Speaker 1: Welcome to Spark Faith with me, doctor Chris Sargent. This
Speaker 1: show is about renewed health, rooted in truth and restored
Speaker 1: by grace. What does finding health look like for you?
Speaker 1: Do you have a vision for your future self and
Speaker 1: a way to get there. I'm doctor Chris and after
Speaker 1: thirty three years in functional medicine and a lifelong journey
Speaker 1: through brain health, weight loss, hormones, mindset, and faith, I
Speaker 1: know that real transformation doesn't come from willpower or white
Speaker 1: knuckling your way to wellness. It comes from gratitude, honoring
Speaker 1: your body as the temple that God created. This show
Speaker 1: is about body stewardships, not shame. It's about rewiring your mindset,
Speaker 1: your metabolism, and your spirit to find lasting health without
Speaker 1: the grind. I'll help you cut through the noise, see
Speaker 1: opportunities instead of obstacles, and finally live the healthy, purposeful
Speaker 1: life you were created for. Let's spark faith and transformation together.
Speaker 1: Spark Faith starts now. Hey, Hey y'all, I am doctor
Speaker 1: Chris Sargent and welcome back to the Spark Faith Show.
Speaker 1: We are wrapping up the last four episodes into one big,
Speaker 1: very fun, very cool episode with probably four or five
Speaker 1: really good segments about the things that we've talked about.
Speaker 1: And then this idea of health is a direction and
Speaker 1: not a destination, right, It's like it's not this place like, yes,
Speaker 1: I'm healthy, So what does that mean? And you know
Speaker 1: what it may have meant to you in the past
Speaker 1: is that yes, I hit that goal on this I
Speaker 1: am that number, and I am going out to my
Speaker 1: favorite place to celebrate, right, and then what happens to
Speaker 1: your habits? So like this is this is a bigger
Speaker 1: idea and I'm going to tap into, as we have
Speaker 1: been in the last few weeks, tapping into some higher
Speaker 1: amounts of awareness around your health. I want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you understand that you have an awful lot
Speaker 1: of choices out there, and you know that makes that
Speaker 1: makes figuring out what you need to do next pretty difficult.
Speaker 1: So what I'm coming with you, coming to you with
Speaker 1: this week and the last three or four weeks is
Speaker 1: really about core ideas around health. And really it's just
Speaker 1: health is like this life along direction right of becoming
Speaker 1: the person that God created us to be through faithful
Speaker 1: stewardship of our body, one choice at a time. And
Speaker 1: that means, you know, stewardship, that idea of really being
Speaker 1: good and faithful with the resources that God gave us,
Speaker 1: including our body. So anyway, let's get started. And I
Speaker 1: could ramble, you know, I can just ramble, but I won't.
Speaker 1: I actually try to plan these things. So so it
Speaker 1: is health really a destination? And you know, lots of
Speaker 1: times people ask me like, hey, doctor Chris, I healthy
Speaker 1: And although you know, maybe I'm sitting there looking at
Speaker 1: their labs, like how am I doing? And that's a
Speaker 1: good question because you need to know where you're at
Speaker 1: right now, this set of data points, these labs, the
Speaker 1: things the lab, the labs that functional medicine doctors do.
Speaker 1: We look at trending like where were you? Where are
Speaker 1: you now? Where's that headed? Which is a completely different
Speaker 1: way to really understand hew, But that's it, right, This
Speaker 1: is on a time continuum. So am I healthy? Is
Speaker 1: a good question. And over the last year I've also
Speaker 1: started to wonder if it's the wrong question really, because
Speaker 1: most of us have really thought about health as a
Speaker 1: destination or diagnosis, and it may or may not really
Speaker 1: be that right. So, you know, kind of the mindset
Speaker 1: of okay, someday, when I lose weight, or I'll lose weight.
Speaker 1: Someday I'll get my hormones balance, Someday I'll fix my
Speaker 1: blood sugar. Someday I'll have more energy, Someday I'll sleep better,
Speaker 1: and then I'll finally be healthy. Right, Someday I'll get
Speaker 1: to the gym three times a week, and that's going
Speaker 1: to make me healthy. And there's the goal, that's the
Speaker 1: you know, the destination. But what if? And you know what,
Speaker 1: I did this for a long time too, So y'all
Speaker 1: know some of my story and it's in a lot
Speaker 1: of our myes. But I've known that health is a destination,
Speaker 1: and yet I was still chasing the number. Right. I
Speaker 1: knew that health is the direction of trajectory, right, and
Speaker 1: yet I was still looking at I was waiting for
Speaker 1: that moment, that one day that my body fat percentage
Speaker 1: would be what I wanted it to be, or the
Speaker 1: scale would say what I wanted to say, or my
Speaker 1: curves would look a certain way in address or whatever.
Speaker 1: But honestly, what if that has been wrong? Right? Like,
Speaker 1: that's still not there's still no destination. Really, Yes, you
Speaker 1: have to have goals. I will not take that out
Speaker 1: because I have goals right now, right, and the goal
Speaker 1: is what can my sixty two year old little body
Speaker 1: do versus where what's the end game? Right? What can
Speaker 1: my sixty two year old body? How well can my
Speaker 1: sixty two year old body build muscle? How well can
Speaker 1: my sixty two year old body lose fat? How well?
Speaker 1: Instead of it being like, oh, I need to be
Speaker 1: x number of pounds on the scale or my body
Speaker 1: fat percentage needs to be x percent, I'm looking for
Speaker 1: that one number, it's like, Wow, how well can I
Speaker 1: do with this? Instead? So what if health isn't really
Speaker 1: a destination? What if it's really just about the direction
Speaker 1: and the trajectory that you're taking it? So what trajectory
Speaker 1: are you on right now? Are you? You know? This
Speaker 1: is again I have said this through almost every single episode.
Speaker 1: This is not to guilt or to shame anybody for
Speaker 1: your choices, because we're all in wherever we are right
Speaker 1: and that's where I want to meet you. And maybe
Speaker 1: shame and guilt is a big part of your story
Speaker 1: and I want to take that off the table today.
Speaker 1: You do not need to live in that, and Jesus
Speaker 1: doesn't want you to live in that, So let's take
Speaker 1: that piece off. Well, I could be if I had
Speaker 1: only blah blah blah. Well, okay, let's not go there.
Speaker 1: Let's take it from right now, Like, if you were
Speaker 1: to start making decisions right now, what trajectory could you
Speaker 1: take your health on versus the trajectory that it might
Speaker 1: have been on yesterday? Right? What does living a healthy
Speaker 1: life actually look like? Does it look like constant restriction?
Speaker 1: Does it look like always pushing harder and trying to
Speaker 1: do more cardio at the gym or trying to get
Speaker 1: that extra mile And you know, yes, if you're training
Speaker 1: for a half marathon, go go, go go. However, what
Speaker 1: else is coming along with that? And what's the what
Speaker 1: are the back end reasons for doing that? Does it
Speaker 1: always mean like being perfect on what you eat, never
Speaker 1: missing that workout, tracking every bite forever? You know? Someone
Speaker 1: one of my actually one of clients, because y'all teach
Speaker 1: me so much, actually caught me completely off guard the
Speaker 1: other day and she asked like, Hey, I know you
Speaker 1: track your food on my Fitness Pal? Are you going
Speaker 1: to do that for the rest of your life? And
Speaker 1: I kind of laughed and I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't really know. It wasn't a silly question at all. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I just never thought about it because what I realized
Speaker 1: then this was a couple of weeks ago or a
Speaker 1: week ago or so I realized over this time, like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to track my food for exactly as long
Speaker 1: as it continues to serve me to track it, right,
Speaker 1: it's serving me. I'm not serving it. It's serving me
Speaker 1: to make me know that I am headed in this
Speaker 1: particular direction, which is a certain number of calories every
Speaker 1: day with a certain percentage of protein, fat, and carbs,
Speaker 1: and that's going to keep my direction and health instead
Speaker 1: of becoming this destination. It's just it keeps me in
Speaker 1: the right direction, right, It holds my course, and that
Speaker 1: accountability tracking holds our course. It's an accountability factor for myself.
Speaker 1: And it's not because I have to, right, I can
Speaker 1: pretty much throw four ounces of meat on a plate,
Speaker 1: and yet a lot of days I still weigh to
Speaker 1: make sure that that's four ounces and I track four ounces,
Speaker 1: and not because I'm afraid to stop, right, because I
Speaker 1: just told you I can probably do this. I've been
Speaker 1: doing this for a really long time. I know what
Speaker 1: four ounces looks like. I know what a cup of
Speaker 1: potatoes looks like. I know what a cup of rice
Speaker 1: looks like, or half a cup. I know what three
Speaker 1: cups of vegetables look like. So it's not because I'm
Speaker 1: afraid to stop. But right now it's teaching me, and
Speaker 1: it's helping me, and it's serving me, and it's create awareness.
Speaker 1: And someday maybe I don't need it, right, but today
Speaker 1: it's a tool and I'm not serving it. It's not
Speaker 1: my identity. And so do I take my tracker? Do
Speaker 1: I take my tracker on my honeymoon? Oh heck no.
Speaker 1: Did I keep a mental tally to make sure that
Speaker 1: I was eating protein with every meal? Absolutely? However I
Speaker 1: did not track one meal or one glass of wine
Speaker 1: or one margarita. Well, I was on my honeymoon, right,
Speaker 1: because this is the direction, knowing that when I got
Speaker 1: back on Saturday, that Sunday was going to be back
Speaker 1: into the direction. Right, we can go off course a
Speaker 1: little bit, as long as we don't go way off right.
Speaker 1: It's that slippery slope. We don't want to go too
Speaker 1: far down the hill. Right. So today it's a tool,
Speaker 1: but it's not my identity. And so that conversation really
Speaker 1: made me understand that maybe healthy people aren't the peaceeople
Speaker 1: who finally arrived, right, Because I'm not sure that they
Speaker 1: people actually do. Maybe it's just people who keep choosing
Speaker 1: the direction that leads them towards the life that they want. Right.
Speaker 1: So all right, I'm already behind in my segment, So
Speaker 1: let's get going. I know that was my opening and
Speaker 1: it was super long, but let's go. Okay, So hell's
Speaker 1: really does begin with awareness, And again let's you know,
Speaker 1: there's no shame, no guilt here. But over the last
Speaker 1: few weeks, I've talked about the slow drift, right, and
Speaker 1: walking through mud and swimming against the current. Right. None
Speaker 1: of that was to make you feel guilty or any
Speaker 1: of that. Right. This is really an invitation to awareness,
Speaker 1: and awareness is not condemnation. Right. Awareness is an opportunity
Speaker 1: that you can change a direction you don't even know
Speaker 1: you were walking in. Like if you're not you can't
Speaker 1: know what you don't know, right, you can't address a
Speaker 1: problem that you don't know exists. So for some of you,
Speaker 1: you might not have been you may not have even
Speaker 1: realized that your body has been adapting kind of in
Speaker 1: this negative spiral for a long time. And others may
Speaker 1: have realized that you've been functioning on way less energy
Speaker 1: than you thought you were. Right, some of you may
Speaker 1: have realized that you've allowed the current of culture to
Speaker 1: determine your priorities. And those realizations are not failures by
Speaker 1: any stretch of the imagination. Those are gifts. So awareness
Speaker 1: allows us to make different choices tomorrow than we made yesterday.
Speaker 1: It was what I opened with, right, So like, what
Speaker 1: is your trajectory and what choices will you make in
Speaker 1: different choices to send you on a different trajectory? And
Speaker 1: isn't that what grace does for us? Right? God's grace
Speaker 1: opens our eyes, not so that we live in some
Speaker 1: sort of regret, because we're forgiven, but so that we
Speaker 1: can move forward with wisdom. So awareness isn't where change ends.
Speaker 1: It's really a where change begins. Right, and health requires choices.
Speaker 1: I know this doesn't happen by accident. Right, Healthy doesn't
Speaker 1: happen by accident. Nobody accidentally builds muscle, nobody accidentally builds
Speaker 1: emotional resilience. You may not be aware that you are.
Speaker 1: Nobody accidentally sleeps well, or develops a rich prayer life,
Speaker 1: or becomes financially a wise or accidentally builds a healthy marriage. Right,
Speaker 1: we don't just stumble into that those All of those
Speaker 1: things are built through some intentional choices and not perfect. Right.
Speaker 1: This is this is about failing and picking yourself back up.
Speaker 1: And if one thing my son has taught me over
Speaker 1: the summer with progressive overload in the gym and weights
Speaker 1: and those kind of things, is that failure is part
Speaker 1: of the process because we learn from our failures. We
Speaker 1: learn when we're in the valleys of life, not when
Speaker 1: we're on the mountaintops when everything is going well. We
Speaker 1: learn through the hard stuff. And those failures can be
Speaker 1: hard or they can just be opportunities where I can say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I couldn't, you know, deadlift one hundred and ten pounds
Speaker 1: last week, So I'm going to back off this week
Speaker 1: to one hundred and see how I do and then
Speaker 1: build back up. Right, And that's fine. It's just repeated choices, right,
Speaker 1: like casting a vote. This way, though, we're going to
Speaker 1: move towards life instead of taking away from it. We're
Speaker 1: going to move towards growth instead of comfort, right, going
Speaker 1: to move towards stewardship instead of like drifting, going with
Speaker 1: the flow and the current, and honestly, one decision rarely
Speaker 1: changes anything. Okay, I'm going to clean out my entire
Speaker 1: fridge and my entire pantry and that's the way it's
Speaker 1: going to go, and we're going to do this thing. Right. Really,
Speaker 1: that's a great way to start if you really want to.
Speaker 1: You know, however, a week from now, you're going to
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, where are those cookies? Go? I know
Speaker 1: I knew I had cookies in here, your chips or
Speaker 1: whatever your thing is. So it's really about the thousands
Speaker 1: of decisions that change things over time, and there's going
Speaker 1: to be some some not so great decisions in the
Speaker 1: middle of all that. Right. So, healthy isn't just something
Speaker 1: that happens to you. It's something that you repeatedly choose
Speaker 1: until it's just this habit that is part of your life,
Speaker 1: like brushing your teeth or maybe if you're a coffee
Speaker 1: or drinker in the morning, like right, Like, that's just
Speaker 1: part of your daily rhythm, and choosing health becomes part
Speaker 1: of that daily rhythm, and it's not. It becomes so
Speaker 1: much easier over time when you can allow yourself to
Speaker 1: fail and get back up on the horse. Right, So
Speaker 1: agency control what God has given you. Right, I think
Speaker 1: this is One of the greatest struggles of our culture
Speaker 1: is that we spend an enormous amount of emotional energy
Speaker 1: on things that we cannot control. Right, we can't control
Speaker 1: the economy, politics, news, social media wars, other people's opinions. Hello,
Speaker 1: there's a mirror for me on that one, right, other
Speaker 1: people's choices, global events, the future, and the list. Honestly, y'all,
Speaker 1: you can add to that list until add infinitum. Right,
Speaker 1: And yet it's really easy to become overwhelmed by all
Speaker 1: of these things over which we really have absolutely no authority. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the things that God has actually entrusted us with our thoughts, right,
Speaker 1: renewal of our mind, our words, choices, right, what are
Speaker 1: we going to say? How are we going to respond?
Speaker 1: Our habits, Yes, it's hard to change them, Our sleep,
Speaker 1: our time, our movement, our food, m your fork doesn't
Speaker 1: just pick itself up right, last time I checked, Magic's
Speaker 1: really not a thing. It did not just feed you
Speaker 1: that whole entire Krispy Kreme donut or you know, keeln
Speaker 1: pie or whatever, right, right, Our relationships, our schedule right,
Speaker 1: And sometimes those things are the things that just end
Speaker 1: up in whatever time gets left over, instead of moving
Speaker 1: to the top of the list. And these are things
Speaker 1: that you have authority over and things that you have
Speaker 1: control over. And we can take control over the things
Speaker 1: that we have control over instead of trying to control
Speaker 1: a bunch of things or people that we really have
Speaker 1: zero control over. So and it really isn't about controlling
Speaker 1: everything at all. In fact, it's really faithfully understanding and
Speaker 1: faithfully choosing and stewarding what actually belongs to you. So
Speaker 1: God never really asked any of us to fix the world, right,
Speaker 1: like that's his job, and he does that in the
Speaker 1: end if you're a believer. But what He has asked
Speaker 1: us to do as believers and if you're not is
Speaker 1: just faithfully steward our little corner of life. And that's
Speaker 1: going to change everything. Right. Instead of asking how do
Speaker 1: I control my entire future? Ah, grabbing, grabbing, grabbing, pulling, pushing, pushing, pushing,
Speaker 1: take a breath, all you have to do is ask
Speaker 1: what's the next faithful decision? Is it drinking some water
Speaker 1: in the middle of a podcast because you're thirsty. Is
Speaker 1: it taking a walk maybe a cool off from an argument,
Speaker 1: or taking a time out. Maybe it's turning off the
Speaker 1: tv Netflix right, Maybe it's not binging. Maybe it's controlling
Speaker 1: to two shows or one show a night so that
Speaker 1: you have time for other things. Maybe it's just turning
Speaker 1: lights out thirty minutes earlier so that you can wind down,
Speaker 1: light a candle, read a book. Maybe it's saying no
Speaker 1: to another commitment and really stewarding your time. Maybe it's
Speaker 1: spending that ten minutes of quiet time walking and just
Speaker 1: being with God, or sitting and praying. Right, those seem
Speaker 1: like little, tiny decisions, maybe even in significant, but over time,
Speaker 1: that's what changes the trajectory when those things become habits
Speaker 1: in your life. And this is what's going to bring
Speaker 1: you right. I take that breath. Peace grows when we
Speaker 1: release what isn't ours. Right, Peace grows when we release
Speaker 1: what isn't ours to control and faithfully steward those things
Speaker 1: that are under our control. All Right. Health is about becoming,
Speaker 1: And I know it took me a really long time
Speaker 1: to understand being as opposed to being a human doing right.
Speaker 1: And this is one of the biggest lessons that I'm
Speaker 1: still learning. Right, this is a trajectory, but I'm not
Speaker 1: becoming a woman who weighs a certain number anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to look a certain way because I'm never
Speaker 1: going to be five eight. I'm five four, right, so
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ever look like you know, the
Speaker 1: Instagram model. It's just never going to happen. I'm five four.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to become a woman who naturally lives a
Speaker 1: healthy life. That's a completely different goal, Like one is
Speaker 1: an outcome. One focuses on my identity, and healthy people
Speaker 1: don't constantly negotiate with themselves. They've already just decided, like
Speaker 1: I've just decided that movement is part of who I am,
Speaker 1: That preparing meals meal prep is just part of who
Speaker 1: I am, and nourishing my myself and those around me
Speaker 1: matters to me. Prioritizing sleep is because recovery matters. Continuing
Speaker 1: to learn like in seminary and functional medicine, and even
Speaker 1: for this podcast, right matters because growth matters, and your
Speaker 1: growth matters to me, and spending time with God, because
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, that's where life comes from. So none
Speaker 1: of those begin with motivation. This all begins with identity,
Speaker 1: and every choice you make is casting a vote not
Speaker 1: just for better health, but for the kind of person
Speaker 1: that you are becoming. Right, every workout says, hey, I'm
Speaker 1: someone who values strength. Every meal says I'm becoming someone
Speaker 1: who nourishes rather than punishes my body. Every quality night
Speaker 1: of sleep, I'm becoming someone who values recovery. Right, and
Speaker 1: every time I pray it's I'm becoming someone who depends
Speaker 1: more and more on God. And one choice isn't going
Speaker 1: to change your life? Well it could, yes, it could. Actually,
Speaker 1: that's a different topic for another podcast, But thousands of choices. Eventually,
Speaker 1: your habits become your lifestyle, and your lifestyle shapes your character,
Speaker 1: and your character becomes your witness to your friends, to
Speaker 1: your family. And this is why stewardship matters so much,
Speaker 1: and stewardship matters so much to me because health isn't
Speaker 1: the ultimate goal. It's becoming more like Christ and being
Speaker 1: faithful in that pursuit. So health really just gives us
Speaker 1: greater capacity to live the calling that God has placed
Speaker 1: on our lives. So the goal isn't to build healthy habits.
Speaker 1: That's not it either, right, The goal is to become
Speaker 1: a healthy person living through those habits, and healthy habits
Speaker 1: are simply the evidence of who you are becoming. You
Speaker 1: become a different person. So back to stewardship. When Jesus
Speaker 1: talked about faithfulness, he rarely talked about the spectacular moments. Right,
Speaker 1: he talked about day bred. He talked about seeds, growing, talents, vines, sheep,
Speaker 1: small things, repeated faithfulness. That stewardship not dramatic, not glamorous.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, food prep isn't always glamorous, right, faithfulness,
Speaker 1: sweatiness in the gym isn't glamorous. Glamorous. It's day after day,
Speaker 1: choice after choice, year after year, until one day you
Speaker 1: look back and you're like, like, WHOA, I have changed so
Speaker 1: much over the last year. Right, it is that one
Speaker 1: giant leap, It's just a bunch of faithful steps along
Speaker 1: the way. So over the last several weeks, we've talked
Speaker 1: about changing our foundations, recognizing that slow drift, recognizing that
Speaker 1: we've been walking through the mud and really learning how
Speaker 1: to swim against the current. And so this is the
Speaker 1: full circle. Right, Living fresh was never is never going
Speaker 1: to be about helping you reach a healthier destination. It's
Speaker 1: always been about helping you become a healthier person and
Speaker 1: getting you in that trajectory of health. Right, destinations can
Speaker 1: be reached, but becoming. Becoming is like is sanctification. Becoming
Speaker 1: is a lifelong journey. And some days, you know what,
Speaker 1: You're gonna fall back. You're gonna fall on your fanny,
Speaker 1: You're going to fail, and you're gonna get up and
Speaker 1: you're gonna dust that fanny off, and you're gonna take
Speaker 1: another step in that trajectory that you have made a
Speaker 1: commitment to yourself about. Right. God never asked us to
Speaker 1: be perfect, never never. He just said be faithful, one
Speaker 1: ordinary choice at a time, one act of stewardship at
Speaker 1: a time, one day at a time. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: leave you one final thought, ish, because you know I
Speaker 1: like to ramble. But health is it measured by how
Speaker 1: close to perfection you are. It's measured by the direction
Speaker 1: that you're more than likely and more often than not
Speaker 1: choosing right. So choose that direction that leads you into
Speaker 1: that healthy life, and trust God with that journey, right,
Speaker 1: because we're here to renew our health. Right, We're going
Speaker 1: to trust that process that we've chosen right, and we're
Speaker 1: going to live in that whole thing by being renewed
Speaker 1: by grace. I love you, guys, and I will be
Speaker 1: back next week. I can't wait to figure out what
Speaker 1: we're going to be talking about next week. It's going
Speaker 1: to be new and different as always. Staying on the
Speaker 1: Living Fresh Collective and reach out, subscribe, hit like, share
Speaker 1: with your friends, Love you guys byeye. You've been listening
Speaker 1: to spark Faith with me, Doctor Chris Sargent. This show
Speaker 1: is about renewed health, rooted in truth and restored by grace.
Speaker 1: Tune in every Thursday morning at nine thirty am Pacific
Speaker 1: on the Transformation and Talk Radio for more simple, faith
Speaker 1: fueled steps to live the vision God placed in your heart.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to take the next step? Schedule a
Speaker 1: discovery call or connect with me at doctor Chris Sargeant
Speaker 1: dot com. That's d R k R I S sergeant
Speaker 1: dot com. While you're there, download my free ebook Endless Energy,
Speaker 1: the six non Negotiable Keys to Endless Energy, and sign
Speaker 1: up for an upcoming masterclass. Don't forget to subscribe, like
Speaker 1: share the show, and I'd love to connect with you
Speaker 1: on social media at doctor Chris Sargent. Let's keep sparking
Speaker 1: faith and transformation together. You can't wait to see y'all
Speaker 1: next time.