Compared to Who? Body Image for Christian Women

"But I feel better on a plan!" This is a sentiment Heather's heard many times and even said herself. But, today, she talks with a dietitian and eating disorder expert, Amy Carlson about what's underneath that feeling of needing a food plan to feel like we're doing "okay" in our bodies. Amy and Heather unpack why we feel guilty or like we're doing something "wrong" when we aren't following a plan....

Today's episode is a compassionate letter to Gwyneth Paltrow who, on Instagram this week, talked about her "wellness plan" which included her sharing what she eats in a day. If you didn't get to see the interview, you can learn more in this New York Post article which quipped that Gwyneth's daily food routine sounded like, "colonoscopy prep."  But the goal of today's podcast is not to criticize or...

Today Heather continues her conversation with Dr. Kari Anderson about binge eating. They discuss what's going on in the brain when we binge, how the brain sends signals that lead to a binge, how binges can connect with attachment and relational issues, how fear connects to inflammation issues, and more. Dr. Kari Anderson is a licensed professional counselor and is a national authority in the treat...

Today Heather interviews Dr. Kari Anderson, a licensed professional counselor, eating disorder coach, author, and a recognized authority in treating binge eating and Binge Eating Disorder (BED). Today, Dr. Anderson shares her story of struggling with food as a child and young adult. Heather and Kari talk about everything from Kari's secret affinity for downing sugar packets for comfort to going to...

What do you do when you feel fat? Of course, most know by now that "fat" isn't really a feeling. Yet, how many of us say it? It's what we say when we don't know any other words to express displeasure with how our bodies look or feel. Today, Heather explores six things you can do when you feel fat. Heather talks about what's under the surface of our "bleh" body feelings and how we can ask ourselves...

Today we’re going to talk about what to do if there’s a part of your body that you hate–that you want to change or maybe even are obsessing over changing. In particular, we're going to talk about hating our stomachs. But you can take today's content and apply it to any body part that bothers you. Heather shares how she tried to research and figure out what culture's advice is for those who hate th...

In Numbers 13 and 14 we read the story of Joshua, Caleb and the twelve spies that were sent out from the Israelites to scout out the land of Canaan. Canaan was the promised land - the land that God was leading them to and had promised to them after freeing them from slavery in Egypt. Yet, ten of the twelve men sent as scouts decided that they were too small to fight the inhabitants and take over t...

On today's show, Heather re-introduces herself, shares her story, and explains in more depth the ministry of Compared to Who? Heather tells of how God helped her overcome a lifetime battle with food, a likely eating disorder, and other body image issues. She shares how God revealed to her she had made her body image an idol and how the revelation of the body image idolatry was life-changing. Heath...

Personality, identity, and image are topics that get fuzzy and blurred for many women who struggle with body image issues. We are told that we need to find our identity in Christ and root it in him, yet, it's difficult to understand how to do this. Today, Heather explores how to find our identity and build an image and identity in Christ. Today we explore the following topics: How we can create id...

Heather continues her conversation with Travis Stewart, LPC - a leader in the world of Christian eating disorder treatment. In today's episode, Heather and Travis discuss a model Travis developed to help people work through tricky emotions, thoughts, and feelings in order to process in a way that is both healthy and God-honoring. This "three chairs" model Travis developed offers a tremendous frame...

Today Heather talks with Travis Stewart, a licensed professional counselor and leader in the eating disorder recovery world. Travis and Heather discuss how understanding our core needs and motivations, which some may classify as part of "personality" can help us understand our proclivity toward certain behaviors around food and body. In today's show you'll hear Heather and Travis discuss 9 self-pr...

What if managing your image was about more than just your body? Have you ever felt yourself trying to manage your personality? Have you ever tried to portray an "image" of yourself that was more like your ideal than perhaps like you were actually wired? Today, Heather explores the world of personality and image. She shares her personal story of feeling like she needed a personality makeover and ho...

Today Heather talks to her Intuitive Eating Coaches — Erin Todd and Char-Lee Haze from the Intuitive Eating for Christian Women podcast — about whether or not you can be “sugar-free” while practicing intuitive eating. Char-Lee lays out a framework for making authentic decisions for our health that are: purposeful, personal, and peaceful. The coaches walk Heather through a journey where she explore...

I pray that this month-long series to help you pray for your body image and "Tune in" to God while you tune out the voices of marketers and Diet Culture has made a powerful impact in your life. Today we finish the series with a look at what's next. What should you do if you started feeling freedom? How do you stay on the road to body image freedom without falling back into hold habits and patters...

Today we pray that God would make us more holy. It sounds like a strange thing to pray for. But, throughout the New Testament we are encouraged to be striving for holiness. There are many things we strive for on this earth--beauty, power, money, success, love of others, acceptance, approval--but striving for these types of worldly treasures leads us to stress and burnout. It's never enough when we...

Today we pray to be more loving. There are many ways being more loving can help us overcome body image issues and insecurity, but today we talk about how believing and receiving God's love can help us feel more of that love so that it overflows into the way we love others and the way we treat our bodies. Loving our bodies is something talked about a lot in culture today, but I don't believe the wa...

God gives us so much grace. When we're struggling with issues like body image or insecurity or comparison, his grace is our only cure. As Heather writes in the Burden of Better  - she thought that she had a comparison problem, but what she really had was a shallow understanding of grace. If we truly understood all the different ways God's grace was at work in every aspect of our lives, we'd be fre...

Today we're talking about praying for peace with the boundaries of our bodies. One of the hardest aspects of our body image struggles may be accepting the way God made and "sized" our bodies. For some, there's frustration over height or size. For others its frustration over specific body parts. But, either way, recognizing that God made us on purpose, for a purpose, means our bodies were made with...

Who doesn't want to be radiant? We all long to shine with a beauty that draws others to us and that those around us would describe as "radiant." While marketers promise that radiance comes from using the right skin care products, cosmetics, and beauty rituals, the Bible tells us that radiance comes from turning our faces to him. So, today in our series where we are praying every day for our body i...

Today we take time during our month-long series where we're praying for your body image issues to pray for a new view of beauty. Why do we feel compelled to try to look a certain way or be a certain "type" of beautiful? It's often because we have defined beauty the way someone else does. We may be defining beauty the way a parent or old boyfriend did. Or, we may be defining beauty the way magazine...

Today we're praying for God to give us a new view of food. Some of us have feared food. Some have treated it like a savior. But the best way to interact with food is to see it as a good gift from God. God designed us to eat. He designed our bodies to run on food. And, he gave us a wide variety of food textures and flavors and a tongue and mouth that could sense them all. If we were supposed to liv...

Like we talked about yesterday, an important part of this process is seeing and believing something new about your body and your value and even food and what it’s intended for. Today we are praying for truth and clarity around food rules. What we need to remember is that there is a lot of lower case "t" truth in this world. There are lots of "truths" about what we need to eat to be healthy, what w...

Are you praying for a healthier relationship with food? Are you always restricting or binging? Do you obsess over food or feel like thoughts of food run your life? Do you fear food or what food might do to you? Are you caught up in labels like "good" foods and "bad" foods? If so, today's episode is for you. For the next few days we’re going to pray for our relationship with food. Even if you don’t...

Yesterday we talked about praying for freedom from what others think of us, but today we're talking about praying for freedom from what we think of ourselves!! What happens when we have ideals or expectations for ourselves that we can't meet? What happens when our opinions of ourselves are crippling us or making us obsess over how we "should" be better or different? Today, Heather talks about how...

Today in our month-long series where we are praying for your body image, we pray for protection from the opinions of others (or approval) related to our body image. Worrying about what others will think of your body is a type of fear. For some, we fear the opinion of parents – mom or dad's opinion of your body has always heavily influenced your own opinion of your body. If mom doesn’t think you lo...