Graced Health: Perimenopause and Menopause Wellness for Christian Women
Want to feel strong and well in your body — without the diet culture pressure? The Graced Health podcast is for Christ-centered women in perimenopause and menopause who want to feel capable, grounded, and at peace in their bodies — without all the noise.
Here you'll find practical, grace-filled guidance on strength training, nutrition, body image, and wellness — all rooted in faith and free from diet culture. No shame. No comparison. Just clarity, encouragement, and a voice of reason.
I'm Amy Connell, a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach who grew up in diet culture doing step aerobics in a thong leotard.
God called me into Graced Health after showing me there's a more peaceful, less obsessive way to care for my body — so I can do what He's called me to do.
New episodes drop every week, covering everything from strength training and menopause to intuitive eating and body stewardship — all through a grace-centered lens.
Ready to get started? Download my free guide: 30+ Non-Gym Ways to Improve Your Health for Women in Perimenopause and Menopause at https://www.gracedhealth.com/health
Graced Health: Perimenopause and Menopause Wellness for Christian Women
Your CORE Strength Chapter 1: What is my CORE Strength?
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Chapter one.
Speaker 1:What is my core strength? What do you think of math? We all have different experiences with learning math, but I've found that people often fall into two camps love it or hate it. Me, I enjoy it. Some of it is the way my brain works and some of it is from my dad's dinnertime training. Growing up, my dad, mom, younger sister and I would all sit around the dinner table engaging in normal conversation. My dad would be in the middle of a story discussing how gas had increased 15% from $2 a gallon, and then his eyes would jump to me and he'd say so what is that now? Math on the fly. That's what every eighth grader loves to do while eating chicken parmesan. But I learned to quickly calculate figures, which is super helpful as a personal trainer. Note my sarcasm. Thankfully, this quick math did help in my first career as a financial analyst. I didn't get it then, but my dad was teaching me the foundations of using math in everyday life.
Speaker 1:We've all had foundational classes in math, beginning in kindergarten with simple calculations like 1 plus 1 equals 2. Each year, our understanding and knowledge grows as we learn more complicated ways of practicing math. Fourth grade long division had me in tears, but that's beside the point. We grow from understanding the basics to learning and applying more in our algebra, geometry and possibly even calculus classes. Think of this first section as our one plus one equals two understanding of why we take care of ourselves.
Speaker 1:Our core strength is the foundation of everything we will discuss in this book. Before we get into the details of taking care of ourselves, I want to give you some underlying truths. These may be different from what you've heard or seen before, and I'm okay with that. I'm calling this primary work our core strength. So what is our core strength? I've created an acronym to help us remember and I'll be referencing it throughout the book. C calling we take care of ourselves so we can do what we are called to do.
Speaker 1:O originality Our body is a gift from God. Original and unique. R relationships we take care of ourselves so we can enjoy and engage in relationships with God and with one another. E everything Everything counts in our health journeys, not just food and fitness. Our core strength is this we take care of our original bodies through relationships and in a variety of ways so we can do what we are called to do. By the way, if you read this chapter title and expected exercises to give you six-pack abs. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but don't worry, we will talk about strengthening our core muscles later. Our core strength is the foundation of why we take care of ourselves. Spoiler alert it's not so we can look a certain way. It's so we can be confident in how we feel and function in all areas of our lives. Our core strength sets us up for success so we can be the best women we can be now and in the future. And that lasts longer than even the most shredded six-pack abs.
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