August 3, 2024 • 38 mins
OUTWEIGH: Welcome back for Part 3 of the official crossover series of the "What’s God Got To Do With It?" and Outweigh podcasts.
Last week, we explored the big picture of this conversation, and this week we narrow the focus to the self-image and identity piece of this food and body puzzle. 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 re-wiring your brain to heal from the all-or-nothing diet mentality for good....but WITHOUT restricting yourself, punishing your body, (and definitely WITHOUT ever having to use words like macros, low-carb, or calorie burn) check out Leanne's FREE Stressless Eating Webinar @ www.StresslessEating.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 (00:00):
I won't let my body out be outwait everything that
I'm made done, won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I am again. I'm strong, I
feel free, I know every part of me it's beautiful
and that will always out way if you feel it,
(00:24):
but you are, She'll some love to the food. Why
get there? Take good day and did you and die
out way? 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
(00:44):
been listening to me on Outwigh, you know that that
podcast is all about helping women break themselves out of
the food and body prison, end the dieting madness, and
take control of their health for good, but without all
that restriction, 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,
(01:06):
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 image struggles and where that intersects faith or what's
(01:26):
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 food and body image struggles. In Part three, we
(01:48):
go deep into the self image and identity 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 deeper into what God has to do with what
(02:10):
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
relationship that women have with their bodies and their body
(02:31):
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,
what does it look like to use what you've learned
about neuroscience and faith and healing your relationship with food
(02:55):
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
punishing your body. So let's dive on in. Here's part three.
(03:18):
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
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
(03:40):
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
so remember, as we talked about, that's why we're having
this science meets faith conversation because it's it's all under
(04:00):
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 relationship with food and have that body, who
is she right? What is she thinking and believing and
(04:22):
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. 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,
(04:44):
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 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
(05:05):
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 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
(05:27):
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 and the emotions and the actions
that are a cascade effect and have simply become habits
(05:48):
in your brain. And so in other words, your habits
and behaviors are symptoms of a cause aka your thoughts
that are happening upstream in your brain. Okay, but I
all so personally believe, or at least you know, I'm
just here to invite you to try on the possibility
that what if this was also a spiritual thing, right,
(06:08):
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 can address it from the root.
Because as we talked about the past couple weeks, there
(06:29):
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 started 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 way or the conventional way versus the new way.
Where the old way is you know, strictly a body
(06:51):
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 life flung freedom is
a science meets faith conversation, and it's those old beliefs
staying rooted in you carrying you down the same dead
end roads of restriction and punishment and persuasion or you know,
(07:13):
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,
you know, the ones that you've probably been carrying around
for a long time, and you step into that whole
(07:34):
new identity that has that new relationship with food and
her body. And then from that place that's what replaces
the old behaviors and habits and plant 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.
I want to start with your self image. So now
(07:54):
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
calling yourself things like intelligent or kind, or beautiful or talented,
(08:19):
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
strengths and your weaknesses. You are defining yourself and painting
(08:39):
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
to say that how you're showing up in your life.
(09:00):
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
as beautiful and lovable and irreplaceable, then you be someone
(09:22):
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.
Then you'll be the person who meets the circumstances of
(09:43):
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 gyms and the goal based or motivation stuff, it
tends to fall short for us, right, or maybe just
doesn't really address the deep stuff going on, because we
will only ever be the person that we see. What
(10:05):
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
losing one hundred pounds and making over my body. But
because I didn't address the self image and my body
(10:28):
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 I'm sure I was using a lot worse than
that too, right, But so, yes, I lost all of
(10:48):
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, keep in mind that when I started
on my own self image path, I didn't have God
(11:08):
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 self image, and that I
was also not going to be able to do it
(11:29):
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, and you know you probably
don't want to either. And that's why I get so
(11:51):
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've 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 a tape recorder
or the back of our mind where yeah, we might
(12:12):
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. But
you know, part of it is like we make ourselves
(12:33):
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 the just
the inner toxicity, and that in its own right is
(12:55):
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
us weeding the metaphorical garden. And that's why right off
(13:18):
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
the stuff that if I knew about this when I
(13:40):
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
my brain was just doing what it does and what
(14:01):
it got fired and wired to do, and really repeat
until I change the pattern. So it wasn't me being crazy.
My brain just needed to be managed. Right. So we're
gonna get a bit 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 part of
(14:29):
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 that is largely
(14:50):
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 all so 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 comes to
(15:12):
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 also where a
(15:34):
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 why this part of
(15:55):
the brain is so important to know about and try
to take care of and really keep health 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 of
(16:16):
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 perception and
(16:39):
self reflection part of your brain and of your self image.
So a quick thing about the ACC, or that 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,
(16:59):
and care from other people, but 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? Right?
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
(17:22):
feel that connection and belonging and inclusion an actual human
connection like from other people, but also feeling accepted, connected
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.
(17:43):
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
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
(18:03):
it's actually bigger and more active in females than it
is in males. And so one of my favorite neuroscientists,
doctor leu An Bresendin, she says it best when she
says this, 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
(18:26):
than one percent variation between the sexes is small, but
that percentage difference influences every single cell in our bodies,
from the 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
(18:46):
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 leu Ane Bresendein was saying, it
influences everything 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
(19:07):
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, 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
(19:30):
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 about this social brain and
self image conversation. It is not practical or even possible
for anyone to not care what other people think about us.
Our brains are wired to care, especially the female brain.
(19:53):
As you're learning, we're wired to actively notice other people's
opinions and judgments of us. And we do that more
more than the male 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
(20:14):
to value your own opinion of yourself more so, even
just a teeny tiny 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
(20:36):
you're comparing yourself to. I believe it's possible to build
an identity and recreate your self image through the eyes
of unconditional love and acceptance 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
(20:58):
see yourself as God sees you, and when you can
rewire and solidify your identity so 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
(21:19):
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 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
(21:39):
time around in things that are bigger than you, and
that are no longer again, less and less rooted in shame,
and no longer just 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
(22:02):
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 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
(22:24):
you know, vain, and it's like, no, it's just knowing
who you are and knowing who you're not. And sure,
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
(22:44):
getting your identity from God and through the eyes of
God's unconditional love and acceptance. Right, So what would it
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
(23:07):
through those eyes, like through God's eyes. And we're gonna
come back to that in just a minute. But 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
(23:28):
gonna go way deeper in part four of this series
next week, all about your food brain. But I 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 fascinating, right, Like,
just this brain stuff to me was revelatory because again
(23:50):
it made me realize, Okay, I'm not crazy or weak
willed or weird or different. I just need to learn
to take care of my brain. And like I take
care of my 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
(24:13):
through the lens of faith. Okay, and let's directly invite
God into this conversation. 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,
(24:35):
because that's where it really gets cool. So there was
a national study conducted by the Association of Religion Data Archives,
and that 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.
(24:57):
When individuals reported a close relationship with and I'm quoting
here a close relationship with a divine being who cared
about them. 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
(25:19):
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
they concluded was that, and I quote, a sense of
divine support is a robust predictor of self esteem. Okay,
(25:39):
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.
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
(26:00):
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
relationship with a loving, redeeming God, a heavenly Father who
sees you and loves you just as you are. And
(26:20):
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.
There is a big difference between religion and faith, and
the big distinction being that religion is all about rules
(26:43):
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,
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
(27:06):
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
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
(27:28):
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,
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.
(27:52):
The Lord looks at the heart. And so how often
are our self images based solely on what we look
like or these quantified 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
(28:13):
through four reminds us of something similar. It says, don't
be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry,
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,
(28:36):
and so to me. This is about working on your
own inner beauty, because what you see is who you be,
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
(28:56):
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,
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
(29:17):
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 yourself image a new definition 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
(29:38):
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 life is gone,
a new life has begun. Talk about neuroplasticity in its finest,
But this just reminds me that you can take on
a new story and a new identity anytime you choose.
(30:00):
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 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
(30:22):
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 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
(30:42):
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 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,
(31:03):
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 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
(31:24):
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 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
(31:46):
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 God know your concerns,
and before you know a sense of God's wholeness everything
coming together for good will come and settle you down.
(32:06):
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 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
(32:30):
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 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
(32:54):
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 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
(33:16):
a deep level, it lays down positive neuro associations alongside
that habit or that thought, 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
(33:37):
and having it become your new self image, it needs
to resonate or at least can't create dissonance. Right, 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
(33:57):
rewire my brain, but show me who I am. Right,
And that's really all I'm inviting you into, right, I'm
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
(34:19):
it was all a God conversation. And again I'm here
to just keep reminding you of that old conventional way
that you've probably been going down that road versus the
new way. Where the old way again is this strictly
bodied 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
(34:40):
this conversation of ease and flow and lifelong freedom. Because
those old beliefs staying rooted in you is what carries
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 going to keep happening.
But the new beliefs where again you first you die
to that old identity and you step into a new
(35:02):
identity with new beliefs that actually address the you know,
the toxic weeds, right, And you step into that new
identity that just has that relationship with 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
(35:23):
about last week. Okay, And so now you understand why
I wanted to start with your self image, right, because
this 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
the part of the brain that I believe if we
invite God in absolute miracles can happen, and our minds
(35:48):
can be renewed, and our identity can be reshaped, and
hope and healing 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
(36:09):
meets you where you are in your own journey. But
that is how you 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
(36:29):
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 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
(36:49):
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 if you wire your
own brain for peace and freedom, then head on over
to stressless eeating dot com and sign up to watch
the Stressless Eating sneak preview, where I've literally peeled the
(37:10):
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 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
(37:33):
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 food and body prison, end the
dieting madness, and take control of 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
(37:55):
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 about all this self
image and body image stuff but from the perspective of
where brain science intersects faith. It's called What's God Got
to Do With It? And you can access it on
(38:17):
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 Outweagy podcast crossover series. I'm your host,
Leanne Ellington, and I'm so grateful to 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,
I won't let my body out be outwait everything that
I'm made done, won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I am again. I'm strong, I
feel free, I know every part of me it's beautiful
and that will always out way if you feel it,
(00:24):
but you are, She'll some love to the food. Why
get there? Take good day and did you and die
out way? 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
(00:44):
been listening to me on Outwigh, you know that that
podcast is all about helping women break themselves out of
the food and body prison, end the dieting madness, and
take control of their health for good, but without all
that restriction, 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,
(01:06):
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 image struggles and where that intersects faith or what's
(01:26):
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 food and body image struggles. In Part three, we
(01:48):
go deep into the self image and identity 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 deeper into what God has to do with what
(02:10):
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
relationship that women have with their bodies and their body
(02:31):
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,
what does it look like to use what you've learned
about neuroscience and faith and healing your relationship with food
(02:55):
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
punishing your body. So let's dive on in. Here's part three.
(03:18):
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
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
(03:40):
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
so remember, as we talked about, that's why we're having
this science meets faith conversation because it's it's all under
(04:00):
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 relationship with food and have that body, who
is she right? What is she thinking and believing and
(04:22):
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. 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,
(04:44):
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 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
(05:05):
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 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
(05:27):
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 and the emotions and the actions
that are a cascade effect and have simply become habits
(05:48):
in your brain. And so in other words, your habits
and behaviors are symptoms of a cause aka your thoughts
that are happening upstream in your brain. Okay, but I
all so personally believe, or at least you know, I'm
just here to invite you to try on the possibility
that what if this was also a spiritual thing, right,
(06:08):
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 can address it from the root.
Because as we talked about the past couple weeks, there
(06:29):
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 started 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 way or the conventional way versus the new way.
Where the old way is you know, strictly a body
(06:51):
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 life flung freedom is
a science meets faith conversation, and it's those old beliefs
staying rooted in you carrying you down the same dead
end roads of restriction and punishment and persuasion or you know,
(07:13):
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,
you know, the ones that you've probably been carrying around
for a long time, and you step into that whole
(07:34):
new identity that has that new relationship with food and
her body. And then from that place that's what replaces
the old behaviors and habits and plant 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.
I want to start with your self image. So now
(07:54):
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
calling yourself things like intelligent or kind, or beautiful or talented,
(08:19):
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
strengths and your weaknesses. You are defining yourself and painting
(08:39):
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
to say that how you're showing up in your life.
(09:00):
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
as beautiful and lovable and irreplaceable, then you be someone
(09:22):
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.
Then you'll be the person who meets the circumstances of
(09:43):
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 gyms and the goal based or motivation stuff, it
tends to fall short for us, right, or maybe just
doesn't really address the deep stuff going on, because we
will only ever be the person that we see. What
(10:05):
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
losing one hundred pounds and making over my body. But
because I didn't address the self image and my body
(10:28):
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 I'm sure I was using a lot worse than
that too, right, But so, yes, I lost all of
(10:48):
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, keep in mind that when I started
on my own self image path, I didn't have God
(11:08):
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 self image, and that I
was also not going to be able to do it
(11:29):
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, and you know you probably
don't want to either. And that's why I get so
(11:51):
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've 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 a tape recorder
or the back of our mind where yeah, we might
(12:12):
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. But
you know, part of it is like we make ourselves
(12:33):
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 the just
the inner toxicity, and that in its own right is
(12:55):
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
us weeding the metaphorical garden. And that's why right off
(13:18):
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
the stuff that if I knew about this when I
(13:40):
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
my brain was just doing what it does and what
(14:01):
it got fired and wired to do, and really repeat
until I change the pattern. So it wasn't me being crazy.
My brain just needed to be managed. Right. So we're
gonna get a bit 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 part of
(14:29):
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 that is largely
(14:50):
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 all so 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 comes to
(15:12):
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 also where a
(15:34):
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 why this part of
(15:55):
the brain is so important to know about and try
to take care of and really keep health 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 of
(16:16):
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 perception and
(16:39):
self reflection part of your brain and of your self image.
So a quick thing about the ACC, or that 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,
(16:59):
and care from other people, but 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? Right?
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
(17:22):
feel that connection and belonging and inclusion an actual human
connection like from other people, but also feeling accepted, connected
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.
(17:43):
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
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
(18:03):
it's actually bigger and more active in females than it
is in males. And so one of my favorite neuroscientists,
doctor leu An Bresendin, she says it best when she
says this, 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
(18:26):
than one percent variation between the sexes is small, but
that percentage difference influences every single cell in our bodies,
from the 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
(18:46):
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 leu Ane Bresendein was saying, it
influences everything 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
(19:07):
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, 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
(19:30):
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 about this social brain and
self image conversation. It is not practical or even possible
for anyone to not care what other people think about us.
Our brains are wired to care, especially the female brain.
(19:53):
As you're learning, we're wired to actively notice other people's
opinions and judgments of us. And we do that more
more than the male 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
(20:14):
to value your own opinion of yourself more so, even
just a teeny tiny 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
(20:36):
you're comparing yourself to. I believe it's possible to build
an identity and recreate your self image through the eyes
of unconditional love and acceptance 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
(20:58):
see yourself as God sees you, and when you can
rewire and solidify your identity so 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
(21:19):
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 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
(21:39):
time around in things that are bigger than you, and
that are no longer again, less and less rooted in shame,
and no longer just 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
(22:02):
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 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
(22:24):
you know, vain, and it's like, no, it's just knowing
who you are and knowing who you're not. And sure,
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
(22:44):
getting your identity from God and through the eyes of
God's unconditional love and acceptance. Right, So what would it
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
(23:07):
through those eyes, like through God's eyes. And we're gonna
come back to that in just a minute. But 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
(23:28):
gonna go way deeper in part four of this series
next week, all about your food brain. But I 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 fascinating, right, Like,
just this brain stuff to me was revelatory because again
(23:50):
it made me realize, Okay, I'm not crazy or weak
willed or weird or different. I just need to learn
to take care of my brain. And like I take
care of my 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
(24:13):
through the lens of faith. Okay, and let's directly invite
God into this conversation. 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,
(24:35):
because that's where it really gets cool. So there was
a national study conducted by the Association of Religion Data Archives,
and that 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.
(24:57):
When individuals reported a close relationship with and I'm quoting
here a close relationship with a divine being who cared
about them. 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
(25:19):
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
they concluded was that, and I quote, a sense of
divine support is a robust predictor of self esteem. Okay,
(25:39):
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.
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
(26:00):
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
relationship with a loving, redeeming God, a heavenly Father who
sees you and loves you just as you are. And
(26:20):
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.
There is a big difference between religion and faith, and
the big distinction being that religion is all about rules
(26:43):
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,
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
(27:06):
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
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
(27:28):
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,
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.
(27:52):
The Lord looks at the heart. And so how often
are our self images based solely on what we look
like or these quantified 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
(28:13):
through four reminds us of something similar. It says, don't
be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry,
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,
(28:36):
and so to me. This is about working on your
own inner beauty, because what you see is who you be,
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
(28:56):
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,
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
(29:17):
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 yourself image a new definition 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
(29:38):
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 life is gone,
a new life has begun. Talk about neuroplasticity in its finest,
But this just reminds me that you can take on
a new story and a new identity anytime you choose.
(30:00):
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 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
(30:22):
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 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
(30:42):
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 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,
(31:03):
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 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
(31:24):
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 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
(31:46):
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 God know your concerns,
and before you know a sense of God's wholeness everything
coming together for good will come and settle you down.
(32:06):
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 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
(32:30):
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 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
(32:54):
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 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
(33:16):
a deep level, it lays down positive neuro associations alongside
that habit or that thought, 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
(33:37):
and having it become your new self image, it needs
to resonate or at least can't create dissonance. Right, 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
(33:57):
rewire my brain, but show me who I am. Right,
And that's really all I'm inviting you into, right, I'm
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
(34:19):
it was all a God conversation. And again I'm here
to just keep reminding you of that old conventional way
that you've probably been going down that road versus the
new way. Where the old way again is this strictly
bodied 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
(34:40):
this conversation of ease and flow and lifelong freedom. Because
those old beliefs staying rooted in you is what carries
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 going to keep happening.
But the new beliefs where again you first you die
to that old identity and you step into a new
(35:02):
identity with new beliefs that actually address the you know,
the toxic weeds, right, And you step into that new
identity that just has that relationship with 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
(35:23):
about last week. Okay, And so now you understand why
I wanted to start with your self image, right, because
this 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
the part of the brain that I believe if we
invite God in absolute miracles can happen, and our minds
(35:48):
can be renewed, and our identity can be reshaped, and
hope and healing 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
(36:09):
meets you where you are in your own journey. But
that is how you 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
(36:29):
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 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
(36:49):
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 if you wire your
own brain for peace and freedom, then head on over
to stressless eeating dot com and sign up to watch
the Stressless Eating sneak preview, where I've literally peeled the
(37:10):
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 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
(37:33):
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 food and body prison, end the
dieting madness, and take control of 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
(37:55):
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 about all this self
image and body image stuff but from the perspective of
where brain science intersects faith. It's called What's God Got
to Do With It? And you can access it on
(38:17):
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 Outweagy podcast crossover series. I'm your host,
Leanne Ellington, and I'm so grateful to 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,
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