The Modern Ancestral Mamas Podcast

Corey Dunn and Christine Muldoon

Bringing ancestral food, cooking, eating, and living to the everyday, modern mom.

  1. 1 day ago

    You Are What You Eat: The Ancient Theology of Food

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas   What if every meal you sit down to is meant to be a rehearsal of your faith, and the church has completely missed it?   In this episode, Corey and Christine kick off a brand new series on biblical eating and how physical health is treated in the church, starting with Andy Felton, author of Nourished by Design: A Christ-Centered Approach to Nutrition.   Andy isn't a doctor or a theologian. He began his career as a nuclear submarine officer, where seeing the sun through a periscope every few days was the norm and circadian rhythm was an afterthought. When he started battling anxiety and he and his wife faced fertility struggles, he went looking for answers, and found that nearly every health book was either secular or, on the Christian side, theologically skimpy. So he wrote the book he couldn't find.   Together they ask the questions the church has gone 2,000 years without really answering: Are Christians called to care about what they put in their bodies? Why is scripture so saturated with food, hunger, and feasting from Genesis onward? Andy makes the case that food is one of God's great object lessons, a physical thing pointing to a spiritual reality, and that our daily hunger is ultimately a hunger for God.   ✨ Topics Covered in This Episode: ✔️ How physical health is (and isn't) represented in the church, and why it dropped the ball ✔️ Whether Christians are actually called to care about what they eat ✔️ Why scripture is a story about a hungry people, from manna to the bread of life ✔️ Food as object lesson: physical things pointing to spiritual truths ✔️ The "just eat junk and meet your maker faster" objection, answered ✔️ Three meals a day as three daily reminders of our hunger for God ✔️ Fasting as a both/and practice, spiritual first and physical second ✔️ Old manna, the dietary laws, and what clean vs. unclean really meant ✔️ Are the dietary laws still binding? Hebrews 8, Romans 14, and the new covenant ✔️ What Weston A. Price's traditional cultures reveal about "unclean" foods ✔️ Blood, the Council of Jerusalem, and a surprising take on Acts 15 ✔️ New manna: Jesus as the bread of life in John 6, and the temple parallel   📚 Resources & Links Mentioned: 📍 Nourished by Design (Andy's book) – available on Amazon 📍 Andy's website – https://www.nourishedbydesignbook.com 📍 Earlier episode with Deborah McNamara on why humans eat three times a day 📍 Corey's Christian women's book club – message her to join 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas 📍 NEW Website – https://www.modernancestralmamas.com 📍 Earthley – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off)   ✨ Support the Show! 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas   #biblicaleating #christianhealth #theologyoffood #ancestralliving #wholefoods #faithandfood #ModernAncestralMamas #RealFood #MotherhoodWellness #MomLife   📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas Corey | @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ Christine | @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1hr 42min
  2. 17 June

    Weight Loss and Fat Loss Are NOT the Same Thing

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust.Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas   What if the reason you can't lose weight isn't your willpower, but the wrong goal entirely?   In this episode, Corey and Christine continue their weight loss series with Brenna Kennedy, a strength and conditioning coach who has spent over a decade in the fitness industry helping women, especially women over 40, break free from stubborn fat loss. Brenna grew up rough-and-tumble between two brothers in Oklahoma, started working in gyms the day she turned 16, and was three and a half years into a dietitian degree when a personal health crash sent her in a new direction. Navigating multiple autoimmune disorders of her own, she pivoted to exercise physiology, interned at Equinox in Boston, and eventually built her own coaching practice so she could help people the way the gym-floor model never let her.   Together, they get into the difference almost nobody explains: weight loss means getting the scale number down, no matter where it comes from, while fat loss means strategically holding onto muscle and shedding fat. Brenna walks through why the scale can drop six pounds and more than half of it be muscle, why "eating clean" and high-fat ancestral eating can quietly stall fat loss, and why so many women feel healthier than ever but still don't look the way they hoped. The conversation gets honest about what it really takes after 30, why most trending workouts won't preserve your muscle, and how to navigate all of it as a mom without passing diet culture on to your kids.   ✨ Topics Covered in This Episode: ✔️ The real difference between weight loss and fat loss, and why it changes everything ✔️ Why you lose 3 to 8% of your muscle every year after 30 if you're not strength training ✔️ How "eat less, move more" oversimplifies what's actually happening in your body ✔️ Why "eating clean" means a hundred different things and none of them guarantee fat loss ✔️ The high-fat ancestral trap: too much fat, not enough protein or carbs, and dropping muscle ✔️ How to find your real maintenance baseline before trying to lose fat ✔️ Protein, carbs, and why cutting carbs too low costs you muscle ✔️ Body composition vs. the bathroom scale, and what DEXA and BIA scans actually measure ✔️ Why Pilates, swimming, rucking, and mobility training won't preserve muscle on their own ✔️ Strength training, bone density, and protecting against osteoporosis ✔️ Doing fat loss postpartum and breastfeeding, and how to navigate it with grace ✔️ Feeding your family nutrient-dense food without modeling diet culture at the table   📚 Resources & Links Mentioned: 📍 Limited Edition Training (Brenna's website) – https://www.limitededitiontraining.com 📍 Brenna on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/coachbrennak/ 📍 Brenna's second handle – https://www.instagram.com/le_coachbe/ 📍Listen to the first episode in the weight loss series with Deanna DeWitt 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas 📍 NEW Website – https://www.modernancestralmamas.com 📍 Earthley – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off)   ✨ Support the Show! 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas   #fatloss #strengthtraining #womenshealth #musclemass #ancestralliving #postpartumfitness #bodycomposition #ModernAncestralMamas #RealFood #MotherhoodWellness #MomLife   📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1hr 41min
  3. 10 June

    Food Freedom Starts in the Soil: An Ancestral Asian Approach

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   What if everything your garden needs is already sitting in your kitchen?   In this episode, Corey and Christine welcome back Sophie Eng, author of The Nourishing Asian Kitchen and the forthcoming The Nourishing Asian Homestead. The daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Sophie grew up beside her grandfather's garden, learning to ferment, compost, and work with the land long before she knew it had a name. She and her husband Tim traded Silicon Valley for six acres in California and now homestead on 40 acres off the side of a mountain in East Tennessee, where they're raising their two daughters in the traditions their family carried across an ocean.   Together, they dig into Korean Natural Farming (KNF), the centuries-old Asian approach Sophie and her whole family got certified in, built on one deceptively simple idea: feed the soil, not the plant. Sophie shares how she turns rice rinse water, leftover milk, fish scraps, and fast-growing weeds like kudzu into free, truly organic fertilizers, the same "liquid gold" her grandfather made on a tiny scale in Vietnam. The conversation gets honest about food freedom in a fragile supply chain, why a single ton of fertilizer nearly doubled in price overnight, how community is the missing half of self-sufficiency, and the real challenge of raising grounded kids in a Doritos-and-Monster world.   ✨ Topics Covered in This Episode: ✔️ What Korean Natural Farming (KNF) is and how it differs from regenerative agriculture ✔️ The core principle: healthy soil grows healthy plants, animals, and people ✔️ How to make free fertilizer from rice rinse water you'd normally pour down the drain ✔️ Lactic acid bacteria (LAB): one ferment for your gut, garden, coop, and laundry ✔️ Fermented plant juice and fish amino acids, and why kudzu is perfect for it ✔️ Indigenous microorganisms (IMO 1 through 5) and collecting wild soil microbes ✔️ Why grocery-store produce isn't as nutrient-dense as it used to be ✔️ Food freedom and breaking free from imported, supply-chain-dependent inputs ✔️ Trading milk, butter, and yogurt for hay and honey instead of cash ✔️ Simple starting points: bone broth, one daily ferment, and stretching protein with soup ✔️ Raising mature, grounded kids who choose real food over fitting in   📚 Resources & Links Mentioned: 📍 Sprinkle With Soil (Sophie's family blog) – https://sprinklewithsoil.com 📍 Pre-order The Nourishing Asian Homestead & shop The Nourishing Asian Kitchen – https://sprinklewithsoil.com 📍 Joy and Jolie (her daughters' organic pho spice mixes) – https://joyandjolie.com 📍 Call to Farms Podcast – https://calltofarms.com 📍 The Homesteading Agent (find & fund your homestead) – https://thehomesteadingagent.com 📍 Sophie on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sprinklewithsoil/ 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas 📍 NEW Website – https://www.modernancestralmamas.com 📍 Earthley – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off)   ✨ Support the Show! 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 💬 Comment below: What's one kitchen scrap you'll never throw away again?   #koreannaturalfarming #homesteading #soilhealth #foodfreedom #ancestralliving #fermentation #regenerativeagriculture #ModernAncestralMamas #RealFood #MotherhoodWellness #MomLife   📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1hr 47min
  4. 3 June

    Why Weight Loss Gets Harder After 35 — And How to Fix It Naturally

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   You're eating clean. You're working out. So why is the scale still going up?   In this episode, Corey and Christine welcome functional nutritionist Deanna DeWitt, a women's hormone specialist who spent her late 20s and early 30s battling gut issues, anxiety, and hormone chaos before the conventional medical system left her with little more than an IBS label and a handful of prescriptions. After healing herself, she traded her fast-paced LA career for functional nutrition school and has now spent nearly a decade helping women lose weight without starving themselves, over-exercising, or counting a single calorie.   Together, they take apart the "eat less, exercise more" advice that fails most women after 35, why chronic stress signals your body to store fat for safety, and how cortisol quietly spikes blood sugar even when you're eating the cleanest diet imaginable. Deanna explains metabolic flexibility, the sugar-burner vs. fat-burner switch, and why your thyroid actually needs carbs. The conversation gets honest about calorie restriction, the keto and carnivore crash so few are talking about, 4am workouts that backfire, and how to start syncing your nutrition and movement with your cycle.   ✨ Topics Covered in This Episode: ✔️ Why "eat less, exercise more" stops working after your mid-30s ✔️ How chronic stress puts your body into fat-storage survival mode ✔️ The hidden link between cortisol and blood sugar (even on a clean diet) ✔️ Metabolic flexibility and the sugar-burner vs. fat-burner switch ✔️ Why your thyroid needs carbs, and the keto/carnivore crash no one talks about ✔️ Calorie restriction and why 1,500 calories may be keeping you stuck ✔️ The truth about 4am workouts and how they backfire on your hormones ✔️ Strength training vs. HIIT vs. Pilates for women's hormones ✔️ Cycle syncing your food, fasting, and movement throughout the month ✔️ Why morning sunlight is a non-negotiable metabolic reset ✔️ Blue light, circadian rhythm, and evening snacking ✔️ Navigating perimenopause and menopausal belly fat naturally ✔️ The body's "whispers" — early signs your hormones need support   🧠 More About This Episode: This episode is for every woman who's doing everything "right" and still feeling stuck, frustrated, and betrayed by her own body. It's for the mom in her late 30s and 40s wondering why the rules suddenly changed, and for anyone navigating perimenopause, weight-loss resistance, or the exhaustion of chronic stress. Practical, validating, and full of micro-habits you can start tomorrow morning.   📚 Resources & Links Mentioned: 📍 Deanna's Nourish Program & Website – https://deannadewitt.com/ 📍 Deanna on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/deannadee/ 📍 The Minnesota Starvation Experiment (referenced study) 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas 📍 NEW Website – https://www.modernancestralmamas.com 📍 Earthley – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off)   ✨ Support the Show! 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 💬 Comment below: What's one piece of weight-loss advice you've stopped believing?   #weightloss #perimenopause #hormonehealth #ancestralliving #cyclesyncing #ModernAncestralMamas #RealFood #MotherhoodWellness #MomLife #functionalnutrition 📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas Website | https://www.modernancestralmamas.com

    1hr 40min
  5. 27 May

    Why This Homesteader Is Questioning Everything She Built

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   The crunchy movement has a dogma problem, and even the homesteaders are starting to question it.   In this episode, Corey and Christine sit down with Sarah Stutsman of Wellfolk Revival, a homesteading mom of three teen daughters in Pennsylvania who has spent nearly two decades raising chickens, milking cows, fermenting everything, and teaching community classes in her renovated garage. But Sarah comes to the conversation with a confession: she's been holding her ancestral lifestyle a little too tightly. She's reading *The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry*, taking candle-light showers, and just last week, she bought cereal at the regular grocery store. Not the organic kind. And she's wondering if some of what she's been doing has cost her joy.   Together, they unpack the trap of "perfect" ancestral living, why Sarah is rethinking the high-fat carnivore-leaning approach as she enters her mid-40s, the truth about perimenopause (and whether the word itself is a pharmaceutical invention), and how chronic stress may be spiking our blood sugar without a single bite of food. Corey and Christine also get into the cultural addiction to busyness and self-sabotage, the power of effort-based dopamine, and why Sarah installed a landline in her farmhouse to fight the constant phone reach.   ✨ *Topics Covered in This Episode:* ✔️ Why ancestral living can become its own form of diet culture ✔️ Sarah's countercultural rhythms: candle-light showers, dry brushing, castor oil packs ✔️ Installing a landline in 2026 (and why more families are doing it) ✔️ Cory's no-baby-containers approach with her newborn ✔️ The truth about perimenopause and whether it's a modern construct ✔️ Why indigenous women historically didn't experience perimenopause ✔️ How stress alone can spike blood sugar without food ✔️ Effort-based dopamine vs. instant gratification (and why your brain needs the hard stuff) ✔️ "Power-down hours" for the whole family, including teens ✔️ Raising three daughters with one shared phone ✔️ Why busyness is its own addiction and self-sabotage is a cultural pattern ✔️ The lost art of doing hard things together (canning, processing, putting up food) ✔️ Why your friends actually want to be your burden ✔️ Sarah's Wellfolk Revival community classes and how she built them from scratch   🧠 *More About This Episode:* This episode is for any mama who's deep in the crunchy world and starting to feel the weight of it, anyone questioning whether perfect ancestral living is actually serving her family, and every mom navigating the messy middle of hormonal shifts, teen daughters, and modern motherhood. It's honest, reflective, and a little bit of a permission slip.   📚 *Resources & Links Mentioned:* 📍 *Wellfolk Revival* (Sarah's website, classes, and upcoming hormone guide) – https://www.wellfolkrevival.com 📍 *Sarah on Instagram* – @wellfolkrevival 📍 *The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry* by John Mark Comer 📍 *Join our Patreon Community* – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas 📍 *NEW Website* – https://www.modernancestralmamas.com 📍 *Knead Your Cure Conference* (August 2026 in Oxford, MS) - https://www.kneadyourcure.com/ 📍 *Earthley* – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off)   ✨ *Support the Show!* 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 💬 Comment below: What's one part of crunchy living you've started to question?   #homesteading #perimenopause #ancestralliving #crunchymom #slowliving #ModernAncestralMamas #RealFood #MotherhoodWellness #MomLife #WellfolkRevival   📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1hr 46min
  6. 20 May

    I Did My First Three Postpartums Alone. Here's What Changed With #4

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   The fourth trimester is a lie, and your body knows it.   In this episode, Corey and Christine sit down for a long-overdue catch-up after Christine's maternity leave from the podcast. Now six weeks postpartum with baby #4, Christine shares the realization that's reshaped how she thinks about motherhood: humans aren't built to bounce back. We're "carrier mammals," biologically wired to hold our underdeveloped babies for months after birth, and the cultural expectation to return to "normal" in 12 weeks is working against every instinct our bodies have.   Together, they unpack the three types of mammals (and why it matters for new moms), why Christine says it took her three full years to feel like herself after her last baby, and how doing postpartum #4 with real support, including family, a postpartum chef, and extra help in the home, opened her eyes to what previous postpartums had cost her. Corey and Christine also push back on mommy wine culture, talk about why the most chill moms they know are the ones with the biggest families, and reflect on six years of doing this podcast together.   ✨ *Topics Covered in This Episode:* ✔️ The three types of mammals (nesting, carrier, and follower) and why humans are carriers ✔️ Why babies are essentially "born three months early" and need to be held ✔️ Christine's six-week postpartum update with baby #4 ✔️ Why the fourth trimester is closer to two or three years than three months ✔️ What it's like to do postpartum with a real village vs. completely alone ✔️ Hiring a postpartum chef and why nourishment matters more than restriction ✔️ Why big-family moms are often the most joyful and relaxed ✔️ Pushing back on mommy wine culture and motherhood-as-drudgery ✔️ Corey's new cookbook *What Do I Feed These Kids?*, a real food cheat sheet ✔️ The launch of the Modern Ancestral Mamas website ✔️ Upcoming conferences in 2026, including Need Your Cure in Oxford, MS and Weston A. Price in DC ✔️ Why women were never meant to do postpartum alone   🧠 *More About This Episode:* This episode is for any mom in the trenches of postpartum, any mother who has ever wondered why she didn't feel like herself for years after having a baby, and anyone who needs the reminder that motherhood is a calling worth celebrating, not a chore to survive. It's warm, honest, and a little nerdy about mammal biology. 📚 *Resources & Links Mentioned:* 📍 *What Do I Feed These Kids? A Real Food Cheat Sheet* by Corey – https://www.fornutrientssake.com/shop/p/4xp1fet4qsg0260nqneem6ahlpkq54 📍 *Join our Patreon Community* – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas 📍 *NEW Website* – https://www.modernancestralmamas.com 📍 *Knead Your Cure Conference* (August 14-15, 2026 in Oxford, MS) - https://www.kneadyourcure.com/ 📍 *Weston A. Price Foundation Conference* (October 2026, Washington DC) - https://www.westonaprice.org/get-involved/conferences/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=415527510&gbraid=0AAAAADiY3lq80cXhgOfdh2V-vU5CtgjOj&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlLDQBhDjARIsAPlIefHdvKOKIxAO69qxYuEjEKK1IvRjeA0k2V-qnS4C5pnW3p4Y8IOy3pIaAoxHEALw_wcB#gsc.tab=0 📍 *Masienda* – nixtamalized masa for homemade tortillas - https://masienda.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq1OGBPk3ti3xPzBeHk167J8DKl1hBkJa4H0xcWfFPQNUm-sNCz 📍 *Vitamin T* cookbook by Masienda - https://masienda.com/products/vitamina-t?srsltid=AfmBOop82fVnQmXWMFdXjoehRWzJm_m68M8jT74Zf1R-2qUb6lWUzaYC 📍 *Earthley* – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off)   ✨ *Support the Show!* 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 💬 Comment below: What's one thing you wish someone had told you about postpartum?   #postpartum #fourthtrimester #carriermammals #AncestralLiving #MotherhoodWellness #ModernAncestralMamas #RealFood #PostpartumSupport #MomLife #NewMom 📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1 hr
  7. 13 May

    Gen Z Is Changing the Food System (And It's Working)

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   The generation raised on ultra-processed food is starting to fight back.   In this episode, Corey and Christine welcome Bishaka Chowdhury, a Gen Z health advocate and content creator behind @foodlicious444, for the third installment of their series: Gen Z and How One Generation Is Changing the Future of Food. Born in Bangladesh and raised in the U.S., Bishaka shares how growing up between two food cultures, going vegan and watching her health crash at 80 lbs, and finally returning to nutrient-dense, ancestral eating shaped her mission to wake up her generation to what's really in their food.   Together, they unpack why Gen Z is fed up with ultra-processed everything, how Bishaka's parents developed diabetes after moving to the U.S., and why her mom still drives hours to source real ingredients from her home country. Bishaka gets honest about the cultural pressure to grab fast food on every corner, the "cheat day" mindset that keeps her peers stuck, and why she thinks millennials were "the guinea pig generation" — raised on the food experiment Gen Z is now refusing to continue. ✨ Topics Covered in This Episode: ✔️ Bishaka's journey from vegan health crash to nutrient-dense eating ✔️ Growing up between Bangladeshi food culture and the standard American diet ✔️ How her parents developed diabetes after moving to the U.S. ✔️ Why traditional fats like ghee are being replaced with seed oils — even in cultural cuisine ✔️ The Seed Oil Scout app and finding real food when you eat out ✔️ Why Gen Z is "fed up" and demanding better food quality ✔️ How millennials became the guinea pig generation for ultra-processed food ✔️ Why convenience culture and fast food on every corner keep Gen Z stuck ✔️ The "cheat day" mindset and why it's keeping people sick ✔️ How to date and find like-minded partners outside the club scene ✔️ The rise of Botox, fillers, and plastic surgery in girls as young as 18 ✔️ Practical first steps for parents and teens transitioning to real food   🧠 More About This Episode: Bishaka Chowdhury is a Gen Z health advocate and content creator who shares nutrition and ancestral eating content with her growing community on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook under the handle @foodlicious444. Born in Bangladesh and raised in the U.S., Bishaka studied health sciences in college and quickly realized how little emphasis is placed on real nutrition in mainstream education. After a vegan diet left her depleted and underweight, she returned to nutrient-dense, whole-food eating and now uses her platform to help others — especially her peers — reclaim their health through real food.   This episode is for any parent raising Gen Z or Gen Alpha kids, anyone curious about how the youngest generation is reshaping food culture, and anyone who needs a reminder that whole food living doesn't require a degree — just the willingness to start. It's honest, hopeful, and a little bit feisty.   📚 Resources & Links Mentioned: 📍 Follow Bishaka – @foodlicious444 on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube & Facebook 📍 Seed Oil Scout app – for finding restaurants that don't cook with seed oils 📍 Earthley – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off) 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas   ✨ Support the Show! 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 💬 Comment below: What's one ancestral food tradition from your family or culture that you want to bring back?   #genzhealth #RealFood #AncestralLiving #WholeFood #AntiProcessedFood #MotherhoodWellness #ModernAncestralMamas #SeedOilFree #GuineaPigGeneration #NutrientDense   📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1hr 2min
  8. 6 May

    She Lost 160 Lbs at 17: A Gen Z Transformation

    🌿 Earthley creates truly natural, non-toxic herbal remedies made with simple, real ingredients you can trust. Use code ancestral10 for 10% off → https://www.earthley.com   The generation raised on ultra-processed food is starting to fight back. In this episode, Corey and Christine welcome Penelope, a Gen Z health advocate and co-founder of both the MAHA Girls account and the Step It Ups natural weight loss program, for the second installment of their series: MAHA Girls Gen Z and How One Generation Is Changing the Future of Food. From weighing 320 lbs at 15 and hiding pizza boxes from her health-conscious mom to losing 160 lbs naturally without Ozempic, surgery, or starvation, Penelope's story is a raw look at what ultra-processed food addiction really does to a teenager's body, mind, and family.   Together, they unpack how doctors and therapists told a 320 lb teenager she was "totally fine and healthy," why her therapy sessions served Swedish Fish and gummy bears to kids with anxiety and depression, and what it actually took to break free. Penelope gets honest about stealing money for DoorDash binges, the friends who enabled her eating, and the moment during lockdown when she looked in the mirror and didn't recognize herself. She also shares the simple but powerful approach that changed everything: cut the sugar and flour, make your favorite junk food at home with real ingredients, and move your body every day.   ✨ Topics Covered in This Episode: ✔️ Penelope's journey from 320 lbs and pre-diabetic at 15 to losing 160 lbs naturally ✔️ How ultra-processed food addiction mirrors drug and alcohol addiction ✔️ Why her doctors, therapists, and friends all told her she was healthy at 320 lbs ✔️ The role body positivity culture played in keeping her stuck ✔️ How therapy sessions fed junk food to kids with anxiety and depression ✔️ The hidden dynamics of friends enabling food addiction ✔️ What withdrawal from sugar and flour actually looks like ✔️ How her PCOS, pre-diabetes, and depression disappeared with whole foods ✔️ Why moms speaking negatively about their own bodies deeply impacts daughters ✔️ The Ozempic Chronicles: concerns about GLP-1s being given to children ✔️ Practical advice for college students eating in campus cafeterias ✔️ How to teach kids to read ingredient labels and cook with what they have ✔️ The founding of MAHA Girls and what gives her hope for Gen Z   🧠 More About This Episode: Penelope is a Gen Z health advocate who lost 160 lbs naturally after years of ultra-processed food addiction. Born in Switzerland and raised in California, she went from being unable to walk up stairs at 15 to becoming a passionate voice for whole food living and natural weight loss. Alongside her mother Helen, a nutritional psychology expert, Penelope co-founded the Step It Ups program, helping women lose weight naturally and titrate off GLP-1 medications. She is also a co-founder of the MAHA Girls account alongside Grace and Lexi Noel, where they empower young women to ditch processed food and reclaim their health. Penelope has testified before the Arizona legislature to ban ultra-processed foods from public school lunches.   This episode is for any mom navigating a child's relationship with food, any parent wondering what the body positivity movement is really teaching their daughter, and anyone who needs to hear that dramatic health transformation is possible without drugs or deprivation. It's deeply personal, brutally honest, and full of hope.   📚 Resources & Links Mentioned: 📍 Follow Penelope & Step It Ups – @stepitups on Instagram, TikTok & YouTube 📍 Follow MAHA Girls – @mahagirls on Instagram & TikTok 📍 Book – Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morell 📍 Upcoming Series – The Ozempic Chronicles on the Step It Up Podcast 📍 Earthley – https://www.earthley.com (code: ancestral10 for 10% off) 📍 Join our Patreon Community – https://patreon.com/modernancestralmamas   ✨ Support the Show! 👍 Like & Subscribe for more ancestral motherhood conversations ⭐ Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 💬 Comment below: Have you or your kids ever experienced what it feels like to cut out processed food? What changed?   #genzhealth #MahaGirls #RealFood #AncestralLiving #WholeFood #AntiProcessedFood #MotherhoodWellness #ModernAncestralMamas #NaturalWeightLoss #NoOzempic #ProcessedFoodAddiction #StepItUps   📲 Stay Connected: Patreon Community | https://www.patreon.com/c/ModernAncestralMamas @fornutrientssake | https://www.instagram.com/fornutrientssake/ @nourishthelittles | https://www.instagram.com/nourishthelittles/ @modernancestralmamas | https://www.instagram.com/modernancestralmamas/ YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ModernAncestralMamas

    1hr 16min

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Bringing ancestral food, cooking, eating, and living to the everyday, modern mom.

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