Full But Not Finished

Stefanie Michele
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  • Mental Health
  • Updated weekly

Full But Not Finished is for anyone who's tried to "just stop eating when you're full" and realized it's never that simple. Hosted by Somatic and Intuitive Eating counselor and coach Stefanie Michele, this podcast dives into the ongoing work of recovery -- where fullness doesn't always mean satisfaction, and where food, body image, and nervous system work is never finished. Each episode unpacks the psychology, nervous system patterns, and cultural conditioning that shape eating behaviors, showing why willpower alone doesn't work and what real regulation looks like. If you've lived the binge–restrict cycle, felt trapped in body image spirals, or wondered why "normal eating" feels out of reach, this is where we make sense of it — not with rules, but with integration, somatic tools, and a more human way forward.

  1. 9 hr ago

    47. Eckhart Tolle on Body Image: Do We Pay Too Much Attention to How We Look?

    Eckhart Tolle says a dog doesn't have body image issues because a dog doesn't have an image of itself. My first reaction was basically: okay, but we're not dogs. We know what we look like. Other people see us. Our bodies exist in a world that assigns meaning to appearance. We can't just opt out of all of that. But there is something useful in what he's saying. How much of our body image distress is intensified by the amount of attention we give our image? In this episode I talk about mirrors, photos, technology, aging, body checking. There is a difference between avoidance and choosing not to always look at yourself, and why moving your attention away from your body can actually feel unsafe. I also share how I use non-attention when I get pulled into that tunnel myself, and a simple practice for getting better at moving attention between threat and the rest of your life. MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. Instagram : @iamstefaniemichele Substack : @iamstefaniemichele 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie (apply for January 2027) Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele

  2. 2 Sept

    46. Why Diet Talk Makes You Want to Eat More: The Rebel Response

    A listener wrote in about something I know a lot of people experience in recovery: hearing someone talk about cutting sugar, seeing a weight-loss commercial, or coming across an article demonizing certain foods, and then feeling almost compelled to do the opposite. Not because you suddenly want the food more, exactly. Because something in you is saying, absolutely not. You will not take this away from me again. That rebel response makes sense, especially if restriction has hurt you before. But it can also become its own kind of trap if someone else talking about their diet ends up changing what you eat. This week on Full But Not Finished, I'm talking about how to stay with yourself in those moments, without complying with the message and without having to prove anything to yourself (or the universe at large). MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. Instagram : @iamstefaniemichele Substack : @iamstefaniemichele 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie (apply for January 2027) Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele

  3. 27 Aug

    45. Binge Recovery, "Healthy Eating," and a Kidney Cancer Diagnosis: Suanne's story

    In this episode, I'm joined by Suanne to talk about a recovery story that began in a fairly textbook way: regular meals, consistency, and learning to stop bingeing. But stopping the binges didn't automatically resolve everything underneath them. Food choices could still be shaped by ideas about weight, volume, and what counted as "healthy." Years later, a kidney cancer diagnosis complicated those ideas even further, forcing Suanne to reconsider some of the rules she had relied on and what taking care of herself actually meant. We talk about the difference between behavioral recovery and a freer relationship with food, how health concerns can intersect with restriction, and what recovery can continue to ask of us long after the most obvious symptoms are gone. Learn more about Suanne: @suannebd on Instagram MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

  4. 20 Aug

    44. The Cookie Paradox: Mental Restriction in Reverse

    Still having food noise even though you've stopped dieting? Mental restriction can keep binge eating and overeating going long after you've stopped counting calories or labeling foods "good" and "bad." In this episode, I share a client story that explains mental restriction a little differently than we usually talk about it. She wasn't afraid of cookies, worried about calories, or judging herself for wanting dessert. But underneath was still an expectation that, if she were fully recovered, she should eventually stop needing cookies emotionally. We talk about this subtle form of mental restriction that can remain after dieting and how even recovery or intuitive eating ideals can accidentally become another standard to live up to. If you've ever thought, I'm not restricting anymore, so why can't I stop overeating? this episode may help explain what might still happening. MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

  5. 12 Aug

    43. Why Travel Days and Transitions Can Trigger Binge Urges

    Why does a travel day, a Sunday night, or the first day back after being away sometimes make you want to graze, overeat, or binge? Transitions can do strange things to our relationship with food, especially in the hours when one routine has ended and the next one hasn't quite begun. More free content in weekly emails Instagram too

  6. 5 Aug

    42. I Wanted My Roommate's Diet to Fail: and other stories I was too ashamed to tell anyone.

    In this episode of Full But Not Satisfied, Stefanie shares four hidden behaviors from her 25 years with disordered eating and an eating disorder — things she assumed were evidence of bad character, but were actually nervous system threat responses. From neglecting hygiene and hoping for a hospital stay, to feeling jealous of other people's diets, to stealing and lying about food, these are the parts of eating disorder recovery that rarely get talked about. Using nervous system regulation, polyvagal theory, and parts work, Stefanie unpacks why these behaviors happen — and why shame, not the behavior itself, is often the thing that keeps people stuck. This episode is for anyone in eating disorder recovery, disordered eating recovery, or body image healing who has ever done something they didn't want to admit out loud. Stefanie's Mailing List >> Topics covered: eating disorder recovery, disordered eating behaviors, binge eating shame, nervous system regulation, polyvagal theory, parts work, body image healing, jealousy in eating disorder recovery, food and shame. 00:01 Shame, Shame 02:33 Hygiene And Not Wanting to Care Care of Myself 09:58 My Routines Now 13:02 Feeling Resentful Of Friends Who Lost Weight 17:18 GLP-1 Comparison Triggers 21:55 Anything For A Reset! Even that. 28:36 Stealing And Lying For Food 35:37 Safety And Recovery 36:58 Closing Thoughts   More From Stefanie Instagram Website

  7. 29 Jul

    41. Why Listening to Your Body Is So Confusing

    Why is listening to your body so confusing? You might be trying to follow your hunger and fullness cues but still have no idea whether you're feeling hunger, anxiety, habit, adrenaline, an emotion, or the pressure of paying far too much attention. In this episode, I talk through five reasons body cues can be difficult to interpret, especially after disordered eating or years of overriding them. Cues may still be inconsistent or extreme. Several sensations may be happening at the same time. Anxiety can interrupt interoception, emotions can become wired together with food urges, and the cue you notice first may simply be the one you are most accustomed to following. Even trying very hard to eat intuitively can turn hunger and fullness into another system to monitor and get right. Listening to your body becomes more useful when a cue is treated as information rather than an automatic instruction. By the end of this episode, you'll have a clearer way to think about what your body is communicating without assuming every sensation is telling you exactly what to do. MORE FROM STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

  8. 22 Jul

    40. Bored, Restless, and Looking for Food: Emotional Eating and the Nervous System

    Why do we eat when we're bored, even when we know we aren't hungry?  In this episode, I look at boredom eating through a nervous system lens and question the assumption that boredom simply means we cannot tolerate being alone with ourselves. Stillness can leave us with a mind that is anything but still, especially when the brain shifts into the default mode network and begins revisiting everything we were too occupied to notice before. Food can give shape to unstructured time and offer a "gear shift" of energy that the nervous system may really be asking for. I also talk about the difference between needing rest, seeking stimulation, and sliding into a lower-energy state that we may be calling boredom. Understanding which one is happening can change the way we respond to emotional eating, grazing, or the urge to eat when there is nothing else to do. ABOUT STEFANIE MICHELE Stefanie Michele is a certified coach and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner who helps people understand the deeper psychological, emotional, and nervous-system patterns shaping their relationships with food, body image, and themselves. 1:1 Coaching with Stefanie https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com/coaching Full But Not Finished on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@iamstefaniemichele Website https://www.iamstefaniemichele.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iamstefaniemichele

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About

Full But Not Finished is for anyone who's tried to "just stop eating when you're full" and realized it's never that simple. Hosted by Somatic and Intuitive Eating counselor and coach Stefanie Michele, this podcast dives into the ongoing work of recovery -- where fullness doesn't always mean satisfaction, and where food, body image, and nervous system work is never finished. Each episode unpacks the psychology, nervous system patterns, and cultural conditioning that shape eating behaviors, showing why willpower alone doesn't work and what real regulation looks like. If you've lived the binge–restrict cycle, felt trapped in body image spirals, or wondered why "normal eating" feels out of reach, this is where we make sense of it — not with rules, but with integration, somatic tools, and a more human way forward.

Information

  • Creator
    Stefanie Michele
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    47
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Full But Not Finished
  • Provider

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