What happens when shame becomes so familiar that it starts to feel like part of who you are?

In this episode of Shedding the Shame, I’m joined by Amber Romaniuk, emotional eating, digestive and hormone expert and host of The No Sugar Coating Podcast.

Amber shares the deeply personal story behind the work she does today, including being called “fat and ugly” as a five-year-old, years of dieting and restricting, binge eating, bulimia, and the shame and self-judgment that kept her trapped in a cycle of trying to control her body. At one point, she had gained 80 pounds in four months and found herself binge eating most days of the week.

She opens up about the moment that finally broke through her denial and made her realize she couldn't keep living this way, and what happened when she reached out for help and was essentially told to “just” stop buying the food and love herself.

From there, we talk about what healing actually looked like: messy, nonlinear and full of setbacks, but grounded in curiosity, compassion and a willingness to keep going. Amber describes feeling like she was standing at the edge of the Amazon jungle with a butter knife, trying to find her way through one step at a time.

We also get into the ways shame and perfectionism show up far beyond food, including people-pleasing, overworking, body image and our need to control everything around us.

And then we dive into hormones, stress, self-talk and the ways Amber believes these can intersect with our relationship with food and our bodies. We talk about why “normal” doesn't always mean you feel well, the importance of advocating for yourself when something doesn't feel right, and why learning to listen to your body can be part of rebuilding body confidence.

One of the biggest themes throughout this conversation is that shame keeps us silent. Amber didn't tell her family about her eating disorder for years because she was afraid they wouldn't understand. Once she finally shared her story, she was met with compassion instead of the judgment she'd feared.

We talk about:

• How childhood experiences can shape the way we see ourselves for decades
• The connection between shame, emotional eating and self-worth
• The all-or-nothing mentality that can keep us stuck
• Perfectionism, people-pleasing and the need for control
• Body image and learning to see ourselves with more compassion
• Hormones, stress and the importance of looking at the whole picture
• Advocating for yourself when you don't feel heard
• Learning to listen to your body's signals

Amber's message at the end of our conversation is simple: “You are so much more powerful than you give yourself credit for.”

Her definition of shedding the shame might be my favourite part: having compassion for yourself, softening into empathy, forgiving yourself for what you've been through and giving yourself the opportunity to make a change.

This is a conversation about food, bodies and hormones, but it's also about something much bigger: what happens when we stop treating ourselves like the problem and start listening to what we're actually trying to tell ourselves?

Website: https://amberapproved.ca/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/amberromaniuk/

No Sugarcoating Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-no-sugarcoating-podcast/id1158699464

What if you stopped waiting until you felt confident, comfortable, or “ready” before you went after the things you want?

In this episode of Shedding the Shame, I’m joined by Natasha Jeshani, president and CEO of Career Contacts, founder of Training Arch, author, keynote speaker, and someone who has built an impressive career while navigating some very personal struggles behind the scenes.

Natasha and I have an incredibly honest conversation about hair loss, body image, confidence, motherhood, entrepreneurship, money, success, and what it actually looks like to keep showing up when you don’t feel your best.

Natasha shares her experience with alopecia areata, including discovering large patches of hair loss unexpectedly, losing eyelashes, dealing with changes in her body after back surgery and steroids, and the impact all of that had on her confidence. She talks candidly about stepping onto stages while worrying about how she looked, taking a break from social media, and even turning down a TEDx opportunity because she didn’t feel like she “looked the part.”

But this conversation isn't about appearance. It's about what happens when we stop allowing our appearance to dictate what we're willing to do.

We talk about:
• The pressure to have everything together before we allow ourselves to be visible
• Why waiting for perfection can keep us stuck
• Taking up space, taking the mic, and asking for the money you’re worth
• Imposter syndrome and why even incredibly successful women experience it
• Building businesses without a blueprint and learning through doing
• Creating community instead of treating other women as competition
• The importance of celebrating our wins and keeping “receipts” of what we’ve accomplished
• Why sometimes clearing space for the wrong people creates room for the right opportunities
• Showing up authentically even when you’re struggling behind the scenes
• And why your hair, your weight, your lashes, or any other part of your appearance should never get to decide how big your life becomes

One of my favourite moments comes when Natasha says:

“You have to demand it.”

The space. The mic. The check.

If you have done the work, built the experience, and have something meaningful to say, you don't need to wait for someone to decide you're ready.

This is a conversation about refusing to shrink yourself, about doing the thing before you feel ready, and about realizing that you can be uncomfortable, insecure, imperfect, and still move forward.

You don't have to feel confident to take up space. Sometimes you just have to take the space anyway.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/yourcareercontact/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natashajeshani/

Website: https://www.careercontacts.ca/

What happens when the things you experienced as a child continue to affect your body, your relationships, your parenting, and your mental health decades later?

In this episode of Shedding the Shame, Tami is joined by Julianna Burmesch, a former school principal, speech pathologist, early brain development trainer, parent educator and author of Life with Less of Me.

Julianna’s memoir explores her childhood growing up with addiction, abuse, neglect and fear, and the long-term impact those adverse childhood experiences had on her physical and emotional health.

We talk about ACEs, or adverse childhood experiences, and why trauma doesn't have to be one catastrophic event to leave a lasting mark. Sometimes it's the repeated arguing, unpredictability, emotional neglect, fear and dysfunction that shape a child's nervous system and follow them into adulthood.

Julianna shares how childhood trauma showed up in her own life, including anxiety, panic, physical health issues and a tendency to retreat when she felt unsafe. We also talk about why people who have experienced trauma can become incredibly good at hiding it, why even successful adults can struggle with unresolved trauma, and how being triggered can temporarily disconnect us from the rational part of our brain.

We get into the importance of finding a trauma-informed therapist, why traditional talk therapy doesn't work for everyone, EMDR, inner-child work, allowing yourself to finally feel the emotions you've spent years suppressing, and the complicated guilt that can come with trying to become a different kind of parent than the one you grew up with.

Most importantly, we talk about breaking generational cycles and learning to release the shame and responsibility we carry for things that were never our fault.

As Julianna puts it: “Shedding the shame means letting go of responsibility for what happened to me.”

If you grew up in a difficult or dysfunctional home, or you've ever wondered why something from your childhood still seems to live in your body today, this conversation is for you.

Life with Less of Me by Julianna Burmesch was published June 23, 2026.

Website: https://www.juliannaburmesch.com/