Ep. 259 Food, Body & Identity: Untangling the Hidden Layers of Eating Disorders with Psychotherapist Asher M. Saruya

In this insightful and deeply personal episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini sits down with Asher M. Saruya, a psychotherapist whose lived experience with eating disorders, neurodivergence, and Jewish identity informs their clinical practice and advocacy work.

Together, they unpack the complex intersections of culture, family, identity, and neurodiversity that shape how we experience food and body image. Asher shares their powerful story of struggling with restriction, bingeing, and perfectionism—alongside the deep healing that came from understanding how trauma, cultural messaging, and ADHD influenced their relationship with food.

This episode explores how shame and self-judgment evolve through family systems, religious traditions, and social pressures, and how recovery means learning to exist more fully and compassionately in one’s own body.

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