American Reformation
The Path to Transformation: Spiritual and Physical Harmony with KJ Struz
When was the last time you felt totally in sync with the Holy Spirit? Guest KJ Struz, a believer with a passion for transformative living, joins us to unpack what this can look like in our everyday lives. We journey together through the VIM model (Vision, Intention, and Means) and top five habits that bring us closer to a life filled with love, peace, and the power of the Spirit.
Imagine finding delight in movement, seeing it not just as a chore but as an essential part of reducing stress and inflammation in our bodies. KJ and I explore how to make movement enjoyable and an integral part of everyday life. We also touch on the vital aspects of hydration, micro-nutrition, and the need to limit processed foods for a healthier lifestyle. As we navigate through this, we also discover the calming power of prayer and meditation - tools that keep our mind in tune with the Spirit.
The episode wraps up with KJ sharing invaluable insights about the importance of listening to our bodies, debunking the myth of metabolism and the significant role of self-awareness in growth. He recounts his inspiring experience of coaching a high school boys volleyball team, lessons learned, and the transformative power of love and sacrifice in his marriage. This is an episode filled with practical wisdom and spiritual insights, all aimed at unleashing the transformative power of the Spirit in your life. Tune in and be inspired by these life-changing conversations.
When was the last time you felt totally in sync with the Holy Spirit? Guest KJ Struz, a believer with a passion for transformative living, joins us to unpack what this can look like in our everyday lives. We journey together through the VIM model (Vision, Intention, and Means) and top five habits that bring us closer to a life filled with love, peace, and the power of the Spirit.
Imagine finding delight in movement, seeing it not just as a chore but as an essential part of reducing stress and inflammation in our bodies. KJ and I explore how to make movement enjoyable and an integral part of everyday life. We also touch on the vital aspects of hydration, micro-nutrition, and the need to limit processed foods for a healthier lifestyle. As we navigate through this, we also discover the calming power of prayer and meditation - tools that keep our mind in tune with the Spirit.
The episode wraps up with KJ sharing invaluable insights about the importance of listening to our bodies, debunking the myth of metabolism and the significant role of self-awareness in growth. He recounts his inspiring experience of coaching a high school boys volleyball team, lessons learned, and the transformative power of love and sacrifice in his marriage. This is an episode filled with practical wisdom and spiritual insights, all aimed at unleashing the transformative power of the Spirit in your life. Tune in and be inspired by these life-changing conversations.
Hello and welcome to the brand new American Reformation Podcast. We long to see the wider American Christian Church fall more in love with Jesus by learning from the practices of the early church and other eras of discipleship multiplication. We want to hear from you, make sure you comment and leave a review, wherever you're watching or listening, to tell us what God is doing in your life or how you feel about today's conversation. Lord, have your way in us. Let's dive in.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the American Reformation Podcast, Tim Allman. Here. Wherever you're at today, I pray that you're buckled up and ready to discuss something that is very, very practical. Whether you're a pastor, if you're just a human looking to be healthier, looking to make better decisions, looking to set better habits, looking to cast better vision for the life of your ministry organization, whatever it could be or for your family, this is going to be for you. You may not know, but there are forces at work in the world that want to work toward your demise, to steal, rob and control your energy rather than maximize it for kingdom expanding purposes.
Speaker 2:Today we have one of my favorite people on planet earth. I was blessed to do this man's wedding just a little under a year ago or so, when KJ Struse married way up in Marien Brittany, and they've been quite a young couple in my life. It's a joy to have you, KJ, hanging out with us today. Kj has been back in the day, probably four years ago or so, five years ago or so on, with Jake Bestling and I on lead time, but we wanted to share KJ's brilliance Holy Spirit inspired brilliance, especially around health and wellness with the American Reformation family. So thanks so much for joining us today, KJ.
Speaker 3:Of course, thanks for having me again. It's not making five years of time, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, no, no, it will be far, far more frequent. So kick us off my opening question for this podcast as your. How old are you now? 20?
Speaker 1:You look like you're 22. Yeah, I'll take it Are you 27, man, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Now you're getting older yeah, you should take it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm totally getting old. But as a 27 year old follower of Jesus, an everyday entrepreneurial, baptized follower of Jesus, how are you praying for Reformation in the Christian church?
Speaker 3:I mean, the church needs a lot of prayer right now, Obviously in the world needs a lot of prayer. It just kind of comes down to meeting people where they're at and just and walking in the faith. Those of you who like to share our faith and through words, this is great, but I think walking shows a better example. I've actually experienced it with my friends and he's come closer and closer towards faith and understanding. You know what I believe, because I don't necessarily force, and so I think that's hard right now where there's a lot of divide in our worlds and so we want to make sure we share our opinions and our faith. But I think it's almost a long game, if you want to think of that way.
Speaker 3:I think I was going to talk about it later, but I'll bring it up now. Everybody wants to buy but no one wants to be sold. So it's one of those things where, as we go through this process of our world right now, we just need to make sure we can kind of take time for ourselves but then just walk in our faith and let others kind of observe that, and I think that's kind of. I think we're going to go right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jesus said they'll know you're my followers by the way you condemn others, the way you polarize and divide. No, no, that's not what Jesus said, kj. He said they'll know you're my followers because of the way you love, the way you emanate in the midst of chaos within and around. Peace in the midst of the world. That's how the world is going to know. We need more people who have been immersed in the work and the words and the way of Jesus, that holistic disciple who understands. Yes, jesus came to take away our sin through dying and rising again. Yes, we need more of the voice of Jesus in our ears, in our hearts. And then, the way we communicate, the way we just go about life, would it be filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit? To just echo that, rather than selling, saying hey, wow, I want, like a Holy Spirit to work in folks that are pre-Christians. I want more of that. I want more of what KJ has. Well, you emanate that. You represent a passionate, peace-filled, hopeful, optimistic, passion-filled follower of Jesus.
Speaker 2:So transformation equals, and there's a lot of social science around this VIM, vision, intention, and then the means and habits. So for people to say and there's, we always have areas in our life because we're broken, we're falling. We always have areas in our life where we're like well, that needs to be tightened up, like if you're listening to this, you're like you know, every aspect of my life is tightened up, neat and tidy. I'm good to go Like you should probably stop right now. But that human doesn't exist, that's only Jesus. Right, we're all works in progress with this Holy Spirit-inspired vision for transformation that the future would be better, that we would grow more and more up into Jesus, who is our head.
Speaker 2:This is a journey of sanctification for us as followers of Jesus, and the way that looks like is a vision. This could be a vision, personal or for the organization you leave this intention. I want to set the Holy Spirit's leading me to set certain habits in place and then guess what I'm actually gonna do it the means and the habits that start to shape the way we achieve that by the power of the Spirit, that journey of transformation. So what are the top five? Let's get super, super practical today. What are the top five healthy habits that humans must do on their journey of transformation? Kj.
Speaker 3:I mean I've got a few of them. I can always say more, but I think I need. I want to say first is reverse the mindset to. My body is intelligent. Right now, we always say my body's broken, I need this, this needs fixing, I have a bad memory or whatever that kind of tends to be. We always focus on the negative of how we can improve, which is good to highlight that but I think we need to go back to my body's intelligent. It's been wonderfully beautifully made and created and crafted and it does have all the healing capabilities. You have everything within your means right here. So I think adapting that mindset back is a huge one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's great. That's a growth, abundance mindset, rather than and Lutherans many of the people that listen are Lutherans right To journey toward the new creation. I am fearfully and wonderfully made and I no longer live, actually Christ. Think about the power here. The power of the spirit of the risen Jesus lives within you. You're no longer your own. You've been bought with your price. Therefore, honor God with your body, the way you care for it. Our bodies are like a mystery man. It's a beautiful mystery and they're not even scratching the surface of brain science and how even the healing mechanisms go along the electromagnetic. There's so much that's a mystery that should lead us all the more to just bend the knee before the creator of all things. Right, so get into those. I love that, starting out with yes, this body, this day, is a gift, and while I maybe have experienced things that lead me toward brokenness, I'm beautifully broken and being put back together by God who created me. I love that. So let's get specific on the top five healthy habits toward that journey of transformation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, I mean, right now we're in Arizona. You know we're pushing that hot, the hot heat right now. It's that dry, that dry heat, right, but it's staying hydrated. Yeah, don't remind me, I gotta go back after this, but stay hydrated.
Speaker 3:And what I mean by that is not just drinking water, actually making sure you're taking care of the amount of minerals, because the minerals is actually what balances the frequency of the water going into that side of making it whole again. So when we talk about water, we're talking about, I know, distilled, and we've got spring water and you've got all these alkaline water right. But what they're typically doing to make sure all the bad is processed out is they're stripping the good and the bad out to make sure it's clean, so there's no pathogen and things like that. But we're gonna make sure we're adding those minerals back, otherwise it actually strips us from the body and we're actually dehydrating ourselves further. And they always I think they say about 96% to 98% of people are actually chronically dehydrated, whether we're drinking water or not, and I know there's people that don't drink a lot of water. But balancing with the minerals makes us whole again, makes the water whole again.
Speaker 2:Some people have said, kj, that coffee is the third sacrament, like you got baptism, you've got the Lord's Supper and then there's I can't get through life without a cup of coffee. Now, I'm not anti-coffee, I am anti-coffee before water, though, like if your habits coming downstairs and getting that coffee. I've heard so many people like this is a habit. Right, I can't wait to get out of bed. I've just dragged myself out of bed. But, man, I start to hear that coffee maker going. I think there's a large you just said 97% man. There's a lot of people that are taking in a cup or two of coffee before they get their water. No-transcript, that shouldn't happen.
Speaker 3:Habits. We're talking about habits, but it's also, like, as well as weird things where it's all that we've known for a lot of people, like guess what, if you actually look back and ask them, where'd you get that habit? Probably mom and dad, and if they got it from mom and dad before they went to work, and so these habits were created and I don't think we realized where they actually came from. We just kind of inhabited them, we picked them up.
Speaker 2:What are some of our greatest mineral? I agree with that. What are some of our greatest mineral deficiencies right now? As you look at the American landscape as it relates to water and just minerals in general, I know that's one of your major, major points of emphasis.
Speaker 3:I would say potassium, magnesium. Potassium is huge just to balance the cells. So if you think of sodium potassium pumps, that's every single cell of our body. That's huge. And then magnesium, I mean just we're all. I mean a lot of people have anxiety, they're stressed, they're worried. So I mean magnesium is great for the brain, it's great for the gut, it's great for muscles and cells on every cellular level heart. So calcium excites the body, it nerves and cells and magnesium relaxes it. And so you got to make sure you have that correct balance and a lot of some deficient in magnesium as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you talk about. So you've got five healthy habits. One it's reverse that mindset. Your body is intelligent, fearfully and wonderfully made. We need to get hydrated and then focus on micro nutrition rather than the macros. Why is how have the micro nutrients been kind of devalued? Tell that story a little bit. I think that's really really fascinating for people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it kind of comes down to one the foods we're eating and what we're not getting from that. And so if you look at a grocery store I'll touch on a little bit later 43% of the food in the grocery store is fake. It's man made. It's designed to last on a shelf for longer than what typical produce would, where you know it goes bad in two to three weeks. It's designed you can look at the data in 2027 and it's still good.
Speaker 3:So what we're missing from that it's because it's so highly processed. It's, if you think about it, when you eat something that's junk food, right, chips, things like that we all enjoy it. That's the thing is everything in moderation, including moderation itself. But we need to make sure we're actually getting the minerals, the vitamins for the body that it needs. You know, if you eat sugar, you know you have the high spike and then you have the crash and guess what, You're hungry again not too long after because your body wants those minerals and so you can actually eat less food and better quality of it and actually kind of be more maintained and have a better metabolism. That way it's because you're retaining what your body actually wants to get from the food. It's a delivery system, for vitamins and minerals is what it is, and sometimes that delivery system happens to be in a capsule, so kind of starting there first.
Speaker 3:But secondly, a lot of our food is so highly just going to that highly processed side. It's even the farming side. They're trying to produce so much food that they're not giving the soil a time to regenerate the nutrients that God put in there so it can regenerate. So then it relays through the seeds up into the plant and so you see a lot more people go to farmers markets and things like that, because they're actually kind of doing what they call crop rotation or even things like hemp. When you plant hemp, the industrial hemp actually pulls toxins out of the soil and makes sure it regenerates. So there's some cool things that you can kind of do to make sure that these foods have nutrition, and so it goes in part of organic farming. So you know you hear the dirty dozen and all that stuff, but yeah, you can kind of make sure you're getting more nutrition from better quality foods and vegetables as well.
Speaker 2:Have you heard the story that's so good? Have you heard the story about how heart disease became in vogue with the rise of not just the processed food industry but certain types of pesticides that had started to be used in crops? That intimate connection, have you heard that story? Like everything kind of changed back in.
Speaker 2:I think it was 60s, 70s, 80s, just as high spike in the inflammation of the heart and heart disease in general. I mean anything we can do to eat as clean as we possibly can not in a legalistic way, you know, just think 80% or whatnot but if God made it, I ate it and I want to know where my food is coming from all the more. I think there is a reformation of sorts, revitalization of people, especially in your generation, who are kind of valuing this conversation more and more. Is that kind of true? Is this a little bit of a generational thing, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is. You think about everything cyclical, like right now. I'm also a high school coach and we'll talk about it later, but like the 90s style is coming back. It's a cycle. You were in 2023. So some of those things were in our time. Right now we're realizing maybe we need to. I mean, you hear all these things on the news of possible food shortages and, who knows, you know, you've seen the egg stuff and prices spiked and you couldn't find eggs on the shelf. So finding ways to make sure you're still being able to take care of yourself and your family. So I think people are just looking for other alternatives. And then it almost brings some pride back because, guess what? You grew that food. You took your time, your energy, your love to make sure it was actually becoming fruitful and you can actually eat it and enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Facts, dude Facts. I am starting a garden in my backyard. Not now, it would burn up. Right now I've had a small little garden, you know, but I'm going to do a raised garden bed and it's going to be super legit.
Speaker 2:Moving into the fall Our growing seasons down here are kind of whacked out. So we got we got that body is intelligent, that mindset, that positive mindset, and make sure we're focusing on water before coffee, hydration, micronutrition, resisting sugary, processed, heavy salt foods. And now talk about the value of movement. What would you say to someone? You know? We got pastors and leaders, and being a pastor, KJ, is a stressful gig. Right, there are a lot of expectations, both that you put upon yourself and that oh God puts upon you know. And then you've got other people, and stress obviously leads to inflammation, and one of the greatest ways to battle inflammation is by moving the body. But a lot of pastors say man, I'm not an athlete anymore. I didn't, Maybe I played way back in the day, but just that shame voice, that insecure voice that comes into the head of many leaders and that leads us to just kind of have that frumpy not just physicality but that kind of frumpy attitude from time to time, Talk about the necessity of moving the temple of the Holy Spirit. I mean, yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean when I talk about moving with activities you enjoy. But you can also kind of tap that into activities you're already currently doing. So I know a lot of people are going towards maybe like walking meetings right now in summer maybe not so feasible for Arizonians, but just moving, you're already doing the activity. And if you think about it when we were moving, we actually typically have more clear thoughts, and so it's interesting how that works. You've got the circulation going through the body. You look at the immune system, the lymphatic system.
Speaker 3:It's actually designed to move and so the more stagnant you are, the more stagnant you are, the actual lower you know, less likely your actual be able to fight things off, and so those two go very hand in hand. So doing things like that, but then also, you know, finding something you enjoy with your partner, with your spouse or whoever you're dating. Like me and Brittany love pickleball right now we're not playing it, but I also love volleyball so I'm playing all the time. So it's finding things you enjoy where it's not like I gotta go to the gym at 5am and you know lift weights. If that's not your thing, maybe find more fun and more interesting ways, be creative. I guess what I'm going to say is there's other ways than just what we say is a standard movement, going on the treadmill, elliptical, to get moving.
Speaker 2:Isn't that right? Those dynamic movements. My goal is to push and pull and sweat every day. Not everybody has to have that same goal, yep, but I want to push or pull, and it depends on my environment, right See?
Speaker 3:I love.
Speaker 2:I love a morning, you know. Get it going, get your sweat on kind of hit work out. A high intensity interval training kind of work out. That doesn't do it for everybody and it's in your seasonal life, man. Just the 10 minute walk, a walk of gratitude, thank you that my legs can move and I can be out and about man. That goes so far in helping us to just be present with the people around us. Anything more to add, though, on the necessity of movement? Kj.
Speaker 3:No, I mean it's one of those things where it's a principle of life. I mean you think about it? When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they didn't just sit behind a computer all day, they tended to the garden, they took care of the plants and so just finding other ways we can take care of that. I mean, move with your kids, move with your grandkids and try to find ways to balance that into your life, because that will probably mean the most excitement.
Speaker 2:To be honest, talk about what movement does to the brain, because our last one here on the Healthy Habits is the peace-filled mindset, right, the calming of the mind. Just link in a transitionary way what movement does toward the brain.
Speaker 3:I mean, it's everything but it's circulation. So circulation is everything for the brain, and so I know that. I've done a lot of research in Alzheimer's as we took care of my grandfather who had Alzheimer's years ago. And just circulation is huge. If you don't have the fuel, if you don't have the blood that's carrying those nutrients to the brain, you're not able to function as well, you're not able to think as well. Call brain fog. And so getting that circulation is huge, but then also balancing it of calming the mind, praying, meditating, whatever you want to do and that aspect of it is calming the mind. I'm anxious myself and so the more I'm able to calm and slow myself down and almost ties myself back to the Creator, who he is, and calm and peaceful and things like that, it just kind of just eases the body in a different way. So moving and then stillness, the balance of those two as well, are huge.
Speaker 2:Isn't that funny. Life is found in kind of the juxtaposition or the paradoxes of life, because we just been like move, move, move, go, go, go. But yet how often do we just sit still and let the mind focus on? Well, there'll be thoughts, that kind of pop up. This is there's some meditation practices here and they're fleeting and they come, that's okay, acknowledge and then move on, but just to move toward that posture of stillness that is so counter cultural today. Because, whether we're moving, our minds are always moving and we need some brain breaks. Man, have you heard of the concept of white space? A little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just this set habit. It is a habit between meetings. This is necessary for church leaders because you may have a meeting where you're grieving with a widow putting together a funeral service and then you're moving into a strategic, future focused planning meeting. To take that research says about five minutes or so of just stillness to focus, to transition, to maybe grieve and to process what the emotions of the last thing were and then to show up fully present for the next encounter with respective problems and people and things. Yeah, to take that white space. That is huge. Any other last thoughts about calming the mind?
Speaker 3:Not really man, it's one of those things.
Speaker 3:that's very simple, but it's not easy. It's very simple and you don't have to be perfect at it and it's just a practice of it. No one's perfect at anything, let alone the first time you do something. It's that repetition of even in a few minutes, like I used to have this habit, and it's kind of faded, but it was actually.
Speaker 3:I used to do a lot of driving between store accounts for my old job and I used to have a rock that would sit on my steering wheel so every time it'd fall off, otherwise I had to take it off and kind of think and forgive me their say thanks for allowing me to be a vessel and use me, as you will, lord, to just bring whatever I needed, whether it was just being a therapist for somebody at that point and just hearing them and letting them kind of release, or if it was kind of speaking some truths and educating in their lives for what I was doing at that point. To me that's stillness and just being there, being present, being grateful and letting him work through me and just how I used it at that point. So there's, it doesn't have to be, you're not a monk and meditating and silent for hours on end. I think that, like you said, that juxtaposition position is kind of huge, but you need to make sure it's the thought that counts. It really is, and then repetition over time builds up.
Speaker 2:That's right hey, let's drill down on the topic of diet and listening to your body. So what words of wisdom would you have for someone who's never really learned to listen to your body? You're just moving and you're between meetings and you eat, but you don't really like process, how you feel after you eat. And what we know for sure is there's no one size fits all diet. Someone who's keto, some are going to do different things. So, yeah, just give us words of wisdom as the leader starts to listen to their body.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it kind of goes ties rock into that white space. It could just be just asking yourself a question, putting your minders in your phone, like that's a big thing for me. I forget a lot of stuff. I'm jogging a lot, I told you about all the projects I'm doing, and so it's like I forget a lot of things, and so sometimes it is hard to take that time and, you know, put the oxygen mask on first and think about where is my head space, my foggy right now? Can I, you know, produce clear thoughts? And so, just, you know small things here and there.
Speaker 3:But I mean, nowadays we all have this technology and easy access. Finding ways to utilize that, after meals, saying oh, where's my heart rate before and after, just finding small things like that, are going to go a long way. Like I said, the funny part, like you were saying, keto is, you know, work for some people and you know what. There might be a span of life where keto works for them and then they keep doing it for, you know, two, three years. It doesn't work the same, and so maybe you need to take a look of, you know, constantly pivoting and moving and changing and adapting, because our bodies are doing that as well, and so being flexible and fluid with the body, and I guess that just comes out of being still and seeing and reflecting where you're at.
Speaker 2:Do you have references for anyone who says I don't know where to even start in terms of figuring out the foods that work for my body? I went through a journey Sarah Sorensen was my kind of coach this was about four years ago or so where we did the blood panel work and then I got the report back on the foods that my body really loved and the portion sizes that I needed. And now I don't weigh food or anything like that, but I got the data that helps me know and, man, if I listen to my body after eating those respective foods the right types of protein for me and carbs, et cetera, veggies that really speak to my cells. Man, I'm more on than when I'm doing that. I love my. My shadow side, kj, is. I love tortilla chips.
Speaker 1:So I love going on wheel.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying. But if I eat like, I can eat like 10, but if I just go off on a whole basket of tortilla chips, I do not feel good. That maze, you know stuff, just the growth, yeah, but but I like a little bit of tortilla chips, but I just have to listen to my body. So any resources, though, for people who want to take a next step and listen to their body and maybe even doing that blood panel work.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, there's a lot of online ones. I know Viome does some stuff with with with the DNA side and kind of respecting of how the DNA is reflected on. You know foods and things adapt to the body. But I mean just go into your local physician and get some blood work done. I want to see where your vitamins, minerals are I going back to that micronutrition and then secondly, food allergy test. I mean there's different ways to approach it.
Speaker 3:Viomes, when I've looked at actually heavily, I've actually haven't done one, ironically. So it's a little bit of self-love I need to give myself. But it's one of those things where I mean just I think honestly starting to see where you're at, because if you don't know where you're at, you don't know how to take the next step and find the vehicle to get you where you want to go. And so it's finding that where you're out on the map and then finding out where you want to go and then you'll find a vehicle to get you there. So blood work's gonna be a big one to get you there and start that process.
Speaker 2:I Love it. Have you heard of the myth of metabolism that as we age, our metabolism goes incrementally down.
Speaker 2:This research blew my mind and man, I got fine to where it was.
Speaker 2:I think I referenced in a podcast a while back, but the the myth that that as we become, you know, into your 30s and 40s, everything's just kind of slowing, slowing down this.
Speaker 2:This was a deep research over like 10 years that found you have your metabolism between zero, which there's thoughts about we should make zero one like you're actually I'm into my 42nd year right now. That neither here nor there. So from zero to two one, your, your metabolism as a little infant man is just skyrocketing, right, it's just skyrocketing, and then between the ages of one and 20 it actually was so high that it actually slightly Decreases. All right, that was one of those myths. It just keeps going like this. And this is where you can kind of see childhood obesity like it's not if, if those little ones don't have the right Nutrients into childhood years and then in adolescence things can go south South quick if movements not a part of their habits, and so it kind of slightly decreases and then guess what it does between 20 and 60 years of age KJ, it remains exactly the same.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm you have the same metabolic rate at 60, so I'll be 42. I have the same metabolic rate as I had when I was, like you know, seven years younger than you are right now. And then this is a bonkers one. From 60 to 90 it only declines at a seven percent rate. Seven percent rate. Now we're gonna die the lifespan of a human like.
Speaker 2:We're gonna love more years in my life, but I want more life in my years the lifespan of a human, we're gonna acknowledge, is between hopefully you can get to 80 hundred ish is probably the max. It's kind of interesting. That's like a full generation. I've been doing a lot of history work too. A lot of things move in cycles. You're talking cycles between 80 and 100 hundred years. I think there's some intention in this season of history where the human life is in that sort of a Window between 80 and a and a hundred years. But man, I can, because my metabolism I don't have to regress that whole way. I want to die like with my boots on doing the things that God has called me to do whenever that day comes. You know what I'm saying. So anything, any response to that kind of, does that surprise you, that Metabolism stays largely static?
Speaker 3:No, it doesn't. I mean there's what we call anomalies in the space of people like yourself. I mean better, just killing it, and you probably only go and get better as you age, right, because you have that mindset to right. But I mean there's people that I know in their 50s and 60s and everyone's like, how do you look that way? And they're not anomalies, they're, they're doing something right.
Speaker 3:And it comes down to almost again going back to that mindset, switching the mindset once you understand that that basis of the foundation of your metabolism is the same from 20 to 60.
Speaker 3:All right, okay, maybe I need to move more. Maybe it's something that I need to reflect on myself and do a little bit more, just to make sure, and then also flip the mindset. There was a study done I remember where I was out of this is a while ago, a few books ago and Someone eating a same hamburger, right. Someone told himself this is giving me nutrition, this is feeling my body. It had a different response than somebody saying this burger is terrible for me the amount of oils and fats, and this is absolutely ridiculous. But I'm gonna love it, I'm gonna enjoy it, but it's terrible for me. The body had two different responses, same Trigger, different response, and so it kind of comes back to that and saying cool, now that you know your metabolism is the same from 20 to 60, have that mindset. Who knows some small things might you know, start shifting and then that momentum goes forward.
Speaker 2:Do you know the best book that I've ever read?
Speaker 3:KJ. No, I stopped reading minds years ago, so we're good.
Speaker 2:The Bible. That's good, I like that. The Bible, and then the next one, and Then the next one, whatever the next one is. You just referred to books.
Speaker 2:Like you have that learning, that learning mindset, dude, that is just so, so huge. And I think it's not about the what as much as it is about the the why of. I just know that I'm a human being that's been put on earth to produce beauty and love and light into the world, and I know my mind is yearning for more to be put in, so that it just becomes more and more Expansive and I've forgotten way more than I remember, but it's just become way more just a part of who I am. Like the ethos of learning, the value of learning, just becomes a part of who we are and that just breeds humility, right, because the more we learn, the more we realize we don't know about a lot of different stuff. And just that open arms wide, lord Jesus, to all that you have in store.
Speaker 2:So let's get. Help me be refreshed on Superfoods. I love that. That was kind of a new term for me, maybe five, six years ago, right? Superfoods Well, I could become Superman, I don't. I don't know how does this kind of work. But talk about. Talk about superfoods that maybe should filter into the American diet today.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I'll kind of touch on a few that are, you know, simpler, if you will. Staples, I mean, avocado, peppers are absolutely incredible. So I'm working on a, you know, mexican food concept, and peppers are incredible, like our salsa. We're actually able to say that our salsa is five times stronger in vitamin C than a glass of orange juice. So I mean there's, there's all these cool things out there, whether it's you know, anaheim's, hulano's or it's simple bell peppers. Let's see what have I got. Oh, I got cruciferous vegetables broccoli, call flower. They're gonna have a component called endothria carbonyl and dim. Actually a lot of women will take it to balance estrogen, but it's actually the same pathway that your body uses to detox heavy heavy metals I'm carcinogens, things like that. It's that same pathway in the liver, and so those are huge. But also the balanced estrogen. And then eggs and olive oil and other you know, healthy oils, avocado, coconut, things like that. So those are easy things someone can incorporate in the diet.
Speaker 2:You know someone's a lot of those are.
Speaker 3:Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Good what someone said.
Speaker 3:Someone was saying that all of those are just a easy thing to put on. Anything. You know, Salads meals are just a delivery system. Put olive oil on I think that was Dr Steven Gunnjery, I believe Just a method to get olive oil in the system.
Speaker 2:To go a little. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, dude. I've heard the the controversy between organic and non-organic, right, and I heard you know berries are really, really good but a lot of them contain extra, extra toxins, so to pursue organic berries. But then I heard about avocados. Like there's really no difference between an organic and an organic avocado. So you, you buy that cheap avocado. That's cool avocados. I mean, the fat the brain boosts that you get from avocado. Fat, dude, is just next level. Also, coupled with the appropriately sourced olive oils, right. Anything to anything to add to Demystify fat is not bad, I think in our culture, right, we think fat. Oh, stay away from fat. We need, we need fat, right, I mean, that's what fuels our brain.
Speaker 3:Go ahead, I mean there's a reason why God put foods that have good fats on here on earth, but it's when you start looking into the man-made fats or the other vegetable oils that are so highly processed. I mean they actually have to use detergents to process some things like canola, sunflower and safflower not the absolute best corn. All these other vegetable oils they have to basically process and strip because it's being forced into an oil, as opposed to olive oil, avocado, coconut, or very easily Turn into oils, because that's pretty much how they're need to be found. And it just goes into letting God do what he did best and not letting man. You know, go have some fun with it if you will. But yeah, I mean Brain is, you know, majority fat. So how do you give your brain the best fuel if you're not eating any fats? It just doesn't add up to me. It's a very simple math equation. If you will, you need fat.
Speaker 2:So to fuel something that is mostly fats, to feel good and you know to do what you need to do and then talk about Some more exotic superfoods, like, if someone wants to go, I want what you just gave me, that's like a, but I want to go a Plus. Okay, jay, what would you tell them?
Speaker 3:This isn't a tie right back into those minerals. One's called Sheila jit, so it's actually a mineral resin from the Himalaya Mountains and it's this black tar looking thing and it's extremely high in something called Fulvic acid fulvic and it's actually what's in our soil as well, not as in high concentration as this. That's one of the things that actually help regenerate the soil. So guess what, when you talk about the body and what could be a possible soil, you think about the gut. So this fulvic acid is what they call catalyst to help absorb more and help the body function better. So you're absorbing more and actually doing more with what you're getting. Then it's got some cool things. You know there's some Like nano gold and you know clodal silver kind of concepts in there and things like that as well that fit in that. But it's got, I think, 84 of the bodies minerals that it needs.
Speaker 1:Hmm.
Speaker 2:I believe, that's pretty, pretty baller. I mean, where does the guy even get Sheila jit? I thought you swore there for a second. You know I'm saying where do you find that I?
Speaker 3:Mean health food stores are actually starting to carry it. Now. I know some capsules from a company called u-thery. They source one called Trying to blink on it right now, but it's actually been fully processed to make sure that things are out of there. Symbiotica, cym symbiotica has got one that I'm actually using currently Based she legit. I'm just getting one Amazon. It's kind of where I've been at right now, but yeah, I've actually been testing from. I went from the capitals years ago and now I'm actually testing the actual raw mineral resin. Just kind of fun Putting coffee and stuff like that, making a superfood out of that. So yeah, you just type it in s, h, I, l, a, j, I, t. Yeah, it's starting to pick up momentum.
Speaker 2:Love it. See moss, talk about, see moss. Yeah, so see losses.
Speaker 3:Yeah, see, moss is huge right now. I actually didn't realize the trend it was come around. This was about three years ago and sprout started to bring in some powders in. But it's funny because I don't know if you've heard of dr Sebi. Sebi, I Think he's from one of the African countries, can't remember exactly which one, but he was one of those doctors that was able to, I'm gonna say, manage something with the seaward Disappeared with people and it was kind of just eating. A very clean diet Was anything crazy, but it was very high in minerals, and so, see, moss has 96 of the 104 minerals that your body Needs, and so it's even higher level. So, again going to, we're gonna give out a needs. Now you don't need as much of everything else and so you don't have that desire to consistently keep eating. So that's another easy way to get some minerals on the body.
Speaker 2:So most of that's in like powder form, like right powder small right now.
Speaker 3:Gels are big and they taste kind of good. So there's like mango and pineapple and they do a lot of some some cool flavorings with it. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of brands out right there right now, but if you go to sprouts I know they've got powders and stuff.
Speaker 2:It's cool every time I talk to you, make me go spend money, bro. I don't know about that, but I want to be healthy, so I'm gonna give me some Seamos.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool. So let's let's talk about the growth mindset just a little bit deeper. Where did you kind of come up with? Who are some of your main influences? Let's start there in terms of that growth mindset and you're you're maybe gonna drop some people that that Like conservative confessional Christians, you're like I don't know if you should listen to guys like that, but that's okay, we can learn from everybody. I really believe that. So, yeah, how are you developing that growth mindset? Kj.
Speaker 3:I mean it's, it's just over time, it's it never got. Rome wasn't built in a day. In this, this mindset wasn't built in a day. But guys like Zig Ziglar, tony Robbins, I mean they kind of follow the same path and honestly they talked about the same thing in my personal opinion, but it's just a different approach, different way of viewing it. I call it different sunglasses or different lenses, and so it might be the same thing they're talking about, but you kind of. You kind of actually alluded to earlier, but it's not as much of the growth mindset as why that's what I'm realizing is huge. And so why do we want to make changes? Because changes aren't easy and that's the tough part. But why do we want to change? And I think Can remember his name, baydros something.
Speaker 3:He actually created a gym and a few other concepts. But he was at a doctor's office and Basically, the doctor said Question for you I'm gonna be very blunt Do you want to watch your? What? Do you want to watch your daughter walk down the aisle? And he said of course I do, and he goes. Well, if you keep on the same habits you're on right now, you're gonna die two years before she's able to make it on the aisle, guaranteed before she even graduates high school.
Speaker 3:What kind of change you think he made? It was a completely dramatic Because is why changed his? Why change from surviving to thriving and being there for her to walk her, you know, see your graduation, walk her down the aisle and so that will Allow to push us more than anything else and just to being uncomfortable. And that's kind of where that comes down into is. You know, I said Rome wasn't built in a day, but in my opinion, who said Rome was ever done?
Speaker 3:I think it kind of got paused. If you will, if you want to look at it from that lens that I guarantee they wanted more and they wanted a different concept from where that. When we saw, you know where it ended, and so being okay with being a work in progress is huge compared to Our Instagram world and what. I'm gonna point a finger and say, oh wow, you look great or I want to be like them. Know how do we take that mindset of being like? How to be like KJ? I want to be like Tim, I want to be the best version of myself and not running a race against someone else, but running, yet running a race against my best possible self. That's where you start making some serious change and understanding your why and and pushing forward there.
Speaker 2:Man. I look to the Apostle Paul like I think people have to have models. I'm never, you know, I'm not in the right same context as the Apostle Paul and all of those types of things. But as I read his words, when Jesus came and changed his life, when the scales fell from his eyes, his why radically changed, like multiply disciples, whatever it takes to start churches, to start churches, and that they would be this living manifestation of the crucified and risen Jesus. And and then he ran. He uses that race. I ran now with perseverance, I'm keeping my eyes on you, jesus, and, and I don't you know, beat my body and submit.
Speaker 2:You know he had some physicality to him too, with some training, recognition and then the mindset Training as well of the Apostle Paul had why, all for the glory of God and and the influence that he had by the Spirit's power, to lead people to to Jesus. So if people struggle with the why and that sounds kind of like oh, that's a secular, that's a secular term, just flip it back to Jesus, man, and the life that Jesus gave you, the baptismal identity that that he gave you. You are a walking Miracle, all those cells coming together in your mother's womb putting you together, for on planet earth, at such a time as this man, you are amazing and I so to to reject, yes, we must walk through how inadequate, you know, lowly, sinful, fallen we are. But then that new, that new man or woman in Christ being raised up, man, that's for me, that's, that's the why, that's the, the mindset shift, shift from scarcity to to abundance.
Speaker 2:So. But to do that, man, it requires a lot of self-awareness and Leveraging, struggle For beautiful things. I rejoice, paul says Romans 5, in my suffering, knowing suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character and character, hope. And that hope Doesn't disappoint because, again, why it's centered in, centered in Jesus. So talk about how the follower of Jesus should view struggle, pain in every aspect, mental, physical, etc. As a blessing rather than a curse.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I always talk about the same analogies over and over again because it makes sense to me, and so far it makes sense to me. I can, you know, relay that, make it make sense for somebody else, but it's just putting on different pair of glasses, a different perspective. Because I mean, you know, though it's the most common analogies diamonds are created in the rough, they're created into pressure. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where it says this life will be easy for you and it'll be Simple and you're just gonna, you know, be abundant. But it's through that that you actually realize what you have and who you are. It's it's not in the you know success as you realize who you are. It's actually in the struggles.
Speaker 3:If you talked to any entrepreneur, a lot of pastors have gone through some sure of points and where they're not happy with other churches and it maybe seems like it's diminishing and things like that. It's kind of there when you realize. You hear the term rock bottom. I don't think that's a term, I think it's just a setback for me. It's a setback so you can propel forward because you know where you're at and it pushes you do where you want to go. It's different, just changing that perspective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's huge, Absolutely. So let's let's talk about marriage. You know marriage. You're nearly married first year, all these new kind of rhythms getting embedded, you don't. You don't marry to find the. You didn't marry Brittany because she was a perfect spouse, nor, nor vice versa. You married her because two is better than one and you get to go on a mission to make Jesus known, as you love and care and sacrifice and serve one another. And so talk about what you're learning since you've entered into the married life. Kj.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I've always known she balances me.
Speaker 3:I'm the dreamer, I'm up in the clouds, I'm hanging out up there, I'm floating as much as I can, but she's the realist of like, what steps is it gonna take to get you there, what are you doing and how you do it.
Speaker 3:And so it's amazing how, in the past you know eight, no, actually, wow, nine months now I'm actually amazed at what I'm capable of and what I can put on my plate and still manage to balance. And, you know, make sure I'm still serving her, but I'm serving as Keem at the same time. And I'm balancing those because I've always, just, you know, been a, you know, comfortable spot and I was almost kind of in that same timeframe that you know, I started doing more uncomfortable things and I told you about all the projects I'm working on doing, you know, a restaurant and helping somebody with a wellness center and on top of my day job, and so it's like if you would've asked me, you know, a year ago, can you juggle all of that and then also be a high school boys varsity coach, I would've been like that's ridiculous, and so just having that support system to fall back on is huge and helped me realize I'm actually capable of more than I can think of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's so good In the Adam and Eve story. I may have shared this with you, but she is your compliment, she is your other, she is your balance and one of the greatest parts I think often gets understated in the Adam and Eve story as she was made from his rib, brought to him as a helper, a partner, but the fact that she was put there by God to be a kind adversary to KJ, that she's gonna see more of you, kj, than just about anybody else heart, body, mind, spirit, right, and she gets to lovingly challenge you. I need my wife to be a kind adversary. She sees more and so she gets a privilege to speak more, because I know she has my best interest at heart as we grow up together. Kj, your wedding was one of the most memorable weddings I have ever been a part of, so it was right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll tell you the story, man. It was right in the middle of six straight weekends in October into November where I had weddings I think you guys are middle of October, something like that. It was beautiful up in Sedona, arizona, red Rocks, man, just a phenomenal spot. But there was a forecast that rain could come that afternoon and it's and viewers about four o'clock or so, 3.30 into four o'clock and it was looking like man, we're gonna make it, we're gonna make it. And then, right as she is walking down the aisle, it no joke starts to absolutely rain down buckets and the ladies had the umbrellas. We were kind of ready for it. But I don't know if you remember anything I said. All I know is I was thinking we gotta do this like from 20 minutes, we gotta tighten this down to about 10 minutes. So just the most important things to say. But you guys were champs all the way through it.
Speaker 1:The metaphor of like the storms, the storms of life.
Speaker 2:Right, the storms of life are gonna come at us. But then here's here was the most amazing thing about the entire experience it is a deluge, and not one of your party about 100 people there to witness your beautiful day walked out of that storm. They all sat in and through it, including my bride, alexa, having so much fun. But that was a picture of, like the family of Christ, right, your closest friends saying, no matter what you walk through, we're gonna be there. What were some of your remembrances from that amazing day? And then the party went on. It was. You made the most of it, man, like a champ Dude, it was so cool.
Speaker 3:No, it was amazing. Like we're so analytical. I mean, it's our wedding day and everything you want. You want it to go as smoothly as possible, like the word perfect in that scenario. But you want it to go smoothly and everybody comes up like this is the absolute best wedding ever. And they're just dripping and it's amazing where, and everyone's like, wow, you know, rain's a good thing on your wedding day. I'm like, well, we're really blessed, I can tell you that. But it's amazing what God can do where it's like we didn't want that.
Speaker 3:Like, if you look, you know we were looking at the forecast months in advance and we're like, oh, we're fine, it's October, it's not gonna rain. 27 minutes of our 30 minutes ceremony no, that's crazy, it's a doughnut. But what he did is he took that experience and he was able to share with so many people and share with us and reminded us how great of a community we have around us and that was just a beautiful reminder, yourself staying up there and being a champ I don't even know if you could see what you were reading, because it's the rain just hitting you right in the face. But it's one of those things where it's like okay in this moment. If you look, talk about storms of life being still. We're gonna go back to that topic really quick. We were still. I mean, we really had much of an option go anywhere. So we remained still and guess what? We got blessed and because of that everybody had an amazing experience. But yeah, I can guarantee no one will forget our wedding.
Speaker 2:It was awesome. It was awesome. Man, you're like this is come on Jesus. And then it's like come on Jesus, this is pretty sweet. It kind of felt like you remember Forest Gump and I forget Lieutenant Dan and just like let's go, let's go. It was kind of like that kind of now that you're not an angry, bring it on, like, yeah, this is not a big deal so, and that was all kind of mindset. And Brittany, like the bride, the dude's gonna like float, like the dude's, like this isn't really about me. Anyways, you know, the bride is the bride's, put a lot of time into it, but the way she embraced it and just said it is what it is and here we go. There was so much joy in the midst of the suffering of that rain and.
Speaker 2:I think it's a great picture of the Christian life. There's stuff going around, but man Jesus is here, my family and friends are here, we're gonna be okay. We're gonna be okay. So one of the last questions here this has been so much fun, bro what is the Lord teaching you? You talk about coaching. I'm entering into. I'm an assistant coach on a high school team here in Phoenix. My son's entering into high school, super stoked about that. But what is God teaching you through the coaching experience, high school, varsity, boys, volleyball, patience I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3:No, seriously, though, it is teaching me patience, especially high school boys. They're a blast, but their attention spans are very, very, very small. What I've learned through this process is meeting them where they're at. Most importantly because everybody's coming from a different place, they're coming from a different perspective and mindset, but we kind of talked about it earlier is walking my path and being very confident in what I'm here to do is I'm here to make you better men and through that process we're gonna learn some volleyball and win some games and have fun in the process. But when I'm so confident this is what I'm here for, this is what I'm doing here, and I almost say like you're gonna get on the bus, you're gonna get off it. I'm a lot more nice of a coach than that. But it's the concept of they all bought in I didn't have to sell any of them of this is what we're doing. And blah, blah, blah. It was like wow, this is what coach is putting forward. He's confident, he's backed it up year after year. This is what we're doing and just kind of over time, it's a lesson for all of us. Like we have to meet people where they're at. We have to walk our walk, not only talk our talk but then enjoy the process too. We lose games, we win some, we win a lot, but we do lose some as well, and it's in those times when we lose it's like oh man, we're tired of this losing thing, let's go win more. Yeah, it's kind of just all of my life lessons that I actually have stuck most and I want to insert that into coaching because that is our future.
Speaker 3:And so, if they can come back to me, I actually just had a player recently. He was the only one who actually went and played somewhere and he tried to college, actually didn't wind up working out for a long story and then he went to another one and I got on a phone call with him after that one. He's like I don't know if I'm a continued player in here and he was like it's not the best vibe and he goes. I just want to say thank you. And I was like huh, he's like so I didn't realize what I had and what you built and what you put so much time, energy and effort into, and I didn't realize it until later, until I'm in this spot now where I've experienced something else, and so it almost teaches me the lesson of being great for or at, no matter where it is, because now I can help relay that to my current players.
Speaker 3:You know what? You'll never get this again. I'm not a perfect coach, I'm not a perfect person, but this group of people, these boys, these, your brothers around you, you're never going to have that again. And so that's kind of the same thing in life, like we're going to have friends come and go, but in that moment we need to make sure we're taking care of who's around us and they're taking care of us, and we're just kind of building this community up and for a better purpose.
Speaker 2:Well, knowing who you are, man, and how the Holy Spirit shows up in and through you, I know you're a phenomenal, phenomenal coach. I'd love to come watch some of your games this upcoming spring. You kind of dismiss some, I guess, misunderstandings or generalizations that people may have about young people, because you're a Gen Zer right, and you're young. Are you a millennial? I don't even know. Are you a millennial?
Speaker 3:Gen Zer, I don't even keep track of the millennium. I don't even know whatever.
Speaker 2:Somewhere between millennial.
Speaker 3:Gen Z.
Speaker 2:But those young people these days they don't. You know, they can't. That's always the mindset of a lot of you know, older adults of the generation before, from generation to generation. But how can the church start to connect intentionally with more young adults? You know You're now married and entering into a different season of life, but just think back, like you know five, six, seven, eight, nine years. What should the everyday church follower know about young people in our churches?
Speaker 3:I mean I'm gonna go on a principal concept first, but actually, stephen Covey, seek to understand, then to be understood, we always wanna. You know, like I said, everyone likes to buy and no one likes to be sold. But it's first understanding where someone's coming from, and that way it's not how you can come on my path, it's how can our paths converge and they merge together for something greater. And I think that's a big thing is it's no one wants to be told to do something. And I'm saying honestly, everybody's the same way. It's like you have to do that and you're like, eh, really Do I, do I really wanna do that? And so we're the exact same way being younger and having more lessons to learn.
Speaker 3:I actually told my parents a few times and saying, you know, I appreciate your support, but I kinda maybe sometimes have to learn my own lessons, I have to mess up, I have to go through those hard times so I can come out better because of that.
Speaker 3:And it's almost understanding that we're all on our own journeys, that right now we're going through this time and age and we're trying to navigate it and we're trying to figure out, you know, how to make the best of it. And now it's almost like you know just always. You know, think about it as just being an advisor, you know, reaching out and saying how can I help you where you're at? And saying, you know, how can I help you, what are you going through? And then, through that process of understanding, you can actually I think two train tracks is a perfect analogy. How can you merge those together and say, here's where I'm at, let me meet you where you're at a little bit, but you also have to do some work and meet me where I'm at too, and so we can continue to go forward with those tracks merge.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm better, because our tracks have merged to KJ.
Speaker 3:Yeah, buddy.
Speaker 2:You're awesome. I love you and always feel more alive. I've grown in heart, body, mind and spirit because of our time together, and I know I know our listeners have today as well. How could people connect with you if they desire to bud?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, social media, everybody's got it now it depends on which I use it. Kjstruz STRUZ on Facebook and Instagram, happy to answer any questions in the supplement health world. Just connect and just share one of those company and see how we can help each other out and grow and learn. Yeah, amen.
Speaker 2:Amen, that's the attitude. This is American Reformation. Podcast sharing Is caring. Please like, subscribe, comment wherever it is you take this in. We're growing actually on YouTube quite a bit here. Kj of Lay, this is the podcast of the United Leadership Collective and, if we can serve you in any way, unite leadershiporg. We'll be back next week with a fresh episode of American Reformation. You're the man, kj. Thanks bro. Bye man, choo Choo, choo, choo Choo.
Speaker 3:Choo Choo Choo, choo Choo, choo, choo, choo, choo Choo. No-transcript.