In Episode 45, Christine sits down for a deeply personal and moving conversation with Jane Lee — community leader, advocate, and proud Korean American — to explore how culture, identity, and family dynamics shape our earliest experiences with food and body image.
Jane shares powerful reflections from her childhood as a Korean immigrant growing up in the Midwest, navigating the contrast between traditional Korean food culture and American diet messaging, and how comments about her size, appetite, and appearance influenced her relationship with her body throughout adolescence and adulthood.
Together, they explore:
✨ How cultural norms shape body ideals and expectations for girls and women
✨ The "food is love" dynamic in immigrant households — and how it can both comfort and harm
✨ Why words matter, and how family comments can impact self-worth for decades
✨ Dieting, comparison, and the pressure to fit a cultural mold
✨ The impact of moving between cultures with different beauty standards
✨ How Jane healed through journaling, reflection, and community work
✨ The role of caregiving, grief, and identity in shaping how we show up in the world
✨ What she would tell her younger self — and what she hopes the next generation hears instead
This conversation is rich, heartfelt, and full of wisdom for anyone who has ever felt "different," struggled to belong, or carried the weight of cultural expectations around body and beauty.
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