In this episode of Shoulders Down, Leah sits down with Sarah Jane Garcia, a certified intuitive eating counselor and specialty pharmacist, to talk about her journey from bingeing and restriction into obsessive “clean eating,” and ultimately toward a more peaceful relationship with food. Sarah Jane shares how her pursuit of health gradually pulled her deeper into wellness culture, even leading her to become an integrative health practitioner herself.
She opens up about how pregnancy and motherhood intensified the pressure she felt to optimize her health, from restrictive protocols and supplements to fears about feeding her children the “right” foods. She shares the experiences that helped her recognize her orthorexia, discover intuitive eating, and begin dismantling the beliefs she’d absorbed about food, health, and personal responsibility.
Leah and Sarah Jane also explore the tension between wellness culture and conventional medicine, Sarah Jane’s evolving relationship with her work as a pharmacist, and the importance of making room for nuance rather than trading one rigid framework for another.
You’ll hear about:
- How Sarah Jane’s relationship with food evolved from bingeing and restriction into orthorexia
- The ways wellness culture can prey on anxiety, perfectionism, and the pressure to optimize our health
- How pregnancy and motherhood intensified Sarah Jane’s food fears
- Sarah Jane’s experience navigating wellness culture and conventional medicine as a pharmacist
- Finding nuance around medication, mental health, food, and wellness
Listen to the episode here or anywhere you get your podcasts
More from Sarah Jane:Â
- Website:Â sarahjgarcia.com
- intuitiveeatingcollab.com a membership for moms healing their relationships with food and body while working to break the cycle for their children
- 👆Use code SHOULDERS19 for the exclusive listener discount of $19/month
More From Leah:
- đź“šDownload your free Intuitive Eating Starter Pack
- Apply to The Embodied Method, my 1:1 coaching program
- Join my self-paced course, The Return
- Subscribe to Leah’s Youtube Channel
- Subscribe to my personal Substack
- Follow me on Instagram for more intuitive eating content @leahkern.rd
- Visit my website to learn more about my coaching offerings
- Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a nugget of intuitive eating inspiration delivered straight from my heart to your inbox each week.
- Send me a voice message on Speakpipe
- Email me:Â Leah@leahkernrd.com
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Last modified: September 22, 2026
