Chatting with Cara - The Relationship with Food Podcast

Cara Meehan - The Mindful Eating Coach
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Nutrition
  • Updated fortnightly

A podcast for women stuck in the diet cycle, emotional eating and the 'I'll start Monday' patten. If you eat when stressed, overwhelmed or bored and feel guilty every time this show is for you. We talk about food freedom, breaking self-sabotage, and building a sustainable relationship with food without another diet." Find me here - Facebook - Coaching with Cara Instrgram - @coachingwcara Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk If you would like to enquire about my 1-1 coaching then please book yourself a free consultation call in here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

  1. 1 day ago

    The Intuitive Table Supper Club - An evening to build a healthy relationship with food

    Ever sat down to a menu and started negotiating with yourself before you've even ordered? That's the moment this episode is for. I'm opening up something brand new in Shropshire ,a real-life supper club built entirely around building a healthy relationship with food, and I want you at the table. On the 12th of November at 7pm, I'm hosting the Intuitive Table Supper Club at the Loopy Shrew, a small, intimate evening of food, conversation, and in-the-moment coaching designed to help you stop overeating out of guilt and finally enjoy a meal without the mental food-table-tennis. This is food freedom in practice, not theory. In this episode I cover - Why eating out feels so loaded. The constant back-and-forth, should I have that, shouldn't I have that, I'll be "good," I'll be "naughty" and why that inner commentary is exhausting, not normal. What the supper club actually looks like. A welcome drink, two courses of your choosing, and me coaching you in real time between courses. Helping you tune into hunger, fullness, and what you actually want to eat. How this ties into emotional hunger vs physical hunger. Learning to tell the difference in the moment, with food in front of you, rather than reading about it afterwards. Why there's no guilt after eating at this table. No "fuck it button," no spiral, just informed decisions and walking away feeling like you handled it. How it sets you up for Christmas. Practising the tools now so work dos, family meals, and nights out over the festive season don't derail you. Who else will be there. Graduates from the founding Intuitive Table cohort, celebrating eight weeks of doing exactly this work — proof it's possible. If navigating a menu without the guilt trip sounds like something you need, this episode tells you exactly how to get a seat at the table. £45 gets you a welcome drink, two courses, and coaching for the evening, DM me on social media or fill out this form here if you would like more information and I'll get you booked in. Connect with Cara Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the below links. Email – cara@coachingwithcara.co.ukWebsite – www.coachingwithcara.co.ukFacebook – Coaching with CaraInstagram – @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together?Book a FREE no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible.Book your call here – https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara Until next time, keep chatting!

  2. 16 Oct

    Why knowing what to do isn't enough to stop emotional eating

    You know you should drink more water. You know breakfast matters. You know the phone should go down before bed. So why aren't you doing any of it? In this episode I unpack why "I know what I should do, I just don't do it" isn't the honest confession it sounds like, it's actually a brilliant way to dodge the real work of stopping emotional eating. This one came from a PT consultation this week that stopped me in my tracks. A new client rattled off everything she "should" be doing, (with full ownership and zero shame) and it got me thinking about the difference between self-awareness and self-avoidance. Spoiler - they're not the same thing. In this episode I cover - The self-awareness trap. Saying "yep, I don't drink water, I don't move, I live off snacks" out loud can feel like brutal self-knowledge. But when you know exactly what to do and still don't do it, that's not a knowledge gap, it's something else entirely. Why it's not about the water. The steps, the water, the breakfast, none of it is the actual issue. It's the pattern underneath: the self-sabotage, the all-or-nothing thinking, the confidence gap that's really running the show when it comes to emotional eating. What this looks like for emotional eaters. "Yeah, I'm bored, I'll eat." "I'm stressed, I'll eat." The awareness is there but awareness on its own doesn't move you forward. Comfort eating and boredom eating both point to something worth pausing on, not fixing on the surface. Fierce compassion, not "it's fine, don't worry about it." This isn't about being told what to do by a coach or a PT. It's about asking yourself the harder question: what am I avoiding, and what would actually help me long term? Owning your narrative. The shift from "yeah, I don't do that" to "yeah, I do that" doesn't come from a sticking-plaster habit tracker. It comes from getting underneath the pattern, which is exactly what we do in 1-1 coaching. So this week, notice what you say out loud that you "own." Notice where you stop at the confession instead of asking why. That's where the real relationship with food work begins. Connect with Cara Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. If this landed for you, I'd love to support you, please get in touch using the links below. Email – cara@coachingwithcara.co.ukWebsite – www.coachingwithcara.co.ukFacebook – Coaching with CaraInstagram – @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together? Book a free no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible. Book your call here – https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara Until next time, keep chatting!

  3. 9 Oct

    Organic, grass-fed, sustainable... What do food labels actually mean? With Professor Nicola Randall

    Ever stood in the supermarket staring at a label wondering what "sustainable" really means? In this episode of Chatting with Cara, I sit down with Professor Nicola Randall, an evidence-based agriculture and agroecology expert, to unpick what's really behind the labels on our food, and how it connects to a healthier relationship with food. We talk about organic rules, grass-fed marketing, palm oil, ultra-processed food stigma, and why "good choices made consistently" matters more than chasing perfection. If you want sustainable eating habits without the overwhelm, this one's for you. In this episode I talk about - What "sustainable" actually means (and why it's not one thing). Nicola breaks sustainability down into three strands, economic, environmental and social and explains why a label saying "sustainable" often has no legal definition behind it at all. The difference between legally regulated labels and marketing terms. Organic has to meet strict legal standards (at least 95% organic ingredients, no synthetic fertilisers or pesticides, no GMOs). Terms like "grass-fed" and "regenerative," on the other hand, are far more loosely defined and open to marketing spin. What certification schemes like Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured actually check. They're not all measuring the same thing, one might be about traceability and British provenance, another about animal welfare specifically. Neither guarantees the lowest carbon footprint. Why demonising ultra-processed food misses the bigger picture. We talk honestly about the socio-economic reality that whole-food, "perfect" eating isn't accessible to everyone, and why shaming people for their food choices only adds more stigma to an already loaded topic. The uncomfortable trade-offs consumers face. You often can't have local AND fair trade AND organic AND affordable all at once. Nicola's take: it's about awareness of what matters most to you, not chasing an impossible ideal. What the future of food might look like. Climate impacts, extreme weather, and global political uncertainty are already changing what farmers can grow and what ends up on our shelves, alongside genuinely exciting developments like urban farming. So next time you're standing in the supermarket aisle feeling overwhelmed by labels, remember: you don't need to know everything. Just get clear on what matters most to you, and let that guide good choices made consistently. Connect with Cara - Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the links below. Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk  Website - www.coachingwithcara.co.uk Facebook - Coaching with Cara  Instagram - @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together?  Book a FREE no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible.  Book your call here. Until next time, keep chatting!

  4. 2 Oct

    GLP-1 drugs, food noise and your relationship with food

    Are GLP-1 drugs actually improving your relationship with food, or just quietening it? In this episode of Chatting with Cara, I'm talking honestly about GLP-1 drugs, food noise, and why appetite suppression isn't the same as food freedom. In this episode I talk about - My stance on GLP-1 drugs. No judgement as always as my firmly believe you have full autonomy over your own body.What food noise actually is. The constant background chatter about food, thinking about it, planning it, being preoccupied by it and why it's become such a big part of the national conversation since Oprah spoke about it.Two real conversations that inspired this episode. One person feeling brilliant with less food noise a few months into treatment, another who'd regained a stone from "not listening to their body" and what that tells us.The honeymoon period. Why an improved relationship with food in the first few months on GLP-1 drugs needs unpicking, is it less urge to eat, less guilt after eating, or something else entirely?Why appetite suppression isn't food freedom. The mindset work, identity work, and food noise work that still needs doing because when the drugs are reduced or stopped, that's where sustainability is.What I actually work on with clients on GLP-1s. Language around food (yes, we're removing "cheat meal"), identity shifts as your body changes, hunger and fullness cues, and unpicking things like takeaway habits, no judgement, just curiosity. Connect with Cara -  Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the below links. Email -  cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk Website - www.coachingwithcara.co.uk Facebook - Coaching with Cara Instagram - @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together?  Fill out this form here and I will be in touch. Until next time, keep chatting!

  5. 25 Sept

    Why you know how to lose weight but not how to maintain it (break the diet cycle for good)

    You know how to lose weight. You know how to gain it back. But has anyone ever taught you how to maintain it? In this episode I break down why chronic dieters get stuck in a rinse-and-repeat cycle of losing and regaining and it's not down to willpower or determination. I was chatting to a woman recently who summed it up perfectly, she said "I knew how to lose weight, I knew how to gain weight, but I didn't know how to maintain weight." If that hits home, this one's for you. Diets are just a set of rules and rules run out. What happens next is the bit nobody talks about. In this episode I cover-  Why diets are designed to bring you back. Diets are a set of rules someone else made and if they actually worked long-term, the diet industry wouldn't be a multi billion pound business. They need you to come back. The all-or-nothing trap. Diets give you total structure, then take it away the second you hit "goal weight," leaving you with no tools to cope especially if you lean towards perfectionism (and you do don't you?). Why life is the real trigger. School holidays, stressful work weeks, family chaos, nobody teaches you how to eat through real life, only how to follow a plan when everything's controlled. What building a healthy relationship with food actually looks like. Learning your own hunger and fullness cues, knowing you can leave food on your plate, being able to say no to another glass of wine, these are the intuitive tools that replace external rules. Why this feels "crunchy" for perfectionists at first. Swapping rigid rules for self-trust takes practice, but it's the only way off the diet rollercoaster for good. If this is you, if you know how to lose weight but have never actually maintained it, if you're stuck rinsing and repeating the same diet cycle, you're my people. I'd love to help you build a healthy relationship with food, for good. FYI - The perfectionism episode is episode 20. Connect with Cara Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the below links. Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.ukWebsite - www.coachingwithcara.co.ukFacebook - Coaching with CaraInstagram - @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together?Enquire here about 1-1 coaching. Until next time, keep chatting!

  6. 18 Sept

    Why I only trust evidence-based nutrition (and what it's got to do with your relationship with food)

    Someone sent me a supplement in my DMs this week. It had 1,500 reviews and was £25 for 30 capsules, so £50 a month for her and her husband. I had a look on PubMed for evidence that it works. Turns out most of the research is in mice, and the human trials hadn't really come back with anything. 1,500 reviews and basically no evidence. This podcast takes you right back to 19 year old me at the University of Leeds, doing a Sports Science degree, failing first year statistics and having to resit it while my mate Bolts had to redo the whole year. I'm using that to explain what it actually takes for something to be proven to work, because it's a lot. In this episode I talk about - ● My sports science degree, the morgue on a Thursday morning, and the year I failed statistics. What peer review actually is, and why I only ever use evidence-based nutrition and evidence-based psychology because of it. ● The £50 a month supplement DM. Mice studies, no proper human trials, 1,500 five star reviews and still no actual evidence it does anything. ● Reviews are great for a plumber. Great for a swimsuit. Rubbish for a supplement. The people who feel nothing don't bother writing one, so you're only ever hearing from half the room. ● The placebo effect, which nobody talks about enough. Electrolytes that just get you drinking more water. Collagen that makes your hair "feel" thicker. You've invested, so you want it to work, so you look for the difference. ● Why any of this matters for your relationship with food. Show me the evidence, that's it, that's the whole thing. It's why my 1-1 coaching only ever uses what's actually proven to help you stop emotional eating, manage PCOS symptoms, or finally end the diet cycle. If you're done falling for the 10% off code and ready to do the thing that's actually proven to work, come and work with me 1-1. Send me a message on social media or book your call using the link below. Connect with Cara Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the below links. Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.ukWebsite - www.coachingwithcara.co.ukFacebook - Coaching with CaraInstagram - @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together?Book a FREE no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible.Book your call here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara Until next time, keep chatting!

  7. 11 Sept

    It's common, but it's not normal (and why that difference matters)

    Tracking your calories. Weighing your oats. Taking a photo of yourself in your underwear for a stranger on the internet. All incredibly common. None of it normal. In this episode I unpick why the two conversations that inspired today's show, one with a client, one with a friend who's been in my life for twenty years and she's showed me just how normalised diet culture is. This one's part story time, one part wake-up call. If you've ever tracked your macros, sent a "before you judge me" photo of your dinner, or apologised for eating the last slice, this episode is for you. In this episode I cover - ● Why common doesn't mean normal. From calorie tracking to weighing food to posting underwear progress pics for internet strangers. I walk through the everyday habits diet culture has convinced us are fine, simply because so many people do them. ● The client who can finally see it. Four months into her 1-1 journey, a client of mine watched people at her gym repeat the exact patterns she used to live and realised just how deep in diet culture she'd been without knowing it. ● The friend who couldn't. A twenty-year friendship, one throwaway comment about being "so fat," and the moment I realised what's completely normal to her is exactly the relationship with food I help people undo. ● How social media manufactures normal. Why "what I eat in a day," collagen, electrolytes and content creators who look "like you" aren't harmless relatable content, they're diet culture's newest trendsetters, quietly resetting what we think is acceptable. ● Why intuitive eaters are the real anomaly. Society has it backwards. Leaving food on your plate because you're full should be normal. Explaining yourself for it shouldn't be a thing at all. ● The launch of The Intuitive Table. My brand new 8 week, small group programme starting Monday 14th September at 9.30am at Shropshire Health in Leighton. This is not a spreadsheet-and-macros programme dressed up as something new ,it's real, sustainable change, and I'm looking for founding members to pull up a seat. If you would like to pull up your seat please go here. Connect with Cara -Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the below links. Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.ukWebsite - www.coachingwithcara.co.ukFacebook - Coaching with CaraInstagram - @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together?Book a free no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible. Book your call here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara Until next time, keep chatting!

  8. 4 Sept

    Why September beats new year for real change

    Ready to break the diet cycle and build a healthy relationship with food? In this episode, I explain why September (not January) is the perfect time to stop starting again on Monday and finally do the deep work. If you've done every diet going, low carb, intermittent fasting, Slimming World, Weight Watchers, the shakes, the supplements, and you're still stuck in the same patterns, this one's for you. I talk through self-sabotage, all-or-nothing thinking around food, and why willpower alone was never going to fix it, and why you need a seat at The Intuitive Table. In this episode I talk about - ● Why September has better "new start" energy than New Year, and why diet culture cashes in on it every single year. ● The all-or-nothing cycle so many women get stuck in- perfectionism, being "good" all week then "cheating" at the weekend, and starting again on Monday. ● Self-sabotage, and what's really going on when you stop your healthy habits just as they start to work. ● The supplement drawer problem, why chasing the next pill, powder or GLP-1 injection keeps you stuck instead of getting you free. ● Why community, not another tracking app, is the missing piece for so many people trying to find food freedom. ● An introduction to The Intuitive Table, built to help you build a genuinely healthy relationship with food for good Connect with Cara - Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought! If you're looking to transform this area of your life I'd love to support you, please get in touch with me using the links below. Pull up your seat at The Intuitive Table here. Email – cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk Website – www.coachingwithcara.co.uk Facebook – Coaching with Cara Instagram – @coachingwcara Ready to explore how we can work together? Book a FREE no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible. Book your call here – https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara Until next time, keep chatting!

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A podcast for women stuck in the diet cycle, emotional eating and the 'I'll start Monday' patten. If you eat when stressed, overwhelmed or bored and feel guilty every time this show is for you. We talk about food freedom, breaking self-sabotage, and building a sustainable relationship with food without another diet." Find me here - Facebook - Coaching with Cara Instrgram - @coachingwcara Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk If you would like to enquire about my 1-1 coaching then please book yourself a free consultation call in here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

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