The Worship and Leadership Podcast
Real conversations on worship, leadership, and living a faith-filled life beyond the platform. Hosted by leaders from LifePoint Church, this podcast is here to inspire, equip, and challenge you—whether you’re leading in ministry, in the marketplace, or just learning to lead yourself well.
The Worship and Leadership Podcast
Stewarding The Body During a Fast
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Hunger can be loud; clarity can be louder. We invited human performance pros Rob Harris and Brett to walk us through a practical, compassionate blueprint for a 21-day fast that strengthens your spiritual focus without wrecking your body. Together we connect the dots between preparation, physiology, and prayer so you can start strong, stay steady, and finish well.
If this helps you prepare for your fast—or rethink how you approach it—share the episode, subscribe for more practical faith and health conversations, and leave a review with the one change you’ll make before day one.
Hey, what's going on, everybody? And welcome to the Worship and Leadership Podcast. My name is Elmer Cañas Jr., and I'm excited because today we have a really, really special episode, and it's going to be very life-giving. And I'm excited to be able to share this time with my friends that are in the studio today. And so to my left, Mr. Rob.
SPEAKER_02:What's going on?
SPEAKER_01:How are you doing?
SPEAKER_02:I'm glad to be here.
SPEAKER_01:I said I was going to let you guys introduce yourselves. So just tell us a little bit about yourself, man.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, uh, what an honor to be here. First of all, um, just I'm just amazed, you know, looking around the things that go on behind the scenes here with you guys that uh we as as attendees and you know parishioners we don't we don't see all the time. So just an honor to be a part of this. Um my name's Rob Harris. I'm a uh strength conditioning professional or human performance professional, if you will. I've been doing that for about 25 years now. I am a former college strength coach. I did that for about 15, almost 20 years. And now I work for the tactical side, work for the work for the military. It's an honor. I just got my PhD uh in August of this year, so that was a lifelong kind of journey and and I'm just a kind of check the box type thing. I wanted to complete my education. So but yeah, I'm honored to be here and just looking forward to sharing some some things. Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01:I'm excited. Congratulations on your PhD. Appreciate that. That's I know I know you've been working hard and them long hours. For sure. Getting it done. Journey. For sure. And then to my right, we got brother Brett. How are you doing? Doing great, sir. How are you? I'm good. I love the beard. I thank you.
SPEAKER_00:It's been a long process, long process. Patience. Yeah, man. Hey, tell us a little bit about yourself. Well, I really wish you would have me go first, since I'll have to follow Rob. So uh I'm also in the human performance uh strength and conditioning realm. I've been in the field now for going on close to 15 years in the tactical setting. Now I've been previously the first eight to nine years in the collegiate setting as well. No, I'm just honored to be here. I really am. This is something I've been looking forward to. I know Rob and I have been talking about this for a while now, like on our hearts of how we can actually help give to the community more, not just life more, but the community as a whole and give them some education, those things that we know. Obviously, this what we're gonna be talking about today is kind of more of a entry level of what we accomplish and what we do. I don't want to say accomplish, but what we do on a regular basis. But I feel like today we have some good nuggets for people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm excited. I know as the church, we don't just want to help people just on the spiritual, on their journey with Jesus. That that's our focus, right? To lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus. But along the way, that also includes physical health. And uh, and I would just say for me, just as a minister, there's a lot of times that we can focus so much on the spiritual and even the emotional well-being of people. You know, there's a lot of talk about mental health in these spaces, but it's it's easy to neglect the body. And so that's why taking time to have conversations with guys like you that do this for a living and help people, you know, be be a better version of themselves physically so that they could execute and do things that they need to mentally uh is really important. And I think that this is gonna be a great conversation, a great tool. Going into we're we're wrapping up the year, we're in December 2025, and we're getting ready to go into the new year, 2026. Man, this year just went by like man, you just blinked your eyes, and now we're in the new year. And every year we begin the year with a fast, a 21-day fast as a church. And and the the fast allows us to realign our hearts with what God is wanting to do throughout the year. This year, here at Life Point, we saw God do so many incredible things, miracles, you know, miracles like physical miracles. God just do incredible things in the men of our church, you know, you in our services, there's just been something different that God's been doing. And uh a lot of it we saw being birthed from our 21 days of fasting at the beginning of the year. You know, I love that our our pastors, our lead pastors lead the way, Pastor Mike and Pastor Steph. And then our team just carried the baton and they're like, all right, this is what we're gonna do this year. But a lot of it happens with this 21 day of fasting because when we fast, we're submitting ourselves, we're surrendering everything that we are, and we're saying, God, I'm not in control. Like, I am gonna give you this time and commit it to you. And I want to hear from you, I want to hear what you want from me, what you want from us as a church, you know, all these things for our households as men in our homes, right? We want to lead our spouses, our children. And so fasting, the spiritual implications of fasting is very important. Uh, it's easy for us to want to be in control and want to figure it out as guys. But when we when we're able to submit, because fasting is not easy. When we get into this space where now it's affecting her mind and how we're thinking, like, you know, and we'll talk about that in a second. It's it's the place where we just come to full surrender and say, All right, God, here I am. Now I am asking for strength to make it now and direction. And so it's it's really important. It's something that we love to do as a church, and we really lean in hard. And so today what we're gonna talk about is is not not so much the fast, but we're gonna talk about preparation for the fast. And with the the the knowledge that you both have, like I'd love to pick your brain on, you know, and I want to start here, like as we're going into the fast, so we're in December, like, so we still haven't we've had our Thanksgiving meals, right? Yeah, and now we're getting ready for like Christmas parties and all that stuff, the potlooks, and and but then just a week later is the new year, and that's when we be we begin our fast on January 1st. And like, what are some things that we should keep in mind to prepare ourselves, our bodies to go into the fast? Because, like, I'm not gonna lie, like a few years ago, like my wife and I are like, we're gonna go on a date like at 10 o'clock at night, and we just threw it down, like we went to eat some sushi, and and like, and then at midnight, we're like, all right, we can't eat no more. You know, but I don't think that was good. Like, because I woke up so hungry the next day. But but what are some things? If you guys can lead lead us in this moment, like, what are some things to be mindful of in preparation for a fast?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah, I'll start this off.
SPEAKER_00:One thing I want to make sure we mention on this is that in our human performance realms that Rob and I serve in, we understand nutrition, but we're not, I would consult the nutrition experts. How I kind of explain things like human performance as a whole or health and fitness as a whole. It's almost like contract, like we've been building the church, right? Like we have electricians, we have plumbers, we have all those people. The electrician might know a little bit about plumbing, but he probably shouldn't be plumbing your house completely. Like he might be able to come over and fix the toilet, but you probably don't want him doing underground work. Yeah, right. So I just want to make sure we understand some things. So are you the plumber? I'm the plumber, right? Yeah. So I understand it, but you don't want me pulling too many wires. We have nutritionists and we have registered dietitians, right? If you are someone who is healthy but you feel like you need a little bit more guidance, there's people called nutritionists out there. That means they have a certification that's kind of a specialty of theirs. And a good, there's a good handful in Clarksville and the surrounding area that's really good at what they do. If you're someone that has what called medical issues, or you've never done a fast, or if you've never been content like really honed in on your nutrition, I would suggest reaching out to a registered dietitian. And a lot of those take insurance. And well, I just want to make sure we reference that because if you're on any type of blood pressure medication or you deal with diabetes or any type of like low sugar, high sugars, stuff like that. The fast, I'm not saying you can't do it, but I was strong as just leaning in and trying to find those resources for you. I mean, don't be afraid to use me. I can definitely get you in touch with a dietitian and and he or she uses insurance. I just don't want I'm not gonna try to go too far into this because I know we got plenty of these questions, I don't want to tip my hat too early. This is supposed to be a time to connect with God. I want to make sure you're doing it as healthy as possible. And that's mean getting to the people who can give you the answers you need to do it as safely as possible and not be have more adverse effects after the end of the 21 days or have to stop it early, possibly. That's good, that's good.
SPEAKER_02:Sorry, I think that you know laid the foundation for exactly kind of what we're talking about here and it's the preparation, right? It's you know, understanding the importance of a successful fast you know, during this time is is the preparation. That's probably the important most important part. How you lay the foundation for getting through you know the 21 days. So, like Brett said, if there's medical concerns or if you need really in-depth information or you know, just want to wrap your head around or get experience from a professional, then registered dietitian or nutrition would be who to talk to. Now we work with them on a daily basis. You know, that's part of our that's part of our the domain that we work in, is we work hand in hand with registered dietitians because it's important, right? Physical and nutritional all kind of go together. So, but we've been doing this long enough that we have enough knowledge that we can certainly offer some suggestions and best practices. That's good. Um but I think back to your original question, it's laying the foundation. The preparation is the most important part, and we can talk more about that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I know, I know for us as a staff, right before Thanksgiving, Pastor Mike, Pastor Stephanie were like, you guys know the fast is coming. So start start preparing spiritually. Yes. Like, what what are some things that like you need to prepare? You know, we always say as we're going into a new year, like what are some things you have to leave behind as you're going into the next year? And but so we're we've been mentally and spiritually preparing ourselves, like, all right, God, what are we praying for? What are we fighting for? What are we needing to surrender, right? All these things. I I think the same physically. Like, if I'm gonna say, I usually start my fast, uh, I'll do like an only water fast for a certain amount amount of time. I know Pastor Michael's just like just liquids the whole time, he's been doing it for years, and so his body's more accustomed to it. He understands his body, what his you know, what's happening, and all that. But for someone that's never done that, and or even even a fast, there might be someone that they they just came to Jesus and they're like, I want to be a part of this, right? But like you said, they might have you know sugar things and diabetes, and but just say like you don't, you don't have diabetes or any of that, any complications. You just love ice cream, right? You love sugar, like you you are you're always eating stuff like that. First thing you're fasting. Yeah, that's right. For real, yeah. For real, but like how do you, as you're preparing, like so are they they have the the next few weeks, like how do you get yourself to a place where it's it's not gonna be like World War III, like because they're trying to get like a Twix at midnight or something?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think again, like like was originally said, the the foundation, right? Fasting is a biblical principle, right? So if you understand that this is something that God not needs needs and wants us to do, right? It's it's a print, it's a principle that Jesus did. It's all throughout the Bible, the Old Testament, the New Testament. So it's something that we are technically required to do. So if you understand from a principle standpoint, this is something we need to do, then it kind of prepares the ground for the importance or you know how to how to prepare properly for it. The ultimate goal is like Brett said, we're trying to align ourselves with God, spiritually, mentally, physically. So you have to ask yourself, one, is why am I doing this, right? That's probably the number one question. Why am I doing this? Well, God says we need to do it, okay? And then the preparation goes from there. What what are and again from right? It goes back to prayer, right? So, God, what is something I can I can fast about that is maybe keeping me from a better relationship with you or better relationship just in general. So, you know, I think understanding the why is is really important part of the preparation. Why am I doing this? What are some areas I need to really look at that through this fast I can draw closer to God? Right. And again, it's preparing because the closer we draw to God through the preparation process, the the more sustainable the actual fast is gonna be, then more successful we're gonna be, right? And then post-fast, the more the better chance we're gonna have to continue whatever we started during the fast.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I think we kind of just talked, we've said it a couple of times now. It's just I believe in the start slow and come out slow. I don't know, that's not what people want to hear. Definitely at the end of a fast, like you just mentioned, like going to get a ton of sushi or going out there, and first thing is like, my first meal's windy, so like that's probably not gonna be the best thing for you. Realistically, I think it kind of depends on your time frame. Are you going to and what type of fast you're gonna do, right? Regardless of the matter, let's say if you're gonna start on the first of January, congratulations after Christmas. You need to start backing off the I say the first is gonna be the sugars and then the carbs, and then that which should ease you into the fast of whatever fast you're gonna do. I think also coming out of your fast, that's also the things that you get put back in. And this is where I get kind of you can those probably should be some of the last things you put back in as well. Definitely the sugars. Yeah, carbs are sugar. If you didn't know that, carbs are sugars. Any type of carb is really the sugar molecules, it's a different breakdown of them. Like rice is rice is a sugar, yeah. Pasta is a sugar, pasta, yeah. Carbohydrates, carbohydrates are sugars. Macros. So we want to make sure I don't if now if you're having content like issues like in the fast, let's say you're having a sugar, like you're just completely drained, that might be something like a Jolly Rancher. But I think we're gonna probably have that more of that question later, but it's a teaser for that. But I think it's but I think the stepping into things, like we said, start slow and ramp up. You know, your goal might be to start on the first, but really sweet how your body responds, it might take a little longer, definitely after the holidays, because that's something I learned the first time. So I didn't fast for the first time until three years ago. And I said, I'm gonna do a water fast for three, three to seven days, and then I'm gonna go into the Daniel fast. And on day three, I about went a little loopy, and that was by the end of my fast, right? So I was able to progress later, a couple of days later, and move back into the Daniel fast. But if it's your first time fasting, don't think you have to do exactly what it's a muscle to me. It's a training, I don't call it training stimulus, but it's it it takes a while to get used to fasting. If you're not someone who fast as regularly, you know, starting off with doing the same fast that Pastor Mike's gonna do, or some of the other people who've been in the church longer doing the water fast or just the water and broth type of fast, complete fast, right? Maybe this year we start off slow and we do like a partial fast or a Daniel fast, something that is a little bit more attainable, or just fast of things you know well, I mean, that you love. I'm a sweet tooth guy. I love sugar. Sugar's my favorite, right? I can eat all the cake and cupcakes and never feel bad about it. I mean, I do, but that's the first thing that comes to mind for me. Some of you might be potato chips or it might be something, you know, any other type of food. Not fruits and veggies. Everyone likes fruits and veggies. If you if you don't like it, your kid cannot fast from broccoli, okay? But I think the slow approach of I would say by Christmas, and if you start feeling yourself not where you need to be on the first, don't be afraid to take it to second or third and ease yourself into this and hold out the rest of the 21 days and then ramp yourself back out.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think understand you're not trying to prove something, right? Yes. And you're so you know, all three of us here might fast on something totally different, right? So but it comes back to what is God trying to show me? You know, what what am I trying to accomplish through this and why am I doing it, right? But like Brett said, if you're if you're heavy into sugars and that's what you do, that's kind of your that's your thing, then understand physiologically the body is used to eating sugars, right? Or maybe it's caffeine or whatever that is. So we have to give the body time. Again, we're we're preparing spiritually and mentally, but we're also have to prepare physically because the body needs time to adjust, whether it's enzymatically or hormonally, to kind of come off of those things that you're fasting from. So if you don't prepare in advance, and we I think the rule of thumb is about seven to ten days, yeah. Right. Um, if it's a food type fast, if you don't prepare the body physiologically, then you again you're setting yourself up for you know failure potentially.
SPEAKER_00:It's a lot of a lot of heartache. Yeah, yeah. Oh I mean, there's nothing like dopamine hits and cortisol drops. Yeah, that's what wears everybody out. That's where that's where the first part of the fast really affects people, is because you know you're used to your night every night, one scoop of ice cream or a cookie or what have you, right? And then all of a sudden it goes to nothing. So I'm just going to use the example I did before, like after Christmas, like instead of having your sweet every night, either you can bring down the size of your sweet to ease into it, or stop like every other night, right? And ease yourself into that. So that's something I did the the second year.
SPEAKER_02:And I think a lot of times too, though, it's those first couple days of the fast where we struggle the most, right? Because and a lot of times it comes back to preparation. We're not prepared physically. It's not a it's not a mental weakness, it's or a spiritual weakness. It's you have not prepared yourself physically to deal with that in the first couple of days, and then boom, then you're done. You're out by the first week.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because there's there's a difference when like you're praying and the Lord says, Hey, you need to fast. You know, scripture is clear, like there's there's things that Jesus did, and he says, Oh there's only there's certain things that only come out or happen with fasting and prayer, like you know, so the it's specific that fasting isn't how can I say this? Fast, there's a purpose to fasting, and again, it's it's there's the drawing close to the Lord, but then there's also the full surrender and of it for allowing God, hey, I need you to do something. Daniel fasted awaiting an answer to his prayer, you know, and so that's why there's this Daniel fast. He he is fasting and waiting for God to come and give him an answer to something, and so so it's that's a little different. Like you're in the moment, and God just you're you've just you just know I I need to fast, and like I'm gonna start today. And so that that's just like cold turkey. Like you're you're just like there's something spiritually happening that you feel like I need to do this now, and so there's no preparation, yeah. But but going into a 21-day fast that we do annually as a church, I want to be successful in the sense, like I I want I want to give God my best because I know it's coming. And so I I agree with you guys that it's not just like just go into it and and hope that it goes well and see how long I can last. No, it's I want to prepare myself physically because I want to be able to on the spiritual side, you know, pray. I want to be able to to be in a position. To be in a posture where I can hear from the Lord, I can I can do what he wants me to do. I can be ready at at Beckon's call for whatever it is that he needs to do or wants to do in and through me. But that you know, again, because we know it's coming, I want to prepare myself. I I think of a marathon, you know, or a 5K. Like if you're a runner, like you you don't just go and cold turkey, you're gonna pull a hamstring. You know, you you prepare, you you start walking, you start running slowly, and then eventually you're able to do longer times. And I think just because we know it's coming, that it it is it is wise to prepare your body for it so that you can have the most effective fast and really see God do something powerful in your life. And if you don't last the whole 21 days, like there's no shame to it. Exactly. You know, we're not here guilt tripping nobody, but but again, it's it's a decision, it's a choice, just like everything. I think fitness is everyone's choice. Like, you know, I want to be skinny, but like I still eat junk food and stuff. And so it's a choice.
SPEAKER_02:And even coming back to like really the ultimate initiative that you know you and I talked about, Elmer, and Brett and I, that's it's kind of our vision for for this, it's about stewardship of the physical body, ultimately. You know, that's really what we're we're trying to get get at here is we we're good stewards maybe spiritually, even mentally, emotionally, but you know, sometimes during the body, physical body is where we fall, and it's an easy attack by the enemy, you know, to come against us. We can be the most spiritual person in the world, but if I'm not taking myself taking care of myself physically, man, you're an easy target.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, and it's all connected, right? Spiritually, mentally, physically.
SPEAKER_01:So let me ask you this. So so we're in the middle of the fast. So once we start the 21 days of fasting, what are some things to just be aware of? Like you were saying after day three for you when you did an all-water fast, you got loopy. Like, what are some signs that we should be aware of physically, you know, even emotionally? I know, I know our emotions get impacted as well because of the physical, you know, restrictions and stuff.
SPEAKER_00:I think we need to remember the purpose of this fast is to grow draw closer to God. And I think if you're spending time in prayer and scripture, that's the ideal thing, right? That's what we're supposed to be doing, right? So I'm cautious of saying like the symptoms, like, because sometimes you need to work through those symptoms. Like it's a temporary pain. Now, if you are feeling lightheaded and loopy and you and you're staying hydrated, so let's make sure we're drinking water throughout it. You can always try to throw like salt, like broth, stuff like that. If you're still not back where you need to be, that's when we need to consider start to add in for me, like those very simple carbs. So, like a Jolly Rancher or a piece of candy to help see if you can just get you back up there. If that doesn't get better in the next hour or so, that's when it might be time to start introducing more whole foods type of stuff. I don't want to say fats because fats take longer to digest. I want something a little bit quicker into the system. That's why I say go with carbs. But if you're starting to feel shaky, the for me, it was the fog of fog and feel like I was losing my balance. And I think once again, trying to push that a little bit is fine. But if you're noticing over the next couple hours and you're trying to get yourself back to baseline, that's when it's time to start introducing, like I said, the simple carbs or sugar. And then maybe it's like for me, I believe anytime you break a fast, like this, I took this from like intermittent fat, people who do intermittent fasting on a regular basis, like more of your vinegar, like things that are vinegar-based, so like pickles and stuff like that, because that has some electrolytes, vinegar and all that, salt and electrolytes, stuff like that. Try to break into if that'll help. But if anything, Rob, you got anything to add on that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think you nailed it. Just a little, like a small little pinch of sea salt, you know, sometimes even with the hunger pangs, that can get you through that. A little bit of sea salt in your water, some lemon, lime, things like that can help, especially if you're doing a fast from sugars or carbs. Kind of like Brett said, if first of all, this is not about self-harm, right? So give yourself some grace, you know, especially if you've never done this before, it's not about self-harm. It's it's how do how do I get through this? How do I draw closer to God? So if you need to add a little bit of a carb in there, but if you are trying to fast from carbs, there's a thing called medium chain triglycerides. You can get them even like a Walmart, you know. And the reason I say that is if I'm fasting from carbs, if I start introducing carbs, then enzymatically the body says, okay, we're done, and starts coming out of the fast, right? So we're from a physiological standpoint, when you're fasting, your body is changing. And that's where you get some of the benefits from fasting is your body is purging itself from a lot of the toxins and you know, things like that. So there's some really good physiological benefits of fasting beyond spiritually, right? But so if we're trying to purge ourselves from those toxins and those things that are not good for us, then adding fats into your diet, like a medium-chain dry glyceride or something like that, will not break the fast. Your body will break that down and use that for energy, and and the the processes that are going on will not change. No, and it again, an RD might might come after me for this and can explain it better. But if you're fasting from carbs and you don't want to go back to a simple carp, then try maybe some meaning, try and train chain triglycerides.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I just want to reiterate that we are not doctors. Yes. Well, you got your PhD, you're a doctor, doctorate. You have a doctorate, uh, but we're not doctors, and this is not our area of expertise in the sense of like we can't prescribe stuff. Yeah, I can't. I could give you scriptures and different things to do. And but I I even think on the you know, the the fact that sometimes people become sleep deprived during the fast. And I've I've thought of that like a I I go hard just all the time working, and and so it it could be easy for me during a fast to want to maintain that pace of working hard, especially coming out of the Christmas season, you know, at church, we're we're doing a lot, and and I'll go into the new year sometimes carrying that same pace just because I want to start the year strong. And in my mind, I'm like, here we go. And and sometimes it's hard because physically you can't keep up and you you have that brain fog and you can't think clearly. And you know, we gotta make decisions, we got kids to raise, we got you know, our spouses, we still have to lead our homes, and so things don't stop because we're fasting. And so again, the the spiritual side of it, you're surrendered to God, lead me, Lord, lead me. But then the physical side is like we need to take care of our bodies by what we're eating, what we're not eating, and also sleeping. Like, can you guys speak to sleep and how good that is to use your physical body?
SPEAKER_02:I just you nailed it. Thank you so much for that segue because that might be the most important part of a successful fast is resting, right? Resting in the Lord and resting physically, because now, like I said, physiologically, there's some things going on. Your body is working over time to sustain this with now less energy input, right? So rest becomes a priority, sleep becomes a priority. You know, that might be one of the crucial elements of a successful fast is have I adjusted my schedule to allow for more rest? Maybe it's sleep, maybe it's just physical rest. But like you said, life is going on. Now I have less input from a caloric intake if it's a food fast. So rest has to become a priority. And sleep in particular. Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00:I love it.
unknown:I love it.
SPEAKER_00:We got to, we got to. You noted right ahead. So I'm not going.
SPEAKER_01:Oh man. All right. So now we've we fasted for 21 days and we're coming, we're coming out of the fast. So we're, you know, it's January just again, it we're in December, but I'm just speaking, you know, just rhetorical. Yeah. It's January 19th or 17th. So we're the last week of the fast. What are some things that I should be mindful? You know, you mentioned earlier, like maybe don't introduce fats right away. If you've if you've restrained from all foods, there's some people that do like I'll fast until you know dinner time, and that's a little different. They're not eating as much, but they're still eating normal food. Uh but if you've refrained from eating and even just eating vegetables, like what are what are some things to be mindful of as now we're getting ready to come out of the fast and introduce foods back into our system?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I think everybody knows what type of foods their belly agrees with, right? And coming out of a fast is not gonna be too different even after 21 days. Now, if you're talking about 40 or long-term, you know, it might. If you know certain foods have never agreed with you, right? Or I don't put I love Mexican food, right? I'm not gonna break my but every time I eat Mexican food, like my belly's extended and stuff like that. So everything that involves that food, I don't need to eat at first. So uh I kind of already mentioned it, like this food that's already been like like pickles and stuff like that, things that've been sitting in vinegar, sauerkraut, stuff like that. Fermented food, that's the word I'm looking for, fermented food. Starting off with that, and then it's also once again, that's if we did a complete fast. If you did like any type of partial fast or dangel fast, if you've been doing like fish, for example, it would be okay to probably start introducing a little bit of like chicken into your dad, like a chicken breast, maybe not a chicken thigh, because once again, darker meat, a little bit fattier, might take a little bit longer for your body to adjust. But once, like Rob said, fats aren't a bad thing. These are coming out of a fast if you need more sustainable energy. But I think also trying to once again keep the carbs on the latter end of the week of when you're coming out of your fast, but not saying you can't start having some. Yeah. I don't want to say you keep your carbs, you can't introduce carbs till like day three or day four if you haven't been eating carbs and you go from having no carbs to all of a sudden going back to your regular old diet of like two to three cups of white rice and two slices of bread every day, like that's not gonna go well for you either. But also the portion size, I think a lot of people, I believe in the microdosing approach of food, really even with training, but that's a different discussion. But like you can still do it every day, just make the portion sizes smaller. So if you're someone who usually eats say a cup of rice for lunch, the first day might be like a quarter of a cup. And you might, if your body feels good the next day, you might take it up to half a cup and then to three-quarters of a cup. But if your body's not adjusting well, you stay there for another day and then like, okay, now I feel like I could bump this up to hit your normal calories. But I think it's a it's a patience and you understand how your body feels.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You nailed it. And I think so I've I did a fast a few years ago, and and it was a fairly long one, and I was pretty depleted in most everything. And I came out of that fast and I just went crazy. It's just food, and and my wife was like, What are you doing? You know, so I really learned how to come out of a fast from my wife. God bless her. Abby, shout out to you. But I think like like Brett said, from a fundamental standpoint, for physiological, the body now has shifted away from foods if it's a food fast, right? So you have to slowly wake the system back up again. So if you are gonna go crazy and you that that coming out of that fast, you start reintroducing fats and fried foods and heavy sugar, your body is like, what is going on? Like, I'm I'm trying to wake up here. I mean, just in simplest terms, think of you when you wake up in the morning. You know, you don't want to hear loud noises and lights and things like that. So you have to gradually reintroduce, and that might be the course over the course of a couple days, even or longer. Reintroduce foods and don't come back with, don't come out of a fast with heavy fried foods, right? Again, it takes it's it's harder for the body to wake up to that kind of stuff. So, like he said, maybe broths, maybe some, you know, some just some light type of foods, some rice, things like that, that are help the body gradually kind of get back to to its normal state.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I I want to ask you guys guys this because I know this is where you guys focus on a lot is the fitness side of things. And so if you're in the middle of a fast and so you are making these adjustments because you're not eating or you're restraining from certain foods, what what are some tips for people that want to maintain themselves, you know, maintain their activities and stay active? Like I like, I don't know, strength training, running a marathon, like what are some things that you might do or might not do? Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02:Well, think about it, right? When you're training, whether it's strength training, cardio, whatever, it requires energy, right? And energy from food sources. So if the body's depleted of glycogen, which is sugar that's in the in the muscles, if it's already in a depleted state, you're not gonna have the energy or the ability to have really strong, strenuous workouts. So just like your diet, you have to back off. Again, rest is a priority. You can still train. You might need to change your training a little bit to less glycolytic or glyc activities that require a lot of glycogen. It might be like reducing your reps, like your volume in your training might have to be reduced a little bit. So you're not requiring that that muscle glycogen to get through the workout. But obviously, you want to stay physically active during a fast. So, you know, again, you just adjust. A lot of times it's just common sense. You back off on your volume of your weight, you maybe back off on the volume of your running. You it's a great time to work on maybe some zone two training, you know, some some low aerobic, aerobic type movements. Walking is okay sometimes, you know. But yeah, it's just a great opportunity to change your training a little bit and and and sometimes embrace that. Hey, for these 21 days, I'm not gonna go really hard in the gym. I'm gonna back off a little bit and allow my body to re because part of fasting is recovery and and restoration of the body physically. So, you know, through training you can do that as well, and that can just complement what you're doing on the diet side.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'm I'm gonna kind of caveat onto that because I'm a I'm my own worst uh I don't put this. So I was doing a fast for a short stint on my own, and part of my job is being able to be able to go out there and do activities with individuals, right? And and I think this is I want to carry this into like this work itself. If you do a manual labor job, if your job is active, you have to take that into account because you have to be also able to do your job, right? Your family might understand if you're not always at your best when you come home during a fast, but if your job requires you to be active, and if for really like I'm thinking someone does manual labor, say in a factory or construction, something like that, where safety is a concern for yourself and for others, sorry, you got to make sure you're not pushing that fast too hard. So I want to make sure we iterate that because I ran into that issue before. But I think as it comes to training, Rob hit it on the head. I think you don't want to over exert yourself, but I also want to I think it's because of the time and year thing for me, and this is where I see I've been guilty of it. I know other people have been guilty of it because I've heard them talk about it here at the at the church or other places. This fast is a time for you to be in a relationship with God, not for you to start your new your new me movement. What I mean by that, it's a lot of people are trying to blend like, oh, I'm gonna have a healthier diet after I come out of this fast, or I'm gonna start starting my diet, and that's gonna be part of my fast these 21 days. And I guess in some ways you can do that, but I just want to reiterate this like if you have never done resistance training or any type of like fitness, right? Or you're still relatively new to this, this is not the time to when you're doing this fast, it's to introduce something new that's more strenuous. Because I have witnessed that before. And this reiterate, like, and this is more of a new year, new me than maybe even on the fasting topic. But if anytime you're starting something new, everything's gonna change physiologically within your system. Foods are going to digest bet differently, your sleep's gonna be different, and when you're doing doing all this stuff on top of a fast now, things aren't gonna be the same. So, like Rob said, maybe it's more like uh incline walking to maybe you're just instead. If you're a free weight guy, it might be your time to do some more machine-based stuff because it's not gonna be as neurologically taxing. You're not gonna go heavy like singles, doubles, and triples in the gym. At least I'm not this year. But you know, it's gonna be another life-learned lesson learned. But making sure that the volume and the intensities are low, but I think volume has probably been the number one issue that I've seen with people who come out of a fast. What I mean by that, my the people who are naturally strong usually handle the their training doesn't have to your the sets will get cut, but the reps don't have to. By people who I've noticed who are more my endurance type of athletes have been the ones that struggle the most with it with fasting. And I take this back to the collegiance setting when you know I was uh Ramadan, right? Like different religions when they have to do fasting, you know, you know, they're practicing at 3, 4, 5 p.m. Well, they haven't eaten now since you know, possibly 10 o'clock. Sunrise. Sunrise. Yeah. So I think those are just things to take into account. You got anything to add on to that, Ralph?
SPEAKER_02:Well, and I think too, as a as a human performance professional, you know, I think if I could speak for both of us, most of the times we see injuries, it's from overtraining, right? It's over volume. It's a lot of times it's not the intensity that that uh causes overtraining, it's the volume. So it again, it's it makes sense. If I have backed off on my energy input, I have to reduce my volume, my training volume. So whatever it is you're doing, and and again, if you have a job where you require your activities that require you to produce physical energy, then your training and your lifestyle outside of work has to reflect that, right? So you have to back off. And if anything, I would suggest it has to be the volume. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And again, just at the end of the day, we've mentioned it several times. The purpose of the fast isn't to lose weight. Correct. You'll you'll lose weight, you know, and and and lose muscle during the fast. And you know, I I look at my charts, and every time fasting is on my calendar, like my weight just drops tremendously. But it it's not again, if you go into it with the wrong motives, like you said, because I'm gonna lose weight at the beginning of the year because I'm fasting, it's gonna happen, but that shouldn't be your motivation to to get a size down, you know, the size smaller, just one belt clip, you know, smaller. But it's to draw closer to the Lord. And so with all of this knowledge as far as how to take care of your body, what things to eat, uh, how to stay physically active, and also how to rest. Well, you know, all of these are resources. It's it's they're they're things to take into consideration as we get ready to go into the fast. And so, gentlemen, is there anything that we can add on that you guys would like to uh add to this conversation before we end?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, you know, to me the the the ultimate goal of fasting is transformation, right? We're trying to, just like we've said uh in previously, it's about drawing closer to God. So it's about surrendering, you know. And I think you have to understand when the fast ends, our stewardship. Continues, right? So what whatever we learned, and that could be, you know, a great prayer time coming out of the fast. What did I learn from this? You know, what was God trying to teach me? But to also understand that it's those 21 days are great, but what how can I continue this? How can I continue the stewardship of whatever I fasted from that drew me closer to God? And how do I continue this throughout the year? Just like Brett said, you know, the the new year, new me, right? We see it all the time. January is the most populated time in all gyms across the world across the world, or at least in the United States. But then in February, things drop off significantly. So, you know, the key I think is longevity. The key is staying the race and continuing to learn from what you learned through the fast.
SPEAKER_01:Transformation. The transformation.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's great. I have oh I had a professor uh when we lived in Australia. I had a I was going to school while we were out there. And one of my professors, he fasted every Wednesday. And so it happened that my class was on a Wednesday, and I'm like, I'd go to lunch in the quad and everything, and like he would never eat, like he was never eating. He's always he'd had his cup with his straw of water. And and so then I asked him, like, why do you drink number number one? Like, like, why do you drink with a straw? Right. And so, like, why don't you just chug it? And he's like, No, like it allows me to just you know take moderate tips and yeah, not just get full with water. And and I didn't understand what he was doing, but then he told me it started off as a health thing that that he had he had to fast for his own health. He had some complications, and then during that time he he drew closer to the Lord, and and as he found that discipline and and the benefit of his relation, how it benefited him in his relationship with God, he goes, Man, I never felt closer to the Lord than in that moment. And he goes, I made it a discipline every Wednesday of my life. I I will fast. And it became his day where he just realigned his heart, realigned his mind with God. And so, and it was just like every year, and it maintained his his health, like so he he was healed from the the complications that he had. But then also mentally and spiritually, it was uh it was a discipline, and it was a day that he said, like, I'm surrendering this to the Lord, and and he drew closer, and not just in knowledge of of scripture, but he he's like, I've never heard the Lord so clearly. And again, it's it's this is not about what we can benefit physically, but how can I grow spiritually and and allow the Lord to be speak to me, use me, do what he needs to do in my life.
SPEAKER_02:There's a reason why fasting is in the Bible, yeah. There's a reason God's pretty smart, right? There's a reason it's like I said, Old Testament, New Testament, Jesus, Daniel. There's a reason it's in there. So it's not just for our temporary benefit.
SPEAKER_00:I have just one caveat on this. Yeah. And this is we're talking about fasting and stuff like that. Make sure you also have your plan scripturally. Like if it's a Bible study, you have it ready to go as well. If you don't have that, like I'm sure Life Point has ref like resources for you to stay into the word. Because it once again, if it's your first fast, what is uh you're already working on a hot post heart posture, sorry. You know, make sure you have the resources ready for when you are ready to pray and when you're actually going to do your devotional. Like you need to make sure that rest, yes, is sleeping and like maybe laying down on the couch or something like that, but also it's your time to rest with the Lord. So make sure you have that that built into your schedule, but you also have the resources when you're ready to get down to the actual work of while we're doing the fast. And then this is also a great time. Like, yeah, we're all doing it at the church. Like make sure you have your like it's last year when me and Brittany did it, it was when we first got married, and it was probably the best thing that really happened for us starting off our marriage, is because it was a a time for us to hold each other accountable, right? You know, did you spend time like when you're going when you're hungry, did you spend did you go to prayer or did you just self-wallow? You know, stuff like that. So make sure you have obviously spouse always helps a lot, but also have your accountability partners on standby. Yeah, because you're gonna need support. Definitely if it's your first time, but even if you've done it before, you know, multiple times, there's gonna be a time where you know, like you're gonna start getting a little bit drained, and there's that that that negativity starts kicking in of why am I doing this? Make sure you have those people around you that are gonna be uplifting and to encouraging you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so yeah, allow the people in your small group to keep you accountable. Yes, leaders in your life, uh, your spouse, others, even your kids will keep you accountable. They'll be like, hey, yeah, you're not supposed to be eating that. You know, uh nope, that's my cooking.
SPEAKER_00:You can have it, right?
SPEAKER_01:But on our website, if you go to lifepointchurch.tv forward slash Bible, there's some resources there that you can use to like like Brett said, to get into scripture and make be intentional about leaning into the Lord. And so there's resources there. And we also have prayer guides. If you go to any of our campuses in person, you'll have prayer guides that we'll have available for you uh to lead you in that time of of prayer and devotion to the Lord during those 21 days. And so I I thank you guys for being here with us. Brett, Rob, thank you so much for sharing your expertise, your heart. And uh, I'm excited that as we get ready for our 21 days of fasting, that God is positioning us as a church and as people to just step into the new year and do incredible things for his glory. And once again, thank you guys for being on the podcast. Thank you. Thank you for having us. All right, until next time, peace out.
Elmer Cañas Jr.
Host
Willie Simpson
Host
Emily Himes
Co-host
Tiffany Tackett
Co-host
Rob Harris
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