Today I’ll share 5 lessons I learned this summer about a wide range of topics from swimming with sharks to introversion…how everything is hardest when you’re in the middle to what happened to my Thyroid and Hashimoto’s disease. I hope this episode will encourage you with truth you need if you’re wrestling control, battling thyroid issues, in the middle of something that feels REALLY hard, or just feeling overwhelmed by the need to manage your image. Check it out and let me know what you think.
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Hi Heather
Did you cut out gluten to help your thyroid. I don’t know if it’s Gods will for me and I keep getting conflcting answers from health professionals.
I also have hashimotos
Oh Nikita! It’s so tricky. I was gluten free for several years to fix my hashimoto’s…and then I reintroduced gluten a few years ago and didn’t have any problems with it and my hashimoto’s TPO AB number is so shrunk that I’m in remission. I don’t think it’s accurate to say because I reintroduced gluten it went away. My friend, dietitian Tracy Brown, talks about how there’s always something underneath the surface when our system won’t tolerate certain foods. So, did I address that with something else I was doing (maybe the infrared sauna?) and that allowed me to process gluten again . . .It’s really hard to know! I have learned that being afraid of certain foods or food groups never helps me get well. It is very difficult when you’re getting different advice from different sources. I’d encourage you to pray about it and listen to your body and see how you feel eating it versus not eating it (though I know it can be weeks with it/without it to tell a difference.) This is one of those things where there is no definitive right or wrong answer since every body is different!
hi Heather
Thanks for your reply!
This is a little off topic, I have been listening to your podcast and I’ve read your book Compared to Who. And it has really helped me in alot of areas but I am stuck on one thing. I have this deep fear that God will just let my worst fears come true and that I will become heavier than I ever have before if I truly let the food rules go/ jump into intuitive eating. I already started the journey and I’ve already gained some weight and am feeling really insecure. I worry that it’ll get to a point that I’ll get so big that it will be overwhelming and paralyzing. I know it’s obviously an idol in my life, I’ve been wrestling with God on this issue for close to a year now trying to surrender but I’m so scared. I’m so scared it’s going to backfire and that I’m going to get so big with no return or the only escape being another diet.
I don’t know what my actual question is I just wanted to get your thoughts. I just don’t know how I can carry on in a positive way when I already feel so defeated and like my body is betraying me.
Hi Nikita! Yes, You’re not alone in that. That’s everyone’s fear. I guess that’s where we have to start, though. It’s everyone’s fear. Who is fear from? Who inspires fear? It’s the enemy. I like to say that our body image issues are more theological than biological. Because, the real challenge is – can I trust God if I give him control in this arena? If I surrender my body to God… will he still be good? What if he’s not good? What if I don’t feel like he’s good or feel like he’s good to me. That’s where we get so stuck. Do we really believe that God is good? Can we trust him even if the way he is good to us isn’t how we want him to be good… or feels unfair. What if your body’s betrayal (I love the way you phrased that, it was supposed to be a chapter in my new book but we had to make some cuts) – had nothing to do with what you ate or how you exercised? What if your pituitary gland decided not to work and your weight was completely out of your control? Or, what if another disease (like Lyme) struck from a Tic bite (nothing to do with food) and things started to go awry. It’s a lie from the enemy that we have complete control of our bodies and what they do. Yes, there are some things we can do – healthy behaviors we can incorporate. But, we don’t have complete control, only God does. So, why not acknowledge this in every scenario … not just when things go different than we planned. 😉 Re-read your message to me please. You are scared that surrendering to God will backfire? I TOTALLY understand that, it’s the concern of every woman I work with. There’s no shaming in me asking you to look at it again! You’re not alone. But, our hearts reveal where the real work is to be done. Is God trustworthy, or not? Is he worthy of our surrender, or not? If I see that it’s an idol, and I turn from the idol, is Jesus really better? Yikes. This is what we have to wrestle though. He is. Always. But, it’s spiritual warfare to see it. My online course walks through the spiritual side of things in great detail with lots of sermons to listen to and exercises to process. It may be helpful for you if you’re interested! 🙂
Hi Heather I completely hear you and you are so right my heart needs alot of work. But maybe let me clarify my struggle. Remember I asked you about quitting gluten? Well my question regarding intuitive eating is sort of the same. I don’t have a direct answer from God saying this is my Will you need to intuitive eat. It’s more like I’m scared that maybe God didn’t say that and now I’m just being a pig and maybe I’m addicted to sugar and need some rules and maybe God is like well this is your body like the laws of gravity if you eat too much you’ll be fat. So these are the thoughts in my head. I feel confused much of the time.
Sorry for the rant I will keep listening to the pod cast and praying for God to open my eyes in this area… I guess sometimes I feel alone and like I’m guessing what God wants.
Hi Nikita! Oh, I do understand your struggle… so well. I hope you don’t think I was minimizing it. Again, it comes back to your theology though. Is God up in heaven waiting for you to mess up because you ate too much? Your fear is that God isn’t speaking and is mad at you and going to punish you by making you fat. It’s all the teaching of the diet culture around us. That if you listen to your body or try to eat in a different way that makes you feel better, you’ll be “fat” and undesirable and unloved. And, it’s sad, but I think many of us fear God will go on that “doesn’t love me anymore now that I’m fat” list. That’s horrible theology. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are no scriptures about what you should weigh. Confusion is not from the Lord. It’s from the enemy. It’s his voice that muddies things and makes it really difficult to hear the still small voice of the Spirit. It’s the enemy that shames and condemns (“you pig”) – never the Father. God doesn’t lead and guide us through shame and condemnation. The fear of fat is not from God. Not one part of it. My encouragement to you is to try to pick out those shaming voices and recognize that those are ones you do not have to listen to. They are not helping you. They are putting thoughts in your head that aren’t healthy or holy. In many ways, this thought war makes it even harder to get healthier in your relationship with food but also to have a healthier body. When we’re stressed over every bite we don’t digest well and don’t get the nutrients we need. Can you take this relationship with food back to basics? Can you pray and ask God to guide you with every bite? Can you tell him that you trust him…with whatever happens with your body? I am heavier than I was 8 years ago when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and trying not to eat all the things. But, I don’t have Hashimoto’s anymore and my body – according to bloodwork and the way I feel – is much healthier than it was then. This is a common occurrence. It’s only people selling diets/diet foods who convince us that thinner is always healthier. Most of my clients were not healthy when they were at their thinnest. Physically in cases like mine, but mentally and spiritually in every case. It’s so hard to not confuse the voices of “truth” from the culture and science (which are always changing, making it even harder) with the Voice of Truth of God! Those voices in culture get to talk to us all day, every day. It’s hard to be still and listen to God for more than a few minutes. I will continue to pray that you’ll hear HIS voice the loudest and that he will guide you and direct you. He made your body (not the Instagram influencers). He knows exactly what you need. He’s not a mean dad waiting in Heaven for you to get it right and if you don’t he’s going to pound you. God is gracious, merciful, and kind. He cares most about our hearts. He wants us to rip away the idols that distract us from following him and keep us focused on our body as our sense of acceptance and value, instead of knowing we are fully accepted and valued through Christ. I pray that you’ll start to feel and know his love and grace in a fresh and real way this week. Hugs and grace!