Fitness and Healthy Eating

Healthy eating and exercise is one of my New Year’s resolutions again this year, because I want to practice self-love. I can honestly say that I don’t want to change a single thing on my body. I want to practice self-care by giving my body what it needs. My body does not need botox, perfect abs or whatever else I’m supposed to strive for. My body needs nutritious food and exercise to be strong and healthy. When I was younger beauty was my main motivation for working out, today I only want to be healthy.

I was struggling with eating disorders and anxiety about how my body looked for most of my twenties. It wasn't a fun way to live. Our world is obsessed with looks and beauty, take a quick look at Instagram and this becomes obvious. No matter how much the beauty ideal changes, the result is the same. We are still told that looks are very important. Imagine how much world change we could accomplish together if we spent that same energy on something else than our own faces and bodies. The obsession with the self in our culture is astonishing to me, it’s not making anyone happy.

We live in a world where much of a woman’s worth is based on how she looks and because of that I’m not a fan of book titles like “The Bikini Body Guide”. That said, I understand why Kayla Itsines is a popular personal trainer, she does her work with excellence! I don’t like the book title, but I love the recipes!

Kayla’s new book is filled with yummy healthy recipes and I love the pictures of the food! I personally don’t like cooking books without pictures. I’m also a big fan of Kayla Itsines’ workout programs so I was very happy to buy her new book this month. The book is exactly what I needed to find some new inspiration for healthy eating and exercise this winter! Thank you Kayla!

My Beauty, Relationships and Career is what makes me valuable?

As little children we quickly pick up on what the culture around us values. Our culture teaches us that we will find ultimate happiness and fulfillment in many things that can never truly satisfy our souls. Three of the most popular places we tend to misplace our identity in is our beauty, our relationship status and our careers.

Movies, Women's magazines, social media etc. all send us the same message: "The more beautiful you are the more valuable, fulfilled and happy you will be." When we believe this lie we end up obsessing about how we look. We feel insecure about our appearance and spend a lot of time, effort and money on trying to look more beautiful. But many of the most beautiful people in this world have opened up about how insecure and unfulfilled they felt even as they worked as models or were considered one of the most beautiful people in the world. Our culture teaches us that we need to look a certain way to be happy and fulfilled. God tells us in the Bible that we look exactly the way he intended for us to look. We are all unique, beautiful and of great worth, because we are all made by God himself, He designed us.


Our relationship status is another popular place where we tend to misplace our identity. Look at any movie and you will notice that we are taught that romantic love is what will give us ultimate happiness and fulfillment in life. God teaches us something different, he teaches us that it's only in knowing Him that we can find ultimate happiness and fulfillment. God is perfect and He will never fail me in this life, but my husband will, because he is human. I love my husband and he brings a lot of joy to my life, but he is able to do that mainly because I don't expect him to have God's role in my life.


Romantic relationships become miserable when we expect our significant other to do for us what only God himself can do. God alone is the only one who will love you no matter what, God alone is the only one who will always be there for you to help, listen and care for you. No human-being will ever be able to love you perfectly and unconditionally, only God can do that. If I believe that my relationship status is connected to my worth and value as a woman I will also be discontent with being single and create an unhealthy expectation in my heart that once I'm in a romantic relationship then I will finally be happy and fulfilled. Nope, that's not how it goes. I will never be happy or fulfilled in a romantic relationship if I wasn't already happy and fulfilled as a single lady.


The third place where we tend to misplace our identity is in our careers. When we believe that our careers are connected to our worth and value as a woman we become very focused on achievements and get anxious/stressed when we are not achieving at top level. We were all created by God to do good works, but or work is not what gives us our worth and value as a person. God does not value a woman who works as a CEO any higher than an old retired lady who doesn't work.


We are all called by God to love Him and to love other people. God isn't impressed by how much we achieve, what title we have at work or how much power we have. Sometimes you can see a small child who is more caring and loving to others than some important business owner who has become focused on selfish ambition. Our careers can (and should) be used to love and serve God&people with, but our achievements will never give us more worth in God's eyes. There is nothing we can do for God to love us more, and there is nothing we can do that would make God love us less. God's love for me and you is always completely unconditional and freely given, you could never earn it.

Overcoming Your Beauty Struggles

One mistake that most of us women make is letting other people define our worth as women. On a day when we get positive feedback from others we feel really good about ourselves and on a day when others don't like us we feel worthless. No matter how good it feels in the moment when you receive praise from others it becomes destructive long-term to base your worth upon how others view you.

We are all unique, beautiful and worth everything to God. No man or woman's opinion about us matters once we fully understand how much God loves us. Our society might not consider all parts of your looks or personality valuable but God created you exactly like you are for a reason. God doesn't make any mistakes. He knew exactly what he was doing when he created you. You are unique, you are of great value and there is a purpose for your life.

Everything is Going to Be Okay

I love the videos by youtuber "LeahsEssence". Leah's videos are positive, encouraging and filled with wisdom. Leah doesn't just do Vlogs about her faith but she also makes videos about beauty and lifestyle. This video focuses on what we can do to overcome difficulties in our lives. Leah shares her best tips for how we can stay strong when the storms hit us in life.

How the beauty ideal has changed over the years

The female beauty ideal has changed drastically over the past 100 years. Marilyn Monroe represented the beauty ideal in the 50's and women would eat weight-gaining pills to try to look like her. Ten years later the ideal was no longer to be curvy but to be skinny like Twiggy. The 80's beauty ideal was all about being fit and then in the 90's it changed again and women wanted to be skinny like Kate Moss.

Today social media and Hollywood present us with a beauty ideal that is all about perfection. Women are encouraged to strive towards having no wrinkles, a thigh gap, a big butt like the Kardashians and at the same time a Victoria's Secret model body that is thin and fit. There's more pressure on women than ever before and it's leading some women to start taking botox in their twenties. Other young women are getting plastic surgery to make their butt bigger and many are developing eating disorders from going on strict diets.

I remember being very unsatisfied with my own looks in my early twenties, there were so many things that I wanted to change. I didn't have a healthy relationship with food and if I would have had access to botox when my first wrinkles started appearing I would have gone for it. I grew up in a culture that teaches you that aging is a bad thing, so of course I wasn't happy when I started to see some signs of aging on my face.

Something huge changed for me when I finally started to see myself through God's eyes. I became aware of the fact that God had created me exactly like this on purpose. There's not one other person on the whole planet who looks exactly like me or has exactly the same personality as me. I'm completely unique and I'm God's masterpiece. I'm God's most highly priced possession and when I became aware of this I started viewing myself very differently. I became grateful for my unique beauty and personality and I became content with how God made me.

The change didn't happen overnight but the more I got to know God the more it started to change the way I viewed myself. God created me for a specific purpose and as I became aware of this I was determined not to waste another year of my life on criticizing my own looks or personality. I decided to embrace who God made me to be and appreciate everything he has blessed me with; my unique beauty and my unique personality.

The Beauty Ideal & the things we pursue

All young women, welcome to the world of adults! Let me introduce you to our beauty ideals. Step 1: Make sure you have no wrinkles, not even one. Get Botox early, you should probably start injecting it at age 19.

Step 2: The thinner you are, the better!

Step 3: Don't think you are off the hook because you are older than 40, even older women can have a face completely free of wrinkles, so don't you dare settle for anything less!

This morning I started my day with a cup of coffee and the Toronto Star as usual. Today’s sad news was an article in the Star that reported that Botox use among people under the age of 30 has gone up significantly. It’s becoming more common for Millennials to start taking Botox early to prevent aging. The Toronto-based plastic and cosmetic surgeon interviewed in the article explains that when the Millennials start to see signs of wrinkles it freaks them out and they decide to start taking Botox to prevent aging.

Toronto Star reporter Azzura Lalani reports in the article called “Millennials using Botox to hold on to young look, surgeons say” that the use of Botox has increased with 41 % among Millennials. Azzura Lalani writes the following in the November 22, 2016 issue of Toronto Star:

“The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reported that Botox treatments for people between the ages of 19 to 34 shot up by 41 per cent between 2011 and 2015.”

As I read the news I was saddened by how beauty obsessed our society has become. What made me react to the article was that I had those same feeling in my early twenties. When I was 20-years-old and started getting my first fine lines I remember freaking out about them. I remember thinking that I wish I had more money so that I could get Botox. Luckily for me I was a poor student and Botox was never even an option available. I grew up and the more documentaries I watched the more convinced I got that there was nothing wrong with my face. I finally realized that my face and body wasn’t the problem, but that the beauty ideal was a real problem. I learned that contentment doesn’t sell products. Advertisers want me to think that I need to look younger, be thinner and that I need to update my wardrobe constantly, contentment doesn’t sell.

It’s easy to read news like the article about Botox and feel that there is no hope for a culture that seems obsessed with beauty, power and money. Later in the morning I checked my Instagram account and I was reminded that the obsession with money, power and beauty is not the ideal everywhere. I checked the Instagram account for The A21 Campaign and read about how these people had rescued a girl from sex slavery in the US last week. The people who work for A21 have chosen to pursue something different in their lives than the ideals we are sold. I also checked the Instagram account for Amazima ministries and I was reminded once again that not all Millennials worry about wrinkles and beauty. Katie Davis was 18-years-old when she decided that she wanted to spend her life towards helping other people. Katie moved to Jinja, Uganda one year later and started helping poor children get food and education through her ministry Amazima.

Katie Davis grew up in the same culture as me, surrounded by messages that tell us beauty, money and power matters, but she chose a different path in life. Katie Davis chose to give up her comfortable life in a wealthy Nashville suburb to live in a much poorer neighborhood in Africa because she wanted to make a difference during her days on Earth. In a world that tells us that we need to pursue beauty, money, status and power Katie Davis chose something different. Katie chose to spend her life loving other people, to serve the poor and needy in the world. Today Katie Davis is 27-years-old and if you look at pictures of her you can see that she has a few wrinkles around her eyes, but I don’t think she worries about wrinkles or beauty. Katie Davis Majors is busy caring for and loving her adoptive daughters, her newborn son, her husband and all the poor families she is helping through Amazima. The A21 Campaign features a quote on their Instagram account that I like:

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Jane Goodall

“People tell me I am brave. People tell me I am strong. People tell me good job. Well here is the truth of it. I am really not that brave, I am not really that strong, and I am not doing anything spectacular. I am just doing what God called me to do as a follower of Him.”

Katie Davis Majors

A new standard of beauty

Amber Starks gives an inspiring TED talk about the need to create a new beauty standard in our culture, a standard where uniqueness is valued. Amber tells the story about how growing up she didn't consider herself beautiful because of the very narrow beauty standard that she saw everywhere.

Unconditional Love

We live in a world today where our culture tends to base a persons worth on superficial things like a persons level of success, beauty or based on what kind of possessions a person owns. We quickly adapt to our environments and as we grow up we start to view others and ourselves through this lens. We believe that to matter, to be accepted, appreciated and loved we need to perform well and constantly achieve more and more. We quickly forget that every single person on this Earth has great value. Humans need to be active to be healthy physically, spiritually and emotionally but it's important that we remember that our achievements are not what give us our value. We are of great value because of who we are, not because of what we do.

Perfect Beauty

Perfection is one of the ideals in our modern culture, especially when it comes to beauty. We are expected to look younger than we are, have no scars, cellulite or birth marks. Once we can no longer measure up to the ideal naturally it's time to start injecting botox and maybe get some breast implants. The cultural ideal isn't the problem, we are. We are either too fat or not curvy enough. We have too small breasts or a nose that is too big. Our butts are either too small or too big. None of us are perfect, and this is considered a problem.

The June 29, 2015 issue of TIME magazine reports that more and more people get work done these days, will you? Here's the facts: TIME magazine reports that in 2014 more than twice as many cosmetic procedures were done in the US than in year 2000. Cosmetic surgery is no longer considered something that only vain and tacky people do. Joel Stein writes: "Not having work done is now the new shame."

The media shows us what perfection looks like daily and the people follow. If we want to keep up with this ideal we better get some work done, the sooner the better. Or, we could just say NO!
I am beautiful the way I am and although more and more people no longer see anything beautiful when they look in the mirror I choose to be different.

I will choose to love myself and embrace my unique beauty. There is no one else in the whole world who looks exactly like me and that is worth celebrating! I am a unique and beautiful creation! I will embrace and love myself from this day forward and I will avoid any influence that tells me not to love my natural self.