The room was silent: I had mentioned the m-word. The twenty girls seated before me, aged eleven to sixteen, listened intently to a different perspective on modesty, one that I anticipated they had never heard before. Instead of sharing a detailed rubric of what Catholic gals should and should not wear, my presentation centered around one fundamental principle: “Your body is good.”
This principle is not new: It traces back to Genesis. Although we have lost the integrity and innocence that Adam and Eve enjoyed before the Fall, this truth remains: God made us good! Understanding this goodness has the potential to change our lives, defining our approach from our wardrobes to our wellness.
Florencia Moynihan, founder of The Catholic Nutritionist, has recently authored a book based on this same Genesis truth, showing how it can restore balance, freedom, and healing to our lives. Made Good: Overcoming the Lies That Keep Women at War with Their Bodies is a handbook for all women seeking to live health and wholeness as daughters of God.
A Personal Retreat and Route to Healing
What is Made Good’s approach to healing? Not about avoiding toxins and eliminating sugar—no, living with the conviction that you are authentically worthy of wellness involves much more. Instead, the eight beautiful chapters inside offer reflections, practical guidance, prayer, and journaling to help women better understand how their worth in the Lord translates to the importance of wellness.
Chapters 1-4 provide an important foundation in what it means to be “made good” and to be a woman who lives this identity amid the warfare of Satan’s lies. Rooted in Scripture, Church teaching, and practical exercises, these four chapters highlight the truths that give Catholic women permission to pay attention to the needs of their bodies.
Each of the next four chapters has a specific health-related focus:
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Chapter 5 is about reclaiming your understanding of food through a biblical lens, defining a proper relationship with food as “one that nurtures both body and soul, weaving together freedom, peace, attunement, and gratitude” (101). Florencia defines each of these attributes and what they might look like, both spiritually and practically.
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Chapter 6 holds insight on supporting your nervous system. Many times stress becomes our status quo because we have difficulty recognizing the symptoms. This chapter stood out to me as the most practical.
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Chapter 7, with its informative window into body literacy, is a thorough introduction to fertility cycles and the importance of paying attention to them. She includes fascinating connections on how the birth control pill directly attacks each of the four gifts of the feminine genius.
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In Chapter 8, Florencia offers us her “Made Good” method as “a roadmap to restoration,” offering six foundations to this method and tips for consistency and hope when good habits prove hard (161).
From Head to Heart to Healing: What Catholic Women Need to Hear
“Who you say you are is who you will become. When you speak ‘I am,’ you’re echoing the voice of the One who first said it. Use it wisely.”
– Florencia Moynihan in Made Good, 32
“You are not broken—you are beloved,” is the truth emblazoned on the back of the book in hot pink, all-caps lettering. Messages like this might be familiar to many of us who have been taught what it means to be a daughter of God, but that is not true for everyone. Made Good is woven with messages that Catholic women need to hear about healing:
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Jesus cares about your healing just as much as you do—no, actually, even more than you do: The evidence is all over Scripture.
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“You are not a problem: you are a mystery, a beloved daughter,” she writes in the introduction (2). In fact, the problem is not you: It’s that you weren’t taught that your body speaks a language that you are meant to recognize.
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It’s not enough to deny the lies that we believe about ourselves: We must replace them with corresponding truths. Chapter 4 in the book is dedicated to this.
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Wounds will remain with us, whether from struggles with disordered eating, stress, or body image, but Jesus shows us that scars are sacred.
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If life feels more mediocre than meaningful, try “the Mary test” as you assess your schedule and priorities (Chapter 2).
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If it’s not slow, it’s not human. True healing happens gradually: Let it take time. Have mercy on yourself and “learn to fall in love with the process of becoming” (182).
A Sisterly Voice for the Whole: Mind, Body, Heart, Soul
In Made Good, Florencia writes with compassion and clarity, speaking as a friend who knows “the tension between faith, food, and freedom” firsthand from her own dieting struggles (2). She knows the challenge of changing certain habits and the difficulty of trying again gracefully after mistakes. Reading this book feels like hearing her convicting voice in person from the front row of a women's conference, or even chatting over warm drinks in a sisterly heart-to-heart. Every woman seeking to live like she is truly “made good” needs a cheerleader reminding her that she is made for wholeness, not white-knuckling. That’s Florencia.
Florencia also writes as “The Catholic Nutritionist” in nearly every chapter, sharing a helpful framework, psychology perspective, or scientific insight from her work as a functional health and nutritional therapy practitioner. Many exercises she shares contain the stamp of her own experience, like the mirror challenge and the FUEL criteria method as a “guide to nourishing freedom” (177). All the tools she shares are liberating, actionable, and effective.
Good, Beautiful, and True Womanhood
I hope Made Good reaches as many Catholic women as possible. It is certainly for the gal who is still learning to pay attention to her nutrition, to keep out of the spiral of stress, and to observe her cycle as a fifth vital sign—and even for the one who does all this already. It may be the lifestyle talk some women never heard before, like for the young ladies to whom I once spoke about modesty. It’s a necessary reminder that we have permission to pay attention to every aspect of our wellbeing, strengthening us for the spiritual battle against our bodies. Then, we are better able to believe that we are “made good,” understand what it means to be beautiful, and live in what’s true.
Leila Joy Castillo is passionate about bringing Christ to others through the written word in her freelance work, particularly as a media contractor for Ascension and as a homeschool literature tutor. She studied at Ave Maria University and is a lifelong Floridian, so mountains especially delight her heart. Leila could spend far too long chatting about Catholic travel destinations, the saints, life with her three wonderful siblings, and almost anything Jane Austen. You can follow her creativity via Instagram @leila_joyinthejourney.
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