In this episode of Behind the Bite, Dr. Cristina Castagnini speaks with therapist Cassie Krajewski about healing from trauma, eating disorders, and body disconnection. They explore the concept of embodiment versus disembodiment and how trauma impacts one’s relationship with their body and food. Cassie shares trauma-informed approaches, including Internal Family Systems and EMDR, to safely reconnect with the body. They also discuss the intersection of sexuality, body image, and trauma recovery. Finally, they highlight the importance of body liberation and trusting the healing process.

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This powerful episode dives deep into the challenges of living in a diet-obsessed culture and explores how to navigate conversations about weight, health, and body image. Dr. Castagnini and Karen Scheuner discuss the exhausting reality of being professionals in the eating disorder field while encountering diet culture messaging in everyday social situations.

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Lindley, a photographer and body liberation activist, discusses her journey combining photography with activism focused on marginalized bodies. She explains how societal messages about bodies are absorbed daily and shape our emotional reactions to photos of ourselves. The episode delves into the historical roots of body image issues, linking them to racism and the development of Western beauty standards. Lindley highlights how media and culture reinforce these standards and the ongoing process of unlearning negative body image. She encourages understanding the origins of these feelings to make conscious choices about self-acceptance.

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In this insightful episode, Béa joins the show to discuss her journey from primary care and functional medicine to focusing on the psychology and nervous system aspects of health. The conversation explores the deep connections between mind, body, trauma, and the development of codependency, perfectionism, and people-pleasing habits.

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In this episode, Sheryl Lynn shares her personal journey from trauma, dysfunction, and searching for joy to founding Joyely, a lifestyle brand and community centered around the concept of joy intelligence. She discusses how joy is often misunderstood, the science behind it, and how it differs from happiness. Sheryl explains the core elements needed to prioritize joy—safety, presence, and joy itself—and introduces the concept of joy as a skill rather than just an emotion.

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In this episode, therapist Becca shares her personal and professional journey from being immersed in diet culture to discovering intuitive eating and the Health at Every Size approach. She discusses the moment she realized she had an eating disorder, how working with a coach transformed her perspective, and her ongoing process of recovery. Becca and host Cristina explore the myths around eating disorder recovery, emphasizing that while triggers can reappear, long-term healing is possible. The conversation also delves into how personality frameworks like the Enneagram can help individuals understand their motivations and patterns related to disordered eating, offering additional tools for self-compassion and growth.

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This episode features a deeply personal and candid conversation with Julia Trehane, an eating disorder recovery coach, podcast host, and speaker. Julia shares her journey through 40 years of battling anorexia nervosa, orthorexia, and exercise addiction, ultimately achieving full recovery and dedicating her life to helping others find freedom from eating disorders.

Julia recounts her earliest memories of body image struggles beginning at age three, exacerbated by childhood teasing and a difficult home environment. She describes how, at eight years old, she began restricting food as a coping mechanism to avoid negative emotions and attention. Her ability to hide her disorder continued through adolescence, until it was discovered by her school, leading to forced intervention.

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In this heartfelt episode, Cristina Castagnini explores the complexities of body image and the pressures surrounding self-love and body positivity. She begins by expressing gratitude to listeners for choosing to invest in their healing and self-worth, acknowledging the effort it takes to engage with these important topics.

Cristina challenges the pervasive cultural messages that urge people to “just love yourself” or achieve constant body positivity. She explains that, while well-intentioned, these slogans can create a new kind of pressure-making people feel like they’re failing if they don’t always love how they look. Through a moving client story, Cristina illustrates how the expectation of unwavering self-love is simply another form of perfectionism.

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In this inspiring conversation, Dr. Cristina Castagnini speaks with Ava Manuel, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Tribune and Mrs. Enterprise America 2025. They discuss how one conversation and one belief shift changed everything for Ava, reigniting a decades-old dream and launching her on the road to the Mrs. America stage. This episode explores reclaiming joy, breaking up with perfectionism, and finally saying yes to yourself at any age, size, and exactly as you are.

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This episode of "Behind the Bite" explores the overlap between eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Dr. Cristina Castagnini interviews Allyson Ford, a therapist specializing in both disorders with personal experience. Ford shares her journey with orthorexia and anorexia as a teenager, which later led to the realization of underlying OCD tendencies. The discussion covers the similarities between OCD and eating disorders, such as intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, and emphasizes the importance of screening for OCD in eating disorder treatment. Ford and Castagnini delve into examples of OCD and eating disorder behaviors, the role of compulsions, core fears, and the amount of time these thoughts and behaviors consume. The episode aims to shed light on the often-overlooked connection between eating disorders and OCD, providing insights and potential "light bulb" moments for listeners who may be questioning whether their behaviors are crossing the line into something more serious.

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