Metabolic Matters is a podcast exploring health through lived experience. Through conversations with patients, loved ones, and practitioners, the show examines how perspectives shift around metabolism, chronic illness, and rooted health—and how these insights are changing the way we understand care.
Metabolic Matters is a podcast produced by Metabolic Regen.
After Losing Their Son to Suicide: Finding Hope, Healing & Purpose | Joel & Amy Newsom
Season 4 · Episode 14
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 • Duration 01:13:13
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains sensitive discussions of suicide, the loss of a child, and traumatic grief. Please listen with care.
How do you begin to heal after an unimaginable loss? And how do you find purpose when life will never be the same?
In this deeply moving episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason welcomes Joel and Amy Newsom, parents of seven who lost their 13-year-old son, Joshua, to suicide eight years ago.
Joshua was a bright, curious, and loving young boy whose unexpected passing forever changed their family. With Joel deployed overseas at the time, Amy and their children faced a devastating tragedy that would reshape their lives in ways they never imagined.
Joel and Amy share an honest look at their family's journey through grief, including the guilt, anger, trauma, and unanswered questions that followed. They discuss how each family member grieved differently and the role that counseling, EMDR therapy, faith, and community support played in helping them navigate their loss.
Amy also opens up about the physical effects of prolonged grief, including insomnia, weight changes, and chronic stress, and how rebuilding daily habits became part of her healing journey.
Over time, their experiences inspired a new purpose. Amy became a nurse practitioner, and she and Joel founded Newsom Family Wellness, where they now help others navigate difficult health journeys through a personalized, metabolic health approach. One of the most powerful messages from their conversation is the idea of moving from post-traumatic stress to post-traumatic growth. Not because the grief disappears, but because hope, purpose, and healing can exist alongside it.
This is a heartfelt conversation about family, resilience, faith, and finding ways to honor a loved one's legacy by helping others.
If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the United States. Click here to find a list of therapeutic modalities.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Healing Humanity with a Carnivore Diet? Kerry Mann’s Health Journey & Inspired Mission
Season 4 · Episode 13
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 • Duration 01:01:56
As a husband and father of triplets, Kerry Mann wanted to be present for his family, but despite years of searching for answers, he felt increasingly hopeless. Kerry struggled with depression, anxiety, obesity, chronic health issues, and the feeling that he was missing out on the life he wanted to live. He tried all sorts of antidepressant and anti-anxiety medicines, but his mental health did not improve. Instead, the medications left him feeling like a zombie and his deep dark depression remained. His daughter Emma watched it all unfold, quietly carrying her own struggles with health, teenage insecurity, and her own food choices.
In this episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Kerry and Emma Mann, the father-daughter team behind HomeSteadHow and the documentary Healing Humanity. They share how Kerry's search for answers led him to explore ketogenic and carnivore diets, how witnessing his experience challenged Emma's deeply held beliefs about her vegetarian diet, and how their individual journeys eventually became a shared mission. From mental health and metabolic health to the surprising challenges of making a documentary, their story explores what can happen when personal experiences inspire bigger questions—and how one family's search for hope grew into a project dedicated to sharing the healing stories of others.
What She Learned From Her Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Diagnosis w/ guests Ana Sabatino & Dr. Linda Isaacs, MD
Season 4 · Episode 12
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Duration 57:55
Sixteen years after being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, Anna Sabatino looks back on the decisions that changed the course of her life—not just during treatment, but in the years that followed.
In this episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Anna and her physician, Dr. Linda Isaacs, to explore a journey that began with fear, uncertainty, and a determination to become an active participant in her own care. Anna shares her experience navigating conventional cancer treatment before seeking a more comprehensive approach to her long-term health, eventually becoming a patient of the late Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez. Together, Anna and Dr. Isaacs discuss integrative cancer care, nutrition, patient advocacy, stress and the nervous system, and the daily practices that have become part of Anna’s life. It’s a conversation about slowing down after a diagnosis, asking questions, finding practitioners who will partner with you, and Anna’s belief that healing became less about returning to the life she had before cancer and more about creating a different one.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
One Change, Two Transformations: Reversing Memory Loss and Chronic Pain
Season 4 · Episode 11
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 01:23:13
What do you do when you know something is wrong with your health—but the answers you’re getting don’t seem to explain what you’re experiencing?
In this episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Cindy Kennedy and Aaron Mathewson, a husband-and-wife team whose very different health challenges sent them searching for answers. Cindy was navigating early menopause, significant memory loss, and concerns about her brain health, while Aaron was living with chronic pain, repeated injuries, and a body that never seemed to recover the way he expected before eventually being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. When they met, their shared search for answers became part of the foundation of their relationship—and led them into a much deeper exploration of metabolic health, nutrition, functional medicine, lab testing, genetics, and personalized care.
Cindy and Aaron share what began to shift as they learned more about their own bodies, the mistakes and lessons they encountered along the way, and how their definition of health has evolved over more than a decade. It’s a conversation about becoming your own advocate, recognizing that health is deeply individual, and learning when the pursuit of “optimal” health can go too far. Their experiences would also help shape Cindy’s work today as CEO and founder of Metabolic Regen, Ressa Health, and MitoVida—companies focused on advancing education, tools, and resources that support a more individualized approach to health.
What does it mean to thrive while living with cancer for six years? The Woodruff's Inspiring Story
Season 4 · Episode 10
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 01:39:30
This episode of Metabolic Matters is especially powerful because it does not have a neatly packaged ending. Gene Woodruff is still living with cancer.
Host Christina Mason sits down with Gene and his wife, Lynette, for an honest conversation about navigating six years of bladder cancer—including repeated recurrences, difficult treatment decisions, and paths’ forward.
Gene served as a Navy aviator for 28 years, working in demanding operational environments that included disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms, prolonged stress, time away from family, and exposure to numerous environmental contaminants. As he prepared for retirement, blood in his urine led to the discovery of a large tumor and a diagnosis of high-grade bladder cancer.
Suddenly, the future Gene and Lynette had imagined looked very different.
His journey has included surgeries, intravesical treatment, a clinical trial, recurrent disease, and increasingly complex decisions about what to do next. Throughout it all, Lynette became Gene’s “Health CEO”—a diligent researcher, advocate, and partner in his care.
She completed a Metabolic Regen Terrain Advocate Certification, which deepened her understanding of how nutrition, genetics, environment, and other factors influence metabolic health and recovery. She began monitoring Gene’s glucose and ketone levels, reviewing his nutrigenetic data, and using that information to help shape a more individualized approach.
As their knowledge expanded, so did their approach. Alongside dietary changes, metabolic monitoring, and nutrigenetic testing, they explored supplementation, hyperbaric oxygen, intravenous vitamin C, hyperthermia, mistletoe, ozone, and other complementary therapies. Six years into Gene’s journey, they continue to monitor, learn, adapt, and reassess. Rather than allowing fear to dictate every decision, Gene and Lynette have built a life in which cancer is present—but does not consume everything else.
Both share that, if given the choice, they would not go back and prevent the diagnosis. The experience has taught them valuable lessons, deepened their faith, and strengthened their reliance on family, friends, and community.
A Mother’s “No”: Choosing a Different Path After a Childhood Cancer Diagnosis
Season 4 · Episode 9
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 • Duration 01:13:56
What happens when a mother’s intuition screams, “No,” while the experts around her recommend an untested treatment?
“All I could hear was: ‘We are going to poison her, and she may die from the treatment.’ As a mother, my soul screamed no.”
In this edge-of-your-seat episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason speaks with Phenyx Andolsek and her mother, Nicole Andolsek, about a remarkable journey of maternal instinct, advocacy, resilience, and hope.
Phenyx’s health challenges began early in life. After birth complications and years of unexplained symptoms—including double vision and recurring headaches—an MRI revealed a mass near the base of her brain. At age 9, she was diagnosed with mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. Her tumor’s location and the rarity of the disease meant the family faced complex, high-stakes treatment decisions.
After surgery, doctors wanted to follow up with an aggressive conventional treatment plan; Nicole felt an unmistakable warning within her. Determined to explore every possible option, she began contacting doctors, clinics, cancer coaches, and practitioners across the globe. What followed was a three-year journey involving therapeutic nutrition, supplementation, high-dose vitamin C, mistletoe, hyperbaric oxygen, chiropractic care, sauna, detoxification, and a complete restructuring of Phenyx’s daily environment.
At the heart of this conversation is the profound bond between mother and daughter. Nicole reflects on learning to advocate fiercely while still honoring Phenyx’s growing autonomy. Phenyx shares what it meant to listen to her body, trust her instincts, and voice what felt supportive along the way.
Together, they explore the emotional realities of navigating childhood cancer, the importance of faith and community, and the trust required when a healing path looks very different from the one originally presented. Today, Phenyx is thriving, attending college, and preparing for a career in teaching. Their story is a powerful reminder that healing is not only about protocols—it is also about listening, connection, courage, and believing in the wisdom within the person receiving care.
Can Gut Health Be the Missing Piece? A Story of IBS, SIBO & Healing
Season 4 · Episode 8
Tuesday, July 28, 2026 • Duration 54:27
What if your chronic symptoms weren't something you simply had to live with?
In this insightful episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Janet McCorkle and gut health coach Lindsey Parsons for a powerful conversation about persistence, personalized care, and the detective work often required to uncover the root causes of chronic illness.
For decades, Janet struggled with constipation, IBS, kidney stones, recurrent urinary tract infections, and interstitial cystitis. Although she received multiple diagnoses over the years, she often found herself managing symptoms rather than understanding why they were happening. Determined to find answers, Janet began exploring functional medicine, nutritional interventions, and advanced testing that revealed a complex combination of food sensitivities, gut dysfunction, genetic variations, and post-infectious IBS.
Joined by Lindsey Parsons, a certified health coach specializing in gut health, they discuss how personalized testing, microbiome analysis, nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle changes helped Janet make meaningful progress after years of frustration. Together, they explore topics including leaky gut, SIBO, post-infectious IBS, genetic SNPs, oxalates, histamine intolerance, microbiome testing, and why healing often requires addressing multiple interconnected factors rather than a single diagnosis.
Beyond the science, this episode highlights the importance of becoming an active participant in your own health. Janet shares the commitment, patience, and resilience required to make lasting lifestyle changes, while Lindsay emphasizes the value of curiosity, individualized care, and the benefits gained when we doggedly seek metabolic answers.
Whether navigating chronic digestive issues, recurrent infections, or simply wondering if there's another path forward, this conversation highlights that healing often begins when we ask better questions.
Connect with our Guests:
Janet McCorkle:
Her Menopause Symptoms turned out to be Stage III C Ovarian Cancer. Learn the Signs & how she healed.
Season 4 · Episode 7
Tuesday, July 14, 2026 • Duration 01:14:12
Could recognizing the symptoms sooner change the course of a cancer journey?
In this heartfelt episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Trish Kifer, a stage IIIC ovarian cancer survivor and author, and her husband Roger Kifer, for an inspiring conversation about hope, partnership, faith, and whole-person healing.
Trish and Roger vulnerably share Trish’s remarkable journey: from subtle symptoms, including painful intercourse, abdominal pain, incontinence, and feeling full quickly, that were initially attributed to early menopause, to a stage IIIC ovarian cancer diagnosis. Their healing journey extended far beyond conventional treatment and the wisdom they share is priceless.
Together, they discuss the importance of listening to your body, building the right healthcare team, and becoming an active participant in your own healing. As Trish searched for ways to better support her health, she began exploring nutrition, metabolic health, reducing environmental toxins, therapeutic fasting, stress management, sauna use and other lifestyle strategies alongside her medical care.
Trish and Roger also offer an important perspective on navigating cancer as a couple. They reflect on how cancer strengthened their marriage, deepened their faith, and taught them to approach each day with gratitude, purpose, and intention. Roger also shares the often-overlooked experience of the caregiver and the importance of finding support throughout the journey.
More than a story about surviving cancer, this powerful conversation reminds us to trust our intuition, seek answers when something doesn't feel right, and never underestimate the impact of hope, community, and love.
As Trish says, if sharing her story helps even one person seek care sooner, then every step of the journey has been worth it.
Connect with our Guests:
Website:
Four Diagnoses of Triple Negative Breast Cancer & One Unbreakable Spirit: Rochelle Forrest Hankins
Season 4 · Episode 6
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 • Duration 01:06:53
Does perspective impact the path through cancer? For Rochelle Forrest Hankins cancer became a crossroads—where fear and faith diverged, and her choice defined the journey.
In this powerful episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Rochelle Forrest Hankins, a registered nurse, educator, author, and four-time breast cancer survivor, and Dr. Yvonne Teverbaugh, an expert in integrative and metabolic oncology.
Rochelle shares her extraordinary journey after being diagnosed with both estrogen-positive and triple-negative breast cancer. Despite multiple recurrences and a prognosis that often leaves patients feeling powerless, Rochelle chose a different path—one rooted in faith, education, self-advocacy, and holistic healing.
Determined to understand the deeper factors influencing her health, Rochelle partnered with Dr. Yvonne to explore an integrative approach that extended far beyond conventional cancer treatment. Together, they addressed metabolic health, nutrition, sleep, emotional trauma, stress, spirituality, circadian rhythms, and the powerful connection between mind, body, and spirit.
What makes this conversation especially meaningful is the relationship between Rochelle and Dr. Yvonne. Their partnership demonstrates what can happen when a patient becomes an active participant in their healing journey and is supported by a team that sees the whole person—not just the diagnosis.
Throughout the episode, they discuss triple-negative breast cancer, immunotherapy, metabolic oncology, psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI), codependency, trauma, and the importance of building a personalized healing strategy. Rochelle candidly shares how cancer became one of her greatest teachers, helping her establish healthier boundaries, deepen her faith, and reconnect with herself in ways she never imagined.
More than a story about surviving cancer, this episode is a powerful reminder that healing is not a single treatment, protocol, or decision. It is an ongoing journey of awareness, courage, resilience, and learning to trust your inner wisdom.
Rochelle Forrest Hankins, RN, MSM, LE
The Journey from 350 to 150 lbs: Healing Chronic Lyme Disease, Lupus, & Rheumatoid Arthritis
Season 4 · Episode 5
Tuesday, June 16, 2026 • Duration 01:17:40
After 50 years of unhealthy patterns, can someone truly begin again—and heal?
In this inspiring episode of Metabolic Matters, host Christina Mason sits down with Linda Riccio, OT/L, FAOTA, and Dr. Yvonne Teverbaugh, DSc., ND, PhD, MSHN, for a powerful, hope-filled conversation about resilience, intuition, and whole-person healing that goes beyond symptoms and diagnoses.
Linda shares her extraordinary journey—from weighing over 350 pounds and becoming bedridden at age 50 due to an undiagnosed chronic illness to emerging as a healthcare innovator, certified grief counselor, and advocate for lifestyle-based healing. After years of unexplained symptoms, she was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, severe hormonal dysfunction, a brain meningioma and genetic coagulation problems. Determined to understand her body, Linda began working with Dr. Yvonne, opening the door to profound healing and self-discovery.
Together, they explore the complexities of chronic illness, the necessity of individualized care, and the patience and self-compassion required for true transformation and lasting healing. Linda reflects on her evolution from being disconnected from her body to hearing its wisdom loud and clear—and now helping others build that same awareness, resilience, and self-trust.
At the heart of this episode is the enduring partnership and friendship between Linda and Dr. Yvonne. Over more than a decade, they have navigated physical illness, emotional healing, grief, nutrition, and the deep connection between mind, body, and spirit. This conversation is a powerful reminder that healing is not instant—it unfolds over time through small, intentional steps. As Linda puts it, “When progress is personal, it is unstoppable.”
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
My Facebook Gut Healing group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gut.healing.for.you
About Your Host:
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Learn More About the Program Trish took to support her knowledge of metabolic health and healing!
www.metabolicregen.com
About Your Host:
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
Christina Mason is a lifelong storyteller, educator, and truth-seeker whose journey—from music and teaching to entrepreneurship—has always been guided by curiosity. Following her own breast cancer diagnosis, she turned her focus toward metabolic health and healing. As host of Metabolic Matters, she creates space for real people to share real stories and the many paths that shape how we understand health.
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