What can nervous system regulation teach us about body image, food freedom and recovery? And how can somatic therapy help us understand the nervous system, emotions and the patterns we develop around food and our bodies?

In this episode of Once Upon A Binge, I’m joined by Stefanie Michele. As a recovery coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Stef takes a somatic approach to recovery, body image and emotional wellbeing. After recovering from decades of out of control eating and restriction herself, Stef helps women understand and change their relationship with food and body image. Her work focuses on the intersection of nervous system regulation, eating behavior, body image, and self-trust.

We explore what somatic therapy actually means, how trauma and the nervous system can affect our relationship with our bodies, and how simple body-awareness practices can support healing without becoming another thing to “get right”.

Together, we explore:

This is a conversation about somatic therapy, nervous system regulation, body image, food freedom and recovery — and about learning to listen to your body with a little more curiosity, compassion and less judgement.

If you're interested in body image recovery, improving your relationship with food, understanding your nervous system or exploring a more compassionate relationship with your body, this episode is for you.

💜

Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - @onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - [email protected]  

Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – @bingefreeandbeautiful

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - [email protected]

Connect with Stef:

- Email – [email protected]

- Instagram - @iamstefaniemichele

- Website - https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/

What if your relationship with food and your body isn’t a failure of willpower — but a response to trauma?

In this episode of Once Upon a Binge, I’m joined by psychotherapist, professor and body liberation activist Paula D Atkinson to explore a concept that may completely change the way you understand binge eating, dieting and body image: diet culture trauma.

We talk about how dieting and restriction can affect the brain and nervous system, why binge eating can continue even when you don’t think you’re restricting, and how shame and self-abandonment can keep the binge cycle going.

We also explore something I found particularly powerful: the idea that disordered eating can sometimes become a way of reclaiming ownership of your body after years of feeling that your body belongs to everyone else.

And if you’ve ever thought, “But I’m not restricting — I just binge,” this conversation may give you a very different, trauma-informed way of understanding what’s happening.

In this episode, we discuss:

If you’re struggling with binge eating, emotional eating, food guilt, body hatred or the feeling that you’re constantly fighting against your body, I hope this conversation gives you a different perspective.

You don’t have to learn how to control your body better. What if the work is learning how to stop fighting it?

💬 Have you ever thought about your relationship with food or your body through a trauma lens? Let me know in the comments — I’d love to hear your thoughts.

💜

Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - @onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - [email protected]  

Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – @bingefreeandbeautiful

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - [email protected]

Connect with Paula:

- Email – [email protected]

- Instagram - @pauladatkinson

- Website - https://www.pauladatkinson.com/

What happens when years of dieting stop working? When you’re done with hating your body?

In this episode of Once Upon a Binge, Becca is joined by Flo, a coach and diversity & inclusion consultant, who shares her powerful lived experience of disordered eating. From growing up watching her mum diet, to years of restriction, binge eating and believing that losing weight would finally make her confident and happy, Flo opens up about what really kept her stuck—and the unexpected moment that changed everything.

Together, they explore why dieting can become an eating disorder, why recovery only works when you're truly ready, and how curiosity, intuitive eating and reconnecting with your body can help you find freedom from food obsession. They also discuss body image, diet culture, "fitspiration", friendships, values, and why recovery is about so much more than food.

If you've ever wondered whether life without constant thoughts about food and your body is really possible, this conversation offers both honesty and hope.

Becca and Flo talk about:

00:00 Meet Flo

If you found this episode helpful, please like, comment, subscribe and share as it helps my channel grow and reach more people who need to hear these conversations.

💜

Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - @onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - [email protected]  

Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – @bingefreeandbeautiful

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - [email protected]

Connect with Flo:

- Email – [email protected]

- Instagram - @diversityintheboardroom

- Website - https://www.diversityintheboardroom.co.uk/

Are GLP-1 weight loss injections really the breakthrough they're being made out to be? Or are we missing some of the bigger psychological and physical questions?

From Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro to "food noise", binge eating, body image and weight stigma, GLP-1 medications are dominating conversations online. But are they really the answer?

In this episode of Once Upon a Binge, host and psychotherapist Becca Robinson sits down with nutritional therapist Lisa Unger for a balanced, evidence-informed conversation about the benefits, risks and unanswered questions surrounding GLP-1 medications.

Rather than taking a "for or against" position, this episode explores the complexity behind these drugs—including why they can be genuinely life-changing for some people, why they may not work for others, and the potential psychological and physical risks anyone should know before making a decision.

They discuss:

01:39 Why GLP-1s are divisive

02:57 Clients and eating disorders

05:26 Poll results and why now

06:42 How GLP-1s work

10:27 Research gaps and dosing

12:17 Weight loss vs food noise

13:54 Shame and fatphobia pressure

17:00 When it fails and coping swaps

20:46 Therapy without food noise

24:42 Nutrition and muscle loss risks

27:21 Training Injuries Concerns

28:21 Low Energy and Nutrition

28:43 Staying on for Life

31:20 Shame and Medication Parallels

32:56 Eating Disorder Motivations

34:56 Access Risks and Black Market

39:30 Body Image Backlash

43:12 Food Culture and Portions

45:13 No Magic Wand Wrap Up

49:16 Final Thoughts and Feedback

💜

Connect with the podcast:

Connect with Becca:

Connect with Lisa:

Can you be healthy in a larger body? Does BMI really measure health? In this episode of the Once Upon a Binge Podcast, registered dietitian Alice joins Becca to discuss Health at Every Size (HAES), intuitive eating, body image, menopause, eating disorder recovery, weight stigma, and why weight isn't the whole picture when it comes to health.

Many of us have been taught that losing weight automatically means becoming healthier. But is that actually true? Together, Becca and Alice explore what the research says about BMI, Health at Every Size, intuitive eating, and how to support your physical and mental health without becoming trapped in the cycle of dieting, restriction and shame.

They also talk about the emotional impact of body changes caused by menopause, cancer treatment, illness, ageing, and eating disorder recovery, and why learning to trust your body again can be one of the hardest—and most important—parts of healing.

In this episode:

00:00 – Introduction to Alice and her work as a registered dietitian

02:00 – What Health at Every Size (HAES) really means

05:20 – Supporting people through body changes after cancer treatment

10:00 – Why weight gain after illness can be so distressing

15:00 – The similarities between cancer recovery, menopause and eating disorder recovery

19:00 – Why women's bodies naturally change throughout life

24:30 – Challenging unrealistic expectations around body image

28:00 – Using science and CBT-informed strategies to build body acceptance

34:00 – The role of a dietitian alongside therapy

39:00 – Common fears about weight gain, health and identity

43:30 – Debunking myths about BMI and health

51:00 – Why BMI is a poor measure of individual health

56:30 – The dangers of weight cycling and repeated dieting

59:30 – What intuitive eating actually is (and what it isn't)

1:05:00 – Rebuilding trust in your body after illness or an eating disorder

1:10:00 – How to advocate for yourself if your healthcare provider focuses only on weight

1:17:00 – Weight stigma, anti-fat bias and navigating healthcare

1:24:00 – Gentle nutrition after eating disorder recovery

1:32:00 – How to improve your health without returning to restrictive dieting

1:38:00 – Why food is about connection, culture and joy—not just nutrition

1:44:00 – Final thoughts on healing your relationship with food and your body

If you've ever struggled with body image, binge eating, emotional eating, dieting, weight gain, menopause, or eating disorder recovery, this episode will help you understand your body with more compassion and confidence.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please like the video, subscribe to the channel, and leave a comment below – this helps the channel grow and help others through our conversations. We'd love to hear your biggest takeaway or any questions you'd like us to answer in a future episode.

#HealthAtEverySize #IntuitiveEating #EatingDisorderRecovery #BodyImage #Menopause #FoodFreedom

💜

Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - @onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - [email protected]  

Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – @bingefreeandbeautiful    

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - [email protected]

Connect with Alice:

- Instagram – @hamptonnutrition

- Website - https://hamptonnutrition.co.uk/

- Email - [email protected]

In this powerful episode of the Once Upon a Binge Podcast, therapist Becca sits down with Claire Ashton for an honest conversation about binge eating recovery, body image healing, and breaking free from diet culture.

Claire Ashton is a Body Confidence Coach and intuitive eating counsellor, nurse, and personal trainer who helps women over 35 stop waiting for weight loss to feel confident and start living fully now.

After years of working in the health and fitness industry, Claire realised that the problem was never a lack of discipline—it was the belief that confidence had to be earned through changing your body. Through her coaching she helps women break free from dieting, food guilt, and body battles so they can feel confident without conditions.

As a mum to three daughters, Claire is passionate about modelling a healthier relationship with food, movement, and body image for the next generation, while helping women reclaim their own confidence in the process.

In this episode, Claire shares her deeply personal journey through disordered eating, bulimia, compulsive exercise, and years of yo-yo dieting — including how working in the fitness industry reinforced harmful beliefs about worth and body image. She also opens up about the life-changing accident that left her unable to walk and how relearning to walk completely transformed her relationship with food, movement, control, and self-worth.

Together, Becca and Claire explore:

✨ Treatment for bulimia and what was missing

✨ The binge-restrict cycle and why dieting feels so addictive

✨ How learning to walk again helped Claire see her body in a different light

✨ Learning to let go of food rules and finding meaning in suffering

✨ Body image struggles in motherhood and raising daughters in diet culture

This episode is a must-watch for anyone struggling with binge eating, emotional eating, body shame, chronic dieting, or feeling trapped in the cycle of trying to “fix” their body.

If this episode helped you, please like, comment or follow to stay up to date with the latest episodes releases. This also helps spread the message of body acceptance, intuitive eating, and eating disorder recovery to others who might need it.

💜 Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - www.instagram.com/onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - [email protected]  

💜 Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – www.instagram.com/bingefreeandbeautiful  

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - [email protected]

💜 Connect with Claire:

- Instagram – www.instagram.com/claireashton_

- Website - https://claireashton.co.uk

I'm Becca, a therapist specializing in binge eating and body image, and this is the Once Upon a Binge podcast, where I have honest conversations with guests about breaking free from the binge restrict cycle and finding body acceptance.

Today, I'm joined by Anne Richardson. Anne is a registered nutritional therapist, cognitive behavioural therapy practitioner, lecturer, and supervisor. She's been practicing for more than 10 years and exclusively works in the field of disordered eating.

Anne suffered with anorexia in her teens, and now draws from her lived experience to blend her knowledge of nutrition with her CBT skills. She works with people all over Europe to help them achieve food freedom. She is also invested in helping other practitioners work with disordered eaters, as she recognizes that general nutritional advice can be extremely damaging to disordered eaters.

Anne is also a mom, the maker of all things, and especially a keen baker.

In our conversation today, we talk about supporting clients through cooking in recovery, the role of nutrition, and whether you fully recover from an eating disorder or not.

We also dive into:

✨ The role of nutrition in recovery

✨ Why calorie counting keeps people stuck

✨ Using rigid thinking to our advantage in recovery

✨ Cooking with clients in eating disorder recovery

✨ Perfectionism and control in anorexia

✨ The flaws with My Fitness Pal

✨ Mechanical eating vs intuitive eating

✨ Whether the “eating disorder voice” ever fully disappears

💜

Connect with the podcast:

- Instagram - www.instagram.com/onceuponabingepodcast

- Email - [email protected]

Connect with Becca:

- Instagram – www.instagram.com/bingefreeandbeautiful

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccarobinson/

- Email - [email protected]

Connect with Anne:

- Email – [email protected]

- Instagram - www.instagram/com/theeatingdisordernutritionist 

- Website - https://www.theeatingdisordernutritionist.co.uk

In this deeply honest episode of Once Upon a Binge, Becca is joined by her partner Will for a raw conversation about disordered eating, body image, binge eating, orthorexia, fitness culture, and recovery.

Together, they unpack how their relationship with food and their bodies changed through meeting each other — despite both struggling with unhealthy beliefs around eating, exercise, appearance, and self-worth when they first met.

Will shares his experience with:

Orthorexia and “clean eating”

Veganism and identity

Body dysmorphia in the fitness industry

Social media pressure and perfectionism

Binge eating behind the scenes

Male body image struggles

Personal training culture and physique obsession

Becca opens up about:

Restrictive eating and dieting

Fear of weight gain

Recovery from binge eating and food rules

Reassurance seeking and body image anxiety

Learning to feel safe in her body

Healing through relationships and connection

This episode explores how shame, diet culture, wellness culture, and external validation can shape our relationship with food — and how acceptance, compassion, and emotional safety can become part of recovery.

If you’ve ever struggled with:

binge eating

emotional eating

food obsession

calorie counting

body dysmorphia

orthorexia

fear of weight gain

restrictive eating

comparison on social media

feeling “not good enough”

…this conversation will likely resonate deeply.

Let us know in the comments:

Are you a male who's struggled with body image and disordered eating?

Subscribe for more conversations on:

Connect with Becca & the podcast....

Instagram:

@bingefreeandbeautiful

@onceuponabingepodcast 

Email:

[email protected]

[email protected]

💜

After 18 months of co-hosting the Once Upon a Binge Podcast, Katy is stepping away from the show. In this emotional and honest episode, Becca and Katy talk openly about the decision to end this chapter of the podcast, navigating change, burnout, recovery work, and what’s next for Once Upon a Binge.

If you struggle with binge eating, emotional eating, body image, perfectionism, or eating disorder recovery, this conversation may really resonate with you.

In this episode, we discuss:

-Katy's decision to leave the podcast

-The emotional impact of endings and change

-Burnout in the eating disorder recovery space

-Recovery, mental health, and capacity

-The importance of conversations around binge eating recovery

-What the future of the Once Upon a Binge Podcast looks like

-Upcoming guest episodes featuring lived experience and professionals

Moving forward, Once Upon a Binge will continue with Becca as solo host, alongside guests including therapists, dietitians, coaches, and people sharing their own recovery journeys.

This podcast is dedicated to helping people heal their relationship with food, break free from the binge restrict cycle, improve body image, and let go of perfectionism.

✨ We are also looking for future podcast guests with lived experience of binge eating, emotional eating, body image struggles, disordered eating, or eating disorder recovery. If you have a story or perspective you’d like to share and think it could help others feel less alone, please get in touch — we’d love to hear from you. ✨

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the podcast over the past 18 months through listening, sharing episodes, commenting, and reaching out 💜

Wishing you all the best Katy!

If you enjoy the podcast, please like, comment, and subscribe — it really helps more people find these conversations around binge eating recovery and eating disorder recovery.

#BingeEatingRecovery #EatingDisorderRecovery #BodyImage #MentalHealthPodcast #EmotionalEating #Perfectionism #RecoveryJourney #bodyacceptance #bodypositivity

In episode 36 of the Once Upon a Binge podcast Katy and Becca talk about navigating social events and disordered eating. They talk about how food rules blocked them from having food freedom at social events, the role of binge eating and how body image insecurities made socialising challenging.

They discuss:

💜

Connect with Becca: