May 5, 2025 • 23 mins
5 Small Steps To A Healthier You: Transforming Your Body For a Purpose
In episode three of 'Life On Purpose,' Heather discusses the importance of health and how to achieve it through five actionable steps. She emphasizes the necessity of small, incremental changes over drastic resolutions that don't last. Topics include stopping excuses, reducing added sugar, moderating alcohol intake, ensuring adequate sleep, and managing snacks. Heather ties the importance of health to fulfilling God's purpose, encouraging viewers to make mindful decisions for a better life. The episode concludes with a preview of the next episode, which will focus on healthy self-talk.
00:00 Introduction to Episode Three
01:17 The Importance of Small Steps
02:27 Why Health Matters for Your Purpose
03:29 Step 1: Stop Making Excuses
07:07 Step 2: Cut Down on Added Sugar
11:25 Step 3: Moderation with Alcohol
13:46 Step 4: The Importance of Sleep
16:18 Step 5: Managing Snacks
20:05 Conclusion and Next Week's Preview
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey ladies.
Welcome back to episode three ofLife On Purpose.
I'm Heather, and I'm so excitedto dive into today's topic with
you.
We're talking about the body andhow we can make small,
intentional steps toward beingthe healthiest version of
ourselves so we can impact theworld for Jesus.
Now, don't worry, this isn'tgoing to be one of those two
(00:24):
hour podcast videos that firehoses you with so much
information that you can'tremember half of it.
Nope.
We're gonna be taking it slow,keeping it simple, starting with
five actionable steps that youcan do that will incrementally
make a difference.
And we might just laugh a littlebecause let's face it, while our
health is serious, life is tooshort not to laugh along the
(00:47):
way.
And I've heard laughter is goodmedicine.
So grab your coffee or maybeyour green smoothie if you're
feeling a little extra healthytoday or guilty, I don't know.
And let's chat about how we canlive not just longer lives, but
better lives.
Here's my mantra for my healthright now.
I don't want to be the youngestperson in the nursing home.
(01:10):
I want to be the oldest personin the gym.
I need that cross stitched on apillow somewhere.
Let's do this.
Okay, so let's start with this.
Have you ever tried to changeeverything about your health all
at once?
You know, like on January 1stwhen you decide you're gonna eat
clean, work out every day,meditate and pray, drink a
(01:30):
gallon of water and sleep eighthours a night all at once.
Yeah.
How'd that go for you?
I'm filming this in April.
Don't ask me how it went for me.
I've been there.
Probably more times than I careto admit.
Really, it's like trying toclimb a ladder where the rungs
are spaced 10 feet apart.
You'd have to lift your ankle upto your ear just to get to the
(01:51):
first step.
I'm gonna assume you canvisualize this so that I don't
have to try and demonstrate it.
I might need an ambulance.
My husband actually sent me thismeme a couple of weeks ago that
showed two ladders.
One with normal steps and onewith giant gaps.
And the title was The Importanceof Smaller Steps, and it hit me.
(02:13):
Success comes from smallincremental steps, not from
trying to take giant leap wherewe do it all at once.
That's what we're gonna dotoday, breaking it down into
bite-size changes that actuallystick.
Now before we get into the nittygritty, let's talk about why
this matters.
I mean, sure, we all wanna feelgood.
(02:34):
We all wanna look good.
There's nothing wrong with that,but there's a deeper perspective
here.
What if God calls you to dosomething big, like fly across
the world to serve in anorphanage or help rebuild a
community after a disaster?
If your body isn't healthyenough to say yes, then what?
(02:56):
You sit on the sideline whilesomebody else gets to be a
blessing to someone in need.
And by the way, receive a rewardin heaven.
AKA.
My last video, shameless plug,this was a wake up call for me.
I don't want my health or lackof it to hold me back from
living out my purpose.
So whether your why is aboutbeing there for your kids,
(03:18):
showing up for your grandkids,or being able to say yes to the
big things that God has for you,it's time we stop making excuses
and start caring.
Speaking of excuses, number one.
Stop making excuses and startcaring, you know, excuses.
We all have them for why wecan't work out, why we can't
(03:41):
eat, right, why we deserve thechips or the cake or the glass
of wine.
We all make excuses, but arethey really valid excuses?
Do we really not have the timeto work out or shop better?
Can we really not make betterchoices with what we feed
ourselves?
I've made excuses before where Ipassed the Krispy Kreme donuts
(04:01):
in the supermarket.
It's like they intentionally putthem right at the checkout area
so that you have to walk rightby them and see them.
It is so annoying.
There's times when I just wantedto accidentally ran my cart into
the display, knocking it overentirely.
But there's surveillancecameras, so.
(04:23):
Instead, I've thought to myselfon more than one occasion, I'll
just do it this once and getback on track tomorrow.
Also, it wasn't the entire dozenbox, it was the half dozen box.
So that's way better.
Right, and I'm about to get realhere, because if we don't get
real, we are wasting our time.
(04:44):
Here it is.
I have sat in my car in theparking lot and ate three of
those six donuts.
Then felt sick and guilty andthrown the rest of them away
before I got home so that nobodyknew that I did it.
Then I would get home and talkto my kids about why we
shouldn't be eating excessivesugar.
I hope my kids aren't watchingor hearing this right now, but I
(05:07):
made the excuse because I don'tdo it all the time.
Now, I'm not saying that youcan't ever have a donut.
There will be donuts in heaven,I'm sure, but if I had to eat
this in my car with no onewatching, what am I really
doing?
Clearly there is somethingwrong.
Am I the only one?
Maybe.
But I kind of doubt it.
(05:28):
I had to retrain my thinking totell myself that feeling good,
having energy not causing mybody to become insulin resistant
was worth skipping the fiveminutes of momentary
satisfaction of eating donuts.
I've struggled with this formost of my life, and for the
most part, I have been able tokeep the monster at bay enough
to stay moderately healthy.
(05:51):
Most people who know me wouldlikely have no idea that this is
a struggle for me, but the olderI've gotten, the more it has
become a struggle and the harderit is to combat and it's not
gonna get any easier.
I am not getting any younger.
I decided that it was time tostop making the occasional
excuse that quite frankly turnedinto more of an occasional
excuse if I'm not careful andchoose to care about my health
(06:14):
enough.
I also had to realize that asthe primary cook in my home, I
was instilling in my husband andmy children a lifestyle of
either health or harm.
We as moms or wives are usuallythe ones that provide the food
for the house.
And while it might seem fairlyinnocent to have snacks and
chips and junk food when they'relittle, it's creating a
(06:36):
lifestyle and a pattern of tastebuds and preferences that they
will carry into their adulthood.
Thankfully, I believe there is abit of a shift happening in our
society towards more natural,organic, healthy food, which is
great, but it's something westill need to be very aware of.
So I stopped making excuses andstarted caring about myself and
(06:58):
my family enough to make achange.
I don't succeed every day, butremember, small steps still
climbs the ladder.
Number two added sugar.
If you do a deep dive into theamount of things that have added
sugar in them that you wouldn'teven expect they would be in, or
you wouldn't expect they wouldbe the level that they're at,
(07:20):
you'd be really, reallysurprised.
Sugar is added to almosteverything in the standard
American diet.
Things that we expect to besavory.
Are loaded with sugar like pastasauce, salad dressings, ketchup,
marinade, soups, not to mentionall the things that are
processed that we already knowhave a lot of added sugar.
(07:42):
And sometimes they're hidden sowell in the ingredient lists, in
the labels or used big words.
We don't even recognize When welived in Switzerland for two
years, we ate their food.
We got used to their pasta,their pizza, the sauces, et
cetera, desserts.
After about six months, we cameback to the United States for a
visit.
And one of our family membersordered a pizza from Domino's.
(08:04):
Now, this was something that wehad done all the time before we
had moved to Switzerland, butwhen we had come back after six
months and we tried it, everyone of our family members was
shocked at how sweet the pizzatasted.
We'd never experienced thatbefore, but having gotten used
to a sauce that didn't havesugar in it, it was actually
like eating dessert pizza withpepperoni.
(08:27):
It was gross and really weird.
But I mean, is sugar really allthat bad?
Let's take a closer look.
Start with your cardiovascularhealth Studies show that
consuming too much sugarincreases the risk of heart
disease and stroke.
High sugar diets are associatedwith increased blood pressure,
chronic inflammation, highertriglyceride levels, all risk
(08:51):
factors for cardiovasculardisease.
Another study found thatindividuals who consumed more
added sugar had a 38% higherrisk of dying from
cardiovascular disease comparedto those who consumed less.
So if you want your hearthealthy, less sugar.
Now an obvious one would beweight gain and obesity.
(09:13):
Sugar, especially in liquidforms like sugary beverages, can
lead to weight gain.
These drinks don't curb hungerand they make it easy to consume
excess liquid calories.
And these things hit your bloodsystem so much faster in liquid
form and lead to potentialinsulin resistance.
Obesity, often linked toexcessive sugar intake is a
(09:34):
significant risk factor forother various health issues,
including diabetes.
How about your liver?
Excessive fructose intakecommonly referred to as high
fructose corn syrup can lead tonon-alcoholic fatty liver
disease.
The liver converts the excessfructose into fat.
And studies have shown thatpeople who consume sugar
(09:56):
sweetened beverages daily have a56% higher risk of developing
non-alcoholic fatty liverdisease.
Now listen, if I'm gonna havefatty liver disease, it's gonna
be from a margarita, not from adonut.
I'm just saying.
I mean, I don't need fatty liverdisease at all, but you know
(10:16):
what I mean?
And now women, maybe the onethat we care the most about, we
shouldn't, but we do skin aging.
Did you know that sugar canaccelerate skin aging by
attaching to proteins in thebloodstream, which creates
harmful molecules called ags.
It's advanced glycation endproducts.
(10:39):
I am so butchering that I know.
But these damage collagen andelastin leading to wrinkles and
sagging skin.
I'm sorry, did you just saythat?
Sugar causes wrinkles.
I'm out.
And finally, cognitive function.
High sugar diets have beenlinked to impaired memory and an
(11:00):
increased risk of dementia.
Alzheimer's disease and stroke.
Yikes.
So now I read the nutritionlabels like a hawk and try to
find things that have minimal tono sugar in them, which
sometimes unfortunately means Igotta make things on my own.
Sauces and salad dressings andmarinades.
Some of those things you reallyjust have to make on your own
(11:23):
and really they're not thathard.
Number three, alcohol.
Speaking of fatty liver disease,now I don't have anything
against alcohol in moderationand honestly, occasionally my
husband and I will have a glassof wine at dinner if we're out
or at, we're at an event.
However, I've been tracking mysleep, which I'll get into a
(11:44):
little more in detail in 0.4,but as an experiment, I've
tracked the nights that I'veconsumed a glass of wine and how
it affected my sleep, and it'squite frankly, dramatic.
If you look at the research,while alcohol might make you
initially feel drowsy, itactually interferes with your
(12:04):
deep REM sleep and you will nothave restorative sleep as a
result.
And if you're a woman enteringany type of the lovely menopause
or perimenopause, this willaffect you even more.
'cause you're already strugglingwith sleep.
So while if you're in yourtwenties, you might be able to
consume alcohol and not have itaffect your sleep dramatically.
(12:25):
The older you get, the more itwill add in those added calories
from the alcohol.
it just makes it not reallyworth it at all.
So what does it actually do toour sleep?
Well, it suppresses REM sleep inthe first half of the night.
It decreases your overall sleepduration and increases the sleep
(12:45):
disturbance or the amount oftimes that you wake up.
It reduces the amount ofrestorative sleep, which is the
deep sleep, the slow wave sleepthat we all need.
It also aggravates symptoms ofsnoring and sleep apnea.
So grab that beer out of yourhusband's hand and chuck it in
the garbage because the snoringis killing you too much.
(13:07):
Maybe moving on.
I have discovered some fairlyfun mocktails and even some
sugar free ones that can helpyou when you're wanting to have
something kind of fun, justsearch it up on Instagram or
TikTok mocktails.
There's a bunch of restaurantsthat are actually coming up with
great ones too.
You just have to be careful ofthe sugar content in some of
(13:28):
those.
My husband and I have found thatordering club soda with lime at
restaurants is actually reallysatisfying.
It's hydrating and it feels likeyou're drinking something fancy
besides just water.
I mean, bubbles are always fun.
Do you ever outgrow bubbles?
I don't know.
Number four, staying up late.
(13:49):
I for one am a night owl.
The life of the party.
I love hanging out and stayingup late watching movies, playing
games, and quite frankly, Ireally actually like to sleep
in.
My husband, however, is thepolar opposite of that, and
wants to go to bed at 4:00 PMOkay, maybe not 4:00 PM Well,
actually, he probably would liketo go to bed at 4:00 PM but he
(14:10):
has to work, so he settles fornine now for a while.
I just let him go to bed at 9:00PM and would stay up until 11
and then sneak my way in tryingnot to disturb him by taking
approximately 15 minutes tocrawl into a bed that creaks
like crazy so that it didn'tmove and there was no creaking
sounds.
However, when I started trackingmy sleep, I realized that by
(14:31):
staying up until 11, thengetting into bed, not really
getting to sleep for 30 minutesor so later, I was not getting
enough sleep.
And it was affecting my mood.
Don't ask any of my familymembers how it affected my mood.
It just did.
It also affected my energy andjust overall the way that I
(14:52):
felt.
It turns out we really do needto get an appropriate amount of
sleep.
And a good quality of sleep inorder to be functioning at an
optimal level, you could workout right and be doing
everything else well.
But if you are not sleepingwell, all of those other things
are gonna be working in adiminished capacity.
(15:13):
but how important is it really?
sleep actually affects thebody's use of energy and
supports weight management.
I wonder if I could lose weightsleeping.
I should really sleep more.
Even one night of a missed sleepcan create a pre-diabetic state
in an otherwise healthyindividual.
Seriously, one night.
(15:34):
Sleep is essential for optimalbrain function and mental
wellbeing, emotional regulation.
It helps manage the physicalpsychological effects of stress
so that we don't kill ourfamilies.
I may have added that last part.
It helps cognitive performance,improves focus, concentration,
(15:55):
judgment, and decision makingability.
Like how many things in yourAmazon cart should you actually
buy?
For me, I have found that by noteating past 7:00 PM not
consuming added sugar and nothaving alcohol has been a major
net positive on my personalsleep.
I occasionally still have arager and stay up till 11, such
(16:17):
a party animal.
Finally, number five, snacks.
Dang it.
Snacks.
I love snacks.
I love snacks at baseball games,football games, soccer games.
I don't even watch soccer games.
TVs, movies, 2:00 PM 9:00 PM11:00 AM is there really a bad
time for a snack.
Unfortunately, the answer isyes.
(16:39):
Snacks can absolutely destroy agood diet or a good diet plan or
any plan at all.
I had to learn that when I atesnacks, those were the times
that I tended to overindulgebecause I wasn't typically
counting the calories of thesnacks or paying attention to
how much of the snack I waseating.
(17:00):
I mean, put me in front of abowl of chips and salsa and I
dare you to eat more than i'll.
You start munching at arestaurant, and before you know
it, you've consumed 500 caloriesworth of tortilla chips, all
while justifying that the salsais just made of veggies.
So that's good for you, right?
I mean, they're veggies afterall.
(17:20):
So I've had to cut off snacksfor the most part and
intentionally plan out my meals,but I am not telling you to cut
out all of your snacks at once.
And an occasional snack is fine.
Once you've mastered controlover it, what I would recommend
you do is make a food log forone week of everything you eat
without changing anything.
(17:41):
Now stop for a second.
I know that that's hard becauseif you're like me, when somebody
says make a food log, suddenlyyou wanna change everything that
you actually eat and just likelist carrot sticks.
You know, because you don'treally want anyone to know that
you just ate an entire sleeve ofOreos last night at 11:00 PM but
(18:03):
actually do it for a week.
Eat the way you normally eat.
Count how many times you've hada snack.
That's anything from one Oreo toa handful of peanuts to a piece
of fruit.
Anytime that you are eatingsomething in between your normal
meals, then look back and seethe average snacks per day, and
(18:25):
then the next week, eat oneless.
If you found that you had threesnacks a day, cut it back by one
and have two snacks a day forone week.
Then the next week, cut thatback by one and have one snack a
day, and then none.
And try to pre-plan those snacksin the morning.
Like, decide today I'm going toeat a candy bar at 2:00 PM and
(18:47):
three oreos at 10:00 PM andthat's what I'm gonna have as a
snack.
Don't change what the snacksare.
You don't have to make themhealthy.
This is such great nutritionadvice.
Nutritionists, don't come forme.
Just hear me out.
Just plan them.
Write them down when you've hada snack so that you know you've
had one, and that you're down byone and systematically pull back
(19:11):
from your snacks so that you canactually achieve the goal of
eliminating unnecessary snacks.
Remember, the way we accomplishtransformation is incremental
change over time.
And in community, that's whatwe're doing.
We're incrementally scaling backthe snacks over time.
(19:31):
If you can grab a friend to doit with you so that you can have
some accountability and be incommunity, do it and then watch
how you feel.
You don't have to be drastic, aswe discussed at the beginning,
drastic resolutions don'tusually last.
Now, if you've been eatinghealthy already and this isn't
something that you need, that'swonderful.
(19:55):
Maybe you don't need to changeall five of these things.
Maybe you just need to focus onone.
Or maybe you need to helpsomeone else that you love,
implement one.
But the overall goal is to notonly affect change in our
bodies, but live as an exampleto our families of how our
bodies can be lived as a holytemple to the Lord, a living
(20:18):
sacrifice, willing and able todo the things that he has called
us to do.
First Corinthians six, 19through 20 says.
Do you not know that your bodiesare a temple of the Holy Spirit?
Who is in you, whom you havereceived from God?
You are not your own.
You were bought at a price,therefore, honor God with your
(20:41):
bodies.
We were bought with a price.
We are not our own.
We house the temple of the HolySpirit living in us.
What kind of temple are weoffering him?
Is it a shack or a beautifulhome?
Now let me be really real herefor a minute.
This isn't a shame or guiltvideo if You struggle with any
(21:03):
of this.
You are not alone.
I am not alone.
That donut episode the last timewas about a month ago.
Don't listen to the lies of theenemy telling you that you're
worthless or guilty or unseen.
You'll never change.
And there's no hope.
The exact opposite is true.
Every week, we are going totackle one aspect of our whole
(21:25):
being as a woman of God, thebody, the mind, the soul, and
the spirit.
Today was about the body.
Next week we're gonna tackle asubject about the mind,
specifically self-talk.
What are you telling yourself?
Are you telling yourself truthor are you telling yourself
lies?
what are you talking yourselfout of and what are you talking
(21:46):
yourself into?
Is your self talk healthy?
And if not, how can we changeit?
So hang on for next week andhang on in this community.
Now if you're wondering why weneed to care about any of this
because you haven't seen orlistened to last week's video on
the why behind all of what we'redoing here, I would encourage
you to go back and watch orlisten to that so that you can
(22:09):
know the why behind what we'restriving for and why we're
wanting some lasting change andmaximum impact.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek.
I really appreciate it.
Please leave a comment below ifyou have questions about the
body, anything that you wouldlike to learn about or discuss
regarding the body in a futureepisode.
(22:30):
I am all ears.
And don't forget, I am in thiswith you.
And hey, if this episoderesonated with you, share it
with a friend who might needsome encouragement on their
health journey too.
Let's do this together becausethe lasting change happens in
community.
Until next time, let's start toget healthy, stay joyful, and
(22:54):
keep climbing those ladders.
one small rung at a time.
See you next week.
Hey ladies.
Welcome back to episode three ofLife On Purpose.
I'm Heather, and I'm so excitedto dive into today's topic with
you.
We're talking about the body andhow we can make small,
intentional steps toward beingthe healthiest version of
ourselves so we can impact theworld for Jesus.
Now, don't worry, this isn'tgoing to be one of those two
(00:24):
hour podcast videos that firehoses you with so much
information that you can'tremember half of it.
Nope.
We're gonna be taking it slow,keeping it simple, starting with
five actionable steps that youcan do that will incrementally
make a difference.
And we might just laugh a littlebecause let's face it, while our
health is serious, life is tooshort not to laugh along the
(00:47):
way.
And I've heard laughter is goodmedicine.
So grab your coffee or maybeyour green smoothie if you're
feeling a little extra healthytoday or guilty, I don't know.
And let's chat about how we canlive not just longer lives, but
better lives.
Here's my mantra for my healthright now.
I don't want to be the youngestperson in the nursing home.
(01:10):
I want to be the oldest personin the gym.
I need that cross stitched on apillow somewhere.
Let's do this.
Okay, so let's start with this.
Have you ever tried to changeeverything about your health all
at once?
You know, like on January 1stwhen you decide you're gonna eat
clean, work out every day,meditate and pray, drink a
(01:30):
gallon of water and sleep eighthours a night all at once.
Yeah.
How'd that go for you?
I'm filming this in April.
Don't ask me how it went for me.
I've been there.
Probably more times than I careto admit.
Really, it's like trying toclimb a ladder where the rungs
are spaced 10 feet apart.
You'd have to lift your ankle upto your ear just to get to the
(01:51):
first step.
I'm gonna assume you canvisualize this so that I don't
have to try and demonstrate it.
I might need an ambulance.
My husband actually sent me thismeme a couple of weeks ago that
showed two ladders.
One with normal steps and onewith giant gaps.
And the title was The Importanceof Smaller Steps, and it hit me.
(02:13):
Success comes from smallincremental steps, not from
trying to take giant leap wherewe do it all at once.
That's what we're gonna dotoday, breaking it down into
bite-size changes that actuallystick.
Now before we get into the nittygritty, let's talk about why
this matters.
I mean, sure, we all wanna feelgood.
(02:34):
We all wanna look good.
There's nothing wrong with that,but there's a deeper perspective
here.
What if God calls you to dosomething big, like fly across
the world to serve in anorphanage or help rebuild a
community after a disaster?
If your body isn't healthyenough to say yes, then what?
(02:56):
You sit on the sideline whilesomebody else gets to be a
blessing to someone in need.
And by the way, receive a rewardin heaven.
AKA.
My last video, shameless plug,this was a wake up call for me.
I don't want my health or lackof it to hold me back from
living out my purpose.
So whether your why is aboutbeing there for your kids,
(03:18):
showing up for your grandkids,or being able to say yes to the
big things that God has for you,it's time we stop making excuses
and start caring.
Speaking of excuses, number one.
Stop making excuses and startcaring, you know, excuses.
We all have them for why wecan't work out, why we can't
(03:41):
eat, right, why we deserve thechips or the cake or the glass
of wine.
We all make excuses, but arethey really valid excuses?
Do we really not have the timeto work out or shop better?
Can we really not make betterchoices with what we feed
ourselves?
I've made excuses before where Ipassed the Krispy Kreme donuts
(04:01):
in the supermarket.
It's like they intentionally putthem right at the checkout area
so that you have to walk rightby them and see them.
It is so annoying.
There's times when I just wantedto accidentally ran my cart into
the display, knocking it overentirely.
But there's surveillancecameras, so.
(04:23):
Instead, I've thought to myselfon more than one occasion, I'll
just do it this once and getback on track tomorrow.
Also, it wasn't the entire dozenbox, it was the half dozen box.
So that's way better.
Right, and I'm about to get realhere, because if we don't get
real, we are wasting our time.
(04:44):
Here it is.
I have sat in my car in theparking lot and ate three of
those six donuts.
Then felt sick and guilty andthrown the rest of them away
before I got home so that nobodyknew that I did it.
Then I would get home and talkto my kids about why we
shouldn't be eating excessivesugar.
I hope my kids aren't watchingor hearing this right now, but I
(05:07):
made the excuse because I don'tdo it all the time.
Now, I'm not saying that youcan't ever have a donut.
There will be donuts in heaven,I'm sure, but if I had to eat
this in my car with no onewatching, what am I really
doing?
Clearly there is somethingwrong.
Am I the only one?
Maybe.
But I kind of doubt it.
(05:28):
I had to retrain my thinking totell myself that feeling good,
having energy not causing mybody to become insulin resistant
was worth skipping the fiveminutes of momentary
satisfaction of eating donuts.
I've struggled with this formost of my life, and for the
most part, I have been able tokeep the monster at bay enough
to stay moderately healthy.
(05:51):
Most people who know me wouldlikely have no idea that this is
a struggle for me, but the olderI've gotten, the more it has
become a struggle and the harderit is to combat and it's not
gonna get any easier.
I am not getting any younger.
I decided that it was time tostop making the occasional
excuse that quite frankly turnedinto more of an occasional
excuse if I'm not careful andchoose to care about my health
(06:14):
enough.
I also had to realize that asthe primary cook in my home, I
was instilling in my husband andmy children a lifestyle of
either health or harm.
We as moms or wives are usuallythe ones that provide the food
for the house.
And while it might seem fairlyinnocent to have snacks and
chips and junk food when they'relittle, it's creating a
(06:36):
lifestyle and a pattern of tastebuds and preferences that they
will carry into their adulthood.
Thankfully, I believe there is abit of a shift happening in our
society towards more natural,organic, healthy food, which is
great, but it's something westill need to be very aware of.
So I stopped making excuses andstarted caring about myself and
(06:58):
my family enough to make achange.
I don't succeed every day, butremember, small steps still
climbs the ladder.
Number two added sugar.
If you do a deep dive into theamount of things that have added
sugar in them that you wouldn'teven expect they would be in, or
you wouldn't expect they wouldbe the level that they're at,
(07:20):
you'd be really, reallysurprised.
Sugar is added to almosteverything in the standard
American diet.
Things that we expect to besavory.
Are loaded with sugar like pastasauce, salad dressings, ketchup,
marinade, soups, not to mentionall the things that are
processed that we already knowhave a lot of added sugar.
(07:42):
And sometimes they're hidden sowell in the ingredient lists, in
the labels or used big words.
We don't even recognize When welived in Switzerland for two
years, we ate their food.
We got used to their pasta,their pizza, the sauces, et
cetera, desserts.
After about six months, we cameback to the United States for a
visit.
And one of our family membersordered a pizza from Domino's.
(08:04):
Now, this was something that wehad done all the time before we
had moved to Switzerland, butwhen we had come back after six
months and we tried it, everyone of our family members was
shocked at how sweet the pizzatasted.
We'd never experienced thatbefore, but having gotten used
to a sauce that didn't havesugar in it, it was actually
like eating dessert pizza withpepperoni.
(08:27):
It was gross and really weird.
But I mean, is sugar really allthat bad?
Let's take a closer look.
Start with your cardiovascularhealth Studies show that
consuming too much sugarincreases the risk of heart
disease and stroke.
High sugar diets are associatedwith increased blood pressure,
chronic inflammation, highertriglyceride levels, all risk
(08:51):
factors for cardiovasculardisease.
Another study found thatindividuals who consumed more
added sugar had a 38% higherrisk of dying from
cardiovascular disease comparedto those who consumed less.
So if you want your hearthealthy, less sugar.
Now an obvious one would beweight gain and obesity.
(09:13):
Sugar, especially in liquidforms like sugary beverages, can
lead to weight gain.
These drinks don't curb hungerand they make it easy to consume
excess liquid calories.
And these things hit your bloodsystem so much faster in liquid
form and lead to potentialinsulin resistance.
Obesity, often linked toexcessive sugar intake is a
(09:34):
significant risk factor forother various health issues,
including diabetes.
How about your liver?
Excessive fructose intakecommonly referred to as high
fructose corn syrup can lead tonon-alcoholic fatty liver
disease.
The liver converts the excessfructose into fat.
And studies have shown thatpeople who consume sugar
(09:56):
sweetened beverages daily have a56% higher risk of developing
non-alcoholic fatty liverdisease.
Now listen, if I'm gonna havefatty liver disease, it's gonna
be from a margarita, not from adonut.
I'm just saying.
I mean, I don't need fatty liverdisease at all, but you know
(10:16):
what I mean?
And now women, maybe the onethat we care the most about, we
shouldn't, but we do skin aging.
Did you know that sugar canaccelerate skin aging by
attaching to proteins in thebloodstream, which creates
harmful molecules called ags.
It's advanced glycation endproducts.
(10:39):
I am so butchering that I know.
But these damage collagen andelastin leading to wrinkles and
sagging skin.
I'm sorry, did you just saythat?
Sugar causes wrinkles.
I'm out.
And finally, cognitive function.
High sugar diets have beenlinked to impaired memory and an
(11:00):
increased risk of dementia.
Alzheimer's disease and stroke.
Yikes.
So now I read the nutritionlabels like a hawk and try to
find things that have minimal tono sugar in them, which
sometimes unfortunately means Igotta make things on my own.
Sauces and salad dressings andmarinades.
Some of those things you reallyjust have to make on your own
(11:23):
and really they're not thathard.
Number three, alcohol.
Speaking of fatty liver disease,now I don't have anything
against alcohol in moderationand honestly, occasionally my
husband and I will have a glassof wine at dinner if we're out
or at, we're at an event.
However, I've been tracking mysleep, which I'll get into a
(11:44):
little more in detail in 0.4,but as an experiment, I've
tracked the nights that I'veconsumed a glass of wine and how
it affected my sleep, and it'squite frankly, dramatic.
If you look at the research,while alcohol might make you
initially feel drowsy, itactually interferes with your
(12:04):
deep REM sleep and you will nothave restorative sleep as a
result.
And if you're a woman enteringany type of the lovely menopause
or perimenopause, this willaffect you even more.
'cause you're already strugglingwith sleep.
So while if you're in yourtwenties, you might be able to
consume alcohol and not have itaffect your sleep dramatically.
(12:25):
The older you get, the more itwill add in those added calories
from the alcohol.
it just makes it not reallyworth it at all.
So what does it actually do toour sleep?
Well, it suppresses REM sleep inthe first half of the night.
It decreases your overall sleepduration and increases the sleep
(12:45):
disturbance or the amount oftimes that you wake up.
It reduces the amount ofrestorative sleep, which is the
deep sleep, the slow wave sleepthat we all need.
It also aggravates symptoms ofsnoring and sleep apnea.
So grab that beer out of yourhusband's hand and chuck it in
the garbage because the snoringis killing you too much.
(13:07):
Maybe moving on.
I have discovered some fairlyfun mocktails and even some
sugar free ones that can helpyou when you're wanting to have
something kind of fun, justsearch it up on Instagram or
TikTok mocktails.
There's a bunch of restaurantsthat are actually coming up with
great ones too.
You just have to be careful ofthe sugar content in some of
(13:28):
those.
My husband and I have found thatordering club soda with lime at
restaurants is actually reallysatisfying.
It's hydrating and it feels likeyou're drinking something fancy
besides just water.
I mean, bubbles are always fun.
Do you ever outgrow bubbles?
I don't know.
Number four, staying up late.
(13:49):
I for one am a night owl.
The life of the party.
I love hanging out and stayingup late watching movies, playing
games, and quite frankly, Ireally actually like to sleep
in.
My husband, however, is thepolar opposite of that, and
wants to go to bed at 4:00 PMOkay, maybe not 4:00 PM Well,
actually, he probably would liketo go to bed at 4:00 PM but he
(14:10):
has to work, so he settles fornine now for a while.
I just let him go to bed at 9:00PM and would stay up until 11
and then sneak my way in tryingnot to disturb him by taking
approximately 15 minutes tocrawl into a bed that creaks
like crazy so that it didn'tmove and there was no creaking
sounds.
However, when I started trackingmy sleep, I realized that by
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staying up until 11, thengetting into bed, not really
getting to sleep for 30 minutesor so later, I was not getting
enough sleep.
And it was affecting my mood.
Don't ask any of my familymembers how it affected my mood.
It just did.
It also affected my energy andjust overall the way that I
(14:52):
felt.
It turns out we really do needto get an appropriate amount of
sleep.
And a good quality of sleep inorder to be functioning at an
optimal level, you could workout right and be doing
everything else well.
But if you are not sleepingwell, all of those other things
are gonna be working in adiminished capacity.
(15:13):
but how important is it really?
sleep actually affects thebody's use of energy and
supports weight management.
I wonder if I could lose weightsleeping.
I should really sleep more.
Even one night of a missed sleepcan create a pre-diabetic state
in an otherwise healthyindividual.
Seriously, one night.
(15:34):
Sleep is essential for optimalbrain function and mental
wellbeing, emotional regulation.
It helps manage the physicalpsychological effects of stress
so that we don't kill ourfamilies.
I may have added that last part.
It helps cognitive performance,improves focus, concentration,
(15:55):
judgment, and decision makingability.
Like how many things in yourAmazon cart should you actually
buy?
For me, I have found that by noteating past 7:00 PM not
consuming added sugar and nothaving alcohol has been a major
net positive on my personalsleep.
I occasionally still have arager and stay up till 11, such
(16:17):
a party animal.
Finally, number five, snacks.
Dang it.
Snacks.
I love snacks.
I love snacks at baseball games,football games, soccer games.
I don't even watch soccer games.
TVs, movies, 2:00 PM 9:00 PM11:00 AM is there really a bad
time for a snack.
Unfortunately, the answer isyes.
(16:39):
Snacks can absolutely destroy agood diet or a good diet plan or
any plan at all.
I had to learn that when I atesnacks, those were the times
that I tended to overindulgebecause I wasn't typically
counting the calories of thesnacks or paying attention to
how much of the snack I waseating.
(17:00):
I mean, put me in front of abowl of chips and salsa and I
dare you to eat more than i'll.
You start munching at arestaurant, and before you know
it, you've consumed 500 caloriesworth of tortilla chips, all
while justifying that the salsais just made of veggies.
So that's good for you, right?
I mean, they're veggies afterall.
(17:20):
So I've had to cut off snacksfor the most part and
intentionally plan out my meals,but I am not telling you to cut
out all of your snacks at once.
And an occasional snack is fine.
Once you've mastered controlover it, what I would recommend
you do is make a food log forone week of everything you eat
without changing anything.
(17:41):
Now stop for a second.
I know that that's hard becauseif you're like me, when somebody
says make a food log, suddenlyyou wanna change everything that
you actually eat and just likelist carrot sticks.
You know, because you don'treally want anyone to know that
you just ate an entire sleeve ofOreos last night at 11:00 PM but
(18:03):
actually do it for a week.
Eat the way you normally eat.
Count how many times you've hada snack.
That's anything from one Oreo toa handful of peanuts to a piece
of fruit.
Anytime that you are eatingsomething in between your normal
meals, then look back and seethe average snacks per day, and
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then the next week, eat oneless.
If you found that you had threesnacks a day, cut it back by one
and have two snacks a day forone week.
Then the next week, cut thatback by one and have one snack a
day, and then none.
And try to pre-plan those snacksin the morning.
Like, decide today I'm going toeat a candy bar at 2:00 PM and
(18:47):
three oreos at 10:00 PM andthat's what I'm gonna have as a
snack.
Don't change what the snacksare.
You don't have to make themhealthy.
This is such great nutritionadvice.
Nutritionists, don't come forme.
Just hear me out.
Just plan them.
Write them down when you've hada snack so that you know you've
had one, and that you're down byone and systematically pull back
(19:11):
from your snacks so that you canactually achieve the goal of
eliminating unnecessary snacks.
Remember, the way we accomplishtransformation is incremental
change over time.
And in community, that's whatwe're doing.
We're incrementally scaling backthe snacks over time.
(19:31):
If you can grab a friend to doit with you so that you can have
some accountability and be incommunity, do it and then watch
how you feel.
You don't have to be drastic, aswe discussed at the beginning,
drastic resolutions don'tusually last.
Now, if you've been eatinghealthy already and this isn't
something that you need, that'swonderful.
(19:55):
Maybe you don't need to changeall five of these things.
Maybe you just need to focus onone.
Or maybe you need to helpsomeone else that you love,
implement one.
But the overall goal is to notonly affect change in our
bodies, but live as an exampleto our families of how our
bodies can be lived as a holytemple to the Lord, a living
(20:18):
sacrifice, willing and able todo the things that he has called
us to do.
First Corinthians six, 19through 20 says.
Do you not know that your bodiesare a temple of the Holy Spirit?
Who is in you, whom you havereceived from God?
You are not your own.
You were bought at a price,therefore, honor God with your
(20:41):
bodies.
We were bought with a price.
We are not our own.
We house the temple of the HolySpirit living in us.
What kind of temple are weoffering him?
Is it a shack or a beautifulhome?
Now let me be really real herefor a minute.
This isn't a shame or guiltvideo if You struggle with any
(21:03):
of this.
You are not alone.
I am not alone.
That donut episode the last timewas about a month ago.
Don't listen to the lies of theenemy telling you that you're
worthless or guilty or unseen.
You'll never change.
And there's no hope.
The exact opposite is true.
Every week, we are going totackle one aspect of our whole
(21:25):
being as a woman of God, thebody, the mind, the soul, and
the spirit.
Today was about the body.
Next week we're gonna tackle asubject about the mind,
specifically self-talk.
What are you telling yourself?
Are you telling yourself truthor are you telling yourself
lies?
what are you talking yourselfout of and what are you talking
(21:46):
yourself into?
Is your self talk healthy?
And if not, how can we changeit?
So hang on for next week andhang on in this community.
Now if you're wondering why weneed to care about any of this
because you haven't seen orlistened to last week's video on
the why behind all of what we'redoing here, I would encourage
you to go back and watch orlisten to that so that you can
(22:09):
know the why behind what we'restriving for and why we're
wanting some lasting change andmaximum impact.
Thank you for tuning in thisweek.
I really appreciate it.
Please leave a comment below ifyou have questions about the
body, anything that you wouldlike to learn about or discuss
regarding the body in a futureepisode.
(22:30):
I am all ears.
And don't forget, I am in thiswith you.
And hey, if this episoderesonated with you, share it
with a friend who might needsome encouragement on their
health journey too.
Let's do this together becausethe lasting change happens in
community.
Until next time, let's start toget healthy, stay joyful, and
(22:54):
keep climbing those ladders.
one small rung at a time.
See you next week.
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