Beat Momentary Cravings & Have a Biblical Perspective of Health

Are you living with your long-term wellness in mind? Or are you finding yourself saying you'll start again next week? During this conversation with Ryanne Channell from Wellness and The Word, we unpack what the Bible says about your health and wellness and what it means to thrive and honour your body so you can live out your calling, because you were made for so much more than mere survival mode. Understand how you can beat the chocolate and coffee cravings, how to talk to your kids about food, practicing self-control and being a steward of your health.

Ryanne Channell is grateful believer in Jesus who is passionate about helping women find ultimate mental and physical wellness. She encourages women to seek and know God and grow a deeper relationship with Him by getting into the Bible and walking in His Word. Ryanne is a wife and mom of 3 and host of the Wellness and The Word podcast, where her love for Jesus and her passion for wellness as a holistic health coach collide. 

This conversation is packed with gold nuggets and I know you're going to love it! For more and show notes visit wholesomemumma.com.

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Elyse:

Ryanne, thank you so much for coming on The Wholesome Mumma Show. Today we are chatting around being a woman of faith and also how that comes through in our wellness and your podcast wellness in the word goes into detail around having a different perspective to the world's perspective on health. So could you share a little bit about your podcast and what the perspective is that women of faith should have?

Ryanne:

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really interesting because the Bible really does give us a perspective on health and wellness in physical and mental and spiritual, right? So for me, I think my perspective is that we need our health to thrive and it's important to be good stewards of the lives and the bodies that we were given and good nutrition and movement that can help us be better servants to God. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works, and I believe that to carry out those good works, we have to have a strong body and mind and good nutrition and movement helps us to keep our bodies functioning properly and having a good quality of life so that we're able to get around easily, think clearly and have balanced hormones. All of those things that are sometimes things we can take for granted, they're a gift and we mostly have the power to keep our health in check, but it does depend greatly on how we take care of our bodies. The Bible also tells us that our body is a temple in first Corinthians six. So this, the Holy spirit dwells within us and we were bought at a price, which is the blood of Jesus. So we should honour God with our bodies. And one of the ways that I've heard this before is that God created our bodies. Jesus died for our bodies and the Holy spirit dwells within our bodies. So that's why it's so important for us to honour our bodies with how we're taking care of them.

Elyse:

I've never heard that before, but that's awesome. God designed our bodies, Jesus died for our bodies in the Holy spirit dwells inside our bodies. And I think that it's so important to know. Before I started this, my background was in holistic wellness as well. I feel like it's very rare for Christian women to really grab a hold of that perspective. We know the verse about our body being a temple, but the actual fact that we have a calling on our lives and we need our health to be able to thrive, to be able to carry out that calling. If I'm in bed unwell and I'm not taking care of my body and then reaping the consequences of that, then I'm not able to take care of my calling.

Ryanne:

It really is a good mindset shift. And I think you're right. Most people never think of it in those terms. And it's not something I ever thought about growing up. It's really just been the last few years that I have really understood that, that should be the perspective. And I think that's why I want to spread that message more, especially to Christian women and just to women in general, because I think it's so important. We have this really skewed view of our bodies because of, you know, what the world tells us. And it's just so important to always take it back to what does the Bible say and what does God say about us?

Elyse:

And that it goes so much further than just what number on the scale because I feel like that's what the world is measuring our "health", but we can be a smaller number and be incredibly unhealthy or we can be what we think is a bigger number and be incredibly healthy.

Ryanne:

Exactly, exactly. That's why it's important to not judge it by, by the scale. I don't recommend that ever.

Elyse:

So one thing that I really wanted for us to have a chat about was something that I struggle with, particularly being pregnant, and that's cravings. In light of having that perspective of long-term health and wellness and wanting to really thrive and live a long prosperous life, because that's what God promises us in the Bible. How can we deal with those momentary cravings with the perspective of wanting long-term health and wellness?

Ryanne:

Yeah, that's a great question. So I think this comes down to contentment and our instant gratification world again, right? We so often have zero thoughts behind anything, we just do it if we want to do it. And that can be really troublesome when it comes to food. I see this as a self control issue and it's one that I've struggled with my whole life. I didn't know it was a self control issue, until I started viewing it through the eyes of God and the Bible. When we look at the fruit of the spirit, one of those is self-control. It's the ability to say no, even to yourself and not giving into habitual excess, because being addicted to food, caffeine, and sugar, all of those are real problems that lead to unhealthy lifestyles and these choices don't always have an immediate impact.

So people don't tend to think about the impact until we're getting older. And then unfortunately, years of unhealthy lifestyle choices catch up to us and then you have this flood of health issues that are seemingly out of nowhere, but really it was a lifetime of choices. So I think it's important to just remember that food is not only for pleasure, but it's fuel, it's for nutrition. It's so we can have a strong mind and body and using it in that way and being very conscious of your daily habits. That's something I really try to help women work on and it definitely comes down to the habit because we do things without thinking and that is where I think most of us struggle. I like people to track things for a little bit to kind of see where where they're struggling.

Elyse:

A quote that I really like says, "the first 40 years of your life is your body taking notes. And the second years is your body reading them back to you."

Ryanne:

I think that's the case for all of us. So, because we literally don't see the effect right away. So we're like, it's fine. I'm yeah, I'm going to do it again. I know I said next week, but next week, really, I'm going to get it together and then, you know, weeks on weeks on weeks on years and yeah. So everybody has that struggle, I think.

Elyse:

It is totally, as you said, about our habits. Say it's three o'clock and you're used to going to that drawer your office desk or that little stash in your cupboard and gouging on some chocolate, and now you've created that habit and now your body, it's going to know that it's three o'clock and it's when you get that feeling and then you look at the clock, 'Oh, that's three o'clock how does my body know?' Because you've created this habit. Totally scary. So when we're talking about food, what is real food? And why is it important for us to set up these better habits when it comes to eating real food?

Ryanne:

I know that real food is food that comes from the earth because whole, raw, unprocessed foods contain the most nutrition. There's no argument about that, nobody disagrees with that. What I think is awesome is that our earth has produced foods since the beginning of time that are full of vitamins, nutrients, minerals and amino acids that sustain us, that we need to be healthy because God is brilliant. He created the world this way. So, you know, we can say mother nature, but it's actually father God. And it's important because I think, again, that's kind of the mindset shift of all these foods on the shelves that are in packages, not that my family doesn't eat them because we do, but those were not created by God. Right? I think that's the mindset shift - the real food is food that doesn't have a label, that doesn't come in a package and there are still foods that are in packages that can be good for you and can be healthy for you. I don't even like to use the word "healthier", "unhealthy", or "bad for you". That was something that came as a shift with my kids was because I was putting that, "Oh, that's bad for you" in their mind, and I don't want to do that. I just want them to understand that there's more nutritious food and there's less nutritious food and real food is that food that God provided us.

Elyse:

I love that. And teaching the kids that perspective too. That it's not 'good versus bad' food. And while yes, there are food that I definitely would prefer my children not to eat, it's not feeding their mind with, this is the good food, this is the bad food, this food is evil etc. And some, you know, some numbers that I would really rather my children not eat, but it's also helping them to become aware and listen to their body. "This is how I feel when I eat this food."

And that I guess is really important for us as well. Creating those habits- this is what I want to eat and this is how I feel when I eat this food. Yeah I feel good when I'm eating it. Yeah, it satisfies that momentary craving, but now I have a migraine or now I have a tummy ache.

Ryanne:

That's such a good point. We don't want to say that to kids because we don't want to create that mindset in their mind, like, "Oh, I'm being bad." Food issues can be really tricky and complicated and you'd ever want to play a part in creating that for your kid.

Elyse:

So for any women who are listening to this who maybe are dealing with health challenges or do have things that they are coming up against when it comes to their health and wellness or feeling like they're not thriving, what would you say to them? What would be your encouragement to them of how to deal with being a Christian and wanting that perspective, but also going through challenges?

Ryanne:

Yeah, that's a good question. I think that obedience to God promotes our health. And I'm not just saying that like in a crazy Christian way, if you're listening to this and you're not a Christian, but the Bible does tell us in Proverbs that keeping God's commands in our hearts will prolong our lives and bring us health and nourishment. And that's why I like to bring in all the aspects of health and not just the food or the movement, because all of the pieces of our life play a part in our health. If we're overly stressed, if you are unhappy in your career or in your marriage or in your other relationships, we have to find ways to improve those parts of our lives because they really do affect our health overall. But God is always going to be the centre that keeps you the healthiest.

And when you have that spiritual relationship with God, you're always going to be leaps and bounds ahead. And I just want to encourage you in that aspect, that nothing is off limits for God. You might not have ever thought about the fact that God cares about your health. And he literally wants us to turn to him for everything. So I would encourage you to seek God's will in this area, if you're struggling with overeating or a less than nutritious diet, pray, and just ask God to give you strength and guidance, to make better choices and a super tangible practice, which we kind of started talking about earlier. And I wanted to finish mentioning is that when you want to eat something that you know, isn't nutritious for, you start drinking a glass of water first and journal. Journal about why you want to eat that maybe you didn't plan a nutritious meal, or maybe because you're craving it, but journal about why it is you want to eat that food.

And then if you do eat the food, journal how you feel after. This is perfect for us as adults to understand - "Oh my gosh, that food made me feel terrible. Why am I eating it?"

So when you're journaling about it, it helps remind you, I did not feel good after I ate that food. And then it will help remove that craving over time. And the same thing with kids. You are teaching them without being like "I told you". Teaching them like, "Oh yeah, remember you ate a lot of candy today".

So journal about how it made you feel. And then that helps just for two reasons, you pause before you eat the food to drink water and journal, and then second you start reviewing your habits. So you can just reflect on how to do better. And again, it's that reminder that maybe you're not feeling really great after eating that food. So maybe you'd want to stop or over time you would just remove that craving.

Elyse:

Brilliant idea - drink water, because your body's probably actually dehydrated.

Ryanne:

Exactly. And that's what we hear, right. Is that usually it's like our body's just thirsty. Cause we don't drink enough water. And that's all we need. We don't really need food.

Elyse:

And then to also journal and figure out why is it that I'm craving this. "What am I after?" Am I after a feeling that I feel when I eat this food or drink this soft drink or whatever it is. And then to think about that and dwell on that and think, okay, well if I'm after that, how else can I find that? Usually God

Ryanne:

Exactly. Yes. God always.

Elyse:

I think that's a great thing. Such a great, practical, tangible easy thing to implement into our lives when we are having that three o'clock chocolate craving, to stop, have a big drink of water and then think, why is it that I'm seeking this? Because it might even be something about your mental state and your mental wellness that you think having some chocolate is gonna fix.

Ryanne:

Very true. We might be trying to find that boost, right. That endorphin boost.

Elyse:

Well, thank you so much for coming on. This has been an incredible chat. I have loved every moment with you and we will have to do it again cause we've got so much more to dive into. Can you tell everyone where they can find you and how they can get in touch with you?

Ryanne:

Thanks Elyse. I would love to come back. This has been so much fun, a really good chat. They can find me on Instagram at Ryanne Channell and on my podcast "Wellness and the Word."