Latest / Faithful Fitness With Coach Alex VanHouten / Faithful Family Part 2: Raising Kids Who Can Feed Themselves Well

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Faithful Family Part 2: Raising Kids Who Can Feed Themselves Well · Faithful Fitness With Coach Alex VanHouten

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey Faithful, welcome to the Faithful Fitness Podcast. In a moment,
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Speaker 1: my dad, Coach Alex Van Houten, will help you honor
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Speaker 1: God by making the most out of the body God's
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Speaker 1: given you. Today you can expect truth from the Bible,
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Speaker 1: tools from science, and guidance for everyday life. So listen
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Speaker 1: close and get ready. Let's get 1% better today.
0:25
Speaker 2: What's up Faithful? Coach Alex here. Grace and peace to you.
0:29
Speaker 2: What do you want your kids to believe about food
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Speaker 2: when they're 35 years old? Seriously, when they eventually move
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Speaker 2: out of your house, buy their own groceries, cook their
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Speaker 2: own meals, raise their own kids, and sit down at
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Speaker 2: their dinner table, what do you hope they learn from
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Speaker 2: you about food? Do you want them to know how
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Speaker 2: many calories are in everything? Do you want them to
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Speaker 2: be afraid of sugar? Do you want them to believe
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Speaker 2: that eating a salad makes them good? and eating a
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Speaker 2: piece of cake makes them bad. Do you want them
1:03
Speaker 2: to spend the rest of their lives bouncing between restriction
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Speaker 2: and overindulgence? Well, probably not. I think most of us
1:11
Speaker 2: want something much simpler and maybe better. We want our
1:14
Speaker 2: kids to know how to feed themselves well. We want
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Speaker 2: them to enjoy food. We want them to understand what
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Speaker 2: food does for their bodies. And we want them to
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Speaker 2: have enough wisdom to make good decisions when we're not there.
1:30
Speaker 2: And finally, ideally, we want them to be able to
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Speaker 2: sit down at a table, eat a good meal with
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Speaker 2: people they love, thank God for it, enjoy it, and
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Speaker 2: move on with their lives. That's what I want to
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Speaker 2: talk about today. This is part two of our Faithful
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Speaker 2: Family series here on the Faithful Fitness Podcast. In part one,
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Speaker 2: we talked about movement and how our kids probably don't
1:53
Speaker 2: need a better workout program as much as they need
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Speaker 2: an active family. And today, we're moving into nutrition. And
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Speaker 2: I want to start with a principle that I think
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Speaker 2: changes this whole conversation. We're not feeding children so that
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Speaker 2: they'll become smaller adults. We're feeding children so that they'll
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Speaker 2: become healthy adults. There's a big difference. And our diet
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Speaker 2: culture really doesn't understand that. So let's start with one
2:19
Speaker 2: of the strange things about parenting. For a little while,
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Speaker 2: you have an incredible amount of control over what your
2:25
Speaker 2: kids eat. I'm a master trainer and my wife's a dietician.
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Speaker 2: And we tell parents all the time, you buy the groceries.
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Speaker 2: You decide what's in the pantry. You decide what gets
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Speaker 2: cooked for dinner. You decide whether there's soda in the
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Speaker 2: refrigerator or not. You decide whether eggs is breakfast or
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Speaker 2: if cereal is breakfast or if nothing at all is breakfast.
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Speaker 2: And then slowly, year after year, that control starts to disappear.
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Speaker 2: They go to school. They eat at friends' houses. They
2:57
Speaker 2: go to birthday parties. They get old enough to have
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Speaker 2: a little money. Eventually they drive. Eventually they move out.
3:04
Speaker 2: And one day, they're standing in a grocery store without you.
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Speaker 2: And that's where all this is headed. Not toward permanent control,
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Speaker 2: but toward wisdom. And I think there's an important distinction here.
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Speaker 2: Because when we talk about childhood nutrition, Oftentimes parents who
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Speaker 2: care and want to do right by their kids will
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Speaker 2: approach nutrition like our job is to control every bite
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Speaker 2: that goes into their mouth. But that's impossible. And even
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Speaker 2: if it were possible, I'm not sure it'd be very wise.
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Speaker 2: You're not going to be there to feed them when
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Speaker 2: they grow up. We're trying to give them a framework.
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Speaker 2: We're trying to help them understand. What does my body need?
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Speaker 2: How do different foods make me feel? What gives me energy?
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Speaker 2: What makes me feel terrible? What helps me grow? What
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Speaker 2: helps me recover? What are the things that I can
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Speaker 2: eat every day that are good for me? What's something
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Speaker 2: that I can enjoy occasionally and it still be good
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Speaker 2: for me? And how do I know when I've had enough?
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Speaker 2: And most importantly, how do I make wise decisions when
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Speaker 2: mom and dad aren't standing beside me? That's the end goal.
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Speaker 2: The other day, I was just finishing up with a
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Speaker 2: Bible study in our local park, and my boys joined
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Speaker 2: me for that. I walked into a discussion that my oldest,
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Speaker 2: who's 11, was having with one of the ladies who
4:25
Speaker 2: was there. She had brought a coffee drink with her,
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Speaker 2: and he was asking her how many milligrams of caffeine
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Speaker 2: were in it. She said, oh, that's a good question.
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Speaker 2: I don't know. Why do you ask? And he said, well,
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Speaker 2: we just finished 30 minutes of cardio, so that sugar's
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Speaker 2: probably not too bad. But I was curious if I
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Speaker 2: could drink it, because Dad says I can only have
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Speaker 2: about 20 to 30 milligrams of caffeine in one sitting.
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Speaker 2: My brain's still developing. And the woman turned and looked
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Speaker 2: at me like she was talking to an alien. She said,
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Speaker 2: how does your kid know all this stuff? And I
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Speaker 2: laughed and I said, well, this is just something we
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Speaker 2: talk about in our household. I enjoy caffeine. Caffeine is great.
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Speaker 2: It comes from coffee. And coffee is one of the
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Speaker 2: major food groups. But jokes aside, I do have conversations
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Speaker 2: with my children about why they can't have caffeine right now,
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Speaker 2: at least not in large amounts. Not because those are
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Speaker 2: adult things, but because everything that we ingest affects our
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Speaker 2: body in some form or fashion. And it's important to
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Speaker 2: know how it affects it. And so both my children
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Speaker 2: understand caffeine. They can have a sip of dad's coffee
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Speaker 2: if they like. My oldest doesn't really like coffee, but
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Speaker 2: my youngest loves it. But that while their brains are developing,
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Speaker 2: ingesting caffeine on a regular basis just isn't good for them.
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Speaker 2: And that when they get older, they'll have to do
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Speaker 2: what dad does and make sure that he doesn't consume
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Speaker 2: enough caffeine that becomes detrimental to his health and cuts
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Speaker 2: it off at lunchtime so it doesn't affect his sleep.
5:40
Speaker 2: I know that sounds like a lot, but when it
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Speaker 2: comes to our food and our drinks, all of the
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Speaker 2: opportunities that we have on a daily basis to educate
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Speaker 2: our children and teach them how to make wise choices
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Speaker 2: are abundant and apparent if we're willing to make the
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Speaker 2: most of it. So if you've got little kids, here's
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Speaker 2: a helpful way to think about it. Parents control the environment,
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Speaker 2: and kids learn inside of that environment. You don't have
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Speaker 2: to give your five-year-old a lecture about macronutrient ratios, unless
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Speaker 2: it's interesting to them. And I definitely don't want to
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Speaker 2: teach your 10-year-old that looking at nutrition labels is worth
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Speaker 2: the panic if something has more than 12 grams of sugar.
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Speaker 2: They're kids. You can teach them intentionality, You can educate
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Speaker 2: them about nutrition. But the most important thing that you
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Speaker 2: can do is that you control what regularly comes into
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Speaker 2: the house. And that with intentionality, you can decide what
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Speaker 2: meals generally look like. You can decide what default beverages
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Speaker 2: are in your household. You can decide when and how
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Speaker 2: fruit is available to them. And you can decide whether
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Speaker 2: there's a protein source at the table and whether it's
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Speaker 2: a priority that they eat it. You can also even
6:42
Speaker 2: decide how the cooking and eating actually happen. Or whether
6:46
Speaker 2: everybody sits down and has some face time or grabs
6:49
Speaker 2: their food and has some screen time. Those are environmental factors.
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Speaker 2: An environment is powerful. Adults underestimate this all the time.
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Speaker 2: I work with men and women who will tell me, Coach,
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Speaker 2: if it's in the house, I'm going to eat it. Okay.
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Speaker 2: If we know that's true for a 45-year-old adult who's
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Speaker 2: trying to lose 30 pounds, why would we expect a
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Speaker 2: 9-year-old to demonstrate any better self-control? It's so unreasonable. Kids
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Speaker 2: are learning. So if your house is stocked wall-to-wall with
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Speaker 2: foods that are incredibly easy to overconsume, and then we're
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Speaker 2: constantly telling our kids to make better choices, it's kind
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Speaker 2: of backwards. In fact, when you think about it, it's
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Speaker 2: asking the least mature person in the household to overcome
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Speaker 2: their environment created by the most mature people in the household.
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Speaker 2: Let's not do that. We're not trying to make our
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Speaker 2: house perfect, but you can make healthy choices normal. In fact,
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Speaker 2: something I tell my clients pretty regularly is, And this
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Speaker 2: really applies to kids. There should be no easier or
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Speaker 2: safer place for you to eat healthy than your own kitchen.
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Speaker 2: Which brings me to another topic in our nutrition. Normal
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Speaker 2: matters more than perfect. Let's emphasize that word. Normal. Not perfect.
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Speaker 2: Because if you try to create a perfectly healthy household,
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Speaker 2: you're going to drive everybody crazy. Including yourself. They're going
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Speaker 2: to be Pop-Tarts sometimes. There's going to be pizza. There's
8:18
Speaker 2: going to be birthday cake. There's going to be ice cream.
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Speaker 2: And there's going to be some weird neon-colored thing that
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Speaker 2: your kid comes home with from church that I'm not
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Speaker 2: even convinced qualifies as food. Don't freak out. I gave
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Speaker 2: it to them because they memorized their books of the Bible.
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Speaker 2: Hashtag true story. That's life. And I don't think our
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Speaker 2: job is to eliminate all of that. Our job is
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Speaker 2: to establish what normal looks like in our household. What
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Speaker 2: happens most of the time? Most of the time do
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Speaker 2: we drink water instead of soda? Most of the time
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Speaker 2: is there protein on the plate? And is it a
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Speaker 2: priority to consume that before being done with dinner? Most
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Speaker 2: of the time do we eat some fruits or vegetables?
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Speaker 2: Most of the time are our meals made from recognizable foods?
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Speaker 2: Most of the time do they have an opportunity to
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Speaker 2: join us in the preparation of and the cleanup from
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Speaker 2: our food? Most of the time do we actually sit
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Speaker 2: down to eat? That's the game. You don't build health
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Speaker 2: with one meal. You definitely don't build it with one lecture.
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Speaker 2: Patterns matter. So it's worth asking, what's normal look like
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Speaker 2: in your house? Is normal the way you want it
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Speaker 2: to be? Is normal good for you and your kids?
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Speaker 2: Are there some shifts you need to make? Have some
9:34
Speaker 2: grace with yourself. Parenting is not easy. And kids, as
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Speaker 2: they grow, tend to change seasons. And what used to
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Speaker 2: work won't always continue to work. But it's worth being intentional.
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Speaker 2: and evaluating what is the normal environment that I do
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Speaker 2: have control over in my house, and how might I
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Speaker 2: shift that to be better for everybody. Now that brings
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Speaker 2: me to another thing that I think parents need to
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Speaker 2: be careful with. Food does not have moral value. What
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Speaker 2: I mean by that is eating broccoli doesn't make you
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Speaker 2: a good person. And eating a cookie doesn't make you
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Speaker 2: a bad person. You're not more righteous because you ordered
10:09
Speaker 2: grilled chicken. And you haven't fallen into sin because grandma
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Speaker 2: made pecan pie and you had two whole slices. And
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Speaker 2: before somebody sends me an email, Obviously, gluttony and self-control
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Speaker 2: are biblical issues. 100%. Absolutely. But that's different from assigning
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Speaker 2: moral value to individual foods. I hear adults do this constantly. Oh,
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Speaker 2: I was so good today. What's that mean? Well, I
10:35
Speaker 2: ate really clean. Or, I was terrible this weekend. Oh,
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Speaker 2: what'd you do? Rob a bank? Did you cheat on
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Speaker 2: your spouse? No, I had nachos with extra cheese. All right.
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Speaker 2: Those things are not in the same category. And when
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Speaker 2: our kids hear us talk like this, food starts becoming
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Speaker 2: attached to guilt and shame. And then there's another problem.
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Speaker 2: Sometimes we sing so far in the other direction that
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Speaker 2: we pretend that all food is nutritionally equal. It's not.
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Speaker 2: That's silly too. A bowl of blueberries and a bowl
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Speaker 2: of gummy bears are not nutritionally interchangeable simply because neither
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Speaker 2: one is morally evil. We can teach our children what
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Speaker 2: food is composed of without fear and shame and guilt.
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Speaker 2: Here's how I like to think about it. Food has function.
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Speaker 2: There's really two primary categories of function for food. Nutrients
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Speaker 2: and energy. Nutrients are the things that power our metabolism.
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Speaker 2: Nutrients are the things that our body can build itself
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Speaker 2: out of. Nutrients are necessary for recovery, for development, and
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Speaker 2: for daily living. And then the other end of the
11:49
Speaker 2: spectrum is energy. Energy is necessary to power all the
11:54
Speaker 2: things that happen in our body. It's the fuel that
11:56
Speaker 2: lets us play. It's the fuel that helps us sleep.
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Speaker 2: It's the fuel that allows us to be the active
12:02
Speaker 2: family that we talked about in episode one. And helping
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Speaker 2: our children understand that our food has function, and being
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Speaker 2: able to identify when foods have lots of nutrients in them,
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Speaker 2: And so they're very good for you, regardless of whether
12:16
Speaker 2: or not you need the energy. Whereas there are other
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Speaker 2: foods that have lots and lots of energy, but very
12:21
Speaker 2: little nutrients. And so there are times when gummy bears
12:24
Speaker 2: make a lot of sense. Maybe not for your dentist,
12:28
Speaker 2: but for the playground shenanigans, 100%. Whereas there are times
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Speaker 2: when the gummy bears are uncalled for. And if you're
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Speaker 2: hungry right now, we need some blueberries. Because while they
12:36
Speaker 2: might not have as much energy as gummy bears... They
12:39
Speaker 2: do have lots of nutrients. Protein helps us build muscle.
12:42
Speaker 2: Carbohydrates provide us immediate energy. Dietary fats are important for
12:46
Speaker 2: all kinds of physiological processes. While fruits and vegetables provide
12:50
Speaker 2: those micronutrients and fiber and all kinds of compounds that
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Speaker 2: our bodies can use. But all that stuff about nutrition
12:55
Speaker 2: doesn't also teach us that some foods primarily exist because
12:59
Speaker 2: they just taste really good and we enjoy them. The
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Speaker 2: question doesn't have to be, is this food good or bad?
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Speaker 2: The better question is, What role does this food play?
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Speaker 2: And is it the right food for the job right now?
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Speaker 2: That's actually something a child can learn. I mean, what
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Speaker 2: am I saying? It'd be really happy if adults would
13:16
Speaker 2: learn that too. Here's an easy rule of thumb. Teach
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Speaker 2: function before you try to teach about calories. This is
13:22
Speaker 2: an area where I think the fitness culture has gotten
13:25
Speaker 2: way ahead of itself. Adults love numbers. One simple number
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Speaker 2: that tells them everything they want to know. Grams of
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Speaker 2: fat or grams of carbohydrates or calories or body weight
13:37
Speaker 2: or body fat percentage. And those numbers can be incredibly
13:41
Speaker 2: useful in the right context. I love data too. I
13:44
Speaker 2: use them all the time professionally. But children do not
13:48
Speaker 2: need to begin their nutritional education with numbers. Let's start
13:54
Speaker 2: them with function. Hey, this kind of food helps your
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Speaker 2: muscles grow. Hey, this kind of food gives you energy
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Speaker 2: to play. Hey, these foods help your body get vitamins
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Speaker 2: and minerals. Hey, drinking this helps your body work well
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Speaker 2: and stay hydrated. What's that look like in practical terms? Well,
14:13
Speaker 2: something I might actually tell my seven-year-old is, hey, we've
14:16
Speaker 2: got soccer practice this afternoon. I need you to eat
14:18
Speaker 2: something that's going to give you some energy. What fruits
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Speaker 2: can you find in our refrigerator? Or, I know you
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Speaker 2: want a snack, but I don't think you need energy
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Speaker 2: right now. Let's get something more of substance in you.
14:27
Speaker 2: Now we're teaching our children to connect food with what
14:30
Speaker 2: their body's actually up to. That's way more foundational than,
14:35
Speaker 2: this has 220 calories. Calories are an abstract thermodynamic measure.
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Speaker 2: Most adults don't even understand them. But function is tangible.
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Speaker 2: A kid knows what it's like to be hungry. A
14:48
Speaker 2: kid knows what it's like to have energy. They also
14:52
Speaker 2: know what it feels like to feel sluggish or have indigestion.
14:55
Speaker 2: They also know what it's like to feel strong and
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Speaker 2: to play hard. So let's start there. Let's teach our
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Speaker 2: kids about the function of their food. before we try
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Speaker 2: to teach them about the numbers. And this is something
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Speaker 2: I really want parents to hear. Children are not small
15:12
Speaker 2: dieting adults. They're not tiny adults on weight loss programs.
15:17
Speaker 2: Their bodies are doing things that yours isn't doing. They
15:20
Speaker 2: have fundamentally different nutrition needs than you do. They're growing.
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Speaker 2: They're building bone. They're developing neurologically. They're building muscle and
15:31
Speaker 2: their hormones are changing. They could be going through puberty
15:34
Speaker 2: right now. They're learning and probably moving more than you
15:37
Speaker 2: are too. Our kids' nutrition needs are not identical to ours.
15:41
Speaker 2: So please be careful about taking whatever diet that you're
15:44
Speaker 2: on right now or experimenting with and assuming that your
15:48
Speaker 2: kids should be doing it too. Maybe dad's eating low-carb
15:50
Speaker 2: right now. Okay, it might be great for him. But
15:53
Speaker 2: your 12-year-old athlete doesn't need to be on a low-carb diet.
15:57
Speaker 2: Maybe mom's tracking calories because she's intentionally working to lose
16:00
Speaker 2: body fat. That's fine. But your 8-year-old daughter doesn't need
16:04
Speaker 2: to hear constant conversation about calories and body fat. It
16:07
Speaker 2: also could be possible that you're doing some form of fasting.
16:10
Speaker 2: That definitely doesn't mean that your growing child needs to
16:13
Speaker 2: skip breakfast. Because fasting is working well for you. Development matters.
16:18
Speaker 2: And context matters. And I think one of the easiest
16:21
Speaker 2: mistakes that health-conscious parents can make is assuming that because
16:25
Speaker 2: something is useful for us, it must be useful for everybody.
16:28
Speaker 2: That is not how physiology works. Kids need fuel. And
16:32
Speaker 2: oftentimes more carbohydrates than adults do for their body weight.
16:36
Speaker 2: Kids also need nutrients. Sometimes in much larger amounts than
16:39
Speaker 2: adults need them. Because of their developing body. They need
16:43
Speaker 2: energy to grow and be active. One time I put
16:47
Speaker 2: my fitness tracker on my oldest son. He was four
16:50
Speaker 2: at the time. And after I turned some of the
16:52
Speaker 2: settings around because it was set to my weight and
16:54
Speaker 2: was trying to find the movement of a person much
16:56
Speaker 2: larger than him, it calculated that he got 31,000 steps
16:59
Speaker 2: in a day. Now, if I were to get 31,000 steps,
17:04
Speaker 2: that would require me to go hiking for at least
17:07
Speaker 2: the next six hours. And no, I didn't take my
17:09
Speaker 2: kid on a death march. It was just a day
17:11
Speaker 2: in his life. The kid never sits still. So I
17:14
Speaker 2: like to joke often that we keep graham crackers in
17:16
Speaker 2: our pantry. Not because I need to eat them, but
17:19
Speaker 2: because when you get 31,000 steps a day and you're
17:22
Speaker 2: growing at the same time, graham crackers are a staple.
17:25
Speaker 2: And before you bust my chops, I'm not telling you
17:27
Speaker 2: they're a health food. I'm telling you that for my child,
17:29
Speaker 2: sometimes graham crackers are the right choice. So unless there's
17:32
Speaker 2: a specific health situation that's being managed with qualified medical guidance,
17:37
Speaker 2: childhood is not the time to introduce body composition obsession.
17:41
Speaker 2: We need to be extremely careful about creating children who
17:45
Speaker 2: are hyper aware whether their stomach looks flat. There's going
17:50
Speaker 2: to be so much pressure from the world to do that.
17:53
Speaker 2: They don't need it from us. They need an environment
17:55
Speaker 2: in their house where they can develop a healthy relationship
17:58
Speaker 2: with food. And on that note, this is where parents
18:00
Speaker 2: need to have a look in the mirror. How you
18:02
Speaker 2: talk about your body matters. If you have a daughter,
18:07
Speaker 2: she hears the way you talk about your thighs. If
18:10
Speaker 2: you have a son, he hears the way you talk
18:12
Speaker 2: about your stomach. They hear when you call yourself fat.
18:16
Speaker 2: They hear you when you say you can't wear something
18:18
Speaker 2: anymore and you hate the way you look. They hear
18:22
Speaker 2: when dad talks about getting shredded. And they hear mom
18:26
Speaker 2: when she says that she has to skip dinner because
18:28
Speaker 2: she was bad at lunch. They might not understand everything
18:32
Speaker 2: you're saying, but they are building a framework. Now, I'm
18:36
Speaker 2: not saying you have to pretend that you're delighted with
18:38
Speaker 2: every aspect of your body. You can want to change.
18:41
Speaker 2: You can lose weight. You can build muscle and have goals.
18:45
Speaker 2: But there's a huge difference between saying, I want to
18:48
Speaker 2: take better care of my body and saying, I hate
18:51
Speaker 2: my body. Kids hear the difference. So be careful, especially
18:57
Speaker 2: because they share your DNA. It's very possible that however
19:00
Speaker 2: you feel about your body and some of the challenges
19:03
Speaker 2: that you wrestle with that are inherent in your body
19:06
Speaker 2: are challenges that your kiddos will wrestle with too. And
19:09
Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but I want my children
19:11
Speaker 2: to know that God made them, that he loves them.
19:15
Speaker 2: And because of Christ, they're worthy of love. And that
19:18
Speaker 2: includes the body they have. So if your son looks
19:20
Speaker 2: like you and every day he hears you insulting your
19:23
Speaker 2: own body, What exactly do you think is going to conclude?
19:28
Speaker 2: And if your daughter has your build and watches you
19:31
Speaker 2: spend her entire childhood trying to escape that build, what
19:35
Speaker 2: message do you think she's going to receive about herself?
19:37
Speaker 2: And this might be one of the most inspiring things
19:40
Speaker 2: that we can take away from parenting when it comes
19:42
Speaker 2: to our health and fitness. If you're struggling to build
19:44
Speaker 2: a healthy relationship with exercise and nutrition, sometimes it's hard
19:47
Speaker 2: to picture anything better for yourself. But a what you
19:50
Speaker 2: want for your kids. Can you model that? I don't
19:52
Speaker 2: know about you, but sometimes it's easier for me to
19:55
Speaker 2: love them well with my own actions than it is
19:59
Speaker 2: to love myself well through my own actions. Coach Alex,
20:02
Speaker 2: that's pretty deep, man. I know, I get it. And
20:05
Speaker 2: if you need to pause and think about that for
20:07
Speaker 2: a bit, don't be afraid to do so. But as
20:09
Speaker 2: for this episode, I got to keep things moving forward.
20:11
Speaker 2: And so I want to talk to you about letting
20:13
Speaker 2: them experience hunger in fullness. One of the things we're
20:16
Speaker 2: losing in modern life is the ability to actually pay
20:19
Speaker 2: attention to hunger. There's food everywhere. It's constantly around. Breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, snacks,
20:25
Speaker 2: practice snack, driver home from snack, dinner, dessert, more snacks.
20:30
Speaker 2: Snacks literally exist everywhere. Sometimes I'm like, did anybody get
20:34
Speaker 2: hungry today? Now hear me, kids absolutely need adequate nutrition.
20:38
Speaker 2: And younger kids often do well with regular meals and snacks.
20:42
Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you to withhold their food.
20:44
Speaker 2: But I am saying there's value in a child learning
20:47
Speaker 2: what hunger feels like. Not starvation. Hunger. Hey, I'm hungry. Okay, great.
20:55
Speaker 2: Dinner's in 30 minutes. Hang in there. Drink some water.
20:57
Speaker 2: They're going to live. I promise. That 30 minutes can
21:01
Speaker 2: actually teach something. Just like they can feel what fullness
21:04
Speaker 2: feels like. You don't necessarily have to demand a perfectly
21:07
Speaker 2: clean plate every time. Sometimes they're done, sometimes they're not.
21:12
Speaker 2: But sometimes they'll tell you they're completely full and then
21:15
Speaker 2: magically discover an empty second stomach when dessert appears. That's
21:18
Speaker 2: part of parenting too. We're trying to help them pay attention.
21:22
Speaker 2: What does hungry feel like? What does satisfied feel like?
21:27
Speaker 2: What happens if I eat really fast? How do I
21:31
Speaker 2: feel if I eat until I'm stuffed or even more?
21:35
Speaker 2: That's body awareness. And it's an incredibly useful skill. In
21:40
Speaker 2: our world of abundance today, don't be afraid to let
21:43
Speaker 2: your child be hungry a little bit. And don't be
21:44
Speaker 2: afraid to let them get too stuffed now and then.
21:46
Speaker 2: Make those moments good opportunities for great parenting conversations. You
21:50
Speaker 2: might even find yourself saying some things you needed to
21:52
Speaker 2: hear too. Let's talk about picky eaters for a minute.
21:56
Speaker 2: Because some of you might be laughing at me right
21:58
Speaker 2: now and saying, Coach, this all sounds wonderful, but my
22:01
Speaker 2: kid currently eats four foods. Fair enough. Children can be incredibly... picky.
22:06
Speaker 2: And some kids have sensory challenges or medical issues that
22:09
Speaker 2: make this even more complicated. So I'm not pretending that
22:12
Speaker 2: every child who refuses broccoli simply needs a tougher parent.
22:15
Speaker 2: But as for the average picky eater, here's something I
22:17
Speaker 2: want you as a parent to remember. Taste develops over time.
22:22
Speaker 2: Preferences develop over time. And exposure matters. A kid refusing
22:29
Speaker 2: green beans today doesn't mean they'll hate green beans at 25.
22:33
Speaker 2: You don't have to make dinner at Battlefield every night.
22:36
Speaker 2: but you should keep exposing them to foods, even if
22:39
Speaker 2: they don't like them. Let them see you eating those foods.
22:44
Speaker 2: Let them help you prepare things. Let them try different
22:47
Speaker 2: textures and different cooking methods with you. And don't assume
22:50
Speaker 2: that because they disliked something once that that food has
22:53
Speaker 2: been permanently banished from the kingdom. Kids change and adults
22:57
Speaker 2: change too. I've met plenty of adults who swear they
22:59
Speaker 2: hate vegetables, but they discover that what they actually hated
23:04
Speaker 2: was vegetables that had been boiled until they surrendered. Turns
23:08
Speaker 2: out that roasted Brussels sprouts are a completely different experience
23:12
Speaker 2: than whatever we experienced in our elementary school cafeterias. So
23:16
Speaker 2: stay patient with them. The message isn't, well, I had
23:19
Speaker 2: to try green beans, and you hated them, so we
23:21
Speaker 2: don't eat them anymore. It's something like, green beans are
23:25
Speaker 2: a great food. And so we're going to try them
23:27
Speaker 2: a bunch of different ways, and we'll see if there's
23:29
Speaker 2: any way that you like more than others. On a
23:31
Speaker 2: personal note, I really struggled with this because of a
23:34
Speaker 2: scarcity mindset that I had growing up. I would do
23:36
Speaker 2: the try different things sort of thing, but I was
23:39
Speaker 2: insistent that my kids were going to eat that full serving.
23:41
Speaker 2: When I really explored myself, it was the concern about
23:44
Speaker 2: wasting food that was driving that. As if somewhere deep down,
23:47
Speaker 2: seven-year-old Alex was really concerned about this being the last
23:51
Speaker 2: meal that mom was able to put on the table,
23:53
Speaker 2: so nobody better waste it. But that just wasn't realistic,
23:56
Speaker 2: nor was it the actual situation that my family's in.
24:00
Speaker 2: And when I did the math... I felt a lot
24:02
Speaker 2: better about wasting 8 cents worth of green beans when
24:05
Speaker 2: my toddler didn't like it cooked with garlic powder. So
24:08
Speaker 2: if it's helpful to you, I stand my ground that
24:11
Speaker 2: my children will try anything once. And if they really
24:13
Speaker 2: hate it, I won't make them eat more of it.
24:16
Speaker 2: But I'm definitely not going to give them something hyper-palatable
24:20
Speaker 2: in exchange. I don't know if that's the right way
24:22
Speaker 2: to do things. But given how picky my 7-year-old used
24:25
Speaker 2: to be, now he's opened up to many more foods now.
24:29
Speaker 2: I would say at least for my kids. It's working.
24:31
Speaker 2: My best to you in managing your picky eater with love, gratitude,
24:35
Speaker 2: and grace. This brings me to another parenting trap, and
24:39
Speaker 2: that is dessert as the ultimate treasure. If you eat
24:43
Speaker 2: all your vegetables, you can have dessert. I understand why
24:46
Speaker 2: we do this. It totally works. But think about the lesson.
24:51
Speaker 2: We're saying, this food on your plate is so unpleasant
24:54
Speaker 2: that I'm willing to reward you for surviving it long
24:57
Speaker 2: enough to eat the good stuff. Guess which food becomes
24:59
Speaker 2: even more valuable in that mindset? You got it. Dessert.
25:04
Speaker 2: You just increase the status of dessert and decrease the
25:08
Speaker 2: status of dinner. I'm not saying you can't ever use
25:10
Speaker 2: dessert as incentive. I'm pretty sure my oldest wouldn't be
25:13
Speaker 2: potty trained if it wasn't for suckers. It's not a commandment.
25:18
Speaker 2: But I'm saying think about the dynamic. Sometimes dessert is
25:21
Speaker 2: just part of the meal. Sometimes there's no dessert. And
25:25
Speaker 2: sometimes we have something sweet because we're celebrating. Sometimes grandma
25:30
Speaker 2: made something amazing and it would be a sin not
25:32
Speaker 2: to eat it. I'm just kidding. But let's let food
25:35
Speaker 2: exist in its context. We don't need to turn every
25:38
Speaker 2: bite into a negotiation. In my house, we rarely ever
25:41
Speaker 2: have dessert. But if it's around, my children know the expectation.
25:45
Speaker 2: If you're not hungry for the nutritious and healthy stuff
25:48
Speaker 2: that's on your plate, then you're definitely not hungry enough
25:51
Speaker 2: to enjoy the stuff that has no nutrition but is
25:53
Speaker 2: really tasty to eat. Since we're talking about dessert, let's
25:56
Speaker 2: talk about celebration. Celebration food should actually be celebration food.
26:03
Speaker 2: This is one of my favorite distinctions. I think celebration
26:05
Speaker 2: food is great. Birthday cake is great. Thanksgiving pie is great.
26:09
Speaker 2: Christmas cookies are great. Sometimes pizza after a baseball tournament
26:13
Speaker 2: can be great, except it really destroys my stomach. And
26:16
Speaker 2: having ice cream with your kids after a great day
26:18
Speaker 2: of fishing? Please go enjoy that. The problem isn't celebration food.
26:24
Speaker 2: problem is when every day becomes a celebration monday was
26:28
Speaker 2: hard let's go get some ice cream tuesday we won
26:31
Speaker 2: the game let's do pizza wednesday was church that's donuts
26:36
Speaker 2: thursday somebody got a good grade we're gonna go get
26:38
Speaker 2: fast food together friday's friday that's worth a dessert saturday
26:43
Speaker 2: we're bored let's have some snacks and sunday after church
26:47
Speaker 2: well obviously we deserve something At some point, celebration food
26:52
Speaker 2: has just kind of become the diet that everybody eats.
26:55
Speaker 2: Then it's not a celebration anymore. One of the things
26:58
Speaker 2: that makes special celebration food special is because we don't
27:02
Speaker 2: eat it all the time. That's an incredibly simple lesson
27:06
Speaker 2: to teach children. We're eating this together because we're celebrating. Great.
27:11
Speaker 2: Celebrate it. Don't apologize for it. Enjoy the cake. And
27:16
Speaker 2: then Monday morning, breakfast is normal breakfast again. That's the
27:20
Speaker 2: same way to live. Are there some health conditions where
27:22
Speaker 2: celebration food can be unhealthy for you? Sure. No matter
27:27
Speaker 2: in what context you eat a carrot cake, if you're diabetic,
27:30
Speaker 2: carrot cake is hard on insulin-resistant cells. But unless you
27:34
Speaker 2: have a medical reason that's as extreme as that, food
27:37
Speaker 2: has always been a powerful part of healthy celebration. And
27:40
Speaker 2: another thing, If you're going to celebrate something, like take
27:42
Speaker 2: your wife out to dinner for your anniversary, don't call
27:45
Speaker 2: it a cheat day or a cheat meal. Cheating means
27:47
Speaker 2: that the plan is to do this, but you're doing
27:50
Speaker 2: this instead, like shrugging some sort of responsibility or hiding
27:53
Speaker 2: your habits so as not to be double-minded in this moment.
27:57
Speaker 2: Don't do that. If celebration is a part of the plan,
28:01
Speaker 2: and it should be, then just celebrate. Be fully present.
28:05
Speaker 2: No shame or guilt. Enjoy yourself. If 90% of the
28:08
Speaker 2: time in our house... We eat because the things we
28:10
Speaker 2: eat are good for us. Then 10% of the time
28:14
Speaker 2: we have plenty of room to eat for all sorts
28:16
Speaker 2: of other reasons. And that's a healthy balance. Now I
28:18
Speaker 2: want to pull back a little bit. Because nutrition isn't
28:21
Speaker 2: only about nutrients and function. The dinner table is one
28:24
Speaker 2: of the most powerful places in a household. Think about
28:28
Speaker 2: everything that can happen around a table. You can talk.
28:32
Speaker 2: You can tell stories. You can laugh. You can hear
28:34
Speaker 2: what happened at school. You can find out that somebody's struggling.
28:39
Speaker 2: In our house, we pray, we give thanks, we slow down,
28:44
Speaker 2: we learn some manners sometimes. We also learn how to
28:48
Speaker 2: have conversations and how to listen. At the table, kids
28:51
Speaker 2: can watch their parents interact. Sometimes we argue. Sometimes we apologize.
28:57
Speaker 2: Sometimes we're tired and nobody has anything interesting to say.
29:00
Speaker 2: That's real life. And it's happening together. And sometimes I
29:05
Speaker 2: think in the fitness world that we're so focused on
29:08
Speaker 2: what's on the plate that we forget about who's sitting
29:10
Speaker 2: around it. You could theoretically construct a nutritionally perfect dinner,
29:17
Speaker 2: and everybody could eat it alone in separate rooms while
29:19
Speaker 2: staring at a screen. I'm not convinced that's healthier than
29:24
Speaker 2: a slightly less perfect meal eaten around a table with
29:27
Speaker 2: the people you love. Health is bigger than food chemistry.
29:31
Speaker 2: In fact, if you're healthy, what is it for? Health,
29:34
Speaker 2: for health's sake, is not really that much of a prize.
29:38
Speaker 2: Relationships matter. Stress matters. Connection matters. Gratitude matters. So if
29:47
Speaker 2: you're overwhelmed with trying to improve your family's nutrition, maybe
29:51
Speaker 2: your first goal isn't replacing every single ingredient in the pantry.
29:55
Speaker 2: Maybe it's like, hey, this week we're going to make
29:57
Speaker 2: sure we eat dinner as a family at least twice.
30:00
Speaker 2: that would be a meaningful step. And I've mentioned it
30:03
Speaker 2: several times in this podcast, but when it comes to
30:05
Speaker 2: food preparation and cleanup and even planning, let your kids help.
30:11
Speaker 2: This is so practical. If you want your children to
30:14
Speaker 2: understand food better, involve them. I had a client of
30:17
Speaker 2: mine who was so overwhelmed. She was juggling her work.
30:21
Speaker 2: She was juggling her household. She was juggling her own fitness.
30:24
Speaker 2: And she was talking about how she had no time
30:26
Speaker 2: to cook dinner or multiple days a week. And I
30:29
Speaker 2: really admired her hard work and her industriousness. She was
30:32
Speaker 2: even sacrificing a lot of things that she needed, like sleep,
30:37
Speaker 2: to make sure everybody in the house had everything they needed.
30:39
Speaker 2: And I said, hey, don't you have three teenagers? And
30:42
Speaker 2: she said, well, yeah. I said, hey, have one of
30:44
Speaker 2: them cook. She goes, oh no, that would be a disaster.
30:46
Speaker 2: I asked her why. She told me that not only
30:50
Speaker 2: did they not know how to cook, but that they
30:52
Speaker 2: were too busy to do this stuff too. And then
30:54
Speaker 2: I challenged her, because that's what a good coach does.
30:57
Speaker 2: and challenge you without causing resentment. Hey, do you want
31:02
Speaker 2: your sons and daughter to struggle exactly the same way
31:06
Speaker 2: you are right now when they're 40? Or do you
31:08
Speaker 2: want them to have this food thing figured out and
31:12
Speaker 2: have their kids a part of the solution? She was floored.
31:15
Speaker 2: And the next week she made it a point to
31:16
Speaker 2: schedule time with each of her kids, cooking food together.
31:20
Speaker 2: And fast forward a few years later, she would tell
31:22
Speaker 2: you that that was some of the most meaningful time
31:24
Speaker 2: she's had with them as teenagers. Kids got to eat, right?
31:28
Speaker 2: So let them help grocery shop. Let them pick vegetables.
31:31
Speaker 2: Let them crack eggs. They're going to make a mess.
31:35
Speaker 2: It'll be okay. Let them season the meat. Let them
31:38
Speaker 2: wash the fruit. Let them help pack lunches. When they're
31:41
Speaker 2: old enough, you can teach them how to use a knife.
31:44
Speaker 2: You can teach them how to make a few basic meals.
31:46
Speaker 2: Because remember where this is headed. Eventually, they're leaving. And
31:51
Speaker 2: that's not bad. That's a great thing. It's one of
31:55
Speaker 2: the reasons God gave them to us. Train up a
31:58
Speaker 2: child in the way they should go, so that in
32:00
Speaker 2: the end, they will not depart from it. I don't
32:04
Speaker 2: want my sons to leave my house knowing the difference
32:06
Speaker 2: between protein and carbs, but not able to cook an
32:09
Speaker 2: egg for themselves. That's not competence. That's like trivia. I
32:13
Speaker 2: want them to know, this is how you make breakfast.
32:16
Speaker 2: Here's how you cook meat safely. Here's how you know
32:18
Speaker 2: it's done. Here's how you put together a decent lunch.
32:21
Speaker 2: Here's how you shop when money's tight. Or here's what
32:24
Speaker 2: you can make when there's barely anything in the fridge.
32:26
Speaker 2: Here's how you feed yourself when you're busy. These are
32:29
Speaker 2: life skills. And the earlier kids participate, the more normal
32:34
Speaker 2: those skills become for them. And side note, if your
32:36
Speaker 2: kids are really little, like toddler little, one of my
32:39
Speaker 2: favorite things to do with my boys was to let
32:41
Speaker 2: them stand on the countertop next to me while I
32:43
Speaker 2: was cooking and take seasonings out of the cupboard and
32:46
Speaker 2: explore what they taste like. I'd say, ooh, that's onion.
32:48
Speaker 2: Want to try onion? Yep. I'd put a little in
32:52
Speaker 2: their hand and let them taste it. They might make
32:55
Speaker 2: a face, put the lid back on, and grab another one.
32:59
Speaker 2: The only one I found you have to watch out
33:01
Speaker 2: for is cayenne. It looks like paprika, but you both
33:04
Speaker 2: find out real quick that it's not. You do you,
33:07
Speaker 2: but in my opinion, it's never too early to start
33:10
Speaker 2: getting them involved with their food. Now, I can't finish
33:12
Speaker 2: this podcast without saying this. Food is also an opportunity
33:16
Speaker 2: for gratitude. This is where I think Christian families have
33:20
Speaker 2: an opportunity to recover something simple. We pray before meals.
33:25
Speaker 2: And maybe for some of us, it can become an
33:26
Speaker 2: automatic thing that we barely think about anymore. God is great.
33:30
Speaker 2: God is good. Let us thank him for this food.
33:33
Speaker 2: I don't remember the rest of that prayer. Or somebody
33:35
Speaker 2: races through a prayer because everyone's hungry. We've done it too.
33:39
Speaker 2: My wife jokes with me that when she says, hey,
33:40
Speaker 2: let's pray real quick, that she can hear me say
33:42
Speaker 2: on her shoulder, no, we're going to pray real slow.
33:45
Speaker 2: But think about what we're actually acknowledging. This food is provisioned.
33:50
Speaker 2: There are farmers involved and animals involved and soil and rain.
33:53
Speaker 2: And although we could do all the work, only God
33:55
Speaker 2: makes it grow. There are people who transported this. There's
33:59
Speaker 2: money involved in this that God allowed us to earn.
34:02
Speaker 2: We have a body capable of receiving nourishment. And there's
34:05
Speaker 2: a family here around the table. This is not nothing.
34:09
Speaker 2: This is worth being grateful for. And scripture says, whether
34:13
Speaker 2: you eat or drink or whatever you do, Everything for
34:16
Speaker 2: the glory of God. Even eating can become worship. And
34:18
Speaker 2: I think cultivating gratitude as a family protects us from
34:21
Speaker 2: two opposite errors. On the one side, you have obsession.
34:25
Speaker 2: On the other side, you have carelessness. If food is
34:29
Speaker 2: a gift from God, I don't have to worship it.
34:33
Speaker 2: And I don't have to abuse it. I can receive
34:36
Speaker 2: it gratefully. I can use wisdom. I can enjoy it.
34:40
Speaker 2: And I can move on. That is a healthy relationship
34:44
Speaker 2: with food. Let's bring it back to the parenting thing.
34:48
Speaker 2: Who are we trying to raise? Are we trying to
34:51
Speaker 2: raise a kid who never eats candy?
34:53
Speaker 1: No.
34:53
Speaker 2: Are we trying to raise a kid who can tell
34:56
Speaker 2: you exactly how many calories are in a chicken breast?
34:59
Speaker 2: I mean, that's cool, but no. How about a kid
35:01
Speaker 2: who's always lean for the rest of their life? I
35:03
Speaker 2: don't think that's a good goal. We're trying to raise
35:07
Speaker 2: somebody who can eventually say, I know how to feed myself.
35:12
Speaker 2: I understand that my food affects how I feel. And
35:15
Speaker 2: how I perform. I enjoy eating. I don't panic about food.
35:22
Speaker 2: I can celebrate without losing control. I can say no
35:26
Speaker 2: without feeling deprived. I can eat something indulgent without feeling
35:31
Speaker 2: guilty about it. I know how to prepare basic meals.
35:36
Speaker 2: I understand that my body needs nourishment. And I am grateful.
35:43
Speaker 2: for the food God provides. If my child can say that,
35:46
Speaker 2: that's a successful outcome. And that doesn't happen because you
35:50
Speaker 2: controlled every bite for 18 years. It happens because you
35:54
Speaker 2: gradually transferred wisdom and responsibility and taught them how to
36:00
Speaker 2: feed themselves well. We can't expect our kids to practice
36:03
Speaker 2: what we refuse to model. It's just like we talked
36:06
Speaker 2: about in part one. Our kids are watching us here too.
36:10
Speaker 2: It's hard to teach moderation while binging. It's hard to
36:13
Speaker 2: teach gratitude while constantly criticizing food. It's hard to teach
36:18
Speaker 2: any body acceptance while insulting our own body every morning.
36:22
Speaker 2: It's hard to teach kids to drink water when every
36:24
Speaker 2: drink they see you holding comes from a drive-thru. It's
36:28
Speaker 2: hard to tell them that vegetables matter when they never
36:32
Speaker 2: see one on your plate. Now, I'm not saying all
36:34
Speaker 2: this to beat you up. Nobody does this perfectly. I
36:36
Speaker 2: definitely don't. And that's the entire point of stewardship. We're
36:41
Speaker 2: growing too. But I think parenting gives us a really
36:45
Speaker 2: powerful question here. If my children adopted my relationship with food,
36:52
Speaker 2: would I be happy for them? Not your knowledge, your
36:55
Speaker 2: relationship with food. Do you want them eating the way
37:00
Speaker 2: you eat? Do you want them talking about their body
37:03
Speaker 2: the way you talk about your body? Do you want
37:07
Speaker 2: them handling stress or emotions with food the way you do?
37:11
Speaker 2: Do you want them to celebrate the way you do,
37:13
Speaker 2: restrict the way you do? These are revealing questions. And
37:18
Speaker 2: if any of those answers make you uncomfortable, that's okay.
37:21
Speaker 2: Those are areas that growth can happen. So here's my
37:24
Speaker 2: challenge for you this week. Have one intentional family meal.
37:30
Speaker 2: Nothing fancy. It doesn't all have to be organic. You
37:34
Speaker 2: don't need matching plates and candles. Your macros don't need
37:36
Speaker 2: to be perfectly balanced. I just want you to eat together.
37:41
Speaker 2: Make sure the phones are put away. And sometime during
37:43
Speaker 2: the meal, explain one thing on the plate. Not calories
37:48
Speaker 2: or weight loss. Function. Maybe you say something like, hey,
37:52
Speaker 2: this chicken gives your body protein to help your muscles recover.
37:57
Speaker 2: Or wow, these potatoes can give you energy. Or these berries,
38:00
Speaker 2: did you know they have nutrients that help you stay
38:02
Speaker 2: healthy for your immune system? Whatever it is. And then
38:06
Speaker 2: ask your kids, what do you think that food helps
38:09
Speaker 2: your body do? and listen to what they say. You
38:13
Speaker 2: might be surprised by the answers. Then, thank God for
38:17
Speaker 2: the food. That's it. One meal. One conversation. Let's build
38:24
Speaker 2: a healthy home culture through normal repetition. And just like
38:28
Speaker 2: we talked about in last week's episode, if you're hearing
38:30
Speaker 2: some of this and thinking, man, I want this for
38:33
Speaker 2: my kids, but I'm not sure I have a very
38:35
Speaker 2: healthy relationship with food myself. Let's start there. Let's not
38:40
Speaker 2: make your children your next fitness project. Let's start with you.
38:44
Speaker 2: That's exactly why I built the Faithful Fitness Assessment. It's
38:49
Speaker 2: a short assessment designed to help you look honestly at
38:52
Speaker 2: your current stewardship. Exercise, nutrition, habits, motivation, faith. Where are
38:59
Speaker 2: you strong? Where are there gaps? And what's the next step?
39:03
Speaker 2: And then we get together for a live seminar. We
39:06
Speaker 2: help you take that information seriously. put it into action.
39:11
Speaker 2: You can start now at faithfulfitness.co. When you complete the assessment,
39:17
Speaker 2: you can register for our next live Faithful Fitness workshop.
39:21
Speaker 2: And like I said last week, this one's especially exciting
39:24
Speaker 2: for me because my wife Kristen's joining me. She's a
39:27
Speaker 2: registered dietitian and she's a a mom. She spends a
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Speaker 2: lot of her life helping our family navigate exactly what
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Speaker 2: we talked about today. So in our workshop, we'll be
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Speaker 2: able to bring together the science of nutrition, the realities
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Speaker 2: of parenting, and the bigger picture of Christian stewardship. And
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Speaker 2: you can bring your questions. We'll be happy to answer them.
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Speaker 2: Not from the perspective of some theoretically perfect family, though.
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Speaker 2: We don't live in one. But from the perspective of
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Speaker 2: two parents who are trying to raise healthy boys while
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Speaker 2: managing work and school and church and schedules and sports
40:01
Speaker 2: and preferences and celebrations and all the messiness of normal
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Speaker 2: family life. So go to faithfulfitness.co slash assessment. Take the assessment.
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Speaker 2: Join us for the seminar. I can't wait to hang
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Speaker 2: out with you. Now let me leave you with this.
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Speaker 2: One day, our kids are going to feed themselves. They're
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Speaker 2: going to walk into a grocery store without you. They're
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Speaker 2: going to order off a menu without you. They're going
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Speaker 2: to decide what comes into their own home. They may
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Speaker 2: even be sitting around a table someday with your grandchildren.
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Speaker 2: And when that day comes, I don't think the greatest
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Speaker 2: nutritional gift we can give them is fear or rules
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Speaker 2: or a perfect diet. It's wisdom. Teach them that food
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Speaker 2: is fuel. But teach them that food is also enjoyment
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Speaker 2: and that celebration has a place in your house. And
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Speaker 2: that discipline has a place in your house. That growing
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Speaker 2: bodies deserve nourishment and fuel. Teach them how to cook.
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Speaker 2: Teach them how to listen to their body. Teach them
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Speaker 2: how to sit down with the people they love. And
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Speaker 2: teach them how to receive God's provision with gratitude. We're
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Speaker 2: not trying to raise children who eat perfectly. We're trying
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Speaker 2: to raise adults who know how to feed themselves well. Guys,
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Speaker 2: this has been Coach Alex Van Houten on the Faithful
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Speaker 2: Fitness Podcast. Until next time, train hard, but pray even harder.
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Speaker 1: What's up, faithful? This episode helped you. Share it with
41:31
Speaker 1: someone who needs to hear it. And don't forget to
41:34
Speaker 1: subscribe and leave a review so more people can find
41:38
Speaker 1: Faithful Fitness. My dad's devotional, Faithful Fitness, is available now.
41:44
Speaker 1: And you can join our faithful fitness community by clicking
41:49
Speaker 1: the links in the show notes. We all have a
41:51
Speaker 1: cross to carry, but it's lighter when we do it together.
41:55
Speaker 1: See you later, alligator. But until then, train hard and
42:01
Speaker 1: pray even harder.