How to Protect Your Heart From New Year Diet Culture Pressure with Dr. Alisa Shanks
"Is it nourishing you? Is it nourishing your heart, mind, body, and soul, or is it harming you?"
If you've felt the specific dread that shows up every January, the before-and-after ads, the "new year, new you" emails, the sudden pressure to fix a body that was never broken, you already know what this episode is about. Diet culture doesn't take a break for the holidays. It ramps up the second the calendar flips, and it convinces good, faithful people that this is the year they finally earn peace by shrinking themselves. That's bondage with a countdown clock, dressed up as a fresh start.
Today on the Old School Food Freedom Podcast, Chrissy welcomes back Dr. Alisa Shanks, clinical psychologist, FINDINGbalance Board Chair, and director of the Larry Crabb Center for University Counseling at Colorado Christian University, for part one of a two-part conversation on protecting your heart against the January diet frenzy.
Here's what we cover:
The numbers behind body dissatisfaction, including a $305 billion report from Dove and Harvard's STRIPED initiative that puts a dollar amount on what diet culture really costs us
Why 35% of dieting turns obsessive, and why that number matters if you've ever told yourself "it's just a diet, it's not a big deal"
Proverbs 4:23 and what it means to guard your heart as an actual daily practice, not a nice sentiment
The full armor of God from Ephesians 6, broken down piece by piece as a framework for standing firm against diet culture
Why curating your social media feed is the first and most practical step toward protecting your peace this January
How to advocate for yourself at the doctor's office if talking about weight isn't safe for your recovery
What it means to build "family by choice" when the people you love keep speaking the language of diet culture without realizing it
Friend, if you've spent every January since you can remember making a list of everything wrong with your body, this episode was made with you in mind. Dr. Shanks hands you something sturdier than a five-step plan for feeling better about dieting. She gives you the truth about who you already are, and a strategy for holding onto that truth when the culture around you is shouting the opposite.
"We are not more or less worthy, or more or less loved, if we don't conform to somebody else's crazy before-and-after pictures." - Dr. Alisa Shanks
The belt of truth doesn't come in a size. That's the whole point. You don't earn your way into being loved by God through a number on a scale, a clean eating streak, or a body that finally looks like the ad. You were already His. This January, before you make another resolution about your body, ask what it would look like to protect your heart first and let everything else follow.
Part two drops soon with more practical tools for the weeks ahead. Send this one to a friend who needs to hear it before the ads get louder.
If this is the season you finally trade the diet cycle for real food freedom, we've got you: FINDINGbalance® is offering a huge discount on the Lasting Freedom participant bundle with code OSFFVIP!
We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please drop us an email at admin@findingbalance.com, send us a voice message via SpeakPipe, or you can also subscribe for more practical episodes coming your way.
More About Dr. Alisa Shanks
Dr. Alisa Shanks has been a licensed clinical psychologist in Colorado since 2004, having built her career around three deep passions: her faith, eating disorder recovery, and university mental health. She has served at Biola University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, and currently serves as Director of the Larry Crabb Center for University Counseling at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood. Dr. Shanks believes wholeheartedly in full eating disorder recovery and brings that conviction to everything she does. She also serves as Chair of the FINDINGbalance® Board of Directors and brings over two decades of clinical expertise to her role. Alisa has been married for 25 years and has 2 teenage sons.
Mentioned References
Report: The Real Cost of Beauty Ideals
National Eating Disorders Association from January 2020
Mentioned Scriptures
Proverbs 4:23, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 6:6-12 and 6:13-18
Connect with Dr. Alisa Shanks:
Christian Treatment Finder Profile
Facebook
Instagram
SpeakPipe – send us a voice message
CHRIST-CENTERED RESOURCES TO HELP YOU FIND FREEDOM
The Daily Vitamin eDevo: A free devotional with bite-sized truth emailed 5 days a week
Community Groups: Find connection with prayer groups and our Hello, Freedom! community.
Christian Treatment Finder: Connecting you with Christian providers experienced in treating eating issues.
Lasting Freedom Online Course: A Christ-centered, non-diet course to work through false beliefs about food and weight so you can live free from disordered eating and body image issues.
CREDITS:
Intro music by “MokkaMusic” – Old Jeans (Funk)
Production & Editing by Marketing With Wisdom
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The content in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prescribe a particular course of action. If you have, or suspect you may have, an eating disorder, please consult your healthcare provider. If you desire to receive faith-based care, visit ChristianTreatmentFinder.com to browse professionals with a Kingdom campaign against eating disorders.
More about the Old School Food Freedom Podcast
In today’s diet-culture society, food issues and body hatred have become the norm. But you were created to be FREE. Welcome to Old School Food Freedom, where we go back to the basics, God’s basics, for how we view food, our bodies, and our worth.
Hosted by FINDINGbalance Executive Director Chrissy Kirkman, this podcast features Biblically-sound experts, thought-leaders, artists, and everyday people who will inspire you to interrupt negative cultural soundtracks and rediscover God’s original design for your relationship with food and your body.
This show will deliver practical, faith-filled insights on how to break free from diet culture and body shame through the lens of scripture. If you’re looking for guidance on how to heal your relationship with food while deepening your faith, you're in the right place.
We’ll answer questions like
What does the Bible say about food freedom?
How can I overcome an eating disorder or disordered eating with Jesus?
What is the biblical perspective on diet culture?
How can I find peace with food as a Christian?
What does it mean to treat your body as a temple in relation to eating?
How can I break free from diet culture with Jesus?
How can I align my eating habits with biblical teachings?
What are the first steps to finding food freedom in Christ?
This podcast is for anyone ready to walk away from diet culture and into the freedom that Christ offers. Whether you’re recovering from an eating disorder, disordered eating, wrestling with body image, or simply craving a more peaceful relationship with food, this space was made for you.
If you want to experience true food freedom with Jesus, this podcast will give you the encouragement, truth, and tools to do just that.
The unedited transcript for this episode of Old School Food Freedom
Chrissy Kirkman [00:00:42 - 00:00:53]: We're so glad you're here with us today. Let's get into today's episode. Hey, Elisa. Happy New Year. We are back.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:00:54 - 00:00:56]: Happy New Year. We made it.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:00:57 - 00:00:59]: Oh my gosh. 2023.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:01:00 - 00:01:00]: What?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:01:00 - 00:01:06]: I remember when we were like scared of 20, no, of 2000. Do you remember being scared of the year? Y2K.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:01:07 - 00:01:09]: Talk about old school New Year fears.
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Introducing Dr. Alisa Shanks
Chrissy Kirkman [00:01:10 - 00:01:42]: It just seems like it should be 10 years ago. How has it been 23 years? Like, where does the time go? I can't even process that. Well, before we get into the good stuff today, I wanna be sure our listeners know a little bit about you. So today with me is Finding Balance resident expert, Dr. Elisa Shanks. She's a clinical psychologist and the director of the Larry Crabb Center for University Counseling at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colorado. And Dr. Shanks is also our Finding Balance board chair. Alisa, I am so glad you're on the show again.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:01:46 - 00:01:48]: Thank you. It's great to be back.
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Old School and New Year Traditions
Chrissy Kirkman [00:01:48 - 00:02:00]: Hey, so we always like to kick off our shows with what old school something do you miss, but This time, I think we should talk about some New Year's traditions. Did you have any New Year's traditions from back in the day?Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:02:01 - 00:03:05]: My family didn't have specific New Year's traditions that I grew up with that I can recall. But my family now has started a new tradition that I just saw randomly on Facebook one day, where you grab a mason jar and grab some note cards. And throughout the year, you write down blessings, all your little God shots and your thumbprints where you know that the Lord was really just blessing you or knocking your socks off or surprising you. And so this New Year's, we will be opening up our mason jar and reading our blessings from the year and acknowledging all the little ways that God has touched our hearts and whatnot. And it is, it's an inexpensive, like you just grab a mason jar, grab some note cards. It's like less than $5 and it makes a great gift for people. Especially now that it's New Year's. I know we all exchanged our Christmas gifts, but just a simple like, hey, remember to experience and express gratitude. Remember to call out the ways that God is going to be faithful here in 2023.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:03:14 - 00:03:43]: I absolutely love that. I mean, it's the second day of the year. So Anyone could start that today. I think it's a great idea, and it's so easy to go just day by day and kind of take for granted that our people will be there, our loved ones will be there. And that's not given and promised to us. We don't know the time, um, that we're gonna pass away. So I think that's such a great, wonderful, intentional act. I don't have anything like that.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:03:44 - 00:04:01]: I want to adopt that. Adapt, adapt that. Adopt. I would love to, to implement that in my life. Um, when I think back to old school stuff, I'm thinking Dick Clark, American Bandstand. I can hear his voice. He did the New Year's countdown where the ball drops.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:04:01 - 00:04:02]: There's Rockin' Eve, right?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:04:02 - 00:04:28]: Rockin' Eve. There you go. And, and our family, I mean, we didn't have like big bashes, but we did have some, you know, just get-togethers where we played board games or card games and, um, and we had, these standard, like traditional— there's this cheese ball. I can think of this cheese ball. It's an old school cheese ball that my mom would make. Yeah. And it was covered, like rolled in pecans. I mean, it was just amazing.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:04:28 - 00:04:42]: So I think of that and other like party foods and she would make this special punch in a punch bowl that had, I'm gonna say sherbet cuz that's how we said it. Sorbet, whatever. But we were like in the Midwest, so it's sherbet. I don't know.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:04:43 - 00:04:44]: Absolutely.
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January and Diet Culture Pressures
Chrissy Kirkman [00:04:44 - 00:05:22]: So good. As we enter season 2 of the Old School Food Freedom Podcast, we're gonna begin a new release schedule where we release episodes twice a month. Um, and we know that January is the time when we're bombarded with new year, new you messaging and advertising everywhere. We all somehow feel this, a little bit of cultural pressure To make resolutions and change some things up. And you wanna start fresh. You can start fresh any day. Yeah. But there's something about the number going up one digit that makes you just think, okay, well this is it.Chrissy Kirkman [00:05:22 - 00:05:44]: Right? But to help you move into just kind of setting yourself up for success. Mm-hmm. And rather than calling them resolutions, what if it's just an intention? An intention. A new, some new choices that we can make. That get us closer to where we wanna be. And maybe our goals look different. Absolutely.
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Navigating New Year’s Diet Culture
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:05:45 - 00:05:57]: And even I was on the Finding Balance website today and, um, the byline says, eat well, live free. Yeah. Right. And what if, what if that was our intention?Chrissy Kirkman [00:05:57 - 00:05:58]: Right.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:05:58 - 00:06:43]: There are statistics around New Year's resolutions and of course in 2020 they looked at Some of the most popular New Year's resolutions were eating healthier, and 44% of the people in the UK said, yep, that's my resolution, and 43% of Americans said the same thing. But what's really important, and what we're talking about today in this new year, is how do we navigate this season of diet culture on steroids? Because it's reasonable, right, to sit down with your blessing jar and evaluate the last year. It's a time of reflection. It's a time of self-assessment, life assessment, kind of like birthdays and New Year's, I think.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:06:44 - 00:06:44]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:06:44 - 00:07:54]: Um, are, are times where we reflect. And so it can also, however, be a hard time because when we reflect, if where we are and where we thought we would be are disparate, um, then when those expectations haven't been met, then we can, um, judge ourselves or have a negative attitude or a negative approach to So what you and I were wanting to talk about today is how do we navigate this season where diet culture, focus on weight loss, focus on eating clean, focus on all those things is at an all-time high, right? Every New Year's, we know that we know that you can't turn on the news. And if you walk into a bookstore, which not everybody's doing these days, but if you do, what's going to be in the front of the bookstore will be maybe some cookbooks, but definitely all of the weight loss information. And you and I have also talked about all the before and after pictures that come up with advertising and whatnot.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:07:54 - 00:07:55]: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:07:55 - 00:08:05]: And just these messages that in order to be healthy and successful, we need to somehow transform or change our bodies. To meet a cultural beauty ideal.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:08:06 - 00:08:21]: There's so much pressure. Yeah. There's so much pressure. There's so much temptation. Um, those before and afters are triggering. Mm-hmm. There is a song called Before and After. I cannot think of who sings it.
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Focusing on the Heart: Beyond Before & After
Chrissy Kirkman [00:08:21 - 00:08:52]: Um, I will link it in the show notes, but it's talking about some things the camera can't capture and talking about, mm-hmm. Within that internal change within. So I, I will link that in the show notes. I would love for people to listen to that and, and use it maybe as, as a, a theme for your new year of like some things the camera really can't capture. And is what is our focus? What is our desire to, to have a before and after of a change in body? Because that's, that's not even what it's about.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:08:52 - 00:08:53]: It's about the heart.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:08:53 - 00:08:53]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:08:54 - 00:09:20]: Absolutely. And And as I think about that, our verse for that is Proverbs 4:23 that says, above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. And, you know, you were saying the other day that just because the clock strikes midnight on December 31st doesn't mean that you're a new person, or you suddenly have a different level of willpower or intentionality.
The Real Cost of Beauty Ideals
Chrissy Kirkman [00:09:21 - 00:09:21]: Yeah.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:09:21 - 00:10:00]: So it's hard. if we don't necessarily have a new amount of time, energy availability, etc., to navigate these things. I just came across this amazing report called The Real Cost of Beauty Ideals. And it came out October 2022. So just a few months ago. It is a partnership between the Dove Self-Esteem Project and the Harvard Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders, which has the acronym of Striped. It's a 161-page report. So it's pretty dense.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:10:00 - 00:11:24]: But as I was looking through it and thinking about this diet culture soup on steroids in January, I pulled out a few key statistics that were just astounding, Chrissy. So I'm going to monologue here for just a hint and give you some of this information. This report defines body dissatisfaction as having a severe and persistent negative attitude towards one's own physical appearance, which has been caused by harmful beauty ideals. It originates from a perceived discrepancy between your ideal state of appearance and your actual physical appearance, right? So the difference between the wished for and the what is is sometimes how I talk about that in therapy. There's another part of this report that talks about appearance-based discrimination, and that looks at the unjust prejudicial treatment of someone purely based on their appearance. This can be based on any physical feature, but the top 3 areas that they covered in this Real Cost of Beauty Ideals report were weight discrimination, skin shade discrimination, and natural hair discrimination. So these are key areas that impact individuals. In 2019, in America, 45 million people were affected by body dissatisfaction.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:11:25 - 00:11:47]: And that was, that is 16% of the American population over age 10. 66 million were affected by appearance-based discrimination. And of those, 34 million were the ones facing weight discrimination. That is a lot of people who are suffering and struggling.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:11:47 - 00:11:47]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:11:48 - 00:13:02]: So in this report, part of what they did was look at the actual economic toll of beauty ideals. And when we say beauty ideals, we're talking about that toxic diet culture soup. We're talking about an image that for women is thin and many times white and sometimes incredibly underweight and is set forth as what is the picture of beauty here in America. So body dissatisfaction was found to cost a whopping grand total of $305 billion a year. And they parsed that into $84 billion in financial costs through the healthcare system, productivity losses, and efficiency losses. And then $221 billion lost in wellbeing. And if you're like me, and you have an inquiring mind, then you think, what is wellbeing? And of course, they broke that out for us. So wellbeing had to do with poor health outcomes, like eating disorders, depression, suicide rates, a reduced engagement in life, right?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:13:03 - 00:13:03]: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:13:03 - 00:14:02]: A sense that your body dissatisfaction makes you wanna hide or withdraw. They talked about risky behavior choices, such as high-risk alcohol use, use of illegal drugs, smoking cigarettes, and then also risky cosmetic procedures and cosmetic products. In terms of that appearance-based discrimination, it was $501 billion, with $269 billion in that financial place and $233 billion in lost well-being. So that is such an incredible way of quantifying the impact of this diet culture, the impact of weight discrimination, size discrimination, skin color, hair texture, all those things. And Chrissy, women and girls bear the brunt of that, right?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:14:02 - 00:14:02]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:14:02 - 00:14:44]: And it impacts and harms young women more, which can then lead to that underage drinking, cigarette smoking, and illegal drug use. And they also found, I didn't pull the stat on this, but a lot of people smoke because of body dissatisfaction. There's an incredible link between this idea that like smoking will allow them to, you know, maybe skip a meal or affect their appetite or affect their taste buds, those kinds of things. So there's a lot of unhealthy actual components to living in this diet culture soup.
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Media Messages and Changing the Narrative
Chrissy Kirkman [00:14:45 - 00:14:50]: Wow. I mean, these, these amounts are astounding.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:14:51 - 00:15:35]: It is mind-blowing. So I would also encourage you to put this— we'll throw the report in the show notes. They literally talked about paying for like 19% of American college students could just have a full ride to college if we weren't— if the money wasn't going to these places. It was crazy. So a lot of this beauty idealism is conveyed through media. And in the report, they wrap it up. It's 161 pages, so feel free to read it all. But they wrap it up talking about what do we do, right? How do we change this? We're all in this space, and it makes us feel— uncomfortable and miserable.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:15:35 - 00:16:00]: And then we've got all that comparison stuff. But Dove as a company has made a commitment to not engaging in digital distortion. And for the common person, what that means is they're not going to be airbrushing their images. So we will see the models as they are. They're not going to be erasing wrinkles, erasing stretch marks, trimming down, you know, Anything.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:16:01 - 00:16:01]: Yay!
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:16:01 - 00:16:45]: They are making that commitment. I love it. And they also created a global collection of inclusive beauty images for media and advertisers. It's called Show Us. And it is a resource for people to pull these images and use them in their advertising, in their presentations, in a way that these images are inclusive, and not discriminatory. And, um, they also mentioned that in 2021, in an absolutely unprecedented move, Pinterest was the first corporation to ban all ads with weight loss language and imagery. Can we get an amen?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:16:45 - 00:17:06]: Amen. It's amazing. I spent so— wasted so many years of my life on Pinterest. I was a pinster. Yes. But I, that, and it, and it, I had weight loss boards and diet boards and I was, mm-hmm, it didn't do anything positive for me. So that I'm, kudos to Pinterest.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:17:06 - 00:17:53]: Yes. All right. And I wish more of our social media platforms would follow suit. Yeah, absolutely. So as we're in this culture of diet and weight loss and new year, new you, and what are your goals and everybody lose however many pounds by whenever. One of the things that's really important for us to recognize is that dieting is the royal road to an eating disorder for a percentage of individuals. And the National Eating Disorders Association published data January of 2020 that showed that 35% of dieting becomes obsessive. So like, we call it pathological dieting in our clinical realm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:17:53 - 00:18:39]: And 20 to 25% of those people who move into obsessive dieting can then move into eating disorders. So one of the best ways to never have an eating disorder, and when we say that, we're talking kind of the classic anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, eating disorders, is to never start manipulating your food through a diet. Right? So avoiding that choice to restrict your intake, ignore your hunger and fullness cues, and follow some sort of external plan for what, when, and how you should eat. Avoiding that is the best way to avoid landing in a long-term struggle with an eating disorder.
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Offering Grace and What to Do Next
Chrissy Kirkman [00:18:40 - 00:18:49]: And there are listeners right now, could have used that when I was 13. What do you say to them? Okay, gentle on yourself. We love you.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:18:49 - 00:18:59]: Grace upon grace, right? We only— my assistant director here at CCU, She always says, we only know what we know when we know it.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:18:59 - 00:18:59]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:18:59 - 00:19:11]: And there's grace and mercy there. We only know what we know when we know it. So for us, what does that mean? Right? It means, darn it, I wish I would've known this however many years ago, but you're hearing it today.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:19:11 - 00:19:11]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:19:11 - 00:20:13]: January 2023. And so what do we do? And I love practical, tangible, right? So, yeah. So what, what can you do? Right? One of the things that you can do is to curate your social media. And what that means is assess who are you following, what is their messaging, and is it good for your heart, mind, and soul? And pay attention, right? This time of year is just so difficult. There is so much. body criticism just flying around in the United States and really overseas also. Talk to your partner, talk to your friends and family, talk to your sons and daughters, nieces, nephews, grandkids about their experience of being in this diet culture on steroids in January. I also would say turn to God.
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Curating Your Media & Armoring Up
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:20:14 - 00:20:42]: Right? Give God your struggles. He knows our hearts. He knows our souls. He knows our struggles. And when there's a frenzy about changing your body, changing your lifestyle, changing your exercise plan, eating clean, it's really hard to armor up and protect your heart in that arena. And one of the others— so our first tip is curate your media, right?Chrissy Kirkman [00:20:42 - 00:20:42]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:20:43 - 00:20:49]: Get rid of everyone that is preaching the gospel of dieting. That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:20:50 - 00:20:57]: It's a social media feed. It is feeding you. So there's your change in your consumption plan, I guess.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:20:57 - 00:20:58]: Absolutely.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:20:58 - 00:21:00]: You know, is to change what is feeding you.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:21:00 - 00:21:43]: Yes. Because is it nourishing you? Is it nourishing your heart, mind, body, and soul? Or is it harming you? Is it creating that comparison that we talked about in episode 3 with comparison is the thief of joy. Thank you, Teddy Roosevelt. And it is. And so thinking about how do we make adjustments, and that might mean some amputations, and you might have to amputate a few people from your social media feed. A place of really amazing encouragement, I actually shared this with Chrissy a few weeks ago. In one of my staff meetings, one of our staff members did a devotional on Ephesians 2:10.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:21:43 - 00:21:43]: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:21:44 - 00:22:19]: And it's such a simple, beautiful verse, but it says, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. And the way that he, my friend, unpacked this was— another translation says, we are God's workmanship. So we are God's workmanship, his masterpiece. But we also said— what he said was, we are a piece of the master.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:22:20 - 00:22:21]: Wow. Yes.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:22:21 - 00:22:53]: And when we are criticizing ourselves for not meeting these impossible beauty standards, then we are critiquing the master. And he is more concerned about our heart about our connection to him, about our behavior, than he is about the number in the back of our jeans. So we are not more or less worthy or more or less loved if we don't conform to somebody else's crazy before and after pictures.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:22:55 - 00:22:57]: Preach. Yeah, so good.
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Full Armor of God Against Diet Culture
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:22:58 - 00:23:31]: It is. And so thinking about combating, right, armoring our hearts and our souls, And combating this season of new year, new you. Another key component is worth and identity, right? Who we are in Christ is way more amazing, way more impactful than, again, our size and shape. And different people are in different bodies, and we should love and celebrate that.Chrissy Kirkman [00:23:32 - 00:23:32]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:23:34 - 00:24:33]: And then Ephesians 6. Okay, so we're gonna go deep in Ephesians 6 here for a few minutes. Um, this section, um, ends up moving into the full armor of God and then unpacking how do we use that armor to protect ourselves from this diet culture on steroids. So Ephesians, the first part, 6 through 12, says, finally, Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, that you may take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And as I think about the devil's schemes, you talked about, man, if somebody would have told me that when I was 13, right?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:24:33 - 00:24:33]: Right.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:24:33 - 00:25:13]: Or late in high school, where I know some things went down in your life. The devil's scheme is to get us focused on diet, weight loss, the number on the scale, whether or not people are worthy based on their size and shape. And to, if he could, prevent us from doing the things that God has prepared for us to do. But diet and weight loss and eating disorders can cause us to spend a lot of time in ways that are not healthy for our bodies and our souls. And so this next section, and that is the devil's scheme, right?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:25:13 - 00:25:13]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:25:13 - 00:25:21]: That his scheme is to distract. I have it down here. His focus is to steal, kill, and destroy.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:25:21 - 00:25:21]: Right?
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:25:22 - 00:26:34]: Yeah. And, and this idea that there's this impossible body image ideal that we can't possibly meet, or we would have to go to incredible extreme measures to meet it, that is harmful. So how do we protect? Here's where we get into the full armor of God. This is Ephesians 6:13-18. It says, therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes— New Year's— you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:26:34 - 00:27:10]: With this in mind, be alert And always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. So there's so much richness there, and I broke it out in terms of those different parts of the armor and how to use those to combat diet culture. So the first, the belt of truth, right? That keeps your pants up, the belt of truth. But it also, it protects your core. And the truth there is that we are beloved by God. We are saved. We are forgiven. We are free.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:27:10 - 00:27:18]: We are his masterpieces. So put on that belt of truth and buckle that, and it doesn't matter what size that belt is.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:27:19 - 00:27:22]: Hey, hey, it doesn't say put on a size blank.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:27:23 - 00:27:24]: No, it doesn't.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:27:24 - 00:27:24]: Put it on.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:27:24 - 00:27:26]: In fact, nope, put on that belt.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:27:26 - 00:27:26]: Love it.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:27:27 - 00:27:59]: The next one is the breastplate of righteousness. Right? And that is your front shield. And his righteousness covers our sins and our most vulnerable places, right? Your heart, your soul, your internal organs, that is covered by his righteousness. The next one is your feet that have the readiness from the gospel of peace. Chrissy, what is this story of eating disorders and body image issues and diet culture if it is not a story of peace? Right.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:28:01 - 00:28:01]: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:28:01 - 00:28:57]: But what this talks about is the gospel of peace. And I know it's hard, and I don't take this lightly. And I've walked with clients for years and years helping them to find freedom. But God is the provider of our peace, even in the midst of diet culture on steroids. So how do we connect with and get into the Word And think about Him as the provider of our peace, even in the midst of this maelstrom, in the midst of this tornado and chaos. The next piece is the shield of faith, and thinking about our faith and acknowledging that God loves us and accepts us. He stands in opposition to this culture. This shield extinguishes the flaming arrows of the enemy.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:28:58 - 00:29:26]: So thinking about how do we shield ourselves and extinguish, you know, escape from those before and after pictures, escape from any preaching or teaching or all the new year, new you, let's get on the weight loss bandwagon. We have to shield ourselves with our faith that Jesus loves us and accepts us. And no matter what we weigh, no matter what we look like, no matter what our struggles—
Chrissy Kirkman [00:29:26 - 00:29:26]: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:29:27 - 00:30:17]: He is there loving and accepting us. There's 3 more little pieces. So the helmet of salvation, right, that protects our head, and that's where our thoughts are, right? And those thoughts can cause us all kinds of trouble, but the knowledge that we are forgiven and saved and loved then protects our minds. And even praying and asking God— to protect our mind in the midst of January, in the midst of this struggle, is so important. And that is the helmet of salvation. And the salvation is freedom from our sins and our battles. The next one is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And I've heard this preached on so many times, and they talk about that this is the only offensive weapon.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:30:18 - 00:30:20]: I don't know if you've ever heard that before.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:30:20 - 00:30:23]: I've not heard it put that way. Totally makes sense. Yes.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:30:23 - 00:31:31]: So everything else, Yeah. Everything else is protective, right? We protect our core, our belt, our shield, our helmet. That's all protective. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, and that is our only offensive weapon. And that is the weapon against the devil, against his lies, against these messages that we are not loved or worthy, or only if we get to a certain size or shape or number in the back of our jeans. will we have worth and the adoration of our Father. So we need to use the Word of God to attack the lies from the devil, right? We attack with our sword, and we slay this crazy time in our culture, where we are told that we are not enough, and we are not worthy unless we look a certain way. And then the last one that nobody includes in the armor of God, but it's included in the passage, It says, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:31:31 - 00:31:43]: With this in mind, be alert, and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. And I was, as I was pulling this together, I was like, wait, nobody talks about prayer as part of the armor of God.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:31:44 - 00:31:45]: Right. But it's there.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:31:45 - 00:32:34]: They tacked it on at the end. And so praying, For all God's people. And I know actually that Finding Balance meets that need through some of our prayer groups, that we come together in community to help support each other, support people that are struggling, people whose loved ones are struggling, etc. And I want to include that as part of our armor of God in this time of year, that this is really hard. And it is so— we use the word triggering a lot, but— But it is triggering being in January and hearing all these messages and seeing all these images. And sometimes it's coming from the front. And we talked about that in episode 3. And that can be really hard.
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Navigating Triggers and Setting Boundaries
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:32:34 - 00:33:01]: And I think that, you know, people are very well-meaning in terms of, you know, we want people to be healthy and strong and all those things. But I think the way that that message is conveyed is so important. And recognizing that people are not more worthy or more desirable just because our society speaks that destructive lie.Chrissy Kirkman [00:33:01 - 00:33:45]: I mean, that is so true. And what I think is cool, speaking of true, when we're talking about the belt of truth, um, in January you will be seeing, if you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you'll be seeing our social media feed. Um, will— the theme is what is true, focusing on what is true. So we're gonna help you remember what is true. Um, we are gonna be putting scripture out there that helps with putting— when you put your armor on, you're gonna have truth, you're gonna have wisdom. Um, we're gonna help you out. And prayer. We are gonna have prayer groups, a new round of prayer groups that start at the end of the, um, this month.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:33:45 - 00:34:12]: So be on the lookout for those. If you can join one, we would love to have you. We are here to help you. This is why God has this ministry of Finding Balance, is to, to help you equip yourself. The scripture already gives you the, the basis, but sometimes it's, it's difficult to navigate in the current culture we're living in when so many things are skewed, that we're helping you put it all together.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:34:12 - 00:34:13]: Mm-hmm.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:34:14 - 00:34:14]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:34:14 - 00:34:59]: And it's not, you know, again, it's not always easy. It's not simple. It's not A plus B equals C. And, and as we, as you and I always say, no guilt, no shame, right? This is part of a journey and eating disorders and eating and body image issues. I mean, frankly, it's a miracle that we're not talking about 100% of the country that is struggling with these things based on All of us swimming in this same soup. Um, although people don't actually swim in soup, they eat soup. So my metaphor's not quite how I need it to be, but, um, it's all good. So Chrissy, for you, are there any things that you have done that have helped you to combat the New Year frenzy or the New Year chaos in previous years?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:35:00 - 00:35:11]: Yes, I definitely curating my feed. I'm, I, I mean, I, I, I cleansed my house of social media. Sometimes I needed to get off of social media for seasons.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:35:12 - 00:35:12]: Mm-hmm.
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Real Life Boundaries and Recovery
Chrissy Kirkman [00:35:12 - 00:36:00]: Because it's just too much. You know, you say triggering, but it really would trigger me into wanting to go back into those old behaviors. So I would have to unfollow people, influencers, brand accounts that are starting to say a message that I just, I, Seeing is not good for me. I sometimes spend less time with certain individuals that are really on a dieting kick, and that's just not where I want to be. And not that I'm excluding them from my life, it just looks a little different. We're just spending less time, or when they bring it up, I can find ways to change the subject or let them know I'm in a process of healing. with my body and, um, and recovery. I will say one thing that really helped me.Chrissy Kirkman [00:36:00 - 00:36:33]: I, I'm really surprised, but I found a lot of freedom in actually telling people I'm currently in recovering from, in recovery from disordered eating. Um, so I, it just helps if I don't talk about that. And they, everybody was so respectful. Even when I went to the doctor, I would specifically say I'm in recovery for disordered eating, even if it was like, The first month of being in recovery, it's, I am trying to recover. I'm trying to break free from this. And so I could say that and they would immediately have compassion.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:36:34 - 00:36:34]: Mm-hmm.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:36:35 - 00:37:08]: Understand that it's a process and try to help me. So it seemed, I mean, not everyone has that experience, but it seemed very beneficial to me and I found, um, some freedom in that. And, um, so any, pretty much anything that would hinder my recovery or make me feel like it's, it's triggering or gonna be worse, um, or, or hindered my healing and my freedom. I would unsubscribe from emails and blogs and, and I deleted my Pinterest boards of, of weight loss and, and exercise and things. I deleted them all. I didn't need them.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:37:08 - 00:37:09]: And some of them, yeah.
Advocacy and Healthcare Boundaries
Chrissy Kirkman [00:37:09 - 00:37:27]: Good job. Good go. And some of them I was like, well, I like those recipes even though they're promoting it as a weight loss. It's just, just food. It's not necessarily I'm doing it for weight loss. So I would have to say nourishing yums or I don't know what I, I just renamed it. Right. And so you gotta get creative and, and absolutely.Chrissy Kirkman [00:37:27 - 00:37:29]: Um, and do what works for you.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:37:30 - 00:38:09]: And, and what we're talking about is actually setting amazing boundaries, right? We, we therapy types, we love the boundaries cuz they're so important. And, and you're also sharing a really tender moment that A lot of people have a hard time accessing healthcare and getting through those appointments and those journeys because if people are in larger bodies, they can go in to get tested for COVID or strep throat or flu and get a lecture about their size and shape. And the truth is, in most instances, your doctor actually doesn't need to know what you weigh.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:38:09 - 00:38:09]: Hmm.
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More on Advocacy and Family Dynamics
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:38:10 - 00:39:07]: for the bulk of appointments and just saying, you know what, I am working on recovery from disordered eating or an eating disorder, and that information is not helpful to me. And you can request what we call a blind weight, or you can just step on the scale backwards. So step on the scale backwards and let the nurse know that you don't want them to write that down anywhere where you're going to be able to see it. Now, these days with electronic health records, probably you'll be able to access it, but They, maybe they could show you some respect and some encouragement for recovery and not put it front and center bold in that electronic health record. So that's a way of advocating for yourself. And if there are particular people, like you said, that are on that dieting bandwagon, it's okay to take a break from that relationship and say, this isn't good for me right now because I'm working so hard to combat that messaging.Chrissy Kirkman [00:39:08 - 00:39:08]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:39:08 - 00:39:23]: In my life, and they can, you know, we can celebrate whatever their journey is. My prayer is it doesn't end in an eating disorder. Um, so it is, it's, it's sometimes hard to interact, not just with like the global out-there media.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:39:24 - 00:39:24]: Yeah.
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Family Triggers and Generational Messages
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:39:24 - 00:39:56]: But also with the people. And I can tell you in my, in fact, I have a Thanksgiving memory from years and years ago. one of the sides of my family would always greet one another with, oh, you look so good. Have you lost weight? Because we lived in various states and we hadn't seen each other over time. But that was the greeting. Oh, you look so good. Have you lost weight? Anybody else experience this at Thanksgiving or Christmas? I'm so sorry.Chrissy Kirkman [00:39:57 - 00:39:57]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:39:57 - 00:40:17]: Um, but I remember being in college. And my grandmother was in my parents' kitchen, and I came home from college and there's Grandma, and she says, oh, you look so good, have you lost weight? And I was like, no, it came from you, right? Like this in my own family.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:40:18 - 00:40:18]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:40:18 - 00:40:29]: That kind of greeting, that assessment, like, and it's not like, it's not what she meant. What she meant was, you look so good, I haven't seen you in a long time, right?
Chrissy Kirkman [00:40:30 - 00:40:30]: Yeah, right.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:40:30 - 00:41:07]: But the culture says, oh, you look so good if you lost weight. And I just remember, cuz I, my grandma was a precious, amazing woman who loved Jesus. And I just remember thinking, oh no, like this came from you. That's how it pervaded our family. Um, so it's hard, right? And family can be hard in this season. And you guys, hopefully if you have loving, healthy family, you've gotten some good time with them over Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, and if you haven't, I hope that you have built some of your own family.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:41:07 - 00:41:35]: We call it family by choice in therapy, that not everyone has healthy, loving, outstanding family relationships. And so then you can go and kind of build a family by choice with people that are more caring and safer and healthier, et cetera. But it's hard when it's right there and it's people you love and care about that are literally speaking The diet culture and the criticism.
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Extending Grace and Armoring with Scripture
Chrissy Kirkman [00:41:37 - 00:41:57]: Well-meaning people who love you, just— and the, the grace that we're asking you to give yourself, please extend it to them too, because they mean well and they love you. And part of this arm yourself, um, focus that we want you to have is, is when you're arming yourself with God's truth, that could look like writing scripture.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:41:58 - 00:41:58]: Yes.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:41:58 - 00:42:21]: On sticky notes. Putting them around your workspace, your cubicle, your bathroom mirror, smartphone reminders. I have literally set reminders on my smartphone that come up around the times that I know that I seem to struggle. It could be around lunchtime when I'm skipping meals or the things that I'm doing or—
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:42:22 - 00:42:25]: Historically, when you historically were skipping meals.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:42:25 - 00:42:27]: Sorry, when— thank you, I need you.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:42:28 - 00:42:28]: I got you.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:42:28 - 00:43:14]: When I have historically skipped meals and, um, and I'm not wanting to nourish myself, I need those reminders. I need those truths to bring me back down. That might look like a screen wallpaper, you know, like a background wallpaper for your laptop or your, your smartphone screen. Worship music. Get yourself hearing true, you know, true lyrics that are scripturally sound that help you focus on Jesus. Have some quiet time with him. Maybe it's signing up for the Daily Vitamin, that is our e-devotional that comes out 5 days a week that arms you with truth, that helps you, that sets you up for success, and surrounding yourself with people. But arm yourself.
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The Real Battle: Spiritual Warfare and Diet Culture
Chrissy Kirkman [00:43:14 - 00:43:33]: This is a real battle. We can't just blame diet culture because the mastermind behind diet culture is the enemy, Satan. This isn't just an accident. He planned this. It was intentional. It's against you, and it's against me. And so, we need to armor up and get ready.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:43:34 - 00:44:09]: Absolutely. And, and he, you know, we are made in the image of God. And so, anything the devil can do to distort that, to cause us to hate that, And, and that is a relational image, right? Being made in the image of God. God is Trinity. He is Father, Son, and Spirit. And that is a connected community. And we are made for community. But one of the things that disordered eating and eating disorders do is they— it strips community.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:44:10 - 00:44:10]: Mm-hmm.
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Food, Community, and Connection
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:44:10 - 00:44:24]: Because in our culture, a lot of the way that we connect and socialize It's around food. We especially, like, we all just survived the holidays, right? Hopefully thrived, but some of us just barely made it out.Chrissy Kirkman [00:44:24 - 00:44:24]: Yeah.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:44:24 - 00:44:58]: So we, you know, we connect around food. We join up for meals, we meet up for coffee, we gather to celebrate birthdays with desserts. Like, we socialize around food. And so when you have a disordered or distorted relationship with food, it can impact your connections. If you have a church that has a potluck and you don't ever wanna be seen eating in front of people, then you're gonna miss the fellowship of the potluck.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:44:58 - 00:44:58]: Mm-hmm.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:44:58 - 00:45:04]: And probably some delicious choices. But there, right? So one of the things—
Chrissy Kirkman [00:45:04 - 00:45:04]: Right.
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Freedom, Community, and Engaging Your Purpose
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:45:04 - 00:45:52]: We struggle with is the way that this eating disorder, disordered eating, body dissatisfaction space impacts our ability to be connected in the community of Christ. And so as we talk about freedom and hope and healing, we want freedom and hope and healing for your body, mind, and soul. And for you to be in community, because when you are telling yourself that you're not worthy, that you can't serve, That you certainly shouldn't stand up on stage for any reason, all those things, because the devil has whispered those lies to you. It impacts our ability to engage in the body of Christ.----------
Breaking It Down: Practical Steps to Start Your Year
Chrissy Kirkman [00:45:52 - 00:47:03]: This is so helpful. What I would love for our listeners, I would love for you to break this down. Let's break this down into one week at a time. So we should have mentioned in the beginning that this is a 2-part episode. So what we would like to do is break this down, have you break this down into one week at a time. What can we start with? Let's start with focusing on curating what's feeding us, unsubscribing from anything that isn't feeding you well, um, unfollowing accounts that don't enhance your life, that make you feel bad, that hinder your healing or freedom.Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:46:33 - 00:46:33]: Mm-hmm.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:46:34 - 00:47:03]: And follow accounts that will. And then that's week 1. Then next week, arm yourself, armor up, get ready for the battle. What does that look like? Focus that whole week on armoring yourself with God's truth, arming yourself with God's truth, with writing scriptures on sticky notes, whatever reminders, just armoring up. And then part 2, we will give you 2 more areas of focus.
Dr. Alisa Shanks [00:47:04 - 00:47:07]: And takeaways, practical takeaways and tips.
Chrissy Kirkman [00:47:07 - 00:47:46]: So we hope you'll join us for part 2. Thank you for listening to the Old School Food Freedom Podcast. For over 20 years, Finding Balance has been helping people walk in freedom by discovering where Jesus fits into their struggles with food. If you want more biblical truth and encouragement, head on over to FindingBalance.com and subscribe to our free Daily Vitamin devotional. While you're there, explore our Christ-centered Lasting Freedom online course and small group tools. You can help keep this ministry going by donating today at FindingBalance.com. See you next time!
