Our genes can make us more likely to gain weight, but the choices we make about what we eat and how active we are also matter. Our body sends signals to our brain to tell us when we're hungry or full, and these signals can be influenced by hormones in our body. It's important to pay attention to these signals and make choices that are good for our health. Regular exercise is important for staying healthy, but it might not be the best way to lose weight. By understanding how our body works and making good choices, we can stay healthy and feel good.

Giles Yeo is a scientist who studies how our bodies work when it comes to eating food. He has written two books that give advice on how to be healthy. In this episode, he talks about how our genes can affect how we eat and how our bodies work.

• Professor Giles Yeo MBE

The modern dating scene can be difficult to navigate, causing anxiety and uncertainty. This can lead us to resort to emotional overeating as a coping mechanism. Being single can lead to feelings of loneliness, which can also contribute to emotional eating. Some of us use food to fill a sense of emptiness or to compensate for negative emotions related to their dating life.

Hayley Quinn is a dating coach, YouTuber and TED speaker who provides advice on building successful and effective relationships. She shares her insights on navigating the dating world and provides actionable steps that men and women can take to improve their love life. In he conversation with Arina, Hayley helps us reshape our narrative around self-worth, to counter many of the triggers associated with overeating.

• Hayley’s TEDx talk

Overeating is often a symptom of deeper emotional issues like loneliness and anxiety. In order to break the cycle of overeating, we first have to address those deeper issues. At the centre of that is self-love: but the kind of self-love that promotes motivation, rather than keeps us glued to the sofa.

In this episode, Arina is joined by her close friend and successful YouTuber Sasha Spielberg. Sasha shares her journey of overcoming overeating and changing her approach to health and wellness with the help of Arina.

• Follow Sasha on YouTube

Difficulties in our careers can cause emotional stress, which can lead to overeating. Focusing on what we can control in a situation and letting go of the feeling that we have to do things perfectly is an important first step to relieving some of the stressers that can cause us to overeat.

In this episode, Octavia Goredema, renowned career coach and founder of Twenty Ten Agency, shares her insights on the relationship between our careers and our emotional and physical wellness, specifically overeating.

Octavia emphasises the importance of cementing our career values, which are unique to each individual, and asking ourselves questions to determine what matters most to us personally. By answering these questions, we can align our careers with our purpose, values, and passions, which can help us feel fulfilled and motivated.

She also suggests identifying what additional support we might need, whether it's talking to someone who has taken a similar leap or finding a coach or accountability partner who can provide guidance and support.

• Follow @octaviagoredema on Instagram

Emotional eating is not the problem, but a sign of a deeper issue. Sometimes it feels like food can provide a solution, but it’s only – and always – temporary.

Geneen Roth is the author of several books on our relationship with food. She talks with Arina about how diet culture makes it harder for women to break the emotional eating cycle, and recommends seven guidelines to help people break free from destructive patterns, like eating without distractions and stopping when the body has had enough.

Geneen also reveals how emotional eating can be an opportunity to examine deeper issues and limiting beliefs that may be holding people back.

• This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide to Mind, Body, and Soul – Geneen’s latest book

Do you you keep eating even when you're not hungry? In this episode, integrative health coach Marina explains how you can change the way you eat to avoid overeating and improve your digestion.

Arina has five steps to help you eat more slowly and mindfully, including being more mindful, removing all distractions, and making your food look good.