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093 | From Frustration to Function: Seeking Alternative Healthcare to Feel Your Best with Jena Ochsner

  • Emily Reuschel
  • Apr 24, 2024
  • 5 min read

Gather in Growth Podcast episode #001

LISTEN TO FROM FRUSTRATION TO FUNCTION: SEEKING ALTERNATIVE HEALTHCARE TO FEEL YOUR BEST WITH JENA OCHSNER ON: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Your player of choicePodcast


I’m joined by my incredible friend, Jena Ochsner, on the podcast today!


Jena and I both have been on our own journeys with functional medicine over the last few years, though hers has been pretty wild! We’ve experienced that feeling of something ‘not quite right’ in our bodies and with our health, even though we’ve been told what’s going on is ‘normal’. Jena is a former labor and delivery nurse, who recently fully stepped into her role as farm wife, mom, business owner, and all the things! After dealing with debilitating headaches (and just feeling overall crummy) for a decade, and no clear answers or support from her medical providers, she eventually turned to functional medicine. Fast forward to today – Jena has healed herself from the inside out. She’s passionate about living a healthier, ‘crunchy’ lifestyle, and she continues advocating for herself and her family.


Jena and I are talking more about pursuing alternative healthcare for your family, and why it’s not a bad thing to ‘go against the grain’ in this way. While it would be wonderful for western and functional medicine to co-exist and actually work together to truly support people (because they are BOTH very necessary), that’s just not how it’s set up in our society. Many traditional doctors (and the western medical system as a whole) aren’t interested in getting to the root cause of someone’s health concerns, but instead, simply treating the symptom(s) by prescribing synthetic medications. This ties in with the American food system we’ve come to know allll too well today. So much of what we’re consuming on a daily basis was NOT designed for our bodies to have in the first place – it was simply built out of convenience. Sadly, when we’re healthy, self-sufficient, and really understand what’s going on with our bodies, the economy doesn’t benefit like it does when we’re sick, depleted, and barely surviving.


We definitely went down a LOT of interesting rabbit holes in this episode! Jena and I both know how scary and isolating it can feel when you’re navigating difficult health challenges, and it seems like you’ll just have to live with your symptoms forever. However, pursuing alternative healthcare for you and your family will give you more options; you can find hope for healing, and get to a place of thriving and flourishing in your everyday life!


Jena Ochsner is a former labor and delivery nurse turned full time farmer, entrepreneur, farm wife, and advocate for all things agriculture. She lives and works with her husband, Levi, on his family’s 5th generation farm with their three boys where they raise corn, soybeans, cattle, and country kids. She shares their daily life on the farm on social media, she ships their homegrown beef from their farm to families all across the country. She also dives deep into all of the above over on her podcast, Beyond the Crops with co-host Mary Pat Sass. Along with agriculture, Jena is passionate about her faith and living an overall healthy lifestyle, all while enjoying the great outdoors with her family.


In this episode about from frustration to function: seeking alternative healthcare to feel your best, we cover:

  • Jena’s wild story of dealing with debilitating headaches & migraines for years with no clear answers from western medicine, to eventually finding functional medicine support and reclaiming her health

  • What MTHFR is + how eliminating folic acid and artificial dyes have greatly impacted Jena’s health

  • Learning to trust yourself and your intuition, and not be afraid to ask questions (even if it’s going to ruffle some feathers)

  • Knowing there are benefits to western medicine (and it IS needed), while also wishing western and functional medicine could work together to truly support people

  • The ‘golden handcuffs’ that is health insurance + other insurance options that can still work for you and your family

  • Understanding that you can find healing on your health journey, no matter how bleak or isolating your symptoms feel like right now

  • Really evaluating how certain foods and drinks make your body feel (gluten, dairy, alcohol, etc.), and the dramatic perspective shift that comes from doing so

  • The overly-processed American food system that was built out of ‘convenience’ + its connection with modern medicine

  • Choosing to invest in your health now, because you’ll either pay for your wellness or pay for your sickness

  • How living a healthier, ‘crunchy’ lifestyle can still exist with current farming and ag practices


Connect with Jena:


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More about the Gather in Growth podcast: 

Gather in Growth is more than a podcast—it’s a sanctuary for women coming home to themselves and each other. A sacred space to expand horizons, reignite our power, and live unapologetically as our fullest, most authentic selves.


Hosted by Emily Reuschel, this is a gathering place for the doers, dreamers, and seekers who crave connection, purpose, and meaningful impact. Through raw conversations and soul-deep reflections, we’ll embrace curiosity, step to the edges of our comfort zones, and defy expectations.


Picture this: women gathered around a fire, sharing stories with open hearts—connecting, healing, and evolving together. That’s the spirit of Gather in Growth. This is our space to awaken and embody the lives we’ve been yearning for—lives rooted in alignment, guided by intuition, and built with intention.


If you’re ready to move beyond limits and labels, cultivate deep inner trust, and courageously embrace the magic of who you are, then welcome home. Together, let’s Gather in Growth.


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