Hi, my name is Helen Billings. I'm a reporter with The Epoch Times, one of America's largest independent newspapers. For today's report, I got to talk with the functional nutritionist named Terri Ward.

Her mission is to restore people's health through faith and science. In this episode, we'll get Terri's perspective on why our current food and healthcare systems are letting us down, and how we can get back to healthy living. But first, show your support for independent journalism by following this podcast.

Terri Ward's health journey began when she completely healed years of gut issues through long-lasting holistic lifestyle changes. From there, she felt a calling from God to help others do the same. So she went back to school to become a functional nutritionist.

Now she's helping her clients take responsibility for their own health again by giving them advice that's rooted in faith and science. To start off, Terri thinks we need to educate ourselves. Just recently, she featured on our very own Epic TV to talk about this.

You can find this episode on our website. Anyways, as an example, Terri recommended doing your own research. Read studies instead of just skimming headlines.

Verify what you see. And be aware of your sources. She told us how a lot of studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies now.

Even when it comes to our doctors, Terri thinks it's important to verify information. Not that they're being irresponsible, but she mentioned how some doctors are just so limited on time that things can get overlooked. So besides being informed, what actual changes can we make to take back ownership of our health?

Well, it helps to look at the root causes.

I am a huge proponent of functional medicine, which is, I call it root cause medicine, because if you can get to the root cause, you can actually fix the problem or support the body, so natural ability to heal, whereas if you just take a pill, it's just gonna suppress a symptom, and it's probably gonna stop a natural process that has tens of downstream effects, so you could be causing more problems in the process. And that, to me, is the solution, is trying to figure out the root cause and naturally supporting the body's ability to heal.

So how exactly would we do this? Well, one way is by using something called the 5R framework. It comes from functional medicine.

I'll give you a quick example of how it works, so you can kind of get an idea for yourself. The first step is to remove something, let's say, ultra-processed foods. Then you'd replace, maybe with a certain nutrient.

After that, you'd have to re-inoculate by building up microbiomes with beneficial gut bacteria. And then, finally, you can repair your body and rebalance it with healthier lifestyle choices. I know it's a lot to remember, but it's basically just summarizing what Terri was saying about fixing your body's natural ability to heal.

She goes over this a lot more in her best-selling book called God's Prescription, a faith-based plan to shift your mindset and reclaim your natural health. I'll talk more about that in just a bit. By the way, here at The Epoch Times, my colleagues and I publish health stories like these every day.

So if you like our work, consider becoming a subscriber to our newspaper. Go to theepochtimes.com. That's theepochtimes.com.

And hit the blue subscribe button at the top right, or check the link in the notes. So as you can tell, functional medicine is more of a lifestyle change, not a one-time fix here and there. You have to look at both diet and exercise, and Terri gave us some great examples to work with.

She highlighted the Mediterranean lifestyle, where even the food revolves around quality time spent with loved ones. Meals are slower-paced. They're an opportunity to stay connected with family, even during busy times.

Exercise is also built in, since people are usually visiting friends or working outside, and also preparing their food from scratch. Here, Terri points out how the culture rests on faith and family, and how that naturally creates this rhythm of work, rest, and worship in daily life. Now, that covers a whole lifestyle, but if you're more interested in just the diet, Terri's got some advice for that too.

Her book talks about something called the Rainbow Diet, which is exactly what it sounds like. With the Rainbow Diet, you're meant to eat a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables, and also healthy fats and quality proteins. Together, it's supposed to balance your blood sugar and gut health, which is going to help nourish and restore your whole body.

In our interview, Terri said, I think that food is intended for enjoyment, but mostly for nourishment. So, it's not that it has to be one or the other.

So, we've gone over some health and lifestyle tips from Terri, but what really makes her perspective unique is the way she balances faith and science. It was her faith that led her to write her book in the first place. Terri said that God kept giving her signs to spread the same message that he had shown her, that the food and health care in America are not what God intended for his people.

For Terri, faith and health are impossible to separate, and there's actually research to support that connection. For example, even something as simple as giving thanks before a meal can shift the nervous system into a parasympathetic state, which helps a lot with proper digestion and nutrient absorption. This is part of the mind-body connection that really has an impact on our health.

Here's a clip from Terri about it.

Well, the connection is validated by science. I actually did a talk called The Science of Faith at a conference. It's amazing how, like I was suggesting, the prayer and meditation, those kind of practices will actually improve health outcomes.

And also just having faith, it's like a mindset. It will influence outcomes for health. And just also, I think it makes you a better steward of your body.

Hopefully it does.

Because her book is grounded in science, Terri says it has value for non-Christians too. But for her personally, she's sure to bring her faith into the mind-body connection. Take a listen.

Yeah, it's real. I mean, it's talked about in the Bible, and it's confirmed by science that our mind and our emotions affect our body chemically and physiologically. So we have to be cognizant of what we're thinking, how we're allowing our emotions to take control.

Like, if we're living in fear, we're in the limbic brain. We're not using logic or reason, and we've got stress hormones running throughout our body. But I think deep breathing exercises are very powerful.

Meditation is powerful. Things like Tai Chi and yoga, there's a whole lot of mindfulness practices listed in the book, and those can be very calming, even just prayer, reading scripture.

As a Christian, Terri looks to the Bible to help apply the science, and that's where she gets her sense of responsibility to take care of her health. She says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and that we're called to take care of it. Terri's faith is also the foundation for her interest in functional medicine.

She believes God did not design us to be sick or alone. She told us, When we begin honoring our bodies as the temples they are, fueling them with real food, addressing root causes rather than masking symptoms, and aligning our health decisions with how God designed us, remarkable things can happen. Personally, I'm a big fan of finding the root cause of things happening in the body too.

While it wasn't always this way, over time, it has now become natural for me to think of that approach first. Also, I know health journeys can be personal, but what's great about faith, being grateful, and forgiveness is that their universal qualities we can always apply no matter what the situation. And when it comes to health challenges for myself, well, I also like to look within and ask, what do I need to let go of?

Well, that brings us to the end of today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. If you're interested in reading my report, check the link in the notes.

This is Helen Billings with The Epoch Times. I'll see you next time. Until then, enjoy your beautiful food and wishing you great health.