27: Compared to Who? How to Stop Obsessing Over Your Body ft. Heather Creekmore

Is body image a “confidence issue”… or an idol in disguise?

In this episode of your body speaks, Dr. Brook sits down with Heather Creekmore—host of the Compared to Who? podcast and author of the 40-Day Body Image Workbook—for a powerful conversation about body image, comparison, and the subtle ways women place their bodies where only God belongs.

Heather shares her story—from early dieting and disordered eating patterns to realizing that “fixing” her body would never bring the peace she was chasing. Together, they unpack how body image struggles aren’t solved by becoming “better,” but by returning to identity in Christ and learning to treat the body as a God-designed gift—not a project to perfect.

You’ll learn:

• How body image struggle can function as modern-day idolatry
• Why “better body = better life” is a lie (even for the most “fit” women)
• The subtle way women delay spiritual growth until they “feel better” in their bodies
• How to spot the lies you’ve normalized—and replace them with God’s truth
• The difference between listening to the soma (God-designed body) vs. the sarx (flesh-driven cravings)
• One simple first step to start breaking agreement with comparison

Heather also shares a practical way she’s learned to “listen” to her body in a new way—starting with blood sugar and regular nourishment—after years of ignoring signals.

Free Resource + How to Connect with Heather

• 🌿 Website: improvebodyimage.com
• 🎙️ Podcast: Compared to Who?
• 📚 Books: Available on Amazon (linked through her site)
• 👥 40-Day Group Journey (starts 2nd week of January): details at improvebodyimage.com

✨ Ready to shift from fear to faith in your body? Discover the Talk to Me, Body affirmation card deck—your daily reminder that God designed your body with wisdom and resilience.
Get yours here → drbrooksheehan.com/talk-to-me-body

🎧 Stay Connected + Explore More Support:

📲 Come say hi on Instagram: @drbrooksheehan

⭐️ If you loved this episode, would you take a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple or Spotify. It helps more women learn to listen, trust, and transform their health.

Transcript

Suddenly, it becomes so much more important than it was when they had a larger body. And so the struggle is real, but the weight loss or the surgery or the transformation is not going to solve the struggle.

Welcome to the body speaks podcast with me, Dr. Brook Sheehan. Join me, on a journey, in discovering how to interpret the subtle signs your body uses to communicate with you - the whispers, the screams, and everything in between. Your body truly holds the answers for your health and wellbeing. It’s time to discover them, together. Let’s dive in. 

Dr. Brook Sheehan (00:00)

Welcome back to another episode of your body speaks I am so excited for you to have an opportunity to hear the guest I am featuring on the show today. I have listened to a lot of her podcast episodes and really felt like what she is doing, what she's teaching is in alignment with your body speaks and how we learn to love our body. And today I have Heather Creekmore on the show.

She is a writer and a speaker to thousands of women each week, inspiring them to stop comparing and start living. Through her Bible teaching, she encourages women who are trying to live in the world, but not of it. She's the host of the Compared to Who podcast with the little question mark. I love it. Compared to Who. And the author of four books, including the 40-day Body Image Workbook.

which is hope for Christian women who have tried everything and aging gracefully, a devotional on aging women in midlife. Heather has been featured on Fox News, Huffington Post, Morning Dose, Church Leaders for Every Mom, and dozens of other shows and podcasts. But she's best recognized from her appearance as a contestant on the Netflix hit show,

Nailed it! I think that's the Pinterest show, I'm sure. Heather and her fighter pilot turned pastor husband Eric have four teenagers and live in Austin, Texas. Heather, welcome to the show.

Heather Creekmore (01:19)

You

I'm so glad to be with you. Thanks for having me, Brook

Dr. Brook Sheehan (01:31)

Before I even ask you the very first question, with that nailed it, it is the ⁓ Pinterest show, right? They show all the beautiful things and you have to recreate it.

Heather Creekmore (01:40)

That's right, and I'm in the very first episode of the first season. So I didn't know what I was signing up for when I signed up for that because the show hadn't existed before that. But yes, that's the show. You can find my melting cake there.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (01:53)

⁓

So season one, episode one, you'll find Heather there. I gotta go check it out too myself. Heather, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And I love to start all of these episodes with our listeners getting a chance to really get to know you more. share a little bit about your journey, how you ended up really podcasting about Compared to Who, Body Image, what led you to writing the books? Like where was Heather before all of that started?

Heather Creekmore (02:00)

Yep.

yeah, I love that question. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share. I started struggling with the way my body looked as early as elementary school. I can remember in the third grade looking in the mirror and thinking my legs were too big. And since my mom was an excellent dieter, I learned very early on how to also be an excellent dieter.

And so by middle school, whatever plan she was trying, I was kind of dabbling in it too. And then by high school, I got really good at dieting. In fact, I decided dieting was just not ⁓ sufficient enough for me. And so started seeing how long I'd go without eating. And this was the early 90s, Brook. So there wasn't really a category for women with eating disorders that didn't look.

skeletal really at the time. You had to kind of be underweight in order to get diagnosed with anything. So it just never even crossed my mind that I was developing atypical anorexia or any kind of eating disorder. By college, sophomore year college, I lost my period for nine months. Another thing now that would have been a sign, okay, there's some sort of like problem going on here with you and your eating habits.

But ⁓ again, wasn't a signal. I was just like everyone else I knew, trying to get a better body, trying to get a thinner body, trying to be, quote unquote, healthy. And it really, mean, this pattern kind of just continued in my life, really until my mid-30s. Through my 20s, I decided maybe the cure was for me to become a fitness instructor.

And so I got certified in my late 20s. Now I had a regular job. I did a whole full-time job, but this was just kind of like a side passion of like, if I can just get like staff on my shirt and like one of those headset mics, then I will know that my body is good enough. And so I became certified, started teaching aerobics classes of all kinds on the side. And...

It was never enough. mean, I remember standing in front of that first year Redwoods class I taught. It was a kickboxing class. And I remember standing there thinking, the woman in the front row has better legs than I do. The woman in the middle has better abs than I do. I mean, the comparison didn't shut down just because I had that title. And then I decided, Brook, that maybe the problem was I wasn't married. And if I could just get married, then I wouldn't struggle with body image or anything anymore because a man would have chosen.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (04:42)

my gosh.

Heather Creekmore (04:49)

me and I would know if was good enough. And as you can imagine, that didn't work at all. It actually backfired completely because then I was just mad at Him all the time because it was like, wait a second, this was supposed to fix my body image issues. And I just feel more insecure than ever. There's all these other women around here that you could see and you'll know that they're better than I am. And it was just a big dramatic mess. And then I got pregnant.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (04:49)

Bye!

Nuff.

Heather Creekmore (05:13)

pretty soon after we got married. And so then I've got all these body image issues. I'm angry with my husband for not fixing them. And now I'm about to start putting on weight so I can have a baby. again, so this is my first time to not have to be on a diet. And by have to be on a diet, I mean just my own standards, right? A good Christian woman was always on a diet was kind of the way I was raised. And so pregnancy was a

Dr. Brook Sheehan (05:33)

You

Heather Creekmore (05:39)

enjoyable time for me because I finally was able to have a little bit of food freedom. But also at the same time, you every time I went to the doctor's office, it kind of felt like a Weight Watchers weigh in. You know, so it was it was conflicting for my body, my tissues. And and so we had four babies in just over four years, no twins in there. So I was pregnant or breastfeeding for, you know, the first five years of our marriage. And really, it was right after that.

At this point, I'm in my mid thirties. But God kind of interrupted things for me and I was raised in a Christian home, Brook. I knew the God and Jesus answers for everything. I knew I was fearfully wonderfully made. I knew first Samuel, that God looked at my heart, not my gene size. And, you know, and honestly, like I'm a thin woman. I'm in good shape at this point in my life, right? I didn't have a problem, but I thought I had a problem. And this problem,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (06:15)

Mm-hmm. ⁓

Yeah.

Heather Creekmore (06:32)

consumed me all day long. mean, I was always thinking about just ways to get thinner and ways to get smaller. At some points, I would have told you those words, thinner and smaller. At other points, I would have told you those words, healthier, right? I just want to be healthier. And again, I'm in my mid thirties and my husband was listening to a sermon. This was before anyone had AirPods. And so the only way He listened to a sermon was to blare it through our house.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (06:47)

Mm.

Heather Creekmore (06:56)

And so He's blaring the sermon through our house and I was cleaning the kitchen and I'm like kind of annoyed because I'd rather be listening to music than the sermon. And He was preparing to go into ministry at that time and He was listening to a sermon by a pastor out of New York City named Tim Keller. And Tim Keller was talking about modern day idolatry and race in church, Christian schools through graduate school had never really thought of that as a thing.

I knew I didn't have any idols because we didn't have any Buddhist statues and I didn't bow down to anything physical when I went in the Chinese restaurant, right? And yet, as Keller described it, I'm listening and I'm thinking and really not thinking, the Holy Spirit is convicting me of the ways that I've made my body an idol and the ways I've made my image an idol and all the ways that I've thought over the

Dr. Brook Sheehan (07:30)

What you think, yeah.

Heather Creekmore (07:49)

decades that just having a different body, having a better body, perfecting this or perfecting this or perfecting this would free me, really. It would bring me some sort of salvation and joy on this earth. That was what I really needed, right? I had salvation for later, like, thanks, God, I'll end up in heaven someday. Thanks for that. That's great. But what I really needed now was this assurance of peace and rest and all the good things that come if you just get the right look.

And it was a lie. It was an idol. And really that was a turning point for me. I never thought I had a sin problem because I was just doing what every other Christian woman I knew was doing, like just chasing a better body and going to church and saying I would serve in Jesus. I didn't know there was any sin behind this. And so when the Holy Spirit gently and gracefully

pointed that out, like it was an opportunity for me to repent. And really, like, I don't want to say this in a way to, like, be confusing theologically, because I do believe I was a Christian before, but it was almost like a second conversion experience, right? Because after that, it was like, I enjoyed reading the Bible again. And I was, really hungry for more of God's word. And I think, you know, our sin stands in the way between us and God. And this idol I had,

was really muting my opportunity to hear from God. And it was really just distracting me from everything that He had for me and His truth because I was just so immersed in the world's truth around these things. And so it was a big turning point for me. But then a couple of years later, I decided I was ready to write a book and I wanted to write a book on marriage because I thought I had lots of funny things to say about marriage.

And I just could not get it to work. And my husband's like, why don't you write your body image story? And I had started speaking a little bit to mom's groups and stuff on that. And I'm like, uh-uh, I am never writing about that. No one's ever going to know any of that stuff. Like, that is the secret stuff you keep secret. But sure enough, I wrote that book. Right? And the rest is history. Now I talk about this every day. So go figure.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (09:52)

Here we are, here we are.

⁓

Heather Creekmore (09:59)

God's laughing.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (10:00)

He's laughing and you have such the joy of the Lord in your heart in all of this because He took you through quite a very, I don't want to say dark in a negative sense, but it was a dark journey and the discovery that you have taken Him Like you said, you grew up in a Christian home. You took Him off the throne and you put everything you are aspiring to get getting your body to look a certain way. And you were, made Him second.

to that. And so yes, you didn't have any statues in your home. You weren't bowing your head or your knees to any other idol, but you were, you were idolizing this body. And that's a little bit about my story as well. So were very parallel in that sense, not so much of the professional dieter. I never really became that kind of stuff, but I definitely was like, I got to make it look this way and comparing myself to everybody. And God had to do a big

full heart healing in my life too. And I think you said it so profoundly and I've never heard it like this, but I loved it. was like, my gosh, this is so great. You said it's almost like you had a second conversion experience and you weren't, trying to get into all the theology, once saved, like all the things, you're not saying that, but it is truly that yes, Jesus came into your heart at a very young age. You made Him the Lord of your life, your Savior.

But then throughout your life, the enemy came in and started clouding you out with these thoughts and got you really confused. then you've had that experience, second quote unquote second conversion experience, we'll do it that way. And God became truly the Lord of your life and He healed your heart and He showed you, Heather, your identity is grounded in Me. And that's the most important thing. So.

I just think that's so beautiful and what a way to really redeem your story of brokenness and all of the things that you walk through to really use it to unlock other women. And that is what I'm so excited about today is this story, Heather's mission, what she's doing. This is going to help unlock so many of you, my listeners, my beautiful women who are fighting and hating their body's.

and doing all sorts of things to try to make it look a certain way and harming ourselves in the process, you guys, because having it look one way on the outside and having it look one way on the inside, those need to match. And the inside is really, I'm gonna say it point blank, the inside is the most important. That is the functionality of everything. And the way that it presents on the outside is the health on the inside. And so Heather, thank you so much for sharing that.

I want to jump into the next question here is you talk about discovering the whole fix your body messages that never lead to freedom. And I know you talked about this in your own story. what shifted when you began to realize that the real issue was more about your identity in Christ rather than what you actually look like.

Heather Creekmore (13:05)

Yeah, so mean, where I normally start when I talk about this subject is just this reality that most of us overlook, that supermodels are among those who have the biggest body image issues, right? Like, let's talk Taylor Swift. She has a documentary you can go watch it and she'll talk about her body image issues, right? I mean, so it is such an illusion that we are checking out of Target.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (13:21)

Yes.

Yes, yes, true.

Heather Creekmore (13:32)

and we see those magazine covers, and all we see is the picture, right? And like we could go into like airbrushing and you know, should there be airbrushing, should there not be? Like all of those things, whatever. No, that's not the problem. The real problem is we see those pictures and then our imaginations, and it's really idolatry, right? But our imaginations are like, if you had that, if you look like that, wow, everyone would love you. You know, if you're single, you'll get a man.

Right? the peace you'll feel. you can finally stop worrying about how you eat and how you exercise. You just be free to just rest. it'd be so fantastic. You won't have any problems anymore. But what we failed to do, Brook, is we failed to read the headlines around those women. Because how many times when you see that magazine cover, did those headlines say her battle with depression or what happened after He cheated, right? Or why she almost ended it all?

And we fail to just see what's right in front of us. That changing our body's is not going to change our lives. I've got women that'll fight me on this and I'll be like, OK, I will give you. It will be easier to try on clothes. Maybe. Maybe. I'll give you that. But aside from that, I can't give you anything else. But I remember being in

Dr. Brook Sheehan (14:43)

That's the only thing, that's the only thing you have.

Heather Creekmore (14:47)

very small single digit size and still being in dressing rooms like, ew, I don't like how this looks on me or seeing myself in pictures and saying, ew, I don't like that. Right? And I mean, so it's just a lie that we chase, believing it's going to give us all of these things. And it never comes through. And I mean, there's interesting data out there about women who have lost significant amounts of weight.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (15:03)

Yeah.

Heather Creekmore (15:14)

and their body image issues before and after weight loss, they always have bigger struggle after they've lost the weight. Because all of a sudden, they've spent a certain amount of time just focused on themselves and their body's and all the things. And perhaps they get start to get a little bit of attention, right? Like, you've lost so much weight. Like you look great. And then suddenly it becomes so much more important than it was when they had a larger body.

And so the struggle is real, but the weight loss or the surgery or the transformation is not going to solve the struggle. And again, I'm not saying that any of those things are bad. I'm just saying that if you are trying to really transform your heart and be free from body image issues, you've got to know fixing the outside is not going to do it.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (16:04)

Heather, so amazing. And one of the things I really wanna talk about here that you mentioned is after weight loss, how things can quote unquote get worse. And a lot of that, like you're saying is you could get skinny, you can be in that size double zero, whatever you're looking for, right? And not still not have the heart here and still be struggling with resentment or anger or bitterness or

all these other things that can be brewing in our hearts, struggling with the spirit of pride, right? That comes up to the surface, okay, great, now you're skinny, but you still don't have a good relationship with your parents. You still don't have good community or friendships or things that are so important. And one of the things that I teach in the body of work that I do is it's more than just physical, And I know you know this, it's...

You can be without physical symptoms. could be your double zero, love your body, be where you're at, but you can have spiritual issues. You can have emotional issues, right? You talked about the magazines with the skinny, airbrushed, beautiful looking women, but you're not talking, they never talk about their depression or their suicidal tendencies or the abuse that maybe they're getting at home or things that are happening, right? And so you look at this image and you're like, wow, they're so amazing and they're in the public eye.

I want that and it's not really what it's all fluffed up to be. And so we could also have mental, like I was just saying, so physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, four pillars have to be standing strong and you can't forgo one without, you know, other ones crashing down. So I love, I love the work that you teach around this to get to the heart of the issue, cause it's not about

the physical body necessarily as a whole. need to learn to love this body. This is the masterpiece that God created. He made us, built us like clay vessels. And He said, I am going to take Heather's soul and I'm going to put Heather's soul in this vessel. And I'm going to take Brook's soul and I'm going to put it in that vessel. And I'm going to take your soul listener and I'm going to put it in that vessel. He's created these masterpieces so beautifully.

And when we learn to honor them, we really honor God in the process too. So I love that. Thank you so much. I'm gonna rephrase this question a little bit, but so many Christian women, and I would even say women as a whole, a lot of women, whether they're a believer in Jesus, whether you're walking out, trying to figure out your faith, all of that, women feel stuck in this whole.

better body equals a better life mindset. And I know you touched on this in the other response, but what are some subtle ways that you see this whole better body equals a better life showing up and how do you help them recognize that?

Heather Creekmore (18:51)

Well, I mean, it's so for the Christian woman, Brook, it's looking at where her treasure is. Right. It's interesting. Like the Bible doesn't give us a ton of instruction around our body's. Like a lot of people are shocked when they hear there's not a Bible verse that says you have to be a good steward of your body. Like we throw that around as if it is one of the Ten Commandments. It's not in the Bible. Right. Now we can, of course.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (18:55)

Mm-hmm.

Amen. Yeah.

Yeah

Heather Creekmore (19:15)

we know our body's are a good gift from God. Of course we should steward them well. Like we can, of course we can make that assumption, right? But there are things in scripture that God specifically tells us to do and there's nothing around our body's, right? And so it's kind of interesting, but there is something around money. There's lots of stuff around money. And if we think about some of God's instructions around money,

And why He gave those instructions around money, right? Because money was very important, right? Money was just tempting to make this thing that's just of ultimate importance, right? And living in the culture we live in, right? There's all kinds of, there's a body of research around what happens when you live in a culture where there is enough wealth, right? Most of us.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (19:46)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Heather Creekmore (20:02)

are not worried about whether or not we're gonna eat tomorrow or if we'll have a roof over our head, right? Like we live in a wealthy culture and there's a body of evidence around what happens when you live in a wealthy culture is your body becomes your commodity, right? So the way we look becomes our wealth, right? And I can prove to you I am wealthy.

by the way I look. And so it's an interesting, like I know it's a little bit diversion of the question you asked, but then coming back to scripture, scripture tells us specifically where to put our treasure. It tells us where our treasure is, our heart will be also. And so one of the things that I challenge women around is to ask them, okay, well, what's your treasure? There's nothing wrong with healthy practices. I think exercise is amazing. I exercise.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (20:32)

Mm-hmm.

Heather Creekmore (20:45)

Try to exercise every day, right? Nothing wrong with feeding your body foods that feel good. Those are all good things. But if the most important things in my life are those things, then that has become my treasure, right? If I can't make it to church because of my spin class, or I can't...

Dr. Brook Sheehan (20:50)

you

Yes.

Heather Creekmore (21:04)

do other things. I mean, know, God tells us to give of our money, right? But I've got to be buying all of my supplements and my diet program is super expensive. So I don't think I can afford to give this month, right? Like then maybe we have some questions to ask our hearts about what we've made into our treasure. So I know if that kind of helps where you were going on that question or if you want more there.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (21:26)

so yes. Heather, you're mentioning about us having our treasures in our body, in our health, in our thing. So we know that our body's house the Holy Spirit. And yes, we want to take care of our body's. And I think what you're saying though is not to pull...

to the opposite extreme where you're prioritizing your spin class over going to church or overfeeding your spiritual body, right? Taking care of your spiritual health by being in community, by being in God's word, spending time with Him in the morning, spending time in prayer, all of those things, you can't put your physical tissues, skin, hair, all the things that we...

women like to do right all the makeup all the things all the creams or whatever in place of God's spiritual place and so the whole better better body equals better life mindset helping them recognize that really it's about having treasure in

and in your spiritual life. that correct?

Heather Creekmore (22:29)

Absolutely. that's it. Like health is holistic. And I know this is what you teach on your show all the time. It's holistic. And I mean, so just even like taking this a slightly different direction.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (22:33)

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Heather Creekmore (22:40)

What I see all the time is women who are putting their spiritual lives on hold until they meet their physical

Dr. Brook Sheehan (22:46)

Hmm.

Heather Creekmore (22:48)

or health goals. And they think they're gonna find life in the physical or health goals. And again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those physical or health goals, but that's not where you find life, right? And I ask them if they know what their spiritual gifts are or how they're serving and what kind of community they're in. And the answer to all those questions is no, I don't have time. I've got to lose this weight first. I got to get rid of this thyroid issue first. And it's like, no, like that can't.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (22:49)

good. Yeah.

Heather Creekmore (23:16)

be primary things. so, yeah, back to the treasure principle, right? Like, find life in His ways, right? And that, think, is the piece that so many Christian women are missing.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (23:24)

Yes. Yes.

Yes. my gosh. It's so true. And we do live in a culture like you're saying like, no, wait, I gotta put this on hold. I gotta do this. I gotta do this first and then this, this, and that can apply to every area of our lives, whether it be our business or different areas, we, ⁓ first this, then this, then this. And it doesn't work like that. And we do live in a culture, especially in the wellness culture, like really loud.

screaming at us at all angles. You mentioned the Target or going through the grocery store and seeing those magazines, right? That's screaming at you. You're just trying to pay for your groceries and you're getting messages that you're not enough, you're not enough. What are or how do you help women quiet that noise and stay grounded in their skin, in their belief, in their faith, in all of it?

Heather Creekmore (24:17)

Yeah. Well, ⁓ it's a process, right? Because most of us didn't just wake up one morning and decide to have body image issues, There's a lot of unlearning that kind of has to happen, And so in my 40-day body image workbook, it's more than just a workbook. I wish they hadn't put the word workbook on it because people think it's kind of a blank book. It's actually got as many words as a regular book. But as you're reading,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (24:25)

that's Yep.

Heather Creekmore (24:43)

it stops you and asks you questions to kind of get to the roots of what is behind your body image issues. But I would say step one is most of us don't even hear those lies as lies, When we're checking out a target again and we see her picture and we hear your life would be better if you look like that, what would it take for you to look like that? What can we do so you look like that? Because that would make every part of your life

Dr. Brook Sheehan (24:45)

love it.

Heather Creekmore (25:09)

better and this big thing that you're struggling with, that job you didn't get or that guy that, you know, isn't treating you like you want to be treated or those friends that haven't included you. All of those things would be better if you could just look like that. And we don't even hear those as lies. Like they're so common to us. Some of us have heard them for so many decades. We think, it's just me. Or we think it's we actually think it's like helpful. We call it accountability. And I have a line in my book where I'm like,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (25:26)

Yes.

Heather Creekmore (25:38)

Listen, if condemnation from the enemy is your accountability, then you've made the devil your accountability partner for your health. Like, please explain to me how that's a good idea. But it's pretty scary to think about the fact that all these lies that we just accept. And so what I encourage women to start with is just slowing down and listening. Right? Like, you have a thought.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (25:49)

Not at all.

Heather Creekmore (26:02)

and I'll have them even write down the thoughts, which is really hard to do, it will take weeks to just even hear the thought. They're so common to us. And then write down the thought and be like, is that true? If Jesus was standing here next to me, is that what He would say? Is this actually His truth? Because another problem we have, is we live in a culture where my truth is a very popular concept. And some of us look at things going on around that, and we say,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (26:15)

Mm.

Heather Creekmore (26:28)

No, it's all God's truth. We don't have my truth. have God's truth. And yet what do we do with ourselves? Well, yeah, God's truth is that I am perfectly accepted and loved through Him. But my truth is everything would be better if I lost X number of pounds and changed the way I looked. Right. And so every day we have to make we have to make a decision. Am I going to live by my truth or am I going to live by God's truth? And. And that's really what it boils down to.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (26:51)

Yeah.

Heather Creekmore (26:55)

hearing the lies and then what is the truth? Knowing the truth, you've got to be connected in the word, connected to the Lord in order to know what the truth is, of course. But what is the truth? And are you elevating my truth above God's truth? If so, that's a good place to start investigating what's going on.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (27:10)

Right? Right? Oh

my gosh. And you said something so profound is a lot of the times our thoughts like are just on repeat. They may seem very different day to day, but they are the same. They are rooted in the same thing day to day, like 95 % of them. there's a lot of neuroscience around this about the thoughts that we carry.

the same over and over and over and I think it's I don't quote me on this but I think it is some Insane amount of number of thoughts that we have a day like 20,000 or something like that Okay, like six. Okay, three times what I just quoted which is crazy 60,000 thoughts a day and if 95 % of those are the same thoughts you've carried over and over and over and over

Heather Creekmore (27:41)

Yeah, I think it's 60,000. It's 60,000. Yeah, yeah, it's insane. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (27:57)

Heather brought up a really great point is when she's walking you through in this 40 day workbook, which I know you don't like the term because there's more words than there is actual like writing, but it is you are actually working this out. You are working out this belief and getting it all uncomfortable and not feeling good, but you're really diving into this and going, oh my gosh, my truth is not truth at all. It is a lie.

a lie, a lie, a lie and so beautifully said, What does a process look like? And you may have already really answered it through that last question, but is there a specific process when you're working with women, working this out and helping them, like guiding them along, being the guide in that process? What does that look

Heather Creekmore (28:44)

Yeah, it depends on the woman, right? Because we're very committed to kind of figuring out like, when did this start and what's underneath it all? But for many, no, actually, I just need to say all. We look at the spiritual roots of body image issues. And so we're always talking about what's the idol here? Like, what is it that you have made the most important thing? And of course, it's multifaceted, right? Like we talked about thoughts. A lot of those thoughts we have,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (28:47)

Okay. Yeah.

Mm.

Heather Creekmore (29:11)

Brook, we have them because our brains are trying to keep us safe, And we've learned somewhere, perhaps in our home of origin, that we will be safe if we look a certain way or maintain a certain size or have a certain appearance that makes everyone smile and applaud us, And that's safety to us. And so those thoughts are like, just, we gotta keep you safe and here's how you stay safe. You make sure you look good before you go outside the door. You don't need that because that could do this.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (29:15)

Yes.

Heather Creekmore (29:39)

And so what we have to do is we have to gradually transition from, no, my friends, no matter what you do with your body, your body's not keeping you safe in that way. your body cannot protect you from rejection or from heartache or from any of the cruelties of this world, And then we look at Jesus, Jesus chose a body that wasn't attractive. That's

kind of odd to me. I'm like, if I was gonna come down, I think I would choose to be the best looking guy in town.

don't know, but that's what He chose, right? And then we see He was despised and He was rejected, right? He had a friend turn against Him, right? Lots of His family turned against Him, right? And so we kind of try to go back to scripture and like, okay, what is it we really want? Like, do we really want to be safe because we think we've created this facade that will make us Teflon against anyone's negative thoughts around us, right? And we know that doesn't work.

Or do we want to be safe in God's arms? Because we know we have a Savior who's experienced everything we've experienced, and we know that even if everyone rejects us, He still won't. Like, do we want that kind of safety? Right? And so it's working through what have I believed? Who taught me that? And why do I still hold on to that? Like, what is keeping me stuck there? And then we kind of just break down.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (30:30)

Mm-mm.

Mm.

Mm.

Heather Creekmore (30:53)

the lies and start working towards, okay, well, what are some new belief systems? And really, I'm using the word belief because I think it's more than thoughts. There's a lot of stuff out there on your thought life. And of course, it's helpful to have a handle on that, but we're gonna think what we believe. And so unless we change what we actually believe at a heart level, it's really hard to change our thoughts. You can try to take them captive all day long, but what you believe is what matters most.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (31:02)

Yeah.

so good, yes. Belief is the driving force to a lot of the thought processes that we do carry. What is one small step? The listeners on here, they're listening to you share all this. What is one small step that they could take towards moving towards peace? That peace that you.

Heather Creekmore (31:36)

goodness, Brook, I got to go there. I mean, that one that one small step is saying, God, have I made any of this an idol? A one sentence prayer, right? And then just be willing to listen and see what He shows you. You know, have I made my health an idol? Have I made my body size an idol? Have I made my image an idol? Have I made the way I eat an idol? You know, what have I made anything an idol? And then if He shows something to you,

Dr. Brook Sheehan (31:43)

Love it!

Heather Creekmore (32:04)

than just being willing to repent and say, God, I'm sorry, I want you on the throne. I don't want that on the throne. And then knowing, it's not a one and done. You hadn't flipped a switch with that prayer and now tomorrow you're gonna wake up and you're not gonna care what your body looks like. It's a process, right? But always being able to go back to, wait a second, when I make that an idol, nothing feels as it should. That peace is gone, that rest is gone.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (32:16)

Right, right, right. Yeah, yeah.

Heather Creekmore (32:29)

And once you've experienced knowing what that peace and rest feels like, it's a whole lot easier to be like, wait, this feeling inside of me, that's that idolatry creeping up again. Okay, God, I repent again. I'm so sorry. Help me, I got off track again. Help me, I want that peace and rest back.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (32:47)

Yeah, I wanna add to that, at least for the listeners here in what you were saying, cause I was like, my gosh, Heather said something so incredible at the beginning. Well, so just like one of those mind things that we like, wow, mind blown. One of the things I would add to that small step, like you were saying about making the idol is first going, like, I repent of moving the goalpost.

You talked about in your story how much you kept going, know, third grade, this, this, this, ⁓ you know, I'm single and I look like this, you I just need to be married and then I'm to feel better and then I need to do this and then, you know, be a mom. So much of my life, I moved the goalpost. I thinking that on the other side, I'm going to hit that goal and I'm going to feel the most amazing in my skin. I'm going to feel everybody's going to love me. I'm no longer going to deal with insecurity.

I'm not gonna be shy or introverted. I'm just gonna, everything's gonna be great. And that's not what happens. And so I'm calling you listeners, my listeners right now. First things first is I repent of moving that goalpost. Cause I know so many of you have done that. You can think back in your life and go, my gosh, yes, I have. And then like what Heather was saying is also, okay, I repent of moving that goalpost and I am going to.

release this idol of it looking certain way and allow God to just work in that because He is gonna work so beautifully I know and she talks about that piece that Guys, I have that piece that Heather's talking about and it is unlike anything other than you can ever experience You know, we we talked about the peace of God and all these things and that is the peace of God just being so in love with who you are, but not in a

prideful state but in a God I am so grateful and thankful for for this vessel. So Heather thank you. Yes yes yes yes

Heather Creekmore (34:40)

Can I jump in, Brook, for a second?

Those goal posts, those are all idols. I like to say our ideals are our idols. So everything we idealize in life that we think is going to help us attain something, achieve something, every ideal is an idol. So we're saying the same thing.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (34:48)

Mmm. Okay. Yep. That's true.

make it. Yeah.

So good, okay. Clarification, there

you go. So there, yes, the goalposts, idols, I love it. Thank you for jumping in on that. All right, I close my show with the same question all the time for all my guests. so this is show for those of you listening, you know, it's called Your Body Speaks and I teach you how to learn to listen to those subtle signals your body is giving you so you can respond accordingly and know how to love it the way that it needs to be loved.

In your experience, Heather, what is one way that you know that the body speaks?

Heather Creekmore (35:36)

Well, I wish I had an hour to answer this question. The first thing that comes to mind, is my story. I spent most of my life ignoring my body. My body was something I had to beat into submission to try to make it what I wanted it to look like. And so this concept of your body speaking was just like.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (35:40)

I love it!

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Yeah.

Heather Creekmore (35:58)

I mean, something I didn't really want to think about until a couple of years ago. I was like, no, like I'm in charge here. Right. And I mean, I'd even heard that principle, like I had heard that principle kind of Christianized, right? Like, you know, you are the master of your flesh, which is not what that verse means, but, that, you know, that that's actually how we should treat our body's. You shouldn't listen to your body. And so, you know, I would say one of the most amazing things that I've learned is like to listen to my blood sugar.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (36:04)

You're like, ⁓ okay.

Mm-hmm.

Heather Creekmore (36:24)

and to actually like eat regularly. And it's crazy, like for the first time in my life, I don't need two naps a day because I'm not eating enough or not eating regularly enough. And so that's just been this amazing, like who knew? All these decades, all that time I could have gotten back from all my naps. I just needed to eat more regularly, so.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (36:25)

Yes! Yes!

So beautiful. How much

productivity could I have done?

Heather Creekmore (36:47)

Right. Right.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (36:48)

I love that. Well, I think too, and you're so right that in the Christian ease world, you know, when we hear these things, you should not listen to your body. The whole concept, and I'm not getting into a whole theology class, but in the New Testament, when Paul is talking, writing in Greek, because the whole thing is in Greek and then it got translated, there's a term in there called Sarx, which is our flesh. do not, we do not, 100 % we do not listen to the flesh.

That is, is full-stint. Like we don't want to give into addictions. We don't want to give into all these different things, but truly listening to the Soma, the, the, the whole body that God created with so much wisdom, like you were sharing, it's got a signal with blood sugar. It's communicating. It's like, Hey girl, we need some food here. We're going to be in bed. And you're like, well, we're going to bed. Cause I didn't know you needed food. So here you are. And now you've learned that. So that's incredible. I love it.

Heather Creekmore (37:41)

Alright.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (37:44)

beautiful. Heather, let everyone know where they can connect with you, how they can get in touch, where they can find you all of the the amazing things that you're doing.

Heather Creekmore (37:53)

Everything is at improvebodyimage.com. And my podcast is compared to who. All my books are on Amazon. So you can find links to them from improvebodyimage.com. We walk women through the 40 day journey. We are gonna start another group the second week of January where you can read the workbook along with me and a group of other women from around the world through Zoom. And it's a great time. We have a great groups, great coaching sessions in those meetings.

It's just a really good place to start.

Dr. Brook Sheehan (38:23)

And this podcast will air on January 8th. So if you're listening to it, that means her, her launch is either happening or just a few days away. So be sure to connect into, I will put all these links in the show notes so you can quickly just click on there and get connected to Heather. So Heather, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. It's been such an honor. We've had such a great conversation and so fun. So thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right.

Heather Creekmore (38:49)

Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Bye.