Compared to Who? Body Image for Christian Women LifeAudio

Today Heather chats with Amy Connell about the ways we as moms who were fully entrenched in diet culture can start to change the conversations in our home around food and body. Amy and Heather were both fitness instructors and focused on “health education” trying to, out of love, do what was best for their kids around food and exercise. But, as they discuss today, some of what they did was likely unhelpful. As the research shows, some of the rules they enforced and the ways they modeled a restrictive relationship with food or over-emphasized exercise may have sent the wrong message to their kids. 

Amy and Heather talk about how our children and teens are on the journey with us out of diet culture, whether they know it or not. They talk about how tricky it can be to have our children watch our pendulum swing from restricting all the foods or maybe always being on a diet to giving up dieting and trying to eat more intuitively.

They also discuss how our kids—both boys and girls--are being influenced by social media and YouTube influencers around what they should eat and how they should look or exercise. They talk about how to manage this challenge when you are trying to teach your children and teens a different way.

Similarly, Amy and Heather talk about helping our children see the agenda that the culture has for them--and how diet culture plays into this agenda that wants them to be so focused on food, exercise, body, and appearance that they can miss out on what God has for them and find themselves in anxiety, depression, eating disorders or worse.

You'll be encouraged by today's podcast, share it with a friend or leave a review!

Ready to sign up for the 40-day body image workbook reading journey? We start May 21st! Learn more or sign up here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-day-challenge

Purchase Amy's new book, Your CORE Strength on most online stores including Amazon and Bookshop if you prefer to support independent bookstores. All formats, including paperback, ebook and audiobook are available.

You may also grab the Parents Guide - a Cliffs notes version for you to learn the main concepts as well as receive other helpful resources like recommended Instagram accounts, books and podcasts, and ways to support your daughter.

Want some more Christ-centered, diet-culture-free encouragement for your daughter? Invite her to listen to Amy's podcast for Christian teen girls, Lessons to My Teenage Self (also on YouTube if they aren't regular podcast listeners.)Connect with Amy:@gracedhealth (for women over 40)@lessons.pod (for teens)GracedHealth.com
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You know those ads you see on social media or in your YouTube sidebar? The ones that tell you they have all the secrets to weight loss, optimal health, healing your thyroid, or fixing your autoimmune disease? Heather decided to investigate! She clicked, watched, and studied. Today she reveals what she learned, how the answers were the same, and how they were different. Today's show tackles the challenge of how we all want to take care of our health and steward our bodies well, but how easily manipulated or over-whelmed we can be by influencers who have the programs and solutions that are supposed to fix us. Today Heather explores how we reconcile this tension between being responsible and taking care of my health and being obsessive and feeling like it’s all on me to make sure I keep my body as healthy as possible to live a long healthy life.

She also talks about the temptation we face when we start fantasizing about how great life will be if we can follow the plan and get optimally healthy and avoid all struggle. And, how eerily similar this is to the same game many of us played around trying different diets that promised to solve our weight "problems."

Today Heather talks more specifically about the ways these influencers approach the  “science” and the “root cause” of our thyroid, autoimmune, or weight loss issues. And how their solutions varied.

Learn more about Compared to Who? here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com

 
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Are you trying to do everything right to be “healthier” but feeling overwhelmed with all the rules? Have you been sucked into watching a "master class," influencer videos, or subscribing to the program of an influencer who offers the “right” ways to eat, act, and move so that we can beat all our diseases or live a long life? Today Heather questions the food rules, whether or not they are helpful, too severe or disordered, and whether or not they are healthy for us spiritually and mentally (do they invoke humility or pride?). Is food the most important thing to our health or, if we look at history, are we putting too much emphasis on our food rules and the connection they have to optimal health? What about the ways we personally believe or hold to our own health and food rules? Are we willing to try anything and do anything to get what the idol of health gives us? Do we believe that we’ve “lost our lives” and do we try everything because we are desperate to “get our lives back”?

In this information age, it's easy to believe that the end of all of our suffering is available if only we just work hard enough to find it. This can put us on a wild scavenger hunt to find the end to our sufferings. But, if it doesn't work, or even if it does, how does this affect our mental and spiritual health?

Heather closes the show with five suggestions to help anyone be more discerning about health programs and their offerings, and what we click on.

Learn more about Heather and Compared to Who? by visiting: https://www.improvebodyimage.com

Join the 40 Day Reading Challenge here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-day-challenge
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How can we age well? Internet searches tell us that aging well is about wearing sunscreen, avoiding smoking, drinking less, eating right, and exercising more. But, the focus on aging seems to be all about our bodies, but what about our souls? Can having a more eternal perspective allow us to face the reality of aging and to get real about the ways our bodies are failing while remembering and feeling energized by the real purpose and why we were put on this earth? Today, Heather looks at the importance of community and friendships to aging well. She also talks about the hopefulness and joy that can come from keeping in mind that we are eternal beings. She talks about how God’s faithfulness to us through the years we’ve already lived can remind us that He will be faithful to be with us as we age, even if we face physical or mental struggles. She also talks about how remembering that you are a "Forever Person" can help you keep your focus on what's really important without getting too fixated on what's happening to your body in the aging process.

Want to read Heather’s new aging devotional? Learn more and grab your copy here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/aging-gratefully

Want to read the 40 Day Body Image Workbook and join the 40-Day Body Image Workbook reading group that starts May 21st? Learn more here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-Day-Body-Image-Workbook-Christian

 
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The percentage of women (and some men) using Botox to get rid of signs of aging has skyrocketed! Of course, the Bible doesn't have any specific instructions on whether or not it's okay for us to get Botox. Today, Heather explores the topic from every angle--physically, mentally, and spiritually--to allow you to decide for yourself whether or not Botox injections are okay for you. Listen so you can make a thoughtful and informed decision about this very common practice here in the U.S.

New to the show? Learn more about Compared to Who? and listen to the top episodes here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/podcast

Learn more about Heather's brand new book on aging called: Aging Gratefully- A 30-Day Devotional for Women 
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Today we continue our mini-series on aging and explore the tricky topic of what to do when your clothes no longer fit. Heather talks about the reality that women's bodies do change and that over the years we will wear different sizes because our bodies will respond to aging, stress, pregnancies, and other changes in our lives in physical ways. So, what do you do when you have a closet full of clothing and nothing to wear? Heather offers encouragement over how to not feel shame about getting rid of clothes that aren't the right size, what to do when you're stressing out about having to go up or change sizes, and how you can turn the narrative of shame around getting rid of clothes into a beautiful way to bless others. If you've got a closet full of clothes from decades past, this episode is for you.

Learn more about the 40 Day Body Image Workbook Reading Challenge here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/40-day-challenge

Learn more about Heather's brand new book: Aging Gratefully here: books-for-christian-women-body-image

Are you new to the podcast? Find out what episodes to start with here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/podcast

 
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.