Life After Diets

Sarah Dosanjh / Stefanie Michele

Many people are waking up to the fact that diets don't work, but if we're not dieting, now what? How are we supposed to find balance with food and reach intuitive eating? Join Sarah and Stef, a psychotherapist and a health coach, as they talk about all things related to disordered eating, bad body image and creating a life that's free from food and body obsession. The hosts draw on their own eating struggles and openly share the highs and lows of pursuing food freedom over weight loss.

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Top 10 Life After Diets Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Life After Diets episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Life After Diets for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Life After Diets episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

53. But I Can't Eat in Moderation

Life After Diets

07/20/22 • 45 min

Why is eating in moderation so hard? In this episode, Sarah & Stef discuss:

What does moderation mean?
Is the 2000 calorie RDA based on moderation?
Satisfaction and extreme hunger
Why are some people able to eat in moderation more easily?
Is moderation a challenge for impulsive people?
How other parts of our lives can influence the reward aspect of food and impact the ability to eat in moderation.
Does it make sense to leave certain foods out of the house?

Join the LAD Membership

Connect with the show!

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast/

Email – [email protected]

Website – www.lifeafterdietspodcast.com

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

Connect with Stefanie Michele

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Binge Eating Recovery Program - www.iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse

Work With Stef - www.iamstefaniemichele.com/application

188. Acceptance vs Defeat; Toastmasters and speed-puzzling; therapeutic techniques for resistance; being in a larger body on an airplane; body allowance vs body acceptance

Life After Diets

02/19/25 • 40 min

In this episode, Sarah and Stef explore how body acceptance might feel like defeat for many who have struggled to change their bodies and feel oppressed by their circumstances. They dissect how acceptance is a proactive practice that differs from the feeling of defeat, which is reactionary and involves a perceived loss against external forces. Stef shares personal insights on how acceptance can feel oppressive when it seems to invalidate self-advocacy, while Sarah discusses how resistance to acceptance often stems from fear and shame.

The conversation touches on therapeutic techniques to work through resistance, the importance of validating and allowing resistant feelings, and the transformative power of willingness and allowing reality as it is without judgment. They also talk about the importance of having a supportive space where resistance can be discussed openly and without the urge to “fix” it immediately.

Towards the end, they discuss real-world applications of these concepts, bringing in examples like discomfort on airplanes due to body size and personal triggers in relation to diet culture. They also investigate how contextualizing experiences as non-personal and understanding biological and psychological underpinnings can help shift perspectives from defeat to empowerment.

Join our growing support community. This community is for you if you want a safe space to work through your daily struggles with food and body image. Community membership includes livestream episode recordings (online), monthly Zoom support meetings, a private Facebook group and member-only Q&A episodes. For more information go to: https://www.patreon.com/lifeafterdiets

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast

Email – [email protected]

Connect with Stefanie Michele, Recovery Coach, Somatic Therapist IT

Stef's Binge Recovery Course -- www.iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh, Author & Psychotherapist

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/the_binge_eating_therapist

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

If you find this episode helpful, you can subscribe to the Life After Diets podcast, leave us a review, and share your thoughts with us on Instagram and YouTube (@lifeafterdietspodcast). Your feedback helps us create content that matters to you.

152. But How Do I Deal With a Relapse?

Life After Diets

06/12/24 • 42 min

This episode is all about relapse in the context of eating disorder recovery. We cover topics such as shame, self-awareness, boundaries, dopamine regulation, catastrophization, and the impact of life circumstances on relapse.

Relapses can be very distressing; it's tempting to think we've failed or that we'll "never really get better." In the second half of this episode, we talk about the idea of "remembering and forgetting" as a muscle that actually builds resilience over time in eating disorder recovery -- even if the "forgetting" is relapsing.

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast

Email – [email protected]

Connect with Stefanie Michele, Food & Body Image Coach, Somatic Therapist IT

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

Work with Stefanie - www.iamstefaniemichele.com/application

Stef’s body image workshop – https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/bodyimageworkshop2024

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh, Author & Psychotherapist

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/the_binge_eating_therapist

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

Sarah's Connect and Recover groups: https://thebingeeatingtherapist.com/connect-recover-groups/

102. Intuitive Eating with Co-Founder Elyse Resch

Life After Diets

06/28/23 • 55 min

This week we are talking to one of the co-founders of Intuitive Eating, Elyse Resch! Alongside Evelyn Tribole, Elyse developed and wrote the book Intuitive Eating, which has gained popularity for people who have been burned by diets and want to get back in touch with their body's intuition around food. However, this process is more complicated than it sounds. Elyse answers questions from our community and explains many of the nuances of IE for our listeners.

Intuitive Eating: is it a method for weight loss?
How does IE work if you don’t have reliable hunger and fullness cues?
Elyse reveals how she’d change up the principles for a future edition of the book
What is “future deprivation”?
Stef’s favorite principle: Respect Your Body and how it applies to this work
What about highly processed foods?
How do you get to Gentle Nutrition (and/or Gentle Movement)?
Interoception: what is it and how do you develop it?
IE is not just instinct! It’s “a dynamic interplay of instinct, emotion, and thought.” Different parts of the brain are present to give us different pieces of information.
Community Question: What if I binged at night and I’m not hungry in the morning? Will my body think I’m restricting if I don’t eat?
Community Question: How to say No to food but not in a restrictive way?
I feel sad when I have to stop eating
Eating without distractions
Did Elyse expect IE to get so big?

Connect with Elyse:

https://elyseresch.com/EResch/

https://www.intuitiveeating.org/our-books/

Stef's Body Image Workshop! Details here

Connect with the show!

Join the LAD Membership

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast/

Email – [email protected]

Website – www.lifeafterdietspodcast.com

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

Connect with Stefanie Michele

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Binge Eating Recovery Course: www.iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse

Stef's Body Image Workshop! Details here

187. Never Binge Again by Glenn Livingstone: A Book Review

Life After Diets

02/12/25 • 45 min

In Episode 187, we dive headfirst into the popular yet contentious world of diet psychology with our review of “Never Binge Again” by Glenn Livingstone, PhD. This episode is for anyone interested in behavioral psychology, eating disorder recovery, or just looking for a candid conversation that challenges traditional expert opinion.

Join Sarah and Stef as they dissect Livingstone’s approach to defeating binge eating, which promotes calling our cravings “pig squeals” and embracing extreme black-and-white thinking.

Expect a lively discussion infused with personal anecdotes about coping with binge eating, heated debates about oversimplification in addiction recovery, and reflections on food abstinence. We also tackle the psychological effects of daily weighing and the challenges of regulating our complex relationship with food.

If you’re curious about alternative methods to mainstream diet culture or looking for expert opinions with a dash of humor, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in and get ready for a thoughtful, relatable, and eye-opening exploration of food psychology.

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast

Email – [email protected]

Connect with Stefanie Michele, Recovery Coach, Somatic Therapist IT

Stef's Binge Recovery Course -- www.iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh, Author & Psychotherapist

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/the_binge_eating_therapist

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

181. But it's 2025! Choosing a "Word for the Year"

Life After Diets

01/01/25 • 42 min

If you're tired of "new year, new you" energy, tune into this lower-pressure episode where Sarah and Stef meet the new year with gentle intentions and "words for the year." We'll give you the space to have goals for yourself without the pressure of "pass/fail" or completely reinventing yourself overnight.

Stefanie's Somatic Experiencing and Nervous System Regulation Course is enrolling now! Use code: LADLISTENS for a discount at checkout

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast

Email – [email protected]

Connect with Stefanie Michele, Recovery Coach, Somatic Therapist IT

Stef's Binge Recovery Course -- www.iamstefaniemichele.com/iamstefaniemichelecourse

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh, Author & Psychotherapist

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/the_binge_eating_therapist

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

144. But What Is Gentle Nutrition?

Life After Diets

04/17/24 • 34 min

In this podcast episode, we explore the concept of Gentle Nutrition, explained as combining basic nutritional knowledge with body attunement. This 10th principle of Intuitive Eating is about recognizing how different foods affect one’s body while maintaining a non-restrictive approach to eating.

We also touch on personal experiences with nutritional adjustments post-recovery from eating disorders -- how and when do you think about nutrition when you're learning to allow all foods?? Does anti-diet have a "middle ground" or does it promote choosing "junk food"?

As with every discussion on this podcast, there is nuance.

Eating choices can be balanced with nutritional wisdom, like combining carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and fiber for satisfying meals, or choosing warmer foods for comfort. It's leaning into attunement to our needs rather than just "rules".

We also want to mention our upcoming events including Stef's gentle nutrition course designed to support you in exploring these concepts without judgment or rigidity. And, in-person events in England this May!

Links mentioned on the podcast:

Life After Diets on Instagram

The LAD Website

Email us @ [email protected]

Stefanie's Website

Stefanie on Instagram

Stef's Body Image Webinar + Workbook

Sarah's website

Sarah's YouTube Channel

Sarah’s book, I Can’t Stop Eating, is available on Amazon

148. A Recovery Story: But What If No One Is Attracted to My Body? with community member Louise

Life After Diets

05/15/24 • 43 min

We are back with another recovery story -- this time from Louise, a member of our community (which you can join here, by the way!) Louise explains her story of disordered eating and restriction starting in adolescence, eventually leading her to give up dieting to lean into an anti-diet approach. Like so many others in ED recovery, Louise had to deal with weight gain and body image issues in exchange for food freedom -- but came out with this story to tell. Listen to her inspirational message about sex, attraction, and empowerment in this very cool, real-story episode.

Join the LAD Membership

Life After Diets on Instagram

The LAD Website

Email us @ [email protected]

Stefanie's Website

Stefanie on Instagram

Join Stef's Body Image Workshop! (click here)

Sarah's website

Sarah's YouTube Channel

Sarah’s book, I Can’t Stop Eating, is available on Amazon

162. Anger in Recovery: Toxic or Empowering?

Life After Diets

08/21/24 • 46 min

In this episode, we explore the complex emotion of anger. We discuss how anger can be a suppressed emotion (and create conditions for bingeing and restricting) because sometimes, it's an emotion we are afraid to feel. On the other hand, it can be a high-energy emotion that just takes a lot of wrangling to keep regulated! For the first time ever on this podcast, we actually discuss -- live, and without pre-planning -- a recent personal conflict between us when we went to Bournemouth for a workshop. In real time, we hope to demonstrate the importance of rupture and repair in relationships. This episode also touches upon the interplay of helplessness and anger, the significance of understanding physical responses to emotions, and strategies for managing these intense feelings. 03:00 Revealing Today's Topic: Anger 05:23 Personal Experiences with Anger 07:31 A Moment of Conflict 10:42 Processing and Reflecting on Anger 23:05 Memory and Miscommunication 24:39 Physical Reactions to Emotional Stress 26:56 Rupture and Repair in Relationships 27:58 Personal Experiences with Conflict Resolution 30:40 Helplessness and Control 36:59 Balancing Perspectives and Finding Ease 43:18 Reflections and Closing Thoughts

Learn more about Stef's 3-month Binge Recovery Program (from anywhere in the world!) beginning the 9th of September, 2024.

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast

Email – [email protected]

Connect with Stefanie Michele, ED Recovery Coach, Somatic Therapist IT

Work with Stefanie - www.iamstefaniemichele.com/application

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh, Author & Psychotherapist

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

Instagram – www.instagram.com/the_binge_eating_therapist

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

99. But My Inner Rebel Sabotages Me

Life After Diets

06/07/23 • 42 min

No conversation about dieting and restricting is complete without talking about the inner rebel! Is binge eating rebellious? Is restriction rebellious? How is our inner rebel at work when it comes to our relationship with food?

Stef grew up as a people pleaser, but deconstructed that when her binge eating became out of control.
Sarah's most important factor in keeping peace with food: feeling like she has choice.
We think of the "rebel" as a bad, naughty thing; but the rebel acts in the name our our very human need for autonomy.
Our baseline understanding of our own autonomy may develop in early childhood. Stef shares how she sees this manifesting with her children.
What about the conflict between safety and freedom? Is is possible to have both? How do we maintain a balance when we need to feel safe and grounded, but also need to feel free and unrestricted? Is that the metaphor for "control" with food (restriction) and "freedom" with food (binge eating)?
Boundaries as an exploration of safety on both sides of the pendulum. We can't understand our own boundaries until we've understood what "too far" feels like.
The rebel as a representative for our unmet needs.
Rebellion in body image. Stef feeling lack of autonomy in body size (rebelling against biology) and in fashion (rebelling against thin privilege).
Sarah LIED (gasp!) as a teenager
How we talk to and about our inner rebel matters. The rebel may need validation.
Diet culture, capitalism, patriarchy, etc is an appropriate place to rebel.

The Body Image Workshop - Stef is hosting a live workshop to learn practical tools and techniques to develop body neutrality. Eight weekly workshops beginning July 5th; presentation of tools followed by group open-forum Q&A for support. Enroll now: https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/bodyimageworkshop2023

Join the LAD Membership

Connect with the show!

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeafterdietspodcast/

Email – [email protected]

Website – www.lifeafterdietspodcast.com

Connect with Sarah Dosanjh

Website – www.thebingeeatingtherapist.com

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBingeEatingTherapist

Sarah’s book I Can’t Stop Eating is available on Amazon

Connect with Stefanie Michele

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

Website – www.iamstefaniemichele.com