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S2 EP09 | HOLISTIC HEALTH | PART 2 | DR. STEPHANIE CUDJOE

• Antoine Herron • Season 2 • Episode 9

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Antoine sits down with Dr. Stephanie Cudjoe to talk all things Faith and Physical Health. Tune in for the second part of this two part mini series—Holistic Health!

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SPEAKER_01

Best one I had was a patient who was Muslim, um, who was very stressed, had lots of anxiety, terrible crippling anxiety. I'm like, Lord, she just needs to know who you are. She is trying to do this in her own power. There is no way she can do this. She can't do this. And he's like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Well, finally he says yes. And I said, okay. I said, I know that you know that I'm a Christian, right? And she's like, Yeah. I said, okay, and I appreciate you, you know, coming all this time. I said, but I really do think that I'd like to pray for you. Um, is it okay if I pray to God that I know? And she was like, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

Well, welcome back to Humble, where we talk about the real stuff. Y'all, I am so excited about today. But before I get into that, you guys already know who I am. My name is Antoine. I get to be the host of Humble, and this is a part two of a two-part series, if you want to call it, on my personal health journey, but just a conversation of faith as it relates to overall health and the nuances that are even within that. So I told you guys I was gonna do my best to get my doctor here. And I got my doctor here, y'all. So I am so excited for a conversation today with my amazing doctor, who, like you heard in the last episode, has been pivotal for my life to help me not ignore some real things going on in my health journey so that I could focus on overall what God wants me to do and that not be a barrier that the enemy uses to thwart the plans that God has for me. And to realize that I actually have resources at my disposal. So I don't want you to hear more from me. I actually want you to hear more from her about all of that. So without further ado, I want to introduce to you guys, for the first time, hopefully not the last, to the humble community, Dr. Stephanie Cudjo. Hey. What's up, yo? You made it.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, I made it. I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for the invitation. This is really cool.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, when I originally, you know, asked you, I was like, you know, I know you're incredibly busy, you're seeing patients, you're doing you're doing the Lord's work in the healthcare field. And I was like, I totally get it if you're not available. When you were like, Yeah, I'd love to have this conversation. I was like, yes, absolutely. This must be the Lord. Um, but I would love just for our community to get a little bit of context to you. I think here's why. I think sometimes like you you see someone who who's successful uh by the world standards, but also by spiritual standards, and you're like, oh, they must have just woke up like this and they were always like this. Yeah, definitely not. Right. So so, but you know, you you are a doctor. You went to school, you went to medical school, and like this is what you do. Um, we'll get into that in a second. But I'd love just to get a little background on you. So, where are you from? What's your origin story? Where however you want to get it get into that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Well, um, so I am from Houston, Texas. Okay, I am, yes, H Town, um, A-Lif, Texas, um, which is on the southwest side. And that is an area that has is very multicultural. Um, it's kind of like how Frisco and McKinney and stuff is now. It was like that back then. Got it. Um, I am an older, I'm the oldest of two. My brother says he is the oldest. He's the big brother, but he is not. He is not.

SPEAKER_03

As you look at the camera.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. I am the oldest. Um, but he's um he's in the military. He's about to retire. Okay. Um, so we're really excited for him. Um, I am uh the daughter of a pastor and a first lady. Um, I am the granddaughter of a pastor and first lady. Um I am um a mother and a wife. I have three kids, 15, 13, and four. Four. Just let that set in. Um, and so and and I went to school at I went to a very big school, um, high school. And um I love science. I love um figuring out, figuring out how things work. Um, and I I love the body. I I really get excited about learning how the body works. I think it's absolutely amazing. Um, it never ceases to amaze me that God's design is just so perfect and it has rules that you that we should follow. Um, but I did not know I was going to be a doctor until college, until late college, actually. Um, I thought I was going to teach biology. Um, went to school for that. Uh, some kind of way they put me in the pre-med program. I had no desire. I did not, I had no desire to be a doctor.

SPEAKER_06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Um, you know, we grew up with the Cosby show and stuff, and I was like, I mean, Claire looked pretty cool, but I don't like to argue that much. So I just I was like, neither one of them are gonna be for me. But um, they did some research for two summers um in college. I took care of some kids at my church daycare in between. Um, but then uh when I was broke as a college student, my pre-med um advisor said there is a job down the street at Guadalupe Valley Hospital in Sagin, Texas. Come on, where um where I uh was an emergency room technician. And that's where we were essentially just transporting people, cleaning them up. Um, but we got to see some really, really amazing things. And I got to see how um we can help people in the field of medicine from radiology department to the nursing staff to the doctors. And I was like, I think I mean, I think I could probably do something like this. And so um, some kind of way I told my pre-med advisor that I think I might want to do this doctor thing, kind of like that. And she was like, Okay, you need a book because there's a whole exam that you need to take in order to get into medical school. So I went to half-price books and got a MCAT, you know, study guide thing and got his so good. Um, I got into UT Southwestern at Dallas. Wow. And um that started the journey into medicine. Um, went around and did all the um rotations and whatnot, and decided, you know, I kind of like all of it, and I want to be a doctor that knows a bit about everything, that can have a good perspective of how everything works together, how the different and be more of a guide for my patients versus having a very deep knowledge of a very narrow subject. So I decided to go into family medicine. That was my personal experience with docs, was with my family doctor who I absolutely love. That was Dr. Manis, Karen Manis. Um she's probably retired now, but um, it was always a great experience with her. Um in my family, a lot of health, there were a lot of health issues going on. Um, I saw what liver cancer does to a cousin of mine, and then I saw what a transplant can do. He is still living to this day, Vernon Upstead. Um, he he's he's just absolutely amazing. That was very impactful. My grandfather passed away of his second heart attack um at 54, and I got to see, had the opportunity to see how devastating that can be. I was only seven years old, and he was my favorite. Wow. Did not know my father's father because he passed away at 35, 34 from a heart attack.

SPEAKER_06

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01

So um, you know, there were there were things when I look back, you know, on my life and what was kind of molding me into this area, that's how I kind of got to hear. So that's kind of my journey. That's who I am. My husband is absolutely amazing and supportive and way too patient, I think, at times. But um, he has definitely been a cornerstone for me. We met in college and um he's been ride-a-dy since then through lots of twists and turns and changes. He has his own health story that was that's it's it's like a it's like a movie. But um, you know, you just God just keeps putting things in your path, and you're like, okay, yep, that then this is another reason why he asked me to go down this path. And I'll never forget the moment I got my acceptance letter to school. And I ran, I ran out of our um our student center and at college. And I praised God so hard. And I didn't care who saw, because I didn't, I didn't, I was like, I'm doing, I know I'm doing this late. I'm I just had like a little study guide thing to do. Like, there is no reason I should have made made it in. Wow. But he saw fit to do so. And um, I just remember praising God out on the lawn, running out from the computer lab, and um it's been it's been on and popping ever since. Come on. So it's been it's been quite a ride, that is for sure.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. Wow, you just blessed somebody with a bunch of things you just said, but a couple things that stuck out to me, you kind of fell into this. Very much so. I don't think I've heard that part of it before. You kind of just was like, I mean, I guess I'll kind of do the thing. Kind of seems like a cool thing to do. Why not? I kind of like it, but how often is it when God's leading us? It's like that. I mean, it's like that for me. Like, I didn't ask to be a pastor, I didn't ask to be in ministry. Do I like it? Yeah, do I love it? Absolutely. But I didn't ask for it. Right. I wasn't looking to do that. I sure wasn't. I was trying to do strictly music alone, not the ministry part, but just strictly music. And God was like, No, I want you to like help my people though. And the pastoring part was like, okay, if you want me to. And now I I can't imagine do anything else. Right. But uh, I just I find that fascinating. But the other part is you get to help people navigate and abstain from things that you witnessed growing up. Oh, yeah. Which is a lot of like our been our conversations when I first started seeing you, is you're like, hey, I've seen this firsthand. Um, and this is humble where we talk about the real stuff. So I'm I'm going here, but it's like a lot of times people in ministry, they have it on lock in so many areas of their lives, except for their physical health. Absolutely. And we act like, excuse me, we act like if we just ignore it, God will take care of it. And it'll just it'll just somehow figure itself out.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he doesn't do that.

SPEAKER_03

Right. And it's an important component, just like every other aspect of our walk with him. This is discipline. Yeah. So I I appreciate you stepping into this and being a voice of reason for people and bringing oftentimes what feels like two separate things together. Like I think about um like Gnosticism, you know, way back when like Gnostics believe, and still to today, but Gnostics believe like everything's spiritual and the body is separate from that. So they don't believe that like even Jesus resurrected in a physical body, they don't believe that because they're like, no, that's a metaphor. Yeah, the the spirit is separate from the body. It's like, no, no, no, he actually resurrected his body, correct came back. Thomas puts his holes in his hand, you know. Yeah, yeah. So so you saying that makes me think, okay, so if that's true and the body matters, then we have to take care of our physical bodies. Correct. So I I'm interested too in so you you stumble into healthcare, and yet you are you're someone who's a believer in Jesus, you grew up in church, but you're very active in your faith. What's it been like as you are now a doctor, you're a physician, what's it been like bringing those worlds together when oftentimes I feel like at least in my experience, I've seen people separate the two.

SPEAKER_01

So personally, I've always seen it together, right? Meaning I think even in school, right? And we're you know, we we prayed over the person that donated their body to our anatomy and physiology class, right? Because someone thought enough of us to say, I'm going to help you in, you know, that journey. And so, you know, we we're thankful to God that that person was willing to do that because they didn't have to. And, you know, I remember for that final exam, you know, and you're walking through a lot of death on that anatomy and physiology exam where you are looking at different structures and you're making sure that you know what they all are. And um, I remember, you know, praying the Lord's Prayer through that, you know, because like we have we have to. I I personally cannot see how they are separate because um our bodies hold our spirits, right? And our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. So how we are doing physically, how we're doing mentally affects how we are showing up physically. And I mean, if we're sad, our face shows it, right? If we are concerned about something, our body can tense up. Um, if we're happy, we we have to show some sign, right? And but it goes deeper than that, that even traumas and you know, illness and whatnot, it will, it will surface, it'll come to the surface physically. That's how we know how each other is doing, right? We want to say, oh, I'm an empath. No, you're just really, really um attuned to other people's physical cues. Yeah. And that may be for other reasons. That we may go into that later. Sure. Folks can say that they empaths and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. That's a whole nother conversation. We talk about spirituality, right? But um, you know, to me, there is really no division. And as one who um has had her own health struggles, um, the only I needed prayer. I needed to have good counsel in order to get my health or my personal health together, my mental health together. So um, you know, it's just there, there's never been a separation. It doesn't mean that I was always doing what I was supposed to do, right? But when things got off, I always had to go back to the, but why am I not doing what I know I'm supposed to be doing? Like I know, I don't have no excuse, right? And so what are the things, what is the what's taking the higher priority for me at this point? What am I putting above taking care of this temple? Right. Am I putting if is the main thing still the main thing? And if it's not, let me get that back together or let me utilize whatever tool I can to get my priorities back straight. Because once the priorities are straight, the health should improve as well. It should be a reflection of that alignment.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's good. One of the things you've you've done a great job in my in my personal health journey of articulating is how it really is a holistic experience. So yeah, you need to eat right, you need to exercise, all those things that we all know, but it's also your mindset.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

Um, how important do you feel like, well, we know it's important, but how how important do you feel like that conversation is as it relates to what's going on with people that a lot of times they're ignoring? That it's actually, oh no, you you're not looking at this through the right lens, the right perspective. Uh, maybe you don't have a relationship with Jesus. That's the real problem. You know, like, and you're and but as you're seeing people, how much of you know, you helping them realize, hey, your mindset has to shift before everything else can? How much of that have you helped people navigate? 95%.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I believe it. The world is very distracting. Life is busy. We're in North Texas, everybody's going, going, going. It's very easy to get distracted. And there's we're we talk about stress all the time. We talk about lack of sleep all the time. Um, it is and it's like press play. It's next room, press play. Yep. And it's just how are we going to weave that into this conversation versus do I need to talk about it? Right. So, and and if someone, I say 95%, every now and then we will have somebody who is like, I got this. I just need you to check my lab so I can show you everything is good. You know, that is very rare. Um, but even then, I just I still use that opportunity to let them know that, hey, you are doing an absolutely amazing job. You have intentionally made changes, and that is why you are experiencing this wonderful health. Like I need to double down on that so that they don't get complacent right down in the future. Um, so we we tend to emphasize um mindset a lot. Um, we may not come all the way over the head with it, but um, we find ways to weave it in and just kind of even if it's just planting some seeds that you know, if we got you under a little had to stress a little bit better control, that probably would let you sleep a little bit better. How do you think we can we could start doing that and start to do some more kind of problem solving versus this is what you need to do, XYZ. I try to reserve that only for the real hard heads, but um we we try a softer approach first so that they'll come back.

SPEAKER_03

The hard heads, including the one talking right now. You don't have to say it, I'll say it. I'll say it, it's fine. I wasn't sure you called it. You're not breaking down right now, because I'll say it. You're fine. No, but uh no, and that that's real. And I there's there's a couple things that come to mind, even just you you saying that jokingly, but also like for real for real. I remember um you know, I I shared this on the on the part one of this, but um the Lord told me 2021. Um, I don't know if I shared this with you. I think I might have shared this with you, but um, the Lord told me 2021, um I want to say it was like February or March. So around this time, um, yeah, I wouldn't do anything spiritual. I wasn't like in my prayer closet, like, thank you, Jesus. Speak to me right now. It wasn't none of that. I got I was like on the couch on my phone or something, just something something normal. And I feel like the Lord was like, hey, uh, let me talk to you. And I'm like, okay, cool. I'm like, but and then I went through the thing of like, is this me? Is this the Lord? Is it my thoughts? And I feel like the Holy Spirit's like, no, no, no, no, this is me. I need you to listen. I'm like, okay. He's like, I need you to get your physical health in order. And I'm like, okay. He's like, there are places and platforms I want you to be on, but you would not be able to physically handle it if you don't get this together. Absolutely. And I was like, like, I got cooked. So fast forward because at that time we were um we were in New York. We had just moved back here uh for the church that we were at before to launch that campus that we were at. Um so that was all during that time where I'm like, okay, God. So it was shortly after that, probably six months to a year later, I start seeing you. And then you echoed something very similar of like, so you won't be in a ministry for the long haul, right? And I'm just like, yes, I want to be in ministry for the long haul. Okay, well, we're gonna have to get this together because you won't be. And I'm just like, dang. But I but what I appreciate is your boldness to shoot me straight, uh, your willingness to tell me the truth, and your availability and willingness to resource me.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

And I think that combination usually there's one of those things that isn't there, I feel like, uh, and when it comes to people's physical health, where it's like either you like you know you need a change that a change needs to be had, and you know you need to make a change, you don't know who to go to. Right. Or you do have all the resources at your disposal, but you're not listening. Right. And the problem with that is at some point, enough's gonna be enough. Either your body's gonna give out, which that that was very much for me. And again, I've I've talked about this with my community already, but it's like that was that was real for me. Like my my body was not operating in the way that I needed. And I was walking around like everything was fine. I knew everything wasn't fine. And you were like, so your laughs don't lie, and everything isn't fine. So, what are we gonna do? How can I help you? And I just I just want to say, on behalf of our listeners and our community, I just want to say thank you for being bold enough, for caring enough to tell me the truth in love. Uh, but it wasn't. It wasn't love at the expense of truth. Correct. And it wasn't truth at the expense of love. Absolutely. It was both. Yeah. So I just appreciate you so much for that. And I I know if you're doing that for me, you're doing that for countless others too.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Yes. And so we have to remember what's the goal, right? The goal is to improve patients' health. And we cannot assume that everyone knows what you know.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, that's good. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so, you know, we want to educate our patients. We want to use data, right? To say, well, I know you say you feel good, but um to say one C or this, you know, this cholesterol or this kidney function test or whatever, saying otherwise, and help them start to understand what does that mean? Like why am I spending the time to have this conversation with you? Right. Um, it's not just woofing, right? It's not just, you know, a doc that wants to, you know, that thinks they know everything. It's really out of concern for your health. And I have to, you know, keep my calling at the forefront, which is my goal is that my patients are able to live out their calling in a healthy way, right? That you, like you said, you know, you the spirit said, You're not you're not gonna be able to do this. Your physical vehicle that you have on this earth is not in the shape it needs to be in in order to do what I need you to do. Yeah, right. Yeah. And um, and so that when I look back again over my life and I see um how disease, how lifestyle changes, how you know misconceptions and culture can influence one's health and one's ministry, right? Then um it gets real easy. So when you came in, I was like, uh, okay. And you know, and I don't know if you remember, but I, you know, I shared my calling, you know, with you in the office, and I don't share that with everyone.

SPEAKER_06

Sure.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but I do when I feel like, oh, okay, we we getting ready to course, we have to course correct because you are my prime, excuse me, my primary demographic. It's it's you, right? And um, you know, you're not that far away from the age my grandfather was, right? You're you're not that far away from the age my grandfather on my dad's side had passed away in his home. They came back from a trip to find him, right? And so, you know, and it was just I do while I believe that, you know, all of our days are numbered, we we don't know how long we have, right? But we sure can improve the quality of the time that we have. Yeah. And we can um have good health so that we can pass those lifestyle changes along to the next generation and on and on, and start to reverse some of these generational habits that um really have taken a big, big toll that we just kind of started assuming that, well, that's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_06

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

No, yeah, no, it's not. It's not a lot of things that we learned in school. I remember in medical school, I was like, golly, is there anything that my people don't have the worst of? You know, like these the statistics were so so uh just depressing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, dang, we get everything except like cystic fibrosis. Like this is this is a what is this, right? But um, and and in school, they really did not emphasize a lot the the how to have the conversation with your patients. It was you need to give them, you know, you need to counsel them on, okay. Well, what do I what do I tell them? Right? How do I do that? Um, so that's come through um, I think just the Holy Spirit just kind of using you.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, and being sensitive to that and figuring out how can I meet you, like where can I meet you at that pain point? Yep. That will start to make you say, okay, maybe I could do something different. Yep. And then we can build off of that, right? As long as our patients are willing to have a conversation and um be willing to make some small steps, we can work with that because eventually it will begin to snowball and it'll get better and better and better. You'll have more energy, you'll have better sleep, you'll have more clarity of thought, right? You start getting creative again. And so then it's it's nothing to add one more thing in your lifestyle, right? So that whatever medicines that we're using hopefully begin to fall off. And I always encourage my patients that, you know, a lot of things that we see in family medicine, they're reversible. This is life, this is family medicine is lifestyle medicine. There's specialties, you can go to a specialist, but family medicine has always been lifestyle medicine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think that that okay, okay. This is because you you hit on a couple things. First of all, first of all, I want to I want to slow down and just say, so I will be, I will be 35 next week. And that's very sobering to hear the story about your grandpa. I'm just like, I'll be 35 next week. And to hear that, and that's that's so young. It's so young. It's a baby. Yeah. And I'm just like, that's me. That's literally me right now. And you know, and part of our conversations, it's like, I don't, I don't want to be that.

SPEAKER_05

Right.

SPEAKER_03

Like, I don't want to give the enemy a stronghold in this area to literally take me out before my time. But it wasn't because it was something out of my control, it was something that was well within my control. Correct. He just amplified it to get the way of God's God's purpose for my life and my legacy for the kids and all the things, right? And but but something you said with the cultural component, I think is really, really important. Like for you, and this is listen, my podcast is humble where we talk about the real stuff. Like, we're gonna talk about black culture for a second. Like, it's not just black culture, but it very much is prevalent in black culture, where it's like you eat when you're happy, you eat when you're sad, you eat when you're mad, you eat just to eat, and then you eat some more. And it becomes this cultural thing that is a tradition that we just do, but we never question if it's right. Right. Right? Yeah, because you you you weren't allowed to question exactly, or something we talked about was like even food portions on the plate. Like you better eat up, you better eat out of food, boy.

SPEAKER_04

Right.

SPEAKER_03

You better eat out of food, all food on your plate, you better eat that. And it's like, but what if I'm full? Well, you ain't fool until all the food's gone. It's like, but I am. I'm so full. And I'm so yeah, and it's like what we are low-key, whether we are aware of it or not, we are promoting obesity, we are promoting high cholesterol, hypertension, all these things. We may not have language for it, but that's what's happening.

SPEAKER_01

And that wasn't that's and I do want to be very clear that you know, that was never the intention. Of course not. It was about being frugal, it was about being appreciative and you know, grateful for the food that you have, right? And and, you know, listen, listening to your parents and respecting them, of course, who are also raised in the same manner, right? So, you know, I never want anyone to think that we're blaming anyone, but when we look back and we see these are the habits that led us here, yeah, right. Why is it that it's so easy for me to eat that just a couple more, even though I I got a message that that was probably enough? Yep. I know, but it looks so good, though it's still I want to make a happy plate. I want to make a clean plate, right? Uh, yep. I don't want the kids in you know in Africa, you know, getting mad at me. They don't know me. Right. They don't know me. Right. They really don't know me. That's not they're okay, right? So, but but all the things that we have kind of grown up hearing and learning about and kind of unlearning and and learning how to not listen to what our body is trying to tell us. Yes, right. We that is a whole that's a whole issue.

SPEAKER_03

100%. I even think because I'm with you, like, you know, that you know, the caveat in this is this is not blaming anybody in our families. This is not us saying they did it wrong. They did the best with what they knew. Correct. That's why when people like kind of a side street, real quick. But when people are like, you know, that there's this thing now in my generation and even down where it's like, let's blame our parents for why we're jacked up. And I'm like, okay, there could be some truth to that, some. Sure. But to blame your totality of you on what they did or didn't do for you, at some point you have to take responsibility for that. And they were not the only voice in your life. Correct. So don't put the whole totality of why you're jacked up on them. Number two, we're gonna fall in a broken world. So it's really beyond them as well. So I take that broader macro concept and make it micro in the sense of what we're talking about with health, and be like, they did the best they could with what they knew.

SPEAKER_01

Well, and and even when our previous generation, right, had that, the food was also different.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

The quality of the food was talking about different things. Yes, yes, right. The portion sizes were still different. Um, the activity level was different. Um, so what worked for them, where they did not necessarily see the consequences of those habits until much later, right? In their 50s and 60s, right? Yeah. Um, we're seeing at an alarming rate in our teens, in our kids, right? You know, childhood obesity, adolescent obesity, type 2 diabetes in a 13-year-old. These, this is what we're seeing when they they had no concept of that then, right? And we also have um possibly increased access to healthcare where we are now identifying it sooner, right? So for multiple reasons, we are seeing a different effect from those habits than they even saw at their age, right? So um, you know, it's it times are so different with the food. Um, the food has a lot of artificial ingredients. They have a lot of foods that raise and manipulate hormones to make you hungrier. Um, you know, I remember my mom telling me that when she would go to her grandmother's house in North in North Carolina, they would have, you know, meatless Saturdays. They have vegetable plates on Saturdays, right? And they lived it and they had a huge farm. It was so much more activity, right? And that that um my great-grandmother, she passed away at 94, a month before her 95th birthday. Wow. Right. And um, she just, you know, went to sleep, you know, and we were like, oh, okay, well, there we go. Wow. See you on the other side, right? Versus the next generation, right? Her daughter then had um two different cancers. Uh, she had colon cancer and breast cancer. She also suffered from Alzheimer's about the last 10 years of her life. A very different type of progression from one generation to the next, right? And then my mother has had a heart attack. She's now 12, she just celebrated her 12th birthday. She says that's her real birthday. Uh-huh. Um, you know, and she's, you know, in her 60s. So, you know, just looking at the progression, right, of how disease is affecting us, I have we cannot say that it's not related to our diet. Yeah. Right. Because not that they were anyone was trying to do this, sure, but um, it definitely is taking its toll. And so we we while I and I love soul food, I am a whole, I am a whole, I love soul food. Right. But if it if that energy that I'm taking in is making me tired, is that really fuel? Right? It should not take that much energy to process what I just took in. Yeah. So I always have to remember that if I get itis, yeah, yeah, the itis probably wasn't the healthiest. I'm gonna take me a nap. Correct. Correct. If I have to assume, we used to call it assume the position to make room. Yeah, right. Probably the portion was too big.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So these are the things that we just kind of grew up with, you know, after Thanksgiving, everybody go take a nap. Now we go have Thanksgiving and then we go out and go take a walk and go play basketball and do stuff. And we still got to have a wonderful meal, right? And we still are thankful for that meal, but that meal does look a little different. Yeah. It looks a little different. Yeah. But we want to be able to celebrate many Thanksgivings.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Right? With many Christmases, many New Year's. That's good. So that's good, Dr.

SPEAKER_03

C. Yeah. And I even think about too, like, you know, speaking about like cultural narratives and like um even progressing. I I think something for even my mom starting it, and even me is, you know, my grandma's generation, like her, and you know, uh, she just recently passed away back in January. Uh, but you know, like her generation like did not believe in going to the doctor. Like she was not about that. And, you know, love her. She was amazing. But that was something she's like, I'm not, unless she absolutely had to. And she she would go, but she was not volunteering to go. That was not something that was normal. Now, the the irony in that is she was uh she was a um uh nurse's assistant, she's a nursing assistant, nursing aide. And uh, so she, you know, she was in the medical field, she took care of other people, like she she understood, but for her, it was like I'm not trying to go do that. But then like my mom was like, she would she would go, still didn't like it, but would go. And then me definitely don't like it, but will go. There is a progression of okay, maybe we should take this seriously. But I I think it for me, what I've just you know, almost being 35, what my mindset now as it relates to my children, like my kids, is this should be normal. Like getting regular checkups should be normal. There's nothing bad about this, there's nothing wrong with it. And you don't have to only go when you're sick.

SPEAKER_01

Correct.

SPEAKER_03

Right? Correct. You can just have regular checkups and be like, yeah, I'm actually doing well. Uh, here's how I'm feeling, and to be able to catch stuff before stuff even happens instead of waiting and being like, oh, this has actually been a problem for two years and you're just not seeing me about it. And it's so I say all that to say I think something I'm just trying to work on is it's okay to have regular visits and that be normal because that is a part of the lifestyle of health. Yeah. Is even going to regular checkups.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's really funny because um we are seeing a lot of new patients. And um, you know, we ask them, you know, are you here coming in for a physical? Are you coming in because you know you have a concern, right? And they're like, I'm getting a physical because I have a concern. Right. And so you're like, okay, well, I need to see you. I need to get all the things anyway. And it gets, it gets sticky for the doc because you're like, well, this is really supposed to be when you're doing well. Yep. But if you haven't been doing well, I still need to do this physical. Yeah. And so it becomes a, it becomes a very like this the healthcare system doesn't know what to do with that.

SPEAKER_06

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Because um, the well woman, no, who what well woman is well? What well man, you know, exam actually is for someone who's just doing their routine. Yeah. Eventually we can get them there, but it's very rarely do I actually see someone who is doing great and they just want to do a physical. It is no, I'm I came in for my physical because I have 15 things that I finally decided I'm going to address. And you're like, so you're not well. Jeez. Let's let's see if we can tackle these things, and then hopefully your insurance will cover that. I mean, that's real. Like it's a it's a whole thing. It's a real thing, yep. Um and we do, and it's not that we're trying to manipulate the system. It's just that, again, culturally, we don't go to the doctor. So um, you know, we just want to try and meet you where you are, but also educate at the same time, right? Um that's a that's a that's a whole thing. It is. That's a whole thing. The only time, in fact, the only time we really see it is like for kids. Kids, they're usually they're doing, you know, they're pretty good. Maybe we might see one or two things along the way of doing that exam, but there's not like a major concern, right now, with the kids.

SPEAKER_03

So or parents are like, let me get my kids in here, but not me. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Like that's they'll use the kids to check me out.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How she do. Or they're evaluating you the whole time. Like, I don't like how she did the thing. Oh, yeah. It's so funny, but it's so it's so true. It's so true. Um, and I I just want to say this too. Like, I it's also important. This is not just African-American culture, black culture. This is just any culture. It also helps. Representation helps. And I love that I can go to my doctor and I can see myself in you. My kids can see themselves in you. Um, I think that's important for every culture, every tribe, every tongue, every nation to be able to see themselves in a medical professional. So thank you for even doing that just by being who you are. Yeah. Like you're showing that we don't have to again, humble where we talk about the real stuff. We don't have to operate in dysfunction. Absolutely. We don't have to accept that. There is a better way. That doesn't have to be the norm. Yes. There's a better way. Yes. Now, I what I think is interesting though is you've alluded to this, but you're like, the Holy Spirit be talking though, through your visits with patients. Even if you don't explicitly say his name or recite a scripture, the Lord is definitely moving through you because your calling is so much connected to what you do and to the people that you see. I would love just to hear you talk about that. Like, how important has it been for you to literally cling to the feet of Jesus? Like and hang on, not just to get through medical school, but even as you do what you do. Like, like, well, and I think about knowing that not everybody shares that same narrative. Some people believe in Jesus, some people don't. Some people are like, ah, there's a big man upstairs, but you're still you through that. So talk to us about that.

SPEAKER_01

So I I don't I remember like in the beginning when I first started practice, um I used to be a little afraid to, you know, say something. But now I'm like, look, y'all found me. You came in here. I believe that God brings every person through our doors. Um, we don't do any hard advertising, right? So for whatever reason, if they found it, if they found their way to my current practice, they should be here. Wow. Yeah. Um, so that's number one. Number two is um I'm I have learned to just be sensitive when he says, Okay, now you can share. Okay. Right? Because I mean, there's there are times when I'm like, I'm there a patient is talking to me and I'm like, should I say something? And I'm having a whole conversation. And he's like, Nope. Nope. Not yet. And sometimes it's years. And then something happens, and you're like, okay, so I can we really talk? You know, I do while I think these medicines could help your sleep, also there is some a better physician that can treat you right now, and it's not me, you know. That's and we have a conversation. And the funny thing is, um every single time um it has been well received. And that's with people of every nationality.

SPEAKER_00

Sometimes, like, I don't know, Lord, you know they don't, I know they don't believe what I believe.

SPEAKER_01

Right? The best one I had was a patient who was Muslim, um, who was very stressed, had lots of anxiety, terrible crippling anxiety. I'm like, Lord, she just needs to know who you are. She is trying to do this in her own power. There is no way she can do this. She can't do this. And he's like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Well, finally he says yes. And I said, Okay. I said, I know that you know that I'm a Christian, right? And she's like, Yeah. I said, Okay, and I appreciate you, you know, coming all this time. I said, but I really do think that I'd like to pray for you. Um, is it okay if I pray to God that I know? And she was like, Absolutely, it's never been declined.

SPEAKER_06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

No, that's not true. One time, and I still prayed. I said, Well, I'm gonna pray anyway, and I just prayed outside the door. That part. Um, and things still got better. But um look at that. She started crying, and um, she said that her sons had already converted to Christianity and they had been talking to her for about a year about doing so.

SPEAKER_03

Stop it right now. Okay, we're done. All right, bye, y'all. We're out. Are you serious?

SPEAKER_01

I'm serious.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. I'm serious. Lord was like and now's the time to do this lesson.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so you know, there will just be times when the medicine that you can offer someone, right, is not a prescription. Right? Sometimes it's just listening. Sometimes it's a prayer. Sometimes it's just, you know, you I know you know what you're supposed to be doing. Can we really just talk very frankly? Why are you not at church? Yeah. Where is who is your church? Where are you getting taught? Where are you being fed?

SPEAKER_06

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01

Right? Because so many people are trying to do this life by themselves or they're trying to do it apart from God. And it's just, you cannot do it. It does not work. It does not work. And um they the patients always know. They always know.

SPEAKER_06

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

And so again, if they walk through the door, okay. Yeah. Hope you know what you're in for. And if it's not for them, they will excuse themselves. I have never I have had to fire very, very few people. Um, and that's been a blessing. Yeah. But I do find that they will they will excuse themselves, usually but within three visits. Yeah. And that's okay. That's okay. I have to be okay with that. I can't say my job is not to save people. That is that is God's job. That is the the the power of Jesus Christ that does that. Yeah. But if he wants to use me or my assistant, um, because we will come, I'll have her come in the room with me and we'll pray. Oh, yeah. Um, I know she will. My nurse practitioner, come on. Uh-huh. Um, but if they will, if they're if they're coming in, um then we're going to give them whatever God says to give them. Yeah. There's there's there's no, we're not going to limit God on what he has to do. If he brought them in here, then that means he trusts us to take good care of them.

SPEAKER_03

It's so good. Yeah. That's so good. I think that the thing I hear in that is you are spirit led. Yeah. Because I just, as you were talking, I I could just imagine somebody comes in. Uh, I have a concern. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ? He's my savior, he can be yours. And they'd be like, What? No, we're not gonna do that. That's not that's not but I feel like I have this this lump in my arm, and I just want to talk about, you know, and it's but you're like, nope, I'm gonna wait until the Lord gives me an opening and says go absolutely and watch him work. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

And there's some that he he has not yet. Or there's some who have actually had that experience, um, where they were like, whoa, I was not expecting that from my counselor or my neurologist or my whatever. Yeah. And it really threw them off, right? And they and the funny thing is, with each one of those, it was often their first visit. They had not established any kind of a relationship. That's what I was about to say, yeah. Right, which is really, really important. No, they have to know that they can trust you, right? Like what? Who are you? Yeah, who are you? Who are you? And what is the what Jesus are you talking about? Yep, right. But if they know you, they trust your judgment, yep, they know that you see them for who they are. If God then says, go ahead, you won't, you can't go wrong. Yep, you can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_03

People don't care what you know until they know that you care.

SPEAKER_01

Look.

SPEAKER_03

Well, 100%.

SPEAKER_06

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, and I I've watched you do that even in in in my business with you. Um, and of course, you know what I do, so we could we could probably have a little bit more of a direct conversation than than maybe the average person. But I love that even still, though, there's not an assumption that I know. You're like, no, like have you thought have you thought about this? Have you have you thought about how this is affecting what you do? And if anything, that's convicted me more of like, okay, I I could do the thing where I'm like, oh, I'm not operating at optimal, you know, physical health because it's a busy season or the enemy's working, and it's like, no, I'm putting stuff in my body that shouldn't be. Can I be honest about that? Can am I aware of it? And then what are we gonna do about it? And I and I love that your your approach has always been like, okay, so what are we gonna do?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Because we can only do what you're willing to do.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Absolutely. Because right, I like again, you have to, you have to be as a as a medical professional, I had to give up the idea that whatever I say they're gonna do.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

No, these are grown folks. Yeah, so grown folks. So these are parents of kids. And if they don't understand why, if they don't think you have their best interests at heart for whatever reason, right? If maybe they've had trauma with from the medical profession in the past and they're like, I know she said this, but no, right? At the end of the day, they're gonna leave the office and they're gonna choose what they want to do.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it's it's real, right?

SPEAKER_01

And so I had to very quickly, very quickly understand that I am a guide. Yeah, I'm gonna go home to my kids, you're gonna go home to your kids. Yeah, you're gonna, you know, go to the store and maybe you'll stop by the pharmacy, maybe you won't.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I've had folks pick up a prescription and not take it. Bring it to my office. Show me it is full. And so I said, okay, all right. This is my suggestion, right? And but at the end of the day, it's in your court.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_01

It the the medicine is not magic. It does not work because I wrote the prescription. It does not work because you picked up the prescription. It does not work if you take it and then don't do the other things you're supposed to do with it, right? It is a tool. That's all it is, is a tool. It is, yeah. Right. So you we keep it in its place. We keep I if I keep things in their place and don't make them out to be more than they are, yeah. We have a much more realistic expectation and we can progress, I think, a whole lot faster. A whole lot faster. Versus, I thought this was this was gonna be a cure. Nope, nope, nope, never said that. Not a cure. Um, you know, but we can stay in reality. And yes, there are, and and to your point, you know, spiritual warfare is real, it's very much real, right? And um the battle of the soul, the mind is real. So you need to have support and resources and tools to fight it. That's good, right? Literally, we have an armor of God. All these are tools. Legion six, come on, right? All of these are tools. Yes. So it's not like you're just gonna will yourself to be spiritually sound. How's that work if you're not willing to do one of those things? That part, right? And he talks about covering your mind, covering your heart, covering um um, you know, feet shod with the gospel of peace. All of these things are things that you have to act out every single day in order to get the best results. Yep. Right? And so this is no different. This is no different. It's just it's a framework that applies not only spiritually, but physically as well. Yeah. So I I do love the Bible and the fact that you can take these analogies, you can take these examples and apply it not only to your physical self, your spiritual self, your emotional self, that because we are we are a trinity in and of ourselves, right? Because we're born, we're made in the image of God. Yep, that's good. So we cannot, again, to to that very first question that you had, you know, about separating um, you know, that division between spirituality and your physical body, there is no, there is, that is a lie. Yeah, it is a lie. And the the sooner we realize that all of this was wrapped up together, my mental health, my physical health, and my spiritual health is all one health, then the better you will be able to move forward. Yeah. And find the right people, find the right tools that can help you get to your best health.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, it's and and we're gonna come back to to Bible here in a minute, because that that was another thing I I wanted to just give you the space to articulate because I think there's all there's a lot of confusion on on what does the Bible actually have to say regarding health and things like that. But I I think it's refreshing for me, and I know for our for our listeners too, like it's refreshing to to see a physician that is connected to the great physician, you know, like, but seriously, though, like I I think that again again, in my limited experience, I've seen if if they if if people in the medical field, which I was for a little bit, but people are in the medical field, they are Christians, usually they're super quiet about it. And not for like reasons of like decorum or they're waiting for their moment, like you're saying. Not it's not that, it's I I just I'm I'm passive about it, or I'm not not ashamed, but just you know, I don't want to ruffle any feathers, right? Or like I was joking about before, you have the super loud, like God is good, y'all. And you're like, hey, but we have four patients waiting, though. Can you just seat them and get their vitals real quick? Like, we we don't have to ignore that at the expense of saying God's good. Like we could, we have both. But I I I appreciate you literally embodying that with just who you are. But when it comes to the Bible, too, like for the person, I'd love for you just to speak to the person that's listening right now that maybe struggles bringing scripture and science together, you know, the faith and fitness, the like whatever analogy and alliteration you want to use. But it's like there's a there's a struggle with that. It very much is a I go to the gym and I read my Bible and go to church, but I don't see how those are connected. So for that person that's like, but how though? What does the Bible even say about our physical health and and why should we care about it, doc? Why should we care? Well, so hope I have reference.

SPEAKER_01

She came prepared, you know.

SPEAKER_03

She came prepared, she's ready.

SPEAKER_01

Um, so I'm just gonna read a couple of scriptures and then just kind of talk about each one. And um the first one is from 3 John uh chapters uh chapter 1, verse 2, and it says, Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. So period. I mean sounds very self-explanatory, but also um what I see is that number one, he's praying to God about it, right? So he's he's counts, he's getting counsel from the Lord about someone's physical health, right? And um, and he says in in in all respects, so not just that you be in good health with your blood pressure, or that you be in good health with your sleep, or you be in good health with diabetes, but no, like that you are completely healthy and whole. Yeah, that's what we want. Yeah, right. That's his his wish, his desire for those that he's writing to. This is um, you know, John talking. So um, and it says, just as your soul prospers, soul being, you know, that that mind, that that, that mindset. So he knows that as your mind is getting renewed, your body should also be following suit.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, right?

SPEAKER_01

So it's it's it's already connected. And to John, it's connected, it's the same thing. Okay. Um, another one, which I think is sometimes a little controversial, but this is what the word says. Um, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with them both. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. That's from 1 Corinthians 6, 12 and 13, as well as 19 and 20. So that's a there's that's a lot in there. Um, so we have free will, we can make a choice, um, but if we are not careful, those choices can start to rule us, right? Um and at the end of the day, this is still a temporary life. That's what I read. Facts, right? So we don't want to. There is a bit of a movement, you know, there's like a longevity movement and all this stuff that's going on. And I'm like, look, I don't want to be here forever. I want to go on head to glory. Yes. Um, but while I am here, I want to have all the faculty of my mind. I want to be able to move around and go as as I please. I want to be a bit rambunctious when I'm 94 years old. I want to be getting on folks' nerves because I'm just, I just won't sit down somewhere. Yeah. Right. I don't want to not have my mind. That's my personal fear. Right. So um, I want to be able to care for myself. I want to be able to um, you know, be a good steward of this vehicle that I have been given. Right. So if we are, if we have an the mindset that I this is not mine. This is on loan. Am I taking care of this vehicle? It's like, okay, your dad gives you a car. My my my oldest daughter is 15. My husband is going to give him, give her his car. And she's super excited about it, you know. And she's like, I'm gonna do this to it, and I'm gonna put this in it, and I'm gonna have my seats like this, and all the things. I'm like, okay, and you're gonna care for the car. Right, right. Step one. But can we care for the car? Let's talk about oil changes, let's talk about you know, putting gas in the car. Let's make sure you understand how to drive it properly, right? Just how do you operate this vehicle first before you start dressing it up? And we have a lot of folks that are we, and I was one who was doing it a bit backwards, right? I was dressing up the body, but I was not caring for the inside. So uh okay. I mean that's what we're doing? Okay, cool. I mean, I grew up in a black church. Yeah, you you did. We had a lot of dress up, stockings, hangs, absolutely ultra sheer. Uh-huh. With the suits and the hats and all the things, uh-huh, but also had the blood pressure and the diabetes and the gout and the cancers and all of that as well. Right. And and God talks about, you know, Jesus talks about you look one way, but the inside looks like trash. Yeah. I mean, he didn't say that exactly, but you see what I'm saying. That's Dr. C. That's the Dr. C translation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. So how can he Jesus is very, very concerned with alignment? Very concerned with alignment. You say this thing, but you're doing something else. Right? Don't be a how many times do you say you hypocrite? He's gonna tell you if you want to get on his nerves, be a hypocrite. Yeah, don't be double-minded. Correct. Yes, yep, correct. Correct, right? Be in alignment. If you say you're gonna do something, do it. Let your yay be yay, you let your no be no, right? So it's it's because of culture, because we celebrate and mourn and all of that with food, um in the black church, we have a lot of, we can create a lot of excuses for what what the disconnect is. But especially all I can speak is on in this day and age, we have way too much education. We have way too much, too many resources at our disposal. Um, where you grow up no longer is a factor. Everybody has a cell phone. Yeah, everybody has access to chat, you know. Like you can, you can, you, you can, if you want to, you can do it. Yeah, yeah. The question then becomes okay, how do we get to the want to be in alignment? Yeah. What are what is the perceived price of alignment? And that's when we start having real interesting conversations, right? Because maybe it's time, maybe it is um, maybe it is a fear of a protective mechanism. Maybe it's the loss of something that you've been using to cope. Yep. Maybe is I really don't want to deal with the emotions that I'm using food to cover up. Yep. Right. Um, maybe there's trauma under there that you're like, I'm not ready to to have that conversation with myself or talk to somebody else. I don't know if it's safe to do so, right? And so it can get real deep real quick, but at the same time, that is also the path that we have to take to health. It's never easy. It's never easy, no, right? So um that's number two.

SPEAKER_06

Come on.

SPEAKER_01

And then um, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

SPEAKER_03

Come on now, right?

SPEAKER_01

So at the end of the day, if you can say, Thank you, Lord, I know that this is I'm glorifying you in what I'm doing, okay.

SPEAKER_06

That's good.

SPEAKER_01

But can you do that? Do you do that? Do you thank God for that food?

SPEAKER_06

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Because if if this is if this is the blessing from God, then great. By all means, go ahead. Right. And and there is there are other scriptures that talk about, you know, is this a good food, is this a bad food, and you know, is this clean and unclean? And Peter, right? You know the story, the story with Peter, and God was like, look, I made all that clean. Yeah, yeah. Go over there and eat at his house. Yeah, it's gonna be fine. Right. So, but at the same time, don't allow that to be a reason that you cause someone to stumble. Yeah, so if they have a restriction and they don't feel comfortable, right, right with eating something, who are you to say that that's not the case, right? For whatever reason it is, don't let that be the reason that they don't get to get to know me better. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, yep. So we we have that conversation a lot in in the office, right? Is it okay to eat pork? Is it okay to eat this? Is it okay to, you know? And I'm like, okay, well, we're not Israelites. Um, everything has been cleaned up. Yeah, we're not under Levitical law. Correct. Like that's correct. But if for you that helps you stay on a narrower path, if that helps you avoid some habits and things that have gotten you into some health trouble, by all means, right? By all means, do it. Do it if it's working and you feel better and you feel healthier and you are healthier on your lab work, okay. Okay. Who am I to say? Who am I to say anything? Your proof is in them labs. Here we go.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01

So um we want to be really, really careful. There's no one diet that works, there's no right, you know, one way of living that works. Everyone has to figure it out for themselves. I can give them some guidance, right? If we're dealing with this problem, these are the foods that can help you. Yep. But very rarely will I say, absolutely, you cannot ever have X Y.

SPEAKER_06

Yep. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Because the goal is to get your body so healthy that if you have a one-off of something that's not the healthiest, you have so much physical reserve of health that they can tackle that and not get thrown off.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_03

So I've always appreciated about the you two, just real quick, just very practical. You know, you'd all you always say things like, yeah, you want to have the the drive-thru thing or whatever, or you want to have cookie, have one cookie, not 17. That's where Yeah. Because I've I've been there.

SPEAKER_01

Because I want 17. I've been there where I kept going back, you know, as even like as a kid, you know, it was we didn't have a whole lot of of restriction, like with snacks and stuff like that. I had to I had to learn how to do that. Listen. Right? Yeah. Because the those foods, if you're not very careful with them and respect them for what they are, right? And keep them in perspective, it can, it can easily just take you away.

SPEAKER_03

Yep. Take you away. That's so true. Thank you for walking us through that. Because I think it's important that um we go to scripture for everything, even something as pivotal as our physical health, that literally there's Scripture for this that the Lord does care about it. Um, He wants us to honor Him with our bodies. Our bodies literally are the temples of the Holy Spirit. And yet sometimes we treat that temple like it is not as important as it should be.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

And we'll try to dress it up like what you said, like that analogy of dressing it up. It's like what what I thought about was how many of us are, as we're dressing up our bodies, we're really covering up something that on the inside, internally, uh externally, we're covering it up, but internally is jacked up. Yeah, you can't see it off face value until you do more work, until you do a deeper dive into it. And you know, that's that's what you do for your patients. That's what you've done for me. And again, I just want to say on behalf of our community and you know, people that are listening, like, thank you so much for being an example of this. Because one thing I have learned in my personal health journey is that I literally feel better and more connected to the Lord. Correct. When I'm giving my body what it needs. Correct. I used to look at that so separate. Ah, it's not that big. But I look, I can tell. I can tell when I'm eating right, when I'm eating the way I should, like you said, the one-off thing did it doesn't throw you off as much. Number one. But then number two, I feel like I'm firing and operating in a way where I can truly honor God with my day. Right. And not be operating at like 50%, like, well, I guess I'm done for the day because I need to go take a nap. It's like, what if I have more fuel in my body to be able to go longer and and further because that's what God called me to do? But it's like, oh, you can't even handle that. So I would, I can't call you towards greater, like I want to because you can't get this under control. Right.

SPEAKER_01

And he's not gonna give us more than we can bear.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right. Right.

SPEAKER_01

And he wants us to be faithful over little things first. Like, demonstrate that you can do those things first. And then I have so much more in store for you, right? But let's let's let's get good habits now. Yeah. So that it doesn't become a hot mess later. Yeah. Right. And so, you know, we want to honor that. And so, you know, a lot of folks are like, I'm gonna pray that in this diabetes is gonna go. And you're like, okay, so are you ready to work? And they're like, no, I'm praying about it. I'm like, no, but you have to do something, uh-huh, right? Because he's he you miss out on the growth that happens if you go through the path, right? We just want to get delivered from it. But God very oftentimes is like, but this is the route to which the blessing comes, right? The blessing is in the journey. You learn so much more about it. So we have a we have a weight loss program, and it's so funny. The patients will come in and they're like, okay, I want to lose 80 pounds. You're like, okay, great. We're gonna get you started. We tell them about the program, everything. Yep. And in the back of my mind, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be so interesting. Because there's so much personal revelation every patient goes through as they are beginning to make these choices and as they're realizing this was harder than I thought. I thought this part was gonna be easy, but this was actually what got me. And we've had people, you know, have created new businesses, go get a PhD on program because they started putting in place some discipline and building in some habits, which got them better sleep, which then increased their creativity. And then they pulled out some old journal that they had. And I'm like, I was thinking about doing, you know what I think I can do this, right? And so all of a sudden, calling starts coming out. Yeah. Right? It starts getting revealed. Yeah, and it's so absolutely amazing to see that not only did they get to whatever weight that they wanted to get, sure, but along the way, they found themselves again as well. Oh, yes. And so it's really, it really is a journey of self-discovery. And it's so much fun to see that help them tussle with some areas that they didn't know was gonna be so difficult.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right. That and when I hear you saying that, I'm like, yeah, there they found themselves. And what I would say is they they found their true selves.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

This is who they were meant to be. Yes, their fullest potential of who they are. And we're not perfect, but progressing.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And and and like I said before, it's like I can always tell the difference of, you know, oh, I'm I'm kind of feeling tired today. It's like, well, what did I eat? What did I, what have I been eating? Right? Have I drank enough water? And oftentimes that's usually what's going on. It's the basic stuff.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. It's the basic stuff. It's so funny. It always comes back to did you eat? What did you eat? Did you sleep? Did you drink your water? Um, have you been super stressed? Right. It's like, it's the basic stuff. It's basic stuff. And it's so funny because I'm like, I'm sure my patients get tired of me asking them, are they sleeping? Nobody sleeps.

SPEAKER_06

It's true. Nobody sleeps. Yep.

SPEAKER_01

And you know, very few people are drinking enough water. I am one of them. I have it is a chronic thing I still have to deal with um and fight. But, you know, we're we're all on the same, we're all on the journey. We are, right? You know, I've been on my own health journey. I had to get things back in alignment, right? Because things got off. It's so easy to get off. You start focusing on something, and you next thing you know, something's fallen by the wayside, but you have you get back on track. And it's okay. You just keep going. Just keep going.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And to your point, you you have a practice, you're a mom, you're a wife, like all these very, very important things in your life. It could be easy for all of us to, with all the different things that we have, specifically to us, to drift. Right. Um, but it's also so important to realize that have resources, have people, have doctors that you can trust, health professionals that you can trust, that you're actually gonna do what they say. So look at this camera. You're actually gonna do what they say. I'm talking to you, but I'm really talking to me. Um and and to then see the results that you want. And and that, I think what I would just love for someone to hear in this moment is that's just as much spiritual as it is practical.

unknown

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Like it's not one or the other, like it's it's both. The discipline leads to desire, the disciplines establish a version of you that you always wanted to see, and the one that God really wants you to operate in. Right. That's that's what we're striving towards. And I just want to say thank you. Thank you for thank you for walking us through this because I believe this is gonna heal somebody and set them free. And and my hope is that if they haven't been prioritizing their physical health for whatever reason, like you alluded to, there's so many things that are real, you know, trauma and things that you know, things in your past, things whatever that you haven't dealt with that as you start to get on this journey, you'll start to see the root of that. But we've got to start somewhere.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03

We've got we have to start and and not make excuses, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I'm you know, if someone's not sure where to start, they need to pray about it. Come on. Like that, that is number one. God help help me. How do I get started?

SPEAKER_04

So good.

SPEAKER_01

How do I and in in again it's not separate, but at the same time, I did want to bring up that many people do the opposite. So they will overexercise or be super disciplined because that is how they feel that they are become acceptable to God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk about this. Yeah. And so we want to make sure we don't get things twisted. Yeah, it's good. Right? This is not um, it's not about works, yeah. Right. But as my relationship with God is in alignment, that gives me the energy. That gives me the ability to make that next step for that temple. Out of the overflow. Correct. Of that, yes, ma'am. Correct. So, like we're not cleaning up the temple just so that we can have a clean temple.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it's good. Right.

SPEAKER_01

So we're we're cleaning up the temple so that we don't grieve the Holy Spirit, come on, who is a whole person, the third person of the Trinity, right? He will you will piss him off. He has a whole personality, y'all, right? So we don't want to grieve him, right? And we want to be able to be used by God. But if you don't know the God that it created you that has a calling for you, that needs to be addressed first. So good, right? That makes it so much easier to do the hard things. Yeah, right. It's hard to do that just because Dr. C sits said so. For sure. Right. For sure. So if we find that, you know, that's the sticking point, yeah, we do talk about that too.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I'd love for you, just I just feel led to do this in this moment. I'd love for you to just pray right now for that person that is maybe they're hearing this conversation right now and they're going, yeah, I do want there's so many things that I want to see different in my life, but I do not feel connected to my creator. I don't feel like I know about this Jesus guy or even why I should even consider having a relationship with him. Can you just take a moment and just pray for that person? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01

Heavenly Father, we thank you for a new day. We thank you for this opportunity to shine a light on your thoughts towards towards us, towards all of us, our minds, our bodies, and our spirits. We thank you, Lord, that you created us in a perfect way. But now that we're in a fallen world, the disease can sink in and take hold if we're not careful. And we just we pray, Lord, that for whoever is that person out there that doesn't know you, that they would inquire, that they would reach out to a friend, that they would go to their local church, that they would talk to their doc, talk to whoever you bring into their path, that they would be willing to take the next step to meet you. I pray, Lord God, that you would just meet them where they are. Um I pray that you would reassure them that you've got them in the palm of your hand, that you've made no mistakes, that you have them on a journey, and for whatever reason you saw fit that they would hear this prayer today. I pray that you would bring the right people alongside them to guide them in a healthy way, in a spir in a in a God-led way to help them get to their best health so that they can come to the place where they accept the call that you have on their life.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

First of all, Lord, we just want you to save on Lord. It makes no sense to take care of the physical body when we don't know where our eternity is. So Lord, I pray, Lord God, that you would do that work. Because only you can do that. But I pray, Lord God, that as they are going on this journey of their physical health, Lord, that you would just give them what they need, bring the right people into their path, take the wrong people out, uh, silence the naysayers, silence the scoffers, silence the the naysayers about what they are doing, it's different, it's weird, it's whatever. No, it's God. And so, Lord, I just pray that you put a pr a hedge of protection around them so that they can get to know you, get to know your heart, and develop the desire to please you and to to have a relationship truly with you, not a relationship of works, um, because we can't earn any of these gifts that you've given us. But just out of gratitude um for a relationship with you, which you was is not promised to everyone. And so Lord, I just thank you for that person who's listening. I pray, Lord God, that you would just um show yourself strong in their life and that you would give them something that acts as just a double down, a confirmation that what they heard was really you. That it was you. It wasn't me, it wasn't Antoine, it was you.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, Jesus.

SPEAKER_01

And that they can have full confidence that they can move forward and making some wonderful changes in their life that glorify you, and that that glorification spills over into better health for them.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, God.

SPEAKER_01

We thank you for what you are doing. We can't wait to hear of any breakthroughs, Lord, that this podcast has made um through you. And just in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_03

Amen. Amen. That's powerful. Thank you for that. Very well, and thank you for being here today. Thank you for having me. I think this is going to be so healing for people. It's gonna be a lot of aha moments for people. I think you you've gave you've given us a lot of language uh for maybe narratives that we need to honestly we need to kill. We need to get rid of, we need to dismantle because they come from the enemy and they're not of God. Yet they've manifested themselves in such a way that feels normal. Absolutely. Even when it's not. Absolutely. So thank you for giving us language today. Any final thoughts before we sign off today?

SPEAKER_01

Just get started. Just get started. Um, you don't have to be perfect. Um, you just need to get started. Pray and get started.

SPEAKER_03

I love it. Come on. And you can literally start like right now, right? Because y'all, this is my real doctor. Like, this is this isn't like uh like an actor that I paid to like, can you be here and like we do this really cool car? No, this is my really good, amazing friend, and she is my real doctor. I'm literally going to her practice next week because I am one of her patients. And literally, if you're looking for an amazing doctor, this is Dr. Stephanie Kudjo in McKinney, Texas. So if you're looking for uh an amazing doctor who cares about you, who cares about your family, but also is a believer in Jesus and that combination. You want some someone like that. She's she's definitely seeing new patients. So we'll drop all of her information in the description below. But listen, come out, come see her and see what her amazing team can do to help you navigate your lives back into a place of holistic health. And I'm so glad that you took the time just to be a part of this to hear my journey, but also to see why I'm so passionate about this and why we had to get Doc here today. So thank you so much for listening. If you are looking for anybody to be a part of your leadership conference, your leadership seminar, you need somebody to preach for you, you want somebody to come out and MC for you. I am absolutely available to do that. Just let me know. Uh, email me at humblepodcast at gmail.com. Would love to be a part of anything that God is doing in your ministry or even just through your business. I'd love to be a part of that. But until next time, thank you guys so much for watching this episode. We'll see you later. 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 QAs 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.