No Good or Bad Foods: Why You Can't Just Enjoy a Meal with Dr. Rachel Goldman

Do you divide carbs, fats, and calories into whether they are “good” and “bad?" This episode with Dr. Rachel Goldman, a clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapy specialist, will separate physiological hunger from emotional hunger and consider why many women carry disordered eating patterns from their teens and 20s—just as those methods lose effectiveness.

"It's the thought that follows the behaviour that's more important than the behaviour." The cookie is rarely the problem. The shame spiral after it is.

This episode explores reading hunger signals, using a coping toolbox and a 10-minute pause to curb impulsive eating, rejecting food morality, and restoring pleasure via mindful eating and the raisin exercise. It examines when fasting becomes restriction—particularly for perimenopausal women—and addresses food noise, GLP-1s, avoiding speculation on celebrity bodies (and discussing them with children), supporting loved ones, and escaping societal appearance pressures.

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CHAPTERS

(0:00) Intro: Body Image, Thought Spirals, and Self-Care
(4:47) Physiological Hunger vs. Emotional Hunger: How to Tell the Difference
(11:19) Emotional Eating: The Thought After the Bite, Coping Tools, and the 10-Minute Pause
(16:59) Good Carbs vs. Bad Carbs: Why There Are No Good or Bad Foods
(25:51) Mindful Eating, the Raisin Exercise, and Why Discomfort Can Help
(32:17) Fasting and Disordered Eating: When Restriction Becomes a Problem
(39:52) Menopause, Food Noise, and GLP-1s: Tool or Crash Diet?
(45:26) Celebrity Bodies, Hollywood, and Why We Shouldn’t Comment on Weight
(54:23) How to Talk to a Daughter or Loved One About Disordered Eating
(59:17) Social Media, Physique Competitors, and Finding Your Why
(1:04:16) The Never-Ending Goalpost: Body Image in Midlife and the Scale
(1:10:36) The After Party: Dr. Stephanie’s Takeaways

RESOURCES MENTIONED

When Life Happens, by Dr. Rachel Goldman. A full chapter on body image. https://whenlifehappensbook.comDr. Rachel Goldman on social media: @drrachelnycThe DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/24291-diagnostic-and-statistical-manual-dsm-5The raisin exercise, a mindful eating practice. https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/raisin_meditationSurvey study of changes in total caloric and protein intake across the menopause transition: a preliminary analysis https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12404059/

BIO

Dr. Rachel Goldman is a nationally recognized clinical psychologist and author of When Life Happens (April 2026). She specializes in cognitive behavioural therapy, with expertise in stress management, body image, health behaviour change, and the mind-body connection. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and maintains a private practice in New York City.  More at https://www.drrachelnyc.com/about/

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