In this week’s episode of Chew On This, I’m joined by Joanna Rodriguez, a health psychologist who works with the nervous system, stress, and trauma and who describes her work as helping people feel less shit. We talk about why the mind and body aren’t separate, how that false divide creates unnecessary suffering and shame, and why so many struggles with food aren’t about willpower or control at all. Jo explains how our nervous system shapes appetite, hunger, and eating patterns through fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses, and why behaviours like restricting, binging, emotional eating, or eating to please others are often physiological survival adaptations rather than personal failures. We explore what it means to slow down in a world that doesn’t encourage it, how micro pauses, grounding, breathwork, and tapping can help the body feel safer, and why compassion is not about being soft or indulgent but about understanding what’s actually going on beneath the behaviour. We also talk about living well with difficult feelings instead of trying to get rid of them, the impact of chronic stress and pain on eating, and how learning to work with the body rather than fighting it can begin to shift long standing patterns around food, emotions, and self trust.

Find Jo:

Instagram: @straightforwardpsychology

Find Anna:

Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.dranna.co.uk/about⁠⁠⁠

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/drannacolton⁠⁠⁠

Book (Amazon): ⁠⁠⁠https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Children-About-Food/dp/1785120557

Id. d’épisode : 1000749188607

GUID : 7d90ff58-9d0d-441a-aefd-5f72c07c41e5

Date de publication : 11/2/2026 à 06:00:00