Book Review: Body Image Breakthrough

September 11, 2015

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Body Image Breakthrough
Jaci Wightman
143 pages
Kindle edition

From the Publisher:
Perfect teeth, slender body, shiny hair. Women sacrifice much to match the golden idol of the perfect woman. We struggle with feelings of inadequacy, shame, and even hatred for our physical bodies. But we can be cured from this devotion to the worldly ideal that plagues our culture. 

This is not just another weight loss book. This book cuts through fad diets and pop psychology to expose the very roots of body issues for women in our culture. Author Jaci Wightman shows us how to eradicate negative thoughts and false beliefs we may have and how to detach ourselves from the unrealistic image society holds. With Christ’s help, we can be cleansed and changed, understanding what true beauty is. We will come to love who we are and learn to see ourselves the way the Lord sees us. You will discover what it really means to be beautiful.


Review:
I started with a Kindle free sample of this book – and once I got started I was hooked….

This is exactly where the entire week comes together.  This book!

Body Image Breakthrough is about finding out true self.  Seeing our self as Christ would see us and understanding what is really important.  

One of my favorite points that Wightman makes is our body is a temple.  When I got to this part in the book it was like a huge A-HA moment to me.  We hear that A LOT. But I had never thought about it in the way that Wightman puts it. 


The temples are all beautifulunique buildings.  You never see one that is ungroomed on the outside, and you hardly see two that look exactly the same.  JUST LIKE OUR BODIES, we are not the same.  We don’t need to try and be or look like someone else.  We must learn to take care of our bodies physically.  It’s okay to wear make up, and pick outfits that make you look your best, because it helps you feel your best.  We don’t need to obsess over it, we need to have the right attitude, but it’s perfectly okay to work on looking and feeling your best!  Our bodies are a temple – and the outside appearance should reflect that.


Along the same lines though – the most important aspect about the temple, is not the beautiful grounds, trees and flowers, rather it is what happens inside the temple that is the most important.  And if our body is a temple, the most important thing that happens takes place INSIDE us.  It is our emotional and mental health.  We must take care of our whole self. Inside and out.

The book is based on scriptures, scientific studies and personal experiences.  It has such a great balance.  Obsessing over your looks is not a great thing, but you need to take care of yourself and learn to love your self too.  Honestly when I first got the spark of an idea to talk about and read about body image for a week I kinda thought a lot of the books would be full of fluff and pretty pictures.  Nothing would really change my mind or my life.  This is not what I found.  I found a lot of great books and resources this week.  This book really helped tie it all together for me and gave me scripture study for the week too!

If you are someone who struggles with body image, or you have a teenage daughter (or niece or friend or neighbor) that struggle, I think this is a GREAT book to start with.  No, it will not teach new make up techniques.  It will not tell you what to wear or what not to wear.  It won’t give any of those types of tips and tricks.  But I really believe it will give them a testimony that their Heavenly Father loves them.  It will help them see their importance and value.  I believe when you gain a testimony of these things that the other things fit into place.  It might take work and a little effort and the other books that I read this week are great places to look for ideas too, but remembering and knowing who we really are is a HUGE part of how we feel about our self.

Final Score:


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