Unburdened Eating: An Internal Family Systems Approach to Healing Your Relationships with Food and Your Body

by Jeanne Catanzaro

From the time we are born, we are inundated with messages about our bodies—what we should eat, how we should look, and how we should move to achieve certain standards. The pressure to conform is higher for those who don’t fit into what society values: youth, thinness, whiteness, fitness, health, and able-bodiedness.

But what if you could let go of the chronic shame, judgment, and self-loathing you hold about food and your body? What if you no longer needed the latest diet, cleanse, or wellness plan to feel better about yourself? What if you could free yourself of all these burdens?

These are the answers you will find inside Unburdened Eating. Written through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), this book offers a sustainable path to heal your relationships with food and your body. Based on Dr. Jeanne Catanzaro’s 25+ years working with trauma and eating issues, and informed by the insights of leading voices in the growing field of body liberation, this book will allow you to:
- Heal the critical and diet-minded parts of yourself
- Stop trying to fix parts of yourself and your body that are “unacceptable” or “less desirable”
- Trust yourself to connect to your body with compassion and care
- Become more resistant to societal messages about what it means to be healthy and attractive

It is possible to accept yourself as you are and relax into a more compassionate, trusting relationship with food and your body. And that healing resource lies within you.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Health

197 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2024

Reviews

[Caroline Osborne]

I read this book as part of a group therapy workshop. Overall, I found the intro to the IFS (Internal Family System) therapy format very interesting & enlightening. As a daughter of diet culture/someone who lived through the 90s/00s, I have inevitably absorbed cultural messages about “good” & “bad” bodies. While IFS is more general & holistic than just body image & eating habits, this book focused on these elements & how engaging in IFS can shape our responses to our thoughts & behaviors surrounding “health”.

Practically speaking, this book read like a long research paper complete with academic formatting, citations & bibliography. I sometimes found this to be tedious, interrupting the flow of the book. Perhaps footnotes & quotations alone would’ve made it more readable? I’m thankful I read this in a group session context allowing me the option to ask questions & unpack my reactions.

I think this would be best suited for someone either already familiar with IFS to help translate what they’re reading or in a group context so you have readily available leaders to guide your understanding of IFS (& then the body image/health topic).

[Jem · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Ticola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another awesome IFS book! I especially appreciate the focus on external factors such as fat biases, societal stressors, and diet culture.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had an unhealthy relationship with food and my body for all of my life and I have recently discovered and become deeply fascinated by IFS so I thought this would be a great book to dive into and I was completely right.

I didn't realize that the author is married to the creator of Internal Family Systems therapy and she's been a lifelong researcher and therapist on body image so it is no wonder that this book is absolutely excellent. It is the best book I've read so far on clearly articulating and breaking down case studies of how to break down the different parts and understanding how to work with them to get to the root of what you might be holding.

I loved the clarity, kindness, gentleness and love with which the author approaches the subject and each example felt relevant and deeply insightful to me. It allowed me to think more deeply and to understand how to look at my relationships with my parts and to hold them (and myself) more gently.

highly recommended.

with gratitude to netgalley and PESI Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unburdened Eating explores the use of an Internal Family Systems approach to improve one's relationship with food and body. I picked this up partly because I'd never heard of the approach, which—in very, very simplified form—can be described as engaging in neutral dialogue with one's own conflicting thoughts to bring them closer to harmony.

I'm not really sure who the target audience for this is, as it's not a book aimed at professionals, but I don't think it's meant exactly as a self-help book either—I think it would be quite hard to apply an IFS approach without guidance from a therapist, at least initially and especially if you weren't already conversant in some of the language. (Maybe something for people who are trying IFS in therapy and want to know more?)

This ended up not being a very good fit of a book for me—I think I was just expecting something other than it was, plus I don't have any background with IFS (again, had never heard of it). I appreciate a lot of the things Catanzaro talks about (she touches briefly on things like the ways racism plays into the glorification of Thin, for example, and on her politely anti-diet stance), but this self-help-hybrid isn't really my thing. That said, if you're looking for a new way to approach an uneasy relationship with body image, this book (and IFS more generally) might be interesting to explore.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.

[Guerry Sisters · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars!

LOVED this new resource/book related to IFS & healing your relationships with food and your body & will be definitely using with my clients!

If you are new to IFS (Internal Family Systems) this book does a fabulous job breaking down this approach both for clinicians and anyone that would be interested in exploring it for themselves.

I loved the practicality of this book and how it very specifically lays out questions to ask your parts and even has graphics to help conceptualize these ideas.

Highly recommend this book for clinicians (therapists, dietitians, doctors, etc.) to utilize in practice as well as for anyone that is working toward healing their own relationship with food & your body. This book does a great job breaking down what parts you might be able to explore by yourself vs what type of parts (exiles) it might be better to explore with a professional, too!

[Karen Axnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have tried three times to engage with this book. Rather than labeling it a “DNF,” I am putting it in the “to be continued” (TBC) category. While I found the premise and the model helpful, the writing style with the protracted case studies was not appealing to me. It also seemed to get bogged down with jargon specific to the Internal Family Systems approach. I can see the value of collaborating with a therapist trained in this methodology rather than a self-help, DIY approach.

The gift I did receive from the author is the explanation of polarization between aspects of the personality. I see clearly now that one obstacle to pursuing this book is a stand-off between aspects of myself – the one who selected the book and another who is in resistance. Hence, the TBC comment.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here’s a more succinct version that keeps the key points:

This is the second IFS book I’ve read, and I appreciated the client examples illustrating how internal parts show up in different food and body-related situations, as well as the discussion of how racism and weight stigma influence physiological responses and shape coping strategies. While it expanded my understanding of IFS, as a dietitian I’m unsure how much I can integrate into counseling beyond acknowledging parts, and I recognize the need for further learning.

[Elizabeth Guthrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating conversation! This is a great book for therapists or people who are in therapy and have a lot of understanding of Internal Family Systems.
I will keep this on my shelf next to the Somatic IFS book that I love.
Four stars because it felt like a deep dive and might not be as accessible to people who are looking for their first introduction to this kind of therapeutic support.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and learned so much. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone without a background in IFS; you really have to read “No Bad Parts” first.

[Payton Wortman]

ifs forever & ever 🫶🏻

[Alexandra Darion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information about parts work with protectors who struggle with disordered eating. The case studies were helpful and I use this book to assist with unburdening parts. A bit dry at points but good information for clients and clinicians alike.