What if the stories you tell yourself about food are actually keeping you stuck?

In this powerful and deeply relatable episode, Dr. Kristin and Frances Vogel unpack how our internal food narratives—formed from childhood conditioning, diet culture, and emotional survival—can quietly sabotage our relationship with food, our bodies, and ourselves.

Frances shares her vulnerable personal journey from internalized shame and food restriction to food freedom and self-compassion. Together, they explore how seemingly harmless beliefs (“I can’t be trusted with food,” “I’ll never have self-control,” “healthy people don’t eat that”) become the very scripts that keep us trapped in self-fulfilling prophecies.

Through raw stories and real psychological insight, Dr. Kristin and Frances dismantle diet culture’s perfectionism, “all or nothing” thinking, and external validation traps. You’ll learn how to shift your food story one choice at a time—because the goal isn’t to control food, but to reclaim your power, rebuild trust with your body, and reauthor your narrative from the inside out.

Chapters

00:00:01 - Stories That Keep You Stuck

00:03:56 - Food Stories and Self-Limiting Beliefs

00:08:56 - Changing Fitness and Food Narratives

00:13:59 - Building Small Habits for Big Changes

00:16:03 - Rewriting Your Food Story and Identity

00:21:09 - Food Narratives and Shifting Mindset

00:23:40 - Food Memories and Emotional Connection

00:25:16 - Finding Alternative Comfort Tools

00:27:39 - Redefining Comfort Food vs Using Food for Comfort

00:36:41 - Comfort Food vs Using Food for Comfort

00:39:54 - Controlling Your Narrative in Relationships

00:43:40 - Questioning “I Can’t” Stories

00:47:03 - Questioning Your Self-Limiting Stories

00:50:10 - Rupture and Repair in Relationships

00:53:22 - Shifting Your Story to Change Behavior

00:57:02 - Defining Personal Health Standards

01:01:33 - Finding Your Starting Point Today

01:04:36 - Creating Your New Weight Loss Story

Key Takeaways

✅ Your food story began long before you realized it.Early experiences—like being told “fat people shouldn’t eat that”—often turn into lifelong scripts that drive guilt, shame, and restriction.

✅ “All or nothing” thinking keeps you from finding balance.If you can’t do it perfectly, you might not do it at all—and that story quietly reinforces the idea that you’re failing when you’re not.

✅ The real problem isn’t food—it’s your inner narrative.Your self-talk determines whether food feels like the enemy, a comfort, or a neutral tool for nourishment.

✅ Tiny, consistent shifts create new identities.As James Clear teaches in Atomic Habits, small daily actions—like putting on your workout clothes or choosing one balanced meal—compound into identity-level transformation.

✅ Healing is slow, deliberate, and worth it.Freedom isn’t found in another diet. It’s built through mindful, compassionate choices that reshape who you believe yourself to be.

✅ Comfort food isn’t the enemy—emotional avoidance is.Learn to separate using food for comfort from enjoying food that’s comforting. One regulates emotion; the other connects you to memory, joy, and culture.

✅ Your truth isn’t fixed—it’s re-writeable.The moment you question your “I can’t” stories, you begin creating new evidence that you can.

Episode Summary

Dr. Kristin Lloyd and Frances Vogel shine a light on how deeply ingrained stories about food, body image, and worthiness influence every choice we make. From food shame and emotional eating to perfectionism and identity, they reveal how rewriting our personal narratives leads to genuine freedom. Whether you’re post-op, on GLP-1s, or simply healing your relationship with food, this episode will challenge the way you see yourself—and remind you that you hold the pen to your next chapter.

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