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

Negative body image is something that so many of us struggle with – regardless of our nationality, age, or background. It almost seems to be part of the human condition, something that is innate to our journey here on Earth.

But is it, really?

While not liking our body – or constantly trying to achieve a certain weight or shape – is ubiquitous around the world, the truth is that is NOT a natural, normal part of being alive.

Our beliefs around body image and beauty are instead ingrained from us at a young age. We were, quite literally, taught to believe that beauty looks a certain way, and that we must do everything we can to attain this beauty … or else.

Depending on our culture, family, and childhood, the beauty ideals we grew up with might be different from other people.

But regardless, these ideals have a very similar effect on us: they cause massive low self-esteem throughout adulthood, until we recognize and release them.

That’s what we explore in this episode, where we meet Sharon, 32, who has been trying to lose about 15 pounds – but can’t figure out why she’s unable to fully commit to her diet and exercise.

Growing up in Chinese culture, Sharon learned from watching Chinese beauty pageants on TV that to be thin and light was beautiful. She was mesmerized by the beauty contestants, and imagined herself one day being as pretty and elegant as they were.

Her parents and community also echoed this value, and her weight fluctuations were frequently a topic of conversation. All of this was even more confusing to Sharon because, in Chinese culture, sharing food is a way of sharing love. Her dad was an amazing chef and made delicious food – and she was encouraged to relish it, just not too much of it.

Now as an adult, Sharon understandably has a lot of conflicted feelings about food and her body. She finds herself still wanting to achieve the ideal body, the one she dreamed of as a little girl.

But that thin, lythe body always feels just out of reach – no matter how hard she tries to diet or get to the gym. Sharon just can’t quite get herself to consistently do the things that she thinks would help her lose weight – and she’s wondering what to do.

So in this episode, Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, explores:

✅ The keys to recognizing childhood conditioning around body image – and how to begin to let it go.

✅ Why the belief, “I’m not good enough,” will almost always derail our weight loss efforts.

✅ Weight loss as an emotional, non-linear type of goal, and why this matters in the weight loss journey.

✅ Learning to approach weight loss from a place of inspiration and self-love.

No matter where we’re from or what our background is, almost all of us have been taught certain beliefs around weight and beauty. But as this episode demonstrates, we don’t have to keep feeding these beliefs.

We get to choose which beliefs we want to embrace – and one of the most important beliefs about ourselves we can ever choose is, “I love myself. I am enough.”

Enjoy this powerful episode!

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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

#bodyimage #weight #selflovejourney #innerchild #selfworth #selfacceptance #radicalselflove #foodpsychology

Many of us struggle with emotional eating. And that’s because food is a reliable way to manage our unwanted emotions. Think: Bored. Stressed. Lonely. Angry. Anxious.

When we’re experiencing difficult emotions, it’s natural to turn to food.

But here’s something that’s also common: some of us label ourselves as emotional eaters, when that’s not actually the case.

For some of us, something else altogether is going on:

We just LOVE food. A lot.

The truth is, some of us love food so much that we don’t know how to contain ourselves.

We overdo it because we love it so much. In the midst of our food love affair, it seems we can lose our ability to manage how much food we eat.

So it’s not so much that we have a “problem” with food – instead, we love it so much that we can easily go overboard.

If this sounds familiar, this episode will really hit home.

Marc David coaches 35-year old guest client, Romana, who has long assumed that she’s an emotional eater. In an effort to put an end to her ‘emotional eating,’ Romana wonders: how can she only eat when she’s hungry? What does she need to do to control herself? And why does she go against her own wishes when it comes to how much she eats?

But in the course of their session, Marc helps Romana recognize that her challenge is a bit different from what she imagines it to be.

What Romana believes is her “food issue” is actually just a deep love and excitement for food.

So how does Romana and the rest of us love food, without overdoing it?

By owning, honoring, and embracing that love.

And also learning that loving food in a good way – in a way that supports our body, mind, and soul – means we must cultivate some real SKILL. The truth is, most of us who struggle with emotional eating and overeating simply haven’t learned key skills around eating and pleasure.

So in this episode, you’ll hear Marc explore:

💟 Why embracing our inner Hedonist archetype is hard for so many of us to do – but why it’s so important to overcome emotional eating & overeating.

💟 How to experience pleasure wisely.

💟 Learning to “embody” with food – and recognize the signs of “checking out” when eating.

💟 How to slow down with food and allow your nervous system to register pleasure.

💟 Transforming excitement with food into fulfillment with food.

💟 How to ground yourself when you eat.

This positive and uplifting episode is a powerful reminder that our love for food is both natural and beautiful. Through embracing that love, we can find the nourishment and connection with food that is our human birthright.

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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

#emotionaleating #emotionaleater #overeating #pleasure #hedonist #loveaffair #nourishment #relationshipwithfood #foodpsychology #podcast #marcdavid

Ever hear the phrase “health is wealth?”

For many people, we don’t quite recognize how valuable our health is until we find illness or injury knocking.

Enjoying robust health is truly the foundation of a happy, fulfilled, and connected life.

But it’s also true that worrying about our health, or being vigilant about every aspect of our diet and lifestyle, can actually take us in the opposite direction of vitality – as Marc David explores with 53-year old Daniela.

Daniela’s health anxieties – like many people – were born at a young age.

As a child, Daniela had always thought she was pretty – gorgeous, even. But at the age of 15, her father told her she was overweight, and in that single instant, her whole world flipped. She began to have constant intrusive thoughts that she was fat, and that something was wrong with her – something that she just had to figure out how to fix.

Now almost 40 years later, Daniela has endured a series of serious health challenges: a pituitary tumor, thyroid dysfunction, knee surgery, and more.

The more health challenges that develop, the more she worries.

And her doctors do little to alleviate her concerns – with all their talk of visceral fat, and cholesterol, and how important it is to lose weight.

Daniela’s life feels like it’s constricting around her.

She’s tired of the decades of yo-yo dieting. She just wants to eat food that nourishes her, be at a moderate weight, and enjoy a healthy life.

But she can’t escape the feeling that her body is against her.

So in this session, Marc helps Daniela see her story and her relationship with her body from a different perspective: that of her soul.

Because it’s Daniela’s soul that is calling out for a different kind of life: one where she can stop fighting herself and instead embrace the precious life she has the opportunity to live.

If you’re like Daniela, caught in worries about whether your health and weight is on the right track, be sure to tune into this episode!

You’ll hear:

✅ A much-needed wake up call for why it’s time to surrender and let go.

✅ 5 key steps Marc shares for how we can release our health anxieties.

✅ How our metabolic capacity is connected to our personal power.

✅ A soulful exploration of our collective beliefs around weight and lovability.

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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

#weight #health #healthanxiety #spiritualgrowth #personalgrowth #eatingpsychology #foodpsychology #mindbodynutrition #marcdavid