we just don’t know where to start. On today’s episode of the Meehan Mission podcast, our special guest is Macy Hamilton. She’s a nutritional therapy practitioner, and her job is to help individuals and families and guide them through the world of nutrition. Now there’s a lot of information out there and she’s gonna help us break it down into what’s important, how we can take little steps in transforming the way we prepare meals, and what do we do with those picky eaters? Well, Macy’s got some great ideas and great information. So let’s welcome Macy to the show. Cathy Meehan: Well, hello everyone and welcome to today’s episode of the Meehan Mission podcast. And I have a special guest, Miss Macy Hamilton. Macy, thank you for joining us today. Macy Hamilton: So happy to be here. Cathy Meehan: Well, first of all, we know how important nutrition is for health of ourselves, health of our family. And because you are a nutritional therapy practitioner, I thought who better to come introduce to our community so that you can help give us tips, hints, you know, what do we need to do to help raise healthy families and healthy kids? Macy Hamilton: Yeah, perfect. Well, I’m so happy to be here, first of all. I just want to really simplify it for everyone because I know that parents, I’m a parent myself, I have two little boys, they’re three and four, and I know that it can be just so overwhelming. We don’t know where to start. We’re not trying to feed our kids poorly. We want what’s best for them. Like I said, it’s just so overwhelming. We’re being told from so many sides, something’s bad, good, vice versa. It’s so hard. So I’m here to really just simplify it and give parents the tools that can help them nourish their families, take it into their own hands and create healthier lifestyles for themselves and for their kids. Cathy Meehan: That’s a great place because the other thing I want to bring about is, you know, what got you into wanting to learn about nutrition? And did it have anything to do with how you were raised? Macy Hamilton: That’s a great question. So it did have a lot to do with how I was raised. I grew up with four other siblings. I’m one of five. My dad was a medical doctor and he, you know, we grew up in a very conventional household. It was really the standard American diet. It was, you know, Kraft Mac and Cheese with like cut up very overly processed sausage, stuff like that. Fruity Pebbles were like a staple in our breakfast, hot pockets. Just think standard American diet. That’s how I was raised. My dad was addicted to Mountain Dew for like years of his life until finally he made the change one day that he was an eye surgeon. And then he saw that, okay, instead of treating the latest stages of disease, let’s get to preventative medicine. And so… his journey really took our whole family through this journey of, you know, a more holistic way of living. And if that story sounds familiar to you, I, my dad is Dr. Jim Meehan and this is my mom. So, it was really, you know, just an amazing journey, witnessing it from a child to now where I am today. have that experience, can relate to so many people. It’s like, yeah, I grew up on the standard American diet and I’m fine for the most part. For the most part. You know, it’s kind of like no better, do better. And so I’m just so thankful to be here and the legacy that my dad built and the mission that my mom continues and me as well. And so I’m happy to be here. Cathy Meehan: That is great. Well, you know, that really makes, well, number one, you forgot Toaster Strudels. my, Toaster Strudels. was a staple in. my children’s diet. Sorry about that, everybody. Know better, do better, right? But really, I just want to point out that trickle effect of dad realizing, or Jim, Dr. Meehan, realizing that we need to start focusing on nutrition and getting out the bad and bringing in the good, substituting where we can. And we really just kind of took gradual steps in doing that. But look what that decision carried out into the rest of the family. And now you make a career out of it and you’re making sure that your children are, you know, eating healthier and your husband’s eating healthier. And so what’s so important and again, why I wanted you to bring on to the show is that you can help educate parents on ways to incorporate healthier nutrition. So where do we start? That’s the big question. Macy Hamilton: That’s the thing. And it starts with us as parents realizing that what more is caught than what is taught. And that’s really how I saw my parents transition. And at first I was like, uh, what is this? Like, no, I want to keep buying this stuff. But it’s also like they, they stopped buying these things like the Toaster Strudels, the Fruity Pebbles, the Kraft Mac and Cheese. And so we didn’t have access to that. And so it’s really taking it into your own hands as a parent, starting with yourself. And that, like my mom said, trickles down to your kids. And so it’s really about being intentional with how you are nourishing your family, starting with small steps like that. Cathy Meehan: That’s good. So is there any sort of like a beginning step? What’s the main framework that a mom or dad or somebody wants to start with if they’re going to create

Mary Holland on Informed Consent, Children’s Health, and the Legal Fight Over Vaccine Policy

Cathy Meehan: Empowering people to take ownership of their wellness is our mission. We want to explore the intersection of faith, science, truth, and health right here on the Meehan Mission podcast. My special guest today is Mary Holland. She is the President and General Counsel of Children’s Health Defense. Mary has decades of experience in constitutional and international law. Cathy Meehan: It was her own son’s vaccine injury that gave this brilliant mama bear the attitude needed to legally challenge the medical industry. She has spoken before Congress, state legislators, and audiences all over the world about informed consent and medical policy. She is also the co-author and editor of several phenomenal resource books. Cathy Meehan: The HPV Vaccine on Trial, Vaccine Epidemic, and Turtles All the Way Down. I am honored to welcome Mary to the show. Cathy Meehan: Hello everyone and welcome to the Meehan Mission podcast. And today my special guest is Mary Holland. And Mary, I am so thankful that you took the time to allow me to introduce you to my community if they didn’t already know who you were. And I also just wanted to let you know that you were one of Jim’s heroes. He… Cathy Meehan: constantly talked about you and how brave you were and that how you would stand up for our children and just give everything. And I can’t tell you how many times we were sending people the HPV Vaccine on Trial, and we’ll get into your books in a little bit, but I just appreciate you so much. And so thank you for taking the time. Mary Holland: Well, thank you. you know, we miss Jim very much. Cathy Meehan: Yeah, he’s a hard person to replace. He will never be replaced, that’s for sure. But we are going to make sure that his voice is heard and that we carry on that mission, which is why we created the Meehan Mission podcast so that we can continue to bring on guests like you who are experts in their field. Because really, when it comes to awareness and education, Mary Holland: Not replace. No. Cathy Meehan: The more that we know and the more that we can push out to our community, that’s how we win this battle. And you’ve been in this fight for a really long time. I’m so excited to see all of this, the legal part, which is really kind of, with you and with Aaron Siri, just kind of leading the pack, that that’s really making the difference. That’s making the difference. But so I have a question for you. Mary Holland: Yeah. Mary Holland: Yep. Yep. Yep. Cathy Meehan: So what in your lifetime or was it in your childhood? Was it in middle school, college? What made Mary realize that she was built differently than everybody else and she had this fight in her? Mary Holland: Well, I suppose I’ve always been willing to stand up for things that I believe in. like most people, if I can go along with the crowd, I will, Cathy. If things seem to be OK to me, I’m not going to really step out of line. Cathy Meehan: Mm-hmm. Mary Holland: One of, you know, I’ve always been willing where I really disagreed with people to step out and say, no, I really disagree. you know, on this issue, there’s just, when I do really strongly disagree, I feel it so deeply that even though I have lost people very close to me, I’ve lost jobs, all that kind of stuff, it doesn’t really matter. You know, I just. Mary Holland: If I have a deep conviction that I’m doing what the universe is telling me to do, I just have to accept that there’s things that go along with that. I can be really sad about losing friendships and there are many I’m really sad about, but it doesn’t make me change my mind. Cathy Meehan: That’s good. Well, you know, it’s that determination. Do you like wake up every morning and with a mission and you go out the door and do it? Is that your personality type? I would, you know, you get so much done. What? Mary Holland: Not compared to how much there is to do, You know, I do the little bit I can. It’s like, know, Bobby Kennedy would say, you know, I just can do it with my own little piece, my own, I’m only in charge of my own little piece of real estate. I like getting things done, Cathy. I like getting things done. I am pretty mission driven. So, you know, I am at CHD and Children’s Health Defense and we are Cathy Meehan: I know it’s like a never-ending list. Mary Holland: doing a lot, as you point out. And so I do feel very mission driven to support the team and help get things done and be aware of what’s going on and support what our mission is, which is to end the epidemic of chronic childhood disease in the United States, but globally and to educate people, to put in place, to find sort of… Mary Holland: redress for those who’ve been injured and to put in place safeguards so it doesn’t happen again. you know, I do feel I have been in this for about 25 years, Cathy. And in that time, I do feel like there’s been tremendous progress as much as we’re not there yet. And we’re not. We are now really getting into the courts in a way that was pretty unimaginable 20 years ago. The fight is on. You know, I sometimes quote for people, it’s attributed to Gandhi at Mary Holland: probably wasn’t Gandhi, but they say, first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win. And so we are very much in the fight stage now. They can’t ignore us anymore. They don’t

Meg Sutton on Building a Robust Immune System + Natural Wellness at Home

Cathy Meehan: Welcome to the Meehan Mission, where we explore the intersection of faith, science, truth, and health, and we empower families to take ownership in their wellness. Today in studio, we are joined by our very own natural health consultant, Meg Sutton. So Meg is going to talk to us about building a resilient immune system because, face it, many of us will encounter an illness. Cathy Meehan: But what do we do to make sure that that duration of illness is short and we bounce back after we’ve been sick? And we’re also so excited because we are introducing the Meehan, MD wellness program. And guess what? The Adult Natural Health Guide is now available. So this is designed to help families decide when do we need to call the doctor, or when can something be taken care of at home? Cathy Meehan: We’re going to give you the tools and the resources to help you make those decisions. So for now, let’s get started and let’s talk to Meg. Cathy Meehan: Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Meehan Mission Podcast. Today’s guest, the one and only Meg Sutton, our natural health consultant. And for those of you who have already met with Meg, you know what a brilliant mind she has. Because if you want to talk natural, holistic supplements, she is the go-to, and we are so thankful that she is part of our Meehan MD team. So, Meg. Cathy Meehan: Today I would love to talk to our community about building a robust immune system because everybody’s getting sick all the time, but what do we do to prevent that? And then the other part of this podcast is we are actually introducing the Meehan MD Wellness Program. You guys, it’s the Adult Natural Health Guide that we’ve all been waiting for. And finally, it is ready and available. But let’s start in the beginning, and that’s the immune system and when we get sick. So what do we got? Meg Sutton: So I wanted to back that up a little bit because when people get sick, they automatically think that their bodies are failing us. Cathy Meehan: But it’s the total opposite. Meg Sutton: Our bodies are made beautifully. We were designed beautifully to handle toxins, to detox properly. And I think of it more of a sign as our body working as it’s supposed to be. Cathy Meehan: So when we get sick. Meg Sutton: We want to support our bodies. The problem is, if you’re constantly sick, that can be where there’s a true issue going on, and we need to look at it. As kind of a rule of thumb, once or twice a year sickness, I think of a great detox. And so we want to support our body. If it’s more than that, then we need to look at kind of a deeper thing. But to support our immune system, it’s all about what we eat, reduce toxins. And we know that we live in a toxic world. The products we use on our Cathy Meehan: skin, the foods we eat, the water we Meg Sutton: drink. Let me go down that whole topic. Cathy Meehan: All of those Meg Sutton: things have toxins in it. And it’s our bodies are constantly trying to detox that out. Sometimes we’re unfortunate, and it’s stored for us to be able to detox at a later time. But we’re supposed to support our system, make sure we’re getting the appropriate nutrients, making sure we’re hydrated properly, and we reduce those toxins. So, how do you support your immune system typically? Cathy Meehan: Well, number one, you talked about nutrition. And you would think that somebody’s trying to, like, kill us when you have to talk about all of these environmental things. We’ve got the preservatives in our food, the seed oils, the dyes, even like the BPA on receipts that’s disrupting our endocrine system. And I always like to tell people, you can’t live in a bubble, but if we can reduce toxins, then we can also do things to support our immune system, which I think number one, it’s nutrition. You really got organic, whole foods, read labels. I mean, that is the most basic. Or don’t get anything that has a label. Let’s step it back. Meg Sutton: So I always tell people, if God did not make it like that, then rethink eating it. I know that’s kind of hard in this world, but let’s go back to the beginning. What did God create, and go with those foods. Cathy Meehan: Yeah. But if you Meg Sutton: do need to read labels, look for things like those dyes. And now they’re hiding certain words like monosodium glutamate. They’re changing that to Cathy Meehan: hydrolyzed Meg Sutton: yeast extract and stuff like that. So you kind of have to play this game of what are we really looking at? So if there’s more than five ingredients, you might want to put it away. Or if you don’t know the ingredients or can’t say the ingredients, maybe skip it. Cathy Meehan: Maybe skip over it. Or make it yourself. I definitely start nutrition-wise. And then the other part of that equation is a lot of our foods, even the healthy organic foods, they’re lacking the nutrients and minerals and vitamins and everything. So I know for me, my staple is vitamin D. That’s my staple, is vitamin D, to support my immune system. And I know that you kind of feel that vitamin D is very Meg Sutton: important. Very, very important. It’s important in regulation, but you also need the co-factors with it. For instance, magnesium is fantastic with it. It activates the vitamin D. Then you have vitamin Cathy Meehan: K, which helps Meg Sutton: direct the calcium and the vitamin D of where to go. So you kind of have to, I don’t necessarily

Eric Barber on How to Choose the Right Gym and Stick With It

  Cathy Meehan: Welcome to another edition of the Meehan Mission podcast, where we like to talk about faith, truth, health, and science. And most of all, we want to empower you on your wellness journey. Today’s episode, we welcome Eric Barber, the founder of Barberic Training. And we’re going to talk with Eric about the options of where do we want to work out? Because remember, Nowadays, we’ve got options. You’ve got commercial gyms, home gyms, these fitness studios. So what is really going to be the best to help you attain your fitness goals and keep you committed and keep you on track? So let’s get started and let’s welcome Eric. Cathy Meehan: So here’s the big question. We started the workout or we’re going to start the workout, but where do I work out? So let’s talk to Eric Barber, the founder of Barberic Training and my personal trainer. Thank you very much, Eric, for transforming my life. And I would love for you to help educate our audience. You know, maybe they’re thinking about working out, but what are some things I have to consider about? where do they work out? Because there’s a lot of options out there. Eric Barber: Yes, there is. Great question. Loaded question as usual. Most people, whether they need to start working out for medical issues, for health issues, or whether they just want to train for appearance, know, changing their appearance, whatever, right? You got the broad spectrum. But they’ve decided to do something about it. Step one, right? Make that mental shift. I’m going to do this. So at that point, Cathy Meehan: As usual. Cathy Meehan: Thank Eric Barber: You’re looking at pretty much getting a membership at a commercial gym or you can get into something like what I would call a micro gym, which would be like your Orangetheory or your CrossFit or F45 or maybe yoga classes or Pilates classes, like a smaller studio or just a micro gym. And then after that, you’ve got training at home, you know, and that could be a garage gym. That could be an extra room that you’ve built out. I train people, I work out people that train at all three of those. Primarily though commercial gyms and home gyms or garage gyms. The micro gyms usually have coaches there but sometimes people come to me for extra help with changing their actual appearance of their body. Cathy Meehan: Yeah. Cathy Meehan: Yeah, I know that I had that option because I do have like a home gym, but yeah, it’s kind of dirty and run down and not that inviting. And then I had the option of the commercial gym, which is what I ultimately chose, which was best for my fit. But I’d love for you to walk us through like pros and cons of each one of those. Eric Barber: Yep. Yeah, I remember that. Ha Eric Barber: Yeah, so let’s start with the commercial gyms. gosh, man, I’ve trained everywhere. I’ve trained at Gold’s Gym, Powerhouse Gym, Bally’s, Holiday Health and Fitness, Lifetime, VASA, Crunch Fitness, Planet Fitness. I’ve trained everywhere over my past 35, 40 years. And I would say that for the price point, you can’t you kind of can’t go wrong with a commercial gym. They’ve got tons of equipment. Really it comes down to when you’re talking about commercial gyms, like I recently trained at a gym nearby and it was locally owned. It was owner’s gym and it was the size of a community gym, of a commercial gym. It was huge and this one dude owned it. And you know, Cathy Meehan: Okay. Eric Barber: the machines were breaking down all the time and wasn’t that clean, you know, the cleanliness wasn’t up to par. And so it was for his gym, it was too expensive. You know what I mean? He was charging too much. The bathrooms were always nasty, that kind of thing. when I vote now, when I look for a commercial gym, I look for one of the main chain brands, you know, like the or the VASA or the Lifetime something like that. I like how clean they are. I like all the little amenities. So sometimes when I do a brutal leg workout or brutal back workout, I want to lay in one of those hydro massage beds, you know? Or I don’t like tanning. I get a really good tan, but only if I build up to it. If I have a summer of just being pure white, Cathy Meehan: Yeah. Cathy Meehan: Yeah, those are sweet. Those are sweet. Eric Barber: and then I try to get out into the sun, usually burn, but if I maintain a safe tan throughout the winter, just tanning, their little tanning bed once a week, then when I get out in the sun, I don’t burn. So I do look for that in a commercial gym, that kind of thing. look for, I look at the equipment. I look to see if there’s a lot of pieces of equipment that are broken down. They’ve got those out of order signs on them. If I see two or three of those, during my walk around the gym for the first time, know, my introduction, you know, they’ll walk you through, they’ll give you a tour. If I see three or four machines with out of order, you know, that’s a red flag for me. I look for clean bathrooms. I have to have a clean bathroom. Saunas are nice, pools are nice, steam rooms. I don’t think they’re the most sanitary. I don’t see how they can be. You know what I mean? Cathy Meehan: Yeah, that would be. Cathy Meehan: I kind of agree on that one. Eric Barber: Yeah, I’ll go into a dry sauna, but I don’t go into the steam rooms. creep me out. Cathy Meehan: You

Ashley Pena, LPC-C on Helping Kids Navigate Anxiety, Attachment, and Emotional Health

Cathy Meehan: Too often we hear these words: anxiety, depression, trauma, attachment disorder. Okay, people, what is going on in our world? Every day we are hearing more and more people struggling with emotional health. So on today’s episode, we are going to introduce Ashley Pena, LPC-C. She has her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling and works with Ellie Mental Health, which has clinics throughout the United States. Ashley happens to work here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I wanted to invite her on the podcast so she could share her experience, offer some guidance, and let everyone know that if you, your child, or someone you know is struggling with emotional health, therapy can be the answer. Cathy Meehan: Hey everyone, it’s Cathy with the Meehan Mission podcast, and today I am delighted to share the screen with Ashley Pena, LPC-C. She is a counselor with Ellie Mental Health, and I was just so excited. She came by the office the other day, and there is so much information out there on children nowadays and the anxiety and just all of the problems that, you know, in my generation, I don’t think we had as many mental issues, if you want to call it that, or just anxiety. And our poor children nowadays, they need people like Ashley. So what I wanted to do was introduce Ashley to our listeners so she can help kind of give us the other side of the picture and, you know, give us some insight. If we’re having children that are experiencing some issues, or if we have friends with children, we need to share this podcast. I’m just inviting Ashley to please spill your brain out for us. And I probably want to start with what got you interested in working with children in the first place when it came to the mental health field? Ashley Pena, LPC-C: Yeah, it’s not your typical story, honestly. I happened to be at my husband’s barbecue for his company, and I had the opportunity to notice a particular parent interacting with his child who had a diagnosis, or has a diagnosis, of autism. And just the way that he interacted was so caring and empathetic. And I’ve seen other families not be able to be so caring or empathetic and be more stressed with it. So it really helped me to see that I really would like to support those that maybe need some more help and more resources so that they are able to interact in the same fashion, regardless of their situations. It doesn’t just have to be with autism. And so I ultimately found myself drawn to children specifically to allow them different avenues to communicate what’s going on and describe how they’re feeling. And working with families allows me to support the entire system—the parents, their grandparents, even siblings, anyone that comes in contact with the kids. Because everyone plays a huge role in the environment, emotionally and physically. Over time, I’ve learned that when I get to support the child and the family, the healing becomes more sustainable. That blend allows me to work with prevention, intervention, and connection, which continuously keeps me passionate about the work. Cathy Meehan: That’s so great. Well, when you are dealing with the children and you talk about bringing the families in and everything, I mean, we hear all these things about the breakdown of the nuclear family. And I think that probably adds to miscommunication between parents. And so many of these little things that we don’t think about really affect the children more than we anticipate. And I say that in like, you know, children always want—I always thought they want stability. They want to know what’s happening. So children in their younger years, what do you find as far as age-related anxiety problems? And are they getting younger and younger? And what do you attribute to that? Ashley Pena, LPC-C: You know, it’s an interesting question because if you look at 20 years ago, there’s a lot of technology that we have today that we didn’t have before. Some can argue that that would contribute to that anxiety, but I also think just our environment in general has shifted so much that the generations we have grown up in have changed in the way that they want to approach parenting and involvement with their families as well. And I feel like there’s a lot of connection that has been lost. Cathy Meehan: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I’ve seen it over the years too. The family dynamics have changed, the introduction of social media, which, you know—so is that as big of a problem as I hear? Because my children are now in their twenties and thirties, and I know it kind of had an impact on them younger. But what is the influence of social media on kids nowadays? Ashley Pena, LPC-C: It’s interesting because if we’re looking at currently today, I’ve noticed a lot of the kiddos that I have worked with are saying they don’t even want to connect to social media because it’s just so much doom and gloom and so much negativity that they’re finding that they don’t even want to connect to social media the way kids five or ten years ago did. It really just depends on how much interaction these kids have with social media, access to the news outlets, and what type of information they’re being fed and inundated with, and how their parents approach it as well and communicate it to them. Cathy Meehan: Yeah. Well, I mean, I know now I have grandkids, and they are getting cell phones and all that. And just for my personal information, it’s scary, right? The information that these kids can come across when it comes to social media, and also with the algorithms that are going on—you click on one bad site, and then that’s all you’re going to get are

Erin Paige on Homeopathy, PANS/PANDAS, and Why Parents Are Reconsidering First-Line Care

Cathy Meehan: Many years ago, the practice of homeopathy was popular among practitioners when it came to healing ailments of their patients. But what happened? What gave homeopathy such a bad rap? Where did it go? And is it actually having a comeback? Well, I tend to think that it is having a comeback. So today’s episode of the Meehan Mission podcast, I want to introduce everyone to Erin Paige, who’s a homeopathy practitioner. She’ll help answer your questions, give you some great guidance. So let’s get started and let’s welcome Erin. Cathy Meehan: Hello everyone and welcome to the Meehan Mission podcast. And I am thrilled to introduce our audience to Erin Paige. And Erin, you are with Heartwing Healing. And what I love is to bring movers and shakers and just people that are, I don’t know if you wanna call it disrupting the healthcare system with natural and alternative solutions. But you study homeopathic medicine and I think, you know, there’s a lot of questions behind that. And my idea was let’s bring Erin on, someone who is, you know, deep into homeopathy and just really help share your knowledge with our audience. So first of all, welcome to the show. Erin Paige: Thank you. Cathy Meehan: You bet. And we go back a little bit because we both kind met up in the world of child medical freedom is what it would have been. And so we go back quite a ways and you are someone that I really look up to when it comes to finding answers and educating people. So if you don’t mind, start with a little bit of background on how you chose to go down the route of homeopathy. Erin Paige: Yeah, well, thanks so much for having me, Cathy. So my journey really began maybe about 15 years ago. My son was diagnosed with a very severe autoimmune neuroimmune disorder called PANS or pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that diagnosis, it looks maybe a little bit like autism, with a little bit more emphasis on some of the psychiatric kinds of symptoms. But that occurred. I simultaneously was diagnosed with Lyme disease. So I had always been in the realm of natural medicine. My son’s father is a chiropractor. And I went to actually took my son to a pediatrician. who you’ve had on the show, Dr. Bob Sears, and asked him for some information because I didn’t know what was going on with my son. And at the time, and now we’re talking 15 years ago, he was not as familiar with the diagnosis and recommended that my son’s father and I do some research. Well, I went into mama bear mode and was up at all hours of the night trying to figure out what I could do to help my child. And the one consistent intervention, although we’ve tried many, many, many things over the years, was homeopathy. I always tell the story that at the time my son was living inside a cardboard box in my living room. He had not left the house for well over a year and had not left the cardboard box in about three months. I gave him his first dose of homeopathy and he asked if he could leave the house that day twice. So it really was very eye-opening to me. I was not really that familiar with homeopathy. But I knew that it was going to be something that I would need to pursue for the health of my child. And we’ve been utilizing it ever since. Cathy Meehan: Wow, what a heartbreaking story for a mom. I just, amen, you went into mama bear mode just to find any solution that you could. So will you explain to us what exactly is homeopathy when we hear that term? Erin Paige: Yeah. So homeopathy, in its foundational principle is essentially like cures like, we’re looking for the simillimum. So Samuel Hahnemann, developed homeopathy in the early to mid 1800s. And he was medical doctor and he postured that, he was utilizing, trying to find a cure for malaria actually. And so he was utilizing a, cinchona bark, which is a, you know, from, from the plant, from the tree. And he found something very interesting when he was trying to figure out the curative mechanism of action. He took some of the cinchona bark and it actually mimicked in him as a healthy person, the symptoms of malaria. So he began postulating that if then he could induce symptoms, perhaps he could treat symptoms with the cinchona bark in malaria patients. But he wanted to find out how little of a dose he could give because obviously he didn’t want to have his patients experience more symptoms from taking the cinchona bark. He just kept titrating lower and lower and lower on the dosage until essentially what he came up with was versions of really a more energetic kind of a dose of these kinds of materials that would then still elicit a positive response. So it’s introducing the minimum dose within a patient and then in order to create a positive immune response. And the patients were getting better taking cinchona bark for malaria, for example. But in the 1900s, homeopathy, well, just so you’re aware and your audience is aware, about 10 to 20 % of all doctors within the United States, even in the early 1900s, were homeopaths. And I know you’ve talked about this before, but because of the creation of entities like the AMA and their takeovers of the medical colleges, they essentially pushed out homeopaths by way of introducing various licensure agreements and things like that, which homeopathy just didn’t have the financial backing in order to continue at that. So it essentially wiped out homeopathy within the United States despite the fact that, you know, like I said, 10 to 20 %