Full But Not Finished

Επεισόδια

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  44. The Cookie Paradox: Mental Restriction in Reverse 20.08.2026 29λ

  Still having food noise even though you've stopped dieting? Mental restriction can keep binge eating and overeating going long after you've stopped counting calories or labeling foods "good" and "bad." In this episode, I share a client story that explains mental restriction a little differently than we usually talk about it. She wasn't afraid of cookies, worried about calories, or judging herself for wanting dessert. But underneath was still an expectation that, if she were fully recovered, she should eventually stop needing cookies emotionally. We talk about this subtle form of mental restriction that can remain after dieting and how even recovery or intuitive eating ideals can accidentally become another standard to live up to. If you've ever thought, I'm not restricting anymore, so why can't I stop overeating? this episode may help explain what might still happening. MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  43. Why Travel Days and Transitions Can Trigger Binge Urges 12.08.2026 23λ

  Why does a travel day, a Sunday night, or the first day back after being away sometimes make you want to graze, overeat, or binge? Transitions can do strange things to our relationship with food, especially in the hours when one routine has ended and the next one hasn't quite begun. More free content in weekly emails Instagram too
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  42. I Wanted My Roommate's Diet to Fail: and other stories I was too ashamed to tell anyone. 05.08.2026 38λ

  In this episode of Full But Not Satisfied, Stefanie shares four hidden behaviors from her 25 years with disordered eating and an eating disorder — things she assumed were evidence of bad character, but were actually nervous system threat responses. From neglecting hygiene and hoping for a hospital stay, to feeling jealous of other people's diets, to stealing and lying about food, these are the parts of eating disorder recovery that rarely get talked about. Using nervous system regulation, polyvagal theory, and parts work, Stefanie unpacks why these behaviors happen — and why shame, not the behavior itself, is often the thing that keeps people stuck. This episode is for anyone in eating disorder recovery, disordered eating recovery, or body image healing who has ever done something they didn't want to admit out loud.
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  41. Why Listening to Your Body Is So Confusing 29.07.2026 36λ

  Why is listening to your body so confusing? You might be trying to follow your hunger and fullness cues but still have no idea whether you're feeling hunger, anxiety, habit, adrenaline, an emotion, or the pressure of paying far too much attention. In this episode, I talk through five reasons body cues can be difficult to interpret, especially after disordered eating or years of overriding them. Cues may still be inconsistent or extreme. Several sensations may be happening at the same time. Anxiety can interrupt interoception, emotions can become wired together with food urges, and the cue you notice first may simply be the one you are most accustomed to following. Even trying very hard to eat intuitively can turn hunger and fullness into another system to monitor and get right. Listening to your body becomes more useful when a cue is treated as information rather than an automatic instruction. By the end of this episode, you'll have a clearer way to think about what your body is communicating without assuming every sensation is telling you exactly what to do. MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  40. Bored, Restless, and Looking for Food: Emotional Eating and the Nervous System 22.07.2026 26λ

  Why do we eat when we're bored, even when we know we aren't hungry?  In this episode, I look at boredom eating through a nervous system lens and question the assumption that boredom simply means we cannot tolerate being alone with ourselves. Stillness can leave us with a mind that is anything but still, especially when the brain shifts into the default mode network and begins revisiting everything we were too occupied to notice before. Food can give shape to unstructured time and offer a "gear shift" of energy that the nervous system may really be asking for. I also talk about the difference between needing rest, seeking stimulation, and sliding into a lower-energy state that we may be calling boredom. Understanding which one is happening can change the way we respond to emotional eating, grazing, or the urge to eat when there is nothing else to do. ABOUT STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  39. GLP-1s, Body Acceptance, and the Pressure to Choose 17.07.2026 52λ

  Can you work toward body acceptance while considering a GLP-1 medication? In this unscripted collaboration, body image coaches Kristina Bruce of Unlearning Beautiful and Stefanie Michele of Full But Not Finished talk about what happens when you have spent years stepping away from dieting while the culture around you appears to be moving toward weight loss again. We discuss the pressure on both sides of the GLP-1 conversation, the limits of turning dieting or anti-diet thinking into a fixed belief system, and why body trust cannot be reduced to one universally correct decision. The conversation moves beneath the choice itself into the life, body, identity, or future we may still be attached to—and the difficulty of knowing what self-care means after years of confusing it with self-control. Choosing relief does not necessarily mean abandoning yourself, and choosing not to pursue weight loss does not automatically make you freer. The work is learning to recognize what is true inside your own life without turning today's decision into another rule you must follow tomorrow. This conversation is educational and is not medical advice. Decisions about GLP-1 medications should be made with a qualified medical professional who understands your individual health history, including any history of disordered eating or eating disorders. ABOUT KRISTINA BRUCE Kristina Bruce is a body image coach and the founder of Unlearning Beautiful. She helps people stop obsessing about their bodies and develop greater peace, trust, and freedom. Free Guide to Body Peace https://www.kristinabruce.com/guide 1:1 Body Peace Coaching https://www.kristinabruce.com/private-coaching Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kristinabrucecoach ABOUT STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and somatic practitioner who helps people understand the psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns underneath binge eating, food control, body image anxiety, and feeling trapped in the relationship with their bodies. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele  
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  38. I Lost Decades to my ED and I'm Okay With That — and Is Body Image Just A First World Problem? 11.07.2026 28λ

  In this Q&A episode, I'm answering two questions about eating disorder recovery. The first is about how to make peace with the years an eating disorder took — the grief of looking back and realizing how much of life was shaped by food, body image, fear, and survival, without blaming yourself for not recovering sooner. The second question is about why body image can still matter, even when part of you feels embarrassed by that or tells yourself it is a "first world problem." I talk about lost time, self-blame, body shame, and the very human wish to feel okay in your body without turning any of it into another reason to shame yourself. More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  37. A Different Way to Be Strong: with Guest Marcus Kain 01.07.2026 54λ

  In this episode, I'm joined by Marcus Kain Murray of Strong Not Starving for a conversation about strength training that goes beyond reps, programming, and pushing harder. We talk about what changes when training becomes something you practice instead of something you perform for approval. Marcus gets into why a workout can feel hard and still be the wrong kind of hard, how the fitness industry sells exhaustion as progress, and why pulling back is sometimes what actually helps you get stronger. We also talk about effort, intensity, rest periods, and what it means to challenge yourself without turning exercise into another place where you have to override yourself. If you tend to either overdo it or avoid it, this conversation gives a different way to think about strength, recovery, and consistency. This is a strength-based episode, but the lens is bigger than fitness. It's about building strength without making training the boss of your life. Marcus is the founder of Strong Not Starving. He is a trainer, StrongFirst certified instructor, and coach with 20 years of experience in the fitness industry. His work brings together strength training, nutrition coaching, disordered eating informed fitness, stress management and recovery, sleep, and relationship coaching. Find Marcus here: https://strongnotstarving.com/ More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  36. Can You Have Food Freedom With Food Restrictions? 24.06.2026 36λ

  More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com What happens when a food restriction is not coming from diet culture, but from an actual health need? In this episode of Full But Not Finished, I'm answering a listener question about giving up gluten for an autoimmune condition, feeling better physically, and then suddenly feeling the old psychological pull of restriction, scarcity, rebellion, and white-knuckling come back. We talk about the difference between a true health accommodation and a food rule, why even medically appropriate restrictions can still register as scarcity, and what gets in the way of staying connected to food freedom when your body genuinely needs something different. I also get into food morality, perfectionism, satisfaction, autonomy, and why your psychology may rebel against a protocol that starts to feel like obedience, even when your health matters. This episode is for anyone trying to care for their body without falling back into old binge/restrict cycles, orthorexic thinking, or the belief that food freedom means never having boundaries around food. Topics covered: medical food restriction, gluten, autoimmune conditions, intuitive eating, food freedom, food morality, orthorexia, binge restrict cycle, scarcity mindset, health accommodations, and restriction recovery. Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  35. Not Recovered, But Not Ashamed: a listener's story 17.06.2026 1ώ

  In this episode, I'm joined by Minea for a conversation about food recovery, body image, control, and what happens when you understand the concepts but still don't feel safe enough to let go. This is not a neat success story, and that is exactly why I wanted to share it. Minea talks about growing up as a child who loved food, the moment her body began to feel like something other people could judge, the early pull toward control, and the confusing shift into feeling out of control around food after years of trying to stay in control. We also talk about shame, identity, perfectionism, productivity, attachment, fear of weight change, and the hard-to-name place where someone can have deep self-awareness and still feel caught between what they understand and what they feel able to do. This conversation may not be right for everyone, especially if you are currently feeling pulled toward control or struggling to feel steady in your own food and body work. Please take care of yourself while listening. For the person who has ever thought, "I understand all of this, so why am I still here?" — this episode is for you. More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele Topics include binge eating after restriction, eating disorder recovery, body image, weight gain fear, perfectionism, shame, compulsive exercise, nervous system regulation, intuitive eating, attachment, resistance, and the reality of being in the middle of healing
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  34. When You Can't Stop Exercising 10.06.2026 41λ

  Last week, I talked about resistance to exercise and how movement can become safer when it is no longer tied to weight loss, punishment, or proving yourself. This week is the other side of the coin: what happens when exercise becomes compulsive and rest starts to feel threatening. Movement can be genuinely regulating. It can help us feel strong, embodied, capable, grounded, and in control. But that is also why it can become hard to stop. For some people, exercise becomes the one place they can access agency, discharge anxiety, manage food guilt, or feel safe inside their own body. In this episode, I'm talking about compulsive exercise through a nervous system lens: why the behavior can make so much sense, why slowing down can feel dysregulating at first, and why the goal is not to demonize movement, but to find a dosage that is sustainable. We'll talk about: why exercise can become addictive the difference between choosing movement and feeling controlled by it exercise as compensation, regulation, escape, and agency why rest can feel like collapse all-or-nothing patterns with movement how to start building a more sustainable relationship with exercise why slowing down is not a lack of discipline, but its own skill Movement can stay in your life without taking over your life. Mentioned in this episode: the difference between movement as regulation and movement as compulsion, rest as a nervous system challenge, and what it can look like to tolerate the fear of doing less. More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  33. How to Rebuild Your Relationship with Exercise (after diet culture) 03.06.2026 43λ

  Exercise can be hard to separate from weight loss, calorie burning, food compensation, discipline, and body control. In this episode, I'm talking about how to rebuild your relationship with movement after dieting, binge eating, restriction, or years of using exercise as a way to change your body. For a lot of people, exercise does not feel neutral. It can bring up old rules, old pressure, old fear, old rebellion, or the sense that movement only matters if it leads to weight loss or somehow "counts." But movement can also be something else. It can be a way to move energy through the body. It can help discharge anxiety, shift a flat or frozen state, interrupt rumination, and create a different relationship with your own body. It can be slow, ordinary, rhythmic, gentle, practical, or enjoyable. It does not have to be organized around punishment, compensation, or proving anything. I also talk about what happens when diet culture thoughts still show up while you're trying to move differently. Those thoughts may be present because they were built over time. Their presence does not have to define the meaning of what you are doing now. This episode is about reclaiming exercise and movement from diet culture, and finding a way back to movement that feels more like support than self-control. In this episode, I talk about: why exercise can feel charged after years of dieting how movement gets paired with weight loss, control, and morality exercise as a way to move energy through the nervous system why low motivation may be connected to overwhelm, not laziness how slow, steady movement can help thaw a flat or frozen state how higher-energy movement can help discharge anxiety why diet culture thoughts may still appear how to build a new relationship with movement without making it another rule More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  32. Supporting a Partner Through Binge Eating Recovery (a conversation with my actual husband) 27.05.2026 45λ

    In this episode, Stef talks with her husband, Mike, about what it was like to support her through years of binge eating, restriction, body shame, and recovery. They talk about what he noticed in the early years of their relationship, what he misunderstood, what helped him understand binge eating more clearly, and why trying to "fix" it usually didn't work. They also discuss the quieter parts of support: listening without judgment, staying steady when recovery felt terrifying, not making weight gain the center of the relationship, and having a life outside of the eating disorder so the relationship could still hold more than distress. This conversation is for anyone supporting a partner, spouse, friend, or family member through binge eating recovery, and for anyone in recovery who worries that their struggle is taking up too much space in their relationship. It is a real look at what support can sound like when someone does not fully understand the eating disorder, but is still willing to stay present, learn, and keep taking the next step with you. More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  31. Hilary Duff, "Strong Not Small," and Body Diversity in Wellness 19.05.2026 40λ

  Hilary Duff's "Strong Not Small" campaign has brought up a bigger conversation about wellness culture, diet culture, fitness ideals, and the way bodies are still expected to show up. On the surface, "strong not small" sounds like progress, especially for millennial women who grew up in the early 2000s celebrity body-shaming era. We were taught to fear weight gain, compare ourselves to famous women, and treat thinness as proof that we were disciplined, desirable, and doing life correctly. But what happens when the new ideal still looks very similar to the old one? In this episode, I'm talking about Hilary Duff's strength-training campaign, the shift from "skinny" to "strong," and how wellness culture can repackage diet culture in language that sounds more empowering. This isn't about criticizing Hilary Duff personally, and it's not about criticizing strength training. Movement, muscle, and feeling strong in your body can be genuinely supportive. The issue is the pressure that shows up when "healthy" still has to look toned, small, youthful, sculpted, and commercially beautiful. We'll get into why fitness and wellness messaging can feel inspiring while also activating the same body-image pressure many women are trying to recover from. I also talk about how social media, celebrity culture, wellness trends, and fitness campaigns shape what we believe is normal, even when we logically know celebrities have access to trainers, money, editing, time, and resources most people do not. Topics covered in this episode include: Hilary Duff's "Strong Not Small" campaign Millennial body image and early 2000s beauty standards Why "strong, not skinny" can still become a body standard The overlap between wellness culture and diet culture How fitness trends create pressure, rebellion, or over-compliance Why your nervous system absorbs imagery before your logic can argue with it The problem with equating health with visible aesthetics How to reconnect with movement, strength, and wellbeing on your own terms Questions to ask yourself when "shoulds" start moving in on your empowerment More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  30. When Body Image Meets Aging: a conversation with Deb Benfield 13.05.2026 44λ

  Aging is natural, but women are rarely allowed to experience it that way. In this episode, I talk with Deb Benfield, author of Unapologetic Aging, about the pressure women face to keep defying the evidence. This conversation is really about the promise underneath anti-aging culture: that if we can stay young enough, thin enough, smooth enough, or close enough to the ideal, we might stay safe, wanted, respected, and socially protected. Deb talks about why that promise is so powerful, why it becomes especially intense in midlife, and why it can cost women so much of their attention, creativity, sexuality, and actual life. We also talk about the body hierarchy, the fear of becoming irrelevant, the way younger women are being pulled into anti-aging fear earlier than ever, and what it means to come back into the body from the inside rather than constantly evaluating it from the outside. This is a conversation about aging, but more than that, it's about compliance, embodiment, and the possibility of using midlife for something more... fun. Deb Benfield is 67, a registered dietitian, nutrition therapist, and body image coach who has spent over 40 years working in the ED and body image world. Her current work focuses on helping people mend their relationship with their aging bodies. Deb's Unapologetic Aging Circle  Deb's Book: Unapologetic Aging More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  29. Gentle Nutrition After Diet Culture: How To Make It Simple 06.05.2026 41λ

  Nutrition is a complicated, sometimes scary word after ED recovery or dropping out of diet culture. You may want more energy, steadier meals, better digestion, or a way of eating that supports your body more consistently. But the second nutrition enters the conversation, it can start to feel threatening. Old rules come back. The pressure to get it right comes back. Even a small thought about protein, vegetables, or blood sugar can start to feel like a case for rebellion. In this episode, I'm talking about how to include nutrition in a non-diet relationship with food without turning it into another set of rules or self-sabotage. I get into overthinking, rebellion, adding instead of subtracting, keeping nutrition basic, all-or-nothing thinking, and why one food does not cancel out another. I also talk about life seasons, because what makes sense for your food has to make sense inside your actual life. This is a conversation about letting nutrition become a neutral, shoulders down experience. More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  28. Life After Dieting with Guest Allison: Food Freedom, Body Image, and Motherhood 29.04.2026 49λ

  In this episode of Full but Not Finished, I'm talking with Alison about finding food freedom as a mom after weight gain, years of dieting, and years of living in the binge/restrict cycle. The Body Image Workshop is open! Allison grew up in peak 90s diet culture, with cottage cheese, "Can't Believe It's Not Butter," and the message that gaining weight was something to fear. When her body changed in adulthood, dieting seemed like the obvious answer. What followed was years of restriction, overeating, guilt, and starting over again (including one meal plan that told her to eat exactly 12 scallops for dinner). We talk about what it took for her to see the pattern clearly (through the eyes of her husband, who watched the cycle repeat.  In this episode, we cover: Motherhood, weight gain, and recovery after dieting  Perfectionism around food, movement, and parenting  What support from a partner can look like  Body image (including shopping and crying in the car) in a bigger body 🍽️ Raising kids and breaking the cycle  Healing in gray areas (not making a big deal out of eating a lighter dinner) ⚖️ Food morality and the fear of "doing it wrong" Why recovery does not happen the day you stop dieting  If you're trying to recover from chronic dieting, binge eating, or body obsession while also navigating motherhood, body changes, or the fear of passing this down, this conversation will resonate.  Learn more about my work: www.iamstefaniemichele.com Hi, I'm Stefanie Michele. I help people heal their relationship with food, body image, and themselves through a nervous-system-aware, intuitive eating approach.
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  27. 5 Real-Time Tools for a Bad Body Image Day 22.04.2026 44λ

  Bad body image day? I'm sharing five things I use in real time to interrupt the spiral, work with nervous system dysregulation, and get through a trigger without letting it take over the whole day. We talk about body neutrality, somatic tools, movement, distraction, and what to do when you're too flooded to think clearly. (This episode idea came to me as I was talking to a client on Whatsapp and walked by a full length mirror -- and worked through it in real time.) In this episode:• how I work with a body image trigger in real time • why distraction can actually help • how movement helps when body image feels urgent • one simple somatic tool for dysregulation • what I do when I'm too flooded for any of the above The Body Image Workshop: www.iamstefaniemichele.com/body-image-workshop   Hi, I'm Stefanie Michele. I help people heal body image struggles, binge eating, and their relationship with food through nervous system work, somatic tools, and deeper self-understanding.
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  26. Body Image and Perfectionism: Why It Never Feels Like Enough (A Conversation with Kristina Bruce) 15.04.2026 53λ

  What happens when two body image coaches start talking "off the record"? (also: Join The Body Image Workshop this May for more of this type of conversation) In this special joint episode, Stefanie Michele - a Binge Eating Recovery Coach and Kristina Bruce, a Body Peace Coach share a raw, unedited conversation that was originally happening offline. We realized the "good stuff" coming up was too important not to share, so we hit record. We're diving deep into the high cost of perfectionism in how we've viewed and treated our bodies for decades. We're pulling back the curtain on what it actually looks like to unlearn the shame and find authentic body peace. In this episode, we discuss: The "Dangling Carrot" of Thinness: Why reaching your "goal weight" never actually feels like arriving. Soul Disconnection: How the pursuit of beauty standards forces us to disconnect from our intuition and life force. Subtle Trauma: How offhand comments from family and friends shape our body image from a young age. The Path to "Enoughness": Why recovery isn't about fixing your body, but removing the negativity that blocks your inherent worth. Stefanie's Turning Point: Making the decision to stop fighting her body after decades of binge eating. Kristina's 40-Day Experiment: A radical approach to letting go of negative self-talk and sitting in the truth of who you are. This is a different kind of episode—no scripts, no filters, just two women who have been through the fire talking about what it really takes to heal your relationship with your body.  CONNECT WITH US: Stefanie Michele www.iamstefaniemichele.com https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele  Kristina Bruce www.kristinabruce.com https://www.instagram.com/kristinabrucecoach/  Download for free The Guide to Body Peace: www.kristinabruce.com/guide More from Stef: Body Image Workshop https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/body-image-workshop Substack (essays on body image, eating, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele
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  25. Why Am I Always Thinking About Food? (Mental Hunger vs Appetite Explained) 08.04.2026 46λ

  If you feel like you think about food more than other people, or your appetite just seems… bigger — this episode is going to matter. This episode is about appetite and mental hunger, and why both are so often misunderstood in binge eating recovery. A lot of people assume that thinking about food a lot means something is wrong. Or that if a "normal" meal doesn't satisfy them, they're doing something wrong. Or that needing more food than expected means they can't be trusted. But those conclusions are often based on standards that were never built for everyone in the first place. In this episode, I break down the difference between: appetite vs mental hunger (and why mental hunger can be real hunger) habit eating vs compulsive eating eating to appetite vs eating in response to guilt why you can feel full and still feel driven to eat how cumulative hunger builds and shows up as "bottomless" hunger the role of psychological pressure, perfectionism, and agency in eating patterns We also get into how appetite varies more than we've been taught to believe — and how using a fixed idea of what "enough" looks like can quietly create the very patterns you're trying to stop. This is for anyone who has felt like: "I eat more than I should." "I can't trust myself around food." "Why am I still thinking about food after I've eaten?" There's more going on here than willpower. More from Stef: Binge Eating to Intuitive Eating (BE2IE) Self-Study Course iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse.com Substack (essays on body image, appetite, and the nervous system) iamstefaniemichele.substack.com Instagram (daily thoughts + short-form content) instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele