Are you stuck in an endless cycle of dieting, feeling like your happiness lies on the number on the scale? Despite your best efforts, the weight always seems to come back, leaving you frustrated and defeated. Why does it feel impossible to break free and find lasting peace with your body?

The truth is, the problem goes far deeper than calories and exercise. Emotional disconnection often drives the urge to soothe with food, leading to guilt and shame. Without meaningful emotional intimacy — both with yourself and others — the stress and loneliness only amplify, making sustainable weight loss feel like an uphill battle.

The key to lasting change isn’t another restrictive diet, but reconnecting with your emotions. By building emotional resilience and addressing the root causes of emotional eating, you can break free from the cycle for good. Through Leslie’s HEAL method, you’ll gain the tools to cultivate self-trust, regulate emotions, and create a healthier, more empowered relationship with food and your body.

"When you cultivate emotional intimacy, your nervous system shifts from a state of stress to a state of relaxation. And this balanced state supports better digestion, improved metabolism, healthier hormone regulation, all of which support weight loss. Plus the more emotionally supported you feel, the less likely you are to turn to food as a coping mechanism." - Leslie Thornton

What you will learn from this episode:

02:53 - What is emotional intimacy and the different types 

06:12 - The importance of emotional intimacy in achieving permanent weight loss

11:14 - How cultivating emotional intimacy with oneself and others can reduce emotional eating

15:15 - Tools to help you resolve emotional disconnection

19:40 - How temporary highs from weight loss can lead to unsustainable dieting cycles

22:47 - Explaining  how cultivating emotional intimacy fosters self-trust, resilience, and emotional regulation, leading to empowered food choices, reduced emotional eating, and sustainable weight loss

24:25 - An invitation to a lifetime of happiness and freedom

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass
• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Have you ever felt like life was just happening to you, leaving you stuck in a cycle of giving to others while losing sight of yourself? What if years of people-pleasing and pushing through left you drained and holding a lot of stress, with no clear sense of what you truly want? And when deep struggles arise, how do you begin to rebuild while still showing up for those who rely on you?

Our bodies hold onto stress, often without us noticing, creating patterns that shape our reactions to financial, professional, and personal challenges. Traditional advice tells us to “just think differently,” but changing your mindset isn’t that simple when your nervous system is wired for stress. Without the right tools, breaking free from these automatic reactions can feel impossible.

For Dr. Laura Collatz, dentistry has always been a part of her life, from her early days filing charts at a family dentist's office to owning her successful practice. Despite facing unimaginable challenges, including complex PTSD, she found healing through neuroscience techniques and laughter yoga. Now a certified laughter yoga instructor, Laura combines her personal experiences with her professional expertise to help other dental professionals to find their inner magic.

In this episode, Laura shares how laughter exercises, NLP techniques, and mindset shifts can reprogram your response to financial stress, anxiety, and even everyday challenges. By creating new neural pathways, you can train your brain to associate money, work, and even dental visits with a sense of ease. Through intentional practice and guidance, you can shift from stress and fear to confidence and joy.

"I have been starting to implement[NLP learnings] just subtle things that I've learned into my conversations with patients and my treatment acceptance is going up because I know how to listen to them differently now. And I know how to respond to them differently now. And that's huge when a patient feels like they're truly heard and they're understood, that's a big chunk of the puzzle." - Laura Collatz

What you will learn from this episode:

04:24 - Shares her journey of overcoming trauma, people-pleasing, and complex PTSD and ultimately finding resilience and joy

09:16 - How her personal breakthrough session with Leslie helped her overcome procrastination, regain motivation, and launch her Laughter Fairy Coaching business

14:55 - Highlighting how gaining confidence in coaching and recording content for her online class has been both challenging and rewarding

17:48 - How the unconscious mind can't distinguish between visualization and reality, emphasizing how mental rehearsal, like that used by Olympic athletes, can rewire the brain for success

20:32 - Explaining the powerful effects of laughter yoga on the brain and body and how intentional laughter helped her overcome stress during vaccinations and emphasizing its ability to boost mood, reduce cortisol, and improve mental clarity

24:32 - How laughter exercises helps rewire the brain’s stress responses and sharing a Mel Robbins-inspired phone hack to reduce screen time

27:46 - Highlighting her work in laughter coaching, motivational speaking, and dentistry, including upcoming talks at major dental conferences

29:03 - NLP and how learning it has transformed the way she communicates with dental patients, increasing treatment acceptance

Connect with Laura Collatz:

• Website: https://www.laughterfairy.com/

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass
• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Obsessing over food, weight, and body image — constantly starting over but never finding lasting peace? Do you find yourself swinging between strict diets and feeling out of control, wondering why nothing seems to stick? What if the real issue isn’t just what you’re eating, but something deeper?

It’s frustrating when you’ve tried countless programs, spent money on coaches, and still feel like you’re missing the key to lasting freedom. The anxiety, self-doubt, and constant mental chatter about food can drain your energy, leaving you overwhelmed and exhausted. Worse yet, this struggle can spill into your relationships, your career, and your ability to feel confident and calm in everyday life.

There’s hope — and it starts with Leslie’s HEAL Method — a proven framework that helps you break free from food struggles by addressing the emotional and mental patterns driving your behavior. This powerful program combines hypnosis, emotional mastery, and practical coaching strategies to help you heal from the inside out. By shifting your mindset, releasing shame, and embracing a new way of thinking, you can finally trust yourself around food, feel good in your body, and show up in life with confidence and clarity — no more starting over, just lasting change.

"I need you to understand that healing your relationship with food, like, for good and permanently, it's not something you can do alone. Not if you really want the full transformation. You can get band aid fixes, you can listen to little things. You could get little tidbits that help you feel better temporarily. Not the full shebang, not the full transformation, not the full healing process.You need support. You need tools that go beyond willpower. You need a new way of thinking that actually sticks.You need my HEAL method." - Leslie Thornton

What you will learn from this episode:

01:15 - Explaining that weight loss is a temporary fix, and the real challenge is in addressing deeper mindset issues and self-anger

03:19 -  Emphasizing that true transformation comes from improving your relationship with yourself and your emotions, not just dieting

06:03 - How setbacks with food and weight are often linked to emotional patterns rather than willpower

10:25 - Rewriting your self-narrative, shifting from a mindset of failure to one of resilience, learning, and self-trust

16:19 - Why the Fast Act to Freedom program is a comprehensive solution for lasting change

20:35 - Real life proofs of  how mastering your relationship with food leads to greater confidence, emotional stability, and success in both personal and professional life

26:05 - Menopause and how it requires new tools and mindset adjustments for lasting well-being

28:12 - Encouraging you to break free from food struggles, trust yourself, and create lasting change by embracing your authentic self and seeking support

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass
• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Stress, emotional overwhelm, and unhealthy habits silently take a toll on your well-being as high-achieving professionals and leaders. You know what you should be doing but feel stuck in cycles of burnout, weight gain, and unprocessed emotions that affect your careers, relationships, and health. Despite your success in other areas, you find yourselves unable to break free from these patterns on your own.

The longer this cycle continues, the greater the cost—more stress, more exhaustion, and more temporary fixes that never address the root issue. Time slips by, and with it, missed opportunities for growth, fulfillment, and physical vitality. Without intervention, this struggle compounds, leading to your deeper dissatisfaction and, for many, serious health consequences.

Leslie’s coaching program offers a proven path to lasting transformation by addressing the subconscious patterns and emotional blocks that keep high performers stuck. Through hypnosis, mindset coaching, and deep emotional work, she helps clients achieve true mastery over their habits, health, and success—without relying on your willpower or short-term fixes. Take control of your future now and start the journey toward lasting freedom today.

“I had a high achieving CEO, she told me, ‘I've tried everything, why would this be different?’ Really, the difference is you've never worked on the root cause before. Look for yourself. Have you worked on the root cause of your eating before? Has there been a program that has taught you and has guided you and sat with you as you feel emotions and emotional patterns and subconscious beliefs? Have you actually had someone hold your hand as you're experiencing it yourself? That's where the action part comes in.” - Leslie Thornton

What you will learn from this episode:

01:18 - How high achievers often invest heavily in their careers but hesitate to invest in their own emotional well-being, health, and personal growth

04:08 - Explaining how fear of failure often holds people back from investing in themselves and sharing a client’s transformation highlighting the profound impact of prioritizing personal growth and emotional well-being

07:38 - Sharing client success stories to show how addressing these deeper issues leads to confidence, better relationships, and professional growth

15:53 - Emphasizing the urgency of addressing unprocessed emotions and stress to prevent long-term health and career setbacks

23:42 - Encouraging taking imperfect action now, emphasizing that true transformation comes from addressing root causes with support

28:19 - What it means to take action despite fear

32:03 - Highlighting that transformation requires embracing the unknown

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass
• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Many high achievers struggle with their relationship with food, caught in cycles of emotional eating, guilt, and frustration. They try to control it through willpower, diets, or extreme exercise, only to find themselves slipping back into old patterns. No matter how disciplined they are in other areas of life, food remains an ongoing battle.

The real problem isn’t just the food—it’s what’s driving the behavior beneath the surface. Stress, guilt, and subconscious emotions create an automatic response, making it feel impossible to break free. Without addressing these deeper triggers, the cycle of overeating, self-criticism, and temporary fixes continues, leaving people feeling stuck and powerless.

What if the answer isn’t more control, but unlocking the subconscious patterns running the show? 

Meet Dr. Jim Arnold, the guest for today's episode who is the founder of Luxury Dental Retreats, which combines exceptional dental education with luxury travel for growth-oriented dentists. He established a successful multi-practice dental group recognized for outstanding patient care and customer service while leading a high-performance team to drive excellence. 

With these events, Dr. Arnold is dedicated to sharing his strategies for practice growth while emphasizing the importance of maintaining work-life balance.

Through Hypnosis and deep inner work, Dr. Jim discovered a way to rewire his relationship with food, bringing lasting peace and balance. Instead of fighting cravings or obsessing over the scale, he now moves through life with self-trust, knowing that food no longer holds power over him.

"I had no idea what to expect going into it[Hypnosis]. But for me it was an extraordinary experience in that your[Leslie's] process literally unlocked my subconscious mind. I mean, I was aware of what was going on, but the things that came out of my brain and then out of my mouth were things that I had not ever thought of before. And so I think that's where the magic is. Having someone as adept at this whole process as you are pulling those things out, unlocking that subconscious mind, and then training that subconscious mind to keep those gains for the long run, that's really where the magic happens." - Jim Arnold

What you will learn from this episode:

03:47 - His journey of weight fluctuations, the impact of athletic injuries, and how he sees Hypnosis as a means to achieve lasting weight loss and a healthier relationship with food

06:21 - Reflecting on his lifelong struggle with yo-yo weight fluctuations, and his commitment to lasting personal growth and well-being

09:11 - How shifting from an all-or-nothing mindset to a sustainable approach to fitness and diet has transformed his health

13:44 - Sharing how deep mindset work helped him gain control over his emotions, transforming his reactions to stress and frustration in ways that feel almost miraculous

24:11 - How gaining control over his temper has improved his relationships, allowing him to enjoy sports and daily life without frustration driving people away

26:18 - Explaining how overcoming emotional triggers helped him break the cycle of overeating

30:25 - Weight fluctuations, injuries, and health concerns - how these taught him the importance of emotional stability and self-compassion

34:40 - Revealing insights about Hypnosis he had never considered before 

37:44 - How you can reach out to JIm and his luxury dental retreats

Connect with Dr. Jim Arnold: 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smilesbyarnold/

• Email: [email protected]

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass

• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Struggling with a habit you just can’t seem to break—whether it’s nail biting, emotional eating, or stress-induced behaviors? No matter how much you try to stop, the urge keeps returning, making you feel powerless. It’s frustrating to know what you want to change but not understand why it keeps happening.

The real challenge isn’t just the habit itself—it’s the shame, self-judgment, and underlying stress that fuel it. Traditional approaches like talk therapy or willpower alone often don’t address the unconscious patterns driving these behaviors. As a result, people remain stuck, cycling through frustration and temporary fixes without real progress.

What if the key to breaking free was shifting your mindset at a deeper level? By using tools like Hypnosis and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), you can uncover the root causes of your habits and rewire them for good. With the right guidance, real change can happen faster than you think—unlocking new levels of awareness, confidence, and control over your life.

"I would honestly recommend this for anybody who's looking for a change, right? Um, anybody who's looking to unpack, you know, I would say things that they just wanna understand, gain awareness. Um, I think anybody who's under stress or pressure could definitely benefit from this type of stuff. Anybody who's trying to break a habit, definitely. And then anybody who's tried traditional therapies.” - Vimal Sampathkumar

What you will learn from this episode:

03:53 - Describing his chance encounter with Leslie that led to discovering hypnosis

06:10 - How hypnosis and neuro linguistic programming (NLP) helped him break a lifelong nail-biting habit

10:56 - Sharing how shifting from shame to curiosity about his nail-biting habit helped him break it

13:23 - How increasing awareness of unconscious beliefs, like feeling overly responsible, helped him break patterns of stress-driven behaviors

17:16 -Pointing out how Hypnosis and NLP helped him gain deeper self-awareness and breakthroughs in both his personal relationships and leadership

20:45 - For whom is Hypnosis and NLP best for

22:06 - Appreciating the efficacy of hypnosis and NLP sessions, highlighting their rapid impact compared to traditional long-term therapy

Connect with Vimal Sampathkumar:

• Website: https://www.digitalfloss.com/

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass

• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Have you ever felt like no matter how much you achieve, you’re still running on empty? You push through exhaustion, ignore your emotions, and convince yourself that success means sacrificing your well-being. But what if the very thing holding you back in business isn’t strategy—it’s your inability to process emotions?

For high achievers, burnout isn’t a distant threat—it’s a ticking time bomb. The drive to succeed can lead to overworking, numbing emotions with food or distractions, and suppressing stress instead of addressing it. You may pride yourself on being in control, but underneath, unresolved emotions are draining your energy, affecting your health, relationships, and ultimately, your business.

The key to sustainable success isn’t more discipline or another productivity hack—it’s emotional mastery. Leslie shares how leaders who neglect their emotions unknowingly build their businesses on unstable foundations, leading to cycles of burnout and frustration. True transformation happens when you stop suppressing emotions and start engaging with them, recognizing that growth comes from feeling, not just thinking.

By embracing emotional mastery, you create a business and life that are both fulfilling and sustainable. Leslie’s approach helps leaders reframe their struggles with food, weight, and stress, not as failures, but as signs pointing to deeper emotional work. When you align your inner world with your goals, success becomes effortless, authentic, and lasting.

If you’re ready to break free from the burnout cycle and build a business that thrives without sacrificing your well-being, now is the time to take action. Leslie’s proven methods can help you shift from constant striving to genuine success—one that honors your health, relationships, and personal fulfillment.

"What I saw for myself was that if I did not find a different way, if I did not figure out what was missing for these leaders that had them be incomplete in these very important areas of our lives, health, and relationship, then I was going to end up, sure, successful, but really unsuccessful when it came to my food, body and weight journey.  And so I had to invest in the discovery and the education of how to master my food body and weight stuff and how to master my relationship stuff. And what I found was that the missing piece was emotional mastery." - Leslie Thornton

What you will learn from this episode:

01:24 - The frustration of knowing what to do for health and struggling with consistency

03:04 - Leslie reflecting on her leadership training experience: how even top leaders struggle with weight and relationships

09:15 - Identifying emotional mastery as the missing piece in leadership and success

14:03 - Contrasting two types of success—unsustainable hustle versus steady, confident longevity

17:35 - How high achievers often analyze their struggles but fail to process emotions, leading to unresolved issues in health, relationships, and ultimately business success

20:38 - Emphasizing that true success requires emotional mastery, as unresolved emotions create instability in health, relationships, and business

23:25 - What true, lasting success requires

25:55 - Mastering emotions and embracing one's humanity as pathways to sustainable success

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass

• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Are you a high-achieving leader struggling to align your personal life with the success you’ve built professionally? Despite outward accomplishments, do you feel weighed down by inner turmoil, an unhealthy relationship with food, or self-doubt about your ability to maintain consistent habits? These challenges may be silently holding you back from reaching your full potential.

Many leaders face the hidden struggle of perfectionism, emotional suppression, and negative self-talk, often leaving them feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or out of integrity. These unresolved issues can lead to distractions, burnout, and dissatisfaction, even as you push forward professionally. Without addressing these underlying blocks, true happiness, confidence, and sustainable growth remain out of reach.

Transformation begins with taking an honest look inward and committing to deeper emotional mastery. By addressing your struggles through tools like Hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP], and aligned action, you can overcome the obstacles holding you back and unlock greater success and fulfillment. It’s time to invest in yourself and build a strong, resilient foundation for a life and business in alignment with your highest potential.

"You have the family, you have the house, you have the car, you've got the kids, you have the animals, you've got all the things. You have all the degrees, you speak on stages, are invited to do extraordinary things. You have a high level space in your career and you still have not yet cracked the code on permanent weight loss. And I want to let you know that any of the goals that you have for yourself to continue to expand your career are being stunted by your not addressing this." - Leslie Thornton

What you will learn from this episode:

01:28 - How shifting from perfectionism to integrity and addressing inner work leads to  greater success and growth for high-achieving entrepreneurs

04:40 - The need for deeper inner work and support to overcome unresolved struggles with weight and self-judgment

08:32 - How addressing inner turmoil, embracing emotions, and moving beyond fear and procrastination are essential for leaders to align with integrity, take action, and achieve personal and professional growth

11:21 - Emphasizing how true leadership and sustainable success require mastering emotions rather than relying solely on resilience or external achievements

14:38 - Inviting leaders to a safe, judgment-free conversation to confront personal challenges, fostering empowerment, alignment, and sustainable transformation toward their goals

15:23 - How you can book a call with Leslie

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass

• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!

Are you feeling trapped in a cycle of food guilt, body shame, and the relentless pursuit of weight loss that never seems to last? Do you find yourself reaching for the fridge in moments of stress, only to feel worse afterward? If you’re tired of temporary fixes and ready to break free from the mental and emotional weight holding you back, listen to this episode.

Think about the toll this struggle takes—not just on your health but on your happiness, confidence, and relationships. How many social gatherings have you dreaded because you don’t feel good in your skin? How often do you promise yourself that “this time will be different,” only to fall back into the same painful patterns?

Imagine a life where you feel in control, free, and empowered—where food no longer holds power over you, and self-love replaces self-judgment. Leslie’s journey and proven methods offer more than just hope; they offer a path to lasting change through mental and emotional mastery. Join us as in this episode as we explore how to reclaim your energy, confidence, and joy, and finally step into the life you deserve.

"Your next breakthrough in your career, your financial abundance, or, maybe your next level where you really want more intimacy and more connection with your partner is on the other side of your healing your relationship with food, body and weight." - Leslie Thornton

What you will learn from this episode:

02:37 - The keys to achieving permanent weight loss and life mastery.

04:14 - Addressing the root causes of food, body, and weight struggles through holistic approaches rather than temporary fixes like surgery or drugs

07:01 - Overcoming emotional triggers behind eating habits to break free from the cycle of dieting and achieve lasting peace with food and body issues

13:31 -  Letting go of limiting beliefs, prioritizing self-care, and embracing the idea that seeking help and investing in themselves is essential, not selfish

18:25 - The importance of addressing mental and emotional roots of food and weight struggles for lasting transformation

25:08 - Emphasizing holistic solutions to transform stress and anxiety into lasting freedom and fulfillment

31:53 - Encouraging everyone to shift their mindset, address the mental and emotional roots of their struggles with food and weight, and embrace a journey of self-mastery and empowerment through Leslie's HEAL program

Valuable Resources:

• Join my next LIVE masterclass

• Join the 8-week Fastrack to Food Freedom Program -Guaranteed mental and emotional freedom from food 

Connect With Leslie Thornton:

• Book A Clarity Call
• Website
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Email: [email protected]

If you enjoy the podcast, Would you please consider leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes in under 60 seconds? It brightens our day and helps us bring you incredible guests for top-notch content. Plus, I cherish reading every review! Click here to make a difference!