The Emotional Eating (and Everything Else) Podcast

The best way to make a change in your emotional eating patterns is to get to know all of the parts of you that lead you to and away from food.  Only then can you truly understand why you're doing what you're doing--or rather  who's doing what they're doing--and change it.   Let's say you know that you eat for comfort.  That's great insight, but do you know exactly  why there's a part of you that n...

You may remember that a couple weeks ago, in  episode 55  of the podcast, we talked about a technique called Parts Mapping.  This is something that we do in IFS (Internal Family Systems), the therapy/coaching modality that I use with my clients (and with myself!). With Parts Mapping, we can get to know all of the parts of us that are leading us to and away from food, which gives us a much greater...

On this week's podcast we're talking about the two most common reason that people turn to food:   To distract from emotions To soothe/comfort/reward Food is a great way to distract ourselves--it's available, enjoyable, and delicious.  It's a great thing to do in front of the television in order to forget about the day you just had.   Food is also a wonderful way to soothe and comfort ourselves.  I...

I don't know about you, but the word that comes to mind when I think about my relationship with food is "complicated."  I think that's true for most people.  And yet we're often told that it's supposed to be simple.  Like "food is fuel" or eating is "just a habit that you can change."   I don't believe any of that messaging.   I think our relationships with food are complicated and complex, and th...

We've spent the past few weeks talking about all of the things that you've tried to stop emotional eating, binge eating, and/or overeating, to stop feeling out-of-control with food, and/or to lose weight.   And now that we've talked so much about what doesn't work, we're going to talk about what does .  But before we get to that, let's talk about what I even mean when I say what "works."  What's t...

Trigger Warning: we're talking about weight, weight loss, and ob*sity today, and that can be triggering for some people. So please skip this one if it's too much for you. You may have heard about Wegovy and Ozempic, medications that are getting a LOT of press these days.  Recently, there was such a demand for Wegovy that it was no longer available.  Sadly, the same was true for Ozempic.  So many p...

We're continuing the "You Tried it, Here's Why it Didn't Work" Series on this week's podcast with a discussion of bariatric surgery.   And first off, let me just say that if you've had bariatric surgery and felt it was a success, congratulations!  It's a very difficult process, and I'm thrilled that it worked for you. My guess is though, that you are well-aware that not everyone has had that exper...

Last week we talked about all of the reasons why dieting doesn't work, both physically and emotionally.  And I hope that really helped you to see that when a diet didn't work for you, it was because of the diet and not you. Diets fail.  DietERS do not. We're going to continue our discussion of why diets don't work this week by focusing on abstinence-based programs, such as Overeaters Anonymous (OA...

If you're listening to this podcast, I'm guessing you've tried a diet or two.  Or 17.  Most people have.  And if you're listening to this podcast, I'll also guess that those diets didn't get you what you wanted.   People tend to diet for one of two reasons (or both): To lose weight To control their eating But what tends to happen with dieting is the exactly opposite of both of those things. Diets...

Last week we kicked off the podcast series, "You Tried it, Here's Why it Didn't Work" with an episode about why therapy may not have helped you with your emotional eating, binge eating, or other eating concerns. And we're continuing that series today with an episode on Intuitive Eating (IE). Briefly, IE is an anti-diet approach to food that helps you work toward making peace with food, freeing you...

This week's episode starts the series, "You Tried it, Here's Why it Didn't Work."  In this series, we'll be exploring the many types of things that you're probably used to try to control your eating, stop binge eating or emotional eating, and/or lose weight.  And we'll be talking at length about why these things don't work. And we're starting with therapy. I decided to start with this topic becaus...

So it's January, and you know what that means:  diet season is in FULL GEAR.  I mean, diet season is always up and running--it never sleeps--but this is one of the times out of the year when it's just relentless.   And you may be feeling the pull.  It's really hard not to, isn't it?  But I'm begging you, don't do it!   Please don't start yet another diet! Why?  Well, we've talked about this in num...

The holiday season is in full swing, and that means shopping, wrapping, unwrapping, cleaning, cooking, lighting candles, hiding gifts, seeing family, celebrating, and of course, eating. Phew!!! Given all of that activity and stress, it may also mean eating when you're not hungry, binge eating, stress-eating, and eating foods that you don't normally eat. And unfortunately, all of that can lead to f...

On this week's episode, I'm talking with Agnis Pena-Toro, a Psychotherapist and Body and Food Liberation coach and consultant.  Her specialty is helping women heal the trauma, hurts and difficult memories from the past that have impacted their relationship with their bodies and food.  She is passionate about supporting women in liberating themselves from body image, food, weight- and size-limiting...

Giving up dieting is a scary process for people. Regardless of all of its numerous problems, dieting very often feels safe. You've done it before, you know what to expect. And when you're dieting, someone else is telling you what to do.  They're telling you what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat.  They're taking on all of the responsibility so you don't have to. And that feels fantastic!  We al...

It's almost Thanksgiving.  How did that happen???  I hope that whatever you're doing this year leaves you feeling happy and refreshed.  And I hope that you enjoy your favorite foods! Everyone seems to be putting out content right now that's all about being thankful.  And sadly, I'm not creative enough to do anything different :) But... I'm guessing that I'm going to suggest that you be thankful fo...

So......it's the holiday season..... How did that even happen???  It really seems to have come out of nowhere this year! As fun as the holidays can be, they can also be  really  difficult for people for a variety of reasons.  But the two that I want to focus on today are: Food; and Family/friends Obviously, food abounds during the holidays.  Most people have more than one work party, friend gather...

How do you be in a body. How do you actually be in a woman's body in a way that feels good? That's a really good question, isn't it?   We've talked more than once about how hard it is for women and those who identify as women to feel good in their bodies.  The constant pressure to look a certain way and be a certain size is immense.  And let's not forget that you need to be straight, white, cis-ge...

Sorry (not sorry) for this one.  This is a solo episode of me sharing my anxiety about the upcoming election, my frustration with where we are in this country, and why we MUST get our bodies back.   And also--did you see this article about how curves and "booties" are no longer trendy and how heroin chic is coming back?  Haven't we lost enough people to anorexia and heroin overdoses?  I don't pret...

A few years back, when I took a dramatic turn from helping clients with weight loss to embracing Intuitive Eating and Health at Every Size, I went head-first into anti-diet culture.   I mean head....first.... I was emphatic about how weight loss cannot and should not  ever  be the goal.  I informed potential clients that I was not going to focus on weight loss.  And I told my current clients that...

There's something wrong with me... I hear this from my clients allllllll the time.  The fact that they eat when they're stressed, feel out-of-control with food, can't stick to a restrictive diet, or can't pass by their favorite foods makes them feel like there's something wrong with them.  That they're broken. I don't think that's true AT ALL. They aren't broken. None of us are broken.   The reali...

We're coming up on Halloween, and you know what the means: Candy Anxiety! Ok, that's not a real thing--I made it up.  But I think most of us can relate.   You know how it is when it comes to Halloween candy.  You either: Wait til the last minute to buy the candy you're going to pass out in the hopes that you won't eat any Buy candy that you don't like in the hopes that you won't eat any (which can...

Have you ever heard yourself saying this, or something like it? "I'm just out-of-control with food."    This is something I hear from my clients all the time.  Whether they describe themselves as emotional eaters, binge eaters, or overeaters, they feel out-of-control with food. And that feels  terrible .  No one wants to feel out-of-control about anything. So they do what is so often seen as the "...

Here's a question for you–and I'll warn you, it's a tough one.   How do you feel about your body? Sigh. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your answer to that question wasn't a resounding, "I love it! I couldn't be happier about it!" Let's face it:  most if not almost all women (and probably most men) don't love their bodies. Many, in fact would say they hate them.   My guess is, when yo...

Why do you turn to food? That's the million dollar question, isn't it? You might have an idea (or maybe you don't--that's ok too).  You might say, "Well, I'm a comfort eater."  Or, "I eat when I'm stressed."  Or maybe even, "Food is my best friend." But when you really think about it, what do all of those statements really mean?  What's  really  underneath them?  What are the specific stressors th...