Saying “no” sometimes means saying “yes”.

Okay, don’t let me misguide you here. What I mean, is that sometimes when you say “no” in one area of your life, you’re often saying “yes” to another. When you say “no” to working overtime, you are saying “yes” to spending time with your family. When you say “no” to going out for drinks on a Friday evening, you might say “yes” to an early morning trip to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday.

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Balance and boundaries are the keys to your success in your everyday life. But balancing the two is never easy. The way we relate to food often mirrors how we relate to people—be it friends, family, or romantic partners. And let’s be real, the way we interact with others can reveal a lot about our own struggles and strengths.

In this episode, I’m joined by Eli Weinstein, and we're taking a slight detour from our usual deep dives into food relationships to talk about relationships in general. Because let’s face it, whether you’re the life of the party or the king of introversion, we all have to deal with people.

Eli is an LCSW Therapist who currently runs his own private practice in NY + NV. He is married to his wife Ariella and has 2 beautiful children Rikki + Max, and Dog Belle, and lives in sunny Las Vegas. He created ELIvation + The Dude Therapist Podcast Show to fill a need and create a modern outlook on mental health, fatherhood, parenting, and relationships. Through this, he makes a more digestible and relatable conversation to help those in struggling times and adds some extra inspiration and motivation to everyday life. His style is approachable, with No BS, like talking to your best buddy, a licensed professional. He aims to create an inviting, fun, digestible approach to discussing emotional challenges + mental Health/wellness. Eli has been featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Trauma Therapist, Mimosas With Moms, Holding Space, Breaking Taboo, Therapy Thoughts w/ Tiffany Roe, and many more podcasts on parenting, relationships, and mental health. He has interviewed Dr. Edith Eger, Apollo Ohno, Dr. Nicole Lepera, Sharon Mazel, Tina Bryson, and many more experts in the fields of parenting, relationships, and mental health. His mission is to use my experience, expertise, no bs mentality, and voice to help empower people to realize they can, they are loved, and the life they hope for is possible with some help, compassion, and guidance with realness.

In this episode, we're diving into:

  • Understanding trade-offs in life and boundaries, and how saying no to one thing means saying yes to another.

  • The difference between attachment styles (secure, anxious, avoidant) and their impact on relationships.

  • The role of awareness in changing how we interact with others.

  • The need for interdependence in relationships, balancing individuality with connection.

  • The importance of having difficult conversations and overcoming the fear of addressing sensitive issues in relationships.

  • The process of expressing emotions effectively and the challenges that come with it.

  • Emphasizing that boundaries can arise from an environment where one doesn't feel safe to express emotions.

  • All things boundaries–personal, parenting, food, etc. 

  • Creating structures with built-in flexibility to avoid the pressure and potential failure of rigid systems.

Tweetable Quotes

"When we don't have boundaries, someone else is controlling what comes in and comes out." - Eli Weinstein

"You never have to explain why you have boundaries to people." - Eli Weinstein

"For growth, we need boundaries with relaxation." - Eli Weinstein

"Boundaries keep us safe. Boundaries keep us healthy. And we are in control of who we let in, what we let in, and how we let it in." - Eli Weinstein

Resources

Connect with Eli here! 

Find him on social media: @eliweinstein_lcsw / @thedudetherapist

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Related Episodes 

Episode 83. Eating Disorders and Attachment with Kathryn Garland, LCSW-S and Vanessa Scaringi, PhD, CEDS-S

Episode 74. The Best Advice You’ll Ever Get

Episode 49. Attachment Styles and Food Relationships with Dr. Sarah Chipps

Episode 31. What Does the Research Actually Show? with Molly Fennig

Episode 27. Eating Disorders and the Mind/Body Disconnect with Danielle Novack, Ph.D

Episode 26. Developing a Healthy Relationship with Exercise and Movement with Dawn Lundin MS, RD, CNSC

Episode 7. Boundaries: Am I Being Mean or Assertive? With Marissa Sappho, LCSW, BCD, CEDS-S

Episode 6. Using Relationships to Heal


Newsletter update: If you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, then I’m not sure what you’re waiting for! I’m ✨obsessed ✨ with it. In an effort to keep things fun and fresh, we’re going to monthly newsletters rather than weekly. If you have any feedback on what you want to see in the newsletters, reply back to one or send me a message!


Grab my FREEBIE!: As you navigate recovery, you may be feeling like something is missing. You're doing a lot of work challenging yourself with the food, your body, and exercise. You're probably working on lots of other things at the same time, like stuff at work or relationship issues.

But, still, something doesn't feel like you're getting to the bottom of it. Grab my free journal prompts below and begin to work through the emotions of healing.

More From Rachelle

Hey there! I’m Rachelle, the host of the Understanding Disordered Eating Podcast. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, I work with clients to make sense of life’s messy emotional experiences.

I believe in the power of deep work and its positive impact on your life in the long term. Learn more about how we can work together here.

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