Joyful Eating

I was raised in a family where you had to finish your plate.

Children were starving in Africa, and that meant I had to eat all my peas.

Fast-forward 40-odd years, and I was still automatically cleaning my plate every single meal. It wasn’t a conscious decision — it was just what you did.

Then, when I started working with a coach and learning how to listen to my body, one of the first things we did was practice leaving food on the plate.

And when I started doing that? All my struggles with food just melted away. Like, seriously.

Because previously, if I’d overeaten or snacked too much while cooking, I would still finish my plate at dinner. Which meant I ate way more than I needed — and that just kept the cycle going. When I gave myself permission to leave food behind, everything changed.

Your Invitation

If you’ve been going around in circles with food and weight — trying things, getting somewhere, then ending up back at square one — I want you to know: it’s not a you problem. It’s a clarity problem and a strategy problem.

I can fix that in 45 minutes.

I’m offering a limited number of one-on-one clarity calls where we get on Zoom, just the two of us, and figure out exactly where you want to get to, what’s actually keeping you stuck, and map out a simple, personalised plan to get you there — with ease and joy, and without any restriction or willpower.

Right now it’s available at an introductory price of $199 for the session (almost half the full price — but that won’t last).

If you’ want to stop searching and start knowing exactly what to do, use the link here. I’d love to meet you on Zoom.

Back in December, I found myself wondering what it would feel like to lose a little weight.

I’d been sitting at the same weight for a while, and I was curious.

Not in a punishing, “I need to fix myself” way — more like a genuine experiment. Could I actually lose weight in December, of all months?

So I decided to try.

My goal was small and specific: lose one kilo (about two pounds). And by the end of the month, I’d done it.

Here’s exactly how.

Want simple more actionable strategies

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter Joyful Eating for Midlife Vitality.

I used to believe the old dieting advice: you shouldn’t eat between meals.

But recently I was coaching two different people and suggested they plan in an afternoon snack.

For both of them, it made a huge difference to how much they were eating across the whole day — with a knock-on effect on weight.

It also reminded me of my own shift from thinking I shouldn’t snack, to actually giving myself permission to plan one in.

Intentional snacking was a game-changer for stopping my own overeating in the evenings.

Want simple more actionable strategies

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter Joyful Eating for Midlife Vitality.

I celebrated my half birthday last week — 53 and a half, (highly recommend celebrating half birthdays by the way).

I spent the day baking.

A spiced apple cake with brown butter frosting.

Cookies for school lunches.

The works.

And here’s the thing that still blows my mind: I did all of that baking, with all that raw dough and frosting within arm’s reach, and I didn’t end up feeling sick or out of control.

I had exactly what I intended to have.

I followed through on my plan.

Baking should be one of life’s simple joys. But for so many of us, it’s fraught.

This tiny habit changes that.

Today sharing the story of Susie, a member of the Naturally Healthy Club who went from her first diet at age 10, through decades of yo-yo dieting, Weight Watchers, restriction-binge cycles, and COVID rock bottom — to arriving at genuine, effortless food freedom at 63.

 

If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s actually possible to make peace with food after a lifetime of food drama, this episode is for you.

 

Want to experience food freedom as well?

If you want to be like Susie – finding freedom AND feeling great at your clothes then come and play with us in the Naturally Healthy Club.

Learn more here: https://lp.thestonesoup.com/nhc25/

The concept of food controlling you, not the other way around has come up for me a few times this week…

First. I got a message from Mary, who’d just finished the Naturally Healthy Club.

She said: “The most important battle has been won. I feel relaxed around eating, unworried by weight, and like the control is with me, not the food.”

Then I was listening back to an interview with Faith, another Naturally Healthy Club member, who said she’d gone from feeling like food was controlling her to feeling like she had genuine agency over her choices.

And yes, she was back in the clothes she couldn’t wear before — but more than that, she felt like herself again.

So how did they get there?

There are a lot of pieces to that puzzle, but one strategy that makes a huge difference is this simple 30-second habit.

The Naturally Healthy Club is Coming Soon!

If you’d love support and a simple doable process to follow to become a naturally healthy person — someone who eats what they want AND feels great in their clothes even in midlife — then I’d love for you to join us in the Naturally Healthy Club.

Join the VIP wait list to learn more and get exclusive bonuses

Join the Naturally Healthy Club Waitlist

I recently surveyed the members inside the Naturally Healthy Club and asked them: what’s your number one dream outcome from doing this work?

More than 53% said the same thing — feeling peace around food and weight.

Not eating what they want.

Not feeling good in their clothes (though that was up there too).

Peace.

That stopped me in my tracks, because honestly, I’d forgotten how debilitating that constant food noise and Monday morning guilt spiral can be.

It’s been so long since I’ve lived like that.

So today I want to share the one simple strategy that made the biggest difference for me — and it’s not a food rule or a new eating plan.

It’s self-acceptance.

The Naturally Healthy Club is Coming Soon!

If you’d love support to become a naturally healthy person — someone who eats what they want AND feels great in their clothes even in midlife — then I’d love for you to join us in the Naturally Healthy Club.

Join the wait list and you’ll get exclusive bonuses.

Join the Naturally Healthy Club Waitlist

Being intentional with food has transformed my relationship with eating and my waistline.

Here’s how this simple strategy helps me make better choices without restriction.

The Naturally Healthy Club is Coming Soon!

 

If you want help being more intentional with your food choices so you become a Naturally Healthy person who eats what they want (but not too much) so you feel peace around food and weight AND feel great in your clothes (even in midlife) then join me in the Naturally Healthy Club.

 

Join the wait list to learn more and get exclusive bonuses.

“It feels like nothing’s really safe to eat anymore.

I want to preserve both my health and the environment, but how am I supposed to do that since the experts can’t agree among themselves?

I’ve heard about the dangers of lectins and oxalates. What am I supposed to eat to avoid poisoning myself?”

This is what one of my clients posted in our Joyful Cooking for Natural Vitality community recently.

“I used to eat whatever I wanted without a care in the world,” she wrote, “and now I just feel scared.”

So if you’ve felt scared yourself there is good news!

Because all that panic, all that confusion about what to eat, comes from one fundamental belief: the idea that there are “good” foods and “bad” foods.

Do you want to change but just can’t seem to make it happen?

Here’s the truth:

You don’t have to believe you can change in order to make the change.

I used to be stuck too.

Stuck at a weight I didn’t love.

Stuck in the wine-drinking identity of a former winemaker who saw herself as “a big booze hound.”

I had no idea if I could actually become someone different.

But I was so dissatisfied with my current reality that I was willing to try.

And here’s what I discovered about getting unstuck.

Your Home Play This Week

Grab your journal (or a scrap piece of paper) and answer these questions:

• If anything was possible and there would be no downside, what do you want in your relationship with food?

• How do you want to feel in your body?

• What weight would you like to be this time next year?

• Is there anything else you want to change with food, your body, or other aspects of your health?

If you’re not a journaler, try verbal journaling. Go for a walk and just talk out loud to yourself. There’s something powerful about hearing your own words through your ears.

You’ll be surprised at what comes up.

Join the waitlist for the next round of the Naturally Healthy Club here: https://lp.thestonesoup.com/nhc25/