Deb Benfield has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food, eating, and their bodies in her 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist. Deb works with middle-aged women and beyond to help them feel vital and free of culture’s stifling diet and movement rules.

In my time with Deb, she names and disproves unhelpful myths about the aging process, discusses the prevalence of disordered eating in middle-aged women and beyond, the energy that is available to us if we aren’t trying to white knuckle our bodies, and why elderhood is the time to emerge as our truest self.

Natalie Runion is the author of Raised to Stay: Persevering in Ministry When You Have a Million Reasons to Walk Away, worship leader, and the former Pastor of Women and Creative Pastor of Family Ministry at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Natalie has also established the Raised to Stay community “for anyone weary of God’s people but longing to keep their faith in God.”

In my time with Natalie, we talk about how her experience in the church has led to her current work and ministry, the beauty that is possible in the church, as well as the lies about beauty she’s seen at work in women’s ministry. Perhaps most importantly, Natalie reminds us that despite the brokenness we sometimes encounter in the church, God’s steadfast beauty remains.

When it comes to societal messages around food and our bodies, we can often be left with the feeling that we aren’t doing it right. In today’s episode, registered dietitian, Donetta Floyd helps dispel unhelpful ideas and misconceptions regarding our relationship with food, our bodies, as well as Type 2 Diabetes.

Donetta is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who works with clients to help them find freedom in their relationship with food, using a Health at Every Size®, Intuitive Eating, and non-diet approach. In our time together, we talk about how Donetta became passionate about working from a non-diet approach, markers of disordered eating, and misconceptions about “health” having a certain look.

Emmy Russell is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who has been performing for the majority of her life. Touring on the road with her grandmother, country legend Loretta Lynn, Emmy started singing on stage at the age of two.

Most recently, Emmy released the song, “Skinny” with The Song House, detailing her struggle with an eating disorder. The song has received a warm reception and has been widely shared, getting over 300k likes on Instagram. In our time together, Emmy shares about her struggles with disordered eating, the pressures of image in the music industry, and how she’s moved toward healing in her own journey.

Gaelynn Lea is a professional musician and sought-after public speaker. She has opened for numerous artists including the Decembrists, composed the music for Macbeth on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig, and her perspectives have been shared on outlets such as On Being With Krista Tippett and PBS NewsHour.

Having been born with brittle bone disease, Gaelynn has had to navigate the world differently. Such life experiences have shaped her perspectives in important and meaningful ways, including becoming an advocate for disability rights and accessibility. In our time together, Gaelynn shares about the beautiful insight that disability can bring. She also discusses the transcendence of music, how she is able to hold life’s beauty and pain, and how she broke free from lies associated with societal beauty.

In this episode, I talk with registered dietitian, sports nutritionist, and nutrition therapist Leslie Schilling about the widespread impacts of diet culture, including in our schools, medical offices, and places of worship. Leslie recently released her second book, Feed Yourself: Step Away from the Lies of Diet Culture and into Your Divine Design. She has also served as a performance nutrition consultant for Cirque du Soleil®, an expert contributor to U.S. News & World Report, and has been featured in media outlets like Health, Women's Health, Self, Pregnancy Magazine, Yoga Journal, The Huffington Post, and on HGTV.

Leslie helps us unravel some of diet culture’s lies, including how its beliefs and practices have infiltrated the church. She also helps us see that thinness isn’t synonymous with health, our worth is not tied to our body size or what is on our plate, and that body diversity is divine.

From fleeing Uganda under the reign of Idi Amin as a child to having her prayers to get married answered at the age of 42, Grace Wabuke Klein has had a full life. In her new book, Flourish: Finding Purpose in the Unknown and Unexpected Seasons of Life, Grace gives a fresh perspective on the winter seasons we all go through, as well as practical steps to not just survive but to find purpose in the unknown and unexpected.

In my time with Grace, she explains how she remained connected to God during her own winter seasons of struggle, what has helped her establish deep roots of faith, and the lies about beauty she has had to shed over the years. Perhaps most importantly, Grace reminds us of our true identity and deep beauty; ultimately, as Grace says it, “we are a reflection of who God is on this earth.”

Some of life’s greatest lessons come from unexpected teachers. For Lacy Finn Borgo, some of her greatest teachers have been children. In Lacy’s new book, Faith Like a Child: Embracing Our Lives as Children of God, she invites us to consider what we might learn from children.

 Lacy teaches and provides spiritual direction through Renovaré, Mercy Center Burlingame, Companioning Center, and with children at Haven House. She holds a doctor of ministry degree in leadership and spiritual formation and a certificate in spiritual direction from Portland Seminary.  In our time together, Lacy and I discuss what it means to welcome our child selves. We also consider the importance of tending to childhood wounds, how to remain open to wonder amidst life’s griefs and brokenness, and why imagination is pivotal in the life of faith.

The journal Grace Casper began in elementary school has now become her new book, entitled Dear Parents: Notes from a Child of Divorce. Grace Casper is a writer, speaker, full-time elementary school librarian, and the host of the podcast, Divorce: What I Wish My Parents Knew. She graduated from Baylor University and now lives in Waco, Texas.

In my time with Grace, we talk about how her journal entries became a book and the important message she has for parents undergoing divorce or having undergone divorce. We also talk about the beauty of creativity and dreaming, and how we partner with God when we dream. Grace also discusses trends in social media she is noticing in her generation and the generation behind her, as well as her powerful learnings from those in the disability community.

In honor of the release of my new book, Soul-Deep Beauty: Fighting for Our True Worth in a World Demanding Flawless, I have a special episode in store for you. I recently sat down to have a conversation with my literary agent, Don Pape. Don has been a champion of my book and its message for years now and I can’t thank him enough.

In our time together, we talk about how Don ended up working in the publishing business, how he then became a literary agent, and the unique features of his company, Pape Commons. This conversation is a special one, as we talk about my heart and passion behind Soul-Deep Beauty, the need for this message amidst today’s media saturated culture, as well as some of the vulnerabilities and struggles that have come up along the way.

In this episode, Christie Dondero Bettwy, helps us name some of the toxic beliefs and messages that we are being fed, so we might be freed from them.  Christie is the Executive Director of Rock Recovery in Arlington, Virginia. Rock Recovery is a Christian eating disorder therapy nonprofit where clients can access low-cost therapy and support groups.

In our time together, Christie talks about her own recovery from a decades-long eating disorder, how her recovery story connects with her faith journey, and her passion for working at Rock Recovery. We also talk about how struggles with food, body image, and exercise may go unnoticed or undiagnosed because of how normalized disordered messages around food and body image are. Christie and I also name how such societal messages around food and our bodies impact all of us to varying degrees and she shares some fresh insights about body image.

Catherine Claire Larson invites us to see beyond the surface of things; reminding us that each life is a miracle, and that parenting is actually soul formation.

Catherine is an author and the mother of six boys. Her most recent book is called, Watching in Wonder: Growing in Faith During Your Baby's First Year.  Catherine writes to encourage moms, reminding them of the importance of their sacred role and work. Her devotional series invites moms and moms-to-be to see the wonder of new life and into a deeper relationship with God.

In my time with Catherine, we talk about wonder; what opened her up to embracing wonder in the world and how we might do the same. She also offers us fresh and life-giving perspectives on pregnancy and parenting and the importance of living with curiosity and in the present moment.

Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS is a journalist, registered dietitian, and certified intuitive eating counselor. She’s the author of Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating and her most recent book, The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being. Christy is also the producer and host of two podcasts, Rethinking Wellness and Food Psych.

Along with describing wellness culture, Christy helps us see how wellness culture is the new guise of diet culture and how it differs from true wellbeing; including leading some people to disordered eating, unhelpful fixations, and potentially harmful behaviors. She also explains how “beauty” is used to sell wellness and gives us some ideas on how we can think critically about the ploys and products associated with wellness culture.

Elena Rossini is an Italian film director, producer, editor and public speaker. Her work focuses on issues of social justice, media representation, and the empowerment of women and girls. Elena’s most notable film is the documentary The Illusionists, about the globalization of beauty ideals and the dark side of advertising. Rossini shot the film in eight countries, across four continents. The documentary has been featured in Vogue Italy, New York Magazine, NPR, Fox, and NBC Baltimore, amongst others.

In our time together, we talk about the globalization and saturation of unrealistic beauty ideals and how such inundation is impacting us. She also discusses the connection she sees between the rise of social media and the current teen mental health crisis.

Jasmine Holmes is a teacher and author, committed to centering black stories in history. She has written books such as Carved in Ebony: Lessons from the Black Women Who Shape Us and Mother to Son: Letters to A Black Boy on Identity and Hope. Jasmine’s latest book is called, Never Cast Out: How the Gospel Puts an End to the Story of Shame.

In my time with Jasmine, we talk about how scripts of perfectionism in Christian and popular culture can lead to shame. Jasmine also shares about her own journey of shame’s influence in her life and the transformation that took place when she opened space for Jesus to speak into those places where shame dwelled. Jasmine also gives us important ideas on how to notice and combat shame in our lives; ultimately reminding us that grace is stronger than shame.

When Cleere Cherry Reaves’ son was born three months prematurely, Cleere and her husband watched as their child fought for his life, developed, and began to thrive. In today’s episode, Cleere tells us the lessons she learned from that experience, how her faith was transformed, and why it inspired her to write the children’s book, The Miracle of You.

Cleere is the owner and creator of Cleerely Stated, an online boutique whose inspirational products can be found in retail stores all over the United States. She is also the author of three devotionals and the host of the growing podcast, Let's Be Cleere. In our time together, Cleere reminds us to not miss the life we have, that the God of miracles is for us, and that his fingerprints are everywhere.

After a series of miscarriages, the loss of her grandma, and then her beloved sister, Amanda Held Opelt found solace in an unexpected place, in exploring ancient grief rituals in practices. In her first book, A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing, Amanda explores how such ancient grief rituals and practices can be a vessel for honest expression, communal connection, and even healing.

Amanda is an author, speaker, and songwriter. She has spent 15 years serving in the non-profit and humanitarian aid sectors and lives in the mountains of Boone, North Carolina. In my time with Amanda, we talk about the complexity of living in a world that can be both stunningly beautiful and so very broken. She helps us see the beauty of ritual and community and how loss has the potential to deepen our capacity for love, faith, and healing.

K.J. Ramsey is a trauma-informed licensed professional counselor and is the author of three books, including her latest title, The Book of Common Courage: Prayers and Poems to Find Strength in Small Moments. K.J. writes at the intersection of theology, psychology, and spiritual formation to guide us in recovering the rhythm of resilience through nervous system regulation and the wonder of communion with God.

In my time with K.J., she talks about her most recent book and the communal nature of courage; how “we need the presence and words of others to bring us from confusion to hope and faith.” She also discusses how being disabled and encountering various physical struggles have formed her faith and her prayer life.

Beauty reporter and beauty culture critic, Jessica DeFino, saw the inner workings of the beauty industry and she didn’t like it. More than that, Jessica now spends her time dismantling beauty standards, debunking marketing myths, and exploring how beauty culture impacts people — physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Jessica has written for outlets such as The New York Times, Vogue, Teen Vogue, Harper’s BAZAAR, Allure, New York Magazine’s The Cut, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Glamour, SELF, and many others.

In this episode, Jessica talks about why she decided to opt out of the beauty industry, the psychological and spiritual impacts of beauty standards, why beauty standards are so powerful, why she sees today’s standard of beauty as dehumanizing, and what the beauty industry doesn’t want you to know. Jessica’s insights are so needed, speaking powerfully to the media-saturated culture we find ourselves in.

Sandhya Oaks is a Ministry Leader, Spiritual Director, leads Kintsugi workshops, and does Story Work. Born in India and adopted as a Transracial Adoptee in the Midwest, Sandhya now walks with others through identity reclamation and creating experiences that restore shalom within the human heart. She holds two Certificates in Narrative Focused Trauma Care from The Allender Center, a Certificate in Resilient Leadership from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, and recently completed her Trauma Care Group Training Certificate through The Art of Living Counseling Center.

In this episode, I talk with Sandhya about the power and freedom that can come from finding healing in our own stories, how she stays grounded in God’s goodness and beauty amidst life’s brokenness, and how she’s come to see beauty in unexpected places.