If you’re of a certain age, you’ve probably noticed that young people – teenagers, especially – have a strong need for approval from others.

Young adults want to fit in and feel accepted, a natural desire that is part of our normal developmental process at this stage of life. Feeling that we belong helps us to grow and expand, and gives us the confidence to explore our world.

As we grow older, however, people can become unknowingly stuck at this developmental stage. And when this happens – life can get miserable pretty quick.

Left unchecked, we may never outgrow our desire for acceptance. In fact, this need may even increase, creating intense worry as we obsess over whether others like and approve of us. This can take many forms, but frequently shows up in our relationship with our weight and appearance.

When we continue to solicit outside approval into middle-age and beyond, we find ourselves unable to find the gifts that are available to us at this stage of life – gifts that are discovered when we defer to the one opinion that truly matters: our own.

When we reach our 40s and beyond, life is calling on us to once and for all love and value ourselves, to know our true beauty, and to stand in our power.

Sadly, in today’s world, women especially have gotten the message that their value comes from their youthful appearance and slim figure. It can therefore be really hard to tune those messages out, and allow a deeper wisdom to come through.

These concepts are explored beautifully in this episode.

Maggie, 68, is a culinary and baking teacher who is so afraid of gaining weight that she won’t eat her own cookies. She’s fearful that gaining weight would almost certainly mean being rejected by others – even though she admits this has never happened to her before. Her caring husband and family have always loved and accepted her, no matter what.

Even so, Maggie has been dieting for 50 years – and continues to be caught in an internal weight loss conversation where her efforts are never enough, and where she doesn’t feel good about herself, unless she has lost weight.

As you’ll hear, Maggie’s fear of rejection points her to an important realization, one that can forever change her relationship with herself and her body.

Episode highlights:

✅ How staying trapped in the need for “other” approval limits our potential and joy in life.

✅ How to take your personal power back from the collective voices around weight.

✅ Why the temporary high of reaching your goal weight doesn’t last – and what really satisfies instead.

✅ Developing a daily practice to kick unwanted negative self-talk.

✅ And much more!

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Learn more about us at The Institute for the Psychology of Eating: https://psychologyofeating.com/

Ready to call a ceasefire in your battle with eating, and find peace and freedom with food? Learn more about our newest program, The Emotional Eating Breakthrough! https://learn.psychologyofeating.com/

Interested in becoming a certified coach in eating psychology? Then tune in to hear Marc talk about our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, and download a copy of our School Catalog: https://psychologyofeating.com/info-kit/ Learn our powerful, cutting-edge approach, and discover how you can create a unique career helping others find peace and freedom with food.

Follow us on social:

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Psychologyofeating

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPEfanpage

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatingpsychology/

- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eatingpsych

#selfacceptance #bodypositivity #foodfreedom #wisdom #dietculturedropout #psychologyofeating #innerchildhealing #selflovejourney #healing

Jill, 44, wants a new relationship with food – one where she can enjoy a more easygoing, intuitive way of eating. She’d like eating to be fun and lighthearted, and feel satiated after a great meal.

But her dreamy new relationship with food seems so very far away.

Jill has an intense desire for food – so deep that it feels like her desire can never be quenched. No matter what or how much Jil eats, she doesn’t really feel like she ever finds true pleasure and contentment with food. It just never feels like enough – and Jill has a lot of anxiety that she’ll end up overeating and gaining weight in her pursuit of pleasure.

Jill’s experience is one that many of us can relate to.

We secretly – or not so secretly – love food. But we don’t trust ourselves with it.

We’re afraid of our own pleasure, and what it might mean if we actually allowed ourselves to fully enjoy food.

In this episode, Marc David helps Jill and the rest of us understand why our desire for pleasure isn’t something to be afraid of. Instead, Marc argues that our love of food and pleasure is something that should be fully owned and celebrated. When we honor pleasure, we not only enjoy life so much more – but often find that weight loss is ironically much easier and more sustainable.

Because when we own our love of food, we’re in our power.

In this episode, you’ll hear Marc share:

✅ What trusting yourself with food actually requires. Hint: it’s not having a perfect track record with food, or never making a mistake!

✅ How to invoke your inner voice of wisdom when making food choices.

✅ The connection between trust and relaxation.

✅ How to honor our body’s animal nature amidst the very unnatural modern times we live in.

✅ How to eat from your body instead of your brain.

✅ And much more!

Pleasure is a beautiful aspect of being alive on this planet, but not very many of us have a healthy relationship with it. Instead of fighting desire, we can make it a powerful ally as we learn to live a radiant, embodied life.

So tune in to learn how to deepen your own relationship with food and pleasure!

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Learn more about us at The Institute for the Psychology of Eating: https://psychologyofeating.com/

Ready to call a ceasefire in your battle with eating, and find peace and freedom with food? Learn more about our newest program, The Emotional Eating Breakthrough! https://learn.psychologyofeating.com/

Interested in becoming a certified coach in eating psychology? Then tune in to hear Marc talk about our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, and download a copy of our School Catalog: https://psychologyofeating.com/info-kit/ Learn our powerful, cutting-edge approach, and discover how you can create a unique career helping others find peace and freedom with food.

Follow us on social:

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Psychologyofeating

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPEfanpage

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatingpsychology/

- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eatingpsych

#intuitiveeating #foodfreedom #pleasure #desire #bodyrespect #embodiment #trustyourself #selflovejourney #relationshipwithyourbody #psychologyofeating #foodpsychology #marcdavid

Food is intended to be our source of nourishment, but all too often it can feel like a losing battle.

Perhaps you’ve been struggling with your weight, and why it’s so hard to lose it – or keep it off. Or maybe you binge or emotionally eat, and are frustrated that you can’t stop these behaviors.

Whatever your unique challenge with food may be, after a while it’s hard to not come to a particular conclusion…

Food has a POWER over you.

It must – otherwise, you’d have been able to put an end to your unwanted habits a long time ago, right?!

But is it really possible for food to hold power over you?

In this episode, we explore what’s going on when we feel we’ve lost our power to food – and how to navigate the very real feeling of powerlessness that many of us experience when it comes to food.

Paulien, 58, has been maintaining her weight loss for the past decade, but she still doesn’t feel at peace with food. She wants to be free of food fear, and instead embrace being a natural eater.

But Paulien feels like food holds a certain power over her that she can’t overcome. She gets lost in food, and ends up binge eating a couple of nights a week – provoking her fear that she’ll gain weight back.

Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, helps Paulien discover a vital new truth about owning our personal power with food, as well as:

✅ How to identify your inner eating archetypes or “voices,” and why every voice must have a seat at the table.

✅ Embracing the parts of ourselves we’re ashamed about, and how that strengthens a healthy relationship with food.

✅ How to transform nightly binges into conscious food rituals.

✅ Opening up our throat chakra and speaking from our authentic self as a way of healing our eating challenges.

✅ Why becoming the most natural YOU will lead to becoming a natural eater.

This deeply spiritual conversation will provide an important reframe on the belief that food holds power over us. You’ll come away inspired and feeling more compassion for yourself on this human journey. So be sure to tune in!

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Learn more about us at The Institute for the Psychology of Eating: https://psychologyofeating.com/

Ready to call a ceasefire in your battle with eating, and find peace and freedom with food? Learn more about our newest program, The Emotional Eating Breakthrough! https://learn.psychologyofeating.com/

Interested in becoming a certified coach in eating psychology? Then tune in to hear Marc talk about our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, and download a copy of our School Catalog: https://psychologyofeating.com/info-kit/ Learn our powerful, cutting-edge approach, and discover how you can create a unique career helping others find peace and freedom with food.

Follow us on social:

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Psychologyofeating

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IPEfanpage

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatingpsychology/

- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eatingpsych

#personalpower #bingeeating #emotionaleating #weight #selfgrowth #eatingarchetypes #rebel #queen #wisdom #authenticity #foodfreedom