In this inspiring episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini welcomes Sherry Shaban, Certified Athletic Therapist, Osteopath, Hypnotherapist, and creator of the Make Peace With Food method.

Sherry shares her powerful personal journey from being a competitive athlete, to a life-altering accident that left her in chronic pain, to rediscovering strength, and eventually questioning everything she had been taught about nutrition and fitness.

Through her story, listeners will learn how diet culture and endless cycles of restriction create confusion, fear, and disconnection from the body. Sherry explains how nervous system dysregulation often lies at the root of emotional eating, bingeing, and food fear — and why true healing requires going beyond calories, macros, and meal plans.

Together, Sherry and Dr. Cristina uncover why most diets fail, how fear drives food behaviors, and how cultivating self-compassion and emotional safety can transform not just eating habits, but overall well-being.

This candid conversation offers a refreshing, hopeful approach: healing from the inside out.

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In this special milestone episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini celebrates the 250th episode of Behind the Bite! Unlike most episodes, today it’s just Dr. Cristina—no guest—reflecting on the journey of this podcast and diving into one of the most insidious forces impacting our body image and relationship with food: media-driven diet culture.

Dr. Cristina unpacks decades of harmful ads, reality TV shows, fashion campaigns, and celebrity influences that have shaped our collective beliefs about health, beauty, and worth. From the infamous “Are You Beach Body Ready?” campaign to The Biggest Loser, Friends, and TikTok diet trends, she reveals how fatphobia has been sold to us through shame, humor, and exclusion.

This raw and passionate solo episode is both a celebration of how far the podcast has come and a call to keep questioning the messages we’re fed. Whether you’ve been here since episode one or are joining for the first time, this episode will empower you to see through the myths, challenge stigma, and reclaim your worth beyond the scale.

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In this powerful and heartfelt conversation, Dr. Cristina Castagnini welcomes back Beatriz (Béa) Victoria Albina, NP, MPH, SEP—nurse practitioner, somatic life coach, and host of the Feminist Wellness Podcast. Béa returns to discuss her upcoming book, End Emotional Outsourcing: A Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist, and People-Pleasing Habits (Hachette Balance, Sept. 30).

Béa introduces the term “emotional outsourcing”—her reframe of the outdated concept of codependency. Rather than pathologizing love, care, and connection, she explains how people-pleasing, perfectionism, and self-erasure are survival strategies we once needed to stay safe. Now, however, these patterns keep us disconnected from our authenticity, self-trust, and worth.

Through personal insights, metaphors (like “baby sweaters” and “newborn kitten steps”), and clinical wisdom, Béa and Dr. Castagnini explore how emotional outsourcing is deeply tied to body image, diet culture, and perfectionist pressures. Together, they outline pathways toward reclaiming self-trust, rebuilding body awareness, and setting loving boundaries—so we can live lives rooted in authenticity rather than external validation.

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