It's not about fixing emotional eating—it's about loving yourself through it.

Marla Mervis Hartmann, is a coach, TedX speaker and creator of Love Your Body, Love Yourself. She shares her personal journey of struggling with restrictive dieting, over-exercising, and body dissatisfaction despite having a healthy physique. Women face societal pressures and diet culture that often lead to a cycle of criticism and control, particularly as the body changes through different life stages like menopause.

Marla says that all women should practice self-compassion and avoid being overly critical of our bodies. Healing involves slowing down, tuning into what the body truly needs, and addressing underlying fears of acceptance and authenticity. It is very important how we speak to ourselves, what we push into ourselves emotionally because that will reflect on the eating habits.

Personal stories in this episode are heart-touching and "Death by chocolate," captures the emotional complexities tied to food. Marla shared tips for cultivating self-love and body acceptance. We are all in different shapes and sizes, but what matters is the peace and love you give to yourself.

Show Notes:
🍇 Marla struggled with a lot of restricting dieting: she was orthorexic, and her food had to look absolutely perfect. 2:59
⚠️ For a lot of people, accepting your body feels like giving up, but acceptance means changing the whole game. 5:42
🤯 Diet culture pushes the narrative that something is wrong with us if we have extra fat. 11:06
🪞 We want to be in control of our bodies in a way that is loving: mirror fasting. 13:19
😇 It's powerful that we can love our bodies as they are: it's not okay to normalize being mean to ourselves. 19:10
👵 How Jennifer's grandma dealt with food. 22:32
🍫 Food helps us deal with our emotions, but it shouldn't be the only thing. 25:57
🍨 We want to change the pattern of jumping over the emotions to get to the food: the reasons we do it. 29:59
⚡ With her clients, Marla would slow down and find the root of the punishment. 34:37

Links:

Website: www.loveyourbodyloveyourself.com/

Free Course: www.goloveyourbodyloveyourself.com/emotionaleating
Connect with Jennifer: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com

Retreats: www.jenniferdawncoaching.com/our-retreat

Join our Academy: www.jenniferdawnacademy.com