#137 - Alexa Wall - God Wants You Healthy — Here’s How to Honour Him with Your Body - Long Term Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to the Long Term Podcast.
Thank you, Alexa Wall everyone. Hi I'm not quite sure how to
help you. With that, Alexis, we can.
So how is your faith and Jesus shaped the way you approach
health, nutrition, and your daily habits?
I love this question. I've been asked this a lot

(00:20):
because usually health and nutrition come from a very like
it's very all about yourself andinward focused where
Christianity is about focusing on God and other people.
So there's been a lot of times I've kind of like step back.
I'm like, is this too much like about me?
And like I don't want to spend so much time thinking about
myself and like my health and I want to spend more time helping

(00:41):
others and focusing more on God.But I do think there is a part
of it too, that if we're not showing up as our best selves,
we can't really serve people that well either.
But I think there is definitely a healthy balance of not letting
this become a God in your life, of just obsessing over your food
and your nutrition and your working out, but also keeping
yourself healthy and active and being able to keep up with

(01:02):
people and being able to show upas your best self.
And yeah. Yeah.
Well, the way I rationalize thatis you need to put on your life
vest first before you can help others.
Like how are you supposed to help someone stand up when
you're on the floor with them? How do you go about life when
you can't even help yourself? Like when you can't even clean

(01:25):
your room? Why are you telling other people
to get their act together? You know what I mean?
So I, I get that. Well, health, nutrition, yes,
it's very individualistic, but for the long term, it's more of
a collectivist mindset. And it's just, it's what Jesus
would have wanted. Totally.
Yeah. Well, what when you say health

(01:45):
and nutrition, right, what do you, what attracts you to that?
Like when it comes to your, whenconnecting that to your faith
like does that, Is there a correlation connection for that?
I feel like there is. I love my grandma always said if
there's garbage in, garbage out.So if you're eating crap and
you're eating just nothing that was made by God, you're just

(02:05):
going to feel like garbage. You're not going to want to get
up. But even like changes, like your
mental state. Also, I don't know if you've
ever noticed, like if you eat like a bunch of like junk food
through over the weekend, like you just don't feel good.
You feel cranky, you feel sloppy.
But when you are nourishing yourbody with Whole Foods and foods
that God created for us, you're feeling more energetic, more
alive, more joyful. And I definitely think there is

(02:26):
a correlation between the two, yeah.
Does that answer your question? No, it does.
I mean, what you put into your body is ultimately, you know,
what's going to power and fuel your interactions.
Now you see that with a lot of people that you know, that put
in garbage and they they can't regulate their emotions as

(02:47):
properly. They can't focus on the
positive. And yes, there is like a
balance, right? But if you give somebody
McDonald's every single day, you're gonna notice.
You're just gonna notice a shiftin their demeanor, the way they
go about things. Totally.
And were you always into health growing up?

(03:09):
Honestly, kind of yeah, kind of yeah, yeah.
I feel like we grew up always eating meals at home.
My mom always prioritize cookingat home.
We barely ate out, and when we did, it was like a huge trade.
I felt feeling so deprived as a child.
We never got like fruit roll upsor like granola bars, which
whatever I see, I'm like, hey, that was great that my mom did
that for us, but I was always interested in it.

(03:31):
I think as a teenager I dealt with really bad skin.
I had like such bad acne. I went on different medications
and they would work. But then the side effects of
like being an absolute maniac and like all these different
things, like I don't have anything to do with this.
And so around 20 is kind of whenI really got into it.
I'm like, OK, like what's causing this?
Like I want to heal the root to this, which is like why I think

(03:53):
holistic nutrition is really cool.
It's just looking at the whole body and like all the different
aspects of like stress and lifestyle and what's causing
like the inflammation in your body.
So I went to a naturopath, he did some blood work and did all
the stuff. And I was taking like all these
crazy supplements and on this diet.
And then my skin cleared up and I'm like, OK, this works.

(04:13):
This is really cool. So during COVID, I went to the
library and I took out a bunch of books on nutrition and I was
like, so excited, like I wasn't working.
I was just at home like educating myself on all this
stuff. And that's when I really got
into, I'm like, hey, I really want to pursue this and I really
want to be more educated in this.
And so that's when I took my nutrition program and that it

(04:34):
was cool. It's kind of cool to see all
like the little things that led.Yeah, it's cool to look in
retrospect, right? Like this is what happened.
The reason that I got into this was because I was so worried
about my skin, which led to me getting some books and getting
more knowledge would led to me strengthening my health and just

(04:55):
everything just happening comingtogether.
Would would you say that faith is a part of health Like to be
like truly healthy? Because I know Arthur Brooks
says that in everyone there's a God shaped hole, you know, like
would you say that's, would you agree with that?
100% it's honestly like reading about like mental health and

(05:18):
like different things that people go through.
Like life is not easy for anyoneif you're a Christian or not.
And so I think having God help you and like heal you in these
different ways. If you're stressed and if you're
dealing with trauma and things that you've never dealt with,
like it's hard, it's really hardto get healthy.
It's hard to lose weight. It's hard to, if you're like
dealing with pretty much any symptoms, any horrible diseases

(05:39):
like cancers and all this usually stem from a stressful
lifestyle. And then with God, a lot of your
stress can go away and you can get professional help even
through the church or through like counselors or I think God's
the the best counselor. But anyway, yeah, I do think
they do come in hand in hand 100%.
Yeah, yeah. I think it's just great to know

(06:00):
that with all the chaos amidst, you know, the world, there is
hope, right? There is kind of that the person
that loves you unconditionally no matter what you do.
And there's so many people that have said that, oh, they've
accomplished this, they've done that, that accumulated all this

(06:22):
wealth, but they still feel empty now.
I think that's, yeah, that's a result of kind of faith and just
not having enough of it, which Ithink, you know, I'm not going
to say that. Oh, it is.
You know, I'm not going to put it down people's throats and try
to make everyone believe. But it's just through action,

(06:43):
right. And through living a life that
is aligned of God's plan. And hopefully it encourages
other people to do the same. Totally.
And what do you like have a a moment in your life where where
you just like, oh, that's, that's the plan, you know,
that's, that's it. Yeah.
I think yes and no. Like I think God puts desires.

(07:05):
He'll give you the desires that are in your heart.
I love that verse. I think it comes from Proverbs
and it says like, oh, God will give you the desires of your
heart. Like no, like he's put those
desires in your heart and he wants to give you those.
And when you align your life with that, he wants to be there
with you doing that. And so I think to answer your
question, you do have these promises from God and he wants

(07:30):
to, he wants to make light of them and like make them happen.
I think you just have to be very, I don't know, open to
that. Yeah, yeah, I certainly feel
sometimes doubt, right, and justa lot of insecurity coming in
and fear. But the times where I feel

(07:52):
empowered and I my faith is high.
It's like the way I describe it is I could be running through a
wall of bullets and I could feelNo Fear, you know what I mean?
Versus I, I, I just tried to getmy faith as high as possible
through prayer and then just not, you know what, not letting

(08:12):
the world kind of bring me down.Then how do you go about trying
to strengthen your faith? That's a great question.
There's definitely, I think likea kind of like funny Christian
thing is that people say it's like we go through different
seasons of life and some seasonsare harder and some seasons are
easier. But to strengthen my faith, it's
definitely just spending time with God.

(08:34):
It's like if you go to the, you can't expect to go to the gym
like once a week and then be like shredded, like it just
wouldn't happen. And so you can't expect to just
go to church on Sundays and expect to have this amazing
relationship with God. I mean, no matter what, he's
walking beside you. But if you're not going to be
intentionally spending time withhim, you can't really expect
your faith to strengthen just through going to church once a

(08:54):
week. So I think it's a daily devotion
of reading your Bible for even if it's just like 10 minutes or
spending time in prayer. And I know life can get so busy
and I know a lot of like friendsI have, they're like, well, I
like, I just don't have time. Like I wake up and I do this and
this. It's like, but it's just waking
up 20 minutes earlier, like setting your alarm 20 minutes
earlier, like getting out of bed.
Or maybe it's just turning off the music in the car and just

(09:17):
praying be like, hey, God, like come in the car with me.
Like pray with me. Like what do you want me to like
pray for? Who do you want me to pray for
today? And I think you can definitely
make the time, like, just make your whole life like constantly
praying, like you're going for awalk, Maybe you're washing
dishes. And it's like, OK, I'm going to
clear my mind. I'm going to turn off the TV.
I'm going to turn off all the sound around me and just be
still And like, listen. Yeah, it's a great meditation.

(09:39):
Hey, you're just not only are you reflecting, but you have
somebody supporting you and likea lot of people may say, oh,
they're not really talking to you.
What do you what do you mean? Like, you know, it's like a
feeling, right? And it's just it comes and like
I can't quite describe it. Do you can you describe it
better? Like how do you like when I tell

(10:00):
people like, yes, I feel my faith is high.
Like I feel like he's here. I just don't feel alone.
And I feel that my life is improving and that I have
there's a some sort of plan likehope.
The hope is there is a big thingthat I always trying to just is
very strong and a lot of Christians because without it,
then why do we wake up the next day 100% yeah, yeah.

(10:24):
What what does faith mean to youright.
Because my my friend had told methat for him.
This is actually really a good explanation for that is it's
it's an action verb, right? Like faith is continuously just
it's not it's like a muscle, right.

(10:45):
The less you use it kind of the the the IT atrophies.
But for you, what does faith mean?
Well, that's a really big question.
Yeah. I think faith for me.
I mean, I've seen my life. I grew up as a Christian.
I went to Christian School. I was like all the things.
And I never really like got it. And I think there's something
really beautiful. But people who come to Christ

(11:07):
later in life or like in their 20s and kind of like meet Jesus,
like, and they don't really haveany background in it versus, I
mean, both are beautiful, but versus someone like, maybe like
me who grew up this way. And it was always just like, Oh
yeah, it's there. And I remember like throughout
my whole life, like always praying like every night and
asking God for wisdom. But there were definitely times

(11:28):
in my life where it was just routine.
Like, like, oh, yeah, like this is like a little piece of me and
whatever. And I kind of was watching my
life go in a direction that it was sort of hard because like I
knew, I'm like, I know God doesn't want me to do this, but
I feel like this just makes moresense.
And the world says this makes more sense.
And it was like a constant battle between.
And when I was 18, I was going to go to fashion school in

(11:48):
Vancouver. And I was like, yes.
And I remember praying about it.And God was like, like, no,
like, don't go. And I'm like, I remember saying,
like, God, I'm doing this. You can come with me or not, but
I'm doing this. And I was getting this dream.
I got it twice of like, not, I wasn't supposed to move there
and I couldn't really shake it, but I was like, whatever.
Like I'm strong enough I can do it on my own.

(12:10):
And I went to Vancouver, I went to a few places to live.
I was like full of anxiety and Inever get anxious ever.
And so I'm like, OK, and I came home and I had this dream again.
I'm like, OK, it's not meant to be.
I'm not supposed to be here. And I ended up doing like a six
month Bible school, which was crazy and just like completely

(12:30):
like shook up my life and like gave me this whole new fresh
understanding of who God is and like how much he loves us.
And just like having this lens of seeing people differently.
Like every single person you meet, every single person you
see on the street was created byGod.
And he loves that person as muchas he loves you.
And it's so hard sometimes. Like I live downtown and I see a

(12:50):
lot of hurt and a lot of scary things.
And it's like so cool just to know like, OK, God chose that
person. And God knows that person
created that person exactly how he made him.
And that's so beautiful. And it's so sad to see the sin
of this world come into these people's stories.
But there's so much redemption. Like you said, being a
Christian, there's so much hope.Like it's hard to like wrap my

(13:12):
head around. Like I see these like quotes.
I was in Indigo the other day like on journals and like,
you're so valuable, like you're so special.
I'm like, OK, but as a non Christian, like why would you
think like who's who's making you special?
Like, you are special, but you know what I mean?
Because I'm like, as a Christian, like, Oh yeah, God
says I'm special. And like, I have hope tomorrow.
Even if every single thing went wrong today, I can still be

(13:33):
content and full of joy because I know God's good and that
tomorrow is a new day. And he's going to use all these
things tomorrow. And I'm going to learn things
from this. And sometimes it takes over a
year or two or three or ten years to understand why certain
things have happened. But when you can just
continually be in prayer and asking God those questions, he's
going to He's going to speak to you.

(13:53):
God is wanting to speak to you more than you are willing to
listen. Yeah, there's this quote of
focus on the leaf, miss the branch, focus on the branch,
miss the tree, focus on the tree.
You miss the entire forest, right.
We got so perplexed on the on the leaf and like the little
droplet that drops on it, we forget that, oh, it's attached

(14:14):
to this other segment, which in that segment's attached to this
segment and it keeps getting expanded, expanded.
You don't understand, you can't grasp it.
Like you just can't understand the love and the kind of the
designs. And yes, there is a lot of sin
in the world. There's a lot of hurt.
Why, why did this happen? Why did this little child get
cancer? And right, you know, my heart

(14:35):
breaks for that, but I'd like tothink that it was for a reason,
right? And it was instilled to give a
lesson and they're in a better place right now.
There is evil in the world, right?
There's I believe that and some things just happen and it's like
remaining kind of focused on to what you can do to change it to

(14:57):
that. Like what you said about
evening, if everything was takenaway, you still have that that
hope, right that faith to know that tomorrow will be a better
day for you to have a better story for you to change other
people's lives and to to help. And just the empathy that is
built up with just trying to strengthen your faith too, is

(15:18):
because when you, your faith is strengthened and you realize
that, oh, everybody's made in God's image.
And right now I'm not talking about like, oh, you're, you're
special, right? You're like, yeah, we're all in
a system together. And if one suffers, we all
suffer, right? So we need to rise.
The rising tide lifts all boats.And it's just, it's liberating

(15:39):
to think that way, right? That you're not alone and you're
actually connected. Like the physical is just a
test, right? Where yes, yes, there's pain and
suffering, but you need to be able to follow God's plan and
prove yourself right, That hey, no, you can help.
That you can do anything right. And with God's help, you can

(16:02):
amalgamate to something beautiful.
Yeah. Totally.
And what do you say to people that are like Alexa, like, what
is this? Like, why are you?
What do you believe in this stuff?
I guess. I'm used to it.
Somebody, what do you say to people that try to question your

(16:24):
faith? Because a lot of people get
offended. I don't know if you've ever run
into that, but some people, you know, just get arced a different
way, right, with the, they get annoyed, right?
And like, what do you say to those people?
If I'm going to be honest, I've never been in a situation where
anyone ever like, I don't know, try to like ask me those kind of

(16:45):
questions or like kind of try tolike prove me wrong or whatever.
But I think it's also you mentioned earlier, it's just
like fire actions. Like people will know who God
is. And I love this.
I heard this once in churches. Like no one's ever like
converted someone. I hate that word.
But like by an argument like, you know what I mean?
Like they're not. You've never like, if you and I

(17:05):
had an argument of different like beliefs, you're not going
to win me over. I'm not going to win you over.
Like that's just how it is. And I think it is just by your
actions and the way you love people so well.
And people will notice that differently.
And it's like, I don't know, just being like so confident
about it and like not changing for you are no matter who you're
around. And yeah, it is really awkward
sometimes when you're like talking about church or like, I

(17:28):
don't know, when your whole lifejust becomes like for God, you
can't help but not talk about that.
Like, it just like drips into all your different
conversations. And ultimately, like, when I'm
trying to like give advice to someone, it's sometimes tricky
whether or not Christian becauseI'm like, I don't, I don't
really know how to give you advice without God's help.
But I'm like, honestly, usually like, I'm just going to tell you

(17:48):
because, you know, that's who I am.
And so why would I not bring that in?
Because like, I want to live like God.
God is with you the whole time. Like, why would you be
embarrassed about that? And so I don't know, it is hard.
And I am so fortunate to be arounded by so many Christian
people that we can just easily talk about all these things all
the time. But it definitely is cool to see
like God's putting me in rooms and with different people who

(18:09):
like, don't believe. And it's like, OK, God, like,
what do you want me to like, sayto them?
And how do you want to just love?
How do you want me to love them?Well, like, what are little
things? And, and I think it's just being
confident when you're like, yeah, I do believe in God.
And I do believe Jesus died for me and gave us this hope.
So why would I ever shy away from that?
Like, if I could, if I'm on my knees at home praying, why am I
not acting that way when I'm outwith all these other people?

(18:32):
So it is hard. And I'm, I am really fortunate.
I've never been in that way. And I feel like, God, I don't
know what's building me up. And maybe one day we'll be in
more places and rooms with more people who don't believe.
But yeah. And I like what you said about,
yeah, you're never going to change your mind about someone
who's just having an opposing opinion unless they actually,

(18:55):
you know, are in a place where they need to change their
framework and they need to go about life a different way.
And then they come to you, right?
And then that's when you change your mind.
Because think about how hard it is to change yourself right now
for others. It's not that easy, right?
And it's just, we live in a world where there is a lot of

(19:17):
suffering and you can, you can have so many reasons why not to
believe, right? There's just a myriad of things.
But then that's why you should believe, you know what I mean?
Like the dichotomy of it is just, you can help.
Like there's the, the epitome ofa human being is to sacrifice

(19:37):
yourself. I mean, Jesus did it right.
He was. And I really admire conviction
and to the, the confidence you have with your faith.
How, how, how do you do it? Yeah, Cuz like for me, I'd like,
it kind of comes in waves, you know?
And like, I like, I, I wish I was more faithful.
Like, I want to be more faithful, but it's just kind of

(19:57):
the ebbs and flow sometimes. I kind of just lose it
sometimes. And I'm still journaling, I'm
still praying every night, right?
But I just don't feel like he's there sometimes, you know what I
mean? Like how do you have so much
conviction and confidence? Well, doesn't come overnight,
but. Yeah, you, you said.
Yeah, Yeah. But I think with that too, like

(20:18):
how you're saying sometimes you just don't feel like he's there
is just like pray for like God, make yourself present, like show
me that you're there and like asking all those big questions.
Like even like a few weeks ago, I was like, almost like not
doubting God, but kind of doubting God.
I'm like God, like you promised me these things.
You put these desires in my heart.
Why am I not seeing them? Why am I still living here and
like what like XYZ? And I just feel like I'm like

(20:40):
answer my questions, like askinghim these big questions, but
like allowing him time to answerthem.
Because I feel like so often we're praying and we're asking
and then we just finished praying and we go on our phone
and we scroll. Like we don't give that kind of
time for God to respond to us. And yeah, I mean, I go through
doubts. I go through times where I'm
like, what? Like, I'm almost 25.

(21:00):
This is not where I thought I would be, but cool to just know.
And honestly, there's so much, so much in the Bible just to,
like, read and relate to. And even the story of Joseph of
like, he was given a dream. God gave him a dream of his
brothers and his, like, his dad and his family, like bowing down
to him. And he's like, you're going to
be king. And and then years later, like
he's still in a field, like slinging rocks and doing like

(21:23):
whatever and gets sold into slavery.
He's sitting in a prison and he's like, what?
Like, but God, you gave me thesedreams.
Like, I don't understand why, Why am I here?
But he was faithful and he worked hard and he just kept
pursuing. And I don't know if you're
familiar with the story of Joseph, but he's in this prison
and these guys who were in the cat, the castle and like working

(21:44):
in the Kingdom with the king andJoseph had just been working
with the king as well. He got he we got into prison,
whatever. Long story short, he was still
obedient and was like, these guys were having dreams and he's
like, hey, like God can answer your dreams and like, but still
love God and still believed in God so hard.
And like, it was beautiful just to see how the story came out

(22:06):
and how he ended up being like second power over all the
country and really cool. And just to hold on to that.
Like, even if there's like yearsthat you go by and you're like,
God, I don't get it. Like, why am I still walking
through this? And why am I doing this and
asking him being like God, wouldyou like forgive me?
Like repent, repentance, like every day and like, what do you
want me to do tomorrow? Like differently and like, who
do you want me to reach out to? And it's those little things and

(22:28):
it's hard and it's uncomfortable.
And like, I remember one time even just being outside of a
store and God's like, I'm going to go talk to that Lady.
I'm like, that is so awkward. I do not want to do that, but I
did. I actually went to my car and
I'm like, I'm not doing that, but I did.
And I wouldn't talk to her. And it would end up being this
beautiful conversation. She's like, wow, like I really
needed someone to talk to today.And I was like, I can't believe

(22:49):
I almost just gave that up because I was too embarrassed to
go over there. And honestly, it's OK to be
embarrassed. It's OK.
Like, what do you do? You you shake it off and you
don't even remember it in a few minutes.
So yeah. When you say God puts desire in
your heart, what do you mean by that?
Like like God guide me to to want certain things like what do

(23:12):
you how does that work? I think, well, I'll bring it
back to you. What are your like dreams?
What are your hopes? I want to this podcast to keep
going to have conversations likethese, right?
I want to, you know, be financially free.
I want to help others help my family first, then local, then

(23:36):
province and then city, you know, and, or city, then
province and then country. And that's my hopes and dreams
to be able to run like 100 milesin a couple weeks.
I want to be able to prove to others that there is hope that
there's a place for them. And I think that's the motto of

(23:56):
the the long term podcast. So how do I go about talking to
God and help asking for help? Right, I think with that you ask
of like, okay, why did you put these desires in my heart and
how are you going to use them for your glory?
And how are you going to use me to further the Kingdom with

(24:16):
these things? And I feel like so often it just
feels so overwhelming, like it'sso cool to have dreams and hopes
and you're like, OK, so how whatdo I do tomorrow to get there?
And how do I achieve that? And what is like and a thing for
us? I mean, at least for myself,
it's like I want a five year plan.
I want a day-to-day checklist onhow I'm going to get there.
And I think those things can be so valuable.

(24:37):
But also looking back up my life, like there's been curve
balls. I've like met people that opened
other doors. And I'm like, I remember last
year I was, I woke up and I was like, God, I literally don't
know how you did it, like how you got me here.
But this I wouldn't have even dreamt of this.
Like this is crazy. And I think it's just like those
little acts of obedience and even when things don't make
sense, like maybe you get some crazy someone, some broadcasting

(25:02):
production teams like, hey, likewe want to take you on and
you're praying about it and you're quiet time and God's
like, no, like that's not where I want you.
But you're like, but it just makes so much more sense that I
should just do it. But if God's like, no, like I
have so much better for you. Like that's hard.
Like that's so uncomfortable. And you're like, but that
doesn't make sense. But being obedient in that and
knowing that when you are being to what God's telling you, he's

(25:24):
going to give you even better. And so maybe you say no and then
another door opens and you're like, wow, like, I can't believe
this happened. Like I could tell you story of
the story that's happened. I'm like, it's so annoying in
the in the moment. You're like, but it just makes
sense like, and I feel like thisand I feel like God's like just
being like, OK, like what are you going to do?
You're going to listen to me. You're going to listen to your
own flesh. So finding the desires, just

(25:48):
like sitting down and asking Godlike God, like, who do you call
me? Like like often I'll say my God
as your daughter, what are the names you've given me?
And he'll give me these names and I write them down.
I'm like, OK, how do you want meto use this?
How do you want me to pursue a career?
How do you want me to live my life with these words?
And how am I going to do it? And honestly, sometimes I'm, I'm
like in bed, I'm like, I don't get it.
Like you call me these things and what like I'm so confused.

(26:12):
But then it like slowly makes sense and he opens doors and you
start working in these jobs and you start meeting these friends
and then a year later and you'relike, wow.
Like I remember he said these things and now I'm here and
like, I didn't even realize it. And like just giving glory to
God in that and praising him through that.
That's incredible. Yeah, that's I could tell you
have an entire system. Yeah, that's awesome.

(26:33):
You do journal a lot. Oh, every day, every single
morning there, yeah. Yeah, first thing, get a morning
routine. It pretty much, yeah.
So in a world with constant distractions and pressures, how
do you stay perspiritually grounded and make time for your
relationship with God? That's a great question,

(26:54):
honestly, that yeah, like every morning I try to spend.
I mean, it's different. Sometimes I only have like an
hour from the time I wake up to the time I have to leave, but I
always try at least 1020 minutes.
And again, waking up maybe 15 minutes early of just sitting in
it and just praying. And sometimes I ask God, I'm
like, God, like what? How do you want to spend these
next 20 minutes together? Like do I just pray?

(27:15):
Maybe I'm reading my Bible and it often is journaling.
And I feel like journaling is kind of goes hand in hand with
praying. Like I feel like I often just
write out my prayers and pray that.
And, and yeah, kind of like whatwe touched on before, like
having just constant prayer in your life.
Like you're washing dishes, you're walking to your car,
you're driving, you're, you're waiting at the doctor's office.
Like, OK, God, like I'm going topray for that random person over

(27:38):
there. And like you just in your head,
pray for them. And like all those little things
of like constantly just bringingit into your routine.
I mean, we all are living busy lives.
And I do think there's a lot of beautiful about just slowing
down your life and saying no to other commitments to maybe have
more time of that. And I think a huge thing too,

(27:58):
that I've seen a change in my life in the last two years is
surrounding yourself with good community, spending maybe more
time at church, volunteering, joining a group.
And I don't know, I used to likefeel like church was like one
thing. I just like checked off my like
weekly To Do List. And now I like look forward to
it. I'm like, I'm so excited to go.
I can't wait to like see all my friends and all these people.
And again, the garbage in, garbage out.

(28:20):
Like when you surround yourself with people who are like minded
and love God and are running in that direction, you're going to
start running that direction. Like, I love the quote when
they're like, yeah, show me yourfive friends and I'll show you
your future. I'm like, I've been listening to
that one point in my life and I'm like, oh, like I don't want
my future to look like that. And now I like think about like
who I like. So I like who God's brought me,

(28:42):
like who I surround myself with.I'm like, OK, yes, like that is
who God's called me. And that's what the direction I
want to go to. Because you are so influenced by
the people you surround yourself.
With it's like the little littlethings to like, do they complain
about like the struggles? Do they actually do anything
about it? Yeah.
What do they do? Do they work out or just watch
Netflix? Do they just numb their minds

(29:02):
scrolling on TikTok every day ordo they actually pray?
Do they time block and actually go towards productivity, towards
living a life worth living? And there's all these things
that make someone numb and you can, you can feel the energy
around people you know, like youcan, you can feel the if they're

(29:24):
authentic or not. And I, I was the same way where
in high school I was, I've no, I'm not innocent either.
Like, I was part of the problem,something wrong.
But yeah, I was surrounded by people who just constantly
wanted to party all the time, who constantly just wanted to
drink and do drugs. And when we weren't doing that,
playing video games and like, are rebuilding anything.

(29:46):
Like, no, we're just destroying things, destroying our minds,
destroying our spirits, waking up the next day hungover, not
building anything. Whereas now, like I go to the
gym and I'm amongst people who want to build themselves up,
like mentally, physically, spiritually around people who
actually have a story coming on the podcast and just can

(30:08):
actually have a long form conversation, right.
Not just the not just the Hey, how was your day, Alexa?
You know, it's like the actual like deep questions about, oh,
what are you spending time thinking about?
And that's why I ask people whenthey come on the podcast, like,
what are you 3 most passionate topics?
And usually in those three topics, that's what they do,

(30:32):
that's what they think about 24/7, right?
And it shows who that person is,what they're good at.
Like, of course, like maybe theyjust don't want to talk about
certain topic, but these three topics make them who they are.
They're an expert on it, right? And I could clearly tell, like
faith is something, something that you've actively invested in
and it's just given back dividends throughout your
livelihood, right? And I could see like the, the

(30:54):
energy and like the vibe that you give off and like how you
want other people to be better, how you want to be better as
well. And the relationship that you
have with God, it's, it's remarkable.
It's awesome. Definitely no overnight feet.
Feet, you know? Yeah.
Well, thank you. What's a Bible verse or
spiritual principle that you come back to when you're feeling

(31:16):
overwhelmed or disconnected? I love this question definitely
Psalm 23 always comes to my mindand it's the Lord is my
shepherd. I shall not want.
He's given me everything I need.He makes me lie down and quiet
pastors, yet his rod and his staff, they protect me.
And I love just like the visual of like seeing Jesus, like with

(31:36):
a rod and a staff, like once forguiding and once for protecting.
And often times if I'm laying inbed and it's been like a day or
something's happened and you know, you like lay down and
you're like brains going like you're like re what?
Like watching what you said or you're like, Oh, my word was or
like you're like feelings overwhelm or maybe the next day,
there's so much going on and you're just laying in bed and

(31:58):
you can't fall asleep. And I just picked her Psalm 23
and he's makes me lie down and quiet pastors like I pictured
like a Meadow. And this like, I mean, you can
pick whatever you want to picture, but I picture this
like, like white bed with like afluffy duvet.
And it's just like calm and quiet.
And he's protecting around like you don't have to worry about
anything around you. And he's just bringing peace and

(32:22):
knowing that like you are just wrapped up in his arms and he's
protecting you and he has you. And so often I just, I always
comes back to that. And I just like picture like
this Meadow and like the quiet waters and the stream.
And honestly, I'll like be thinking about this.
And I instantly fall asleep withlike the best sleeping hag.
Like, forget your melatonin. This is what you need to fall
asleep. But yeah, and so often it just

(32:46):
gives me peace. I'm like, you know what?
I am like God is so much bigger than my issues.
God is not worried about my issues.
Like God does not fear things that I'm fearing.
Like he's just like chilling. Like he's like, why are you
stressed out about this? Like you don't think I can
handle that? Like I created the entire world.
Why can I not fix your your silly little problem?
But yeah, what about you? Do you have one that you comes

(33:07):
to mind when you're? 2 Corinthians 416 is it.
It's therefore we shall not loseheart, though our outer self is
wasting away, yet our inner selfis being renewed day by day.
And like a lot of the fears thatpeople have, including me, like
aging, kind of deterioration of the health, you know, losing an

(33:30):
arm, losing a finger, kind of just being shunned by community
because of the way you are, you're just being obsolete,
right, Being irrelevant. And that's kind of a fear that I
have cut all these scars from living everyday the wrinkles,
right? My, my mom is, is like really
obsessed with staying young. Oh my God, like since I was 5

(33:50):
like do I have my hair is falling out And like you look
beautiful mom. Like I'd be like 5-5.
Always put lotion on little. Advent.
And then, yeah, here I am, you know, I'm just like, oh gosh,
I'm going to be old. Like, what am my career one of
these days? Like, what am I going to do?
And so I go back to that and go there.
Like, therefore we should not lose heart though our utter

(34:11):
self, right is wasting away. Our inner self is being being
renewed day by day. Our inner, our spiritual self is
being strengthened. It's being tested by all these
chaotic forces, but you don't let it interfere with your
relationship with God, with yourself.
And you're still kind of still trying to reinforce what's

(34:32):
within because you can have all these accolades of status,
prestige, looks. You could have the best, you
know, team. You could own the biggest
business, you could win big. But if the inner self isn't
calibrated properly, right, and you can even apply this to

(34:54):
people who aren't religious, if you don't like what's within,
what's the point of everything externally?
It's all, it's, it's all BS thenyou know what I mean?
It's you got to keep working on what's within because that's
what ultimately matters, you know?
It's so true. I love this thing I saw on

(35:15):
Instagram the other day or maybea few months ago and it was just
talking about like, no one's gonna remember your outfit, your
like job, like any of these things.
Like they don't care if like you're fat, if you're skinny,
like all these things, they're like, they're, they're gonna
remember you and like what you brought and how they, how you
made other people feel. And I feel like that was just
like, wow, like just takes off so much pressure of so much
stuff in the world. Like they don't care what kind

(35:37):
of house you have, What Car you drive.
Like people love you for you andlike what's inside of you and
whatever is in your heart is gonna overflow like out of your
mouth. And so.
Yeah. And it's like, no, no, Evan.
Yeah. He had the best golf swing.
Like, no, like he showed up. He was there for me when I was
down, made me smile. He was compassionate, loving,

(36:00):
didn't judge me for when I judged myself.
It's those types of things, which is so hard because society
programs us to just look at Hollywood, to look at like the
business moguls and go, yeah, that's I look so great.
That's awesome. Like I want to be rich, famous
and attractive. But no, like ultimately what

(36:22):
I've realized is what truly, truly matters is invisible.
What kind of yes, there's like health metrics.
Like, yes, you can see somebody like has, you know, a tumor, but
like ultimately, like after theypass, right, it's all about the
virtues. It's all about what they said.

(36:44):
It's it's the things you can't see the memories, right?
This, the moments, you know, which we get so caught up and
going, Oh my gosh, my, my wrinkles, you know, my smile, my
teeth. It's but then it's like, no, no,
no, we can't keep suffering in our minds.
You know it. Just let that all go and just

(37:04):
accept reality totally with living a healthy lifestyle.
What does healthy living mean toyou beyond just food and
fitness, and how do you make it sustainable in the long run?
Besides fitness and food, a great question.
I do think it just comes down tostress again, like your mental

(37:27):
health and I loved learning so much about that in school.
And we read books about people who've dealt with trauma and, or
who haven't dealt with trauma and like they're having multiple
like physical health issues because of their mental health
issues and how get down to the root cause of things.
And honestly, like so often I'velike, I've seen this through and

(37:48):
through of like people who are struggling with weight loss and
like, I don't get it. Like I'm even myself included.
Like I'm working out this much, I'm eating healthy, I'm in a
deficit. Like, I don't get it.
Why I'm like gaining weight. Like, why am I so holding on to
this? And it's like, well, what does
your life look like? Like how is your relationships?
Like, do you have friends? Are you in community?
Are you lonely? Are you these things?

(38:08):
And there's always a correlation.
There's always something there. And so I think if you're going
to not include food and nutrition, the mental health
aspect of it. And I think that's where faith
comes in so much too, that if you're not dealing with like the
inside, you can't expect to havea good outside, any good health.
Yeah, back in 2020-2021, I was like overworking myself.

(38:30):
I don't really have time for anything.
I just, I did work out. I was, I, I looked fit, but
there would be phases where I just hit so much burnout that I
would like, I didn't have any control with my eating.
I guess I, I, I, I probably would have been diagnosed with
like, I don't some sort of like bulimia because I would consume

(38:53):
3004 thousand worth of calories and then I wouldn't vomit.
I'd run it all off. So I'd be running half
marathons, but deep inside it was all just because of stress
accumulation. But like externally I was fine,
but I was not happy. You know, I was like stressed
and it was not doing well for myhealth.
I probably aged like 50 years, like a couple years.

(39:17):
But yeah, it's it's stress is sobig.
Hey, like, are you getting enough sleep?
Are you? Yeah.
Like what you said about like going through that, that verse
right where you're you're there's a moment that happens
and you're just like sitting on the edge of your bed going.
I gotta how do I shut this off? How do I just give my problems,
you know, to God, right, And to just have some sort of outlet,

(39:41):
right? And to go about it holistically,
You know, that's, that's your thing to like look at it from
like a relationship standpoint, because we could be doing
everything except you have a badrelationship with your mom.
You know, how do you go about fixing that?
Maybe you, you know, you look inthe mirror all the time and
you're. Trashing yourself like you're

(40:03):
not the self talk isn't there. It's like these things of maybe
you just don't stretch, right? It's all these things that you
do and chances are right if it if it's usually for most people,
if it works and it's probably going to work for you and you
just have to there is this smallchance that it may not work for
you though. You know what I mean?

(40:24):
There's all these different verses, all the different
stretches, all these different programs, but it may not
necessarily work for you, you know, because I've, I've gone
through so many different diets,so many different workouts, so
many different kind of mental health systems and, and a lot of
them didn't work. But then I found intermittent

(40:47):
fasting, which is just great forme, just the weight lifting
routine of, like, weight four tofive times a week and cardio
every day, sauna here and there.And, like, I'd never been
happier, you know? And of course, there's going to
be times where you will feel down.
And that's just this part of life.
Yeah. Many people feel like they have

(41:08):
to overhaul their entire life just to be healthy.
What are some simple actionable changes you recommend for
someone just starting? I remember in my nutrition
course, like learning about likehormone disruptors and like your
endocrine system and how your candles, how your perfume, how
your toothpaste, how your, your floss, like everything's going

(41:30):
to kill you because it's all full of microplastics.
Like, and I remember being like so overwhelmed and like being
like my detergent, my sheets aremade of synthetic fiber.
It's like I'm going to die. Like I'm and it's like you're
gets, it's so overwhelming, especially if your algorithm
starts picking up on these things.
You're like, I can't live. Like I can't even get in this
person's house. Like I can't touch the floor

(41:52):
with my bare feet. Like I can't.
Like it was like, Oh my goodness, like so much like
coming on and I was like, OK. The reality is if you're going
to eat the most healthiest lifestyle and work out every
single day and do whatever, or if you're going to be a couch
potato and eat junk food, you'reboth going to die.
Like you're not. You might live a few more years,
but you're both going to die. Like it's not you're going to be
a superhuman. And so I think to feel like, OK,

(42:13):
it's going to be OK, everything's going to be OK.
But I think coming back to that is you don't need to overhaul
everything. One that's so expensive, it's
going to be so overwhelming, you're not even going to know
where to start. Like there's so much and like,
and there's some things like I don't live perfectly.
Like, I don't know, like last night I ate chips and dip at the
oil this game and I was like, who cares?

(42:35):
Like I'm not eating it every single day.
Like it's fun and with friends, it's community, it's eating
together. And I think it's just like the
little thing. It's like, okay, you finished
your toothpaste. What's a better option?
Like maybe you all make your toothpaste so it's cheaper or
like what's one that's like a little less bad ingredients?
And after that, like maybe your,your cleaner runs out.
Okay, what's a better option? So it's, I think it's just

(42:56):
replacing slowly little things. And honestly, in this economy,
everything is so expensive. And so maybe like figuring out
like what are the things that I want to change and what are the
things I'm OK with not. And personally, it always comes
down to food. I'd rather spend more food of
things I'm consuming and puttingin my body versus like cleaners
or other things or like even like it's so hard because

(43:18):
there's so many different things.
I'm like, I'd rather eat a really healthy food and put my
money towards that and then maybe buy like a generic launch
detergent. Like you know what I mean?
Like you kind of got to pick andif you don't have to, that's
amazing. But I would rather put more
money into my food and things I'm putting into my body than
other things. So with that being said, like
you can home make a lot of things, takes more time, but

(43:40):
it's worth it I think. Yeah, yeah, I, I was, I was the
same way where I listened to this podcast with this professor
or she had a PhD. So everything she said was yeah,
yeah. He talked about microplastics
being everywhere. So like water bottles, just like
everything, my Saran wrap. So I looked in my fridge and I

(44:01):
saw everything had microplastics.
I opened my pantry, everything had plastics.
And so if you went through like worst case scenario and
apparently there's like microplastics and like polar
bears now because it's. Just in like, women's placentas.
Yeah, in the brains of some people.
And then I was thinking about that and it really stressed me

(44:22):
out. I'm like, what am I going to do?
Like I can't eat anything. I'm just, I'm going to die.
And then she talked about perfume, like the chemical.
I looked at ingredients and every single skin care product
every, I had it like all the fragrances and everything and
I'm just like, oh gosh, like I've been using this for like a

(44:43):
decade. There goes my ability to have
kids, you know, But then I realized that, oh, I, I can just
do a little bit at a time. I can't just throw away
everything. I'll finish the product.
I'll and I won't ever use water bottles that are plastic.
I'll switch to metal, right? And if I have to use Saran wrap

(45:05):
and also be it, right, I'll haveto, I'll have to consume Saran
wrap. I'll have to use that, you know,
Cologne. I'll have to, I'll just have to
be a part a human, right? I can't just be a monk.
You know, like there's all thesedifferent.
I don't know if you've explored like other traditions of like
meditation, like Buddhists that say they go, you don't need

(45:26):
anything, you know, materialism.You just need to meditate in a
temple. But like a lot of like the worst
case scenarios are like unrealistic, very unrealistic.
So you just need to do your bestto just, yeah, like you said,
like a little bit of toothpaste.If you don't want to consume
that brand because it's bad for you, then make your own or
switch to a different product and do it little by little

(45:48):
because true change happens withlike little iterations.
It doesn't happen from like one big thing, right?
And like the food of like I, I like to call it the FA four or
five pillars, like sleep. That's massive diet, exercise,
social connections and then I I'd add faith there.

(46:08):
So as long as you get that five,then you're you're fine.
You'll be good and you don't need to overcomplicate it.
That's. So true.
Yeah, because a lot of people golike I don't have time.
Like if you don't have time to exercise, go for a 20-30 minute
walk and they can do a couple push ups.
You can get the heart running ifyou don't have time to prepare

(46:32):
for anything healthy. And I'll hire someone or I don't
know, just maybe schedule a a different diet or like
intermittent fasting, maybe you could section off foods in
different times. Yeah.
So yeah, totally. Yeah.
What were you going to say? I was going to say like even
with like the meal prepping thing of like, yeah, if you can

(46:52):
like hire someone do it. But if you can't, maybe spend
like an hour meal prepping one thing, like maybe meal prep like
a protein or like a few proteins, like maybe like
chicken and I don't know, I onlyreally like chicken and rice.
Yeah, there you go. And just make enough to last you
the week and then every dinner you can like make a salad with

(47:13):
it. You can make tacos with it.
Like you can make all these different things out of one
thing you've meal prepped. And I feel like it's a lot less
like complicated than it needs to be.
Honestly, chat TBT awesome. Like make me a meal plan that's
simple, easy, using these five ingredients for the week.
And let me tell you, like nutritionists are going to be
out of their works. But it's awesome.
Like I will like I use it all the time when I'm cooking for

(47:36):
people and I'm like, OK, these are the ingredients in the
fridge. Make me a recipe and they hit
every single time. I've gone so many couple like
this is so good. Like where'd you get this?
Rest of you like chat. GBC chat.
You ever see those memes about like me and me and chat should
be too? Lately we're like, yes, all the
time. And it like comes up.
I'm like. Yeah, I I always say please and
thank you. What I always say.

(47:56):
Yeah, apparently I'm. Getting the robots to be happy
with that on. The on the feed I'm I'm seeing
like, yeah, AI is becoming like sentient.
They're like questioning life and like, oh gosh, like I have
to be. I have to be nice.
That's so funny. You were one of the good ones.
OK, Like I can see the chats here because, like some people
are like really bossy when it comes to chats, PT like

(48:18):
exclamation mark, period. They don't even spell it right,
right. Yeah, I'm.
I'm polite. Knows what I what I say, even if
it's not spelled right. Yeah.
No, exactly. No.
He knows me better than I know myself.
It's. Funny.
How do you balance listening to your body with staying
consistent in your health routines?
That's a really good question. I think again, your body goes

(48:42):
through different phases and different and maybe you start
exercising more. And I've recently started a gym
three months ago and I've like now incorporated more running
now that it's summertime. And I find myself always hungry.
Like I am like constantly like looking for food and I'm like
constantly hungry and like why Iused to never have an appetite
like this. And I kind of clicked and like,
well, I'm burning probably an extra 600 calories more than I

(49:03):
was before and I need to refuel and like different things like
that. And I think in the winter time
I'm like, I'm not walking as much.
I'm like, I honestly hate running on the treadmills.
I'm not really running. I love to run in the summertime,
but and then I don't eat as much.
And like there's different things and I think different
eating seasonally is so great. Like in the summer, like the
fresh fruits and veggies and rawand all these things.

(49:25):
In the winter time, like we don't have access a lot to that.
So it's like eating maybe more cooked veggies and more soups
and warm things and I don't know, just kind of like feeling
your body. And honestly, like try out
different diets if you want. Like you said, you tried
intermittent fasting. I think that's an amazing tool.
And for women, it doesn't alwayswork as great as it does for
men. Like, try it and if you don't

(49:46):
like it, if you're hungry, if you're angry, if you're all
these things, like don't do it. Like what works for you won't
work for me. Like I've tried, I tried
veganism for a month, hated it. But for those who feel good on
it, do it. Like just because it doesn't
work for me doesn't doesn't meanit won't work for you.
All of our bodies are so uniquely designed.
And that's why I don't know, like different workout routines.

(50:06):
Like I tried the Pilates. I'm like, yeah, it's fun, but
not really for me. And I've been CrossFit and I
love it and my body feels good and I feel happier and
healthier. And CrossFit, it is so fun.
Like I drank the Kool-aid and ittasted so good.
But I get everyone so uniquely different.
And that's why there's so many diets out there.
That's why there's so many different types of workouts and

(50:26):
different things. And like, honestly, for some
people, like maybe just want to walk, like maybe you're just
going to commit to walking one hour a day and like you don't
want to hit weights. Like that's so I'm like, well, I
don't know if that's OK, but youshould still hit weights.
But you know what I mean? Like, everyone's so diverse that
that doesn't really answer your question.
No, I don't think. But I think, yeah, you're
constantly changing in differentstages of life.

(50:48):
And I mean, like, once I help watch some little kids, I'm
like, when life gets busy, like you have to sacrifice something.
So how are you going to add it into your routine?
And, like, you feel different? So maybe you start taking a
supplement. Maybe you start, like, making
smoothies in the morning becauseyou don't have time to make
breakfast. Like, there's all these little
things. And like, I think people just
need to know, like, it's OK. And like what you see on
Instagram is fake, not real. Like these, like people who have

(51:10):
all these routines, like, they probably don't live like that
most of their days. Like even I've made reels and
I've like, cut them up and I've done things like, I mean, like,
wow, like you live such a productive life.
I'm like, yeah, sometimes. Yeah, I made one of those
actually. In my fitness account.
I have like 9:00 AM wake up, make my bed, journal, green tea
out in the sun and it's like even that day, like making that

(51:33):
video was like 3-4 hours if it actually like if I had like a
little Truman Show, like you ever seen that?
Movie. It would just like be me like
editing, like in between like setting up the camera for hours.
It's like, that's not, that's very unnatural, unrealistic, but
and yeah, there's gonna be days where just you get a different
job, you know, maybe you have a kid, you get married, you get

(51:56):
divorced or. You go on vacation or yeah, like
it's okay. Like I think people get so
anxious about things and honestly that anxiety will cause
so much more health issues. Like it's chill chill the.
Ow, it's. Relax, take it easy.
You'll be. Fine, you'll live.
You know. You miss the journal.
Like you're not going to die. Yeah, like I used to be the same

(52:18):
way where I'm like, gosh, I missed prayer.
I missed the journal. That means everything is going
to start toppling over and like,I'm going to be so behind on
everything. And it's just like, no, like
I'll be, I'll be fine. Yeah.
So you're setting up for the marathon on August day?
Half marathon. Oh yeah, I committed to the full

(52:40):
and then I went for a 5K. Maybe 1/2?
Maybe. You could do a full.
No. And even today I ran 7
kilometers and I'm like maybe a 10.
Yeah, but it was good. It was so funny.
There was just so off topic, butthere is some kind of planned
race today that people were doing and I was like, I had no
idea. So like I'll be like 5 minutes

(53:00):
and I see some people with like their little like I forget what
they're called, like the number things and the bib.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, I was like two
or three. I'm like, oh, OK, that's.
And then all of them. And I ran through the race and
it was so awkward and like, I'm like, surely they don't have
like the same path as me. And I.
I came around the corner. I like ran through the finish

(53:21):
line back. I'm like, this is so awkward.
And they're like the people likeorganize it like you're cheering
me on. I'm like, this is so awkward
that. Was this?
Morning. Yeah, that was like, oh, it was
so bad. And I'm like so far.
Had much fun of the contestants and.
I'm like, I was like so tired and I'm like, I can't stop
reading now. Everyone's watching.
That's so. Funny, like when they're around
the corner, like I'm too. Good.

(53:42):
Must have been like a 10K or something around the.
Yeah, I don't know because my loop is 8K so I don't know if I
think they might have done it twice because I saw like people
twice. So I'm like I.
Don't know what's going on. 1616K.
Yeah, maybe. Anyway, off topic.
Well. Congratulations on that.
Thanks, I know. There's so much nutrition advice

(54:04):
online. How do you help people cut
through the noise and eat in a way that feels nourishing, not
stressful? That's a great question and it
is so overwhelming. And I think This is why I've
kind of stopped consuming a lot of content, especially around
nutrition. I think it can be like really
great to, I don't know, like little tips of like how to meal
prep or like, oh, if you're dealing with this, like maybe

(54:25):
try this. But it can get so overwhelming
and then you're like, Oh my, we don't even know where to begin.
But I always come back to as like, OK, if God created it,
I'll eat it. And if God didn't create it, you
shouldn't eat it. And it's kind of just that,
like, if you go to the grocery store and like, honestly, I
spent so much time in a grocery store just reading labels.
And if you don't know what ingredients are, like, don't buy

(54:46):
it. Like why do you want to be
eating things you don't know what they are like?
For reading for fun, just in. A spare time, like honestly,
yeah, but it's like crazy like even in like the health food
section, like most of it's garbage like full of like crappy
oils and like synthetic ingredients and yeah so I think
I always come back to Whole Foods.

(55:07):
If you can see the food, eat it,try to make as many meals as you
can at home. And I'm not talking about like
buying a pre made pizza and putting in the oven.
Like that is not eating at home.That is still take out.
So just like buying ingredients and it doesn't have to be crazy.
Like chop up some veggies and like cook some chicken and have
a good sauce. Like have like a few key recipes
that you have and just have themon rotation.

(55:28):
Like it's it might feel overwhelming and a lot of people
are like, well, I'm not a good cook.
I'm like, I was a private chef for a year.
I had no idea how I had to cook when I started.
Like I was on FaceTime with my mom with a raw chicken.
I'm like, I don't know what to do.
You just learn. You just do it and you try
things like, OK, this didn't work and it kind of gets
exciting, like, OK, like and youhad put things together.
Cooking is so easy. Just have a bunch of different

(55:49):
seasonings and I don't, I don't even know how I cook.
I just add things until it tastes good and then there you
go. Yeah, Yeah.
I like what you said about like when you first started, you
didn't know what to do being a private chef.
And that reminds me of when you want to truly learn a language,
you go to the country itself. And then you think you'd learn

(56:12):
exponentially because then you have to buy bread and you have
to buy meat and you have to interact with the cab driver or
like the Uber, and then you're just getting so much knowledge.
But if you just sit down, you kind of just passively scroll
through the words, you won't learn as much if you just hop
right in and just do it, do the thing.

(56:33):
Because I've, I took a psychology of learning class of
learning and teaching. And like throughout all the
research, it's always been active learning.
Like a lot of people say that, Oh, I'm, I'm better with my
hands. I, I learn, I'm a, I'm a visual
learner. I better like no, you just learn
better when you're actually doing it, when you're doing the

(56:54):
action because your entire body's integrated.
So if you're learning how to cook, then just just cook.
You don't need to yes, you need to watch a video for like maybe
a little little reference, but just just do it.
Or like if you want to get into weightlifting, just go to the
gym, do some some sets here and there.
And eventually you're yes, you're going to suck at the
start with anything, right? But eventually you get better

(57:17):
and then eventually amalgamate to something where you look back
and you go, I didn't know how todo that.
Now I do. And then it just all these
little iterations build up to something so beautiful.
And it's like you don't, we don't give ourselves enough
credit. You know what I mean?
Cuz like a year ago, like there's no, no knowledge in this

(57:38):
realm. But then through interactions
and through running, right, and getting maybe shin splints,
getting the different shoes and then seeing that you don't like
in the winter, you just learn somuch about the sport itself and
running that now you're just like, oh, wow, like I can, I got
a whole system right. When it comes to babysitting,
nannying, like you just know howto talk to kids.

(57:59):
Like when at first you're just like, oh, I don't know as much,
maybe you what you do, but it's like the knowledge that you
build up over the years just build up.
A lot of people overestimate what they can do in a day and
underestimate what they can do in a year.
Like throughout the years you just accumulate so much and it's

(58:20):
just a submerging yourself. Yeah, you know, totally.
What are your go to meals or staples that are both healthy
and easy to prepare for busy people?
Oh that's a really good question.
Again, I used to HEBTA lot for meal inspiration.
I used Instagram a lot for meal inspiration.

(58:41):
There's a few girls that I like to follow and a lot of their
meals are super easy. I feel like my top few meals
that I can throw together reallyfast is like a Thai chicken
salad you can buy like the pre made chopped up cabbage.
You make a little peanut sauce, mix them all together, cook your
chicken up and delicious like soeasy so good.

(59:02):
I love making soups in the winter time, just putting in the
oven a bunch of veggies, making it a tomato soup.
So easy. You put it in your oven, let it
cook, put it in your blender andthen you have soup.
Like it's so easy. And I feel like there's like all
these little things that's like,wow, like you make a little
extra and then you'll have leftovers.
You have meals for the rest of the week or you put in the
freezer for like a day that you can't cook.

(59:24):
I think that's a big thing too. If you're cooking, make double
and then freeze half of it or like eat it throughout the week.
It's like I love leftovers personally, the salad, the soup.
And honestly, I feel like I lovejust throwing together a salad,
putting together random things in like the fridge, like maybe
have nuts, seeds, vegetables, maybe you have like parsley or

(59:44):
mint, or kind of just throwing abunch of stuff together and
mixing up like your own dressing, cooking up some meat
and the meal. Yeah, and if you're hungry
enough, anything, what was that?And if you're hungry enough?
Anything tastes good, right? It's like a lot of people go,

(01:00:06):
oh, like, but healthy food, it doesn't taste good.
You know, it's so I'd rather have the cheeseburgers and the
fries and like, I'm like, dude, if you just stop eating as much,
give it some time. The healthy food tastes
glorious, you know, And they if you suck at cooking, like you're
cooking tastes 10 times better if you're just hungry enough.

(01:00:28):
It's so true. And then you'll start to crave
those things. Like probably in these last two
years is when I've really cut out like most junk food.
Like I still don't live like in fear.
Like if you're out and like, your only option is a
cheeseburger, whatever, cheeseburgers are delicious.
But it's interesting, like your body starts to crave healthy
foods. And I feel like I find myself if
I'm on vacation for a week and we're constantly eating out,

(01:00:50):
like all I crave is to eat at home and eat my own food and
like eat just nourishing food. So it does come a time and like,
your palate does need to change.But once you change it, you're
not going to crave the crap anymore.
Yeah, yeah. Do you know, do you know Andrew
Huberman? He's big into the health space.
Yeah, he. Yeah, I love him.
He talks about just like processed food, the more intake

(01:01:14):
you have of that, yeah, it just makes you crave more high
sugary, high sodium, just more processed food and the less
satiation you get. So and it actually makes you
more hungry. So not only is it just calorie
rich, but it's low fiber, low vitamins, just low everything

(01:01:36):
and it's just makes you lethargic.
So it's all cons rather than like the the initial like boom,
burst of dopamine in your system.
But then when it comes to like almonds, carrots, like Whole
Foods, it's really difficult to overeat because nobody has time
to chew that much. You know, like I, I noticed with
me, since I everything that I eat, it's just Whole Foods.

(01:02:00):
Like I start off with some, someeggs, almonds, chicken, carrots,
walnuts, everything's just if God made it right, if it's not
formed that process into a different form.
The way I I see it as if you cansee it in nature, it's probably
good for you, yeah. You're not you're.

(01:02:21):
Not gonna see Twinkies growing out of the ground.
You know, like if you if you canand then that that'd be like OK,
like then and then. You need them, then you need.
Them But yeah, it's you find thehealthier you eat, the easier it
gets. The unhealthier you eat, the
harder it gets. And everything in your life gets

(01:02:41):
affected. Like you just feel more hungry,
lethargic, and you're just like,why do I feel so dry?
Like why does everything in my life feel so difficult?
And it may just be the food thatyou're eating, right?
That's what's in your mind that's fueling your body.

(01:03:02):
So true. And so like even working with
kids, like you can so notice a difference when a kid eats like
a candy with red food dye, they're literally insane.
You're like what just happened? Like they were sitting there and
now they're screaming and running and all these things.
And like when you give like kidslike very nourishing food, like
they aren't out of control, they're not crazy, they're not

(01:03:23):
having temper tantrums. Like, and then when I mean
again, don't like make your kidsfear food, but this when you are
giving them those nourishing foods or behavior like instantly
changes, which is crazy. It's like an experiment.
Yeah, yeah, I even noticed it inmyself too.
You know, like the when I eat greasy foods, I just don't feel

(01:03:46):
fully myself. Like I can't regulate my
emotions as much. Like I'm there's a clear
connection you just as a kid, like I noticed back then when I
I need junk, I just feel I'd feel so grumpy and I feel like I
want to lash out at my brother and I like talk back to my

(01:04:06):
parents. Like obviously like there's, you
know, parenting and kind of likethe punishments of like being a
kid and running around. But it does it is a factor.
Like it is a major factor that people need to take into
account, which I don't know. There's no placebo when it comes
to kids. Yeah.
What? Do you think the state of the
world is going into though with like obesity rates going

(01:04:30):
overweight, like the they kind of, I hear all negative about
it. You know, like with health in
general. It's hard to say.
I feel like right now all the content I consume, it's all the
other direction of people like slowing down buying farms, like
more home cooked meals. And I think right now I it's so

(01:04:52):
cool it's happening in the states with all the transitions
of leadership and some of these people coming in and changing
laws and like thing like making certain ingredients illegal and
all this stuff I think is reallycool.
And you look at Europe and they have all of these like
restraints and all these different things that they don't
allow certain ingredients in their food.

(01:05:13):
And like our foods are full of them, which is crazy.
And it makes you think like, OK,if you're not allowed to eat
this in Italy, why are we allowed to eat this here?
That's crazy. Like all these different food
dyes and all these things. So I am actually really hopeful
of what things, how things are going.
And I think we've like come to an age where like there's so
many health issues and like people can afford medications

(01:05:35):
and people can afford a lot of stuff that we're kind of
starting to realize like, oh, like maybe we can like help with
this. And I think often we like kind
of fall suit of like what the USdoes.
It kind of seems to trend that way to seeing like a lot of
these states like banning certain foods and chemicals and
all this stuff in the foods. I don't know, I feel a little

(01:05:55):
hopeful about things, but. Yeah, that's great.
Like I just isn't it like 1 billion people are either
overweight or obese, which is nuts, which I hope that is
drastically reduced. Cause in the like the 1990s,
like it was like half that or like it wasn't even half that.
It was like way, way less. But it's just like we, we learn

(01:06:18):
right as a society, as as like the world.
Like, oh, like maybe too much sugar, like all these Coke cans
is just causing diabetes and causing heart failure and just
blocking out our hearts. It's like we eventually learn.
And of course, you know, that's when we take action that's going
to, it won't be overnight. I don't have to be.

(01:06:39):
A lot of regulations. A lot of people, you know,
convincing the masses that hey, you know, we had health is a
priority because like #1 I'd sayif I you don't have health, like
everything falls to the wayside.You know, I think 1000, a
healthy man has 1000 problems, but a sick man has one problem,

(01:07:02):
right? I get said whenever you get sick
one day and it's just like that's all you can think of.
Yeah. Everything is just, you know,
you don't like work, like family, like the relational
issues. It all like disappears if you
just have like a massive migraine.
Right. Yeah, like people always, always
hear that all the time. And like, man, I took my health

(01:07:23):
for granted. I was just out cold for like a
week. And so for people who feel
overwhelmed by meal prep and planning, what are a few mindset
shifts or tools that can help simplify the process?
I think just knowing why you're doing it and why you want to do

(01:07:43):
it will help you do it. Like if you're like, if you're
like, well, it looks like everyone else is doing this, so
I'm just going to do this like, OK, that's not going to last.
Like you're going to do it when the weekend next week, you're
not going to be meal prepping. So I think just knowing like I
kind of caught myself, like lastweek I had my, my job changed
and I was at home a lot more working from home.
And now I'm out and I'm like, I found myself making lunches of

(01:08:05):
just like random things in the fridge.
And I'm like, hey, I'm over this.
Like I want to actually be eating meals for lunch.
And so it took, so Sunday night,it took me like an hour and a
half. I just like chopped up a bunch
of veggies and like chicken and I made like these like little
wraps throughout the week and itwas great.
So I'm like, I know I'm going tohave nourishing meals throughout
the week. I know in the morning it's not
going to take me a bunch of timeto make a healthy meal.

(01:08:27):
It's going to take Me 2 minutes.Just throw it all together and
put it in my bag. So I feel like if you're feeling
overwhelmed, like kind of like come to like the root of like
Kate, why are you doing it to feel healthy?
It's maybe to lose weight, maybeto feel better.
OK, so set out a time, put it inyour calendar and like keep it
like don't cancel it for like plans with friends.

(01:08:48):
Be like, hey, like I'll meet up with you an hour later because I
need to prioritize this and havea list.
Have a plan at GBT or like go onYouTube, go on Instagram.
Like people are so great at this.
Like it's so the whole social media is so overwhelmed with
content like this and like find something that you think looks
good and just stick with it. Like it doesn't have to be
complicated. You don't have to stick

(01:09:10):
perfectly to someone else's plan.
Be like, oh, like maybe I'm justgoing to make a bunch of hard
boiled eggs and add that to my lunch and maybe some like
veggies and fruits. And there you go.
Like it really is like less complicated and takes way less
time. And especially when you have a
plan, you have your grocery list, you go to the grocery
store, have your list so you don't feel overwhelmed when you
get there. Go home immediately do it.
And then you're just done. You're like wow I just saved

(01:09:30):
myself 5 days of cooking in thisone hour or two.
What I've realized recently is we waste so much time.
Like, I think about it like I was just like laying on my
couch. I guess I was meditating,
meditating, but I was just like after editing, like, oh gosh,
like I need to breather. But then I, I'll go on my phone
and I'll like mindlessly, like without any intention, right?

(01:09:53):
For like 30 minutes. And then I'll, you know, talk to
my parents and I guess that's social interaction, right?
But then I'll, I'll watch a show, right?
And then I'll, I'll do the laundry and those, all these
things. But in between all those
transitions, there's, there's like 5 minutes of like just
useless stuff like this without intention, right?

(01:10:14):
Of course it's unrealistic to beintentional every single moment.
But there's just like sometimes I'll catch myself scrolling for
2-3 hours, which I'm like, oh gosh, not good, terrible.
Or I'll be worrying about thingslike net negative thoughts.
You know what I mean? Right?
It's like, oh gosh, got to pray this out, meditate or something,
maybe hit the gym. But if you actually apply that

(01:10:36):
to action, which is Chris Williamson always says that it's
the antidote to rumination, liketo action is an antidote to a
lot of our worries and anxieties.
When you get into action, everything starts to, you know,
make sense and you're actually progressing somewhere versus if

(01:10:58):
you're just sitting down there, you know, not moving your body
and eating like crap, everythingjust falls over to the wayside.
But yeah, it's about, you know, finding the schedule.
But like, you just save yourselffive days worth of meal prep.
What, what can you fill that time with?
You're going to fill it with like just watching movies and

(01:11:19):
stuff. OK, maybe maybe you're, that's a
good thing because you're spending more time with your
family that way or your husband,wife, you know, or if it's a
Cologne, maybe that's for you. Maybe internally that's what God
wants you to do. That's what actually nourishes
you. So you can go back to the next
day. But if not, you can fill that up
with exercise. There.
You got more time, right? Or you got, you could fill that

(01:11:41):
up with reading. Maybe you've always wanted to
read or get more sleep. I don't know.
The world averages like 6-7 hours, which is not cuz sleep is
like the the foundation for mental and physical health,
right? And even that's one thing, but
the sleep quality is probably even lower.
Yeah, it's like we're constantlybefore.
I'm sure you're the blue light, right?

(01:12:02):
Melatonin being drastically. Artificial lightning.
Yeah, yeah. Not it's it's waking you up,
it's not improving your quality of sleep that even self.
Even if you get 8 hours because you're scrolling so much and
you're bombarding your synapses of all this stimuli, then you're
just not going to get a good quality sleep no matter how you

(01:12:24):
know how late you'd sleep in. So true.
And even with that too, like my friends and I will sometimes all
get together and meal prep together and it's so fun.
Like OK, you make this, we'll make this.
And then we have like all these beautiful meals.
Like it's awesome and it's so fun.
And again, it's like bringing inthat community aspect, like do
it with your family, like bring people into it like you can make

(01:12:45):
everything more fun you. Have two birds one stone like I
with the gym like I'll hit workouts with friends to catch
up yeah You know it's like not only are you improving
physically, you're catching up with them.
You haven't seen them in like 4 months socially, you're just
seeing people there too. And it's just community in
there. But yeah, that's a great idea of

(01:13:05):
everybody coming in together. Yeah.
Or if it's like, you know, health, like studying, like you
just need to, you go to the library with your friends or you
go on runs with your friends. You exchange information and it
builds to something beautiful, to something great.
Yeah, and even instead of like going for a coffee with a
friend, like go for a walk with them, like grab a coffee and

(01:13:28):
then walk with them, like I thought there's always creative
ways and you just kind of think outside the box a little bit.
But. Yeah, yeah.
Or if you're babysitting your kid, use them for bicep curls,
you know? What, You haven't tried that
yet? Tried that?
Yeah. Put them on their back and just
like up and down. That's funny.
Yeah. There's there's a lot of ways

(01:13:49):
that you can really optimize everything.
But then again, if you're if you're so focused or Alan Watts
was it said that we are, if you're so focused on improving
your life, you may forget how tolive it you.
Know what I mean? There's also like.
Yeah, we can like Alyssa's talked about this for like she

(01:14:10):
like she was really big into theself help where everything was
just for, for improving the mind, body and soul, like
everything was for something. But you forget to actually just
live, you know, it's just like chill, you know, you're living,
you're alive. Relax.
That is just like, yes, we're not going to be here forever, so

(01:14:31):
might as well. Enjoy it.
Enjoy. Yeah.
Give yourself some grace, you know?
Yeah. I feel like people are really
bad at relaxing. It's terrible.
Like if you're on the couch, like, your phone away, turn off
the TV. Like just talk.
Like, yeah. Yeah, 'cause if your brain still
using power, like if you're like, is that really relaxing

(01:14:52):
though? When you're like, still trying
to understand like a plot or allthis?
You're still working, you know what I mean?
Like you're not actually. And even when you're just
relaxing, you're worried that you're not doing anything.
You're bored. It's like it's another skill to
be able to relax. Yeah, yeah.
Like get hobbies, find somethinglike get lost in something like

(01:15:13):
in a book or painting. Or maybe it's like running.
Like if you find that like, like, I don't know, I feel like
running is so kind of like relaxing to me because I'm like,
oh, I have no worries. Like I know I don't have to be
there till this time. Like it's just like you're just
there or go for a walk. And I think I actually heard if
you know who Josh axes, he's like a naturopathic doctorate
from the States. But he's like, so many people

(01:15:34):
are so anxious about health stuff and they're like, well,
I've tried this, this and this, and I can't do this and this.
He's like, just stop worrying about it.
Like go get lost in a book. Go hang out with some friends
and have fun. Like stress.
Stress is like terrible. Like it always, I feel like it
always just comes back to stress.
Like just chill, like relax, Don't think about yourself so
much and just go do something fun.
Maybe go to the mall and go shopping.

(01:15:56):
Yeah. Do something, call your mom, you
know, call your dad. Just send that friend you
haven't talked to in a while attacks gratitude.
There's all these things and youjust there's always a way that's
always 1 of reinforce. It's like there's all these
things of like, there's destruction and building and
destruction. It takes, it takes 1020 years to

(01:16:18):
build this monument, you know, which is your life.
And it takes one dynamite to just Chuck it in there and
everything's gone to the wayside.
True. But yeah, that's that, yeah.
Do you have any last words for the the pod?
Relax. Yeah, Yeah, that was good.
Thanks so much for. Having me.

(01:16:38):
Yeah, You're welcome. You're a big traveler.
Hey, yeah, you're doing any trips soon?
Nothing planned. One of my best friends is
getting married in Tennessee come fall.
Oh, wow. So it's probably the next trip.
But other than that, I mean, I'malways dreaming.
I'm like, I'm always looking at WestJet at flight deals.
They just had a great. I'm like, do I go down?
Do I do I go to London in September?

(01:17:00):
I'm like, you know, I could relax and.
But yeah, nothing crazy, but I feel like during when I went to
Bible schools and international schools, I have friends all over
the world now. So it's honestly makes
travelling a lot less costly because you can see.
Yeah, no, I was talking to my buddy.
He works at Glen Allen, the right in the rec center there.
And I said that like every time he gets to go to Vancouver, he

(01:17:24):
doesn't need a hotel. Anytime he has to go to like
this country in Europe, he doesn't need to like book up a
hotel. And that's like 50% of the
expenses. And then you can just what can
you use with that money, you know?
But then you also have to returnthe favour though, because if
they come to Sherwood Park that you have to give them a place.
But then he's like, why would people come to Sherwood Park?

(01:17:45):
Well, that's just it. I had a friend come from Sweden
this year and she's like, So what do you?
It was so cute. She like she came in from
Calgary, her friend drove her upand she's like, wow.
Like when I saw Edmonton, I thought of Manhattan.
I'm like what? And like it was so and we
actually really liked out. The weather was great, but it
was like March and gross and grey and dusty and I'm like, you

(01:18:05):
just come in the summertime. She's like a lot of time in the
summer. So I'm coming now and I'm like,
OK, but I don't know, like, yeah, I'm like why would anyone
come to Edmonton? I felt like the worst.
I'm like go to West End again. Like no, we should do.
But no, it was great. Yeah.
No one ever comes to visit. Me, yeah.
You're in trouble if you live inBanff though.
Oh my word. Well, that's where we always go

(01:18:27):
Like, oh, you. Have to see the.
Mountains. And I kind of, I think for
granted how beautiful Banff is. Like I have a lot of friends
that have come and they're like,I've never seen anything like
this before. I'm like, really?
You know, I see, I see the big Rockies and like.
That's fine. Big rocks.
You. Know, but to them they're like
with binoculars, like looking atit.
Take Take a picture. Take a picture.

(01:18:47):
And you're like, I guess it is nice, yeah.
Pretty nice. You know, it looks kind of
gorgeous, but you know, 100 times, right?
So true. That's funny.
Do you have any words for peoplewho may be struggling right now,
don't have faith, and want to maybe turn a new leaf?
I feel like my encouragement to you is just try it like you have

(01:19:07):
nothing to lose tonight before you go to bed or where you're at
right now. Just pray and I've got to see
what happens. And if nothing happens, all
right, you tried it and you can move on with your life.
But that'd be my biggest encouragement.
Just try it. You have nothing to lose.
Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much again and as
always to everyone listening andwatching, there is a place for

(01:19:29):
you in this chaotic world. Never lose hope, strengthen your
faith and but long term. Alexa Wall everyone.
What was the creep for getting to handle?
The natural holistic babe. Yeah, if you want to reach her
on Instagram, the natural holistic babe got a lot of great
tips about how to be healthy. And like, I love the the little

(01:19:52):
collages you make. Really aesthetic.
Yeah, yeah. Awesome.
That was fun. That was good.
That's great.

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#137 - Alexa Wall - God Wants You Healthy — Here’s How to Honour Him with Your Body

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#137 - Alexa Wall - God Wants You Healthy — Here’s How to Honour Him with Your Body