What About My Physical Health?

Our conversation often lean into spiritual and mental/emotional health. But what about our physical health?

In today's episode we'll take a look at the intersectionality of physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual health. As well as talk about practical next steps for caring for our bodies.

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Transcript

Hey friends, welcome back to a another episode of The sowhat podcast. My name is Anna McGuire. And I'm so excited to have a conversation with you today about sowing intentionally into our lives. So that we can reap abundantly in the days, weeks, months, and even years to come. We get to have a lot of conversations on this podcast about spiritual health, emotional health, mental health, and relational health. One area that we've touched on briefly but have never had a full dive conversation into is physical health. I do believe that as you study scripture, and really take a look as at how we were designed by God, every single human being is made up of three parts, and that is spirit, mind and body. There is a physical, spiritual and emotional mental component to all of us. And what is so cool is that God could have made us just to be one of those parts he could have made us just to be spiritual, he could have made us just to be mind be emotional, and mental, or you could have made us just be physical just to be a body. But it's so cool that he saw it fit to make us be all three. And I love leaning into spiritual health. And I love leaning into mental and emotional health. But my friend if we are going to be holistically healthy, we also need to look at physical health, how we are taking care of our bodies, it can be a lot easier to talk about how we take care of our spirits, how we take care of our mind and how we take care of our emotions. But talking about taking care of our bodies can be hard because number one, we all have different life experiences, whether it's genetics or the way we were raised, we can look at physical health or experience health and different ways in which our environment was or what has been passed down to us genetically, so it can be hard to talk about it. However, that doesn't mean we need to move away from talking about it, it just means we need to be more intentional about having conversations and finding things that work for us specifically. So to be clear from the jump of this episode, I'm not advocating that right now you drop everything that you're doing and you start training for a 5k a marathon or an Ironman. Instead, I'm advocating for you taking an introspective look on how it is you are stewarding your physical health. How are you taking care of your body. I was reading a couple of different articles from different health Institute's in Psychology Today that talks about the correlation of our mental and emotional health, as well as our spiritual health when it comes to taking care of our physical health that when we do take care of our physical health, it does heighten and strengthen emotional, mental and spiritual health. And vice versa. When we take care of our spirit, it encourages and strengthens our physical health and our mental and emotional health. And when we take care of our mental emotional health, it feeds the others. It's this beautiful triad, that it's amazing how God made us that way that he doesn't want us to neglect any part of who we are. So with that being said, when you take care of your physical health, you are taking care of those other parts of you. So how are you physically taking care of yourself in a season just like I advocate for checking in with your emotions, checking in with your spirit, your soul, your mind? Check in with your body? How are you physically feeling in this season?
Check in the few things feel inflamed. Did things feel sore? Does it feel like there's a lot of stress in the body? Does it feel like you're dehydrated? Does it feel like you've been eating out a little too much. I can speak to the eating out too much. A handful of years ago when I was still in grad school. We were still in full time youth ministry and I was working full time as a school counselor. I ate out essentially every other day and literally like majority of the time of eating out was Taco Bell because it was easy. It was convenient and it was cheap and real talk I liked the taste of it. What's wild is that in that season, I felt more tired, fatigued, bloated and having this chronic kind of heartburn acid reflux than ever before. Actually, my eating habits were so bad and my management of my stress in that season was so bad that I actually developed an ulcer which if you don't know what an ulcer is, it is a whole Fill in the lining of your stomach that essentially causes your stomach to bleed. It's horrible. It's horrible heartburn, acid reflux, just a lot of pain. And a big part of it came from yes, that I wasn't managing my emotional health at the time very well. But a big contributor to it too was I was not managing my physical health. Yes, I was running a lot and preparing for half marathons and five K's and I actually ran a marathon with an ulcer. But I wasn't really taking care of my body outside of that. And then as a result, my body paid the price for it, which then led to my emotions, and my spirit paying the price for it, I felt extra exhausted, extra tapped out on the verge of burnout, and just really needing, honestly to check out. Over the last year and a half, I've been on this journey of seeing how I can't separate taking care of my physical body from being a whole and healthy person. My husband in the summer of 2020, I'd had Archie, he had been yo yo dieting for a couple of years. And he came to a place where he said, Anna, I really, really want to make a change. I'm going to start this nutrition program, if that's okay with you. And to be honest, I was a little ticked, I was like, No, like you have tried everything, we're not going to try one more thing. And he was like, Please, let me look into it. And I was like, okay, and I felt comfortable with it. Because there was different elements to it. It wasn't just a nutrition plan. It was that he would get a coach. And then he would have a community to support him, as well as a system that would teach him new habits and mindsets when it came to taking care of his body. So I was like, okay, we can try this. Well, then he got healthy and just did incredible. He lost 26 pounds in a month, he lost a total of 39 pounds. And he's been keeping it off right at 22 months. I'm so stinking proud of him. But it while he was on that journey, it inspired me that you know what, it's time for me to care for my body to my body, you served me well, by carrying this baby and delivering this baby. And now it's time for me to serve my body back. And so I became really intentional with what I was eating, I use the resources from our nutrition program, as well as elements that our nutrition program offers. And I got healthy as well. And it was an incredible experience for me. And it really awakened. Just how powerful it is to steward your body. Well, the last year, year and a half has been this awakening of Anna, if you want to be long haul healthy, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, you also have to be healthy physically. Now, have you heard me say our nutrition program we might be? What do you mean, your nutrition program? Well, as a result of our incredible results and
our experience on program, Andrew and I actually became health coaches for the program that we were once on. And that's actually what I do full time now is a full time health coach, and I love it. And it's so fulfilling for me. Over the last 14 months, Andrew and I we've gotten to partner with hundreds of clients. And it is so fun because as they're on this physical health journey, there's always emotional and mental components that rise up. I had a client tell me several months ago, she said Anna, I was just looking to lose some weight, get my blood pressure down. And I didn't expect to get so introspective that I was looking at what is it that I want for my future? What are my dreams and I had to return to some dreams that I had put to bed a long time ago just because I didn't feel like pursuing them. But because I'm feeling better now. I'm in a place where I'm ready to pick them up again. And it's cool because that client story, though it's unique to them. It is repeated through many, many, many clients is that when I get physically healthy, it brings up things mentally, emotionally and spiritually for me, that I want to grow in. It brings up new revelation and new truths for me about how God has designed me and how I am truly fearfully and wonderfully made, and that he has a divine purpose and future for my life. But I physically need to be here to experience it. So, friend, how are you sewing into your physical health? Again, I'm not saying go buy yourself a bathing suit start swimming laps at your local gym. But I am saying how can you care for your body physically in this season? And you know I love simple small practical steps. So I'm gonna give you four simple things that you can implement right now, to care for your body in an intentional way. So four things. The first thing is no caffeine after 3pm. I hear people say this all the time that I coach, oh, yeah, caffeine doesn't affect me whatsoever. So I'll drink caffeine at six, seven o'clock at night. And really, it does affect you probably more than you know, it's just that you haven't not drink caffeine, past 3pm And so long, that your body doesn't know any different. So try not drinking caffeine after 3pm and see how much better you sleep at night. The second thing that I'd say is have healthy movement for 20 minutes a day. And that can be anything from walking, to stretching, to lightweight lifting, heavy weight lifting, running, jogging, doing yoga, 20 minutes of healthy movement a day. The third thing that that you can implement is drink 64 ounces of water. Plus a day. Like if you can get 64 ounces of water in a day. That is a game changer that helps your organs it helps your brains not brains brain, it helps your blood cells, your circulation, water is so good for you. And the fourth thing, you can get six to nine hours of sleep, six to nine hours of sleep. That is something that you can do to serve your body well to give it time to shut down and rest. For simple things. No caffeine, after 3pm 20 minutes of healthy movement a day, drink 64 ounces of water a day, and then get six to nine hours of sleep a day. Which one of those four things can you implement over the next seven days? Simple Steps to care for your body. And then beyond that, what are some things that you see maybe in your life that are obstacles for you being physically at your best? Maybe it is that it's going through the drive thru too much or that you're drinking too much pap, or that you aren't having any kind of physical movement in your life? Can I encourage you that this is a great season, this is a great time to be intentional about your physical health. I've seen it dozens upon dozens upon dozens of times, that when people take care of their physical health, when they lean into self control and into structure when it comes to their physical health. out of it comes confidence. out of it comes this sense of Yes, I am divinely and fearfully made that I have. I have worth and value from God. So my friend, I hope that today, you take some time to check in with you.
How is my physical health? What are my eating habits? Like? How much water Am I taking in on a daily basis? Am I relying on caffeine to get me through the day instead of having proper rest? Am I having healthy movement in my life a couple times a week. Of those four things that I shared no caffeine after 3pm 20 minutes of healthy movement a day getting 69 hours of sleep or 64 plus ounces of water a day. What's one of those that you can implement over the next seven days? Friend? I hope you remember that I'm always in your corner. And I'm cheering you on. And I so believe that as you choose to sell intentionally into your physical health, you will reap abundantly today Yes, but also in the days, weeks, months, and even the years to come. I love you so much my friend and I can't wait to talk to you next week.