Have you ever thought about what made you start using food for comfort? Or how you started hating your body? Or what made you think you need to lose weight?

You might answer that with, "Of course I've thought about that, Kim. And I know exactly how it all started My grandma used to bake me cookies when I had a bad day." Or, "My mom dragged me to Weight Watchers when I was 10." Or, "I was teased by kids in school because of my size."

All of that makes so much sense. Of course those experiences made you focus on your eating, your body, and/or your size. And of course your feelings about food and your body were heavily influenced by others.

When you really stop and think about it, though, how much of your feelings and beliefs about food and your body actually came from you?

Did you decide on your own that your body wasn't good enough? Did you create a relationship with food that was both a blessing and curse? Did you decide what bodies are deemed acceptable and what bodies aren't?

No. No you did not.

These beliefs about food and about bodies were passed down to you. And I believe it's time to give them back.

On this week's podcast, we're talking about an IFS concept called Legacy Burdens. And this is one of my favorite concepts in IFS. Legacy Burdens are essentially beliefs, feelings, and emotions that are handed down through the family line either directly or indirectly. This could be feelings and beliefs about gender roles, what defines success, beliefs about money--you name it. And these beliefs can turn into burdens (i.e. painful emotions) if they're tied to shame.

Feelings and beliefs about food and about bodies can absolutely become a legacy burden. If the belief that only small bodies matter is passed down through the family, it becomes a burden for everyone to carry. If beliefs about how food is used is moralized and restricted, it can become a burden for everyone to carry.

And of course, these feelings and beliefs about food and bodies came from the external world of diet culture. Because your family members didn't create these feelings and beliefs any more than you did.

Diet culture is the thing that taught all of us how to think and feel about food and about our bodies.

Again, it was given to us. And it's time to give it back.

On this week's podcast, we look at diet culture through the lens of Legacy Burdens. And we talk about how to start giving these feelings and beliefs back to those who gave them to us. I walk you through the process of handing these burdens back to your family members and back to diet culture at large.

I truly believe that this is such an important healing process, and I hope it resonates with you. Again, you didn't create these beliefs, and it's time to give them back.

Click below to listen!

Episode 21: IFS and Our Eating Parts: Letting Go of the Legacy Burden of Diet Culture.