July 18, 2025 • 40 mins
Welcome back for Part 3 of the official crossover series of the "What’s God Got To Do With It?" and Outweigh podcasts.
This week, we discuss the necessity of stepping into a new version of yourself if you really want to achieve true health and freedom in your relationship with food and your body.
We talk about WHY transforming your self-image is crucial on a neuroscience level, and how it's not about what you eat-- but who you truly believe yourself to be.
Only this time around, you're invited to address the roots of your identity and self-image in a way that aligns with God's view of yourself, instead of worldly and societal standards.
And of course, we get a little 'geeky' and explore the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC), and its significant role in self-perception, emotional and physical pain, and your coping mechanisms, AND how this is particularly important for women, whose ACCs are more active than men's. Throughout the episode, you'll hear scripture AND evidence-based research that supports the transformative power of faith.
Dive on in to learn how integrating faith and science can lead to building YOUR new identity, free from the burdens of shame and self-rejection, and discover what it truly means to see yourself as God sees you.
HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington
To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
If you want to go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If you're skeptical, don't worry.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Not here to preach, want to keep clean and talk
to me and recad where faith need starts nature. Get
in touch with your creat with a vagul love and
jew She even speaks Hebrew.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Gotzat? What's that? Sapsation? You should talking transformation? What's that? Gonzato?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I am so excited as this is the very first
official crossover series of What's God Got to Do with It?
In the Outweigh podcast, Because if you've been listening to
me on Outwegh, you know that that podcast is all
about helping women break them selves out of the food
and body prison, end the dieting madness, and take control
of their health for good, but without all that restriction,
(01:08):
obsession and shame, and without dragging it out for years
to address it. And if you've been listening to me
on What's God Got to Do with It, you know
that we are all about the fusion of where science
meets faith and where faith meets transformation and miracles. So
this is a beautiful opportunity to talk about the crossover
of where science meets food and body image and self
(01:31):
image struggles and where that intersects faith or what's God
got to do with all of that. And that's exactly
what this six part series is all about. So Part
one is really just an introduction where we're simply going
to set up this massive topic. Part two is all
about the big picture of where faith meets science meets
(01:54):
food and body image struggles. In Part three, we go
deep into the self image and idea that you would
need to actually step into the version of you that
would have that health, that would have that relationship with
food in her body, and who would actually be at
peace and feel free, and of course how that fuses
with this faith brain conversation. In Part four, we dive
(02:18):
deeper into what God has to do with what I
call your food brain and disordered eating patterns and filling
voids in your head hard in spirit with food or
netflix or wine or whatever your drug of choice is,
and it's a whole that will never be filled by
those things. In Part five, we dive into the complicated
(02:38):
relationship that women have with their bodies and their body
image and physical pain, which is not talked about enough
in my opinion, and how to heal all of that
from a faith meets science perspective and invite God into
the conversation. And then wrapping it up in part six,
we get into the strategy side of things, as in,
(02:59):
what does it look like to use what you've learned
about neuroscience and faith and healing your relationship with food
in your body image to go create a winning game
plan that sets you up to win and one that
your brain just learns so you can go live your life.
Food can be food, and you can feel comfortable in
your skin and free from the chains of restricting or
(03:19):
punishing your body. So let's dive on in. Here's part three.
Welcome back to the Outweigh and What's God Got to
Do with It crossover series, and we are back to
go narrower and deeper into this conversation. And so last
week we talked about the big picture of this entire
(03:39):
faith meets science meets food and body image conversation, and
today we're going to go deep into the self image
and identity that you need to actually step into the
version of you that would have that health, that would
have that relationship with food in her body and who
would actually be at peace and feel free. And of
course how that fuses with this faith brain conversation. And
(04:03):
so remember, as we talked about, that's why we're having
this science meets faith conversation because it's all under the
umbrella of stepping into a new identity. Like we talked
about before, you have to become a new version of yourself,
and you have to radically transform your being, not just
what you're eating or not eating. And like the version
of you that would live that way and have that
(04:25):
relationship with food and have that body, who is she right?
What is she thinking and believing and feeling and doing?
And notice again I didn't say what is she eating?
And then the what to do or don't do side
of things is downstream from that identity and self image
of the woman that you're living as each and every day.
(04:46):
And you know that might sound daunting if food and
your body is something that you've been struggling with for
a long time, but trust me, it is imperative. But also, like,
let's just say you had all of that strategy and
habit and brain change stuff that I talked about a
second ago. Let's say you had you know, the perfect
plan and the perfect steps to take. Who's to say
(05:08):
that you would actually show up for yourself and use
it and stick with it, because I could, literally, you know,
just give you my stressless eating strategy that I give
my clients and teach you, you know, the system of
thinking that I teach them around food in your body.
But if you don't address the self image and body
image and the identity that's causing you to think and
act and feel and behave the way that you are
(05:29):
around food in your body, I'm not trying to sound
you know, pessimistic or mean, but you will always end
up right back where you are right now, because even
if it so feels like it, this is not a
food problem or a body problem. And remember this is
a brain thing. And the things that have gotten fired
and wired in your brain are because of the thoughts
(05:51):
and the emotions and the actions that are a cascade
effect and have simply become habits in your brain. And
so in other words, you're habits and behaviors are symptoms
of a cause aka your thoughts that are happening upstream
in your brain. Okay, but I also personally believe, or
at least you know, I'm just here to invite you
(06:12):
to try on the possibility that what if this was
also a spiritual thing, right, and so that's why we're
starting there. So instead of talking about, you know, trying
to influence what you're eating or how you're moving, we're
entering into the conversation of addressing the root of the
problem of what's going on in your mind and brain,
but also in your heart and spirit, so that you
(06:34):
can address it from the root. Because, as we talked
about the past couple of weeks, there are two very
different roots systems that can take roots in our brain
and in our spirits, and so it's so important that
you start at the roots so that you can produce
the fruits that you want to produce. And that's why
I'll just keep reminding you of, you know, the old
(06:55):
way or the conventional way versus the new way. Where
the old way is you know, strictly a body conversation
or an eat less move more conversation, and where the
new way and the permanent way, and really the way
of ease and flow and lifelong freedom is a science
meets faith conversation, and it's those old beliefs staying rooted
(07:16):
in you, carrying you down the same dead end roads
of restriction and punishment and persuasion or you know, obsession
and stress and feeling out of control, or it's new
beliefs where you die to that old identity, step into
a new identity with new beliefs, and you actually address
those old non serving beliefs about yourself and about food,
(07:38):
you know, the ones that you've probably been carrying around
for a long time, and you step into that whole
new identity that has that new relationship with food in
her body. And then from that place that's what replaces
the old behaviors and habits and plants seeds for the
new ones to take root. Okay, but again now it's
coming from that new root system and you probably guessed it.
(08:01):
I want to start with your self image. So now
that we're all caught up, when I say self image,
essentially it's the goggles that you're seeing yourself through day
in day out. It's really like your personal view or
mental picture that you have of yourself. Okay, and so
imagine all of the thoughts that you think about yourself
on a day to day basis. And so maybe you're
(08:22):
calling yourself things like intelligent or kind, or beautiful or talented,
or maybe you're calling yourself a loser or ugly, or
a disappointment, a failure, unworthy, unlovable, broken, fill in the blank. Okay,
I've used them all. But basically, however, you are regarding
yourself or perceiving yourself how you view you know, your
(08:44):
strengths and your weaknesses. You are defining yourself and painting
a picture of yourself and then living into that story
and picture, and then your beliefs and habits and behaviors
just follow that story. And that's why I always say
that what you see is who you be. Okay, what
you see is who you be, which is really just
(09:06):
to say that how you're showing up in your life.
So whether that's physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, fill in the blank,
relationally right, it is a direct reflection of what you
see or perceive as being true about yourself relative to
each of these areas. And so if you see yourself
(09:27):
as beautiful and lovable and irreplaceable, then you be someone
who shows up in the world as beautiful and lovable
and irreplaceable. So what you see is who you be.
On the other hand, though, if you see yourself as
imperfect or flawed or again I hear it a lot broken,
they feel broken right, ugly, unlovable fill in the blank.
(09:49):
Then you'll be the person who meets the circumstances of
your life as that person. Again, what you see is
who you be. And so that's why doing the air
quotes you know, out their work, like the diets and
the gems and the goal based or motivation stuff, it
tends to fall short for us, right, or maybe just
doesn't really address the deeper stuff going on, because we
(10:10):
will only ever be the person that we see. What
you see is who you be, right, And that's why
I always say that true transformation begins with the self
image and really stepping into a new identity so that
you see and perceive yourself differently. That's what I mean
by self imaging. And so I learned this myself after
(10:31):
losing one hundred pounds and making over my body. But
because I didn't address the self image and my body
image and my perception of myself, the wiring in my
brain that was kind of you know, the residue was
causing me to think and act and feel and behave
like I was, you know, fat, unworthy, a failure, destined
to stay this way forever. Whatever painful words I was using.
(10:53):
I'm sure I was using a lot worse than that too, right,
But so yes, I lost all of this weight, but
I never transformed my identity. And I brought all of
my old habits and thinking and behaviors with me, because
I brought my old self image with me, and I
brought my old relationship with food and my relationship with
my body with me. Right, it's all under that umbrella. Now,
(11:13):
keep in mind that when I started on my own
self image path, I didn't have God in my life yet,
or I should say like I didn't know that I did.
I didn't have that relationship yet. But by some divine miracle,
I eventually had the insight and awareness to realize that
I was never going to be able to outdiet or
outwork or outsmart the wiring in my brain and my
(11:35):
self image, and that I was also not going to
be able to do it all on my own. Like
I needed help and I needed a lifeline. And yes,
in many ways I needed to be saved from myself
because I was playing the self sufficiency game. And anybody
who's played that for a long time or your whole
life in my case, knows that that is no way
to win, like you can't heal it on your own,
(11:57):
and you know you probably don't want to either. And
that's why I get so excited to bring this God
conversation into the conversation and talk about what God's got
to do with it when it comes to your self image,
because I believe that there absolutely is a faith brain connection,
and so when it comes to you know, the collective
stories that we tell ourselves on repeat, you know, like
(12:18):
a tape recorder in the back of our mind where yeah,
we might be using words like unworthy or unlovable, or
maybe we even identify with words like shame or self rejection.
But it's also those stories that we tell ourselves where
we're different, or we're weird, or you know, we don't
belong or we're you know a lot of times for me,
I felt alone or isolated and you get the picture.
(12:39):
But you know, part of it is like we make
ourselves wrong just for being who we are right and
so if you're anything like me, I also thought that
I was crazy because again I was making everything about
myself wrong, and so I felt broken and I fell
down that fill in the blank rabbit hole all the time.
The shame one, the comparisonitis, the self rejection, the just
(13:00):
the inner toxicity, and that in its own right is
its own rabbit hole, because then we feel all of
those things, but then we also now feel isolated or disconnected,
and isolation and disconnection is its own rabbit hole, right,
or at least it definitely can be if our self
image is untamed or unmanaged or just you know, growing
those metaphorical weeds that we talked about last week without
(13:23):
us weeding the metaphorical garden. And that's why right off
the bat, I want to talk to you about a
very specific part of the brain that we touched on
a bit in the first couple episodes of this series,
and it's that part of the brain that I have
been semi obsessed with. I'm not gonna lie for many
many years, because it's essentially where your self image and
self perception live. And I'm starting here because this is
(13:47):
the stuff that if I knew about this when I
was younger, it would have saved me so much suffering
because understanding why I do what I do and really
understanding how this part of the brain works. Honestly, it
kind of helped me. I jokingly say, like it helped
me own my crazy right like, as I lovingly say
that now, because now I know I wasn't crazy. But
(14:07):
my brain was just doing what it does and what
it got fired and wired to do and really repeat
until I changed the pattern. So it wasn't me being crazy.
My brain just needed to be managed.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
So we're gonna get a big geeky but I promise
you it will all make sense and become really important
in your own faith brain connection and especially when it
comes to the food and body conversation. So this specific
(14:42):
part of the brain, I want you to get familiar
with it. Okay, so it's called the anterior singulate cortex,
but you can just remember ACC. You can. You're gonna
hear me calling it ACC for short. And the reason
I believe that it is so darn important is because
of all the radically important stuff that goes on there. So,
first of all, this is the part of the brain
(15:03):
that is largely responsible for the self perception and self
reflection and self image that we just talked about. What
you see is who you be boom. ACC is very
responsible for that. But this is also where a large
majority of your emotional pain receptors are and your social
pain receptors, as you'll learn about in a bit, which
you'll also learn is a big time influencer when it
(15:25):
comes to conversations about addiction or just relying on any
coping mechanisms or anything you just feel out of control of.
So whether that's food, whether that's alcohol, shopping, Netflix, you
name it. Yet, that is an ACC thing too, and
we're going to get into that in future episodes. But
if that's not enough important stuff already, the ACC is
(15:47):
also where a large majority of your physical or physiological
pain receptors live too. So for example, if I hurt
my shoulder, the injury lives in my shoulder, but the
pain I'm experiencing lives in the brain, and a large
majority of that part of the pain lives specifically in
the ACC. Okay, so just that alone, can you see
(16:07):
why this part of the brain is so important to
know about and try to take care of and really
keep healthy? Right? Because also you can see that it
would be really powerful if you know, we're talking about
all three of those things like big things, pain, self image, addiction. Right,
can you also see how it would be really powerful
to experience and invite God into conversations about this part
(16:30):
of your brain too. So that's exactly what we're going
to do. And as we go through this series, I'm
going to continue breaking each part down kind of in
a logic and reason side of things, and speak to
the logic and reason side of you. But then we're
going to directly invite God into these conversations. And as
you'll learn, there is literally evidence based science out there
that backs this up. So let's start with the self
(16:52):
perception and self reflection part of your brain and of
your self image. So a quick thing about the ACC,
or that's social brain as I call it. I teach
my clients to remember the three letters ACC by remembering acceptance, connection,
and care. And that's because your ACC's job is to
look for acceptance, connection, and care from other people, but
(17:16):
also feeling it internally like do I accept myself? Do
I connect with myself? And do I feel like I matter?
Like do I care?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
And so, in other words, in order for your social
brain to feel safe right and not just go in
its own form of fight or flight, it needs to
feel emotionally and socially safe, and so it needs to
feel that connection and belonging and inclusion and actual human
connection like from other people, but also feeling accepted, connected
(17:44):
and cared for from yourself in order to feel that
from others. So it's both, it's it's an and slash
both conversation, right, and of course where do we get that?
I believe it's God, but we'll talk about that, right.
And so here's the thing, talking about this idea of
your social brain needing to feel safe like it needs
that connection, that belonging, that inclusion. This is not just
(18:05):
a desire, okay, it is a require. It is not
just a want from your ACC. It is a need.
And so, ladies, and interesting thing about the ACC is
it's actually bigger and more active in females than it
is in males. And so one of my favorite neuroscientists,
doctor Leuin Bresendine, she says it best when she says this,
(18:27):
and this is from her book The Female Brain. She says,
more than ninety nine percent of male and female genetic
coding is exactly the same, and out of the thirty
thousand genes in the human genome, the less than one
percent variation between the sexes is small, but that percentage
difference influences every single cell in our bodies from the
(18:48):
nerves that register pleasure and pain to the neurons that
transmit perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. So literally that one
percent difference. It's the ACC that's one of the things.
So one of the biggest differences between the male and
the female brain is the ACC. It's bigger and more
active in females than it is in males. And back
to what loui Ane Brezendine was saying, it influences everything
(19:11):
from the nerves that register pleasure and pain to the
neurons that transmit perception, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It's literally
like what we were just talking about. So if you
feel like maybe you feel pain more, you feel emotional
pain more, if you're a woman, you're not crazy. Because again, ladies, yes,
the social emotional pain center of your brain essentially needs
more love. It needs more acceptance, and needs more connection.
(19:33):
It needs more care and understanding that piece of it
really helped me realize like, Okay, I'm not crazy, I'm
not just like over emotional. I'm a woman. I'm a female.
I have a female brain, and now I know that
my female brain just needs a little bit more love
and attention and care. But here's what I also say
(19:54):
about this social brain and self image conversation. It is
not practical or even possible for or anyone to not
care what other people think about us. Our brains are
wired to care, especially the female brain. As you're learning,
We're wired to actively notice other people's opinions and judgments
of us. And we do that more than the male
(20:14):
brain does that, right, but the male brain still does
it right. But that being said, it's not possible to
not care about other people's opinions of you. But here's
what is possible. It's possible for you to figure out
what would it take for you to value your own
opinion of yourself more so, even just a teeny tiny
(20:34):
bit more so than someone else's opinion of you. And
I truly believe that the best way to do that
is to align with God's view of who you are,
not society, not your neighbors down the road, or that
woman you follow on Instagram that you're comparing yourself to.
I believe it's possible to build an identity and recreate
(20:55):
your self image through the eyes of unconditional love and
accept and connection and care. And I believe that God
is the perfect set of eyes to start seeing yourself through,
because when you invite God into your self image, that's
when you can start to see yourself as God sees you,
and when you can rewire and solidify your identity so
(21:17):
that you are no longer caring around all of this
shame and no longer rooted and defined by just food
or your weight. And just remind you, right, when you
hear me say self image and like being defined, I
really just mean starting to see yourself as God sees you.
And it's a trajectory. It's not one of those like
one and done things. It's little by little more and
(21:39):
more identifying with the way that God sees you, and
less and less identifying with the shame or the brokenness.
And then anytime I say the word identity, I truly
just mean rooting your identity and your worth and your
value you know, this time around in things that are
bigger than you, and that are no longer again less
and less rooted in shame, and no no longer just
(22:00):
rooted in your weight or your gene size, or your
bank balance or your relationship status. Right, I mean an
identity rooted in the identity that God has for you.
So back to this social brain conversation, what would it
be like if you lived your life and you didn't need,
you know, drip feeds of endorsement or you know, belief
from somebody else to tell you who you are or
(22:23):
tell you how much you're worth, or tell you that
you know you're you're a good person, right, or tell
you that you're beautiful or desirable or like if you
have the right to even feel that for yourself, right,
because a lot of people think like, oh, I can't
think that about myself. It's it's cocky, it's braggadocious, it's
you know, vain, and it's like, no, it's just knowing
who you are and knowing who you're not. And sure,
(22:44):
it's nice to get that confirmation and endorsement from others,
like you're only human, you're gonna want it, right, But
what would it be like if you didn't need it
and rely on it solely from others and you were
able to actually provide it from yourself because you were
getting your identity from God and through the eyes of
God's unconditional love and acceptance. Right, So what would it
(23:05):
look like? Or I should say, what would you look like?
Talk like, walk like, think like, feel like if you
were walking around seeing yourself and your life through those eyes,
through God's eyes. And so imagine how your self image
would be impacted if you were walking around seeing yourself
through those eyes, like through God's eyes. And we're going
to come back to that in just a minute. But
(23:26):
remember how I said the ACC was a big player
in addiction and coping mechanisms and feeling dependent or you know,
codependent or out of control of something and that side
of things. Well, I believe that the ACC is also
primarily where addiction and coping mechanisms live. And so we're
going to go way deeper in part four of this
series next week, all about your food brain. But I
(23:47):
wanted to just mention that this is the same part
of the brain that we're talking about today where your
self perception and self image and identity primarily live. Okay,
but just that little bit of information alone is so
fast fascinating, right, Like, just this brain stuff to me
was revelatory because again it made me realize, Okay, I'm
not crazy or weak willed or weird or different. I
(24:09):
just need to learn to take care of my brain.
And like I take care of my body. Like, imagine
if as much time as you might be thinking about
food or thinking about your body, you focused on taking
care of your brain. Right. And so if you think
that this is cool, right, or interesting, We're going to
look at this aspect of the acc through the lens
of faith. Okay, and let's directly invite God into this conversation.
(24:41):
So when it comes to your self image and self
perception and where faith meets science, I do want to
talk about what God has to say about it, but
I want to see also what science and evidence based
research has to say about it, because that's where it
really gets cool. So there was a national study conducted
by the Association of Religion and Data Archives, and that
(25:02):
study concluded that warship, attendance, prayer, and the specific act
of someone committing their life to Christ specifically says Christ
where we're all, related to higher self esteem When individuals
reported a close relationship with and I'm quoting here a
close relationship with a divine being who cared about them.
(25:25):
And so the sociologists conducting this experiment said that when
humans have what they call the ultimate friend, like that's
literally what the study called it was the ultimate friend
on their side, it made a big difference when it
comes to self respect and self worth. And so, guys,
this is literally a study to see the impact of
faith on self image and self worth. And so what
(25:47):
they concluded was that, and I quote, a sense of
divine support is a row bust predictor of self esteem. Okay,
it literally predicts self esteem. If you have a sense
of divine support, it is going to be a predictor
and indicator of self esteem. And so here's the thing
I really want you to take away from this study.
(26:08):
Notice the kind of relationship with God in Christ that
this study talks about. They referred to having a relationship
with Christ where he was like the ultimate friend and
a divine being who cares about you. Right. This is relationship.
That is the definition of relationship. This is not religion. Okay,
It's not a punishment or shame driven God. It's a
(26:30):
relationship with a loving, redeeming God, a heavenly Father who
sees you and loves you just as you are. And
you don't have to earn it or work for it.
And it definitely isn't dependent on your weight or what
you ate that day. Right. And so as you'll hear
me say a lot. And this was one of the
most powerful distinctions I learned on my own spiritual journey.
(26:52):
There is a big difference between religion and faith, and
the big distinction being that religion is all about rules
and faith is about relationship, a relationship with God. Okay,
so let me just say that again for the people
in the back. Religion is about rules. Faith is about relationship,
(27:14):
relationship with God. And I don't know about you, but
that's what I want, a relationship with God. And so
first of all, I just love that this study literally
defines faith as a relationship with God and Christ as
the ultimate friend and someone who cares about you. Right,
But it also says that faith as a relationship with
(27:35):
God in Christ as the ultimate friend and someone who
cares about you is literally scientifically proven to improve your
self esteem and self worth. So that's what science says
about it. Let's look at what God has to say
about it by going to his word. So from first
Samuel sixteen seven, and this is the NLT version, it says,
(27:56):
but the Lord said to Samuel, don't judge by his
appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord
doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge
by outward appearance, But the Lord looks at the heart.
The Lord looks at the heart. And so how often
are our self images based solely on what we look
(28:16):
like or these quantifiable things, you know, money, relationship, status,
likes on Instagram, whatever it is. It says, the Lord
looks at the heart. This one from one Peter thirty
three or sorry, one Peter three and then verses three
through four reminds us of something similar. It says, don't
be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry,
(28:40):
or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the
beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God,
and so to me. This is about working on your
own inner beauty, because what you see is who you be,
(29:01):
and the beauty within you that has nothing to do
with what the worldly ways say about you or the
worldly ways that we comprise our self worth. This inner
beauty is so so precious to God. And you probably
know by now that I love looking at different versions
of the same scripture, and so the message version of
this one says what matters is not your outer appearance,
(29:23):
the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the
cut of your clothes, but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty,
the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. And I
love that this version literally tells us to cultivate inner beauty.
And to me, that means like really learn it, Like
you have to give your self image a new definition
(29:44):
of beauty. Right, And so of course I have to
also share there's more scripture. I could go on and on.
I had to like really narrow it down for this
episode so that we're not here for three hours. But
I want to share this from Tewod Corinthians five point seventeen,
and this is the NLC version, and it's a pretty
famous verse, but it says, this means that anyone who
belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old
(30:06):
life is gone, a new life has begun. Talk about neuroplasticity,
it's finest. But this just reminds me that you can
take on a new story and a new identity any
time you choose. And I've shared this before, but I
just tried on the story that God sent his son
Jesus to die for all of my sins so that
I didn't have to live in my own burden and
(30:27):
shame any longer, and I could be a new creation
in Christ, and that when I chose to follow him,
the old is gone and the new has come, and
that I can take the pen and I can rewrite
my story or I can co create and rewrite my
story with God. And when I tried on that story,
and I literally just asked God to show me who
(30:48):
I really am and show me how he sees me.
And I literally he tells you in his word, everything transformed,
because what you see is who you be. And so
when I started seeing myself through his eyes, like wow,
it completely transformed my life. And yeah, it started with
me going down the brain and science rabbit hole. But
(31:09):
when I started asking God, what's God got to do
with all the self image stuff? And what's God got
to do with food and the body stuff, and what
does God reflect back to me in the mirror of
my own self perception, what happened is beyond description. And
so I use words like miracles because that's what it
felt like after you know, thirty years of carrying around
toxic shame, and having self rejection and self abandonment be
(31:33):
my emotional home. And so as we talked about last
week through and I talked about it too, like this
is how it shows up in a brain scan, right,
we talked about Philippians four at work, where if you
are anxious, you can literally change the things that you
think about. If you missed it last week, we talked
about how literally they show on a brain scan when
you think about something differently, or you get rid of
(31:54):
anxious thoughts, or you think about peace, or you think
about things that actually you know, push you in the
direction that you want to go. Literally, a brain scan
changes colors. And so Philippians four is at work in that.
And the message version of Philippians four says, instead of worrying, pray,
Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting
(32:15):
God know your concerns, and before you know it, a
sense of God's wholeness everything coming together for good will
come and settle you down. So you can literally change
your brain by changing the things that you think about
and handing it over to God. And that's why I'm
inviting you to try this on, like try on that
you're not crazy or weak willed, that you just have
(32:38):
a brain that got fired and wired in a certain way,
and ask God to fill you with new beliefs and
new elements of your identity and step into your own
rebirth because what you see is who you be. Right
And keep in mind, I'm just giving you examples of
scripture that resonated with me, but when it comes to
your own brain, resonance is everything. So that's why it's
(32:58):
so important that you also find scripture that resonates with
you because if it doesn't resonate, if something doesn't resonate,
it lays down something called negative neuro associations. And I mean,
without getting too geeky, it basically tells your brain like
don't worry, you don't need this very long, and it
never fully downloads it in the long term storage part
(33:19):
of your brain. And that's why positive affirmations or fake
positivity that doesn't really resonate with you. It only works
very temporarily, like if at all, let's be honest, And
so it's important that you find scripture that resonates with
you because when something resonates on a deep level, it
lays down positive neuro associations. Alongside that habit or that thought,
(33:40):
and that's what your long term brain needs to keep
it and keep it as the new story. And that
is such an oversimplified, like non scientific way to share
what happens in your brain. But your brain knows when
something resonates and when it doesn't. And if you want
to talk about like keeping something and having it become
your new self image, it needs to resonate or at
least can't create.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
So those are just some examples of the healing power
of God's word and the healing power of faith and
the healing power of Jesus. But it's up to you
to meet God there, right, Like you've got to show
up and meet God halfway and say, Okay, I'm ready
to rewire my brain, but show me who I am. Right,
And that's really all I'm inviting you into, right, I'm
(34:22):
really the big point of this conversation, Like what if
you started looking at your beliefs and your self image
and your coping mechanisms are parts of your life where
you feel bondage, which we're going to talk about in
depth next week. And yes, you know physical pain, which
we'll talk about in a couple of weeks. What if
it was all a God conversation. And again I'm here
to just keep reminding you of that old conventional way
(34:43):
that you've probably been going down that road versus the
new way. Where the old way again is this strictly
body conversation or eat less move more conversation, and the
new way, and really the permanent way is going in
the direction where faith meets science, but from an like
this conversation of ease and flow and lifelong freedom. Because
those old beliefs staying rooted in you is what carries
(35:06):
you down the same dead end roads, right, And if
your dead end road is restriction or punishment or obsession
or just feeling out of control, it's gonna keep happening.
But the new beliefs where again you first you die
to that old identity and you step into a new
identity with new beliefs that actually address the you know,
the toxic weeds, right, And you step into that new
(35:27):
identity that just has that relationship with herself and has
that relationship with food in her body. That's what replaces
the old behaviors and habits. And you can plant seeds
for new ones to take root. But again it's coming
from that new root system that we talked all about
last week. Okay, And so now you understand why I
wanted to start with your self image, right, because this
(35:49):
is the kind of stuff that's happening in our social brains,
whether we're aware of it or not. And that's why
I want you to be heightenedly aware of it, because again,
it's happening either way. But this is also part of
the brain that I believe if we invite God in
absolute miracles can happen, and our minds can be renewed,
and our identity can be reshaped, and hope and healing
(36:10):
in our own mental, emotional, physical health can be something
that we can continually invite God into the conversation. And so,
as always, of course, everything I share is simply just
an invitation without expectation, to try on a new story
or new perspective and see what meets you where you
are in your own journey. But that is how you
(36:31):
reinvent yourself through the eyes of the brain and the
self image and inviting God into it, and that is
how you create a new identity filled with new beliefs
and a new self image. And so if you're wondering
what God has to do with all of that. As
you now know everything, God's in all of it, and
it's everything that you know and everything you didn't know
you didn't know. That's it for today's episode of the
(36:56):
What's God Got to Do With It? And the Outweigh
podcast crossover. Thanks for tuning in, And if you want
to learn more about the work that I do or
catch either of the podcasts on a regular basis, there's
a couple of ways you can do that. First off,
if you want to learn how to turn off the
part of your brain that's obsessed with food or obsessed
with your weight and rewire your own brain for peace
(37:18):
and freedom, then head on over to Stresslessseeating dot com
and sign up to watch the Stressless Eating sneak preview,
where I've literally peeled the curtain and walked you through
the exact strategy I teach my clients to heal themselves
from the all or nothing diet mentality for good, but
without restricting themselves, punishing their bodies, and definitely without ever
(37:41):
having to use words like macros, low carb or calorie burn.
It's there for you to access over at stressless Eating
dot com and if you're listening to this series over
on What's God Got to Do With It? I also
co host the Outweigh podcast with radio personality Amy Brown,
where we help women break themselves out of the in
body prison, end the dieting madness, and take control of
(38:03):
their health for good, but without all that restriction, obsession,
and shame, and without dragging it out for years to
address it. It's called Outweigh and you can find it
wherever podcasts are streamed. And if you're listening to this
crossover series on Outweigh, check out my other podcast called
What's God Got to Do With It? Where I talk
(38:24):
about all this self image and body image stuff but
from the perspective of where brain science, intersex faith. It's
called What's God Got to Do With It? And you
can access it on iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.
So that's it for this episode of the What's God
Got to Do With It? And the Outway podcast crossover series.
I'm your host, Leanne Ellington, and I'm so grateful to
(38:45):
walk alongside you on this beautiful journey. So thank you
so much for listening, and I hope you got whatever
you needed to get from it. Bye for now. We'll
be back with more What's God Got to Do With It?
But in the meantime, I would definitely love to hear
from you, so just tell me where you are in
your story or maybe what questions you have, like where
(39:06):
do you feel you need clarity or support or wisdom
in your own journey. I definitely want to hear from you,
So head on over to What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot com and scroll down to the form
to share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback, and you
can do that instantly. So What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot Com? You'll find all the ways to
(39:27):
do that. And if you like this podcast and want
to hear more, go ahead and follow, like and subscribe
wherever you listen to podcasts to get your weekly dose
of What's God Got to Do with It? New episodes
drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there, be sure
to rate and review to show your support. It really
means so much. What's God Got to Do With It
(39:50):
is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown Podcast Network.
It's written and hosted by me Leanne Ellington, Executive produced
by Elizabeth Fozio, Production and editing by Houston Tilley and
original music written by Cheryl Stark and produced by Adam Stark.
If you want to go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If you're skeptical, don't worry.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Not here to preach, want to keep clean and talk
to me and recad where faith need starts nature. Get
in touch with your creat with a vagul love and
jew She even speaks Hebrew.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
What's that?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Gotzat? What's that? Sapsation? You should talking transformation? What's that? Gonzato?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I am so excited as this is the very first
official crossover series of What's God Got to Do with It?
In the Outweigh podcast, Because if you've been listening to
me on Outwegh, you know that that podcast is all
about helping women break them selves out of the food
and body prison, end the dieting madness, and take control
of their health for good, but without all that restriction,
(01:08):
obsession and shame, and without dragging it out for years
to address it. And if you've been listening to me
on What's God Got to Do with It, you know
that we are all about the fusion of where science
meets faith and where faith meets transformation and miracles. So
this is a beautiful opportunity to talk about the crossover
of where science meets food and body image and self
(01:31):
image struggles and where that intersects faith or what's God
got to do with all of that. And that's exactly
what this six part series is all about. So Part
one is really just an introduction where we're simply going
to set up this massive topic. Part two is all
about the big picture of where faith meets science meets
(01:54):
food and body image struggles. In Part three, we go
deep into the self image and idea that you would
need to actually step into the version of you that
would have that health, that would have that relationship with
food in her body, and who would actually be at
peace and feel free, and of course how that fuses
with this faith brain conversation. In Part four, we dive
(02:18):
deeper into what God has to do with what I
call your food brain and disordered eating patterns and filling
voids in your head hard in spirit with food or
netflix or wine or whatever your drug of choice is,
and it's a whole that will never be filled by
those things. In Part five, we dive into the complicated
(02:38):
relationship that women have with their bodies and their body
image and physical pain, which is not talked about enough
in my opinion, and how to heal all of that
from a faith meets science perspective and invite God into
the conversation. And then wrapping it up in part six,
we get into the strategy side of things, as in,
(02:59):
what does it look like to use what you've learned
about neuroscience and faith and healing your relationship with food
in your body image to go create a winning game
plan that sets you up to win and one that
your brain just learns so you can go live your life.
Food can be food, and you can feel comfortable in
your skin and free from the chains of restricting or
(03:19):
punishing your body. So let's dive on in. Here's part three.
Welcome back to the Outweigh and What's God Got to
Do with It crossover series, and we are back to
go narrower and deeper into this conversation. And so last
week we talked about the big picture of this entire
(03:39):
faith meets science meets food and body image conversation, and
today we're going to go deep into the self image
and identity that you need to actually step into the
version of you that would have that health, that would
have that relationship with food in her body and who
would actually be at peace and feel free. And of
course how that fuses with this faith brain conversation. And
(04:03):
so remember, as we talked about, that's why we're having
this science meets faith conversation because it's all under the
umbrella of stepping into a new identity. Like we talked
about before, you have to become a new version of yourself,
and you have to radically transform your being, not just
what you're eating or not eating. And like the version
of you that would live that way and have that
(04:25):
relationship with food and have that body, who is she right?
What is she thinking and believing and feeling and doing?
And notice again I didn't say what is she eating?
And then the what to do or don't do side
of things is downstream from that identity and self image
of the woman that you're living as each and every day.
(04:46):
And you know that might sound daunting if food and
your body is something that you've been struggling with for
a long time, but trust me, it is imperative. But also, like,
let's just say you had all of that strategy and
habit and brain change stuff that I talked about a
second ago. Let's say you had you know, the perfect
plan and the perfect steps to take. Who's to say
(05:08):
that you would actually show up for yourself and use
it and stick with it, because I could, literally, you know,
just give you my stressless eating strategy that I give
my clients and teach you, you know, the system of
thinking that I teach them around food in your body.
But if you don't address the self image and body
image and the identity that's causing you to think and
act and feel and behave the way that you are
(05:29):
around food in your body, I'm not trying to sound
you know, pessimistic or mean, but you will always end
up right back where you are right now, because even
if it so feels like it, this is not a
food problem or a body problem. And remember this is
a brain thing. And the things that have gotten fired
and wired in your brain are because of the thoughts
(05:51):
and the emotions and the actions that are a cascade
effect and have simply become habits in your brain. And
so in other words, you're habits and behaviors are symptoms
of a cause aka your thoughts that are happening upstream
in your brain. Okay, but I also personally believe, or
at least you know, I'm just here to invite you
(06:12):
to try on the possibility that what if this was
also a spiritual thing, right, and so that's why we're
starting there. So instead of talking about, you know, trying
to influence what you're eating or how you're moving, we're
entering into the conversation of addressing the root of the
problem of what's going on in your mind and brain,
but also in your heart and spirit, so that you
(06:34):
can address it from the root. Because, as we talked
about the past couple of weeks, there are two very
different roots systems that can take roots in our brain
and in our spirits, and so it's so important that
you start at the roots so that you can produce
the fruits that you want to produce. And that's why
I'll just keep reminding you of, you know, the old
(06:55):
way or the conventional way versus the new way. Where
the old way is you know, strictly a body conversation
or an eat less move more conversation, and where the
new way and the permanent way, and really the way
of ease and flow and lifelong freedom is a science
meets faith conversation, and it's those old beliefs staying rooted
(07:16):
in you, carrying you down the same dead end roads
of restriction and punishment and persuasion or you know, obsession
and stress and feeling out of control, or it's new
beliefs where you die to that old identity, step into
a new identity with new beliefs, and you actually address
those old non serving beliefs about yourself and about food,
(07:38):
you know, the ones that you've probably been carrying around
for a long time, and you step into that whole
new identity that has that new relationship with food in
her body. And then from that place that's what replaces
the old behaviors and habits and plants seeds for the
new ones to take root. Okay, but again now it's
coming from that new root system and you probably guessed it.
(08:01):
I want to start with your self image. So now
that we're all caught up, when I say self image,
essentially it's the goggles that you're seeing yourself through day
in day out. It's really like your personal view or
mental picture that you have of yourself. Okay, and so
imagine all of the thoughts that you think about yourself
on a day to day basis. And so maybe you're
(08:22):
calling yourself things like intelligent or kind, or beautiful or talented,
or maybe you're calling yourself a loser or ugly, or
a disappointment, a failure, unworthy, unlovable, broken, fill in the blank. Okay,
I've used them all. But basically, however, you are regarding
yourself or perceiving yourself how you view you know, your
(08:44):
strengths and your weaknesses. You are defining yourself and painting
a picture of yourself and then living into that story
and picture, and then your beliefs and habits and behaviors
just follow that story. And that's why I always say
that what you see is who you be. Okay, what
you see is who you be, which is really just
(09:06):
to say that how you're showing up in your life.
So whether that's physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, fill in the blank,
relationally right, it is a direct reflection of what you
see or perceive as being true about yourself relative to
each of these areas. And so if you see yourself
(09:27):
as beautiful and lovable and irreplaceable, then you be someone
who shows up in the world as beautiful and lovable
and irreplaceable. So what you see is who you be.
On the other hand, though, if you see yourself as
imperfect or flawed or again I hear it a lot broken,
they feel broken right, ugly, unlovable fill in the blank.
(09:49):
Then you'll be the person who meets the circumstances of
your life as that person. Again, what you see is
who you be. And so that's why doing the air
quotes you know, out their work, like the diets and
the gems and the goal based or motivation stuff, it
tends to fall short for us, right, or maybe just
doesn't really address the deeper stuff going on, because we
(10:10):
will only ever be the person that we see. What
you see is who you be, right, And that's why
I always say that true transformation begins with the self
image and really stepping into a new identity so that
you see and perceive yourself differently. That's what I mean
by self imaging. And so I learned this myself after
(10:31):
losing one hundred pounds and making over my body. But
because I didn't address the self image and my body
image and my perception of myself, the wiring in my
brain that was kind of you know, the residue was
causing me to think and act and feel and behave
like I was, you know, fat, unworthy, a failure, destined
to stay this way forever. Whatever painful words I was using.
(10:53):
I'm sure I was using a lot worse than that too, right,
But so yes, I lost all of this weight, but
I never transformed my identity. And I brought all of
my old habits and thinking and behaviors with me, because
I brought my old self image with me, and I
brought my old relationship with food and my relationship with
my body with me. Right, it's all under that umbrella. Now,
(11:13):
keep in mind that when I started on my own
self image path, I didn't have God in my life yet,
or I should say like I didn't know that I did.
I didn't have that relationship yet. But by some divine miracle,
I eventually had the insight and awareness to realize that
I was never going to be able to outdiet or
outwork or outsmart the wiring in my brain and my
(11:35):
self image, and that I was also not going to
be able to do it all on my own. Like
I needed help and I needed a lifeline. And yes,
in many ways I needed to be saved from myself
because I was playing the self sufficiency game. And anybody
who's played that for a long time or your whole
life in my case, knows that that is no way
to win, like you can't heal it on your own,
(11:57):
and you know you probably don't want to either. And
that's why I get so excited to bring this God
conversation into the conversation and talk about what God's got
to do with it when it comes to your self image,
because I believe that there absolutely is a faith brain connection,
and so when it comes to you know, the collective
stories that we tell ourselves on repeat, you know, like
(12:18):
a tape recorder in the back of our mind where yeah,
we might be using words like unworthy or unlovable, or
maybe we even identify with words like shame or self rejection.
But it's also those stories that we tell ourselves where
we're different, or we're weird, or you know, we don't
belong or we're you know a lot of times for me,
I felt alone or isolated and you get the picture.
(12:39):
But you know, part of it is like we make
ourselves wrong just for being who we are right and
so if you're anything like me, I also thought that
I was crazy because again I was making everything about
myself wrong, and so I felt broken and I fell
down that fill in the blank rabbit hole all the time.
The shame one, the comparisonitis, the self rejection, the just
(13:00):
the inner toxicity, and that in its own right is
its own rabbit hole, because then we feel all of
those things, but then we also now feel isolated or disconnected,
and isolation and disconnection is its own rabbit hole, right,
or at least it definitely can be if our self
image is untamed or unmanaged or just you know, growing
those metaphorical weeds that we talked about last week without
(13:23):
us weeding the metaphorical garden. And that's why right off
the bat, I want to talk to you about a
very specific part of the brain that we touched on
a bit in the first couple episodes of this series,
and it's that part of the brain that I have
been semi obsessed with. I'm not gonna lie for many
many years, because it's essentially where your self image and
self perception live. And I'm starting here because this is
(13:47):
the stuff that if I knew about this when I
was younger, it would have saved me so much suffering
because understanding why I do what I do and really
understanding how this part of the brain works. Honestly, it
kind of helped me. I jokingly say, like it helped
me own my crazy right like, as I lovingly say
that now, because now I know I wasn't crazy. But
(14:07):
my brain was just doing what it does and what
it got fired and wired to do and really repeat
until I changed the pattern. So it wasn't me being crazy.
My brain just needed to be managed.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
So we're gonna get a big geeky but I promise
you it will all make sense and become really important
in your own faith brain connection and especially when it
comes to the food and body conversation. So this specific
(14:42):
part of the brain, I want you to get familiar
with it. Okay, so it's called the anterior singulate cortex,
but you can just remember ACC. You can. You're gonna
hear me calling it ACC for short. And the reason
I believe that it is so darn important is because
of all the radically important stuff that goes on there. So,
first of all, this is the part of the brain
(15:03):
that is largely responsible for the self perception and self
reflection and self image that we just talked about. What
you see is who you be boom. ACC is very
responsible for that. But this is also where a large
majority of your emotional pain receptors are and your social
pain receptors, as you'll learn about in a bit, which
you'll also learn is a big time influencer when it
(15:25):
comes to conversations about addiction or just relying on any
coping mechanisms or anything you just feel out of control of.
So whether that's food, whether that's alcohol, shopping, Netflix, you
name it. Yet, that is an ACC thing too, and
we're going to get into that in future episodes. But
if that's not enough important stuff already, the ACC is
(15:47):
also where a large majority of your physical or physiological
pain receptors live too. So for example, if I hurt
my shoulder, the injury lives in my shoulder, but the
pain I'm experiencing lives in the brain, and a large
majority of that part of the pain lives specifically in
the ACC. Okay, so just that alone, can you see
(16:07):
why this part of the brain is so important to
know about and try to take care of and really
keep healthy? Right? Because also you can see that it
would be really powerful if you know, we're talking about
all three of those things like big things, pain, self image, addiction. Right,
can you also see how it would be really powerful
to experience and invite God into conversations about this part
(16:30):
of your brain too. So that's exactly what we're going
to do. And as we go through this series, I'm
going to continue breaking each part down kind of in
a logic and reason side of things, and speak to
the logic and reason side of you. But then we're
going to directly invite God into these conversations. And as
you'll learn, there is literally evidence based science out there
that backs this up. So let's start with the self
(16:52):
perception and self reflection part of your brain and of
your self image. So a quick thing about the ACC,
or that's social brain as I call it. I teach
my clients to remember the three letters ACC by remembering acceptance, connection,
and care. And that's because your ACC's job is to
look for acceptance, connection, and care from other people, but
(17:16):
also feeling it internally like do I accept myself? Do
I connect with myself? And do I feel like I matter?
Like do I care?
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Right?
Speaker 2 (17:24):
And so, in other words, in order for your social
brain to feel safe right and not just go in
its own form of fight or flight, it needs to
feel emotionally and socially safe, and so it needs to
feel that connection and belonging and inclusion and actual human
connection like from other people, but also feeling accepted, connected
(17:44):
and cared for from yourself in order to feel that
from others. So it's both, it's it's an and slash
both conversation, right, and of course where do we get that?
I believe it's God, but we'll talk about that, right.
And so here's the thing, talking about this idea of
your social brain needing to feel safe like it needs
that connection, that belonging, that inclusion. This is not just
(18:05):
a desire, okay, it is a require. It is not
just a want from your ACC. It is a need.
And so, ladies, and interesting thing about the ACC is
it's actually bigger and more active in females than it
is in males. And so one of my favorite neuroscientists,
doctor Leuin Bresendine, she says it best when she says this,
(18:27):
and this is from her book The Female Brain. She says,
more than ninety nine percent of male and female genetic
coding is exactly the same, and out of the thirty
thousand genes in the human genome, the less than one
percent variation between the sexes is small, but that percentage
difference influences every single cell in our bodies from the
(18:48):
nerves that register pleasure and pain to the neurons that
transmit perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. So literally that one
percent difference. It's the ACC that's one of the things.
So one of the biggest differences between the male and
the female brain is the ACC. It's bigger and more
active in females than it is in males. And back
to what loui Ane Brezendine was saying, it influences everything
(19:11):
from the nerves that register pleasure and pain to the
neurons that transmit perception, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It's literally
like what we were just talking about. So if you
feel like maybe you feel pain more, you feel emotional
pain more, if you're a woman, you're not crazy. Because again, ladies, yes,
the social emotional pain center of your brain essentially needs
more love. It needs more acceptance, and needs more connection.
(19:33):
It needs more care and understanding that piece of it
really helped me realize like, Okay, I'm not crazy, I'm
not just like over emotional. I'm a woman. I'm a female.
I have a female brain, and now I know that
my female brain just needs a little bit more love
and attention and care. But here's what I also say
(19:54):
about this social brain and self image conversation. It is
not practical or even possible for or anyone to not
care what other people think about us. Our brains are
wired to care, especially the female brain. As you're learning,
We're wired to actively notice other people's opinions and judgments
of us. And we do that more than the male
(20:14):
brain does that, right, but the male brain still does
it right. But that being said, it's not possible to
not care about other people's opinions of you. But here's
what is possible. It's possible for you to figure out
what would it take for you to value your own
opinion of yourself more so, even just a teeny tiny
(20:34):
bit more so than someone else's opinion of you. And
I truly believe that the best way to do that
is to align with God's view of who you are,
not society, not your neighbors down the road, or that
woman you follow on Instagram that you're comparing yourself to.
I believe it's possible to build an identity and recreate
(20:55):
your self image through the eyes of unconditional love and
accept and connection and care. And I believe that God
is the perfect set of eyes to start seeing yourself through,
because when you invite God into your self image, that's
when you can start to see yourself as God sees you,
and when you can rewire and solidify your identity so
(21:17):
that you are no longer caring around all of this
shame and no longer rooted and defined by just food
or your weight. And just remind you, right, when you
hear me say self image and like being defined, I
really just mean starting to see yourself as God sees you.
And it's a trajectory. It's not one of those like
one and done things. It's little by little more and
(21:39):
more identifying with the way that God sees you, and
less and less identifying with the shame or the brokenness.
And then anytime I say the word identity, I truly
just mean rooting your identity and your worth and your
value you know, this time around in things that are
bigger than you, and that are no longer again less
and less rooted in shame, and no no longer just
(22:00):
rooted in your weight or your gene size, or your
bank balance or your relationship status. Right, I mean an
identity rooted in the identity that God has for you.
So back to this social brain conversation, what would it
be like if you lived your life and you didn't need,
you know, drip feeds of endorsement or you know, belief
from somebody else to tell you who you are or
(22:23):
tell you how much you're worth, or tell you that
you know you're you're a good person, right, or tell
you that you're beautiful or desirable or like if you
have the right to even feel that for yourself, right,
because a lot of people think like, oh, I can't
think that about myself. It's it's cocky, it's braggadocious, it's
you know, vain, and it's like, no, it's just knowing
who you are and knowing who you're not. And sure,
(22:44):
it's nice to get that confirmation and endorsement from others,
like you're only human, you're gonna want it, right, But
what would it be like if you didn't need it
and rely on it solely from others and you were
able to actually provide it from yourself because you were
getting your identity from God and through the eyes of
God's unconditional love and acceptance. Right, So what would it
(23:05):
look like? Or I should say, what would you look like?
Talk like, walk like, think like, feel like if you
were walking around seeing yourself and your life through those eyes,
through God's eyes. And so imagine how your self image
would be impacted if you were walking around seeing yourself
through those eyes, like through God's eyes. And we're going
to come back to that in just a minute. But
(23:26):
remember how I said the ACC was a big player
in addiction and coping mechanisms and feeling dependent or you know,
codependent or out of control of something and that side
of things. Well, I believe that the ACC is also
primarily where addiction and coping mechanisms live. And so we're
going to go way deeper in part four of this
series next week, all about your food brain. But I
(23:47):
wanted to just mention that this is the same part
of the brain that we're talking about today where your
self perception and self image and identity primarily live. Okay,
but just that little bit of information alone is so
fast fascinating, right, Like, just this brain stuff to me
was revelatory because again it made me realize, Okay, I'm
not crazy or weak willed or weird or different. I
(24:09):
just need to learn to take care of my brain.
And like I take care of my body. Like, imagine
if as much time as you might be thinking about
food or thinking about your body, you focused on taking
care of your brain. Right. And so if you think
that this is cool, right, or interesting, We're going to
look at this aspect of the acc through the lens
of faith. Okay, and let's directly invite God into this conversation.
(24:41):
So when it comes to your self image and self
perception and where faith meets science, I do want to
talk about what God has to say about it, but
I want to see also what science and evidence based
research has to say about it, because that's where it
really gets cool. So there was a national study conducted
by the Association of Religion and Data Archives, and that
(25:02):
study concluded that warship, attendance, prayer, and the specific act
of someone committing their life to Christ specifically says Christ
where we're all, related to higher self esteem When individuals
reported a close relationship with and I'm quoting here a
close relationship with a divine being who cared about them.
(25:25):
And so the sociologists conducting this experiment said that when
humans have what they call the ultimate friend, like that's
literally what the study called it was the ultimate friend
on their side, it made a big difference when it
comes to self respect and self worth. And so, guys,
this is literally a study to see the impact of
faith on self image and self worth. And so what
(25:47):
they concluded was that, and I quote, a sense of
divine support is a row bust predictor of self esteem. Okay,
it literally predicts self esteem. If you have a sense
of divine support, it is going to be a predictor
and indicator of self esteem. And so here's the thing
I really want you to take away from this study.
(26:08):
Notice the kind of relationship with God in Christ that
this study talks about. They referred to having a relationship
with Christ where he was like the ultimate friend and
a divine being who cares about you. Right. This is relationship.
That is the definition of relationship. This is not religion. Okay,
It's not a punishment or shame driven God. It's a
(26:30):
relationship with a loving, redeeming God, a heavenly Father who
sees you and loves you just as you are. And
you don't have to earn it or work for it.
And it definitely isn't dependent on your weight or what
you ate that day. Right. And so as you'll hear
me say a lot. And this was one of the
most powerful distinctions I learned on my own spiritual journey.
(26:52):
There is a big difference between religion and faith, and
the big distinction being that religion is all about rules
and faith is about relationship, a relationship with God. Okay,
so let me just say that again for the people
in the back. Religion is about rules. Faith is about relationship,
(27:14):
relationship with God. And I don't know about you, but
that's what I want, a relationship with God. And so
first of all, I just love that this study literally
defines faith as a relationship with God and Christ as
the ultimate friend and someone who cares about you. Right,
But it also says that faith as a relationship with
(27:35):
God in Christ as the ultimate friend and someone who
cares about you is literally scientifically proven to improve your
self esteem and self worth. So that's what science says
about it. Let's look at what God has to say
about it by going to his word. So from first
Samuel sixteen seven, and this is the NLT version, it says,
(27:56):
but the Lord said to Samuel, don't judge by his
appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord
doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge
by outward appearance, But the Lord looks at the heart.
The Lord looks at the heart. And so how often
are our self images based solely on what we look
(28:16):
like or these quantifiable things, you know, money, relationship, status,
likes on Instagram, whatever it is. It says, the Lord
looks at the heart. This one from one Peter thirty
three or sorry, one Peter three and then verses three
through four reminds us of something similar. It says, don't
be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry,
(28:40):
or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the
beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God,
and so to me. This is about working on your
own inner beauty, because what you see is who you be,
(29:01):
and the beauty within you that has nothing to do
with what the worldly ways say about you or the
worldly ways that we comprise our self worth. This inner
beauty is so so precious to God. And you probably
know by now that I love looking at different versions
of the same scripture, and so the message version of
this one says what matters is not your outer appearance,
(29:23):
the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the
cut of your clothes, but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty,
the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. And I
love that this version literally tells us to cultivate inner beauty.
And to me, that means like really learn it, Like
you have to give your self image a new definition
(29:44):
of beauty. Right, And so of course I have to
also share there's more scripture. I could go on and on.
I had to like really narrow it down for this
episode so that we're not here for three hours. But
I want to share this from Tewod Corinthians five point seventeen,
and this is the NLC version, and it's a pretty
famous verse, but it says, this means that anyone who
belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old
(30:06):
life is gone, a new life has begun. Talk about neuroplasticity,
it's finest. But this just reminds me that you can
take on a new story and a new identity any
time you choose. And I've shared this before, but I
just tried on the story that God sent his son
Jesus to die for all of my sins so that
I didn't have to live in my own burden and
(30:27):
shame any longer, and I could be a new creation
in Christ, and that when I chose to follow him,
the old is gone and the new has come, and
that I can take the pen and I can rewrite
my story or I can co create and rewrite my
story with God. And when I tried on that story,
and I literally just asked God to show me who
(30:48):
I really am and show me how he sees me.
And I literally he tells you in his word, everything transformed,
because what you see is who you be. And so
when I started seeing myself through his eyes, like wow,
it completely transformed my life. And yeah, it started with
me going down the brain and science rabbit hole. But
(31:09):
when I started asking God, what's God got to do
with all the self image stuff? And what's God got
to do with food and the body stuff, and what
does God reflect back to me in the mirror of
my own self perception, what happened is beyond description. And
so I use words like miracles because that's what it
felt like after you know, thirty years of carrying around
toxic shame, and having self rejection and self abandonment be
(31:33):
my emotional home. And so as we talked about last
week through and I talked about it too, like this
is how it shows up in a brain scan, right,
we talked about Philippians four at work, where if you
are anxious, you can literally change the things that you
think about. If you missed it last week, we talked
about how literally they show on a brain scan when
you think about something differently, or you get rid of
(31:54):
anxious thoughts, or you think about peace, or you think
about things that actually you know, push you in the
direction that you want to go. Literally, a brain scan
changes colors. And so Philippians four is at work in that.
And the message version of Philippians four says, instead of worrying, pray,
Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting
(32:15):
God know your concerns, and before you know it, a
sense of God's wholeness everything coming together for good will
come and settle you down. So you can literally change
your brain by changing the things that you think about
and handing it over to God. And that's why I'm
inviting you to try this on, like try on that
you're not crazy or weak willed, that you just have
(32:38):
a brain that got fired and wired in a certain way,
and ask God to fill you with new beliefs and
new elements of your identity and step into your own
rebirth because what you see is who you be. Right
And keep in mind, I'm just giving you examples of
scripture that resonated with me, but when it comes to
your own brain, resonance is everything. So that's why it's
(32:58):
so important that you also find scripture that resonates with
you because if it doesn't resonate, if something doesn't resonate,
it lays down something called negative neuro associations. And I mean,
without getting too geeky, it basically tells your brain like
don't worry, you don't need this very long, and it
never fully downloads it in the long term storage part
(33:19):
of your brain. And that's why positive affirmations or fake
positivity that doesn't really resonate with you. It only works
very temporarily, like if at all, let's be honest, And
so it's important that you find scripture that resonates with
you because when something resonates on a deep level, it
lays down positive neuro associations. Alongside that habit or that thought,
(33:40):
and that's what your long term brain needs to keep
it and keep it as the new story. And that
is such an oversimplified, like non scientific way to share
what happens in your brain. But your brain knows when
something resonates and when it doesn't. And if you want
to talk about like keeping something and having it become
your new self image, it needs to resonate or at
least can't create.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
So those are just some examples of the healing power
of God's word and the healing power of faith and
the healing power of Jesus. But it's up to you
to meet God there, right, Like you've got to show
up and meet God halfway and say, Okay, I'm ready
to rewire my brain, but show me who I am. Right,
And that's really all I'm inviting you into, right, I'm
(34:22):
really the big point of this conversation, Like what if
you started looking at your beliefs and your self image
and your coping mechanisms are parts of your life where
you feel bondage, which we're going to talk about in
depth next week. And yes, you know physical pain, which
we'll talk about in a couple of weeks. What if
it was all a God conversation. And again I'm here
to just keep reminding you of that old conventional way
(34:43):
that you've probably been going down that road versus the
new way. Where the old way again is this strictly
body conversation or eat less move more conversation, and the
new way, and really the permanent way is going in
the direction where faith meets science, but from an like
this conversation of ease and flow and lifelong freedom. Because
those old beliefs staying rooted in you is what carries
(35:06):
you down the same dead end roads, right, And if
your dead end road is restriction or punishment or obsession
or just feeling out of control, it's gonna keep happening.
But the new beliefs where again you first you die
to that old identity and you step into a new
identity with new beliefs that actually address the you know,
the toxic weeds, right, And you step into that new
(35:27):
identity that just has that relationship with herself and has
that relationship with food in her body. That's what replaces
the old behaviors and habits. And you can plant seeds
for new ones to take root. But again it's coming
from that new root system that we talked all about
last week. Okay, And so now you understand why I
wanted to start with your self image, right, because this
(35:49):
is the kind of stuff that's happening in our social brains,
whether we're aware of it or not. And that's why
I want you to be heightenedly aware of it, because again,
it's happening either way. But this is also part of
the brain that I believe if we invite God in
absolute miracles can happen, and our minds can be renewed,
and our identity can be reshaped, and hope and healing
(36:10):
in our own mental, emotional, physical health can be something
that we can continually invite God into the conversation. And so,
as always, of course, everything I share is simply just
an invitation without expectation, to try on a new story
or new perspective and see what meets you where you
are in your own journey. But that is how you
(36:31):
reinvent yourself through the eyes of the brain and the
self image and inviting God into it, and that is
how you create a new identity filled with new beliefs
and a new self image. And so if you're wondering
what God has to do with all of that. As
you now know everything, God's in all of it, and
it's everything that you know and everything you didn't know
you didn't know. That's it for today's episode of the
(36:56):
What's God Got to Do With It? And the Outweigh
podcast crossover. Thanks for tuning in, And if you want
to learn more about the work that I do or
catch either of the podcasts on a regular basis, there's
a couple of ways you can do that. First off,
if you want to learn how to turn off the
part of your brain that's obsessed with food or obsessed
with your weight and rewire your own brain for peace
(37:18):
and freedom, then head on over to Stresslessseeating dot com
and sign up to watch the Stressless Eating sneak preview,
where I've literally peeled the curtain and walked you through
the exact strategy I teach my clients to heal themselves
from the all or nothing diet mentality for good, but
without restricting themselves, punishing their bodies, and definitely without ever
(37:41):
having to use words like macros, low carb or calorie burn.
It's there for you to access over at stressless Eating
dot com and if you're listening to this series over
on What's God Got to Do With It? I also
co host the Outweigh podcast with radio personality Amy Brown,
where we help women break themselves out of the in
body prison, end the dieting madness, and take control of
(38:03):
their health for good, but without all that restriction, obsession,
and shame, and without dragging it out for years to
address it. It's called Outweigh and you can find it
wherever podcasts are streamed. And if you're listening to this
crossover series on Outweigh, check out my other podcast called
What's God Got to Do With It? Where I talk
(38:24):
about all this self image and body image stuff but
from the perspective of where brain science, intersex faith. It's
called What's God Got to Do With It? And you
can access it on iHeart or wherever you get your podcasts.
So that's it for this episode of the What's God
Got to Do With It? And the Outway podcast crossover series.
I'm your host, Leanne Ellington, and I'm so grateful to
(38:45):
walk alongside you on this beautiful journey. So thank you
so much for listening, and I hope you got whatever
you needed to get from it. Bye for now. We'll
be back with more What's God Got to Do With It?
But in the meantime, I would definitely love to hear
from you, so just tell me where you are in
your story or maybe what questions you have, like where
(39:06):
do you feel you need clarity or support or wisdom
in your own journey. I definitely want to hear from you,
So head on over to What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot com and scroll down to the form
to share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback, and you
can do that instantly. So What's God Got to Do
with It? Dot Com? You'll find all the ways to
(39:27):
do that. And if you like this podcast and want
to hear more, go ahead and follow, like and subscribe
wherever you listen to podcasts to get your weekly dose
of What's God Got to Do with It? New episodes
drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there, be sure
to rate and review to show your support. It really
means so much. What's God Got to Do With It
(39:50):
is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown Podcast Network.
It's written and hosted by me Leanne Ellington, Executive produced
by Elizabeth Fozio, Production and editing by Houston Tilley and
original music written by Cheryl Stark and produced by Adam Stark.
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
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Amy Brown
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