Repressed emotions don’t just influence your mood, but directly impact your eating patterns, cravings, and metabolic health.

In this episode, we break down the actual physiology behind emotional suppression and why it acts as a chronic stressor in the body.

Chronic stress - including suppressed emotions - elevates cortisol, raises blood sugar, reduces insulin sensitivity, and disrupts appetite regulation. This combination can lead to increased cravings, emotional eating, metabolic slowdown, and difficulty losing weight.

Episode Chapters:

0:05 - Intro

0:50 - Metabolism 101

1:02 - What is stress

1:39 - Kinds of stress

2:09 - How and why we repress emotion

4:01 - The somatic experience of an emotion

6:30 - Stress disrupts metabolism

7:25 - Stress leads to insulin resistance

9:24 - Stress can lead to over or under eating

11:42 - Stress signals an emergency

12:12 - Chronic emotional suppression leads to chronic stress

14:08 - How you can overcome this

Website: www.jeniferlee.com.au

Instagram: @jeniferlee.official#emotionaleating

Jen X

In this episode, we explore projection as a somatic and psychological strategy - the way the nervous system exports traits, emotions, and capacities we can’t hold internally.

Projection isn’t just cognitive. It’s a body‑based avoidance pattern that begins in childhood and continues into adulthood, shaping identity, relationships, and even the way we attach to objects.

You’ll hear how disowned traits (anger, creativity, strength, stability) get pushed into the shadow, how the psyche tries to reclaim them, and how this shows up in women’s physiology and body transformation culture.

I share a personal story about selling my house and realising I had projected safety, strength, and spaciousness into the walls during a time when I didn’t have the capacity to hold those qualities in myself.

Episode Chapters

0:01 - Intro

0:32 - What is projection?

1:25 - Why we project onto people, things, and goals

3:00 - Shadow and Gold projection

3:30 - Projecting anger or other unwanted emotions

5:45 - Projecting your talents and gifts, and how others will project onto you

8:20 - How caretakers and parent’s contribute to this

9:05 - We are magnetic beings

9:40 - How the psyche helps you heal and integrate things you have protected and rejected

10:59 - How it shows up in body transformation, and weight loss spaces. 

13:12 - An example of me working through layers of projection and reclaiming my gifts while I sold my fist home 

14:40 - Triggers and cognitive dissonance when you’re projecting 

15:49 - Somatic exploration of the attachment

17:25 - Soul loss in shamanism, shadow work, projection and IFS overlaps. 

18:42 - Calling the parts of me that I rejected back home

21:32 - Realising an item was actually storying all the parts of me that I had rejected

22:42 - Embodying the change

25:05 - Exploring your projections

Rapid weight loss is everywhere right now - from Hollywood trends to the rise of GLP‑1 medications - but very few people understand what actually happens inside the body when weight drops too fast. In this episode, I break down the real physiology behind rapid weight loss, including muscle loss, metabolic slowdown, survival reflexes, and why rebound weight gain is so common.

You’ll learn the difference between fast weight loss in lean bodies vs. obese bodies, how chronic undereating rewires hunger hormones, why GLP‑1s make restriction easier but don’t prevent metabolic adaptation, and what sustainable fat loss actually requires.

Episode Chapters:

0:01 - Intro

2:11 - Rapid weight loss is weight loss that costs you muscle and negatively impacts your metabolism

3:00 - What is a healthy weight loss process

5:54 - What we are going to be looking at

6:12 - The old 1200 calorie diet problem

8:51 - How fat loss actually works

10:20 - The problem with losing a lot of muscle

15:18 - Women are struggling more than you think on GLP1's

15:45 - The survival reflex, and what happens when you chronically under-eat

20:42 - The physiological consequences of actually sticking out a low calorie-diet (or dieting over and over again)

26:25 - What happens when you add a GLP-1

28:15 - What makes weight loss actually stick

Key topics:

• What “rapid weight loss” really means for different body fat percentages
• The hidden cost: muscle loss, metabolic suppression, and long‑term rebound
• How chronic dieting triggers the survival reflex and binge cycles
• Why GLP‑1s change appetite but not physiology
• What to do instead: safe fat loss, strength training, and lifestyle change

Perfect for anyone navigating weight loss in the GLP‑1 era, recovering from chronic dieting, or wanting a grounded, science‑based approach to sustainable fat loss.

How To Lose Fat (And Keep It Off):

https://youtu.be/aQqYDJz8RrU

This episode breaks down what healthy body composition actually means for women - without dieting culture, Instagram distortion, or industry nonsense.

I explain the real factors that shape body fat (diet, activity, lifestyle, trauma, genetics) and why “healthy” is the body you can maintain without starving, bingeing, or fighting yourself.

You'll find here a grounded conversation about body image, unrealistic ideals, and making peace with the body you actually live in.

Episode Chapters:

0:01 - Intro

1:30 - What is a heathy body composition?

1:59 - What is body composition?

2:24 - Healthy body fat percentages for women

4:25 - Factors that impact our body composition - diet, lifestyle, genetics, childhood trauma and stress, digestion, etc.

5:40 - Women with superior genetics

7:30 - Bone structure advantages when it comes to looking 'perfect'

9:01 - Instagram pushes provocative content, which skews our idea of what is healthy and normal for women.

11:11 - 18%-30% body-fat is natural and normal for women, and most women online are under 18% body fat.

12:00 - You can be thriving and healthy at 30% body-fat.

13:30 - A healthy body composition is whatever body you can maintain without starving or bingeing.

14:00 - The health impact of overeating

15:45 - A lean body is not a natural body for most women

19:55 - A healthy body composition is one you can maintain without negatively impacting your health.

21:11 - Transparency in the fitness industry left in 2012. Women are hardly ever transparent in fitness or on Instagram.

22:44 - My goal body was from a party girl who looked far better than me with much lesser effort.

For coaching enquiries, contact me here;

https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/contact

See you next week! Jen X

Most people think their struggle with junk food and 'food noise' comes down to discipline, but the truth is far more complex and relieving! Ultra‑processed foods are engineered to override appetite, disrupt satiety, and create reward pathways that take on a life of their own.

In this episode, I break down how salt, sugar, and fat are deliberately combined to trigger the brain’s reward system, why these foods generate 'food noise,' and how they disconnect you from your natural hunger and fullness cues.

We explore the science behind engineered cravings, their role in compulsive eating, and why willpower has nothing to do with it. If you’ve ever felt addicted to junk food or stuck in cycles of overeating, this conversation will help you understand what’s actually happening in your body, and how to begin restoring regulation, nourishment, and trust in your appetite again.

Episode Chapters:

0:01 - Introduction

0:59 - It's not your fault

1:41 - What is 'food noise'?

3:12 - From the book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How The Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

4:43 - The 'Bliss Point' of foods

5:53 - Engineering foods to decrease satisfaction and increase consumption

10:08 - Putting this bliss point to the test in the supermarket

11:40 - Are you their perfect customer?

12:45 - Genetic propensities to excess junk food consumption

14:00 - Hyper-palatable food as an emotional regulator

16:55 - The difference between junk food and whole foods on appetite, and natural 'food noise' as it was designed to be

19:30 - We are overfed, and under-nourished

21:11 - It's all for profit

Links: Website: https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/Coaching: https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/coachingNutrition Course: https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/nutrition-and-flexible-dieting-for-women

Thanks for listening!

See you next week.

Jen X

Inflammation isn’t random, and it isn’t just a “body problem.” It’s a physiological message. Today we’re breaking down what inflammation actually is, the hidden causes behind it, and how to identify the difference between systemic inflammation and neuroinflammation - so you can finally understand what your body has been trying to tell you.

Episode Chapters:

0:01 - Intro

1:08 - Types of Inflammation

2:18 - Inflammation is good (it's a healing response)

2:20 - Acute 'healthy' Inflammation

3:20 - Nutrients are key for repair

3:52 - Chronic and 'unhealthy' inflammation

6:10 - Sugar and inflammation

8:01 - Alcohol and inflammation

8:52 - Autoimmune disease

9:48 - Systemic inflammation, or body-wide inflammation

12:00 - Unchecked inflammation is a massive grey area in women's health, but highly symptomatic

13:00 - Neuroinflammation

15:54 - Triggers and causes for neuroinflammation like trauma, environment, and emotional factors

19:30 - Diagnostic issues with inflammatory conditions

21:45 - Identity and personality changes from neuroinflammation

22:33 - Trauma and repressed emotion impacts chronic inflammation

25:09 - Pursuing a life which keeps inflammation low

Thanks for listening!

Jen X

If you’ve been feeling unfocused, inconsistent, or frustrated with yourself lately, I want you to pause before you label it as a personal failure. Because what if your “lack of discipline” isn’t actually yours? What if your cravings, your scattered attention, your inability to stick to long-term plans… are symptoms of an environment engineered to keep you overstimulated, distracted, and consuming?

We weren’t designed for this world of endless notifications, hyper‑palatable food, instant gratification, and algorithmic manipulation. Our nervous systems evolved for scarcity - slow dopamine arcs, long-term goals, delayed reward.

Today, we’re living inside an abundance machine that fires off dopamine every few minutes. And when your biology meets a system built to hijack it, of course your motivation collapses. Of course your focus fractures. Of course you feel like you’re failing.

But you’re not failing. You’re being manipulated.

And once you understand the mechanics of that manipulation - the business model behind it, the behavioural engineering beneath it, the way it shapes your perception of yourself — you can take your power back. You can reclaim your attention, your choices, and your long-term goals. You can stop playing a rigged game and start building a life that actually belongs to you.

Chapters:

0:01 - Intro

1:32 - We are wired to achieve goals in order to resist scarcity

1:58 - Dopamine, and the reward pathway

4:20 - The old way of setting goals and achieving them

6:13 - We now have to resist abundance

8:02 - How social media manipulated me when it came to my business

9:35 - When you're scrolling, you're in a trance, and this is used to condition you

11:40 - Social engineering is a business model

13:00 - Your attention span collapsed because of social media

16:16 - Body transformation and fitness before and after social media

17:17 - How to set an intrinsic goal

18:40 - Conscious scrolling

20:20 - Abandon hyper-palatable foods.

Further Resources:

Interested in working together? reach out here:

https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/contact

Transform your mindset via my Identity Transformation Program:

https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/identity-and-mindset-mastery

See you next week!

Jen X

Experimenting with video this week! In this episode, I share some reflections on Waking the Tiger by Peter Levine and the role somatic healing played in my own recovery from fatigue, digestive issues, and chronic stress.

Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1TSAvoo734&t=2s

I'll be honest it was not at all scripted, I just grabbed the book, and started talking about the insights that have shaped my understanding of healing, trauma, and the nervous system.

We talk about: Somatic healing and nervous system regulation, my experience with fatigue and digestive symptoms, why understanding the body changed my healing journey, reflections from Waking the Tiger, and healing beyond mindset and willpower

Chapters

0:01 - Intro to fatigue, nervous system healing and gut issues, from Waking The Tiger.

0:32 - I found trauma healing work as I searched for a solution to chronic fatigue and health issues.

1:16 - The spiritual path - reiki, subconscious reprogramming, manifestation, Joe Dispenza, and all the other breakthroughs that didn't work out.

1:55 - Somatic experiencing, and somatic therapy for healing

2:47 - Nervous system modes - freeze, fawn, fight/flight

6:15 - Patterns we battle are layers on top of a dysregulated nervous system

7:15 - You can't set boundaries as a child, so you adjust yourself around the stressor instead

7:50 - Symptom relief associated with somatic healing

10:30 - The adjustments in physiology and biology, including appetite, due to trauma and trapped survival responses.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Coaching:

For health coaching, check out my packages here: 

https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/embodied-holistic-health-coaching-gold-coast

 Or reach out for a chat about how I can help you with your healing:

https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/contact

#somatichealing #nervoussystem #wakingthetiger #traumahealing #fatigue #guthealth

Ever feel like you’re doing everything right by cutting carbs, only to find yourself raiding the pantry for sweets later? You aren't alone, and you aren't lacking willpower. In this episode, we are breaking down why carbs aren't actually the enemy, how they fuel your brain and muscle recovery, and why completely cutting them out triggers the exact binge cycles and cortisol spikes you're trying to escape. Plus, we untangle the truth about fruit, blood sugar, and what you should be eating instead.

Episode Highlights:

0:01 - Intro to carbs

0:22 - Common carbs myths women hang on to

1:04 - What is a carbohydrate (carb), and what do they do?

3:10 - The amazing benefits of carbs!

6:08 - Where women go wrong with carbs, constantly.

6:20 - Carbs are pretty essential, in modern life

8:11 - Where lower carbs works out ok

9:55 - The problem with eating excessive amounts of carbs

11:34 - Blood sugar effects

13:18 - What can we do about it? How do we integrate carbs and enjoy the benefits of carbs, without the problems!?

Resources:

- Glycemic Index Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18DJdTmEvMhmomXJs1y9fNzdzOEDROz1Z/view?usp=share_link

- For a more comprehensive nutrition program for women, check out my online course: https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/nutrition-and-flexible-dieting-for-women

- For coaching, check out my health coaching here: https://www.jeniferlee.com.au/embodied-holistic-health-coaching-gold-coast

I hope you enjoyed this episode,

See you next week!

Trying to break a bad habit or bring in some healthier habits? In this episode I break down the real way to break a habit.

Episode Timestamps:

0:01 - Intro

0:20 - What is a habit?

1:05 - The tricky thing about habits

1:25 - Your habits aren't your fault

2:45 - The problem with 'habit stacking'

3:15 - Habits are adaptive

3:40 - Habits are similar to addictive behaviours

6:54 - Habits are serving you in some way (this is how we unravel them).

7:20 - Habits have a purpose

10:05 - How do we disarm, dismantle and transform a habit?

12:00 - What happens when we trying change a habit?

15:52 - Putting it 'out into the universe' for resolution

17:32 - In the case of uncomfortable emotions.

If you're interested in a 1:1 to dive deeper into this, book here - use the code EMBODIEDHEALTH for 25% off your session.

For coaching enquiries reach out here, or book a free discovery call here.

See you next week!