In this special episode of Talking With Emma, I’m doing something different.
Instead of teaching a tool or exploring a concept, I’m sharing my story — from childhood through midlife — and how my own experiences with food, weight, and the diet, restrict cycle shaped the work I do today.

You’ll hear about:

• How culture and childhood that shaped my beliefs about health, beauty, and worth
• The years I spent trying to “fix” my body — and the cost of that
• The turning points
• Why I now coach through a feminist, non-diet, weight-neutral lens
• And what I’ve learned about rebuilding trust with yourself after decades of food and body noise

This isn’t a highlight reel. It’s the truth behind the work — and why I believe so deeply that your body has never been the problem.

Links & Resources:
🎧 Download the Self Assessment + audio guide. It helps you see how — discover how patriarchal structures have impacted your health and wellbeing.

Curious about working together?
I’m currently taking private clients. Book a no-cost consultation where we’ll talk about your goals and see if I’m the right coach to support you.

Let’s stay connected:
🌐 Emma's Website
📬 Join the Talking with Emma newsletter
📱 Follow on Instagram, and LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Let’s help more women stop fixing their bodies and start trusting them.

Women can find themselves struggling when it comes to food and exercise. Not because they don’t know enough. Not because they’re lazy or weak. But because of the cultural mindsets that sneak in and run the show.

In this episode of Talking with Emma, I unpack three of the most common food mindsets that sabotage women’s health goals:

• All-or-nothing thinking — why perfectionism keeps you swinging between being “on track” or spiralling into “I blew it.”
• The “what’s wrong with me?” question — how this one sneaky question fuels confirmation bias and keeps you stuck in self-blame.
• Outcome obsession — why focusing on weight, performance, or results sets you up for discouragement, and why behaviours are the true markers of health.

Links & Resources:
🎧 Download the Self Assessment + audio guide. It helps you see how patriarchal structures have impacted your health and wellbeing, so you can evolve your relationship with food and your health.

Curious about working together?
I’m currently taking private clients. Book a no-cost consultation where we’ll talk about your goals and see if I’m the right coach to support you.

Let’s stay connected:
🌐 Emma's Website
📬 Join the Talking with Emma newsletter
📱 Follow on Instagram, and LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Let’s help more women stop fixing their bodies and start trusting them.

This week on Talking with Emma, I’m diving into one of the most emotionally charged topics in the health world: food addiction. But instead of recycling the same old narratives, I’m offering a different lens — one that cuts through the confusion, the shame, and the pseudoscience. We’re pulling apart what people really mean when they say they feel addicted to food — and why that feeling is often more about cultural conditioning, restriction, and stigma than about the food itself.

If you've ever felt like you can’t trust yourself around chocolate or chips, or like food has power over you, this episode is for you. We’ll explore why the research around food addiction is messy and inconclusive, how shame and restriction create the very behaviours we label as addiction, and what you can do to shift the narrative and start healing your relationship with food.

Key Takeaways

• Food addiction isn’t a settled science. The evidence is unclear, and the definitions vary — is it a substance addiction like alcohol, or a process addiction like gambling? The science doesn’t agree.
• “Addictive” foods often reflect restriction + shame. When women say they feel addicted to food, it’s often the result of biological hunger colliding with dieting rules and cultural judgment.
• Restriction fuels the binge cycle. Most studies overlook the impact of restriction, even though it’s a major driver of feeling out of control around food.
• Cultural meaning shapes how we experience food. Pizza isn’t just calories — it’s memories, messages, and morality. The brain responds to all of it, not just the ingredients.
• Eating disorders and “food addiction” scores strongly overlap. This shows how easily we pathologise normal responses to restriction and shame.
• Weight stigma distorts everything. When you’ve been taught your body is a problem, it’s no wonder food feels like a battleground.
• Healing requires unlearning, not more control. Naming cultural scripts, questioning restrictions, and responding to your actual needs is the way out.

Links & Resources:
🎧 Download the Self Assessment + audio guide. It helps you see how — discover how patriarchal structures have impacted your health and wellbeing.

Curious about working together?
I’m currently taking private clients. Book a no-cost consultation where we’ll talk about your goals and see if I’m the right coach to support you.

Let’s stay connected:
🌐 Emma's Website
📬 Join the Talking with Emma newsletter
📱 Follow on Instagram, and LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Let’s help more women stop fixing their bodies and start trusting them.

In this special {time sensitive} episode, I’m sharing a sneak peek into my free masterclass: The Emotional Eating Solution. I break down a practical, compassionate 3-step process to help you stop the cycle of emotional eating — without more willpower, rigid rules, or yet another plan to follow. If you're ready to feel more in control of your energy, reduce the food noise, and quit beating yourself up, you won't want to miss this.

Timeline Summary:

[0:45] - Why emotional eating is a biological response, not a personal failure
[2:10] - The real problem: not having enough tools to soothe ourselves
[3:05] - What to expect from The Emotional Eating Solution masterclass
[4:30] - A quick overview of my 3-step process (no diets or willpower required)
[6:15] - Why compassion is the missing link in breaking the food-emotion cycle
[8:00] - What you’ll walk away with after the masterclass

Links & Resources:

• Register for the free masterclass

Today, we’re flipping the script on emotional eating. I’m saying what most wellness advice won’t: Eating your feelings isn’t a personal failure. It’s actually your biology doing its job. In this episode, we look at why food is such an effective (and totally sane) way our bodies seek calm after stress, and how cultural conditioning has layered shame, fear, and perfectionism on top of that very human behaviour.

I break down the powerful cultural forces that taught us to see emotional eating as a moral weakness—from "good girl" programming to anti-fat bias. You’ll hear real client stories that illustrate how emotional eating works as a survival tool, and I walk you through the S.A.F.E. Method, a four-step approach to move from shame and autopilot to respect and choice. If you’ve ever felt stuck in the cycle of stress, food, and guilt—this episode is your permission slip and practical guide to a kinder, more effective way out.

Timeline Summary:

[1:28] — Why emotional eating isn’t failure: it’s biology doing its job

[5:10] — How "good girl" conditioning and perfectionism create emotional eating shame

[11:32] — Anti-fat bias starts young: what our nervous systems learn by age five

[15:44] — Client story: Rina’s car park eating and what changed when shame was removed

[22:05] — The S.A.F.E. Method: A step-by-step way to move from autopilot to agency

[30:17] — Client story: Tracey’s 3pm "snackcident" and what self-kindness made possible

[37:55] — Final reminder: emotional eating is not a flaw—it’s a starting point for healing

Links & Resources:
🎧 Download the Self Assessment + audio guide. It helps you see how — discover how patriarchal structures have impacted your health and wellbeing.

Curious about working together?
I’m currently taking private clients. Book a no-cost consultation where we’ll talk about your goals and see if I’m the right coach to support you.

Let’s stay connected:
🌐 Emma's Website
📬 Join the Talking with Emma newsletter
📱 Follow on Instagram, and LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Let’s help more women stop fixing their bodies and start trusting them.

What to Do When Getting Dressed Ruins Your Day

We’ve all had those mornings. You get dressed, catch your reflection — or feel your clothes pinch — and suddenly the whole day feels hijacked. The shame hits hard, especially if you “know better” and still find yourself spiraling.

Here’s the truth: you’re not failing. You’re not weak. You’re not broken.
You’re learning a new skill — and like any new skill, it takes practice.

In this episode of Talking with Emma, you’ll learn:

• Why your brain still serves up those old body-shaming scripts — even if you’ve done the work.
• A three-step tool to handle the aftermath when getting dressed derails you.
• How to bring compassion instead of criticism, and why celebrating tiny wins makes change stick.
• Real client stories of women who moved from spiraling to steady — and what progress actually looks like.

By the end, you’ll have a practical way to calm the noise, reclaim your day, and start building a more empowered relationship with clothes and your body.

Links & Resources:
🎧 Download the Midlife Self Assessment + audio guide. It helps you see what’s really driving your food and body noise — and what to do to get your calm and confidence back.

Curious about working together?
I’m currently taking private clients. Book a no-cost consultation where we’ll talk about your goals and see if I’m the right coach to support you.

Let’s stay connected:
🌐 Emma's Website
📬 Join the Talking with Emma newsletter
📱 Follow on Instagram, and LinkedIn

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Let’s help more midlife women stop fixing their bodies and start trusting them.

You’ve been told that changing your mindset and loving your body will stop the food and body noise. But those messages, well-meaning as they are, may have been keeping you stuck. In this episode, I’m diving into why I don’t coach mindset—and why I don’t teach body love either.

Instead of piling on more affirmations or chasing a feeling of love about your body still centers women's worthiness around appearance. I am offering you something different: the power of embodiment and the quiet, profound relief of body neutrality. I share how cultural narratives around positivity and beauty have let midlife women down, and why the true transformation happens not in your thoughts, but in your nervous system.

If you’ve ever felt like mindset work didn’t “work” for you, or like body love was another impossible standard—you’re not broken. Let’s explore what leads to a sustainably calm mind and true confidence in yourself.

[Timeline Summary]

[1:35] - Why I stopped coaching mindset and body love — and what I teach instead
[4:48] - How mindset became self-help’s golden ticket — and where it goes wrong
[9:32] - The problem with body love
[13:21] - My personal story of chasing perfection and the turning point to embodiment
[18:44] - The difference between mindset work and embodied transformation
[23:17] - A client example that shows how safety and nervous system healing shift everything
[28:09] - Why body respect (not body love) creates lasting change and true confidence

Links & Resources:
🎧 Download the Midlife Body Image Assessment + audio guide. It helps you see what’s really driving your food and body noise — and what to do to get relief.

Curious about working together?
I’m currently taking private clients. Book a no-cost consultation where we’ll talk about your goals and see if I’m the right coach to support you.

Let’s stay connected:
🌐 Emma's Website
📬 Join the Talking with Emma newsletter
📱 Follow on LinkedIn

If this episode felt like a breath of fresh air, please follow the show, share it with a friend, or leave a review. Talking with Emma is here to help you stop fixing your body—and start living your life. See you next week!

For so many smart midlife women, the dressing room isn’t just about clothes.
It’s the place where decades of cultural messages about how our bodies should look come crashing in.

That’s why I’m running a free masterclass:
How to Stop the Dressing Room Spiral and Feel Good in Clothes Again.

In this Sept 22 class, you’ll learn:

• Why dressing rooms trigger so much shame (and why it makes total sense).
• How to prepare yourself before you shop so you feel steadier walking in.
• The exact tools to use in the moment, so you can walk out with clothes that feel comfortable, powerful, and like you again.

This isn’t about “body love” or pretending you adore the mirror.
It’s about respect, comfort, and freedom — so you can reclaim your energy for what really matters.

Get more info and Register for the free masterclass here

Sept 22

60 min

Registration required (replay available)