18. From Burnout to Wintering: When Your Nervous System Is Afraid to Slow Down
Release Date: 02/04/2026
28. Life After Dieting with Guest Allison: Food Freedom, Body Image, and Motherhood
Full But Not Finished
In this episode of Full but Not Finished, I’m talking with Alison about finding food freedom as a mom after weight gain, years of dieting, and years of living in the binge/restrict cycle. Allison grew up in peak 90s diet culture, with cottage cheese, “Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter,” and the message that gaining weight was something to fear. When her body changed in adulthood, dieting seemed like the obvious answer. What followed was years of restriction, overeating, guilt, and starting over again (including one meal plan that told her to eat exactly 12 scallops for dinner). We...
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27. 5 Real-Time Tools for a Bad Body Image Day
Full But Not Finished
Bad body image day? I’m sharing five things I use in real time to interrupt the spiral, work with nervous system dysregulation, and get through a trigger without letting it take over the whole day. We talk about body neutrality, somatic tools, movement, distraction, and what to do when you’re too flooded to think clearly. (This episode idea came to me as I was talking to a client on Whatsapp and walked by a full length mirror -- and worked through it in real time.) In this episode:• how I work with a body image trigger in real time • why distraction can actually help • how movement...
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26. Body Image and Perfectionism: Why It Never Feels Like Enough (A Conversation with Kristina Bruce)
Full But Not Finished
What happens when two body image coaches start talking "off the record"? (also: Join this May for more of this type of conversation) In this special joint episode, Stefanie Michele - a Binge Eating Recovery Coach and Kristina Bruce, a Body Peace Coach share a raw, unedited conversation that was originally happening offline. We realized the "good stuff" coming up was too important not to share, so we hit record. We’re diving deep into the high cost of perfectionism in how we’ve viewed and treated our bodies for decades. We’re pulling back the curtain on what it actually looks like to...
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25. Why Am I Always Thinking About Food? (Mental Hunger vs Appetite Explained)
Full But Not Finished
If you feel like you think about food more than other people, or your appetite just seems… bigger — this episode is going to matter. This episode is about appetite and mental hunger, and why both are so often misunderstood in binge eating recovery. A lot of people assume that thinking about food a lot means something is wrong. Or that if a “normal” meal doesn’t satisfy them, they’re doing something wrong. Or that needing more food than expected means they can’t be trusted. But those conclusions are often based on standards that were never built for everyone in the first...
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24. Why Body Image Gets Harder on Vacation | Q&A
Full But Not Finished
Why does body image get so much harder when you go away, even when you thought you were doing pretty well? You’re out of your routine, around other people more, dealing with different clothes, different food, different plans, different mirrors, and less of what normally helps you feel like yourself. It makes sense that body image can get activated there.. In this Q&A episode, I’m answering listener questions about what gets stirred up on vacation and why it can feel so much bigger than it does at home. We talk about the difference between nervous system overwhelm and “food...
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23. Body Image on Vacation: Triggers, Comparison, Aging, and Tools To Help
Full But Not Finished
After a recent trip to the beach with friends, I found myself thinking: body image doesn’t ever "finish" or resolve in a permanent way. It shifts, it resurfaces, and certain environments bring it right back to the surface. In this episode, I talk through what came up for me on this trip and why body image often intensifies on vacation. Being out of your routine, in different clothes, around other bodies, and more aware of yourself physically can all heighten attention on your body. At the same time, things like mood, stress, hormonal shifts, and transitions can get misread as “something...
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22. The Link Between Body Image, Shame, and Feeling Your Anger
Full But Not Finished
Anger is one of the most important emotions in recovery, and one of the hardest for people to let themselves feel. In this episode, I talk about why anger gets such a bad reputation, why so many of us are afraid of it, and why I think it is deeply connected to body image, shame, binge eating, restriction, and boundaries. Many people associate anger with aggression or danger. Others grew up in environments where anger wasn’t allowed, especially for women, so it became something to suppress, avoid, or turn inward. And when anger gets turned inward, it often becomes shame. I talk about anger...
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21. Intuitive Eating Q&A: Saying No, Brunch Planning, and “Food Isn’t Exciting Anymore”
Full But Not Finished
In this Intuitive Eating Q&A episode, we’re unpacking three nuanced questions that often come up in recovery and food freedom work: ✨ How to say no to food without slipping back into restriction ✨ Whether eating lighter before a brunch or event can still be intuitive ✨ Why food can feel less exciting after recovery — and what that means Many people assume food freedom is only about permission and saying yes to previously restricted foods. But true intuitive eating also includes choice, discernment, and self-trust — including the ability to say “no thanks”...
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20. Are Ultra-Processed Foods Bad? A Non-Diet, Intuitive Eating Perspective
Full But Not Finished
Processed foods are having a cultural moment, and the way they’re discussed online is so extreme that it’s hard to know what to trust without feeling stressed or guilty. In this episode, I’m talking about why the fear-based language around ultra-processed foods is such a red flag, and why I don’t trust conversations that rely on absolutist claims meant to scare you into compliance (or sell you something). I also get into what’s missing from most of the discourse: systems. Time, money, energy, access, chronic illness, and the realities of modern life matter, yet wellness culture keeps...
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19. I Need Help! Five Things I Needed to Help Me Recover from Decades of Food Noise and Body Image Anxiety
Full But Not Finished
If you’re in recovery and you keep hitting the same walls, you might need more help than you want to admit. In this episode, I’m talking about what it looked like for me to recruit support during my all-in recovery from years of binge eating + restriction, and why it can feel so loaded to say, “I can’t do this by myself right now.” Here’s what we get into: Why needing help can feel like a character flaw when you’re used to being capable The specific kind of overwhelm that makes “self-help” tools bounce right off How having a small “buffer” can change what you’re...
info_outlineMany of us live in a nervous system state where movement, productivity, and momentum feel like safety. Slowing down doesn’t feel restful — it feels threatening. And when the body starts asking for less, the mind often panics and tries to think, plan, or “fix” its way out.
This episode explores what happens at the edge of capacity, when exhaustion collides with fear, and your system begins demanding a different pace.
✨ Why slowing down can feel terrifying even when you’re exhausted
✨ How a lot of “motivation” is actually fear dressed up as productivity
✨ The difference between intuition and fear when your energy starts dropping
✨ “Wintering” — seasons where your system asks for less, whether you agree or not (from Wintering by Katherine May)
✨ How the body eventually forces a slowdown when the mind keeps trying to plan its way out
✨ Why consuming more content and “trying harder” often makes things worse
✨ A simple 10% practice: slowing speech, movement, and pace just enough to feel the body again
The episode also connects this to eating disorder recovery, body image work, and nervous system healing — especially the pressure to keep fixing yourself, keep learning, and keep doing recovery “right,” instead of allowing space for integration.
Mentioned: Wintering (Wintering), Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals).
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