Loving God with Your Body: Q&A with Mary Cay Oyler

Mary Cay Oyler, manager of Wellness Education and Nutrition Programs at the Church Health Center in Memphis, Tenn., talked with HopeandHealing.org about the role faith can play in personal health.  Ms. Oyler holds a degree in Education with a concentration in Fitness Management and has worked in different capacities of wellness including, commercial fitness, hospital prevention and wellness and community programming. She belongs to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Germantown, Tenn.

How is being a healthy person connected to being a faithful person or vice versa?

Taking care of the body God gave you is very important. A lot of times -- aesthetically -- we think our body might not look the way we want. But we have wonderful, magnificent bodies that God has given us that we can do wonderful things with. When we take care of that body, we feel healthy and strong. Our body works for us. We’re able to get more done and to serve God for our purpose of being here. You can’t separate the body and spirit. Our physical side affects our spiritual side and mental side, too.

We hear a lot about people using food, alcohol, or other unhealthy behaviors as a way to cope. I relate that to worshipping false gods. When we turn to unhealthy things to deal with our emotions or stress, it’s like honoring a false god. We’re all broken in some respect. We need to cope by praying, by practicing healthy behaviors, and by taking a day of rest when we need it. God even took a day of rest. We are taking care of God-given bodies by getting the sleep that we need, by eating in moderation, and by exercising.

You work in wellness at the Church Health Center. Could you describe your role there?

I manage the wellness education and nutrition programs at the Church Health Center. We manage many programs: diabetes wellness. smoking cessation, stress management, and a healthy eating course . We do cooking classes here on a daily basis, showing how to modify recipes and make them healthier. We also have our Healthy Bodies program. Healthy Bodies is a weight management program that incorporates exercise, eating healthy, and behavior change into the program.

How do you see faith playing a role in these programs? How do you see it enriching the programs, and could you give an example of how that plays out?

I think faith plays a big part in managing your health. We weave it into all of our programs. All of our classes have a faith component to them. When you allow people to know that it’s okay to discuss that aspect, it becomes something that they are excited to do.

One of the things that we found through our Health Bodies program is that a lot people do not know the basics of healthy eating. So we created Healthy Bodies 1, which has six classes that go over the basics of healthy eating. We talk about your emotions, your eating habits, and how to set goals for yourself. Once you finish those classes, you go into Healthy Bodies 2 which is more of a support group setting.

In the Healthy Bodies 1 program, all of the topics include reflection sheet activity, which is a take-home exercise. For a lot of people, combining their faith and health is a new concept, so it’s a chance for them to start reflecting on how they can make a behavior and health changes using their faith.

How do you balance inspiring people without making them feel guilty for who they are or for the habits or behaviors that they have acquired?

A lot of times people feel like they are being punished. They think: “I contracted a disease because I’m being punished” or “I have diabetes because I’m being punished.” There’s also the mindset: “If God wants me to be healthy, then God will take care of me.” A lot of people feel that they don’t have a part in the outcome.

In our classes, we often tell the story about a person stranded in a flood. The person goes out on their roof to meet someone on a boat who says, “I’m here to save you.” The person says, “No, God’s going to save me.” Then, someone else comes by on a helicopter and says, “Hop in, we’re lowering the rope, get in,” and the person says, “No, I’m fine. God’s going to save me.” The flood gets higher and goes over the roof. The person dies and goes to heaven. The person asks God why he wasn’t there for them, and he says he was there in a boat and in a helicopter.

In our classes, we try to convey that help is there. But it’s the decision of each individual to practice good health behaviors and make changes and live healthier lives. We’re there to help them along that path, but they’ve got to make that decision. We want people to see that God comes to them in many ways, and sometimes the person who is sitting next to them in the Healthy Bodies support group. That person could be the one who says something that helps them with their challenges for the week. It’s not always the instructor that does that, and that’s the beauty of our class.

How are prevention and faith related?

It goes back to truly loving the body that God gave you. Our body is a miracle that we’re blessed with. If you look at the body in that respect, you’re going to take care of that body. In this way, prevention has a lot to do with faith. When you’re in your 20s, you are most likely naturally healthy and free of disease. But this is when you need to start practicing healthy behaviors. This will prevent getting disease when you’re in your 40s and 50s. So if you exercise through your 20s, 30s and 40s, you have to have faith that it is going to make a difference. Prevention is hard concept for a lot of people because of that. Knowing your family history is also crucial. My family has a history of heart disease on my dad’s side, so knowing that has been part of my motivation for practicing healthy behaviors. It helps me to honor the body that God gave me.

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