What if your relationship with food isn’t about willpower… but about the parts of you that have learned to use food as protection, comfort, control, or survival?

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Kim Daniels, Clinical Psychologist, Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and author of Heal Your Love-Hate Relationship with Food: An Intuitive Eating and Internal Family Systems Workbook, for a powerful conversation about healing our relationship with food by understanding the inner system driving our eating behaviors.

Together, we explore how diet culture and societal messaging deeply shape our beliefs around food, body image, and worthiness — often creating polarized parts that keep us stuck in cycles of shame, restriction, emotional eating, and disconnection from our bodies. Dr. Kim shares what inspired her to write her new workbook and how combining IFS with intuitive eating offers a compassionate path toward true healing.

We also dive into the critical role of Self-energy in helping us build trust with eating parts, why traditional approaches to food often overlook the emotional and protective functions behind our behaviors, and how parts work can help us move from a love-hate relationship with food into greater freedom, connection, and self-compassion.

• Dr. Kim’s inspiration behind writing Heal Your Love-Hate Relationship with Food • The impact of diet culture and societal messaging around food and body image • Understanding eating disorders through the lens of Internal Family Systems • How protective parts influence our eating behaviors and relationship with food • The role of Self-energy in healing food-related struggles • Why intuitive eating and parts work are powerful when integrated together • Moving beyond shame and toward healing your relationship with food

Dr. Kim Daniels is a Clinical Psychologist with a private practice in Hartford, Connecticut. She is a Certified, Level 2 trained Internal Family Systems therapist, an approved clinical consultant, and a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Dr. Daniels is the author of Heal Your Love-Hate Relationship with Food: An Intuitive Eating and Internal Family Systems Workbook and host of the Emotional Eating (and Everything Else) Podcast. She specializes in working with clients struggling with food and body concerns and especially enjoys supporting fellow IFS therapists in their own personal and professional growth.

Website: https://www.drkimdaniels.com/ Book: https://www.newharbinger.com/9781648487286/heal-your-love-hate-relationship-with-food/ Podcast: https://www.drkimdaniels.com/podcast

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Want to work with Natalie for Intuitive Parts Therapy or Spiritual Consultation? Contact her below

Website: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/

Contact: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/contact

Instagram: @nataliedeering

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In this episode, I’m joined by J. Ashley T. Booth for a fascinating conversation about her unconventional journey from studying oceanography to becoming deeply immersed in the worlds of Internal Family Systems, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, and consciousness exploration.

We also explore her beautiful book, Quieting the Storm Within — a visually engaging and accessible introduction to IFS for both teens and adults. Together, we discuss the power of visual learning in healing, why curiosity and compassion are central to inner work, and how Ashley is helping make parts work more approachable through creativity, metaphor, and a fresh language for understanding our internal system.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Ashley’s life transition from oceanography to the healing world of IFS and psychedelics • How Burning Man catalyzed a profound shift in her personal and spiritual path • Psychedelics as a bridge from the material world into the mystical • Quieting the Storm Within as an illustrated guide to understanding IFS for teens and adults • The metaphor of Self as the sun and parts as the clouds passing by • Why visual learning can be transformative, especially for individuals with dyslexia • Interactive activities woven throughout the book to deepen self-exploration • Helping readers cultivate curiosity and compassion toward their internal world • How principles of Nonviolent Communication are integrated throughout the book • Ashley’s decision to reframe protector parts as helpers, including proactive helpers and reactive helpers

About Ashley Booth

J. Ashley T. Booth, LCSW, MS, MA is an IFS therapist, educator, and former MAPS therapist specializing in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. With a background in mental health, integration work, and self-inquiry practices, she brings a unique and compassionate perspective to parts work. Ashley’s mission is to make IFS approachable and engaging through visual storytelling, playful metaphors, and practical tools.

Connect with Ashley

Website: ashleybooth.net Book Website: ifsandbeyond.com Instagram: @ifsandbeyond TikTok: @ifsandbeyond

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Want to work with Natalie? Contact her below

Website: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/

Contact: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/contact

Instagram: @nataliedeering

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What if your sensitivity was never the problem?

In this podcast episode I sit down with Dr. Steve Chee to explore sensitivity, intuition, Internal Family Systems, and what becomes possible when we stop pathologizing the parts of ourselves we’ve been taught are “too much.”

Together, we unpack the experience of being a highly sensitive person and the power of finally naming it. Dr. Steve shares insights on how sensitivity often develops within the relational field—how we learn to sense, adapt, perform, protect, and belong in response to the emotional environments around us.

We explore the important distinction between sensitivity and intuition, and how many people bury the gift of sensitivity because of family systems, cultural beliefs, or experiences of being misunderstood.

In this episode, we discuss:

- What it means to be a highly sensitive person—and the relief of naming it - Sensitivity and the relational field - The difference between sensitivity and intuition - How family and cultural messages can bury sensitivity as a gift - Feeling like you are “too much” for others - Masking, performing, and adapting to belong - Protective parts that temper emotion (including my own “Ice Queen” part) - The gifts hidden beneath burdens and survival strategies - What happens when your “too muchness” isn’t actually too much - Field awareness and relational sensitivity - Dr. Steve’s upcoming book, The Field-Aware Soul

Dr. Steve offers such a compassionate and paradigm-shifting perspective for sensitives, mystics, helpers, and anyone whose gifts bent toward survival before they had the chance to fully emerge.

This conversation is an invitation to wonder:

What if your sensitivity isn’t something to fix—but something to understand, honor, and reclaim?

Dr. Steve Chee is an Integrative East–West Physician and Certified IFS Therapist, most recently the creator of the IFS Institute’s Continuity Program, The Sacred Nervous System, and originator of The Field-Aware Soul Ecology—a relational framework for people whose sensitivity arrived early and became recruited into caretaking, performing, and belonging at a cost.

His work centers around a powerful question:

What if field sensitivity isn’t a wound to heal, but a relational capacity waiting to be met?

He works with sensitives, mystics, and those who were told they were “too much”—helping people reclaim gifts that once bent toward survival and transform them into deeper connection, authenticity, and belonging.

Learn more: https://drstevechee.com/

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Want to work with Natalie? Contact her below

Website: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/

Contact: https://www.ndwellnessservices.com/contact

Instagram: @nataliedeering

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Help Support the Podcast by Donating Here!

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