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Holistic Health with Melissa: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Melissa Armstrong
So many people feel stuck by the limitations of conventional medicine, and that's exactly why I created Holistic Health with Melissa—to take you on a journey from conventional to crunchy! Here, you'll get empowering wellness insights, practical tips, and faith-centered strategies to help you feel your absolute best. In each episode, we'll dig into what true health and wellness really means, we'll dive into nutrition, lifestyle, mindset, and detox, all things so important in your health! Chat about raising kids with intention and living a life of faith. Join me to reclaim your energy, embrace your healthiest life, and find joy and purpose along the way!
Latest Episodes
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- 5 days ago1h 1m
Ep. 77 - "26% More Effective"? What the mRNA Flu Vaccine Data Actually Means
The new mRNA flu vaccine is here. But what does the research actually tell us about its safety and effectiveness? In this episode of Holistic Health with Melissa, Melissa is joined once again by certified Physician Assistant Katie Collins to dig into the research behind the new mRNA influenza vaccine and explore what true informed consent should look like. Together, Melissa and Katie break down the difference between traditional and mRNA vaccines, what researchers actually measured in the clinical trials, and why understanding the way statistics are presented matters when making medical decisions. In this episode, they discuss: • How mRNA vaccines differ from traditional flu vaccines • Relative risk vs. absolute risk and why the difference matters • What the clinical trials reported about effectiveness, hospitalizations, side effects, and deaths • What it means when a vaccine is compared with another vaccine rather than a placebo • Questions surrounding research funding and conflicts of interest • The difference between regulatory approval and the questions patients may still want answered • Why reading beyond the abstract and conclusion of a study matters • How to ask better questions when making healthcare decisions for yourself and your family This conversation isn't about telling listeners what medical decision to make. It's about encouraging people to ask questions, understand the research, look beyond the headlines, and make truly informed decisions for themselves and their families. Because informed consent isn't simply being told that something is "safe and effective." It's understanding the potential risks, benefits, alternatives, and limitations of the evidence and having the freedom to decide what is right for you. Disclaimer: This episode is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always discuss individual healthcare decisions with a qualified healthcare professional. If you are interested in getting support and coaching from Melissa, please reach out at: https://holistichealthbymelissa.com/clarity-call-form If you want to connect with Katie, you can find her here: https://www.instagram.com/katiec.pac/ Fluzone insert: https://www.fda.gov/media/170019/download Mflusiva: https://www.fda.gov/media/194120/download?attachment Robert Malone's substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/modernas-mrna-flu-shot?r=2erzw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
- 1 weeks ago26 min
Ep. 76 - The Hardest Part of Healing That Nobody Warns You About
What if the hardest part of healing isn't the grief, the triggers, or even the pain you're processing? What if it's realizing that the version of you who survived your past can't come with you into your future? In this solo episode, Melissa talks about the identity shift that happens in the messy middle of healing, when old beliefs, coping mechanisms, relationships, and ways of seeing yourself no longer fit. She also shares what her recent viral reels have revealed about her own healing, visibility, rejection, and the beliefs that still get challenged along the way. If you're in a season where you don't quite recognize yourself anymore, this episode is for you. And if you're ready to understand the deeper connection between your mind, body, nervous system, and healing, come join me for my Mind-Body Workshop on September 28. https://holistichealthbymelissa.com/mindbodyhealingworkshop
- 2 weeks ago43 min
Ep. 75 - Trauma Response vs. Identity Expansion: How to Tell the Difference
Not every uncomfortable feeling means something is wrong. Sometimes it means you're growing. This week, Melissa is joined by Jamie Javed, a former ER and trauma nurse turned founder of the Weightless Woman movement, and one of Melissa's own coaches and closest friends. The conversation grew out of something Jamie posted on Instagram that Melissa couldn't stop thinking about: the moment nervous system regulation quietly turns into another form of avoidance. Together, they dig into a distinction most women have never been taught. Trauma activation and identity expansion can feel almost identical in the body, the same racing heart, the same tight stomach, the same pull to retreat. But one is asking you to regulate and find safety. The other is asking you to stay and keep going. Jamie shares how she learned to tell the two apart in her own life, including the decision to walk away from a ten-year marriage, and how that same discernment shows up in her work helping women pursue lasting weight loss without losing themselves in the process. In this episode, you'll hear: Why breathwork, journaling, and other regulation tools can sometimes become a way to avoid the action that actually creates change How to tell whether a feeling is trauma asking for safety, or growth asking you to expand What it means to become "unavailable" for an old identity so something new has room to arrive Why the supplements, the diets, the routines aren't the fix If this conversation stirs something in you, Melissa would love to walk alongside you. Her Freedom Collective is a six-month 1:1 coaching container with a community element that blends nervous system work, mindset, and Christ-centered identity healing, because you were never meant to do this alone. Schedule a Clarity Call to see if it's the right fit. To connect with Jamie, find her on Instagram at @iamjamiecatherine.
- 3 weeks ago59 min
Ep. 74 - When Asking Questions Becomes Dangerous: A Nurse's Story of COVID, Medical Freedom & Faith
In this powerful episode of Holistic Health with Melissa, Melissa sits down with her best friend, Stevie Silvers, a registered nurse and former hospital charge nurse, to hear the story of what happened when she began asking questions during COVID. Stevie takes listeners back to March 2020 and shares what she actually experienced working inside the hospital during the pandemic, including the disconnect she witnessed between what was being reported publicly and what she was seeing firsthand, the staffing crisis within healthcare, and the growing pressure to follow protocols without question. As Stevie began asking why, she found herself increasingly scrutinized by hospital leadership. She questioned masking policies, testing requirements, natural immunity, patient care protocols, and eventually the COVID vaccine mandate. Despite her efforts to find a way to remain compliant while protecting her health and keeping her job, Stevie was ultimately fired after 11 years of nursing, including time as a highly respected permanent charge nurse and recipient of a national Magnet Award for Transformational Leadership. Stevie shares what it was like to walk out of the hospital after giving so much of her career to caring for patients, how COVID changed her relationships and her trust in the healthcare system, and why she believes questioning medical decisions should be a fundamental part of informed consent. The conversation also goes deeper into the problems Stevie and Melissa see within modern healthcare, including standardized treatment, the loss of individualized patient care, fear-driven decision-making, and the growing divide between patients and the medical professionals they once trusted. But ultimately, this is a story about more than COVID or healthcare. It is a story about conviction, courage, integrity, medical freedom, and faith. After losing her career and many relationships, Stevie reflects on how God met her in the middle of the uncertainty and how the experience ultimately strengthened her relationship with Jesus and changed the way she views her calling in healthcare. If you've ever felt afraid to question a medical recommendation, pressured to make a decision you weren't comfortable with, or wondered whether there is a better way to approach your health and healthcare, this conversation is one you won't want to miss. What happens when asking questions becomes dangerous? And what are you willing to risk to stand by what you believe is right? If you are looking for someone to support you in your health journey,apply to work with Melissa here: https://holistichealthbymelissa.com/clarity-call-form
- Aug 20, 202632 min
Ep. 73 - Are We Treating the Problem or Just the Symptoms? The Truth about Antidepressants
Are antidepressants actually treating the root cause of depression and anxiety, or are we simply managing symptoms? In this episode of Holistic Health with Melissa, Melissa is joined by Katie Collins, PA-C, a physician assistant with experience in family medicine, urgent care, and lifestyle medicine who now helps parents make more informed health and medical decisions. Katie and Melissa have a candid conversation about antidepressants, SSRIs, informed consent, and the research behind the medications so many people are prescribed. They talk about the long-standing "chemical imbalance" theory of depression, what the research actually tells us about serotonin, the limitations of antidepressant clinical trials, placebo comparisons, conflicts of interest in research, and why reading beyond the abstract matters. They also discuss what can get overlooked when depression and anxiety are reduced to a diagnosis and a prescription, including nutrition, sleep, hormones, blood sugar, nervous system dysregulation, trauma, identity, relationships, lifestyle, and spiritual health. As Christians, Katie and Melissa also explore an important question: What happens when we begin to see ourselves as "broken" or defined by a diagnosis rather than seeing ourselves through the lens of who God created us to be? This is a thought-provoking conversation about informed consent, asking better questions, looking beneath symptoms, and becoming more empowered participants in our own healthcare. If you are interested in working with Melissa, apply here for a free clarity call to see what option is the best fit for you: https://holistichealthbymelissa.com/clarity-call-form Connect with Katie: Find Katie on Instagram at @katie.c.pac for more conversations about conventional and "crunchy" approaches to health, informed decision-making, and navigating healthcare as a parent. This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Do not start, stop, or change any medication without guidance from your qualified healthcare provider.
- Aug 13, 202642 min
Ep. 72 - Vaccines and the Missing Piece: Informed Consent
Informed consent is the right to know the full risks, benefits, and alternatives before saying yes to any medical treatment, and it's something Melissa believes every parent and patient deserves. This week, Melissa sat down with Katie Collins, a certified physician assistant known online as Katie the PA, for a conversation about what informed consent actually looks like and how often it's missing from routine medical care. Katie shares her own path from working in urgent care and family medicine to educating parents on the childhood vaccine schedule, along with what her physician assistant training left out entirely. The conversation moves through the gaps in vaccine clinical trials, the financial incentives built into pediatric care, and how so many mothers are told their child's reaction to a vaccine is "just a coincidence." In this episode, you'll hear: What true informed consent requires before any vaccine or medical procedure The training gaps Katie experienced in physician assistant school around vaccine risk The three core flaws in vaccine clinical trials This conversation is part of a bigger picture for Melissa: helping women feel informed, supported, and empowered in their health decisions. If this conversation struck something in you, consider scheduling a Clarity Call with Melissa to see if her six-month 1:1 coaching container with a community element, the Freedom Collective, is a good fit for you. Healing was never meant to happen alone, and she would love to walk the journey with you. To connect with Katie Collins and learn more about informed consent and vaccine education, find her on Instagram at @katiec.pac or reach her directly at katie@katieccontent.com.
- Aug 6, 202657 min
Ep. 71 - What really happened behind the scenes of COVID?
In this deeply personal solo episode of Holistic Health with Melissa, Melissa shares the story she's never fully told before. After a recent social media reel about her experience as an RN during the COVID-19 pandemic reached millions of people, listeners asked for the full story. This episode is that story. Melissa takes you behind the scenes of working inside the traditional medical system before and during the pandemic, navigating pregnancy, caring for patients, questioning what she was witnessing firsthand, and ultimately walking away from a career she once believed was her calling. In this episode, you'll hear: • What it was like working as a registered nurse during COVID • The experiences that changed her perspective on healthcare • How fear, burnout, and moral injury affected healthcare workers • Why she believes informed consent matters • How these experiences ultimately led her to build a different approach to healing Whether you agree with every conclusion or not, this episode is an honest account of one nurse's personal experience and the journey that shaped the work she does today. Today, Melissa helps women move from survival to freedom by addressing the root causes of emotional and physical symptoms through a trauma-informed, faith-based approach that integrates nervous system regulation, nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and biblical truth. Interested in working with Melissa? Applications are currently open for Freedom 1:1, her six-month, high-touch coaching experience for women who are ready to heal from the inside out. There are 2 spots open and applications close soon. Learn more and apply here: https://holistichealthbymelissa.com/clarity-call-form
- Jul 30, 202617 min
Ep. 70 - A Guided Meditation to Help Bring Stillness, Connection to Your Body, and Get Into Flow
Sometimes the deepest healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from learning how to stop. Last week, Melissa sat down with Laurie Smith, author of The Flow Habit, for a powerful conversation about reconnecting to stillness and finding flow. If you missed episode 69, go back and listen first. This week's episode is a little different. At the end of that conversation, Melissa and Laurie began talking about the meditations Laurie creates to help people access flow, and Laurie offered to record one just for this community. This episode is that meditation. Laurie guides listeners through a gentle breathing and grounding practice, an invitation to slow down, soften, and reconnect with the flow that is already part of who you are, whether you are settling in for the night, waking up for the day, or simply need a moment of stillness in the middle of it all. It's a good fit for anyone who feels disconnected from their body, overwhelmed by the noise of daily life, or in need of permission to simply rest in the present moment. In this episode, you'll experience: A guided meditation to help you slow down and reconnect with your body A grounding practice to calm the nervous system and settle into the present moment An invitation to release old patterns and open your heart to receive A gentle reminder that flow and stillness are already within you If this episode sparks something in you, Melissa would love to walk alongside you on your healing journey. Consider her Freedom Collective, a six-month 1:1 container with a community element, because you don't have to heal alone. Schedule a Clarity Call with Melissa to see if this work is a good fit for you. To connect with Laurie Smith and learn more about flow state, find her at lauriesmith.com or theflowhabit.com. Her book, The Flow Habit, is available anywhere books are sold and on Amazon.
About Holistic Health with Melissa
So many people feel stuck by the limitations of conventional medicine, and that's exactly why I created Holistic Health with Melissa—to take you on a journey from conventional to crunchy! Here, you'll get empowering wellness insights, practical tips, and faith-centered strategies to help you feel your absolute best. In each episode, we'll dig into what true health and wellness really means, we'll dive into nutrition, lifestyle, mindset, and detox, all things so important in your health! Chat about raising kids with intention and living a life of faith. Join me to reclaim your energy, embrace your healthiest life, and find joy and purpose along the way!
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