The Glory of God…
“The Glory of God is man fully alive.” – St. Irenaeus
Imagine we’re sitting on my deck, both of us with a cup of coffee in hand, mulling over this profound quote from St. Irenaeus, one of the brilliant minds of the second century. Interested in your thoughts on this, I ask the question, “What does ‘being fully alive’ mean to you?”
What would you say? (I love talking deeply on my back porch. You are welcome anytime!)
Have you ever stopped to wonder what it would look like for you to be fully alive? Feeling your absolute best physically. Emotionally present. Not just existing or getting by, but truly living—heart, mind, body, and soul surrendered to God’s plan?
Being fully alive starts, I believe, by letting go of our illusions of self-sufficiency. It’s about jumping—yes, jumping—into the deep, glorious abyss of God’s love.
Because it is a jump. It’s a bit scary, isn’t it? We have to leave behind what we think we know and trust Him with our everything. We might wonder: Will He catch me? What if I can’t feel Him?
I get it. I’ve felt that fear too. Especially when I’m distracted or entranced by the little glowing screen in my hand. But when I turn off the noise, go sit on my deck and simply ask Him to be with me, or when I go to Mass and receive Him in the Eucharist? It’s… glorious.
GLORIOUS.
God the Father wants us to experience fullness, vibrancy, and self-mastery—where we’re not held captive by anything in this world, but instead we are free, able to radiate His love and peace to others.
For me, a huge part of what kept me from living that fullness was my relationship with food. Food—and especially processed food items and sugary desserts—felt like a prison. (A prison where I had inflammation, bloating, moodiness which erupted into anger.) I’d make plans to eat in a healthier way; I’d plot it all out, but invariably, as I lived my real life, with all of its real-life temptation, I would give up and head to the pantry. I felt helpless, stuck in a cycle of promises, cravings, and disillusionment. I tried every diet and every trick, but I always ended up back at the same frustrating place.
That cycle sure did not feel like freedom to me.
Now, for those of you that do not know me, I worked for about a decade in the area of addictive behaviors with my son Eric. And that time (even though it took about seven years to finally connect the dots in my own brain) helped me understand what was really going on.
You see, we live in a world where food companies know exactly what makes our brains light up with pleasure—and they exploit it. They know how to engineer foods to hit our “bliss point”—the perfect combination of sugar, fat, and salt that triggers a flood of dopamine in the brain, making us crave more and more.
Take, for example, a single Dorito chip. If you dissect it, you’d find a laundry list of excitotoxins—like MSG (monosodium glutamate)—that literally cross the blood-brain barrier and overexcite our neurons, making us want more than we actually need. It’s no accident; these ingredients were created in a lab to hook us. Why? Because it’s profitable.
And don’t get me wrong—profit in itself isn’t evil. But there’s a catch: these chemicals aren’t just harmless flavor enhancers. They hijack our brains, making us believe the food is tastier than it really is, and they can even cause cell damage in the brain and spinal cord.
So, if you’ve ever found yourself wanting to stop eating something but feeling like you just couldn’t, congratulations—you have a perfectly normal brain, a brain that the food industry has no problem manipulating.
Do you have a sweet tooth? Get this. Two hundred years ago, the average American consumed just 2 pounds of sugar a year. Today? We eat nearly 3 pounds of sugar a week. That’s a tidal wave of temptation hitting our bodies, minds, and souls.
When I learned all of this, I thought: Aha! Now I have the knowledge to change. But you know what? Knowing something didn’t give me the power to actually change it.
I still tried various plans and strategies, but none set me free.
It was only when I discovered the surprise of my life—that I am not only loved by God but rescued—that everything changed. I realized that I am His. I belong to Him. I don’t have to earn His Love—I am His beloved daughter—“He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,” Colossians 1:13.
That, my dear friend, is freedom. (It’s difficult to convey the magnitude of that experience in a couple of lines, but if you want to know more, I have written more here: My New Conversion.)
This new identity as a beloved daughter of the Father changed my entire relationship with food. How? Well, to make it as simple as possible, I didn’t need a diet to fix me. I just didn’t. I was able to turn my back on diet culture as I always knew it, revealing a completely new way of living, which, in the arena of food, focused on real, whole, natural. It was a glorious sort of paradise as I discovered exquisite taste combinations that left me feeling fully alive, not half dead.
I began a weight lifting regime, which I loved.
I felt liberated. After being enslaved to our diet culture and the standard American diet, I was free. The best part of life, as Fr. John Riccardo has shared so eloquently, is that THE RESCUED RESCUE.
And as I sat with that, I knew in the fall of 2024 that God was calling me to a new place, a new vocation. (I had been teaching middle school English.) I loved women groups. I loved building community. I felt drawn into the world of health and fitness, but getting a degree in that arena was daunting. Plus I didn’t want to have to piece together a “way” of eating/strength training for others. So I took it to prayer, starting a 54 Day Novena.
On DAY ONE of the Novena I was introduced to The FASTer Way to Fat Loss by a dear friend of mine; as I investigated the company, I was delighted to find that it was a Christian-based, digital nutrition company that aligns so beautifully with everything that I had experienced regarding food and exercise. It’s all about whole food nutrition, self-mastery, sustainable habits, and true, lasting freedom. Everything I learned—and lived—about becoming fully alive in Christ.
I went through the coaching program with The FASTer Way to Fat Loss in January 2025 and began my new vocation as a certified wellness coach in February.
Who are my clients? Well, that is actually a great question, and one that I had to truly sit with. I have a passion for moms, especially those with a ton of kids, so at first I thought young moms in the trenches of life would be my primary focus. But since my auto-immune condition of Hashimoto’s responds so well to the whole food nutrition found with The FASTer Way, I pivoted in March, knowing THAT would be my area of expertise. However, over the last few months, I have found that my heart is really with the 40-50+ year old Catholic woman that wants to open her heart to God the Father fully, who has that desire to be FULLY ALIVE in Him. Yes, I can help her with weight training. I can help her dial in her macronutrients. I can walk with her through intermittent fasting (which is a vital part of TFW). But the real transformation is at the heart level.
I’m telling you, food freedom is about knowing our preciousness, our belovedness, and ordering our life in Him. Our individual freedom is found within the greater context of His freedom.
Food freedom. Health freedom. Freedom to be fully alive.
Let me pause here and let one of my clients share her journey:
The best part? There’s a way for you to experience this, too. This summer, beginning on June 16, 2025 (pssst…you can gain access June 14), we’re kicking off a 5-day Summer Slimdown—a micro-commitment for those who want to toe-dip into the experience. It’s just $20, and it’s the perfect way to dig into some FANTASTIC recipes centered around real food that will make you FEEL fantastic, as well as enjoy some of the workouts with our fun, upbeat trainers (who have helped me build muscle as I age!).
I love that The FASTer Way is inviting you into this world for such a small commitment…and if you’re ready for more, you can roll right into my next 6-week round starting June 23 (where I communicate with you daily, which is such a joy). There are lot of components on the journey, which start synchronizing around week three. It’s about learning new habits that strengthen your body as you age, and it’s about unlearning old habits that kept you enslaved to self.
I promise you: it’s transformative on every level.
Because the glory of God is man—and woman—fully alive. And that’s the kind of freedom I want for you, too.
Are you ready to jump?
Click here for some fabulous info on the 5-Day Summer Slimdown Micro Commitment.