What happens when a lifetime of dieting, food rules and food noise finally gives way to food freedom? And what happens when a serious health diagnosis challenges everything you thought you knew about healthy eating?

In this episode of The Food & Body Podcast, I'm joined by Suanne, our first listener guest, who shares her journey from decades of restrictive eating and struggles with food and body image to finding a more peaceful relationship with food in her 60s. We explore how diet culture shaped her beliefs, the role of food restriction in her relationship with food, and how a kidney cancer diagnosis completely changed her understanding of what it means to eat healthily. It's a conversation about challenging food rules, redefining health and discovering that food freedom looks different for everyone.

In this episode, we discuss:

• [00:35] How Suanne's relationship with food began changing in her teenage years
• [01:09] The cycle of restrictive eating, overeating and feeling out of control
• [07:52] Shame, secrecy and feeling alone in your struggles with food
• [12:30] Why dieting and weight loss never provided lasting food freedom
• [16:17] Challenging food rules and learning to give yourself permission to eat
• [24:36] How a kidney cancer diagnosis changed Suanne's relationship with food and health
• [28:37] Why foods labelled as "healthy" aren't necessarily right for everyone
• [34:25] Weight stigma, body size and why we can't judge someone's health by looking at them
• [36:20] Navigating nutrition trends and conflicting health advice
• [40:37] Finding food freedom through permission, flexibility and satisfying meals
• [48:37] Making peace with body image and enjoying life beyond food rules

Connect with us:

💜 Suanne: @suannebd

💜 Find out more about my therapy services: https://www.beccarobinsonchinntherapy.com

💜 Instagram: @becomingwithbecca_therapist / @thefoodandbody_podcast

If Suanne's story resonates with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. What has helped you change your relationship with food? And if your experience has been different, you're welcome to share that too.

Don't forget to like, subscribe and share this episode to help more people discover a different way of thinking about food, health and body image.

#FoodFreedom #FoodNoise #IntuitiveEating #BodyImage #DietCulture

Is people-pleasing connected to overeating?

Do you find it hard to say no to people... and food?

In this episode of The Food and Body Podcast, therapist Harriet Frew joins me to explore the deep links between people-pleasing, masking, self-abandonment, and emotional eating.

We discuss why trusting your own experience can be so difficult, how people-pleasing overlaps with neurodivergence/ADHD, and how out of control eating can become a "protected space" or escape from constantly putting others first. If you struggle to recognize your own needs, find yourself trapped in cycles of resentment and guilt or find indulging in overeating is your only "you time", this honest conversation offers actionable strategies for building boundaries and finding safety within yourself.

📌 Subscribe to the channel for more honest conversations on finding a peaceful relationship with food, body image, and self-acceptance.

⏱️ Timestamps & Chapters

00:00 — Introduction: People-pleasing & eating disorders

03:30 — Harriet’s story: Bulimia and the need to please

08:15 — Kindness vs. Self-Abandonment

13:40 — The overlap with ADHD, neurodivergence & masking

21:10 — Why binge eating becomes a protected escape

29:45 — The roots of people-pleasing: Culture, family & rejection

37:20 — Practical steps: Moving past "just say no"

45:00 — How relationships change when you set boundaries

🔗 Connect with Us

Connect with Harriet:

• Instagram @theeatingdisordertherapist_
• Podcast: The Eating Disorder Therapist on all major platforms (1.5 million downloads). https://harrietfrew.podbean.com/
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@theeatingdisordertherapist
• Website: theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk

Connect with Becca:

• Instagram: becomingwithbecca_therapist
• Email: becca@beccarobinsonchinntherapy.com
• Website: wwww.beccarobinsonchinntherapy.com (coming soon)

Follow the podcast info:

• Instagram: @thefoodandbody_podcast

What can nervous system regulation teach us about body image, food freedom and recovery? And how can somatic therapy help us understand the nervous system, emotions and the patterns we develop around food and our bodies?

In this episode of Once Upon A Binge, I’m joined by Stefanie Michele. As a recovery coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Stef takes a somatic approach to recovery, body image and emotional wellbeing. After recovering from decades of out of control eating and restriction herself, Stef helps women understand and change their relationship with food and body image. Her work focuses on the intersection of nervous system regulation, eating behavior, body image, and self-trust.

We explore what somatic therapy actually means, how trauma and the nervous system can affect our relationship with our bodies, and how simple body-awareness practices can support healing without becoming another thing to “get right”.

Together, we explore:

• What a somatic approach to recovery actually means and how it differs from simply thinking differently
• How trauma and the nervous system can influence the way we experience our bodies, emotions and food
• Why behaviours can serve different purposes and what our nervous system may be communicating through them
• How different nervous-system states can feel in the body, including heightened energy, heaviness, numbness and calm
• Why changing a habitual nervous-system response isn't about simply trying to stop an urge or feeling
• Simple ways to work with nervous-system regulation in everyday life
• How parts work, curiosity and compassion can help us understand conflicting feelings and protective responses
• The role of movement and stillness in somatic work, including using movement for release, regulation and soothing
• Why our bodies can continue to associate certain situations with danger even when we consciously know we are safe
• The difference between changing the way you think about your body and changing the way your body actually feels
• How body image, safety and belonging can become connected to ideas about body shape and appearance
• Becca's experience of sitting with difficult old photographs rather than immediately avoiding or deleting them
• How seeing other people's bodies differently can help create new associations around confidence, self-expression and body acceptance
• Reconnecting with hunger and fullness cues without relying on numbers, scales or intensive tracking
• Learning to notice subtle physical signals such as hunger, fullness and discomfort with less judgement or fear
• Why recovery can involve a much broader process of reconnecting with yourself rather than simply trying to fix one particular symptom
• How body awareness can gradually become more instinctive and natural
• Why somatic therapy doesn't have to be spiritual, “woo-woo” or complicated
• What Steph means by “somatic drops” or “somatic sprinkles” — small moments of body awareness that can be incorporated into everyday life
• How to begin reconnecting with your body without turning it into another task, rule or form of perfectionism

This is a conversation about somatic therapy, nervous system regulation, body image, food freedom and recovery — and about learning to listen to your body with a little more curiosity, compassion and less judgement.

If you're interested in body image recovery, improving your relationship with food, understanding your nervous system or exploring a more compassionate relationship with your body, this episode is for you.

💜

Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - @onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - podcast.onceuponabinge@gmail.com

Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – @bingefreeandbeautiful

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - bingefreeandbeautiful@gmail.com

Connect with Stef:

- Email – stefanie@iamstefaniemichele.com

- Instagram - @iamstefaniemichele

- Website - https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/