This was an interesting read. I hadn't thought of all of the connections that can be made between disordered eating and trauma, but this book was insightful.

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.

A great concept to something that so many people of all sizes struggle with. In reading this wook I learned some interesting facts and tips to use to help change my mind set and also make sure that I'm mindful of not passing things onto my child.

"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.

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.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

Unburdened Eating by Jeanne Catanzaro in an in depth look at internal family systems with regards to emotional eating. I enjoyed learning about the IFS approach and the research being done.

As someone who struggled with their weight all their life, I felt really good reading this book. It helps to reflect on can be done to better your general attitude about food and on how you can finally make peace with it.

This was a very structured and formulaic process to assist in changing disordered eating patterns with some integrated IFS practices. I enjoyed reading this and will utilize some of the strategies w/my clients.

Unburdened Eating is a non-fiction book about the Internal Family System approach to eating.
Catanazaro’s expertise is evident throughout this book.
The approach is explained step by step or in a structured way that is easy to understand and implement and accompanied by illustrations.

This book is best for those with eating disorders and trauma - well, the descriptions and short summaries of this book are a great guide to decide if this book is for you.

I will recommend this book to my friends who are mental health professionals.

This book on IFS and healing your relationship with food and your body is a fantastic resource! It breaks down the Internal Family Systems approach clearly, making it accessible for both professionals and anyone interested. The practical questions and helpful graphics make it easy to use, and I highly recommend it for therapists, dietitians, doctors, and anyone looking to improve their relationship with food and body.

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

This book was a surprisingly quick read, coming in at just under 200 pages. I have read a lot of literature on eating disorders throughout the years, including this one. Her message lines up with the best of them: ignoring societies messages, trying to stop shame spirals, etc. there wasn’t any ground breaking information, but important and necessary information.

5 star!

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!

This book was an incredibly insightful and fresh look at the instilled shame individuals have around food, weight, body image and internalized shame. As a counselor this was a well-constructed and researched book through the lens of internal family systems. Highly recommend to clinicians but also people looking to break the cycle or rethink what society has taught us.

The IFS approach was brand new to me and I couldn't wait to learn more about it. Catanzaro did a good job explaining the burdens of distorted eating and how to heal using this method. I was a bit confused and really had to reread parts. Overall, it was informative and helpful. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

There was so much great information in this book to help with unburdened eating but also just reconnecting with yourself. Right away she talks about the qualities of self and oh boy did I need to start reconnecting with those qualities and changing some beliefs about myself. I also need to change my thoughts about eating and my body. This book is really helpful and I think I need to go back and read certain chapters again just to really get it to stick in my head. I really recommend it for people that need help in the food/body area of diet or not feeling good enough.