EP14: Confronting Your Relationship with Food

The Confrontationalist With Danielle Gibson

“Binge eating was another one that I struggled with. You know, it’s more than just wanting to be skinny. It’s a relationship with food that becomes a way of speaking. It looks like that and it fronts like that, and that’s usually the impetus for the beginnings of it—some kind of social pressure, often parental pressure,” shares Stefanie Michele, a binge recovery and body image coach. In this episode, she opens up to Danielle Gibson about her 25-year journey through eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating.

Together, they explore the powerful role societal and emotional pressures play in shaping disordered relationships with food, often linked to deeper feelings of control and safety. Stefanie emphasizes the healing power of somatic therapy in reconnecting with the body and addressing past trauma. Both women reflect on their personal recovery experiences, highlighting the importance of self-compassion and recognizing that healing isn’t always a straight path. This episode invites listeners to consider: How can we embrace our true selves while navigating the ups and downs of recovery?

Quotes

• “Binge eating was another one that I struggled with. You know, it’s more than just wanting to be skinny. It’s a relationship with food that becomes a way of speaking. It looks like that and it fronts like that, and that’s usually the impetus for the beginnings of it—some kind of social pressure, often parental pressure.” (03:39 | Stefanie Michele)
• “Self-compassion was not my first language, and I had a lot of discomfort thinking about being kind or gentle with my inner child. And that’s really sad. When you have to think back to what you needed and didn’t get, there’s a lot of grief in that, which is overwhelming. Again, it’s sometimes easier to stay in the baseball game because you’re dealing with decades of pent-up or unprocessed emotion and grief. To have to confront this at 40, 50, or 60 years old is asking a lot in an already overwhelming world. So, I think that’s why people potentially just don’t do it. Sometimes it feels safer to stay in the disorder than to open up Pandora’s box.” (14:06 | Stefanie Michele)
• “Part of what I talk about binge eating is that it is an attempt at times to self-advocate through a very misguided platform. Sometimes we have this fire, this sense of ‘I want, and I’m going to go get,’ and that can be part of the authentic self-response. It may have to do with why you became ‘The Confrontationalist.’ You couldn’t have necessarily ignored it your whole life, because there’s some drive questioning it or in pursuit of something else, even if it doesn’t know what that is.” (21:09 | Stefanie Michele)
• “Connection is a lot about how a human being feels safe, that they’re held, that somebody cares about them, that somebody’s there, that somebody sees them.” (32:38 | Stefanie Michele)

**This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical, legal or financial advice.

Links:

Connect with Stefanie Michele:
www.iamstefaniemichele.com

IG account - iamstefaniemichele

For more resources and information about Confrontation, check out www.theconfrontationalist.com.

Schedule a FREE 30-minute consultation with Danielle here: https://www.theconfrontationalist.com/contact

Follow us here:

IG @the_confrontationalist

LinkedIn @danielle-gibson-5243692/

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm