Monday Nights 7pm – 8:30pm, September 8 – December 15, 2025
This group is currently CLOSED. The next group will be January 2026.
The Authentic Eating Therapy Group is a 14-Week online program based on Internal Family Systems (IFS). The Cost is a sliding scale from $420 – $560 per person (See refund policy below).
Authentic Eating is eating from the Authentic Self – our place of inner knowing and Self-leadership. Authentic Eating is a Self-led approach to nourishment that honors the innate wisdom of both body and psyche rather than external rules, diet culture dictates, or reactive emotional states from protective or exiled parts that may lead us to emotionally overeat, binge, purge, or restrict.
Authentic Eating recognizes that each person’s relationship with food is unique and evolving, shaped by their individual physical needs, cultural background, life experiences, and internal parts – including those parts that have developed patterns of eating that avoid difficult emotions, seek comfort, maintain control, or protect us from vulnerability. When we eat from our Authentic Selves, we can access the natural qualities of curiosity over judgment, self-compassion over perfectionism, and presence over autopilot consumption or reactive food behaviors.
At its core, Authentic Eating is about returning to our natural ability to sense what, when, and how much our bodies need for optimal health and vitality through Authentic Self-leadership, especially when parts have taken over our eating in their attempts to help us cope with stress, trauma, loneliness, or overwhelming feelings. It acknowledges that this process involves not just physical signals like hunger and satiety, but also the full spectrum of human experience – including emotions, memories, social connections, and spiritual needs – all held with our Authentic Selves’ calm, clear perspective.
Rather than following rigid dietary rules or battling with food from reactive parts in their efforts to manage, numb, or control our inner and outer experiences, Authentic Eating invites us to develop a trusting, collaborative relationship with our bodies and all parts of ourselves from our Authentic Selves. It recognizes that true nourishment encompasses not only what we eat, but how we eat – with our qualities of mindfulness, pleasure, flexibility, and deep respect for the interconnected nature of food, body, mind, and soul.
In this group, we will be focusing on how Authentic Eating is both a practice and a way of being – one that supports not just physical health, but psychological healing, emotional regulation, and spiritual connection to the larger web of life that sustains us, all anchored in Authentic Self-leadership and the natural wisdom that emerges when our Authentic Selves are in charge of our relationship with food.
If you need more experience with IFS, Please join my IFS Basic Skills group here.
Authentic Eating ©2025
Self-Leadership as the Foundation for Authentic Eating
Authentic eating emerges from a place of self-leadership, where we cultivate the ability to tune into our bodies’ wisdom and make food choices that genuinely support our overall well-being. This self-led approach to nourishment means developing the skills to listen deeply to our physical cues, honor our body’s needs, and make decisions that enhance rather than diminish our health and vitality. When we eat from this grounded, self-aware place, our relationship with food becomes an expression of self-care and respect for the body we inhabit. From Authentic Self-leadership we eat with:
- Presence & Clarity: We are present with our eating experience and clear about our hunger, thirst, and satiety cues without interference from anxious or reactive parts. We pay attention to whether we are experiencing Self energy or parts energy, noticing the difference between the calm, curious presence of Self and the urgent, reactive energy of activated parts.
- Curiosity & Compassion: We approach our food choices with genuine curiosity about what our bodies need, while offering compassion to any parts that may have strong reactions, fears, or judgments about food. We recognize that foods are neither good nor bad, and we extend understanding to parts that may disagree.
- Calmness & Confidence: We remain calm in our relationship with food and confident in our body’s wisdom, trusting our ability to nourish ourselves well without being driven by urgent or controlling parts.
- Choice & Courage: We exercise authentic choice in selecting foods that support our health and vitality, having the courage to honor our body’s needs even when parts resist or external pressures influence us.
- Playfulness & Creativity: We approach eating with lightness and joy, savoring flavors and textures while creatively exploring foods that bring both nourishment and pleasure.
- Patience & Persistence: We remain patient with ourselves through the process of developing authentic eating, understanding that healing our relationship with food takes time and consistent Self-leadership. When parts become activated or blended around food, we patiently return to Self-leadership rather than expecting perfection, persistently practicing unblending techniques and compassionate dialogue with parts even when accessing Self energy feels difficult.
- Perspective & Connectedness: We maintain perspective that eating is part of life’s natural balance and that all foods can serve different purposes in nourishing us, recognizing our connection to the earth, cultural traditions, and the larger web of life that sustains us.
Mental Health Part 1 – Dr. Duffy Spencer talks with Nadine Lucas, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, in June of 2021, about a fresh look at addiction through the Internal Family Systems model, which offers access to the subconscious
Mental Health Part 2 – Dr. Duffy Spencer talks with Nadine Lucas, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, in June of 2021, about an exploration into using IFS as a vehicle for communicating with parts of the self that are having cravings, and identifying the real needs underneath
Refund Policy: Once the participation fee is paid and the group has begun, it is non-refundable regardless of whether the participant completes the program or chooses to withdraw early. Exceptions to this no-refund policy may be considered on a case-by-case basis for situations such as emergencies or other unforeseen events that significantly impact the participants ability to continue with the group. In that case, the situation will be assessed to determine if a partial refund is warranted.
Resources
- Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts – Audiobook by Richard Schwartz (2018)
- Self-Therapy Workbook (An Exercise Book for the IFS Process) – Bonnie Weiss, LCSW, 2013
- Self Therapy Vol 3 by Jay Earley – Chapter 3 – Eating Issues with Bonnie Weiss
- IFS Innovations and Elaborations by Martha Sweezy and Ellen Ziskind – Chapter 3: IFS and Eating Disorders by Jeanne Catanzaro
- Unburdened Eating by Jeanne Catanzaro, PhD (2024)
- Simply Mindful Meal by Meal (101 mindful ways to create a healthy relationship with food) – Donald Altman, 2024
- The Body is Not an Apology – Sonya Renee Taylor, 2018
- The Body is Not an Apology Workbook – Sonya Renee Taylor, 2021