Psychology Of Eating

Forty-five-year-old Michelle from Australia has been dealing with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) for the last 10 years. She’s tried numerous dietary approaches including a low FODMAPS diet, and reports that her past restrictive diets seem to have only increased her food intolerances. Regardless of what she eats, she’s frequently struck with extreme discomfort, causing her intense anxiety and worry about the consequences of trying to engage in the simple — and necessary — act of eating. To boot, Michelle is often ravenous and snacks a lot throughout the day, contributing to some weight gain that she would like to shed. Unsure of how to proceed, she consults with Marc David, eating psychology expert and founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, for help. Listen in as Marc helps her hone in on the true cause of her IBS, and how she can work to unwind the unfortunate state of digestive distress she finds herself in each day. Tune in now!   -----------------------------   With his dual training i

In this episode of the Psychology of Eating Podcast, we meet 60-year old Heidi from Catalina Island, California. In 2014, Heidi was at a point of peak fitness, preparing for a hiking trip to Machu Picchu — until she was afflicted with a rare spinal staph infection that caused temporary paralysis in her legs. Now on lifelong antibiotics, Heidi is experiencing pain, inflammation, gut challenges, and weight gain. An incredibly resilient person, Heidi has remarried after her former partner left her during her illness, and has mostly made peace with no longer being an athlete. In their coaching session, Marc works with Heidi to explore ways to lose weight and improve her symptoms. Tune in to this inspiring conversation now!   --------------------   With his dual training in clinical nutrition and psychology, Marc David, M.A., has spent the last 40 years helping people around the world heal their relationship with food. As the founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Marc is the author of the bests

Denise is a 36-year-old mother living in Zimbabwe who would like to create a new relationship with food and body. Having struggled for years to accept her body as it is, Denise is realizing what a burden her self-attack and self-rejection have been - and she’s ready to turn the page on this old pattern. In this episode of the Psychology of Eating Podcast, Marc David coaches Denise on how she can use the power of presence to overcome her negative self-talk and create an empowering new vision for herself and her future. Tune into this beautiful conversation on self-acceptance, gratitude, and presence in the face of our challenges with food, body, and life.   -------------------   With his dual training in clinical nutrition and psychology, Marc David, M.A., has spent the last 40 years helping people around the world heal their relationship with food. As the founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Marc is the author of the bestselling books, Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind Body Approach to Health &

Since childhood, Gretchen, aged 35, has always weighed more than she would have liked. At 150 pounds in the 6th grade, Gretchen found her weight continuing to climb into young adulthood. Now engaged and about to be married, Gretchen is grappling with the need to let go of more than just extra pounds: the weight hate she’s endured her whole life, and grief and sadness she absorbed from her parents as a child. Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, coaches Gretchen on the path of individuation she’s embarked on, discovering who she really is, and allowing that truth to heal her challenges with food and body. Tune into this inspiring episode to hear Marc empower Gretchen with tools to create healthy boundaries, embody, and live with more joy and freedom.   -----------------   With his dual training in clinical nutrition and psychology, Marc David, M.A., has spent the last 40 years helping people around the world heal their relationship with food. As the founder of the Instit

Understanding Emotional Eating When It Comes to Feeling Safe Sometimes living on Planet Earth can feel like a game of survival - and for some of us, that’s a lifelong experience. In today’s episode of the podcast, food psychology teacher Marc David works with 47-year old Isabelle. As a child, Isabelle endured years of physical abuse from her stepfather, and subsequently never developed the feeling of emotional safety. Now a mother herself, Isabelle is recognizing that her patterns around emotional eating are deeply intertwined with her childhood experiences, and the challenge she’s had as an adult of forgiving her now elderly mom for looking the other way. In their coaching session, Marc shares some powerful paradigm shifts and strategies for reconnecting and finally experiencing the emotional safety that we all need to be healthy humans. As Marc teaches, when we truly work on our relationship with food, we’re driven to go deeper: far beyond what’s on our plate, or what and when we eat. For so many of us, wor

A 36-Year Old Ph.D. Student Creates a New Relationship with Food & Body Jane, 36, is a Ph.D. student and today’s guest on the Psychology of Eating Podcast. As a 14-year old girl, a family friend introduced her to Weight Watchers. Weight loss became a game to her, where she could add up points and see the scale begin to go down – something she was eager to do as a self-proclaimed tomboy who found the physical changes that come with puberty quite traumatic. As she talks with Marc David, master coach and founder of the Institute for the Psychology, she shares what’s led her to where she is now: wanting to lose weight and not have food consume so much of her thoughts, while also learning how to use diet and nutrition to help shift some health concerns she was recently diagnosed with. Tune in now!   ----------------   With his dual training in clinical nutrition and psychology, Marc David, M.A., has spent the last 40 years helping people around the world heal their relationship with food. As the founder of

A 41-Year Old’s Journey with Depression, Weight, & Instant Gratification In this episode of The Psychology of Eating Podcast, we meet 41-year-old Claire from Glasgow, Scotland. Claire is a new mother to a two-year-old boy, and in a loving, supportive marriage. But she privately struggles with post-partum depression and weight gain that’s undermining her ability to live joyfully. After undergoing IVF therapy and finally giving birth to her son, Claire can’t help but feel that she should be in a different emotional place: enjoying early motherhood, feeling fulfilled, and looking to the future with positive anticipation. Master eating psychology coach and founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Marc David, works with Claire to turn an important corner in her life as a new mom.   -------------------   With his dual training in clinical nutrition and psychology, Marc David, M.A., has spent the last 40 years helping people around the world heal their relationship with food. As the founder of

A 35-Year-Old Woman Works with Pelvic Floor Dysfunction What’s the role between stress, pelvic floor dysfunction, and gut issues like constipation? That’s what we explore in this episode, where Marc David, Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, speaks with 35-year old Angela from Australia. Since the age of about 20, Angela has been dealing with constipation and pelvic floor pain, and a prior diagnosis of endometriosis. She’s tried every diet she knows to try to improve her condition, but with very limited success. Angela has recently realized that pelvic floor dysfunction may be playing a role in her chronic constipation and has started seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist. Through the course of their conversation, Marc talks with Angela about the role of stress and trauma in pelvic floor dysfunction and coaches her on non-dietary solutions for her condition. Tune in now for a fascinating conversation on a little-known but highly prevalent condition affecting many women – and men – arou

Changing Our Minds About Our Bodies Arina, 33, arrives at her coaching session with Marc David with several challenges with food she would like to transform: anxiety that she spends much of her day thinking about food, fast eating habits, food cravings, and a dislike of certain parts of her body. Tune into Marc’s transformational conversation with Arina, and find answers to your own eating challenges.   Key Insights: Arina, a 33-year-old mother, wishes she could change some parts of her body and cut down on sweet foods and cravings. She wants to make sure she and her family eat healthy and worries that her cravings and eating habits are interfering with her deeper desires for good health. Marc David urges Arina to move away from the sort of perfectionism that so many women in their 30s have. He advises her to start embracing herself and her body rather than judging and punishing herself for what she perceives as personal flaws.  Marc reminds Arina that the people who love her, do so just as she i

33-Year Old Jess Works to Transform Stress Eating & Food Guilt Jessica, a recently divorced 33-year old mother of three, is discovering how to find freedom with food. For her, that means not constantly tracking her food, controlling her cravings for sweets, or feeling guilty when she eats forbidden foods. Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, Marc David explains to Jessica the evolutionary reasons behind her cravings and normalizes her desire to control what she eats. Listen to this enlightening and insightful episode now!   Key Insights: Jessica, 33, speaks to Marc David about her challenges around eating and weight. She would ideally like to lose weight but admits that even when she weighed less, she wasn’t satisfied with her appearance. She believes that if she could get rid of her cravings for sugar and junk food, she would find the weight and freedom around food she desires. As Marc explains, humans — like other living creatures — evolved to enjoy eating. We developed sp

Overcoming Resistance to Improving Our Health In today’s episode, we explore a topic that many will relate to: wanting to improve one’s health, but struggling with resistance to making healthy changes. As Cheryl’s guest coaching session with eating psychology teacher Marc David demonstrates, changing our lifestyle can be challenging — particularly when our loved ones aren’t making similar healthy food choices. At 51, Cheryl reports that she’s carrying some extra weight around her midsection, which she’d like to let go of. She’s been trained in Marc’s Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, where she learned a lot about the nuances of behavior change and has moved away from tired approaches that focus on notions of “good” and “bad” foods, calorie restriction, and “calories-in” and “calories-out.”    But after visiting a functional nutritionist who has given her some strict nutrition instructions and a long list of supplements to take each day, she’s at a crossroads. She doesn’t want to follow

Growing up in Poland, today’s guest, Justyna, didn’t learn much from her parents or teachers about the body changes that came with puberty. As she moved through adolescence, she became increasingly uncomfortable with how her body was changing. She began a 20-year journey with dieting — an experience that SO many of our listeners can relate to. Now 39, Justyna lives in Antwerp, Belgium, and is at a very different point in life. She recognizes that dieting hasn’t made her happy and that she’s been trying to force her body into a shape that it simply doesn’t want to inhabit. Her body has been giving her clear messages that it wants to live on its terms, which Justyna wants to honor but doesn’t quite how to do that. Tune into her wonderful conversation with Marc David as they talk about how to tune into one’s body wisdom.   -------------------   With his dual training in clinical nutrition and psychology, Marc David, M.A., has spent the last 40 years helping people around the world heal their relationship wi

Discovering the Rhythm of Life: One Woman’s Journey https://psychologyofeating.online/ss/ Are you ready to transform your relationship with food in a lasting and meaningful way? What if you could help others find the path to greater freedom and joy with food as well?   Taunya has come a long way since the days of her disordered eating patterns. Here she speaks to bestselling author and coach Marc David, who has helped countless people develop a healthy relationship with food. Taunya would like to learn to be her body’s best friend. In this fascinating discussion, Marc connects some important dots between showing up for herself, her husband, and her deepest desires in their relationship. Listen in to Marc and Taunya’s freewheeling chat about connecting more deeply with her husband and about the ways to fulfill her intellectual and emotional needs.   Key Insights: A lot of people try to manipulate the body instead of being with and present for the body. However, controlling the body is not the same as

A 29-Year-Old Woman Works with Wanting A Different Body Lauren, 29, spent much of her life feeling underweight, until about three years ago when she went through a traumatic breakup and gained weight. She comes to her session with Marc David seeking to feel good about herself regardless of her body size or shape. As Marc reflects, that’s a beautiful goal, but the path to getting there might just be a little different than she’s imagining right now. Tune into their inspiring conversation about love, loss, body image, and so much more.   Key Insights: Sometimes a traumatic incident such as a bad breakup can have us turn to food for comfort. This is a natural coping mechanism that, while not ideal for our health and weight, is understandable.  An important first step in changing unwanted eating behaviors is recognizing the usefulness that these patterns can have at difficult times in our lives. As we step away from self-judgment and towards self-compassion, we can more easily establish healthy habits f

A Man Embraces His Power Does your health span match your lifespan? This is the question Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, answers for Augustine, who is striving to not just live longer, but healthier. Join them in this inspiring conversation about physical, emotional, and mental vitality that goes beyond just food, working out, and weight loss.   Key Insights: Augustine, 49, shares his journey about health goals and life aspirations with Marc David. As the owner of a CrossFit gym, he is eager to learn the strategies and approaches to increasing his longevity.  A key concept in the longevity universe is that of our “health span,” which is the length of our lives spent in good health and free from chronic disease. While it’s good to focus on longevity, it’s equally important to consider how we can maintain our health as long into the future as possible. As this episode explores, physical fitness is not the only type of fitness that is important. Mental and emotion

What Illness is Asking of Us When It Comes to Self-Care https://psychologyofeating.online/ss/ Are you ready to transform your relationship with food in a lasting and meaningful way? What if you could help others find the path to greater freedom and joy with food as well?   In this episode of The Psychology of Eating Podcast, eating psychology teacher Marc David speaks with 56-year-old Veronica who has just been diagnosed with diabetes. She’d like to lose weight and become better organized about her food and health. Marc takes the conversation in an unexpected direction, helping Veronica to recognize the importance for self-care that goes beyond good nutrition. Tune in now!   Key Insights Being diagnosed with a condition such as diabetes inevitably brings up new and unexpected realities. Among them is the need to prioritize oneself and engage in regular self-care like never before. A new health diagnosis represents a certain crossroads. We’re no longer who we were, but we’re not exactly sure yet

Allowing Discomfort: A Key to Transforming Emotional Eating https://psychologyofeating.online/ss/ Are you ready to transform your relationship with food in a lasting and meaningful way? What if you could help others find the path to greater freedom and joy with food as well?   Kelly has struggled with emotional eating since age 10. Now 56, she’s happier than she’s ever been - she’s in a wonderful relationship and loves her life, except for the 30+ pounds that have crept up in the past few years. Eating psychology teacher and master coach Marc David helps Kelly understand the reasons behind her challenging relationship with food, and the guilt and shame she feels around food and body image. Watch this thought-provoking conversation as Kelly achieves an important breakthrough.   Key Insights: There’s a massive stigma against emotional eating. We believe it’s bad and that we’re bad for engaging it. But humans are emotional creatures. Eating, by its very nature, is an emotional act. We’re biologicall

A 25-Year Old Releases the Need to Control Food … and Life https://psychologyofeating.online/ss/ Are you ready to transform your relationship with food in a lasting and meaningful way? What if you could help others find the path to greater freedom and joy with food as well?   In this episode of The Psychology of Eating Podcast, eating psychology teacher Marc David speaks with 25-year old Lilja from beautiful Reykjavik, Iceland. Lilja is underweight and has been recently diagnosed with anorexia. While part of her wants to gain weight, she’s simultaneously afraid of becoming overweight and staying that way for the rest of her life. As she’s coached by Marc, Lilja reveals that she’s deeply Christian, but sometimes finds herself spiritually shut down. During these times, Lilja often turns to food for comfort. Through their conversation, Marc offers a powerful reframe on what’s going on for her and what’s needed to create a healthy relationship with food and body. Don’t miss this inspiring episode!   Key In

A 39-Year Old’s Journey with Food, Loneliness, and Self-Soothing https://psychologyofeating.online/ss/ Are you ready to transform your relationship with food in a lasting and meaningful way? What if you could help others find the path to greater freedom and joy with food as well?   In this episode of The Psychology of Eating podcast, Marc David works with 39-year old Linda, who has been binge eating since the age of eight. As a young person, Linda felt unable to express her true feelings and needs with her family and turned to food to self-soothe. Decades later, Linda feels like life has passed her by, consumed by a habit that, as she says, “has taken me away from discovering who I am.” Now at the cusp of a breakthrough, Marc empowers her with the right mindset to embrace her life path, forgive herself, and redefine her relationship with food. Don’t miss this uplifting and inspiring conversation.   Key Insights: Like other unwanted eating challenges, binge eating often develops in childhood as we t

Why We Self-Sabotage with Food & How to Stop   https://psychologyofeating.online/ss/ Are you ready to transform your relationship with food in a lasting and meaningful way? What if you could help others find the path to greater freedom and joy with food as well?   Food and body challenges aren’t confined to certain regions or countries, they’re truly found all over the world as today’s episode of the podcast demonstrates. Samantha is a 43-year old originally from Johannesburg, South Africa who is now living in London, and is struggling with a variety of eating challenges, including binge eating, emotional eating, and overeating. After quitting smoking 8 years ago, Samantha put on weight that she has since not been able to shed. She’s tried plant-based diets to good effect, but eventually returns to unwanted eating habits. Tired of struggling with her weight, low energy, poor sleep, and weak digestion, Samantha turns to eating psychology expert, Marc David, who helps her find a deeper understanding of