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Twenty years ago, functional medicine changed everything for me. My IBS cleared. My skin cleared. My depression lifted. And for the first time, I understood food as medicine instead of just calories. But somewhere in the last five years, functional medicine started looking a lot like what it was railing against. A supplement for every lab marker. A protocol for every person. A business model that profits from making you feel more broken than when you walked in. So I stopped talking about it much here. But I still believe in root cause resolution. And I wanted to bring on someone who practices it the way it was meant to be practiced. That's why I brought Erin Holt on the show. Erin is a seasoned clinician, clinic founder, and trainer of other practitioners who has been vocal about what's gone wrong in this industry while still believing fiercely in what it can be. She practices what she calls intuitive functional medicine, a framework that starts with the physical body and refuses to stop there. In this episode of Truce with Food, Erin and I get into what's actually broken in functional medicine right now, why data can never replace discernment or lived experience, and how her five-phase formula bridges the physical, mental, emotional, and energetic aspects of healing. We also talk about why you can't rewire an inflamed brain with mindset work, and what it really means to self-source your health instead of outsourcing it to someone in a white coat. 2:48 – Introduction to Erin and how she and her trainees help one-on-one clients 7:56 – The shift in functional medicine over the last five years that’s recreating the exact problem it was designed to solve 11:25 – Defining functional medicine and comparing it to more conventional medicine 16:46 – What intuitive functional medicine is and what it looks like in Erin’s practice (and her training of other practitioners) 24:08 – Self-sourcing vs. outsourcing your health and the long, underexamined history of the loss of self-trust in so many people 34:09 – A basic example of how Erin helps her clients rebuild their self-trust (without forcing it) 39:55 – Why too many choices in the name of empowerment can actually cause someone to freeze in response (and what skilled practitioners do differently) 44:11 – The real point of fear-based marketing and how to spot it before it sells you something you don't need 47:00 – Why the nocebo effect, medical hexing, and the labels a practitioner puts on you can quietly become the ceiling on your healing 49:15 – Functional labs that are actually worth it and the very contextual, individualized way Erin administers them as a practitioner 51:43 – Erin’s framework for whole-person healing, why the starting point doesn’t matter, and what needs to happen before you can rewire your brain using mindset work 1:00:42 – The importance and meaning of self-compassion and why you must only work with those who see your potential to heal Mentioned In Why Intuitive Functional Medicine Works When Protocols Don't with Erin Holt Manifest Your Health™ The Funk’tional Nutrition | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest Funk’tional Nutrition Academy (FNA)  Funk’tional Nutrition: How Belonging, Not Willpower, Shapes Your Eating Find Your Food Stage Quiz

You've tried the plans. The protocols. Maybe therapy, journaling, intuitive eating. And food still feels like a battle. The problem isn't that you haven't tried hard enough. It's that no one has ever shown you where you actually are. I've spent 19 years working with women who've tried everything and nothing's worked long term. What I keep finding is that the approach mismatches the stage. And you can't know what to do next until you know where you're starting from. In this episode of Truce with Food, I walk through I walk through the four developmental stages of resolving your food battle and introduce my free Food Stage Finder Assessment. If you've ever wondered why you're still struggling despite everything you've done, this is where to start. 1:40 – How women's healthcare concerns get dismissed and what led Ali to this work 3:59 – Why food struggles fall into two extremes and why both miss the point 6:26 – What the Food Stage Finder Assessment is and why Ali created it 7:34 – Why more information stopped being the problem for Ali's clients 9:03 – Women's health span post-menopause and why midlife is the time to get this right 11:56 – Taking responsibility for your own body literacy without burning out 13:11 – Why intuitive eating is hard when you've never had healthy eating patterns 14:06 – How adolescent culture shapes our food culture and why quick fixes dominate 19:50 – Why maturity, not more learning, is what actually creates food freedom 22:38 – The four developmental stages of resolving your food battle 25:53 – Stage one: Gathering Evidence 27:04 – Stage two: Breakthrough Ready 29:37 – Stage three: Practicing Freedom 32:48 – Stage four: Trusting in Satisfaction 36:19 – Why most people are surprised by their Food Stage Finder results 36:32 – How to take the free Food Stage Finder Assessment Mentioned In What Your Food Stage Reveals About Why Nothing Has Worked Long Term Truce with Food Food Stage Finder Assessment

After nearly a decade of conversations about food, culture, and psychology, this podcast has a new name. What was Insatiable is now the Truce with Food Podcast. What started as a rebrand turned into an honest look at how success, ambition, and identity shift over time. Ten years ago, metrics like downloads and productivity felt like the scorecard. Then motherhood happened. Menopause happened. The realities of limited time and energy became impossible to ignore. I had to ask what actually feels like success now. In this episode of Truce with Food, I share how hustle culture quietly shaped my definition of success and how I used my own framework to work through overworking. Because creating a truce with food often means creating a truce with the relentless pursuit of success itself. 4:26 – How a decade of podcasting quietly reveals how cultural definitions of success shape our goals and habits  9:57 – When things began to shift in my energy and capacity regarding hustle culture 13:13 – What the rebrand is about and why a years-long evolving framework involving work with real people matters now more than ever 16:48 – The Truce with Food framework as a way to take back your power and how I used it to stop overworking 23:32 – Re-evaluation of time, energy, and capacity as a result of hustle culture limits in midlife  32:54 – What is and isn’t changing about the podcast Mentioned In What a Truce with Food Taught Me About Redefining Success Truce with Food How Just Showing Up Ended Years of Binging Content with Carlos | my husband, who designed my new website and content strategy Braid Creative | Kathleen Shannon on Skipping One-Size-Fits-All and Experimenting Instead Health, Body, and Business with Ali Shapiro (Being Boss Podcast) Find Your Food Stage Quiz

Diet culture, anti-diet rhetoric, and functional medicine all live in a messy middle ground. Our culture trains us to outsource authority, chase gold stars, and equate thinness with worth. We're taught to live by someone else's food rules, health rules, weight rules. So if you're still struggling to figure food out, it's not a failure of discipline. It's a misunderstanding of safety and belonging. In this episode of Insatiable, I join Erin Holt on The Funk'tional Nutritionist podcast to talk about how functional medicine, adult development, and lived experience create pendulum swings in eating patterns. We get into why food feels like both the problem and the solution, and what it means to author your own choices around health and weight without shame, dogma, or perfectionism. 6:28 – How Ali’s history with cancer, functional medicine, and adult development work led her to see “falling off track” with food as a symptom instead of a core issue 10:15 – Erin’s history with eating disorders and how her story overlaps with Ali’s 14:00 – How the “good girl” (or socialized) mindset influences your thinking with food, weight, and health (even after you’ve rejected diet culture on the surface) 18:10 – Example of how seeing yourself (not others) as the author of your story changes what “success” looks like. 22:54 – Why people “go off track” with food and how it has nothing to do with willpower 27:45 – Erin’s food memories that illustrate the clash between the need for rest and resourcefulness vs. the need for approval and belonging  34:34 – How tools like GLP‑1s aren’t inherently good or bad and can help or harm  38:32 – Why weight loss alone can never deliver belonging, purpose, or a meaningful life 42:37 – Why it’s okay if you still feel like weight loss should be your focus right now 46:56 – Where to start if you don’t even know what emotional needs you have that need to be met  52:26 – Seeing the inner critic as protection, not self-sabotage, and an example of how healing doesn’t always have to be difficult Mentioned In Funk’tional Nutrition: How Belonging, Not Willpower, Shapes Your Eating The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast Find Your Food Stage Quiz Dr. Deborah MacNamara Next Level by Stacy Sims

What happens after you've tried everything? The plans, protocols, cleanses, and tracking apps. The running, the restriction, the attempt to outrun the fork. At some point, the effort becomes its own kind of exhaustion. You're no longer chasing health, you're chasing relief. In this episode of Insatiable, I sit down with Dee, a graduate of the Truce with Food: Consistency program, to talk about what actually creates lasting change when food has become comfort, numbness, and self-punishment all at once. Dee shares what it was like to move from binging and rigid thinking into something quieter and more powerful: just showing up. 3:51 – Why Dee felt stuck before joining Truce With Food: Consistency  7:47 – Why Dee had no hesitation about signing up, even after having tried so many things before 11:04 – What changed for Dee when success was defined as simply showing up 13:47 – Having a safe space and the role of compassionate witnesses in ending her isolation  21:13 – The unexpected power of language in reshaping Dee’s thinking and behavior 27:23 – Where things shifted for Dee and where she is now compared to when she started 30:50 – How Dee’s rigid thinking and perspective on movement and motivation have changed 34:40 – The biggest shift for Dee in her relationship with food and why intensity and duration matter more than perfection 37:19 – The shift from measuring thinness to measuring aliveness 40:32 – What else surprised Dee about the work within the program and her words for anyone considering joining Mentioned In How Just Showing Up Ended Years of Binging Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis Find Your Food Stage Quiz

You tell yourself you're too busy and too tired to focus on yourself. You'll do it when things calm down, when work eases up, when the kids need less, when you finally get a good night's sleep. But food still calls your name at all the wrong times. You've tried to fix it, but the cycle keeps repeating. You're not lazy. You're not broken. You're trying to solve exhaustion without understanding where it actually comes from. In this episode of Insatiable, I break down why "too busy and too tired" is often protective resistance in disguise and why waiting for life to calm down costs you more than you think. I walk through how midlife physiology, perfectionism, lack of agency, and how we're conditioned as women all fuel the tired trigger. Plus, why turning to food makes complete sense as a solution, not a character flaw. 1:48 - Why “too busy and too tired” can be protective resistance disguised as practicality 4:48 – Example of how investing in your health earlier creates dividends you can’t see until later 6:33 - Biological shifts in midlife that quietly change hunger, satiety, and energy 9:16 - How perfectionism and over-functioning impact your energy 9:50 - Why sugar and “I deserve this” thinking are solutions before they’re problems 12:03 - Example of the surprising role of agency in chronic exhaustion 15:25 – How investing in the right support for yourself and self-compassion can energize you 19:25 - Final takeaways for this episode and an invitation to you Mentioned In Why Being Too Tired Is Exactly Why You Need Support Oura Ring FREE Workshop on February 10th - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track Find Your Food Stage Quiz

You've followed the plans. Upped the discipline. Doubled down on getting back on track. And still, food and taking care of yourself feel harder than they used to. You're not the problem. The problem is trying to apply the same strategies you relied on in your twenties and thirties to a body and life that have fundamentally changed. In this episode of Insatiable, I share the five shifts that finally make consistency possible when perfectionism stops working. You'll learn why your resistance to showing up imperfectly is protective, not personal, and how to stay in the game even when it feels like you're barely moving forward. 3:28 - Why old strategies no longer working for you isn’t a sign of your failure 11:06 - Why C-plus effort triggers disgust and why that disgust has nothing to do with laziness 19:52 - How certainty becomes a shield against vulnerability and keeps you repeating the same all-or-nothing loop 24:51 - Why “momentum” sounds like a soft metric but becomes the only measure that compounds into lasting change 28:52 - The protective resistance that shows up the moment you try to break the cycle and why planning for it is non-negotiable 34:25 – Quick recap of the five shifts that redefine what success actually looks like in midlife with food struggles Mentioned In Five Shifts to Finally Stay Consistent With Food FREE Workshop on February 10th - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track Find Your Food Stage Quiz

You've done the work. Tried the protocols, followed the plans. And yet food still takes up way too much mental space. You're not the problem. Those one-size-fits-all protocols you've been handed were never going to work for where you actually are. After nearly two decades working with clients, I've watched the wellness space get louder and louder with protocols and plans telling you what to do without knowing who you are or what stage you're in. Frameworks meet you where you actually are and help you figure out why you keep turning to food in the first place. That distinction is everything when it comes to lasting change. In this episode of Insatiable, I explain why frameworks work when protocols don't, walk you through the four developmental stages most women move through in their relationship with food, and share details about my free Untangle Your Food Triggers workshop coming up in February for those ready to move beyond protocols.  5:52 - How last year’s “composting phase” reshaped my body of work 9:46 - Why midlife women need frameworks instead of protocols 13:19 - An appetizer for the Truce with Food Consistency program to kickstart your year 15:16 - Stages in the developmental process to a truce with food 17:16 - Why stage two is both the most confusing and the most hopeful place to land (and how to leverage it) Mentioned In Why Food Plans Fail After 40 and What Works Instead FREE Workshop on February 10th (not 11th, misspoke in episode) - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track Braid Creative and Consulting How to Better Understand Stress with Andrea Nakayama Find Your Food Stage Quiz

Happy New Year, Insatiable listeners! Welcome to 2026. Today I’m resharing my conversation with parenting expert Dr. Deborah MacNamara, where we explore how food connects to our deep need for belonging, how feeling significant plays into belonging and food choices, as well as the many ways we can heal our relationships with food, fullness, and needing other people. If you want to make real changes with your or your loved ones eating, this episode just might help you make life-changing connections that have been elusive for years and be focused in the right direction for 2026. Tune in, then make sure to check out my new website trucewithfood.com.  We discuss: The difference between attachment and belongingWhat Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is missingHow to focus on receptivity in relationships with our kidsWhy food is often the place our relationship dynamics play outThe surprising connection between food, fullness, and vulnerabilitySelf-soothing vs satiationWhy feelings are different than emotionsThe problematic invasiveness of “work mode”Experimenting with being “needy” so we can learn to depend on othersMore about our guest: Dr. Deborah MacNamara is the author of two books, Nourished: Connection, food and caring for our kids (and everyone else we love), and Rest, Play, Grow: Making sense of preschoolers (or anyone who acts like one). She is on Faculty at the Neufeld Institute and the Director of Kid’s Best Bet counselling. Connect with Dr. Deborah MacNamara: WebsiteBooksFacebookInstagramMentioned in this episode: Dr. Gordon Neufeld & Dr. Gabor MatéThe Religion of Wellness Culture with Anne Helen Petersen (Episode 252)

What if your inability to change isn't a failure of willpower, but your heart's way of protecting you from something you're not ready to face? Today I’m sharing a conversation I had with Meghan Telpner for the Courageous Pivot podcast about how my journey from overworking addiction to radical life redesign began with a simple question: "Why does this make sense?" I reveals how addressing my relationship with food became the gateway to confronting deeper questions about worth, identity, and what success actually means—and why healing often requires becoming a beginner all over again. From my journey through cancer, infertility, and postpartum menopause to finally redefining wealth as "freedom over my time," we get into how having the courage to slow down and listen to your body's wisdom can unlock transformations you never imagined possible. Essential listening for anyone measuring busyness instead of impact, struggling to make changes they know they need, or ready to understand why their body might be wiser than their ambition. We discuss: Why only 1 in 7 heart attack survivors actually change their diet and lifestyle—even when they know it could save their livesThe hidden cost of measuring busyness instead of impact and how it perpetuates chronic exhaustionThe developmental reason we spend the first half of life proving we can exert our will on the world—and what the second half requiresWhy food (and overwork) are “almost addictive”—soothing just enough to quiet the alarm but never enough to meet the actual needWhat “immunity to change” reveals about the knowing-doing gap and why willpower will never be the answerHow cultural conditioning around productivity and “earning your worth” gets embedded in our nervous systemsThe question that transforms self-judgment into constructive self-compassionConnect with Meghan: Visit Meghan’s websiteListen to the Courageous Pivot PodcastMentioned in this episode: Culinary Nutrition: How to Cook for Health and Taste with Meghan Telpner – Insatiable Season 12, Episode 2Enneagram: personality typesImmunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey — published by Harvard Business Review PressRest, Play, Grow by Dr. Deborah MacNamaraNourished by Dr. Deborah MacNamara — available through her foundation websiteLaura McKowen — writer on sobriety whose rule "it's not your fault, but it is your responsibility"Dr. Stacy Sims — exercise physiologist, Ali references regarding protein recommendations

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 macrosMoving at the pace of your body instead of rushing to the “end” of a dietThe realities of The Biggest Loser and the ways they faked things for TVHow to choose a trainer you can actually trustSelf-compassion as an antidote to perfectionismSas’ sobriety journey and finding the third wayMake 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 websiteFollow Sas on InstagramSubscribe to Sas’s newsletter Courage & SpiceMentioned 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 LoserSelf-compassion books from Kristin NeffTrain with Joan

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” themPracticing mindful awareness with the R.A.I.N. acronymSimple (but effective!) ways to resource yourselfAddiction as an adaptationThe realities of recovery and finding joy every dayThe 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.comFollow her on IG: @marytilson @sunandmoon.soberlivingListen to her Podcast: The Sun & Moon Sober Living PodcastJoin her 2026 Women's Recovery Retreat: sunandmoonsoberliving.com/banff

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 impulsesFunctional freeze and how to feel your feelings (not think them)Why wellness is not about coffee enemas or random supplementsThe dangers of emotionally outsourcing to wellness professionalsHow we’re trained to prioritize productivitySomatic practice and praxisMore 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: WebsiteBook WebsiteInstagram: @beatrizvictoriaalbinanpPodcast: Feminist WellnessFacebookLinkedInFree Meditations

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 medicineWhat it means to end emotional outsourcingWhy codependency isn’t the problem and boundaries aren’t the answerHow patriarchy undermines caring for each other and ourselvesWhy perfectionism isn’t an identity - it’s a habitAttachment styles and “good enough” parentingHow to stop striving and actually relaxPolyvagal theory for healthy skepticsFunctional freeze and why we dissociate from joyWhy 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: WebsiteBook WebsiteInstagram: @beatrizvictoriaalbinanpPodcast: Feminist WellnessFacebookLinkedInFree Meditations

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 midlifeBody neutrality, medical anxiety, and illnessThe public scrutiny around Kate’s weight lossParenting in a fatphobic world“Menopause is when all the girls you were come out to play”How to cultivate female friendships — even through conflictThe difference between community and friendsBeing erased from the male gaze as you ageMore 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.comKate’s Instagram: @katejbaerBuy How About Now. Pre and early orders help authors so much: bookshop.org/p/books/how-about-now-poems-kate-baerMentioned in this episode: Katie Sturino