Finding Freedom with Food

In this episode, I delve deep into the detrimental effects of all-or-nothing thinking, specifically how it contributes to self-sabotage and binge eating behaviors. Listen as I explore the underlying drivers behind these patterns and offer practical strategies to break free from the cycle of destructive thinking and behaviors. Confronting and challenging all-or-nothing thinking is a key element to building long-term healthy eating patterns and a healthy, balanced and sustainable relationship with food and your body.

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

Today’s topic is one that so many people struggle with and that is emotional eating. Eating is a common response to resisting negative emotions. Doing so is actually a coping skill. However, it’s an avoidant coping skill instead of an active one. Not a big deal when we do this occasionally. But when we are using food as our main coping strategy for managing negative emotions this can be harmful.  So, when food is being used in a way where it doesn’t leave space for other forms of coping, that’s when emotional eating becomes problematic. Reality is, eating doesn’t resolve the issue driving the underlying emotion and often adds another layer of emotional discomfort when we feel judgment, guilt and shame for eating.

In this episode, I’ll teach you how to recognize what is actually driving emotional eating and binge eating episodes and you will learn a process and coping strategies that will help you stop using food as a tool to manage difficult emotions. 

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

Today’s topic will hopefully spark some healthy self-reflection when it comes to your eating patterns and relationship with food and your body.  

Eating behaviors occur on a spectrum. At one end sits healthy eating behaviors and on the other are clinically diagnosable eating disorders. ⁠There are a lot of gray area eating behaviors in between that fall into what is now recognized as disordered eating (DE) behaviors. The term “disordered eating” refers to food- and diet-related behaviors that don’t meet diagnostic criteria for recognized eating disorders (EDs) but may still negatively affect someone’s physical, mental, or emotional health.

The truth is, it’s become difficult to know when habits like these that have been labeled by diet culture as healthy fall into the pattern of disordered eating. In this episode, we explore the various characteristics of disordered eating to help you identify these behaviors in your own eating patterns. You’ll also be guided through an exercise to identify the impact that dieting has had on your mental, physical, emotional and social life and what you need to do to step away from disordered dieting behaviors and toward healthier, sustainable eating habits.

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

Today I’m talking about a topic that many chronic dieters struggle with - binge eating. It’s common to have feelings of a lack of control and heap on the guilt and shame after a binge eating episode. But if you’re thinking you need to “get back on track” and “be good again” after you’ve binged, this episode is for you! 

Instead of spending your precious energy shaming and blaming yourself for binge eating, what you really need to do is get curious! And redirect your attention to what is actually CAUSING the binges. And NO, it is NOT your willpower.

Today I’m sharing the top 3 most common causes I see over and over again that drive binge eating episodes with my clients to help you identify and address the root cause that is driving binge eating episodes. 

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

As a mom of a daughter who has two daughters of her own, I have spent a lot of time thinking about and researching ways to keep them from internalizing unrealistic body ideals and instill a healthy attitude toward their bodies, so they don’t fall into the negative body image trap that plagues so many women of all ages.

Negative body image is not something we’re born with, and it does not live in fats cells! In this episode, I am sharing 7 strategies to help our daughters and any young women we are mentors and role models for build body confidence.

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

As a society, we spend SO much time and energy investing in the quest to shrink our bodies and criticizing ourselves for what we perceive as body flaws. 

This obsession with shrinking our bodies has some real and detrimental consequences. The sad reality is that it keeps us playing small when we could be putting ourselves out there to create, connect, experience and contribute to the world.

You truly can have a healthy relationship with your body and body image, even if you don’t currently love how it looks. In this episode, I’m sharing ways to break free from the body obsession practices that are holding you back and redirect your focus on the truly important value you bring to the world that has nothing to do with your appearance. We also dive into how gratitude for all of the amazing things your body does for you can be an important part of the healing process. 

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

One of the most common concerns people have when they’re at the place where they are ready to step away from dieting and learn how to apply the principles of Intuitive Eating is if they stop dieting, they will keep gaining weight. 

When you've been following diets and food plans for so long, the idea of getting to the place where you can fully trust that your body knows how to keep you nourished and thriving, without going overboard with certain foods can seem too good to be true.

in this episode I break down the different factors that can impact weight changes in the early phases of Intuitive Eating and how Intuitive Eating will help you reach and maintain YOUR ideal, maintainable weight. I also share some of the potential consequences of weight cycling and why it’s so important to our health outcomes to stop the vicious cycle of dieting, so you get to and maintain your body’s biological set point weight. 

Studies referenced in this episode:

Association of weight change, weight control practices, and weight cycling among women in the Nurses' Health Study II (Field et al. 2004; CW)

The Weight-Inclusive versus Weight-Normative Approach to Health: Evaluating the Evidence for Prioritizing Well-Being over Weight Loss (Tylka et al. 2014; CW)

Body Weight Fluctuation as a Risk Factor for Type 2 Diabetes: Results from a Nationwide Cohort Study (Park et al. 2019; CW) 

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

Learning to understand and trust our body’s hunger and fullness cues is one of the most powerful tools you can harness to have a truly healthy and sustainable relationship with food. However, years of dieting, food rules, and seeking external sources to guide our eating can cause us to become incredibly out of touch with these internal cues.

In this episode, I dive deeper into how hunger and fullness truly works within the Intuitive Eating framework and share some strategies for helping you recognize, honor and trust your body’s innate cues to keep you fueled and feeling your best and prevent overeating and binge eating episodes. 

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

There is a lot of misinformation out there about Intuitive Eating, especially if you're getting much of your information from social media. There are a lot of well-meaning influencers that turn intuitive eating into simply a hunger/fullness diet. However, there is so much more to it than simply hunger and fullness. Others make it seem like it's an eating free-for-all which is also not how it works. 

Intuitive Eating is an eating approach that encompasses 10 principles that work together to help you create a healthy mindset and behaviors around food and rebuild connection with your body’s internal cues, so you are eating and moving your body in a way that makes you feel your best physically and mentally. In this episode, I walk you through the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating to provide you with insight into how it all works together to support you on the journey to becoming an Intuitive Eater.  

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...

For so many of us, dieting has been a regular part of life. This drive to obsess about shrinking our bodies has been totally normalized because we live in a dieting culture. However, the sad truth is, dieting is the quickest way to short circuit a healthy relationship with food. In fact, the system of dieting itself creates a set up for failure.

In this episode, I’m unpacking some of the science behind why dieting has been shown to be the #1 predictor of future weight. The good news is, there is a way out of the vicious diet cycle, and I’ll be sharing some tips and resources to get started on the path to ditching restrictive diets and creating sustainable eating behaviors so you can get to the healthy, maintainable weight for your body.  

Below are studies referenced in this episode:

·        See e.g. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A. T., & Gulliford, M. C. (2015). Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records. American Journal of Public Health, 105(9), e54. And Miller, W. C. (1999). How effective are traditional dietary and exercise interventions for weight loss? Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 31(8), 1129–34.

·        Mann et al. 2007.

·        Gianini, L. M., Walsh, B. T., Steinglass, J., & Mayer, L. (2017). Long-term weight loss maintenance in obesity: Possible insights from anorexia nervosa? The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 50(4), 341–342.

·        Abdul G. Dulloo*, Jean Jacquet and Jean-Pierre Montani. (2012) How dieting makes some fatter: from a perspective of human body composition autoregulation, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 71, 378-389

·        Fothergill, Erin et al (2016). Persistent Metabolic Adaptation 6 Years After “The Biggest Loser” Competition. Ob*sity Biology and Integrated Physiology

If you find this content helpful and inspiring, please LEAVE A REVIEW + SHARE your favorite episodes with others who struggle with food and body issues so they can get support to heal their relationship with food and rebuild body confidence. 

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

·       New to Intuitive Eating? Download my FREE guide – QuickStart Tips to Get Started with Intuitive Eating.

·       Ready to go deeper? Check out my course, The Intuitive Eating Academy.

·       Need help taming your inner mean girl? Download my FREE guide - Navigating Bad Body Image Days.
·       Do you find it difficult to trust your body’s cues to eat when you are hungry & stop when you are satisfied? Download my Free Guide –5 Steps to Reconnect with Hunger & Fullness.

Let’s stay connect!

Instagram: @finding.freedom.with.food

Facebook: @fi...