If you're someone who's done your own IFS work, you were likely encouraged to check in with a part that you met during your session on your own regularly throughout the week. And you may have thought, how in the world do I do that? Hopefully, the therapist or coach you're working with helped you with that process. But if they didn't, you're in luck! It's the topic of this week's podcast!

While checking in with parts that you meet during session is incredibly important, so is checking in with parts in general. And one of the things that I've been focusing on more with clients these days is developing a regular parts check-in practice. In all of the IFS training that I've done, I've never really been taught how to do this, which is kind of strange, given its importance.

What do mean by a check-in process? I mean taking the time to deliberately check in with parts. This is different than noticing parts as they come up for you and/or blend with you throughout the day. While noticing parts in the moment is incredibly important, so is creating time and space to check in with your parts who may not be particularly active at that moment.

Creating and maintaining a check-in process is a vital aspect of connecting with parts, developing trust, and sustaining change. Which is why we're talking about this topic on this week's podcast episode. Specifically, we're covering:

• How to create a regular check-in process
• What parts to focus on during your check-in
• Why a regular check-in process is so important
• What to do if you aren't consistent with the practice

I also share some resources, i.e. workbooks and journals, below.

If you've had a tough time creating a check-in process--or if you're just learning that this is important--take a listen!

Resources:

Journal Back to Self, Tara Hedman

Daily Parts Meditation Practice, Michelle Glass

The One Inside, Tammy Sollenberger

Where to find me:

drkimdaniels.com

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On this week's podcast episode we're talking about anxiety, one of the most common things that lead our parts to food. Very often, parts in our system use food to calm our anxious parts. I think this happens for a couple of reasons. First, food can be a great distraction when we're feeling anxious. And second, food actually calms us down. Research has shown that food (especially carbs) elevates serotonin levels, which can decrease depression and anxiety.

So if you're someone who tends to eat when you're anxious, there's a reason for that. It works.

And I think it's really important to understand anxiety so that it doesn't always lead us to food. So, on today's episode we talk about anxiety in a number of ways:

• the heritability of anxiety
• the concept of anxiety as a legacy burden--and how to know if this is true for you
• why parts experience anxiety
• how and why parts use food to manage anxiety

We also get into what to do about all of this (spoiler alert: get to know your parts!). If you're someone who experiences anxiety (and I know I am), I hope this one's helpful for you!

Where to find me:

drkimdaniels.com

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On this weeks' podcast episode, we're talking about restriction. This is a topic that I know I've mentioned a number of times on the show, but I've never talked about it in depth. And given how common it is, it's about time that I do.

What comes to mind when you think about the word "restriction" (as it relates to food)? For me, I tend to think about the diagnosis of anorexia. I picture someone who's not eating nearly enough to sustain their body. Someone who has parts that are terrified of eating or of weight gain. Someone who's body is breaking down due to a lack of nourishment. You might picture the same.

But I think that's a very narrow idea of what restriction often looks like.

While certainly there are folx who are engaging in that level of restriction (research shows that up to 4% of women and up to .3% of men are diagnosed with anorexia at some point in their lifetime), many, many people restrict their food intake to a lesser degree. And I think many of those people don't really even realize that how they're eating would be considered restrictive.

For example, dieting is actually restriction. So is not eating certain foods or limiting how much of those foods you're eating. Restriction is also believing that you need to earn food with exercise. Or counting out exactly 19 grapes (or whatever the "correct" serving size of grapes might be) regardless of how hungry you are. And there are probably dozens upon dozens of other examples of restriction that we don't typically think of as restriction.

At this point, you may be thinking, "Hey--I do some of those things--so what? That's normal." Well, you're right--it is normal in our culture to engage in restrictive eating behaviors. But should it be?

To me, restrictive eating behaviors aren't Self-led. And in my humble opinion, being Self-led with food as what we're aiming for. I truly believe that our Self wants our body to be nourished and healthy. And I don't believe that Self supports restricting. Which means that restriction comes from our parts.

Let me say that again: restrictive eating comes from our parts.

And on this week's episode, we talk about the four most common reasons that our parts restrict food:

• Restriction is seen as "normal" and desirable in our culture
• To lose weight, maintain weight, or prevent weight gain
• As a means of controlling the chaos in one's life
• To feel special

We also talk about what restriction is (i.e. it's not just anorexia), what it can look like, and how our protectors use restriction to protect exiles. Quick example: say you have an exile who carries body shame from being told that your body is too large. This exile may be protected by a part who works really hard at trying to lose weight, thinking that if your body is just smaller that exile would no longer feel shame.

If you know you have parts that restrict food (or are now curious about whether or not you do), take a listen to this week's episode. My hope is that you'll have a much better understanding of--and appreciation for--these restricting parts. Take a listen!

Where to find me:

drkimdaniels.com

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On my last podcast episode, Heidi Andersen and I had a fantastic discussion about embodiment and how vital it is to be in your body in order to heal your relationship with it. (If you didn't listen to it yet, check it out here!)

After Heidi and I recorded that episode, I told her she had an open invitation to come back onto the show and expand on anything that we had just discussed. This invitation turned into the idea of her walking me through some embodiment exercises on the show that you could do as well. We immediately scheduled another recording and voila! This week's episode was done!

Just a reminder about Heidi and why she's the perfect person to be talking about this topic. Heidi is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor, Certified Body Trust® Specialist, Certified Safe and Sound Protocol Provider, Registered Yoga Teacher and Embodiment Specialist. She currently supports clients with Reclaiming Beauty, an outpatient group practice of body-centered psychotherapists specializing in weight inclusive treatment for the intersection of trauma, attachment wounds, and eating disorders through a body liberation lens and somatic approach.

Heidi believes embodiment heals and combines her studies of Somatic Internal Family Systems, Embodied Recovery for Eating Disorders, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and the Center for Body Trust® in her support of her clients. She is also the author of the Reclaiming Beauty Journal and Wisdom Deck, a resource created to support women in building a self-compassionate relationship with their body.

As we discussed in last week's episode, Heidi defines embodiment as:

The ability to land safely in our body in the present moment, just how we are.

For many of us, this takes some practice, patience, and guidance. And this is where Heidi comes in. When we discussed this episode, Heidi told me that she had a "million" embodiment exercises. In the interest of time, she chose to do three.

We start the episode with talking about why it's so important to work toward embodiment. Some of the many reasons for this are:

• Noticing how your body can be a resource (this might be news to your parts!)

• Learning how your body can help you regulate your nervous system

• Helping to shift the "violent" thoughts we tend to send toward our bodies

• Feeling comfortable with no longer avoiding your body

Heidi then walks me through three different exercises, checking in with my parts as we go along. It was an insightful experience for me, and I know it will be for you too!

Again, connecting with your body is a necessary part of healing your relationship with it, and I hope that these exercises help you to either begin that journey or further the work you're already doing. Take a listen!

I'll get right to it and be honest. Part of this week's podcast topic--GLP-1 medication--is not something I've really wanted to talk about. These are the medications that we're all hearing about nonstop--the ones that Oprah talked about in her recent special. I haven't wanted to give them much air time, because we hear about them so much everywhere else, and also because I don't really think my opinion on them matters. Although it's true that I have significant concerns about these medications and wish that we could move past weight loss as a goal, I also truly believe in bodily autonomy. If these medications seem right to you, what does it matter what I think of them?

So, I do mention them on this week's podcast, but it's only briefly and it's only to say two things:

1. If you're looking into taking them, please do your own independent research. Hopefully, you have a trustworthy physician who's looking out for your best interests. But if you don't, you might have someone who's not giving you all of the information. So please please please research the heck of them.
2. If you do take them/are taking them, please listen to what your body is telling you. If you're having any type of negative side effects, please take that seriously. All medications can have serious consequences, so you definitely want to listen to your body.

Moving on...

What I really wanted to focus on this week is food noise. This is a term you've probably heard about because they tend to talk a lot about it when they talk about GLP-1s. And since it seems like people are always talking about GLP-1s, they're also talking a lot about food noise.

Food noise isn't an official term or diagnosis--I don't know who coined it, but someone did and now that's how we refer to the constant internal chatter about food. This might be your experience: constantly thinking about food. That's food noise. It seems as though medication and even bariatric surgery have been found to quiet or at least decrease food noise in some people. But why is that?

No one really knows (one of my many sarcastic parts just rolled her eyes and said "Of course not..."). Sure, it may be due to some physiological change that the medication or surgery causes, such as a change in hormones related to hunger. But I don't think for one second that it's entirely physical. I think it makes total sense that it's at least a little bit psychological. And of course, that relates to parts.

In this episode, we're talking about the psychological factors that might be at play here in the quieting of food noise. I give you four reasons why I think food noise quiets with medications/surgery (spoiler alert: it's not because of the medication or surgery itself), which leads into a discussion on why you don't need medication or surgery to get food noise to soften.

If you're someone who experiences loud levels of food noise, my heart goes out to you. I know that can be at the very least irritating and at times even debilitating. I can absolutely understand wanting to do whatever it takes to make it stop. Hopefully, this week's podcast can shed some light on how to do that without medication/surgery, or in tandem with them.