What if the reason you’re tired isn’t motivation…
or age…
or willpower…

…but your cells trying to protect you?

In this episode, we go deeper into the inner world of your mitochondria — the tiny “suns” inside your cells that produce nearly all your energy. And more importantly, we explore the four antioxidant repair systems that determine how well you recover from stress, aging, illness, exercise, concussion, perimenopause, and everyday life:

✨ SOD2 (superoxide dismutase) – your spark catcher
✨ Catalase – your cellular smoke-ventilation system
✨ Glutathione – your master repair crew
✨ NRF2 – your genetic “repair code” activator

You’ll learn how these systems work, why they matter for energy and metabolism, and how your genes influence their efficiency. And you’ll learn the surprisingly simple daily nutrients, foods, and habits that can radically strengthen this entire antioxidant canopy.

BIG NEWS

For the first time all year, two of the DNA companies I partner with are offering Thanksgiving-week pricing on their nutrigenomics panels. These tests help you understand your antioxidant pathways, methylation, detox, hormones, and metabolism on a deeper level.

3x4

https://3x4genetics.com

NutritionGenome

https://nutritiongenome.com

Coming Soon: The Metabolic Restoration Project

A small-group experience where we combine nutrigenomics, metabolic nutrition, mitochondrial support, and daily lifestyle rhythms to help you rebuild energy, hormone balance, and metabolic flow.

If you'd like to be part of this founders group at a deeply discounted price send me a DM @shelleyswapp on instagram or email me at hello@shelleyswapp.com

Episode 4 — Starlight Inside, The Mitochondria Episode

Show Notes / Description

In today’s episode, we zoom inward—into the living universe inside your cells—to explore how your mitochondria (your body’s tiny suns) create the energy that fuels everything you do… and what happens when life burns too hot for too long.

We talk about the ancient origins of your mitochondria, why their DNA is passed almost entirely through your maternal line, and how your mother’s light and your father’s genetic architecture work together to shape your vitality, resilience, and metabolism.

Then we step into the “forest canopy” around your mitochondria—your antioxidant and repair systems—including superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, and the master regulator NRF2.
You’ll learn:

✨ Why stress, infections, chronic busyness, poor sleep, toxins, and nutritional deficiencies can overwhelm your antioxidant canopy
✨ How your body actually protects you by dimming energy (instead of failing)
✨ Why some people rebound quickly and others crash harder
✨ And how daily nourishment rebuilds your internal ecosystem

We also meet “Anna,” a high-performing woman who didn’t realize her exhaustion was a sign of her body protecting her—not betraying her.
Her story will help you understand why energy depletion often isn’t about willpower, but about biology.

Finally, I’ll share a deeply personal story from my herbal medicine training—a free clinic, a big pot of kitchari, and the moment I learned how profoundly simple nourishment can shift the nervous system.

This episode is for you if:

🌱 You’re starting to feel your light dim
🌱 You sense your resilience isn’t what it used to be
🌱 You want to understand your energy, metabolism, and stress response through a genetic + functional lens
🌱 You’re curious how food, nature, and daily rhythm affect cellular repair
🌱 You want to prevent depletion instead of recover from it

You’ll walk away with:

✔ A clearer picture of how your mitochondria create (and protect) your energy
✔ The real role of antioxidants like SOD, catalase, and glutathione
✔ What activates NRF2—and why it matters
✔ Small, doable steps to support your energy even in the middle of a storm
✔ A renewed sense of compassion for your body’s brilliance and design

This isn’t prescriptive.
It’s perspective.
A new way of seeing your energy, your biology, and yourself.

In the next episode, we’ll go deeper into those inner repair mechanisms—Superoxide Dismutase, Catalase, NRF2, and Glutathione—and how your genes shape your efficiency in each pathway.

• Kitchari (Ayurvedic restorative dish) — a simple recipe will be posted on the website

• Interested in DNA-based nutrition? Learn more or schedule a session → Here

• Follow for more insights → @shelleyswapp

🎧 Tune in now — and remember: your light was never lost. It was waiting for nourishment.

Episode Description

What if detox wasn’t about deprivation, but about bringing your body back into flow?

In this episode, Shelley Swapp blends Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy with cutting-edge nutrigenomics to reveal how your body’s natural detox pathways influence hormones, metabolism, and energy. You’ll learn why restoring gentle flow—rather than forcing a cleanse—is the key to long-term balance.

Shelley explains how genes like NRF2, GSTM1, GSTT1, GCLM, and COMT shape your ability to clear hormones and toxins, and how everyday foods, herbs, and joyful practices can switch those genes on again. From the “savings-account” power of glutathione to the hormone-balancing effects of sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts, this episode turns complex biochemistry into everyday wisdom.

“Your genes may show where the river narrows, but your lifestyle is the water itself—bringing life back into those channels, one small, consistent ripple at a time.”

• 🌿 Why true detox is about restoring flow, not restriction

• 🧬 How glutathione works as the body’s “savings account” for resilience

• 🥦 How chopping or chewing cruciferous veggies creates sulforaphane—the compound that flips on the NRF2 pathway

• 🔁 Why sluggish detox can stall hormone balance, thyroid function, and weight loss

• 💃 How movement, meditation, and joy lower cortisol and inflammation so the body feels safe to release weight

• Detox begins inside the cell—glutathione clears the waste so the liver and gut can take it out.

• Missing or slower GST genes don’t doom you; they simply mean nutrition and movement matter even more.

• Activating NRF2 through cruciferous vegetables, herbs, and exercise keeps hormone clearance steady and metabolism responsive.

• Joy and creativity are biochemical resets—down-regulating stress genes and up-regulating repair.

• Glutathione • NRF2 • Sulforaphane • COMT • IL-6 • Broccoli Sprouts • Cruciferous Vegetables

• TCM “river” analogy for detox and flow

• Nutrigenomics Insights Session with Shelley Swapp

• Bryan et al., Molecular Neuropsychiatry, 2018 — Broccoli-sprout supplementation increased blood + brain glutathione (PMC5981770)

• Egner et al., Cancer Prevention Research, 2014 — Broccoli-sprout beverage enhanced pollutant detox (PMID 24913818)

• Zhang et al., Nutrients, 2025 — Sulforaphane activates NRF2 and antioxidant enzymes (MDPI 17(8):1353)

• Kaliman et al., Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2014 — Meditation down-regulated NF-κB inflammatory genes

• Understand how your detox genes influence hormones and weight

• Trade “cleansing” for gentle, daily restoration

• Learn how food, herbs, and joy can literally switch on resilience

🌿 Work with Shelley: Link to Nutrigenomics Insights Session