Episode 95: Unburdened Eating, with Jeanne Catanzaro
This week's episode features Dr. Jeanne Catanzaro, who's a bit of an IFS rockstar. Jeanne has been one of the strongest voices in the IFS community in regard to food and body concerns, and I'm so thrilled to have her on the podcast!
Just a little about her: Jeanne is a clinical psychologist who has specialized in the treatment of disordered eating and trauma for over twenty-five years. She trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing®, and eye movement-desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) before discovering the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model. Jeanne is known for her compassionate and intuitive appreciation of the relational dynamics, internal and external, that keep people stuck in painful relationships with food and their bodies. In addition to serving as a leader of the IFS Institute, Jeanne facilitates IFS consultation groups, workshops, and retreats on Unburdened Eating.
Jeanne is also the author of Unburdened Eating, a wonderful book that just came out earlier this year. And she also wrote a really fantastic article for the IFS Institute (that we discuss in this episode) called IFS's Viewpoint on Dieting and Cultural Harm. This article explicitly states that the IFS Institute does not support intentional weight loss due to the harm it can cause.
Throughout this week's episode, Jeanne and I touch upon:
The differences between IFS and other therapy models in how they approach food and body concerns
How diet culture perpetuates the belief that there’s something wrong with your body
The fact that all negative feelings about the body come from outside of us
The importance of being curious toward our parts
Having compassion toward all of our parts, including those who are trying to manage our bodies by focusing on food and weight
What is “unburdened eating”
The need for community when working on food and body concerns
Jeanne also gives us some great advice in terms of how to start working on food and body concerns. She suggests that we ask ourselves the following questions:
What would it be like if I wasn’t always trying to fix my body?
What would it be like if I wasn’t always criticizing my body?
What if my body wasn’t a problem to be solved?
Can I get curious about the parts of me that feel like my body needs to change?
You might have already noticed parts surfacing just by reading those questions. When you can, take some time to really sit with and answer them.
We cover a lot of important ground in this episode, and I'm just thrilled and honored to have one of the best on my show. A huge thanks to Jeanne for taking the time and for all of the wisdom she imparts. Check it out!
Where to find Jeanne:
IFS's Viewpoint on Dieting and Cultural Harm
Other resources that were mentioned:
Click below to listen!