Behind The Bite

In this episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini sits down with therapist, author, and co-founder of the Center for Body Trust, Hilary Kinavey, for a powerful and deeply validating conversation on body trust, midlife transitions, and the complex emotions surrounding menopause and aging.

Hilary shares her personal and professional insights into how diet culture and beauty standards intersect with perimenopause, and how our society’s obsessio...

In this episode of 'Behind the Bite,' Dr. Cristina Castagnini explores the often overlooked 'messy middle' phase of therapy and recovery. Drawing from her own experiences and decades of professional expertise, Dr. Cristina Castagnini addresses common misconceptions about healing and emphasizes that progress is a gradual process filled with small, significant steps. She reassures listeners that feelings of confusion, exhaustion, and...

The CBT Rewrite We’ve Been Waiting For: A Weight-Inclusive Path to Eating Disorder Recovery, featuring Drs. Lauren Muhlheim, Jen Averyt, and Shannon Patterson—three psychologists reshaping how we treat eating disorders through a radically inclusive new CBT workbook.

This episode of Behind the Bite, hosted by Dr. Cristina Castagnini, examines the evolution and shortcomings of traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for eating ...

In this episode of Behind the Bite, Dr. Cristina introduces guest Ali Shapiro, host of the Insatiable Podcast, holistic nutritionist, and creator of the True Swift Food framework. Ali shares her personal journey with emotional eating, cancer survival, and eventual realization of the deep connections between food, safety, and belonging. The conversation delves into the often misunderstood aspects of emotional eating, the inadequacie...

In this compelling episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini sits down with Dr. Joy Cox to explore the pervasive issue of weight stigma and fatphobia, particularly how it intersects with medicine, race, and gender. Dr. Cox shares her personal journey of living in a larger body and how a pivotal moment during her master's program ignited her passion to study and dismantle weight bias in society.

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This episode of Behind the Bite explores the crucial topic of preventing disordered eating in children, both at school and at home. Dr. Cristina Castagnini welcomes Anna Lutz, a pediatric eating disorder dietitian, to discuss how families and educators can shift the conversation around food, bodies, and health to foster a healthier environment for kids.

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In this special episode of 'Behind the Bite,' Dr. Cristina Castagnini celebrates the 4th of July by revisiting the best moments from previous episodes. Dr. Cristina Castagnini, a psychologist and certified eating disorder specialist, shares personal stories and professional insights on the struggles and successes surrounding food, body image, and weight. The episode covers the detrimental effects of diet culture, the biological res...

In this episode of Behind the Bite, Dr. Cristina Castagnini speaks with therapist Cassie Krajewski about healing from trauma, eating disorders, and body disconnection. They explore the concept of embodiment versus disembodiment and how trauma impacts one’s relationship with their body and food. Cassie shares trauma-informed approaches, including Internal Family Systems and EMDR, to safely reconnect with the body. They also discuss ...

This powerful episode dives deep into the challenges of living in a diet-obsessed culture and explores how to navigate conversations about weight, health, and body image. Dr. Castagnini and Karen Scheuner discuss the exhausting reality of being professionals in the eating disorder field while encountering diet culture messaging in everyday social situations.

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Lindley, a photographer and body liberation activist, discusses her journey combining photography with activism focused on marginalized bodies. She explains how societal messages about bodies are absorbed daily and shape our emotional reactions to photos of ourselves. The episode delves into the historical roots of body image issues, linking them to racism and the development of Western beauty standards. Lindley highlights how medi...

In this episode, Sheryl Lynn shares her personal journey from trauma, dysfunction, and searching for joy to founding Joyely, a lifestyle brand and community centered around the concept of joy intelligence. She discusses how joy is often misunderstood, the science behind it, and how it differs from happiness. Sheryl explains the core elements needed to prioritize joy—safety, presence, and joy itself—and introduces the concept of joy...

In this episode, therapist Becca shares her personal and professional journey from being immersed in diet culture to discovering intuitive eating and the Health at Every Size approach. She discusses the moment she realized she had an eating disorder, how working with a coach transformed her perspective, and her ongoing process of recovery. Becca and host Cristina explore the myths around eating disorder recovery, emphasizing that w...

This episode features a deeply personal and candid conversation with Julia Trehane, an eating disorder recovery coach, podcast host, and speaker. Julia shares her journey through 40 years of battling anorexia nervosa, orthorexia, and exercise addiction, ultimately achieving full recovery and dedicating her life to helping others find freedom from eating disorders.

Julia recounts her earliest memories of body image struggles beginnin...

In this heartfelt episode, Cristina Castagnini explores the complexities of body image and the pressures surrounding self-love and body positivity. She begins by expressing gratitude to listeners for choosing to invest in their healing and self-worth, acknowledging the effort it takes to engage with these important topics.

Cristina challenges the pervasive cultural messages that urge people to “just love yourself” or achieve constan...

In this inspiring conversation, Dr. Cristina Castagnini speaks with Ava Manuel, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Tribune and Mrs. Enterprise America 2025. They discuss how one conversation and one belief shift changed everything for Ava, reigniting a decades-old dream and launching her on the road to the Mrs. America stage. This episode explores reclaiming joy, breaking up with perfectionism, and finally saying yes to yourself at...

This episode of "Behind the Bite" explores the overlap between eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Dr. Cristina Castagnini interviews Allyson Ford, a therapist specializing in both disorders with personal experience. Ford shares her journey with orthorexia and anorexia as a teenager, which later led to the realization of underlying OCD tendencies. The discussion covers the similarities between OCD and eating d...

In this episode of Behind the Bite, Dr. Cristina Castagnini is joined by Abbie Attwood, a weight-inclusive nutritionist and host of the Full Plate Podcast. Together, they explore the complexities of disordered eating, recovery, and the cultural forces that shape our relationships with food and body image. Abby shares her deeply personal journey through competitive running, chronic illness, and recovery from disordered eating, offer...

In this solo episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini addresses the anxiety many people feel as summer approaches, particularly regarding body image concerns related to wearing summer clothing. She explores how social media trends and cultural messaging can trigger disordered eating patterns and offers practical strategies for maintaining a healthy relationship with your body during this challenging seasonal transition.

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