Transcriptions for Episode 113

Guys, Welcome to threads podcast life unfiltered. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. Tonight we have special guests, Kate and useing. And we’ll introduce her a little bit later as far as what she’s up to. But before we jump into everything threads, I just have a couple of housekeeping items just to let you know that we do have a, buy me a coffee, it’s just kind of like Patreon. So you can like, Hey, here’s 10 bucks first to support you or you can sign up for a membership where we offer a bunch of extra perks and those kind of things. And also, I’m actually working on a newsletter. While the templates been frustrating, I’m super excited to finally get it out on February 1. So I’m working through that you can go to threads podcast.com and click on newsletter, put your email in there, and then you get all things threads once a month on top of the podcast. So we’d really appreciate you supporting the show by signing up for the newsletter or buying us a coffee. Before we introduce our guests fully. Ben’s going to talk about what threads podcast is all about. And all the buckets we’re going to be talking about tonight.

Yes, indeed. So here on the threads podcast, we are a show all about being authentic. Be sure Wow. being super jittery on a Friday night too. We are just coming in strong

woman and strong.

So threads podcast is a chance for us to be unfiltered in our conversations and to be open and honest. And just real with the fact that sometimes life isn’t as pretty as we make it seem on social media. To do that we talk about three main content areas. Those are faith, and uncomfortable conversations. And of course, mental health. Tonight, we will probably fill all three of those buckets. Some episodes, we, you know, we put a drop or two in some of them and focus on another. But tonight, I think we’re gonna dive into all three. So we are very excited to have Kate with us tonight. We’ll do a little bit more of an intro. But first, we’re gonna just jump right in and do an icebreaker. If you’ve ever been to youth group or grew up in the church or went to corporate meetings, then you know, just how fun icebreakers can be.

or young life. What’s that? Or young life? Or young

life? That’s true? Yep. So I have a list of 200 question. Now. I did not write them. You can thank Google for these questions. So to get us started, Jason, would you pick a number between one and 200?

So wait, we’re not gonna do all 200?

No, that’s probably maybe 150

I’m gonna do 2626

What is your favorite car that you’ve owned? Ooh,

I owned a a Chevy Cavalier. Now before you tease me, I know it’s kind of low on the totem pole. But I had a Z 24 bro. Like not, like not the Camaro, not the Z 28. But the Z 24. So I had a black one, I think graduated high school and it was meant right. So I don’t even know what happened to that thing. But anyways, I got rid of it. And when Megan and I were together I was you know, I had been divorced and so I was pretty broke. So I ended up buying another one because I wanted I don’t know relive my high school days. So I bought a white one for like 500 bucks. I’m pretty sure it was didn’t run on all cylinders when I bought it. And it basically would flood and then it would ice over in the back. Yeah, I’d pick up no tea, you know, for my weekends, and he would be like sliding in the back. Anyways. I love that car, a Cavalier z 24. The one I bought for 500 was a piece of junk. But the black one Oh, man, I would I would buy one of those right now. I don’t know what to do about it. I like it. But

anyways, so that’s my story. Oh, fantastic. Well, now you get to pick who goes next.

I’m gonna go with Kate. All right, Kate, I

need to number one between one and 200 and not 26.

How about number seven?

number seven. What are some of your favorite games to play?

Oh, man, I really love Settlers of Catan and have taught my kids to play awesome. Even my five year old, so I feel like I’m winning as a parent that they want to play together with me.

Explain that game for all US shelter people.

Oh, shoot. It is such a nerdy game.

I know. So don’t of course I do bad.

It’s so nerdy but it’s So fun. You have to build settlements and get resources and build cities and roads and get points. And

so it’s like a kind of like a Sims game or like,

yes simulation type of game, but it’s done through turn base play, and it’s a board game versus like, Oh, it’s

a board game. board game. Oh, we’re getting real nerdy then.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, do your kid play the junior version or do they play? Whoa,

no, no full on. Yeah. Oh,

yeah. Kudos to you. That’s awesome.

Anyways, me because I win. Oh.

Make the kids play.

Nice. Yeah, I started playing that game in college at cornerstone. Rapid so it was a big hit in the dorms? Yeah. I’m gonna pick myself a number 63 I did not read it. What I’ll be would you be a lot of fun to get into? I don’t think that’s written. Right. What happy would be a lot of fun to get into. We’ll go with that. I don’t know. I think I’ve always looked with curiosity at the RC airplane. Like, spots they have like I drove by a couple in the country. It’s like a What a weird hobby. Playing with a small airplane or a small car. But there’s legit like, RC car racing courses and apparently are the air stuff. So I don’t know. I find it intriguing. I don’t know if it would be fun. It is fun. Do the bigger things though.

It is fun. I grew up on RC cars. And I like I even made a video in eighth grade of my RC cars in it. I got an A on it. But anyways, I had a midnight pumpkin truck. And like, the real stuff is like the gas like oh, yeah, but the airplane stuff terrifies me because you’re like going there flying super fast, like through the air through the air, idiot. But I mean, like, it’s not it’s not going seven miles an hour on the dirt road. It’s like flying but and so I never got in the planes, but I really did like the cars. It’s fun. It’s an expensive hobby.

I’m sure. All right, let’s do one more. All right. Pick up number 199. Wow, I’m gonna make me scroll. I am. What’s your favorite month?

Hmm,

I would have to say probably March and not because it’s my birthday month. It’s because just just the transitions for me when I transition jobs because I do lawn fertilization. So you know, I’m doing gig work in the winter. And then this it’s kind of like spring and so that’s kind of where my my favorite, favorite month of the year is just because of that.

Nice transitions. Yes. I love I don’t like transitions. I think they’re obnoxious.

Well, I’ve done like this kind of work for 20 years. So I’ve always done something different in the winter. So it would it’s it’s actually kind of weird for me. I would never be able to go to a job where I’d to work every day at the same job every I couldn’t do it. Yeah, I hear Yeah, that’d be weird for me, but I’m just used to it. So. Yeah.

All right, Kate, what number do you have?

100.

Nice, easy, round number. Let’s see. What were your favorite TV shows when you were younger?

I was gonna age you.

Oh, it is gonna age me.

It’s all right. We’re all right there with you.

That was saved by the bell girl.

Oh, yeah.

We’re awesome. You know, TJ if that kind of was my jam.

Oh, yeah.

What was the little rundown on that was like,

shoot, it was like family matters. Step by step Full House Full House. Yeah,

yeah. And then the dinosaurs. Oh.

I don’t know. This is gonna have you guys ever watched elf?

Yes. A little bit. Yeah, that was a little before me. Right? I’m

old.

Yeah, alpha was one of my parents favorites growing up so that was on

it’s a good show.

It’s funny cuz you ask people now and they think you’re talking about elf like balls. Yeah.

angry. lf Yes. Which is an amazing movie to

write. No kidding. Okay. I’m going to choose number 64. And then we’ll jump into our topic for the night. What do you resent paying for the most? Oh, boy. That’s all do we have all night? I don’t know.

Um, like buyer’s remorse. Right?

Yeah, buyer’s remorse. What did I feel that about? There was something? Oh yeah, it’s nothing huge, but it’s recent. So I’ll go with it. We’re trying to figure out how to make life work well, in our home. It’s an older home, it has some limitations. One of those is, there’s not a good spot for shoes or coats or jackets. It’s like, they just get tossed everywhere. So we’re trying to figure out a place for shoes. And we bought an over the door shoe rack thing off of Amazon. And, of course, put it all together, put it over the door, tried to open the door. If there wasn’t enough clearance behind it, we couldn’t get out of the house. Thankfully, we didn’t put shoes in it yet. But that I think it would have been even more frustrated if we had loaded it up with shoes. But my wife being the wise woman that she is, was just like, Well, why don’t we try opening the door before we load it with shoes? Like that’s probably a good idea. couldn’t open the door. So

yeah, as Neanderthals would be like, no loads of shoes up. It’s fine.

Right? It’ll work. And it didn’t. So

all right, we’re gonna Kate, I just want you to introduce yourself. And one of the things we always say is like, why don’t you give us a 32nd or 62nd elevator speech if you were trying to sell yourself to somebody or or sell a product or whatever. And and then we’ll go from there.

Yeah, so I’m a Christian based health coach. I help women primarily but you know, men as well create a biblical foundation for their health habits.

Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I I dabbled in a little bit and was looking at some of your stuff. And so I was like, I’m, I’m curious about this a little bit. I’ve never heard that.

Yeah. So and it definitely brought up a lot of questions for me. Maybe not questions, but a lot of rabbit trails. If there’s one thing that the church has not historically done well with, I think it would be the whole concept of physical wellness, I think, a lot of emphasis that’s that’s put on spiritual wellness and spiritual growth. But when it comes to the body, I mean, church, potlucks Hello.

Right? We totally condone this and of gluttony regularly.

Yeah.

dessert.

Yeah. Right. Well, I will start us off with a couple of questions. I’m super intrigued by your connection to West Michigan. Yeah, you lived here then for a while.

I was born and raised in Kentwood. Yes. Yeah. I’m born and raised. And most of my family is still there.

Where do you live now?

Now I am just south of Tampa and Florida.

Oh, I guess so jealous of people in Florida in the wintertime?

You know what? We just moved here like six months ago.

Oh, boy.

Yeah, we lived in Kentucky for 13 years. So it’s gradually going farther south.

Right.

Awesome. The South was great. I Megan and I always say we’re gonna be snowbirds. And every time we go for a walk for the dogs. I still call it like the season change, but I’m like,

Yes. Mm hmm.

Well, tell us a little bit about your family. And with that, how has it been, I guess promoting health on a family level?

Shoot, yeah. So I, I am married, been married for 13 years. I think 1313 something like that. And he always remembers and I forget, but I’ve been married very happily for a long time. Um, we have three boys who are 10, nine and five. And quite honestly, I wasn’t healthy until four years ago. My journey started when my youngest was a year old. And I was you know, saw that weight coming back on and was not happy. I couldn’t keep up with them, I couldn’t keep up. I was homeschooling two of them and had a baby. And it was a mess. I was a mess. I just couldn’t keep up. So I found something I could do at home, because we lived in rural Kentucky. And it worked. And I loved it. And you know what, from y’all, I started with 10 minutes a day, I would not even do the cardio workouts. Like, no, I will do the 10 minutes of yoga a day. And that is all. And so I went from that to now teaching group fitness and, you know, promoting exercise. transition for me and my family.

Very cool. So what was it that, I guess, four years ago? What happened? Or was it just the seeing the way? Or was there a specific event or person that kind of motivated you to get into it?

I think I think like most women, it was it started as the weight. But also I wanted to run around with my kids. I wanted to play with them and not be out of breath.

Right? You know,

I have three boys. There is no sitting still there is no, you know, calm moments. It is it’s all wild and running and moving all the time. And I couldn’t keep up. And that was really hard for me, but also my whole life. I’d wanted to be a missionary. Okay, yeah. And I had this realization one day that if God called me into the mission field, there was no way that I could physically keep up with the demands of that. Sure. And that to me felt like disobedience. If I couldn’t say yes to anything God called me to. I was not living in obedience to Christ. And that was a game changer for me. Wow.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s

pretty. That’s pretty thoughtful that you were thinking that far ahead to say, you know, if I don’t get better, if I don’t get healthy, I can’t serve God in the way that I want to serve God.

And he’s given each of us a body, right? Like, that’s the first gift He’s given us. And we each have one. So we have to take care of that gift to be a good steward of that gift. First, it’s just making the best choices for you, and everyone is ready at a different point.

I’ll steer this a little bit towards the whole mental and spiritual and physical wellness components. Yeah. To get us started with that. Talk to us about the mental health component. What does that look like for you? And do you feel that your mental wellness is impacted by your physical health and condition? And if so, how?

Yeah, definitely. Like 100% it you can’t have one piece out of whack and expect the other pieces to to be functioning well, I have depression, I was diagnosed with depression and college. And the first thing my counselor said to me was start drinking water and go exercise. And for a very long time, though, that was all I knew to do. That medication that my doctor gave me. And when I finally got healthy, I was able to cut my medication in half. Right? It’s not gone, I can’t, I can’t go without my antidepressants. Because there’s a chemical imbalance in my brain and that’s okay. You know, like, that’s how God made me but I also connect with a lot of other people. Because of that, I have way exercise in exercise and food and nutrition are now tools I can use to get balanced. know if I’m struggling with anxiety, or if I’m having you know about a depression. If I go outside and go for a walk. I might not be you know, out of my low, but, man, it sure does help right? Yeah, and eating that. pint of ice cream because no one sits down and has a couple bites of ice cream.

Small the Ben and Jerry’s pints,

right.

And no one goes for the halo top let’s let’s just call that crap out. If you’re gonna do it go big. You know, it doesn’t help. It doesn’t make me feel better. It just made me feel worse and there’s still temptation to eat the Ben and Jerry’s but

Well, I mean, I think everything in moderation and it’s easier said than done, right? Like even for me like moderation is tough for me, I go out of like, I don’t eat fast food. for like three weeks, and then I go a week, every lunch, I’m eating fast food. So right, I like to comment about exercise and mental health. Well, I need I know I need to do that morning, it does help me and even Joe Rogan, the king of podcasters talks about how he’s he is like, under the belief like every almost everything as far as like, depression, mostly depression can be cured by exercise, which I think is a huge portion of it. But you know, if you have a chemical imbalance, sometimes it can’t. But I always I’ve always liked that about him. He’s like, No, you just need to get outside get some fresh air and, and and go to it. So

yeah,

that’s good that you said that.

I love taking it one step further, though. If I’m going to go outside and I’m going to go for a walk. I’m going to start playing worship music, right. Because then I’m not just getting the fresh air and the physical benefits, then I’m refocusing my heart. Yeah. And Jesus, and I feel like that when you again, when you add the off all the components together, you you get wholeness, right? For sure. So

yeah, for me, I don’t I don’t wear headphones when I walk. I know I take all the nature and actually that kind of started with a challenge that Ben throughout that he didn’t follow through on his

I have recently.

I don’t see any proof. Let’s see it need a video proof of my journal that that you wrote a letter to yourself, remember? Oh,

I did, actually as part of my journal, so we’re just gonna do a quick accountability follow up, apparently. Yes. I had to write a letter to myself about the ideal life I wanted for myself as well. So I did write

a letter to myself. He wrote one anyways.

Hey, yeah,

you did follow through, I guess. But mine was to take walks and, and reflect on just what you hear. Right? You know what I mean? It’s amazing when you’re just walking without and I love headphones. Like I I wear them all the time while I’m working. I’m constantly listening to podcast. So it’s odd for me not to but I really, really have enjoyed just listening to things while you’re walking instead of you know, listen, yeah, but I get where you’re coming from, you know, I’ve been kind of missing church a little bit. I’m not gonna lie. It’s, it’s you have to do the online thing. So we’re still not in person yet. So I’m hoping that will come soon. As soon as this Coronavirus calms down a little bit. Yeah. So tell me how you’re you’re making a go at this. You kind of brushed over it a little bit at the beginning. But talk a little bit about your Is it a senate seminar? Are you doing coaching? How you like what your program kind of consists of a little bit?

Yeah, so right now it’s a nine week program. It’s a mentorship. And it’s a group mentorship, a small group, so no more than eight women in a group. And I coach them weekly on a zoom call. And then they have homework and emails from me throughout the week, where we work on the heart issues, as well as the health issues.

Do you have any? As far as I just curious, it doesn’t matter. Because I’m not educated in podcasting. either. I learned this from being on the internet. But I just curious if you have any background in, like the health stuff or whatever?

Yeah, so I’ve been a health coach for about four years. Okay. And I’m a group fitness instructor. And, yeah, so I’ve been in the industry for a while. I was in it via network marketing for a while. Which is, you know, how a lot of people start. But I saw a gap in our rural area in Kentucky where we didn’t have any gyms. And I thought, well, you know, it’s not okay, that we don’t have access to things that encourage health. So I got certified to teach and taught in my kids elementary school gym, you know. And then I started teaching for the teachers after school one day, and then I went to another elementary school. So I saw a gap. And I feel that the gap I see in the health industry is that there’s no connection to faith. What happens when you, you know, when you can keep up with your kids, when you reach your goal, and you can keep up with your kids? Well, then what do you just quit? Right? Right? No, you keep going, but you have to have a y or you’re not going to keep going. Right? So for me, and what I tried to teach my clients is that your y has to be Jesus to you know, this is what it means to honor God with your body. Because as Christian girls growing up, we hear honor God with your body and that means don’t get tattoos and don’t you know, don’t wear short skirts and things like that, but that’s not that’s not really What that means that’s taken out of context

with the starting point, but it’s not the whole thing.

Right, right. Right. Yeah.

So how do you feel that you may be alienating pre Christians with your program?

Oh, man, that’s a great question.

I

got you on that one. I know you’re talking about like talking about, you know, the mental health and the eating, but you can’t have it all unless you have Jesus. So then I want to say, Well, what about the people that don’t believe in Jesus can’t? I mean, your program could be successful with people that don’t, you know, the pre Christians too. I mean, because mental health and eating, they all kind of, you know, everything goes together. But some people might be uncomfortable with the faith aspect. And that is that is totally like your thing, your business, you do it how you want. I was just curious.

No, I think that’s a great question. Because I do have a lot of followers who don’t believe in Jesus. And for them, what I think they get out of my content is all of the practical tips. You know, here, let me show you how to throw together a 30 minute meal that your kids are going to actually eat. And bonus, it’s healthy. I have, again, three boys and one for the love of God. If he eats anything other than ketchup, it is a win. But he won’t eat pasta sauce, y’all. Just Jesus help us. I can, I can give you practical tips for that. I can show you how to meal plan I can, I can give you 10 minute workouts, because that’s how I started. If you’ve got 10 minutes, give me 10 minutes. And let me show you these five moves you can do in your house with water bottles as weights. So I think I don’t I don’t feel like an alien eight. I think that there are a lot of people that follow me that that I love dearly friends of mine, who get a lot out of what I have to offer. My mentorship in particular, though, is geared towards women of faith. And

yeah, and you got to look at it as an opportunity maybe to witness I mean, when I say I hate to say that word witness, because it sounds like you know, you’re like bombarding somebody, but it’s

not. You can do it without sleazy way.

Yeah, we all try to witness every day, even with our actions, right? Not just saying the words but not being a jerk or whatever those I mean, it’s not that you you have to if you’re nice, you’re a Christian, I’m just saying like you kind of witness every day, just in the way you are.

It’s in the way you love people. Right?

Yeah. And I think it’s kind of cool. Because, you know, I’ve always liked going to, you know, quote, unquote, religious stuff. And it’s not like jammed down your throat, right. It’s like there. It’s talked about, it’s part of whatever program you’ve participated in. But it’s not like, you know, you know what I mean?

And I would say that is exactly what my social media looks like. It is very health and Jesus centered, but none of its forced down your throat. It’s, and that’s my opinions, right? I’m allowed to share my opinions and my platform, right. But for anyone who wants to go deeper with me, they know full well what they’re getting into.

Yeah, that’s a neat opportunity that you’re offering to them. Because again, I’m just going back to the whole church and fitness. And yeah, I don’t recall seeing it done well, consistently over time. One thing that does come to mind, that was a huge hit. And one of the churches that I was a youth pastor at back in the day, there was a wrestling Group, a community wrestling group that needed a place to practice and the school wouldn’t let them because they weren’t officially a school sponsored sport. So they, one of the leaders went to our church, and he asked the board, Hey, can we run our wrestling program in the sanctuary? And they did. And it was like this huge thing and like, the local news station came out because it was such a weird idea that the churches is a wrestling gym during the week for kids. That’s interesting. So that’s one thing that comes to mind, but I’m really racking my brain and I don’t see a whole lot of physical fitness being promoted from a church level. It is so you kind of grew up with a dad who was in the ministry and whatnot. Yeah. What do you think it is that way? Like, where did the disconnect come from any ideas?

You know, my dad was always you know, a lot of girls grow up with their mom being the one who diets and works out all the time to you know, pull out these videos. For me. It was my dad. My dad did the diets and he ate healthy and I’d come home and he’d be on his Bowflex, you know, after school flags, and we had time. And so, and he would invite other pastors over to work out at the house. So you know, I come home and my dad and my youth pastor are working out, you know, know how embarrassing Oh, come on, guys. Um, I think what it comes down to is that the church is afraid, has become afraid to point out certain sins. Mm hmm. And no one wants to talk about it. And no one wants to discuss sin. Because that makes people really, really uncomfortable. Right, right. So let’s talk about, let’s build that uncomfortable bucket, right?

Let’s do it.

Let’s do it. When we put food as an example, food, right? Before Jesus, it becomes an idol. And that sin. So for example, when I would get to dinnertime and just be exhausted and frustrated, instead of turning to prayer, I would turn to a bottle, a glass, a glass of wine. There’s nothing wrong with a glass of wine. I was using that glass of wine as an idol. Because I was putting it before Jesus and that action was sinful wine. Was it sinful? I was sinning by putting that first. People don’t want to point that out. Yeah, people. It’s okay to have a glass of wine to unwind. You’re right it is. But if you’re using it in the wrong way, yeah, it’s not okay. Yeah, the city, the church doesn’t want to call that out. The church wants to have big potlucks and feed people and have the dessert table be bigger than the potluck table. And everyone thinks it’s okay to come over to your table with a plate full of desserts just for you. Yeah. A dessert is not bad. Right, two desserts is probably even okay. And Come on now.

So I, I have a different thought on this. I I personally am going off script again, I don’t really think the church should be involved in this is just me personally, I probably don’t speak for Ben. But I just want to throw that out there. I think they got bigger fish to fry. I mean, in a using that, you know, they got a lot of other stuff going on. Yeah, I really don’t care if my church, you know what I mean, is worried about what I eat, or you know what I’m saying? Like, I understand everything you’re saying is 100% true. And it needs to be addressed. But I don’t know if I really want a church being like, hey, guess what, we’re not doing potlucks because we want you to eat healthier. Yeah. And if we do, it’s gonna be kale and cabbage. You know what I mean? Because like, I feel like when someone’s sick, right, you bring them a meal of lasagna or whatever. And I know you’re not saying that’s wrong, but I just find it. I don’t know. I’ve never been to a church that ever addressed it. I don’t even I don’t know if it’s their place. That’s just my opinion.

I think that’s fair. I think that there’s, and you know, let’s use the potluck situation. Again, as an example. There are good things about church potlucks.

Mm hmm.

That’s amazing. Time for fellowship, right? That’s incredible. You could bring someone to a potluck who maybe wouldn’t come to a church service.

Right, right.

But they would come to eat. Sure. So there are certain things like certainly it’s a good thing, right? The church potluck is neutral. Everything is neutral. It’s how we use those things, or how we label them.

I hear what you’re saying, Jason, but at the same time. If our bodies are truly temples of the Holy Spirit, like the Bible says, then maybe it doesn’t have to be something that’s like ultra super practice than promoted. But can we at least talk about it during a church service? Well,

it’s it’s the same thing she talks about Tet. You know, Kate, you’re talking like you’re not in the room. You talked about tattoos, like that’s kind of it’s like, it’s almost like choosing what you want to follow. Like, if you know, you know what I mean? Like, which, which sins and those kind of things because I’m all tatted up to Am I treating my body poorly? You know what I mean? I don’t know. I’m not trying to discount. I’m just trying to have a discussion about it. So don’t think that I

love that. I think that, I mean, I’m gonna go ahead and defend my tattoos. You know, like,

Yeah,

but let’s talk about leadership. The people in leadership at the church, if they’re not healthy physically, how are they able to lead really at their best capacity?

Ooh, that’s a good one.

If they don’t have the energy, if they’re tired if they’re sick. Now, I’m not talking about being skinny. I don’t care if you’re Skinny or fat? That doesn’t matter, I’m talking about being your healthiest self. Right? And part of that is physical. You can’t, that can’t be discounted. There’s you can’t deny that your physical ness is, you know, important. I’m using all of my smart words tonight.

Oh, I love it.

It’s Friday night we get it? No, I

I do agree, I believe you that you brought up a good point. So you know, I’m doing it. I do believe that our leaders should be somewhat physically fit or, you know, just like, gonna say it. Donald Trump. You know, he eats McDonald’s and Burger King all the time, you know? And he just you think slob. And like, when you go to your doctor, if your doctor is overweight, you’re like, what the hell? Yeah, this guy doesn’t care enough about himself. Why am I going to him and then to the church, you know, if the guy you know, doesn’t have the energy or whatever, and, and not just looking like you said not not looking like a certain way, but just not being physically fit. I can see at a leadership level, why that might be important.

But what makes what’s the difference between the leaders and the lay people? Why is it less important for lay people than it was?

I mean, it probably shouldn’t be, but I think that’s just the reality of it. Yeah.

See, I think that we should all be our healthiest selves. And I think it’s possible and I think it’s really practical, because let’s be honest, guys, you know exactly what to do to be healthy. Don’t you know, that you don’t need to complicate we don’t need to complicate it. You don’t need to go on a diet or cut out certain foods. eat more vegetables, drink more water, and move your body. Yeah, it’s not complicated. If you’re doing those three things and sleep. Get some sleep.

Sleep is so

really, we’re not asking too much. Why is it so

damn hard though, Kate?

Because it’s hard, because it’s hard. No one wants to do hard things. That’s so true. Right? We want to do what’s easy and fast. So people are like, Oh, I’m gonna do I’m gonna do it. Ready? I’m gonna do keto. And I’m gonna lose 20 pounds in you know, two weeks. You well. Good for you. What are you going to do when you eat that? One piece of bread? Yeah. 20 pounds back. Just eat more vegetables.

Hey, I totally have to ask what is the the fitness thing that you run? Like that you teach? Don’t? Didn’t you say you are a fitness?

Oh, yeah, I teach. I teach Pyo which is a blend of Pilates and yoga. Okay, but it’s like fast paced. So you’re moving the whole time. But I also teach like a booty and core class and then I teach a senior fit class. I’m a senior. Because I live in Florida.

Yeah.

There’s a lot of seniors or a lot of seniors. The reason

I asked is my wife loves Have you ever heard of work? w e r q?

Sounds familiar.

Yeah, it’s basically like dance fitness. But I was just curious.

Yeah, I can’t know. I’ve been asked to Hey, will you teach Zumba? No, not a chance. Yeah, it’s

a it’s a little bit. It’s like Zumba. But a little bit more intense.

Ya know? Like, I physically I can’t clap and sing in church. I lose my rhythm.

That’s awesome.

So no,

that’s great. Yeah, so in other words, you don’t use weights because you’re dangerous.

No, I love weights. But that’s a slow movement. Okay,

a couple of more questions. Ben had a good question here. has faith ever, ever, ever been a time in your life where you felt faith was preventing you from being healthy? Or maybe not putting the right focus on what you should? No, no. Wow.

No, I don’t think so. Wow. Here’s where I’m coming from with this question. I jumped in sooner, but I was apparently still processing everything Benny. So in my experience, and maybe I’m a typical or you’re a typical one of us must be but I’m just thinking about being in youth ministry. The Daily demands of that type of work. For me it was very easy for me to get so tied up in like the programming and reaching out to the parents and even taking kids out like that was a part of youth ministry is spending quality time and and where do you do that? Well, let’s go to fast food and grab a burger and talk. So it felt like to me that it was difficult my faith made physical wellness difficult.

Face make physical wellness difficult or did the demands of your job or the requirements of your job.

Yeah,

they get difficult.

I mean, good point.

Let’s face it not there’s not work out there that you can’t get in physical fitness. Like there’s literally nothing out there that that can prevent you from actually doing a 30 minute workout.

I mean, yeah, I

mean, I had a youth pastor that would take us bike rides. Ride trails. Yeah,

I went, I grew up in a youth group that did bike trips. Instead of summer trip, summer camp, we would go on three 400 mile bike trips.

Yeah, no, we weren’t that intense. We would go ride like the trail. But

so yes,

the 20 miles he goes on, we’re blending. But I think it can be incorporated into most things.

I agree. It’s just like I said, Why is it so hard? Like I know, you said it’s hard because it’s hard. But I mean, that’s, you know, I, I would want to tell somebody, like, I don’t even know how to explain it to them like this. It’s hard. But if you do these things, and I think that’s what you do, you can make it easier. Yeah. But I think it’s just it’s such a mental game to to eat better and lose weight. It’s just a mental game.

Well, I think it’s part of the reason it’s a mental game is your brain is still what what’s it called? Like, prehistoric brain that prehistoric cave, right? wired to protect you. Sure. And it’s wired to do what’s easiest. So sitting and watching Netflix is definitely easier than turning on a YouTube video to work out. Or

stepping out in the 20 something degree weather and going for a walk.

Oh, y’all get a treadmill.

It’s brutal. Today, I went for a walk this morning wore my thinner pants, and I regretted it was not good.

Oh, yeah. Your brain and I tell my students this in class, like, Hey, I know you’re really tired right now. But you’re actually probably only at about 70%, your body is only at 70, your brain is trying to protect you. And it’s trying to get you to do the easiest thing. And that’s quit. So you want to see growth and you want to, you know, in that particular situation, if you want to see strength, build strength, you’ve got to push the extra 30 and tell your brain to shut the EFF up.

So true. So true.

Your body can handle it, your brain is trying to your brain is trying to protect you. But sometimes you gotta tell it to shut up.

Yeah, I think that describes me to a tee, I get stuck in my brain. And I talked about the planner earlier. And it’s been kind of a running theme so far this year, of course, on the podcast, but also just my daily life. It is so helpful for me to just jot things down. Think about it, gauge how the day was. And one of the things that I’m realizing is what you’re saying I can do hard things. That my in my job now I work in sales. There’s no reason that I can’t bang out 2030 phone calls in a day and go see 10 or 15 different customers like, that’s easy. But my brain will tell me, oh, you can do it. You can do that tomorrow. Like there’s no rush to do it today. And you know, brain always tries to protect and tell us to stop. But that’s a really good way of looking at it just, you know, telling the old brain that actually I can do this. And I’m going to

write and that’s where growth happens is outside your comfort zone and that last 30%

Yes, just push through it. So my challenge for all the listeners is imagine what lies beyond. You know that 70% when you think you’re just so done and can’t do any more. Think of what you’re missing on the other side.

Right?

Really good thought.

deep thoughts from Ben,

I have that sometimes every once in a while.

That’s awesome. So as we start to wrap this thing up, you mentioned your boys and I assume those are your boys in the background.

I tried so hard to keep them there you go. Hey, Melatonin is our friend.

Yeah. So this is life unfiltered. We’re in a pandemic. Everybody’s remote. Everybody’s home. It’s okay. Oh, yeah. No, we’re

not though. We’re in Florida.

Everything’s open in Florida.

And our kids have been in school the whole time. Wow. Like,

that’s why COVID is a hotbed or that’s why Florida’s hotbed Florida, California, Arizona.

I mean, we’ve only had two cases that our kids school

kids don’t transmit it.

Yeah. Okay. They’re like carrier pigeons. They get everything

I know. Yeah. I was trying to give you an out. But you’re just to

know I have no, I have three boys. They’re just loud.

Yes. So a couple of questions kind of in the parenting domain, and then we’ll start wrapping this thing up a little bit. How can parents help set their children up for wellness success, I asked this, as a parent, I have two kids who one of them is just naturally super athletic, super soccer, he’ll go out for a run all on his own. But then I also have a child who is just not quite as, I guess, motivated to do that kind of thing. And I want to set them up for success so that they can avoid some of the pitfalls of fitness that I ran into. So what’s your words of encouragement for parents? How do you, you know, raise a child up in a world that, you know, food is or can be a real stumbling block?

Yeah, in terms of food, I like to make it their choice. That’s always the most practical piece of advice I can give, is give them as many choices as possible. But as the parent, you get to control the choices, right? So you control what goes in the pantry. You control what snacks they’re allowed to choose from, but my boys have a snack basket. And they’re allowed to choose one thing from the snack basket. But I know what’s in the snack basket. Right? So they’re all parent approved? Yep. Or, yes, you may absolutely have a snack out of snack basket. After you have a vegetable. I don’t want a vegetable, but you get to choose which one you get.

Right? There you go.

So a lot of it is, is helping them to understand that it’s okay to have treats. It is okay to go to a birthday party and enjoy a piece of cake. Hey, also, for moms, it’s okay to go to a birthday party and enjoy a piece of cake. It’s also really good to fuel your body in a way that makes it function better. So if you’re feeling tired, then you know, let’s have a big glass of water. You don’t need a pop, you need a big glass of water. Just I think just making it not feel like a chore. Sure, you know, or not saying as a parent watching your own language. You know, oh, I don’t want carrots. You know? Well, then what are they gonna say? They don’t want the carrots if you don’t want to hear it. If if they see you, I mean really it’s setting a good example. Yeah. Which is not what any of your listeners want to hear.

All right, experienced that even tonight. So my wife before she ran off to work at the hospital. She threw in some vegetables and roasted some vegetables and put them alongside the shrimp tempura I was making so gave the kids a choice. And what do you know, all the vegetables are gone? Yeah. So

like even at dinnertime, instead of just saying, you know, we’re having this one vegetable have two options. You have to choose a vegetable. Like I know that one of my kids is not going to eat. You know, broccoli. So when I make broccoli, I make sure I make carrots because I know he’s gonna eat that. Yeah, right. set them up for success. So that eating healthy doesn’t feel like a chore later on. Right? I don’t boil your vegetables because that’s nasty. Didn’t your parents like broccoli or boiled carrots? cooked carrots?

Put it in the oven. So regular

Yes, boil. Boil.

We steam are so they’re fine to me that. That’s the dirt delicious that way.

You’re good. You’re good to go. Yeah, it’s

interesting. You bring it up about the kids, Ben and Kate. We struggle with those conversations and have as Mike our kids, I have an older one. That’s 24 he just turned 24 and he doesn’t live at home. But I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old and I guess the advice I could give is just start it young with good conversations because we did it and it’s like pulling teeth right now honestly, to switch it up. It’s very difficult.

Yeah. And you know, it’s it’s hard for boys and girls. I don’t have little girls so I can’t speak to that. But I was a little girl who was I was the chubby friend and it was miserable. Yeah. You know, I always felt less than you know, my boys come home and they’re like, I want a six pack. I’m like, Do you even know what that is? You’re no you don’t. You know and there is so much coming out. them, you know, out in the world. So create a safe space for them to, to learn what healthy is. And you know, one thing that we try to do too, is try something new. Yeah, you know, when I go to the grocery store and I see some weird fruit, I’ll buy it just so that we can try it. Yeah. getting them used to trying new things, gets them used to trying new things.

Have you ever had hekima?

Yes, I used Ada in Honduras quite a bit. Yeah.

You said going to the store and buying random things. And this just popped into my mind. So I, I bought some for I don’t, it was a youth group game. I don’t even know what context it was. But when it came time to say hikma, you struggle. I called a jicama. And one of my adult youth leaders just busted out laughing. And she’s like, ban, I think you’re trying to say it was like, Oh, yeah, you’re right. I am trying to say, yeah. So but there again, it’s creating opportunities for trying new things. And you might find you like them.

Right. And, and I think that that positivity then encourages them to, you know, to feel positive about themselves, you know, allowing an opportunity to praise them for trying something new. Hey, man, that was really brave of you, right? to try new things that was really brave and speaking those truths into them. They create that sort of a self worth instead of, yeah, man, that was great that you ate that that’s gonna keep you from getting fat like, No.

You don’t need the shame of it.

No. Yes.

Yeah. But you brought up a good point, you were talking earlier about the old brain and now talking about, you know, those affirmations and way to go. neuro plasticity. Wow, I’m trying neuro plasticity. There we go. There we go. It’s basically that idea of the brain is very flexible and moldable. And in experience that it likes it, like it locks that in memory. So if you try a new food, and then you get encouraged for trying a new food, you’ve just put two things into your brain that the brain responds to. And that’s how change is born. It’s not born out of negative experiences. Change is really born out of, Oh, I tried that. And I liked it. And this is really good. Yeah. All good things to keep in mind as we kick off this new 2021 year. Yeah. All right. Well, as we wrap this up, what words of encouragement Would you like to leave our listeners with?

You can be healthy. You don’t need to be skinny. You don’t need to be, you know, muscular. It doesn’t matter how you look, it matters how you feel on the inside. You can do that. Start with start with baby steps. You don’t need to overhaul everything. That’s not wise. Don’t do it. Start with 10 minutes of something. Start with 10 minutes, give yourself 10 minutes and see what kind of changes happen and build from there.

That’s great. How can people get a hold of you find you? I think you said you had an Instagram account.

Yeah, usually people find me an Instagram. Yep. Just Kate musing. Okay. Well, pretty easy.

Okay, we cannot thank you enough for coming on the show. And I’m I’m hopeful that you’re going to be successful and all your ventures i think it’s it’s an interesting concept, and I and I think you’re gonna think you’re gonna rock it out. I love your attitude. Hey, thank

you guys so much for having me. This was a blast.

Yeah,

thank you for being here. Thanks, guys so much for listening to the threads, podcast life unfiltered. Again, if you want to support us, you can go to threads, podcast comm and click on, buy me a coffee on and also sign up for the newsletter. We really appreciate it. So coming up next week is probably our personal format where I talked about how Ben was all wrong. And I was all right. All right, guys. Thanks. Have a good night.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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