Today, Sas Petherick returns for the fifth installment of our Body Stories series — and she’s nearly a year into her holistic weight-loss journey!

In this conversation, Sas shares what’s become unmistakably clear along the way: true change happens at the pace of your body, and all-or-nothing thinking around food and movement is far more pervasive (and sneaky) than we realize.

Together, we discuss:

• Why dieting isn’t an either/or thing — and you’re never just “on track” or “off track”
• How Sas embraced her birthday dinner without stressing over macros
• Moving at the pace of your body instead of rushing to the “end” of a diet
• The realities of The Biggest Loser and the ways they faked things for TV
• How to choose a trainer you can actually trust
• Self-compassion as an antidote to perfectionism
• Sas’ sobriety journey and finding the third way

Make sure to check out Ali’s new website trucewithfood.com, and take the new Find Your Food Stage assessment!

Connect with Sas Petherick:

• Visit Sas’s website
• Follow Sas on Instagram
• Subscribe to Sas’s newsletter Courage & Spice

Mentioned in this episode:

• How to Lose Weight AND Love Yourself (because you can do both!) with Sas Petherick [Body Stories Series #1]
• “We’re the Brave Ones” — Discipline vs Devotion, Macros & Being “Sporty” with Sas Petherick [Body Stories Series #2]
• Emotions & Embodiment for Sustainable Weight Loss with Sas Petherick [Body Stories Series #3]
• How to Hold Your Weight Loss Goals Loosely (for better results) with Sas Petherick [Body Stories #4]
• Fit For TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser
• Self-compassion books from Kristin Neff
• Train with Joan

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You’ve probably heard the advice: “Feel your emotions.” But what does that actually mean in everyday life? Especially when so many of us believe we’re feeling our feelings when we’re actually thinking our feelings. And thus, not feeling better or resolving our stubborn bad habits.

In this episode, Mary Tilson joins me to explore how we’ve each learned to stay with and move through our emotions.

Mary also opens up about her journey with addiction and anorexia, offering an honest look at how activation, dysregulation, and stress show up in our bodies and minds.

We discuss:

• Being with our feelings instead of “rising above” them
• Practicing mindful awareness with the R.A.I.N. acronym
• Simple (but effective!) ways to resource yourself
• Addiction as an adaptation
• The realities of recovery and finding joy every day
• The science of awe and the healing powers of nature

More about our guest: Mary Tilson is a Certified Professional Recovery Coach and Somatic Practitioner with a Master’s Degree in the Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health. She draws on a holistic background, which includes Somatic Experiencing, a body-based approach to healing trauma and stress-related disorders and over a decade of experience as a Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher. Having experienced drug and alcohol addiction firsthand, Mary's approach to coaching is rooted in compassion and understanding. She has been sober for over 12 years and is passionate about helping others build fulfilling lives substance-free. She supports clients through 1:1 Coaching and Retreats.

Connect with Mary:

• Visit her website at sunandmoonsoberliving.com
• Follow her on IG: @marytilson @sunandmoon.soberliving
• Listen to her Podcast: The Sun & Moon Sober Living Podcast
• Join her 2026 Women's Recovery Retreat: sunandmoonsoberliving.com/banff

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This week, Beatriz Victoria Albina returns to Insatiable for part two of our conversation on ending emotional outsourcing — the habit of looking outside ourselves for validation, safety, and worth.

In this episode, we explore the practices that help you come back home to yourself: tuning into your needs, regulating your nervous system, returning to your body, and reclaiming your center.

It all begins with one simple but powerful question: What feels good right now?

Join us as we explore what it means to live from that place of connection and self-trust.

We discuss:

• How to reconnect with your biological impulses
• Functional freeze and how to feel your feelings (not think them)
• Why wellness is not about coffee enemas or random supplements
• The dangers of emotionally outsourcing to wellness professionals
• How we’re trained to prioritize productivity
• Somatic practice and praxis

More about our guest: Beatriz (Béa) Victoria Albina, NP, MPH, SEP (she/her) is a UCSF-trained Family Nurse Practitioner, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Master Certified Somatic Life Coach, author of End Emotional Outsourcing: a Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist and People Pleasing Habits and Breathwork Meditation Guide with a passion for helping humans socialized as women to reconnect with their bodies, regulate their nervous systems and rewire their minds, so they can break free from codependency, perfectionism and people pleasing and reclaim their joy.

She is the host of the Feminist Wellness Podcast, holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health and a BA in Latin American Studies from Oberlin College. Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Béa grew up in the great state of Rhode Island. She has been working in health & wellness for over 20 years and lives with her wife, Billey Albina and their handsome all-black cat Wade.

Connect with Béa:

• Website
• Book Website
• Instagram: @beatrizvictoriaalbinanp
• Podcast: Feminist Wellness
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Free Meditations

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Today, I’m joined by Beatriz Victoria Albina for a conversation about the emotions that often hide beneath common gut issues—and why codependency isn’t the real problem (and boundaries aren’t the full solution).

We also dive into her new book, End Emotional Outsourcing: A Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist, and People-Pleasing Habits, where Beatriz offers powerful reframes on parenting, community, and self-trust.

This episode feels like a deep exhale—a reminder that healing isn’t about fixing yourself, but coming home to yourself.

Join us for part one today, and come back next week for part two.

We discuss:

• Our backgrounds with functional medicine
• What it means to end emotional outsourcing
• Why codependency isn’t the problem and boundaries aren’t the answer
• How patriarchy undermines caring for each other and ourselves
• Why perfectionism isn’t an identity - it’s a habit
• Attachment styles and “good enough” parenting
• How to stop striving and actually relax
• Polyvagal theory for healthy skeptics
• Functional freeze and why we dissociate from joy
• Why people-pleasing isn’t a problem — it’s a protection strategy

More about our guest: Beatriz (Béa) Victoria Albina, NP, MPH, SEP (she/her) is a UCSF-trained Family Nurse Practitioner, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Master Certified Somatic Life Coach, author of End Emotional Outsourcing: a Guide to Overcoming Codependent, Perfectionist and People Pleasing Habits and Breathwork Meditation Guide with a passion for helping humans socialized as women to reconnect with their bodies, regulate their nervous systems and rewire their minds, so they can break free from codependency, perfectionism and people pleasing and reclaim their joy.

She is the host of the Feminist Wellness Podcast, holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health and a BA in Latin American Studies from Oberlin College. Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Béa grew up in the great state of Rhode Island. She has been working in health & wellness for over 20 years and lives with her wife, Billey Albina and their handsome all-black cat Wade.

Connect with Béa:

• Website
• Book Website
• Instagram: @beatrizvictoriaalbinanp
• Podcast: Feminist Wellness
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Free Meditations

Send me (Ali) a text message.

Today I’m joined by everyone’s favorite poet, Kate Baer, for a tender conversation about midlife transitions, medical anxiety, and the power of female friendship.

We talk about how to orient around ideas instead of problems, and we share a few poems from Kate’s forthcoming collection, How About Now, out November 4th.

If you’ve been feeling a little lonely, uncertain, or in-between — or all three — this one is for you.

We discuss:

• How the body makes itself known in midlife
• Body neutrality, medical anxiety, and illness
• The public scrutiny around Kate’s weight loss
• Parenting in a fatphobic world
• “Menopause is when all the girls you were come out to play”
• How to cultivate female friendships — even through conflict
• The difference between community and friends
• Being erased from the male gaze as you age

More about our guest: Kate Baer is the 3x New York Times bestselling author of What Kind Of Woman, I Hope This Finds You Well, and And Yet. Her work has also been published in The New Yorker, Literary Hub, Huffington Post and The New York Times. Her next book, How About Now, is out November 4, 2025.

Connect with Kate:

• Kate’s website: www.katebaer.com
• Kate’s Instagram: @katejbaer
• Buy How About Now. Pre and early orders help authors so much: bookshop.org/p/books/how-about-now-poems-kate-baer

Mentioned in this episode:

• Katie Sturino

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This week Liz Wolfe returns to the show for a candid conversation about all the fitness myths we’re seeing around the wild world of wellness in 2025.

Together, we get into why people are slapping the word “perimenopause” on everything, how to focus on agility as much as strength training, and everyone’s favorite fall purchase: weighted vests.

We also discuss:

• Taylor’s new album and why we love her with Travis
• Why strength is different than muscle mass
• Liz’s tips for injury prevention at any age
• The nervous system benefits of proper form
• How to reclaim your range of motion to prevent injury
• Perfectionism as a protection strategy
• How much muscle you can actually build (and maintain)
• The very real risks of under-eating in midlife
• Finding yourself on the spectrum of detrained to trained
• Muscle and strength don’t vanish from a few off weeks but at 4-6 weeks of no training
• What Liz really thinks about weighted vests

More about our guest: Liz Wolfe is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Certified Personal Trainer, best-selling author and award-winning podcaster. She’s also a mom, a military spouse, and an Enneagram 6 (with a STRONG 5 wing).

When it comes to wellness, Liz has always been curious about where the truth actually lies. She’s wrote the Wall Street Journal best-seller Eat the Yolks, which tackles many of the lies we’ve been told about nutrition over the last 50 years. She’s also the founder of supplement company IdealAge and the host of the Ideal Age podcast.

Connect with Liz:

• Visit Liz’s website
• Follow Liz on Instagram @realfoodliz

Mentioned in this episode:

• Simplifying Food: Liz Wolfe on the Magic of Macros (especially as we age)
• Over 40 Metabolism Myths with Liz Wolfe, NTP and Certified Personal Trainer

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This week, I’m joined by my former cohost Juliet Root for a fun, truth-seeking conversation about how our perspectives on food, body, and movement have shifted in 2025.

Together, we share the biggest things we’ve changed our minds about—what no longer feels true, what surprised us, and what new possibilities opened up when we let old beliefs go.

We discuss:

• Releasing restriction and shame
• Protein, fiber, and variety in our diets
• Dental care and holistic vs Western dentists
• Is getting to the “root cause” endless? and reconsidering functional medicine
• Updating our views on mammograms
• The nuanced truth about weighted vests
• Real talk about “vanity weight loss”
• Where we stand with food tracking and GLP1s
• Changing our minds about zone two cardio & HIIT
• The value of community and how connection improves our health

More about Juliet: Juliet Root is the co-founder of Ultralife, an online coaching platform, where she has spent nearly two decades helping people achieve lasting health, fitness, and longevity. As a certified personal trainer, board-certified nutritionist, and health coach, Juliet has worked with thousands of clients ranging from busy parents to high-performing executives and celebrities. Her mission is to cut through the noise of fitness fads and give people clear, sustainable strategies to feel and perform their best. Juliet has been featured in Shape Magazine, NBC, ABC, and Fox News, and is known for making complex training and nutrition science practical and actionable. At her company Ultralife she and here team help adults 35+ build strength, energy, and resilience so they can thrive in every season of life

Mentioned in this episode:

• Juliet Root and Ultralife
• Erin Holt
• 297. Why I Joined Orange Theory (even though it’s “Bad” if you’re over 40)

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If you’ve ever thought “Why can’t I just stick with it?”, this episode is for you.

Today I’m resharing a conversation I had with Noelle Tarr of Coconuts & Kettlebells for her podcast, Well-Fed Women.

We discuss why willpower isn’t the problem, how shame hijacks true behavior change, and what it really takes to heal your relationship with food and your body. We also dive into emotional eating, weight loss without diet culture, and the mindset shifts that actually work—no guilt trips included.

Questions we explore:

• How can people start to rethink the idea of willpower so it’s not the enemy?
• Why is it that I feel like a lot of us know what to do but we can’t follow through consistently?
• In your work, what is the biggest mindset shift for women struggling with food and fitness?
• How do we distinguish between emotional hunger and physical hunger, especially if it’s been disconnected for years?
• I’ve noticed a week before my period I have intense carb and sugar cravings. Is there a reason?
• Why do I still lie to myself even when I know the thing will hurt me?
• How do we approach weight loss without feeling shame or guilt?
• How can we change mindset and behavior and see results in our bodies and help our children with it without shame?
• How do you start a regular exercise routine when you don’t have the time?
• I was a weight watchers girl and have tracked points and calories on and off.  I haven’t tracked my food the past few years, but I’m at the point where I think tracking macros would be helpful. Any tips on how to ease back into tracking?
• I was diagnosed with cancer and have been down for the count with treatment and recovery has been slow. How do I come back from this? How do I position my mindset going in to the end of treatment?
• With all the advertisements for GLP-1s, it definitely feels like the new savior. I am classified as obese by the medical system and have high blood pressure. How do we make sure we’re making decisions on medical treatment that are grounded in health and not vanity?

Mentioned in this episode:

• Coconuts & Kettlebells
• Well-Fed Women
• Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls

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It’s officially back-to-school season! Which means you might be thinking it’s time for a new nutrition plan, exercise routine, or self-improvement challenge.

But before you set out once again, I want you to ask yourself: “Will I just end up back here in six months if I don’t get to the root of what’s really going on with my relationship to food?”

In this episode, I share the three most common things I hear when people are wrestling with “Why am I eating this now?” — and how each one points to deeper truths about your health and habits.

Tune in for insights that go beyond quick fixes. And if you’re ready to create lasting change, join me in Why Am I Eating This Now. Doors close September 10th!

I discuss:

• Fresh starts versus clean slates
• The little known mindset shift necessary for results that last (and you can enjoy)
• Why investing in our health is even more important when the world is on fire
• How to re-think success for results beyond what you can imagine right now

Mentioned in this episode:

• ⭐️ Why Am I Eating This Now? — Join our next live cohort, starting September 13th
• Episode 301: You Don’t Have to Feel Powerless Around Food with Ginny and Isis

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Tara Schmidt, M.Ed., RDN, LD is the lead dietitian for the Mayo Clinic Diet, host of the Mayo Clinic On Nutrition podcast, and Medical Editor of the Nutrition & Fitness channel.

Today she joins me for a holistic, evidence-based conversation about GLP-1s, where we cut through the misinformation around these drugs and offer information you can really trust.

If you’re already taking Ozempic or Wegovy, you want to start so you can lose weight, or maybe your doctor’s recommending it — this episode is for you.

I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, RSVP for my FREE Workshop on September 3rd, Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track.

We discuss:

• What GLP-1s are and how they work
• The place of medication and are these long term drugs?
• Micro-dosing and low-dosing GLP-1s
• Which doctors should be prescribing metabolic drugs
• Regenerative healing from GLP-1s
• The causes of food noise
• Hunger vs appetite
• The triggers for emotional eating
• Why eating for comfort makes sense
• Reclaiming your agency so you want to change (rather than feeling like you “should”)

More about our guest: Tara Schmidt, M.Ed., RDN, LD is a registered dietitian and an instructor of nutrition at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As the lead dietitian for the Mayo Clinic Diet, she provides guidance rooted in evidence-based principles, helping individuals develop sustainable and realistic strategies for long-term health. She also hosts Mayo Clinic On Nutrition, a podcast that dives into current nutrition research and practical weight management tips, and she lends her expertise as the Medical Editor of the Nutrition & Fitness channel. In addition, Tara co-authored The Mayo Clinic Diet: Weight Loss Medications Edition, highlighting her commitment to thoroughly researched and medically sound advice.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Tara is devoted to reducing weight bias and ensuring that everyone, regardless of size or background, has access to accurate, empathetic dietary information. She balances her busy career with family life, staying active with her husband, two children, and a golden retriever who—just like the rest of the family—enjoys a healthy serving of vegetables.

Connect with Tara and Mayo Clinic:

• On Nutrition podcast from Mayo Clinic
• Mayo Clinic Diet
• Mayo Clinic Press

Mentioned in this episode:

• Insatiable Episode 280: What’s Missing From the “Emotional Eating” Conversation with Dr. Deborah MacNamara
• Insatiable Episode 271: Over 40 Metabolism Myths with Liz Wolfe, NTP and Certified Personal Trainer

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