S2 EP08 | HOLISTIC HEALTH | PART 1

Antoine gets honest and vulnerable about his journey with his physical health. Tune in for Part 1 of this two part mini series—Holistic Health!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Our bodies literally are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And we need to take care of ourselves, y'all. We need to take care of our temples. If this is the place where the Holy Spirit wants to dwell, we're not disconnected from our bodies. No, we are fully integrated with our bodies. Now, yes, we will leave these bodies one day and step into eternity. Yes, we will not be in these flesh shoots forever. But while we are here and we're trying to honor God in and through everything that we are doing, we need to take care of ourselves. Or if I have a guest, you know, like it's just so fun for me to be able to sit down like this and to be able to talk about real things, about real life, you know, and that be at the intersection of our faith in Jesus, right? Like it's not just enough to be humble where we talk about the real stuff without the reality of what Jesus has done in my life. And my prayer is that hopefully he's doing some incredible things in your life as well. And I just want to be a resource uh for you to be able just to aid in whatever he's doing. So, you know, I appreciate, you know, the emails, I appreciate the comments, you know, for any posts that I make or even on this episode that you're watching right now or listening to right now, any comments you make, you know, please know that I see those and I appreciate those. So any feedback that you have, um, positive or constructive, I'm here for it, y'all. Uh, because I want this to be um not just a product, um, not just a podcast, but I want this to be personable and I want this to be a community that you and I both feel safe enough to share what we're really going through in. So I hope that uh this community is that for you. And please tell other people about it. Like tell other people about what God is doing through the humble community. So uh today I'm excited to unpack a little bit more of my story. Like I've told you guys before, there's gonna be some episodes that are more like biblical. There's gonna be some episodes, especially when I have guests, where maybe we center around a specific topic. Uh, and then there's gonna be some episodes where it's more about like my story and my journey with Jesus and just my life and like what I've gone through. And so today's gonna be one of those where I just kind of share another layer of who Antoine is. Um, and today what I want to talk about is this is gonna be a two-part series of physical health and holistic health, is what I'm titling this. And this will be a two-part series. So, this is part one of a two-part series that I will get more into here in just a second and explain what part two is gonna be. Um, it's gonna be incredible, but I want to just unpack this idea of faith and fitness, or you know, this idea of health and what it means to holistically care about mind, body, and spirit, right? I think oftentimes what happens in these conversations is when it comes to like our physical well-being, our bodies, um, and what it means to be healthy, there is this disconnect of like, okay, I believe in Jesus, I trust in him, I am being spirit-led, I'm walking with the Holy Spirit. I believe in who God has called me to be. I believe in what scripture says about all these things. But when it comes to my physical health, I just kind of do what I want. I just kind of do what I feel. I just kind of eat whatever, I just kind of do whatever. I don't really exercise, I don't really work out. I'm so sorry I'm all up in your business, but it's because I'm all up in my business. Because for so long, I treated my body like it was just like whatever. Um, I've kind of approached my physical health like it's just kind of like, you know, it is what it is. I'll kind of just live life how I want and not really put any real thought into uh taking care of my body. And I think sometimes we focus more on our spiritual well-being than we do our physical well-being. And this is a concept that is honestly as old as just the beginning of everything, really. This, this as far back as is almost as when time began, this idea of what's called Gnosticism. And feel free to look it up later or you know, after you watch this, you can look up what that you know word means and like the the people that were Gnostics, what they believed. And there's a whole like cultural thing with that. But just simply put, for this episode, Gnosticism is the idea that I believe that all things are spiritual and we don't care about anything physical. And in fact, there's a disconnect between the spiritual and the physical. So I really shouldn't care about anything in this world. I really shouldn't care about my physical well-being. I really shouldn't care about this body because none of this really matters anyway. It's all focused on things spiritual, so much so that we're in a time that we are so disconnected from the physical reality. Some of you get where I'm I'm headed, that we're so focused on the digital space, the digital world, this idea that I need to disconnect from the physical reality. I need to go to another reality where I can do what I want, I can say what I want, I can recreate and reshape this idea of who I am, this identity in which I have, but I can recreate it in a different world or a different space in the digital realm. And this idea honestly didn't originate in 2026 or whenever you're watching this. No, this was an idea based upon Gnosticism uh from many, many, many, many, many, many years ago. So Gnostics believed this idea that we should focus on everything that is outside of this physical world. And I bring that up because this is an important conversation that, again, we'll dive more into next week, but um, this is an important conversation as it relates to our physical health. Why? Because if we separate our physical bodies from our spiritual selves, then we are denying the reality that God actually created us in these bodies. So we can't be so focused on this idea of being disconnected from who we are in our physical beings that we just let it go and we don't take care of ourselves and we don't take care of the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. So I give you all that context because for me, growing up, I have had this crazy relationship and unhealthy relationship with food. And I bring this up because in specifically in African American culture and you know, black culture, and I know it's not just indicative to African American culture, but it's very, very prevalent in African American culture that food is this this thing that solves everything. So when you're happy, you eat. When you're sad, you eat. When you're bored, guess what? You eat. And it was kind of the saying that just no matter what was going on, no matter what the occasion was, we would just eat food. Now, the tension in that is what comes with just eating whatever, whenever, is when you go so long without taking care of yourself, you start to see other problems. So in my family, there is a history of significant health issues. Now, you may be watching this and be like, man, that's kind of harsh to say, but no, that's just the reality that there were not really great conversations as it relates to what it means to take care of ourselves physically. And I only bring that up not to throw shade, not to throw shame on anybody in my family or anybody in general. I'm just trying to bring you into the reality that for me growing up, food was just kind of like this whatever thing. Now, you know, I was an athlete at one point, and you know, I was, I was, I did marching band twos, you know what I'm saying? Like, hey, we was out there. So, you know, I'm no stranger to like sports and and being physically active. But honestly, this idea of holistic health and exercising and eating right was not really something I cared about. It was kind of like, I'll do it at some point, but it wasn't something that I really paid attention to. So much so that, you know, for most of my life, I was the I was the big boy. Like I was, I was like the big kid, you know, there was always comments made around me that I was like, you know, like a like a huskier kid or bigger kid, bigger kid. Uh and you know, it was one of those things where I it bothered me, but at the same time, I I kind of just grew to accept it. Now, what's crazy about that is when I was like little, little, like maybe, you know, single-digit years, I was a skinny mini. Like I was I was a skinny kid. There was, I mean, I remember looking at like old pictures of me back in the day, and I was a skinny mini. But somehow, somewhere between, you know, the ages of probably like nine, ten to like middle school, I started gaining weight and I became this like big kid that was like out of shape. You know, I couldn't really run uh super far. And I always just thought, oh, I'm a sprinter. So that's why like I did track and field as well. So I'm like, I'm a sprinter. That's why. No, I I was out of shape and I would get tired really fast. I wasn't drinking enough water. And I just thought that that was just kind of my lot and life, not realizing this was actually a deeper issue of my mentality uh with my physical health and just what like how I lived my life as it related to exercise. Um now, fast forward to, you know, I get older, um, I joined the military, which I've shared with you guys before. And, you know, I had no choice but to get into shape when I was in the military. But it was, you know, it was one of those things. Boot camp, I lost a whole bunch of weight, got back in shape. And then after boot camp, it was kind of like, you know, I kind of went back a little bit, not totally to the size I was before I went to the military, but I definitely gained some weight back because I started uh picking up some old habits with how I ate, the types of food I would eat. So I always struggled with this idea of my weight. And it was just something that I kind of grew to accept. Like, I guess I will always just be the bigger guy. I guess I will always be the big kid. I guess I will just always be um, you know, overweight. And that would lead to years later, me discovering something that I actually haven't shared a lot with people, but I'm gonna share it with my humble family today. Um, that years later I discovered that I am type two diabetic. And now the difference between type one and type two is type two diabetes is actually something you could control. Yes, there's some genetics that have to do uh do with that. Like there, there's a component in that that that comes from like your family background. Uh, but the reality is it is definitely something that you can control. And if you don't control it, if you know, it can get out of control and result in having high levels of A1C, like your blood sugars. And um, I remember back in 2016, um, I had a health scare. And I remember I was feeling super tired all the time. Um, it's maybe a little TMI, but I was struggling uh with going to the bathroom a lot. And I thought it was just because I was drinking more water, which I really wasn't. But I was like, okay, I'm drinking, maybe it's because I'm drinking more water, but I had to go to the bathroom all the time. My uh eyesight was starting to suffer, uh, things would become blurry for me. Um, and I didn't realize that all of these were signs of uh uh being diabetic and honestly having a high, high A1C and high blood sugar. So uh I was also super thirsty all the time, too. That was another telltale sign of of being diabetic. So I remember uh I went to to the doctor and they tested my levels, and my blood sugar, y'all, was like 400. Like it was astronomically out of range. Now, a normal range and really just like perfect, which you know it's never perfect, but perfect is like 120. So if you're like shooting for something, 120 is like, okay, that's good, you know. I was like 400, so way, way over. And I remember going uh to, you know, I I went to to the doctor and they ended up uh seeing me and you know, um ended up getting me on a treatment plan for my diabetes, and there was a treatment plan with that, uh with some medications, as well as just a conversation about my eating habits and things like that. And I remember this nurse told me, because I had to take a class for it uh to get my diabetes under control. And I remember this nurse told me, she was like, Antoine, if you weren't as young as you are, then you might have lost your life. And I remember hearing those words and be like, oh shoot, this is for real, for real. Like this is for real. Um, like this is not a game. She was like, You you could have lost your life had you not been as young as you are. If you were, you know, in your 50s, 60s, 70s, you might not be here right now. And that was like a wake up call for me. Um, and what she told me was, hey, you know, this diagnosis of diabetes is like absolutely reversible. Like you don't have to just be like, well, this is what it is. And at that time, you know, it was something that uh I was able over the next three or four months, because they check it every three months to see where your where your A1C is. I was able to get it back in control. My wife and I started eating better, started eating uh, you know, less sugars and things like that, and started drinking more water, start eating fruits and vegetables. And, you know, we got on this whole eating plan. And uh I was able to reverse it. And that's that would set in motion for me, this idea of my unhealthy relationship with food and how serious it actually is. Because I just thought it was a cultural thing, but that cultural mindset and that cultural narrative really was something I thought I just had to live with. And the truth of the matter is I didn't and I don't. And maybe you're listening to this right now and you're like, man, I have an unhealthy, unhealthy affinity to food. And you know, I kind of I kind of hear what you're saying. And my encouragement to you, friend, is you do not have to accept maybe what you grew up thinking or believing. And again, that's no shade to anybody uh in my family or friends or any anything like that or any cultural background or or distinctive. What I'm saying is there's narratives that we grow up that we later find that are unhealthy, that it is now our responsibility to do something about it. Again, this is humble. You guys hear me say it all the time. This is humble where we talk about the real stuff. And the reality is for me, I had an unhealthy affinity to food. I had an unhealthy relationship with eating. And what I realized was there was some emotional eating I was doing. That if I was upset about something, I would eat. Again, if I was joyous, I would eat. And it became this thing that food was my source to turn to. It was a part of how I would cope with life, how I would deal with stress, and it was not healthy at all. And it wasn't until that moment in 2016 that I've had my first wake-up call. Now, years would pass and I would have, you know, other kind of minor scares and stuff like that, because you know, it takes a while to sometimes for you to walk out of something. Many of us are are expecting God to like just heal you right now in an instance, whether it's an addiction that you're dealing with or something that you're battling, and we think, oh man, I need God to do it right now. Oftentimes, though, if it took you years to walk into it, it's gonna take you just as many years, if not more, if not longer, to walk out of it. So give yourself some grace, give yourself um some good resources and some time to be able to heal from whatever you're going through. That was free. I just wanted to give that to y'all. Um, but but man, like so that was me for a long time. And um now, nowadays, 20 2026, as I'm recording this, uh, I am a full-blown type 2 diabetic. And um this is something that um I don't really talk about a lot because to be honest, for a long time there's a little bit of shame that I was so young and still am so young to be a full-blown diabetic. Um, and I didn't want to tell people because again, a lot a lot of times when you when you have something like that um to talk about it, you got to then talk about the habits that led to it. And I didn't want to admit that I'd let myself go, that I um literally could have done something about this, but chose not to. Um and it was one of those things that I I carried an incredible amount of shame uh with it. But God is so good. And I've been able to have some great people in my life that care about fitness, that care about holistic health, and to even dive into what scripture says about how our bodies literally are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And we need to take care of ourselves, y'all. We need to take care of our temples. If this is the place where the Holy Spirit wants to dwell, we're not disconnected from our bodies. No, we are fully integrated with our bodies. Now, yes, we will leave these bodies one day and step into eternity. Yes, we will not be in these flesh shoots forever. But while we are here and we're trying to honor God in and through everything that we are doing, we need to take care of ourselves. And part of taking care of ourselves is watching, guarding, and being uh informed with what we are putting into our bodies and working out, moving our bodies. I've heard someone that said, I've heard I've once heard it said, rather, that when you stop moving, you die. And that sounds like a really harsh thing to say, but a lot of medical professionals have believed that to be true. That when you stop moving, oftentimes you die. So here I am inviting you into something that's been a very real thing in my life that I don't really like to talk about. And I was really hesitant to even talk to you guys about it. But if we're gonna be humble where we talk about the real stuff, this is another aspect of my story that I wanted to bring you in. That I've dealt with type 2 diabetes, I've dealt with overeating and emotional eating and unhealthy eating. And that's led to me being type 2 diabetic, and that's led to hypertension, which is high blood pressure and high cholesterol and all of these other things that I'm so thankful that I have a doctor that has been helping me get all of that stuff under control. And I say all that to say next week and in the next episode, you guys are gonna get a chance to meet my doctor. And uh, you know, I reached out to her and I wasn't sure if she was gonna be able to do an episode with me. But next week, I'm excited that you guys are gonna be able to hear from her. And what we're gonna talk about in part two is what it means to integrate this idea of faith and holistic health, faith and fitness, a relationship with God that does not have to be separated from our physical bodies. In fact, God wants us to take care of ourselves. I'm gonna leave you with this today. Back in 2021, I haven't really shared this with anyone outside of maybe a couple of mentors of mine and a couple of close friends, but back in 2021, I remember that the Holy Spirit told me that, and I wouldn't do anything super spiritual. Like I was probably like sitting on the couch and just like playing on my phone or something. Like, I think that's what I was doing. I wasn't like doing anything super spiritual, but I felt the Holy Spirit just be like, hey. And I'm and at first, at this moment that if we're all honest, we we have where I'm like, wait, is this me? Is this the Lord? Is it my thoughts? Is this what is this? I feel like the Holy Spirit's like, no, no, no, this is me. Like, hey, I need you to listen. I was like, okay, Lord, you know, kind of thing in my in my mind. And I feel like the Lord was like, I need you to get your physical health together. And I was like, okay. And so clearly, y'all, I felt the Holy Spirit say, There are places and platforms that I want you to be on and I want to take you to, but you will not physically be able to handle it if you don't get this together. And I remember just being like, whoa, oh, okay. And to be honest, you know, I was back in 2021, this is 2026, it is taking me so Some years to really step into that. But one of the things that has been helpful is having a great uh doctor by my side, my doctor, Dr. Kudjo, who's gonna be with us next week. And I'm so excited for you guys to meet her because she's gonna help us understand as a believer in Jesus why our physical health matters. And if we really want to accomplish all of the things that God wants us to do, that we have to take care of ourselves. Guys, don't allow the enemy to use something like your physical health to derail you or to deter you from the promises of God. Like I did for so many years. Don't do that. Get help, get resources, get a plan. It's not about perfection and it's not about necessarily losing weight, it's about being healthy. Mind, spirit, and body. We want to be holistically healthy. And I'm so excited to share with you guys. I haven't shared this, uh, but as I'm recording this, I am about 21 pounds down from when I originally started this health journey uh with my doctor. And she has been so great and so caring and so pivotal to tell me like it is, which you guys are gonna hear more about next week. Um, to tell me like it is, to tell me the truth, but also to do it in love, knowing that if I do not get my health in order, that it could literally compromise uh the longevity in which I get to be on this earth, which is a harsh thing to say, hard thing to say, but also to really limit what God can do through me, not because of him, but because of me and the lack of discipline that I've had for so long. So here's to me taking a step forward in health. Here's to me taking a step forward uh with you on this journey of being physically healthy. And I invite you in that with me. So I hope that something I've said today has resonated with you. Uh, I hope that if you like don't have a doctor, that you get one. Someone that you trust, someone that cares about you and who is patient enough to get you back on track. Um, and listen, you don't have to be like, you know, overweight or or you know, have labs that are like crazy all over the place. Maybe you just need some better habits and rhythms. Find you a doctor, find you a friend that is in fitness, find you a trainer if you need to, someone that can help you get back on track so that we will not allow the enemy to take us out sooner than what God had attended. I hope that resonates with someone today. We want to be here for the long haul, partnering with God to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can ask, think, or imagine in our lives. So thank you guys so much for watching today. And I pray again, something that I've said resonates with you. And listen, if you're looking for someone to come emce your event, uh someone to lead your leadership class or conference or seminar, uh, or if you need someone to come on a Sunday morning or or at any anytime, Wednesday night, Thursday, whatever it is, if you're looking for someone to come preach for you or teach for you, I would love to partner with you to see what God would do through your ministry as we partner together. So please let me know if you're interested in that. I would love to come be a part of whatever event that you have. Well, thank you guys so much for watching today. I hope this blesses you. Send this to someone who may need to hear it because they may need the conviction of the Holy Spirit like I felt. But send this to them so that way it'll be a benefit to them. It'll be a help to them because again, this is Humble, where we talk about the real stuff. I love you guys, and I cannot wait to see you next week when I have my doctor on for this two-part series, Holistic Health. Cannot wait to see you. Peace. Thank you so much for checking out this episode of the Humble Podcast. And here's my prayer is that something that was shared through the content today resonates with you in a way that changes your life. And I could actually use your help with something. While you're watching this, would you mind subscribing to what we're doing on YouTube? As you do that, that helps other people to be able to see and value what we're doing, just like you do. But also tap that bell icon so you never miss an episode. Next, if you are listening on Spotify and on Apple, leave us a review or comment so that way other people can see what God is doing. And lastly, I would love to invite you into the Patreon community. Simply go to patreon.com slash humble podcast and you can become a patron where you can financially support what we're doing. That gives you access to perks and rewards and like special QA's and different things like that that I'm doing. So that way this community can actually be one where we foster vulnerability and we talk about our real stories and our real journeys with Jesus. Thank you so much for doing that, and I cannot wait to see you next time.