Compared to Who? Body Image for Christian Women

Do you struggle with thinking bad thoughts about your body? Today Heather will unpack a new way to think about the famous passage in Romans 12:1-2 which tells us to be transformed through the renewing of our minds. Heather will talk about how the key strategy to thinking differently about your body isn't found in the transformation but in believing that you are a new creation from 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. Heather also offers a super practical tool for how to stop bad thoughts about your body from consuming you. She explains something called the Philippians 4:8 filter and how to use it and why you should memorize this passage (or at least have it written somewhere you can always see it) so that you are prepared to transform the way you think about your body every time a negative or damaging thought pops up. Today's episode is sponsored by Classical Conversations, a Christian homeschool program that Heather's family has used for more than a decade. Learn more about this program at: http://www.classicalconversations.com/comparedtowho Did you know Heather has a brand new plan out on You Version? Learn more about this plan called "Have a Comparison-Free Summer" on the Bible app. Ready for Christian body image coaching? Learn more or grab a free ten minute call to see if coaching is right for you: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/Christian-body-image-coaching Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's show is dedicated to giving you a new playlist for when you have a bad body image day. If you're struggling with how you look or feel down about your weight or appearance, pull up these songs and listen on your way to work, while you exercise, or wherever your day takes you. If we can train our ears, hearts, and minds to worship instead of obsessing over our bodies, we will feel freedom like never before. This is a list of Heather's current (Spring/Summer 2023) favorites. What are some of yours? Here's the link to Heather's playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5mxHyxr2dmUpgyI4Zx4kCC?si=8a5bb7763471452d Also check out Heather's Christian workout music playlist here. Ready for some Christian body image coaching? Learn more at: www.improvebodyimage.com Today's show is sponsored by Classical Conversations. Learn more about this Christian homeschool program at: www.classicalconversations.com/comparedtowho Here are the Christian songs to improve body image mentioned in today's show: You by Apollo LTD Fingerprints by Dan Bremnes For the Love of God by Andrew Ripp You Keep Hope Alive Mandisa featuring Jon Reddick God Really Loves Us - Crowder featuring Maverick City Music Running Home - Cochran and Company I See Grace - Micah Tyler Anxious Heart - Jeremy Camp This is Our God - Phil Wickham That's the Thing About Praise - Benjamin William Gratitude - Brandon Lake Easy to Praise - Patrick Mayberry This is My Song (Featuring Mac Powell) Northpoint Music Ain't Nobody - Cody Carnes You've Already Won by Shane and Shane Live Up To Your Name by Danny Gokey You Say by Lauren Diagle Not mentioned but should have been: For King and Country's new song called, Love Me Like I Am Mercy Me: Say I Won't Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

day we're talking about all things music, television, movies, and social media. If you want to be free from body image issues, chances are you're going to have to re-examine how you relate to these forms of media. It's impossible to stay free if you are feeding on a constant diet of unhealthy images and messages. For Christian women who want body image freedom, we have to carefully evaluate every thing we are consuming with our eyes and our ears, much in the same way we were carefully evaluating everything we consumed with our mouths. Only, it may be what you consume with your eyes and your ears are even more harmful to your body image issues than anything you'd eat! Heather confesses to getting sucked in by a famous body makeover plan's ads on YouTube and discusses how easy it is to be affected and influenced by the messages we hear and see. She also talks about God is the only one we know who doesn't have an ulterior motive for our lives. When God tells us something or asks something of us, it's not so he can get our money or win us over--it's for our good and His glory. Marketers have a much different quest. Ready to be free from body image issues? Consider Christian body image coaching with Heather. Learn more at:www.improvebodyimage.com Today's show is sponsored by Classical Conversations. Learn more about this fantastic homeschool community that Heather and her family have used for more than a decade. Visit: www.classicalconversations.com/comparedtowho Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

I've had many women reach out to me over the years with this sentiment, "Help! I hate pictures of myself!" Today's episode of the podcast is dedicated to you. Let's talk through why we hate to see ourselves in pictures, what's really going on in our heads, and what's really going on in our lives when we get our pictures taken. Today, we talk through why pictures of ourselves can be so triggering, how BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder) is stirred by photographs, and what we can do if we are afraid of getting our picture taken because we know we'll hate it. Heather shares from her own experience of struggling with how she looks in pictures and what she's learned about making peace with photos of ourselves. Today's show also talks about what to do with vacation photos. If you don't like how you look in pictures, how to navigate getting your photo taken without letting it ruin your summer vacation! There are lots of great tips in today's episode for everyone who struggles with body image issues and seeing themselves in pictures and longs for freedom! Are you ready for Christian body image coaching? Check out: www.comparedtowho.me for more information. Today's episode is sponsored by Classical Conversations. Find out more about this Christian homeschool community by visiting: www.classicalconversations.com/comparedtowho Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Have what we've been told about exercise and the way it changes the look of your body been skewed? Today Heather looks at some relatively new data that shows how not every person responds to exercise in the exact same way. While it is certain that exercise has mental and physical health benefits for most of us, there is a certain group that does not respond in an expected way. They are termed "exercise non-responders," and these are people who can follow the same 6-week or 12-week plan as the rest of the group and yet not see the same physical changes or physical benefits as the rest. The numbers of who this applies to are much larger than you would expect in one particular outcome called VO2 max, which is a way to quantify physical fitness. We rarely hear about this as an actual possibility. Most of the time we're told that if you do the exercises, put in the work, you will get the same results. We believe the ads that say, "If you want a body like this, work out like this." But, what if that's just not true. What if it's not physically possible for some people to re-shape their bodies in the same way as others. Today Heather wants to free you from the cultural belief that if you do this type of exercise, you will get a body that looks a certain way. Exercise has lots of great benefits, but it's time to lose the shame and frustration around working out hard to get your body to look different. She challenges the paradigm of what we've been taught around exercise and what it will do for us. Action step: Think about what you've believed and how you've assessed yourself or judged others in the realm of fitness and exercise because their bodies don't (or your body doesn't) look like you believed they should look if they were doing the "right types" of exercises. Learn more about exercise non-responders and the article Heather looks at here: https://www.acefitness.org/continuing-education/certified/february-2023/8234/could-your-client-be-a-non-responder/ Here's the pubmed study that Heather cites: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6349783/ Don't forget to leave a review if Compared to Who? has blessed you! Learn more at www.comparedtowho.me/podcast Interested in Christian body image coaching? Find out more at: www.improvebodyimage.com Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today we talk about all things fitness. What does it mean to be fit? Is physical fitness something that all Christians need? Why should we pursue fitness and is there ever a danger to pursuing physical fitness? Today Heather digs into how fitness and health aren't always synonymous. She also talks about how fitness can help us fulfill our calling and serve God with our bodies. But, she shares from her own experience with pursuing fitness at the expense of her health and how this kind of pursuit of fitness wasn't about being fit to serve the Lord better, but was for a more futile purpose.  Heather also looks at what scripture says about fitness in our physical body and fitness from a spiritual sense--readiness to do what God has called and asked us to do. She poses several questions for those of every fitness level to examine their own hearts, lives, and relationship with fitness to find a place of greater peace and spiritual health. Ready for Christian body image coaching? Visit: www.improvebodyimage.com to find out more or grab a ten minute coaching call to see if coaching is right for you. Have you joined our Facebook community yet? Join the Body Image Help for Christian Women group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/764271297116024 Don't forget to snag your copy of The Burden of Better while it's still just .99 on Kindle. Learn more here: https://www.improvebodyimage.com/burden-of-better-book-for-christian-women-on-comparison Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Do you love exercise? Do you hate exercise? Today we're talking about what a healthy relationship with exercise looks like and what a healthy theology of exercise is. What does the Bible say about exercise explicitly, and what can we extrapolate about exercise from the ways God designed our bodies? Here are some things we dig into in today's episode: Does God command us to exercise? Did he design our bodies to move? How can we apply grace to our views of exercise? How can we think about exercise in a way that is healthy and holy according to the Bible? Are there other ways that we are moving our bodies naturally as a part of using our gifts? Can this "count" as exercise? If exercise is a triggering word for you, what would it look like to remove the word exercise from your vocabulary and just get moving in service of the Lord? How do we listen to our bodies around exercise instead of listening to guilt and shame that comes from culture's expectations around exercise? How do you know when your relationship with exercise has gone bad? Exercise Bulimia When exercise becomes an idol or your treasure When exercise becomes too important of a priority in your life or an idol What happens when God asks you to lay down a specific form of exercise Figuring out your motivation for exercise When you're working out too hard and overexercising When exercise is stressing you out too much in already stressful seasons If exercise is an addiction or a problem: Ask why you are working out so hard. Thinking about body kindness as it relates to exercise. Here's the pelvic floor program, Tighten Your Tinkler, I mentioned in today's show that I talked about last Fall on the show. Check out Jimmy Pena's testimony at prayfit.org . What does the Bible really say about the importance of physical exercise? Check out 1 Timothy 4:1-8 and think about its implications of spiritual fitness versus physical fitness. Do you need extra support for your body image journey? Consider coaching with Heather. Learn more at www.comparedtowho.me Leave a review for the show! Learn more at: www.comparedtowho.me/podcast Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In Genesis 2:25, we read how Adam and Eve were in the garden and "naked and unashamed." But most women with body image issues aren't experiencing this kind of freedom in their intimate lives. Just thinking about being "naked and unashamed" is nerve-wracking for most of us. But the truth is: What your body looks like has little to do with how well you can connect with your husband in the bedroom. If having a "hot" body meant great sex and great marriages, then Hollywood would be the mecca of great relationships. And, yet? That's not what we see playing out there. What is sex designed for? Does sex require us to look a certain way in order to enjoy it? Sex isn't supposed to be "Look at me" but how can we join together and love each other well. On today's show Heather makes three observations about this Genesis 2:25 verse. She discusses all the ways we've absorbed culture's messages around sex and our bodies and how they hurt our intimate lives. Heather also digs into how culture teaches us to strive for being "naked and unashamed" in every area of life. But what if this goal is misguided? Could it be that the only context in which we are designed to be naked without any shame is in the context of marriage after we've become one flesh with another person? What's our motivation to be naked and unashamed? Heather encourages you through this episode that intimacy issues are rarely about our bodies, which gives us great hope for better marriages and sex lives--no matter how our bodies age or change. Other resources: Dr. Juli Slattery was on the show last year talking about sex, body image, and marriage. Listen to that episode here. Coaching is open! Learn more at: www.improvebodyimage.com If you need help sorting through body image in marriage issues, book your session today. The Burden of Better is available for only .99 on Kindle for one more week. Check it out here and learn more. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In today's About 7 Minutes of Scripture episode, Heather explores how the message of the Gospel can specifically encourage us around our specific body and food issues. We have so many messages coming at us, and every day we choose to believe certain things are true and certain things aren't true. We can choose to believe that carbs are bad or that intermittent fasting is the best way to live. We can choose to believe that more exercise is always better or that taking a rest day is akin to laziness. We can choose to believe all of these things based on the words of people on the Internet, influencers who tell us their ways are best and we follow them. But, what about the greatest influencer of all? What about Jesus and His word and His Truth? Why is it sometimes harder to believe that the Gospel is enough to pronounce us worthy and accepted? How can we believe the Gospel and its message as easily as we believe the messages of human influencers? Today, Heather explores the first part of 1 John 4. Look it up to follow along or read later.  Check out the Burden of Better on Kindle for only .99 starting May 1st! (Amazon affiliate link) Do you need Christian body image coaching? You can connect with Heather or schedule a free ten-minute call here. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today Heather continues her conversation with Tracy Brown, RD about the strange or unusual physical symptoms that can connect to dieting, food restriction, eating disorders, and disordered eating. Though some doctors fail to make the connections, it's clear from Tracy's work that many women who have this kind of history also have similar symptoms that show up in the form of GI tract or stomach issues that range from bloating, to IBS, to esophagus issues and other problems. Heather and Tracy explore the impact your diet or wellness plan may have secretly had on your digestive system. Heather shares about her autoimmune esophagus issues and related problems she's had with her GI tract. They talk about AFRID and other ways we can unknowingly create more problems for ourselves as we try to restrict foods that we think are to blame for the issues we are having.  Heather shares what happened after she went for MRT testing to see what foods she was allergic to and how the further restriction may have caused even more problems. Tracy also digs into the threat response we create in our bodies when we fear eating certain foods or when past trauma connects with certain foods and we respond to them. There's so much interesting information in this episode-for education purposes only. Please seek treatment or help from an eating disorder-trained medical professional if you are struggling with an eating disorder or some of these symptoms.  Connect with Tracy Brown, RD and learn more about how to work with her. For helpful encouragement on Intuitive Eating and finding a healthy relationship with food, follow Tracy on Instagram here. Check out the Burden of Better on Kindle for only .99 starting May 1st! (Amazon affiliate link) Do you need Christian body image coaching? You can connect with Heather or schedule a free ten-minute call here. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.