Impossible Beauty

Heather Creekmore is a podcaster, mom of four, body image coach, and author. In our time together, Heather describes what inspired her to write her latest book, The 40-Day Body Image Workbook , as well as why she’s so passionate about guiding women out of diet culture and into truth. Heather also describes what has helped her improve her own relationship with her body, she exposes lies associated...

In today’s episode I talk with Dr. Charlotte Markey about body image pressures impacting us and the next generation. Dr. Markey is a body image expert, professor of psychology and director of the Health Sciences Center at Rutgers University-Camden. She has authored several books, including The Body Image Book For Girls: Love Yourself and Grow Up Fearless , Being You: The Body Image Book for Boys ,...

John Van Sloten is a Calgary-based writer, teacher, and pastor who is passionate about helping people engage God everywhere. Over the past ten years he has preached dozens of creation and Bible-based sermons on topics like radiation therapy, river hydrology, chemical catalysts, tree branches, human knees, and DNA repair mechanisms. John is a regular columnist with the  Calgary Herald  and his book...

Diane Summers, MS, RDN, CD is the founder of Hope Nutrition Therapy and a nationally registered and state certified dietitian. Diane has treated the full spectrum of eating disorders and concerns since 2004, has been supervising eating disorder dietitians since 2009, and works with clients and consultees around the world. She is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and a Narrative Focused T...

In today’s episode, we consider how looking heavenward can breathe new life into the present. This consideration is not a practice of escapism, but an opportunity to take a step back to see the larger story of humanity, where we’ve been and where we’re headed. Thankfully, today’s guest is a gracious and thoughtful guide. Amy Baik Lee is the author of This Homeward Ache: How Our Yearning for the Li...

Felicia Wu Song is a cultural sociologist, speaker, and author who studies how social media and digital devices alter the family, community, and organizational life. Felicia has studied History, Communication Studies and Sociology at Yale, Northwestern, and University of Virginia and her expertise has been sought by organizations such as BioLogos, The Vatican, Notre Dame University, and Fuller The...

Kimberly Wilkerson believes in the power of language; how it impacts us and those around us. Kimberly is a speech language pathologist, as well as the founder of Token Clothing Co. At Token Clothing Co., Kimberly has fused her passion for language with her interest in fashion, to give women an experience that helps them overcome limiting beliefs and negative self-talk. In our time together, Kimber...

With the start of the new year, we find ourselves in a season inundated with diet and fitness-related ads. We are being saturated with and sold the message that now is the time to change, reshape, or perfect our bodies or food intake. My hope is that today’s guest will help us all detox from the current flurry of diet culture messaging and be reminded of the goodness of food and of our bodies. Lis...

In 2007, Kristi McLelland went to Israel and realized that God is better than she ever knew. After studying in Egypt and Israel in 2007, Kristi’s life took a turn, and she began leading biblical studies trips to Israel in 2008. Kristi is an author, professor at Williamson College, and a biblical culturalist who teaches the Bible in its historical, cultural context. Kristi’s most recent book is ent...

Registered dietitian and author, Dana Sturtevant, believes that society has ruptured our relationship with food, movement, and our bodies. Food has become something to restrict and our bodies a project to tweak and “perfect.” But Dana believes it doesn’t have to be this way. She has spent more than 15 years helping people let go of chronic patterns of dieting and disordered eating and move ​​into...

All too often these days, bread gets a bad rap. In many ways, diet culture has taught us to fear “carbs” in all forms. Today’s guest, however, helps us see bread in a new way. She not only invites us to see bread as a gift, but as a sacred reminder of God’s presence and provision. Kendall Vanderslice is a professionally trained baker, speaker, and author, including her most recent title, By Bread...

Deb Benfield has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food, eating, and their bodies in her 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. In her own aging journey, she became frustrated by how difficult it was to find well-researched advice on aging with vitality that was not related to managing weight or youthful appearance. In her group and one-on-one coaching, Deb work...

Several months ago, The Atlantic reported that forty million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years, representing the largest concentrated change in church attendance in American history. In today’s episode, I talk with pastor’s kid turned pastor, Natalie Runion, about the trend of diminishing church attendance. Natalie Runion is the author of Raised to Stay: Persevering in M...

Donetta Floyd’s compassion and perspectives are so refreshing. When it comes to societal messages around food and our bodies, we can often be left with the feeling that we aren’t doing it right. In today’s episode, registered dietitian Donetta Floyd helps dispel unhelpful ideas and misconceptions regarding our relationship with food, our bodies, as well as Type 2 Diabetes. Donetta is a Registered...

Emmy Russell is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who has been performing for the majority of her life. Touring on the road with her grandmother, country legend Loretta Lynn, Emmy started singing on stage at the age of two. Years later, Emmy sang with Willie Nelson’s son, Lukas, at her grandmother’s memorial. This special performance was nominated for Performance of the Year at the CMT Music Awa...

Gaelynn Lea is a professional musician and sought-after public speaker. She has opened for numerous artists including the Decembrists, composed the music for Macbeth on Broadway , starring Daniel Craig, and her perspectives have been shared on outlets such as On Being With Krista Tippett and PBS NewsHour . Having been born with Osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, Gaelynn has had to n...

Societal notions of “beauty” and our relationship with our bodies and food have been deeply influenced by diet culture. Author and registered dietitian Christy Harrison defines diet culture as: “a system of beliefs that equates thinness, muscularity, and particular body shapes with health and moral virtue; promotes weight loss and body reshaping as a means of attaining higher status; demonizes cer...

Grace Wabuke Klein has had her share of ups and downs. From fleeing Uganda under the reign of Idi Amin as a child to having her prayers to get married answered at the age of 42, Grace has had a full life. She has also learned, and now encourages others, that we can find purpose even in difficult days and seasons of waiting. In her new book Flourish: Finding Purpose in the Unknown and Unexpected Se...

Some of life’s greatest lessons come from unexpected teachers. For Lacy Finn Borgo, some of her greatest teachers have been children. In Lacy’s new book, Faith Like a Child: Embracing Our Lives as Children of God, Lacy invites us to consider what we might learn from children. Moreover, could welcoming our child selves draw us deeper into wholeness and our relationship with God? Lacy Finn Borgo tea...

You never know where things will lead. For Grace Casper, a journal she began in elementary school has now become her new book, releasing this week entitled, Dear Parents: Notes from a Child of Divorce. Grace Casper is a writer, speaker, full-time elementary school librarian, and the host of the podcast, Divorce: What I Wish My Parents Knew . She graduated from Baylor University and now lives in Wa...

In honor of the release of my new book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless , I have a special episode in store for you. I recently sat down to have a conversation with my literary agent, Don Pape. Don has been a champion of my book and its message for years now and I can’t thank him enough. In our time together we talk about how Don ended up working in the...

When it comes to societal messages around beauty, we’ve all been swimming in toxic waters. On today’s episode, Christie Dondero Bettwy, helps us name some of the toxic beliefs and messages that we are being fed, so we might be freed from them. Christie is the Executive Director of Rock Recovery in Arlington, Virginia. Rock Recovery is a Christian eating disorder therapy nonprofit where clients can...

Catherine Claire Larson invites us to see beyond the surface of things; reminding us that each life is a miracle, and that parenting is actually soul formation. Catherine is an author and the mother of six boys. Her most recent book is called, Watching in Wonder: Growing in Faith During Your Baby's First Year. Catherine has her masters in biblical studies and spent seven years writing with Chuck C...

“Whole,” “natural,” and “clean” are just some of wellness culture’s buzzwords. On the surface, wellness culture can be so enticing, perhaps seen as the pathway to optimal health and wellbeing. In today’s episode, however, Christy Harrison unpacks some of the dynamics and potential dangers of wellness culture; helping us see why we should think twice before investing in a product or plan that seems...

Elena Rossini noticed a disturbing trend; she observed a cross-generation epidemic of body dissatisfaction. Not only was the trend across generations but it was manifested in similarly distressing ways across diverse cultures. Elena Rossini is an Italian film director, producer, editor and public speaker. Her work focuses on issues of social justice, media representation, and the empowerment of wo...