Rise From Within, with Terri Pugh

A few days ago, I was standing in a shop sending a parcel when I realised I was surrounded by walls of brightly coloured vape liquids. All lined up like sweets, with flavours from mint to bubblegum to strawberry milkshake. 

And it got me thinking… Governments have worked so hard to make smoking less appealing. It’s hidden behind shutters, wrapped in plain packaging with grim warnings, yet vapes get to sit front and centre looking tempting.

While I was mulling this over I realised that dieting is treated in exactly the same way – except the difference is, we rarely talk about the health risks of dieting.

So in this episode I’m comparing vaping and dieting – how they’re sold as “better” choices, the industries behind them, the addictive cycles they create, and why one gets public health warnings while the other gets praise. 

I’m digging into the physical and psychological effects of dieting, from metabolism slowdown to hormone disruption, disordered eating, and long-term weight cycling.

I’m talking about:

• The parallels between vaping and dieting as “healthier” alternatives
• Why both rely on repeat customers to survive
• The hidden harms and health risks of dieting, backed by research
• Why weight stigma, not body size, costs the NHS more
• How different things could look if dieting got the same treatment as smoking

If you’ve ever wondered why dieting still gets the cultural gold star when it can be so harmful, this one’s going to make you think.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

Ever caught your reflection in a shop window and thought, “Hang on… I didn’t look like that this morning”? Yep, me too!

So in this episode, I’m going to explain why mirrors and windows can make us look completely different, even on the same day, in the same outfit. 

I’m going to talk about how reflections work (yes, there’s some light science in this one!), how lighting, angles and movement all play a part, and why the mirror you trust at home might not be showing you the “real” you either.

Some insight and reassurance for when your reflection catches you off guard.

I’m talking about:

• Why your reflection changes depending on where you see it
• How mirrors and windows are made (and why that matters)
• The brain’s reaction to conflicting reflections
• The answer to “Which reflection of me is true?”

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

Last night, a trip to a familiar venue for my weekly pool match brought back a memory I hadn’t felt in years. I was ten years old, dancing in front of a mirror in the toilets, completely lost in joy. I wasn’t worrying about my body. I wasn’t thinking about food. I was just happy.

In this episode, I share what it felt like to reconnect with that version of me, and how soon after diet culture crept in and began to change everything. This is a personal and emotional reflection on body image, childhood innocence, and the moment things started to shift.

I talk about what I’d say to my younger self now, how we can all learn from those early memories, and what it means to heal the relationship with your body and reclaim the joy that was once yours.

Whether you’ve lost touch with your younger self or you're working on healing your body image, this episode is a gentle reminder that she’s still in there. She always was. Maybe she just needs a little coaxing back out.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

You're out for food with someone and they order the salad, skip dessert, and say they’re “just not hungry,” and suddenly you’re left wondering why you can’t seem to do that. The jealousy creeps in, along with a whole load of guilt and self-doubt.

In this episode, I'm unpacking the messy, very human experience of feeling envious of someone else’s eating habits. From the illusion of control to the dream of being someone who “just doesn’t think about food,” I'm going there.

I'll explore why that envy shows up, what it’s really about, and how to move towards your own version of food peace.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

There’s something strangely addictive about a new food plan, isn’t there? The structure. The rules. The praise you give yourself for getting it “right”. That feeling of finally being in control of your food, your body, and your life.

But once you start intuitive eating, that high disappears. And in its place is quiet and calm. It’s all a bit “meh.” It can feel unsettling, even disappointing… like something’s missing.

In this episode, I’m talking about the part of intuitive eating we don’t always admit – that sometimes, we miss the highs of dieting. 

We’ll explore:
 ✨ Why the novelty of food plans can feel so good
 ✨ What makes that buzz so short-lived (and what it costs us)
 ✨ Why the calm of intuitive eating feels weird at first
 ✨ How to settle into a way of eating that doesn’t need drama to feel meaningful

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

Let’s talk about convenience food – the frozen meals, the microwave rice, the jars of sauce you throw into a pan when you're too tired to think.

There’s so much judgement around these foods. They're often labelled as lazy, unhealthy, or 'not real cooking', but is that really fair?

In this episode, I am breaking down the stigma around convenience food and exploring how it can actually support your intuitive eating journey. 

From saving your sanity on chaotic evenings to helping you stay fed during tough times, convenience food has its place, and it deserves some respect!

I’ll chat through the pros and cons, the classist nonsense that often gets tangled up in these conversations, and how to use convenience food in a way that feels intuitive and guilt-free. 

Spoiler: you're allowed to eat the ready meal *and* be a grown adult who cares about their wellbeing.

What I cover in this episode:

• Why convenience food gets a bad reputation
• How diet culture and classism influence our food choices
• The actual benefits of using convenience options
• How to tune into what works for you without guilt or shame
• A gentle challenge to embrace convenience without apology

Also, stick around to the end to hear me talk about my new course - Confident Conversations With Your Doctor - and how you can get it at the cheapest price if you leap in right now.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

Somewhere along the line, you might have been told who to be.

Maybe you were raised to stay small, keep quiet, not take up space. Maybe you’ve always believed you’re “just someone with no willpower” or that confidence simply isn’t for you. Maybe you've dieted your whole life, or you were praised for shrinking and learned that smaller meant better.

Just because that was your story, doesn’t mean it has to be your future.

In this episode, I’m talking about how your past – no matter how loud it’s been – doesn’t get to decide who you are now. Ingrained beliefs around food, body image, and confidence can keep you stuck, and it's time to loosen their grip so you can finally start showing up the way you want to.

Yes, there’s value in acknowledging and working through the past. But you don’t have to carry it forever.

You are not defined by the old labels, the dieting history, or the way others taught you to play small.

You get to choose what comes next.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

When a shocking image goes viral - like the so-called “obesity X-ray” recently shared by The Joe Rogan Experience - it’s easy to get swept up in fear-based narratives about obesity, dressed up as health advice. But what’s the real story behind this image, and what does it say about the way we treat people in bigger bodies?

In this episode, I unpack the truth behind the image (spoiler: it’s not a real X-ray), the harm caused by fear-mongering posts like these, and what body positivity actually stands for. We’ll explore weight stigma in healthcare, the importance of behaviours over body size, and why no one owes the world a smaller body.

If you’ve seen the Joe Rogan post and felt anger, shame or confusion, this conversation is for you.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

In this episode, I’m talking about the hidden ways we ask for permission from others in our life. From what we wear to how we show up at work, in relationships, and on social media, we’re often seeking permission or seeking approval from others.

You’ll hear about a powerful conversation I had with a coaching client who realised she was constantly looking to others for approval in what she wears to work, and the colleagues that she looks up to and compares herself to.
We unpack where that need for permission comes from, how it shows up in sneaky ways (hello, “does this look okay?”), and what it costs us when we 
And of course, there’s a reflection prompt to help you take what we’ve talked about and start applying it in your own life.

💬 Ready to stop seeking permission and start owning your space? Press play.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode. 

This episode is all about the food quirks that make absolutely no sense, and yet feel completely right.

From grated cheese vs sliced, to refusing scrambled eggs but loving every other kind, I’m sharing some of my own weird food preferences that I’ll happily defend forever. I also read out some of your wonderfully specific, chaotic, and relatable food habits.

Inside:

• The delightfully illogical ways we eat
• Listener confessions that made me laugh out loud
• A gentle reminder that there are no rules when it comes to food preferences – just personal choice

If you’ve ever had strong feelings about pasta shapes, toast doneness, or how food touches on a plate, you’ll feel right at home here.

Send Me Fan Mail

Support the show

🤩 JOIN THE RISE COMMUNITY 🤩

Get my emails
Follow on Instagram
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Personal Coaching

🍰 Buy me a cake and support the show
☝️ If you love the show and want to support it, just click this link here.

A quick heads up - my transcriptions are automatically generated. For this reason there may be errors, incorrect words, bad spelling, bad grammar, and other things that just seem a little 'off'. You'll still be able to understand what is being said though, so please just ignore that and enjoy the episode.