Explore every episode of the podcast Chatting with Cara - The Relationship with Food Podcast

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!

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!

You think if you stopped dieting, you'd eat everything in sight, don't you?

Ice cream for breakfast. Chocolate for dinner. That whole packet of biscuits.

In this episode of Chatting with Cara I'm myth-busting the 3 biggest fears keeping women going back to diets and not trusting themselves to break the pattern and come on over to be a intuitive eater.

Because breaking the diet cycle doesn't work the way you think it does.

In this episode I cover -

• The "I'll eat everything" myth. The number one fear I hear from women considering The Intuitive Table, that without rules you'll eat ice cream for breakfast and never stop. I break down why food freedom doesn't mean food chaos, and why having "forbidden" foods in the house is actually what teaches you to stop wanting them constantly.

• Why structure feels safe (and why diets still fail). Diets work at first because someone else's rules feel comforting, especially if you're a rule-follower by nature. But life happens, the rules break, and you're right back to overeating and feeling out of control. The intuitive eating framework replaces external rules with an internal one: checking in with hunger, fullness, and emotion instead.

• Fierce compassion, explained. This isn't about putting your feet up and eating crisps on the sofa. Fierce compassion is choosing what actually serves you, even when it's not the easy option and it's the thing that rebuilds trust in yourself, one small decision at a time.

• "If it worked, everyone would be doing it." The multi-billion pound diet industry has zero interest in you learning to trust yourself instead of buying the next plan.

• What's actually different about The Intuitive Table. No subscriptions, no re-learning a new set of rules every few months. Just the tools to trust yourself 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 build a healthy relationship with food please contact me below as I would love to chat to you.

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!

Snacking all day? It's probably emotional eating....

In this episode I break down why emotional eating shows up as snacking, using a real conversation I had this week with someone about to join The Intuitive Table.

She wanted to know if working on her relationship with food would actually stop her snacking.

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: this episode.

This one's for anyone who's ever stood in front of the fridge, snack drawer or biscuit tin without really knowing why, or ended the day realising the whole packet's gone and you can't remember eating half of it.

In this episode I cover -

● The language you use around food. Calling snacks "rubbish" or "naughty" gives food morality it doesn't need and that good/bad divide quietly shapes every food decision you make.

● Physical hunger vs habit. The 11am biscuit, the 3pm slump, walking in the door and straight to the fridge. Learning to tell the difference between what your body actually needs and what's just routine.

● Diet culture, unpacked. Why so many women have spent years checking their bodies, avoiding photos, and not buying clothes in the size they need, and how naming diet culture is often the lightbulb moment.

● Food rules that are running your life without you noticing. Clean plate club, "earning" dessert, only allowing yourself one "treat" a day, where did these rules came from? And lets turn them into guidelines instead.

● Emotional eating, the sneaky version. It's not always the dramatic, crying into a ice cream tub moment. It's the unanswered text, the stress, the "I just need something" that turns into a snack you didn't really want.

● What's actually on the other side. An update from a 1 to 1 client who spent years tracking every calorie and is now, in her words, "just existing", not thinking about food all day, every day. Revolutionary I know.

If you recognise yourself in any of this, The Intuitive Table starts Monday 14th September at 9:30am at Shropshire Health, Leaton.

The table runs for 8 weeks and is £147.

Have a look here for more info and to pull up your seat.

https://www.coachingwithcara.co.uk/theintuitivetable

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!

You skip breakfast because there's no time.

You grab lunch at your desk, in the car, standing at the chopping board.

By 3pm you need a coffee just to function.

Dinner becomes whatever's quickest.

And by 11pm, when everyone else is finally asleep, you're scrolling your phone telling yourself this is "your time", even though you'll regret it at 6am.

If that's you, I want you to hear this clearly: this isn't a discipline problem. It's not about being disorganised, lazy, or bad at sleep hygiene.

It's a self-care deficit showing up at every meal time and again at midnight, because that's the only pocket of the day left for you.

In this episode I break down why these five "bad habits" are actually one exhausted woman trying to get through the day and why understanding that changes everything about how you fix it.

In this episode I cover -

• Why "bad habits" are actually symptoms, not the problem. Skipped breakfast, grabbed lunch, the 3pm caffeine crutch, the quick-and-not-quite-dinner, the late night scroll, these aren't five separate issues to white-knuckle your way through. They're one pattern wearing five outfits, and until you see the pattern, nothing sticks.

• The domino effect through your day. Breakfast gets skipped, so you're running on nothing by mid-morning. Because of that, lunch becomes whatever's fastest rather than what actually nourishes you. Because neither meal gave your body what it needed, you're reaching for caffeine by 3pm. Tired and wired, cooking properly feels like one task too many and the day ends with you scrolling at 11pm just to reclaim a moment that was never protected earlier.

• A real client story. I share what this looked like for one woman I coached, she skipping breakfast, was eating lunch in the car, and reaching for sugary drinks she didn't even like by mid-afternoon, when what she actually needed wasn't caffeine. It was five minutes back for herself.

• Why this isn't a willpower issue. It's not about forcing down a breakfast you haven't got time for or setting app limits on your phone at night. The fix is protecting small pockets of time earlier in the day, so you're not running on empty and clawing time back at 11pm.

• You are not the only one. My own Instagram analytics show my audience is most active between 8–10pm on Sundays. Because that's when everyone else has finally stopped needing something from them. If you've ever felt like the only one scrolling at midnight, you're really not.

So next time you catch yourself skipping breakfast, eating lunch standing up, or reaching for that 3pm coffee you don't even really want, pause.

Ask what's actually going on underneath.

That's the work we do together, meal by meal, pattern by pattern.

The Intuitive Table starts Monday 14th September at Shropshire Health in Leaton, a small weekly group of ten women who know exactly what it's like to skip breakfast, eat standing up, and scroll at 11pm because it's the only time left.

No points, no tracking, no weigh-ins.

Just eight weeks of getting to the pattern underneath it all.

Founding member spots are open now to pull up your seat follow the link here -

https://www.coachingwithcara.co.uk/theintuitivetable

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 change your relationship with food, I'd love to support you, get in touch 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 — https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

Until next time, keep chatting!

Open your supplement drawer. Go on, actually do it.

The magnesium for sleep. The B12 for energy. The green powder that's meant to fix your gut. The menopause one. The one you can't even remember buying.

We've all got one and in this episode I explain why it's never really been about the supplements.

Every single thing in that drawer started with a feeling. You felt something, you felt bad about it, and you wanted to fix it. That's not you falling for marketing, that's just what happens when diet culture's spent years telling you, your hunger can't be trusted, your fullness can't be trusted, your energy can't be trusted.

So you stop listening to yourself.

And you start listening to whatever's just popped up in your social media ads instead.

So instead of listening to your body, you outsource the answer to whatever's trending on your Instagram ads.

This episode isn't about whether supplements work. It's about what's running underneath the reaching for them, and how to start trusting your body enough to hear what it's actually asking for.

In this episode I cover -

• Why the supplement drawer isn't really the problem. Every pill, patch and powder was bought to solve a feeling, not a deficiency. Until you look at what's underneath, you'll keep buying the next one.
• What diet culture has done to your instincts. Years of being told you can't trust your own hunger or your own tiredness makes it genuinely hard to hear your body when it's telling you something real.
• The difference between the fast fix and the real fix. A supplement is quick, it's transactional, it asks for your card details. Looking at your sleep, your stress and your relationship with food is slower, but it's the bit that actually works.
• Why I start with values, not symptoms. One of the first things I do with 1-1 clients is look at what they're actually prioritising in their life, because when you're not living in line with your values, something always feels off.
• How skipped meals, caffeine and autopilot habits show up as "hormones." Missing lunch, running on caffeine and pushing through tiredness all affect your energy, your clarity and your patience, and it's rarely just your hormones.
• The real audit I want you to do. Go back to that drawer. Pick up each supplement and ask yourself what problem you were really trying to solve with it, and what pattern is sitting underneath it.

So next time you catch yourself reaching for the next bottle, pause. Ask what your body's actually telling you, and whether you're willing to listen this time.

If you want help rebuilding that trust between you and your body, that's exactly what The Intuitive Table is built for.

It starts Monday 14th September and founding member spots are open now, to save your seat at the table follow 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.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!

You've tried the shakes.

The app where you photograph your dinner.

The plan where Tuesday's your free day.

You've got the t-shirt, well multiple t-shirts.

But have you ever tried building a healthy relationship with food?

In this episode I talk about why that's the one thing yoyo dieters never try, why it works when nothing else has, and why food freedom starts the moment you stop looking for the next plan.

In this episode I cover -

● Why "I've tried everything" usually means "I've tried every diet." There's a subtle difference, and language is everything. Every plan, every app, every clean day and cheat day still isn't the same as learning to trust yourself around food.

● Why diets work.... for a bit. They give you structure, rules, permission. Something to tick off. That's exactly why they're comfortable, and exactly why they don't last. Rules get followed until they can't be followed anymore.

● What building a relationship with food actually looks like. No meal plans, no macros, no being on it or off it. Just learning to tune into your own hunger and fullness, and to stop reaching for food every time you're stressed, bored, or running on empty.

● Why "I'll start Monday" keeps you stuck. All-or-nothing thinking feels productive. It isn't. It's just a different version of the same diet cycle, dressed up to look new.

● The Intuitive Table. A new 8 week small group programme starting 14th September, hosted around one table, every week, at Shropshire Health (Leaton's Malt House Barn) — ten minutes from Shrewsbury, easy parking, done by half ten. No points, no weigh-ins, no starting again on Monday.

Just the tools and strategies to finally break the diet cycle, together. £147 for all eight weeks.

So if you're done chasing the next diet and ready to try the one thing you haven't - pull up a seat.

All the details are here and you can be part of the founding group.

https://www.coachingwithcara.co.uk/theintuitivetable

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!

Stop the diet cycle for good? You've tried every diet going. You know your macros, you've read the books, you've got the apps. So why are you still starting again every Monday?

In this episode I'm explaining why the diet cycle was never an information problem, it was always a psychology one. I'm taking you back to my sports science degree, my PT days, and a very unexpected lesson from a houseplant, to explain why "just try harder" or "just be more disciplined" was always going to fail, and what actually breaks the cycle for good.

This one's part personal story, part behind-the-scenes of how I coach, and it ends with something exciting: I'm opening the doors to my brand new group programme, The Intuitive Table.

In this episode I cover -

• Why more information was never going to fix this. You already know what you're "supposed" to be eating. You've known for years. That's not the problem. The problem is the gap between knowing and doing, and that gap is exactly where "I'll start again Monday" lives.

• What sports science taught me about self-sabotage. You can know all the theory in the world, but without addressing the psychology behind it, nothing sticks. I saw this constantly with clients in my PT days, brilliant, capable women who didn't need another plan, they needed help understanding why they couldn't stick to the ones they already had.

• The houseplant story. I googled every piece of plant care advice going and still killed them. What actually worked? Learning to listen to what the plant needed instead of following someone else's rulebook. Your relationship with food works exactly the same way.

• Why "all or nothing" keeps you stuck. If you can't do it perfectly, you don't do it at all, and one "bad" meal turns into a write-off week. This episode digs into why that pattern isn't a willpower failure, it's a sign you're following rules that were never built for you.

• Introducing The Intuitive Table. A small weekly group starting in Shrewsbury this September, built for women who are done dieting and ready to actually trust themselves around food again, no wagon to fall off, no Monday to wait for.

So if you're fed up of starting again on Monday and ready for this to actually be the last time, head to the show notes to grab your seat.

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 fed up of the diet cycle and ready for something different, 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!

Remember when everyone smoked indoors? When you'd come home from a night out absolutely reeking of it and nobody batted an eyelid? That was normal. Until it wasn't. In this episode, I draw a comparison between the smoking ban of 2007 and where I believe diet culture is heading and why I think we're right at the start of a generational shift that is going to change everything.

This one is high-level. We're not going deep today. We're zooming out, looking at the bigger picture, and getting excited about what's coming. Because something is coming. And I need you on board.

In this episode I cover -

• Why smoking is the perfect analogy for diet culture. It was everywhere, it was normalised, it was even sold as aspirational. Then one law changed how socially acceptable it was forever. The incidence of lung cancer dropped. Hospitality workers got healthier. A generation grew up thinking smoking inside was unthinkable. That's exactly what I believe is going to happen with diet culture.

• What the wild west of dieting actually looked like. The laxative teas, the Atkins diet, the all-or-nothing cycles. Looking back now it feels extreme, because it was. And the next generation is not going to repeat it.

• Why intuitive eating is the paradigm shift we've been waiting for. The language is already changing. Food noise is entering the mainstream conversation. The 15 and 20 year olds coming up now are tuning in to their bodies rather than tuning in to diet plans. That is a big deal.

• Why you don't want to be left behind. Early adopters of any cultural shift carry it forward. When you change your relationship with food, it's not just you who changes, it's your whole ecosystem. Your family. Your friends. The next generation watching what you do.

• What's coming in September. Something very special for the early adopters. The people who are done with Monday starts and ready for a different way. More on that very soon.

If this episode gave you that yes, there has to be a different way feeling, I want to hear from you. Send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook with the word excited and I'll send you the details about The Intuitive Table, and how to save your seat before it fills up. This is for the early adopters. The people who are ready now. Don't wait.

Or you can click here for more information, to enquire and save your seat.

And if you're ready to do the deeper one-to-one work, book yourself a free no-obligation consultation call using the link below. We'll talk about where you are, where you want to be, and I'll give you the roadmap to get there.

If you love the show, hit subscribe so new episodes land in your library every Friday. And please do leave a review,it helps others find Chatting with Cara and builds this community one listener at a time.

Connect with Cara -

Email: cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk

Website: www.coachingwithcara.co.uk

Facebook: Coaching with Cara

Instagram: @coachingwcara

The Intuitive Table

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!

That Sunday night feeling, you know the one. You're already planning Monday, already writing the meal plan in your head, already telling yourself “this time it'll be different”. But somewhere in the back of your mind, that voice is going -  “it never is”.

If you've been in the diet cycle for years and I’m going to say it maybe even decades, this episode is for you. Because the problem isn't your willpower, your determination, or your discipline. You don't need more of any of those things. What you actually need is a different relationship with food. And in this episode, I'm talking about exactly what that looks like and why it changes everything.

In this episode I talk about -

• Why the "I'll start Monday" cycle keeps repeating and why it's got nothing to do with being lazy or weak. You're just tired of starting and stopping, and there's a very good reason it keeps happening.

• What I kept hearing from women in the gym when I was a PT, my clients weren't coming to me with fitness problems. They were coming to me with life problems. Stress eating, skipping meals, emotional hunger vs physical hunger and realising that more rules and more restriction wasn't the answer.

• Why information isn't the issue. You've read the books, downloaded the apps, followed all the accounts. Having too much information is actually part of the problem. What actually changes things is changing your relationship with food, not adding more diet rules on top.

• What sustainable results actually look like. When my clients stopped relying on willpower and started tuning into what their body actually needed, the results were real and they stayed. No more all-or-nothing thinking, no more guilt after eating, no more waiting until Monday.

• What The Intuitive Table is and why I created it, a small weekly in-person group in Shrewsbury where you'll learn intuitive eating and mindful eating practices, implement them into your real life, and do it alongside women who get it. Because community is everything and I wanted to bring that back (without the weigh-ins).

Ready to take your seat?

The Intuitive Table starts in September and spaces are limited. If this episode spoke to you, register your interest using the link in the show notes and you'll be the first to hear everything.

Register your interest here

Connect with Cara - 

Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's episode gave you some food for thought!

If you're ready to break the diet cycle for good, I'd love to support you.

Email - cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk

Website - www.coachingwithcara.co.uk

Facebook - Coaching with Cara I

nstagram - @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!

Slimfast. The Special K Challenge. Skinny teas. The Dukan Diet. If you're wincing right now, this episode is literally for you. Today I'm taking you on a nostalgic trip through the diet graveyard, all the diets and products that had their moment and quietly disappeared. And more importantly, what that actually tells us about the diet cycle, and how to finally break it.

This isn't about shame. It's about recognition. Because every diet you ever tried? That was you showing up for yourself. Wanting something to change. And that matters.

• The diet graveyard in full. From Atkins and Lighter Life to activated charcoal, flat tummy lollipops and skinny teas, where have they all gone? They've gone because they didn't work. And if they didn't work, the problem was never you.

• Why every diet you've tried actually says something good about you. Each time you started again, a part of you was searching for something real. That's not weakness. That's hope. And it's something to be proud of.

• What all these diets had in common. Rigid rules. No wiggle room. No thinking required. Just follow the plan and when the plan ran out, so did the results. None of them taught you to trust yourself. That's the bit that's always been missing.

• What food freedom actually feels like. Imagine going to a buffet and just... eating. No tracking. No writing the day off. No starting again on Monday. That's not a fantasy, it's what's possible when you stop outsourcing your decisions and start listening to yourself again.

• A real client story. She'd done every diet on this list. She still knew the syn value of a banana. And slowly, without me ever telling her to stop tracking, she stopped needing to. Because she started trusting herself instead. That's what the work actually looks like.

• Why you shouldn't be able to do this on your own. You wouldn't fix your own boiler. You wouldn't set your own broken arm. If you've spent years being told your body is wrong, your instincts are wrong, your hunger is wrong, that takes some unpicking. That's exactly what coaching is for.

Book your FREE 30-minute call with me and tell me every diet you've ever done. I love it. 

And then I'll show you exactly how I can help you build a healthy relationship with food without another plan, another product, or another Monday start date.

Book your call here  https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

Connect with Cara —

Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. Hope this one gave you something to think about!

If you're ready to break the diet cycle and build a healthy relationship with food, I'd love to chat.

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!

PS - Enquire about taking your seat at The Intuitive Table here.

I tried one of those "eat what you want and lose weight" programs. The spreadsheet landed in my inbox, the calories came out at 1,300, and I thought, there is absolutely no way. In this episode I share the full story: what that eight-week program actually looked like, why it set me up to fail, and the moment that changed the way I coach forever.

This one's personal. It's story time, grab a brew.

In this episode I cover -

• Why I signed up to a calorie-tracking program as a newly qualified PT. I was told to absorb everything, learn from the best. So I paid £125 for an eight-week fat loss program run by well-respected coaches and got emailed a spreadsheet. No call, no conversation, just numbers.
  

• What 1,300 calories actually looks like. Spoiler: eggs on toast for lunch and eggs on toast for dinner. Not exactly the "eat what you want" marketing they promised. I was training, I was active, and I was struggling while watching other people in the group drop four, five, six pounds.
  

• Why women in their 30s and 40s keep falling off the wagon and it's not a willpower problem. The women who came to me as a PT weren't asking to lose a stone in a week. They wanted to feel strong, carry the shopping in one go, eat the same meal as their family. The diet cycle wasn't failing them, it was never built for them.
  

• How I found intuitive eating and why it changed everything. I went down the rabbit holes, I read the handbook, I started implementing it with the women in front of me. And they stopped overeating. Not because I told them to because they finally learned to listen to themselves.
  

• Why I stopped tracking calories with clients entirely. In 2023 I made the decision: no more calorie goals, no more rigid rules, no more setting people up to fail. Food guidelines over food rules. Education over restriction. And yes, weight loss still happens. As a byproduct, when the relationship with food is solid.
  

• The message I got this morning that says it all. A client, six weeks in, chronic dieter her whole life, bought a cake, ate half, put the rest away for today. Said she couldn't believe it worked. I could.

Those eight-week spreadsheet programs are still out there. Still promising you can eat what you want. You deserve more than that and there is another way.

Connect with Cara —

Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. Hope this one gave you something to think about!

If you're ready to break the diet cycle and build a healthy relationship with food, I'd love to chat.

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!

100 episodes. I know. I genuinely can't believe I'm saying that.

I wanted to do something different for this one. No notes (yes I do plan the podcasts), no framework, no big strategy episode. Just me, in my stepdaughter's bedroom hiding from the noise, telling you my life story. Because the more you know me, the more everything else I talk about actually lands. 

And I think that's worth doing at 100, don't you?

So this one is all about how a sporty kid with a PE teacher as a Mum ended up becoming a relationship with food coach. It all makes sense when you hear it.

In this episode I talk about -

• Growing up surrounded by sport. Every sport, all the time. Netball, hockey, tennis, football with the boys at break time. My mum was a PE teacher and a total legend on the court. Sport was just what we did and I absolutely loved it.
  

• Going from PT to proper conversations. When I was personal training at the Body Barn, the women weren't getting their best results from the hour on the gym floor. They were getting them from the chats we were having about everything else, the stress, the boredom eating, the picking at kids' leftovers.
  

• Watching the yo-yo diet cycle up close. The same women dropping off after four weeks, coming back, dropping off again. All or nothing, every time. I just kept thinking, how do I help them find the middle bit?
  

• Why I made the switch to relationship with food coaching. It stopped being about the squats. It became about helping women stop overeating at night when they didn't want to, stop emotionally eating, stop feeling rubbish about food. Because then everything just got better for them, I saw real tangible results for them.
  

• Where I'm at now. Self-employed, coaching women 1-1, teaching Pilates, raising Luca, and doing my 100th episode from a bedroom. Living the dream, basically.
  

Thanks for being here. Really. Without you listening every week I wouldn't still be doing this. 

So thank you.

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? 

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!

Stop waiting until you love how you look before you start loving your body. In this episode, I'm talking about body appreciation and it might just change everything about how you see yourself.

I was listening to Jamie Lang's podcast, Good Company, and Paris Fury said something that stopped me. When asked what she was most proud of, she said her body, she's had seven kids, and she was talking about it like a person. Not a problem to fix. Not something to shrink. Just something to be genuinely proud of. And I thought - that is exactly what I want every woman to hear.

Diet culture has spent years telling us that our bodies are all about how they look. That smaller is better. That thinner is more worthy. But your body image confidence doesn't come from the mirror, it comes from shifting your focus to what your body actually does for you every single day.

Whether you're navigating perimenopause, dealing with a chronic condition, or just tired of the all-or-nothing thinking around food and your body, this episode is for you.

• What body appreciation actually means. It's not toxic positivity or pretending everything is perfect. It's genuinely recognising what your body does for you, from picking up your cup of tea to walking the kids to nursery in the rain. This is the foundation of a healthy relationship with yourself.
  

• Why diet culture keeps us focused on the wrong thing. Diet culture is a system of beliefs that tells us our worth is tied to how we look. It's sneaky, it's everywhere, and it actively works against body image confidence. Recognising it is the first step to breaking the diet cycle.
  

• The three things I ask every client to do. These are practical, gentle, and they genuinely work. They're also what I do myself especially as I've got older and started to see how much easier it gets when you give your body the respect she deserves.
  

• Why body image actually improves with age (and what the dip around perimenopause looks like and why it's temporary). The women in my Pilates classes aren't there because they want to look a certain way. They're there because they want to keep going on weekends away, having lunch with friends, and seeing new parts of the world. That shift in perspective is everything.
  

• How complimenting others on what their bodies do (not how they look) reflects back on you too. This one is especially powerful with children and teenagers, and it's a small habit that quietly rewires how you see yourself.
  

If this episode landed for you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Send the link. Tell them to start listening to Chatting with Cara because this work spreads when we talk about it.

And if you're ready to stop cycling through the same patterns and actually do the deep work that changes everything, I'd love to work with you 1-1. Book your free, no-obligation consultation call using the link below. We'll talk about where you are, where you want to get to, and I'll give you the roadmap.

Hit subscribe so new episodes drop straight into your library every Friday, and please leave a review it helps others find Chatting with Cara and grow this community.

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!

You've been searching for the next diet, the next plan, the next thing, but what if the answer to breaking the diet cycle wasn't out there at all?

In this episode I'm talking about something I see all the time with the women I work with, and something I've fallen into myself.

Constantly looking externally for fixes when actually, everything you need is already inside you.

This is one of those "I never thought about it like that" episodes, and it might just change how you see your relationship with food for good.

In this episode I cover —

• Why more information isn't the answer to how to stop self-sabotaging with food. If you're a chronic dieter you already have too much information, apps, tracking, what I eat in a day videos, supplement ads. The problem was never information. The answer is already within you.

• Free will and what it actually means for all-or-nothing thinking with food. It's not about willpower, that's diet culture talking. Free will is the ability to pause and choose rather than react automatically. One biscuit doesn't have to ruin the whole day. The choice is always available.

• Why you eat by the clock and not by your body and how reconnecting with internal hunger signals is an act of reclaiming your own authority around food.

• You don't have to do this on your own. "I should be able to do this by myself" is one of the most common things I hear but looking internally is a skill that's built, not something you're born with. That's exactly where coaching comes in.

• Sustainable eating habits come from the inside out and when you get there, there's no wagon to fall off.

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!

Do you keep trying to fix your emotional eating but nothing works? You might be solving the wrong problem.

If you struggle with stress eating, comfort eating, or boredom eating and you're tired of the all-or-nothing thinking food cycle that never leads to real food freedom, this episode is for you.

I dig into why smart, capable women keep plugging the wrong hole when it comes to their relationship with food. Using a real client example involving those sugary iced coffees you keep buying on the way home, I reveal that the coffee (or the chocolate, or the wine) is never actually the problem and what to do instead to create sustainable eating habits for good.

In this episode I talk about - 

• Why you keep solving the wrong problem. High-performing, perfectionist women are wired to fix things fast but when it comes to emotional eating, fixing the symptom (the coffee, the chocolate, the crisps) doesn't work long term.

• The sugary coffee that wasn't about the coffee. I give a real client story: a senior professional in a male-dominated workplace who started buying sugary frappes on the commute home and what was really going on underneath.

• What emotional eating is actually giving you. It's not about willpower or restriction. The coffee was giving her a pause, a ritual, a signal that the hard part of her day was over. Once she understood the why, the craving disappeared.

• How to stop emotional eating without banning anything. I walk through the coaching process: identifying the real feelings (anxiety, dread, unfamiliarity, fatigue) and putting practical strategies in place to address those instead.

• Why this approach creates lasting change. Unlike a diet, this isn't about calorie counting or rules. When you break the pattern with awareness, you don't need to do it again because the pattern is gone. That's how you stop yo-yo dieting for good.

• How to swap out the coffee for anything else. Stress eating at night? Chocolates in the office? A glass of wine that turns into the bottle? The same approach applies to all of it.

Download the free Emotional Eating Handbook here. It'll land straight in your inbox. Read it, then DM me on social media with what you're feeling and I’ll help you work out what's really going on.

Because once you start solving the right problem, you'll have food freedom, you'll stop thinking about food all the time, and yes, you'll feel lighter, brighter, and have so much more energy.

Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review if this resonated with you!

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!

You've seen them. The pig dancing in front of the pool. The person tucking into dessert seconds after complaining about their body. The guinea pig waddling to the kitchen after a cry. They're all over Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and every time they get reshared, they reach more and more people.

They feel harmless. A bit of self-deprecating humour. A relatable giggle. But they're not harmless and in this episode, I explains exactly why.

This one is more of an "I never thought about it like that" episode. No big transformation promised, just an important conversation that needs to be had and yes I am woke and proud of it!

In this episode I cover -

• What diet culture actually is. A system of beliefs that worships thinness and equates it with health and moral virtue. It oppresses people in larger bodies, disproportionately affecting women, people of colour, and people with disabilities and it shows up everywhere, including in those "funny" memes on your feed.
  

• Why these memes are stigmatising, not silly. For the person seeing them, especially someone in a larger body, these images send a clear message: your body is not worthy. Whether they're meant that way or not, the impact is real. It's fat phobia dressed up as a joke.
  

• What it means if you're the one posting them. I’m not here to shame you, I want to know are you okay? When "crying because I'm fat, ordering a Chinese" becomes a running joke, it normalises a cycle of body shame and emotional eating. That cycle can be broken but first it has to be seen for what it is.
  

• Fat isn't a feeling. When someone says they "feel fat," something else is going on underneath. What emotions are actually there? What role is food playing in managing those feelings? These are the questions worth asking and these are the ones that I ask in 1-1 coaching.
  

• What you can actually do about it. Call it out (if you feel safe and comfortable to do so). Educate rather than shame. Mute, block, or report if needed. And start asking: is this kind? One conversation, one meme at a time, that's how diet culture gets reduced.

So next time you see one of these memes or catch yourself about to share one - pause. 

Ask: who is this actually kind to? Then go forth and educate.

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? 

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!

If you've ever felt completely drained and wondered why you just can't seem to keep up, this episode is for you.

You already know the feeling. You wake up tired. You get through the day running on empty. You collapse on the sofa at night with nothing left to give, and then wonder why your motivation, your willpower, and your good intentions seem to evaporate by mid-afternoon.

And every time it happens, the voice in your head says the same thing - I just need to try harder. I just need to be more disciplined.

In this episode, I'm sharing the four things I do with every single client to give them more energy. Not hacks. Not quick fixes. Not anything that requires you to overhaul your life overnight.

Just four things that actually work.

In this episode I cover -

• Three questions that I want you to ask yourself -

• When is my energy at its best?

• What drains my energy?

• What gives me energy?

  
  

• Why your values might be quietly draining you. If you're living a life that doesn't quite feel like yours, doing things that go against what you actually want, making decisions that feel slightly off, that misalignment costs you energy. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Once you get clear on your values and start making decisions that align with them, energy comes back. Not because anything magic happened, but because you stopped swimming against the current.
  

• Why exercise gives you energy even when you have none. The catch-22 is real - you're too tired to exercise, but not exercising is making you more tired. The key is finding movement you actually enjoy, a walk, Pilates, a club run, strength training, something you'll do consistently. Because energy produces energy. That's not a motivational poster. It's just true.
  

• Sleep and rest and (they're not the same thing). Most of us know we're not sleeping enough, but fewer of us realise we're also not resting in the right ways. There are seven types of rest, physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and spiritual and you might be getting plenty of one while running on empty in another. The client who had a chest infection and couldn't make music? She had physical rest sorted. But her creative and spiritual tank was bone dry. That's why she had no energy.
  

• Where supplements fit in and where they don't. Vitamin D, omega-3, creatine, a good multivitamin. These things can help plug gaps and harness the energy you've already got. But they're the tip of the triangle, not the foundation. Nothing in a bottle is going to do the work that values, movement, sleep, and real rest can do.
  

• What depleted energy actually does to your decisions. When you're running on empty, your decision-making goes with it. The late-night fridge raids, the snack cupboard at half nine, the self-sabotage that makes no sense in the morning, that's not a food problem. That's an energy problem. Fix the energy, and a lot of the other stuff starts to sort itself out.
  

So next time act with curiosity, not judgment!

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? 

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!

If you've ever found yourself doing the same thing around food over and over again and hating yourself for it, this episode is for you.

You already know the pattern. You eat your kids' leftovers. You raid the vending machine at the office. You press the f*** it button and wonder why you can't just stop. 

And every time it happens, the voice in your head says the same thing: I shouldn't be doing this. What is wrong with me?

Here's what's actually wrong: you're looking through the wrong lens.

In this episode, I'm sharing the one tool I use with every single client and it's not a meal plan, it's not a food diary, and it's definitely not another rule to follow. 

It's curiosity. 

And it changes everything.

In this episode I cover - 

• Why shame keeps you stuck. There's a lot of shame wrapped up in how we eat, secret eating, guilt about portions, beating yourself up for what you did or didn't have. Shame is not information. And it keeps you cycling through the same patterns on repeat. We're swapping the shame lens for something that actually helps.

• What curiosity actually means in practice. Acting with curiosity isn't a vague concept. Instead of I shouldn't be this hungry, it's what's actually going on for me right now? It's treating your cravings, your habits, and your patterns as information rather than character flaws. Because that's exactly what they are.

• The client who struggled every time she went into the office. She'd arrive starving, eat her lunch at half ten, hit the vending machine on the way home, and feel terrible about it. We looked at it through curious eyes, the long commute, the resistance to being there, the fear of being judged and suddenly it all made sense. The solution wasn't willpower. It was understanding. She goes into the office now and it's not a big deal.

• The client who ate her kids' leftovers every single night. She knew she did it. She hated that she did it. She couldn't stop. When we looked with curiosity, her childhood beliefs about food waste, the fact that she fed the kids before herself and was genuinely hungry and it stopped being a character flaw and became a puzzle with an obvious answer. Once you can see it, you can do something about it.

• Black and white thinking and how curiosity blows it open. About 90% of my clients are either on track or off track, good or bad, right or wrong. When you remove that frame and treat everything as neutral information, the whole world opens up. You're no longer failing. You're just gathering information.

• The difference between a conscious decision and the f* it button. Having a second dessert because you actually wanted it and thought it through? That's different to having a second dessert and then writing off the entire next week. Curiosity is what sits between those two things. It's the pause. It's the what's going on here? before the behaviour takes over.

So next time - act with 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? 

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!

We went. We ate. I sweated through my polo neck because The Castle was absolutely roasting.

Part two of this week's Chatting with Cara is here, and I'm telling you exactly how the all you can eat Italian went. 

What I ate, how the evening played out, and what an unremarkable, genuinely normal relationship with food actually looks like on a Wednesday night in Wem.

And spoiler - it was pretty boring. Which is entirely the point.

Here's how the evening went —

The food was great. Pizza, lasagne, gnocchi in a garlicky herb sauce, a tomato mascarpone risotto that was genuinely fabulous, meatballs, arancini, garlic bread. I had a little bit of most things. Twice. Because I wanted to. Because it was nice.

Luca came with us and managed a decent amount of carbonara, which felt like a win.

Stefan got his money's worth. Fully. Three plates and extremely full by the end.

Sue, who has done my mindful eating workshop, stopped when she'd had enough because she doesn't like the feeling of being too full. That's the work right there.

And then there was the tiramisu. Free with the meal, offered to everyone, and honestly not very nice. Defrosted, bland, a bit crunchy in the wrong places. And I nearly ate the whole thing without really noticing, because I was mid-conversation and not paying attention.

Once Sue said it wasn't great, I came back to it and thought yeah, actually, I wouldn't have chosen this if I'd been present. I ate it on autopilot. That's the honest bit.

And that's what I want to talk about in this episode because that moment with the tiramisu wasn't a failure. 

It was just information. 

Something to get curious about, not critical about.

The people pleasing thing I mentioned in part one? That showed up too. Not in saying yes to things I didn't want. In not saying out loud that I didn't like something, because I didn't want to put a dampener on it for anyone else. 

Small thing. Worth noticing.

Then we walked home. Had a cup of tea. The next morning I had protein porridge, eggs on toast, taught a Pilates class, had my decaf cappuccino. 

Didn't spiral. Didn't compensate. Didn't have a single intrusive thought about the night before.

Just a nice night out, filed away as a nice night out.

That is what an unremarkable relationship with food looks like. 

Not perfect. Not white-knuckling it. Just easy.

If you're reading this thinking you could never trust yourself at a buffet, that you'd go back for plate after plate, spiral for the rest of the week, feel awful about yourself - I want you to know it doesn't have to be like that.

It genuinely doesn't.

If you want to get here too, one-to-one coaching is six months at £199 a month. Three months of weekly calls, two months of fortnightly calls, and a final month of WhatsApp support so you feel held the whole way through. The tools, the science, and everything tailored to you.

Send me a DM, find me on Instagram, or book a call below.

P.S. The American all you can eat is next month and none of us really fancy it. I still don't know what a corn dog is and I'm not sure I need to find out.

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? 

Book a *FREE* no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible.

Book your call here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

If you've ever dreaded a buffet more than you were looking forward to it, this episode is for you.

You know the feeling. You have a buffet booked and suddenly your brain is already negotiating. I'll skip lunch. I'll only have one plate. I'll go for a run tomorrow. I'll just have a Diet Coke.

Before you've even sat down, the bargaining has started. 

And that's exactly what I want to talk about.

In this episode, recorded before I've even been, I walk you through how I'm approaching Wednesday night, the tools I'll be using at the table, and why having a genuinely enjoyable buffet starts way before you pick up a fork.

In this episode I cover - 

• The language we use around buffets. Naughty. Bad. Blowout. Cheat meal. I deserve this. Getting back on track. In this episode I'm not using any of those words and I want you to notice when you do. Because the language you use around food shapes your behaviour before you've even arrived. An unremarkable buffet starts with unremarkable language.
  

• All-or-nothing thinking. The classic pattern: set a rule before you go, break the rule the second the garlic bread arrives, and then completely write off the rest of the evening. That's not a lack of willpower. That's what restriction does to your brain. We're going for the grey area, all 50 shades of it.
  

• Unconditional permission to eat. Those little bargains, I won't have lunch, I'll save room, I'll be good tomorrow - that's conditional permission. And it's conditional permission that causes the overeating, not the buffet itself. When food is truly, genuinely available to you, the urgency fades. That's what we're working towards.
  

• The hunger and fullness scale. The tool I'll be using at the table on Wednesday. Not to restrict but to inform. Giving yourself a number between 1 and 10 means you've got 10 options, not just two. And when you actually listen to those signals, you know when to stop, not because a rule tells you to, but because your body does.
  

• People pleasing at the table. Stefan has already announced he's getting his £15 worth. And that's fine - for Stefan. But if you're someone who clears your plate because food has been paid for, or because someone says "are you not having that?", or because wasting food feels wrong at a deep, ingrained level, that's worth noticing. Your fullness doesn't care what anyone else is doing.
  

• What this is actually for. It's Sue's birthday. She wanted her family around her and she loves Italian food. When you zoom out and remember what a meal out is actually for - connection and celebration, the food takes its rightful place. It's part of the evening, not the whole point of it.
  

Come back for Part 2, where I'll tell you what was on the menu, what I ate, how the tools actually played out, and what you can take from it for your own relationship with food.

Because it really is possible to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and just... have a nice time.

If this resonated, book a FREE 30-minute consultation call here. 

No obligations, no sales pitch. Just a proper chat about where you are, where you want to be, and a bespoke plan to get you there.

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? 

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!

If you've ever stood in the kitchen at 9pm reaching for that "healthy" little treat, this episode is for you.

You know the ones. The skinny bars. The under-100-calorie snacks. The ones you bought at the weekend because you were going to be good this week. 

You have one. But one doesn't touch the sides, emotionally or physically. 

So you have another. And then you're doing the maths "three is still under 250" and before you know it you're frustrated, guilty and telling yourself you'll start again on Monday.

This episode is about why that happens. And why it has absolutely nothing to do with willpower.

In this episode I cover- 

• The permission slip psychology. That 80-calorie label isn't just information, it's your brain's green light to have more. When something is marketed as guilt-free, your brain files it as the virtuous choice. And virtuous choices come with a reward. That's not greed, that's just how the licensing effect works.
  

• The satisfaction gap. Low calorie “treats” are engineered to suggest pleasure without fully delivering it. You're getting about 60% of what your brain anticipated so it sends you back for more. Especially if you're an emotional eater with your nervous system already running high, you'll keep chasing that hit. It's not a willpower failure. The food just isn't doing the job.
  

• The language we use around food. Every time you choose the 80-calorie version, you're not just deciding what to eat you're deciding whether you're going to be a "good" person today. The moment food becomes moral, one "bad" choice writes off the whole day. Changing your language around food from naughty and nice to just food is where everything starts to shift. It's not a small thing - trust me on this.
  

• The scarcity trap. The reason you reached for the low calorie version in the first place is because somewhere in the back of your mind, you believe you shouldn't have the real thing. That quiet "I shouldn't" creates scarcity. Scarcity creates obsession. And obsession is what has you in the kitchen wondering what's wrong with you. Nothing is wrong with you. You're just caught in the pattern.
  

• "But won't I just eat everything?" I hear this all the time and I want to address it head on. That fear comes from years in the restrict-binge cycle. When you genuinely remove restriction and change your language around food, the obsession quietens. I have yet to work with a woman who ended up eating everything in sight. It just doesn't happen.
  

• What it actually looks like on the other side. You have a stressful day. You fancy something sweet. You have a proper piece of chocolate, eat it slowly, feel satisfied both emotionally and physically and get on with your evening.
  

• What coaching actually does. This isn't a diet plan. It's the deeper work changing how you think and talk about food, giving you emotional tools to deal with what's underneath, and helping you stop outsourcing your hunger cues to a food label. That's where the sustainable change is.

Your relationship with food can be easy. Unremarkable. Something you just don't think about that much anymore.

And it is absolutely possible to get there.

If this episode resonated, please book in for a *FREE* 30 minute consultation call here. No obligations, no sales pitch. Just a proper chat about where you are, where you want to go, and a bespoke action plan to get you there.

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!

This week's episode is a niche one, but one that I really wanted to talk about.

If you have never done a fitness photo shoot, stay with me because this crosses over into chronic dieting too. If you're always on a diet, always doing an eight-week thing or a three-month thing, this is for you as well.

But mainly, I'm talking to you if you have ever done a fitness shoot. Dieted for eight weeks, twelve weeks, whatever it was and then had the shoot at the end of it.

Over half the women at one of my mindful eating workshops had done a fitness photo shoot in the past. 

And I've seen exactly what happens next.

In this episode I cover -

• The shoot is the peak and nobody prepares you for the drop. Eight weeks of discipline, sacrifice, saying no to everything. And then it's over. The goal is gone. And the body you worked so hard to achieve starts to change. Nobody psychologically tells you how to handle that. Six months later you're looking back at those photos feeling like a failure even though the photos are right there.
  

• What actually happens afterwards. When the structure disappears, the body fights back. The tracking carries on because it feels safe, but the results don't come like before. The floodgates open. The f*** it button gets pressed. And then the spiral. This isn't weakness, this is exactly what happens when you've been pushed to peak condition for a single day and then left without a plan for the day after.
  

• My clients story. She did twelve weeks of prep. Got incredible photos. Received all the external validation, the "your willpower is amazing, I could never do that." And then couldn't switch off. Kept tracking, felt guilty for eating more, stopped getting the results and eventually hit a wall. We worked together for five to six months. She got back to trusting herself around food, enjoying her training again, and building a relationship with her body that isn't tied to what it looks like. She'll never do a photo shoot again and she's okay with that (or eat an Aldi protein yoghurt).
  

• You don't need more discipline. The shoot is designed not to be maintainable. It is peak condition for one day, not a healthy, sustainable body. You never needed more willpower. You just needed the right tools.
  

• What changes when you do the work. The food noise quietens. The tracking stops. You trust yourself around food again. Training becomes something you enjoy rather than something tied to how you look. And your body image becomes yours, not a comparison to a photo taken at your most depleted.
  

• Thinking about doing a shoot? Come and have a chat first. Not to talk you out of it, just so you know what you're walking into, and you've got the tools to handle the other side.
  Your relationship with food can be easy. Unremarkable. Something you just don't think about that much anymore.

And it is possible to get there.

If this episode has resonated with you please book in for *FREE* 30 min consultation call here.

No pressure, no sales pitch. Just a proper chat about where you are, where you want to go, and whether I can help you get there (I’m sure I can).

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 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!

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is one I've been sitting on for a long time.

Who do you picture when you think of someone who works with a relationship with food coach?

There's an image in your head.

And in the most compassionate way I can say this, you're wrong. And that assumption is actively stopping some of you from getting help that could change everything.

If you've ever thought "I love what Cara does, but it's probably not for someone like me"  this episode is literally for you.

In this episode, I cover -

• The assumption and why it's wrong. When people hear "relationship with food coaching," they picture someone in a larger body. Diet culture created that image. A difficult relationship with food has nothing to do with what your body looks like.

• What it actually looks like on the inside. The morning food thoughts. The day that starts well and falls apart by evening. The standing at the fridge at 9pm. The guilt. The "I'm starting again on Monday." Nobody looking at you would ever guess but that's exactly who I work with.

• The photo shoot client. The women who've done transformation programmes, hit the goal, got the photos and come to me afterwards because the tracking created a preoccupation with food they can't switch off. The rebound. The restrict-then-overeat cycle. All the right things on paper but doesn’t feel comfortable around food.

• The professional dieter. A client nearly 50 who'd been trying to lose the same half stone her whole life. Good in the week, wine and takeaway at the weekend, Monday fresh start on repeat. We stopped dieting. Within a month, she'd lost what years of dieting hadn't done. More importantly she was finally free.

• Why so many women suffer in silence. When you don't look like you need help, it's easy to convince yourself you don't. That you're just weak. That this isn't for someone like you. It is. Body size is not a measure of suffering. It is not a qualifier for support.

• What actually changes. The food noise quietens. You stop using food to cope with stress, loneliness, and overwhelm. You keep "forbidden" foods in the house and forget they're there. You stop starting over on Monday. You just eat and get on with your life.

Your relationship with food is not about what you look like. It never has been. It's about what's going on in your head, the conversations, the patterns, the emotions behind the eating.

And that is invisible. 

Which means anybody can be struggling. Anybody. The marathon runner, the before-and-after transformation photo, the woman who "eats really healthily," the one who has it together in every other area of her life.

If that's you, you don't have to keep doing it this way.

You can book a free 30-minute consultation call using the link here.

No pressure, no sales pitch. Just a proper chat about where you are, where you want to go, and whether I can help you get there.

Your relationship with food can be easy. Unremarkable. Something you just don't think about that much anymore.

And it is possible to get there.

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? 

Book a *FREE* no-obligation consultation call to discover what's possible.

This week’s episode of Chatting with Cara is one that comes up every single year with my coaching clients. 

Holidays.

For something that’s supposed to be relaxing, they bring up a lot when it comes to food and body image.

The panic before you go.The “I need to lose a few pounds before the trip.”The all-inclusive buffet anxiety.And the “fuck it” button that gets pressed the minute you get home.

If you’ve ever come back from holiday feeling heavier, guilty and convinced you need to start over on Monday… this episode is for you.

I’ve just come back from a mini break on the Amalfi Coast and it reminded me exactly why this topic matters so much. Because holidays don’t have to derail your relationship with food. And when you’ve done the deeper work, they actually become the easiest place to see the change.

In this episode, I talk about what’s really going on with food around holidays and how you can approach them differently.

In this episode, I cover - 

• The holiday countdown diet.The mental maths starts weeks before you even get on the plane. “If I lose two pounds a week…” “Will my holiday clothes fit?” Diet culture has convinced us we need to shrink ourselves before we’re allowed to enjoy a holiday. And it starts the restrict-binge cycle before you’ve even packed your suitcase.

• Why holidays throw your routine completely off.Different food, different schedule, eating out more, less structure, buffets, snacks, drinks. None of this is inherently a problem but if your relationship with food is rule-based, it can feel like chaos.

• The guilt that sneaks in while you’re away.The heaviness. The “I’ve eaten too much.” The voice telling you you’ve already blown it. When food rules are running the show, holidays stop feeling relaxing and start feeling like a test you’re constantly failing.

• The post-holiday ‘fuck it’ button.You get home, feel like you’ve been “naughty”, and suddenly the way back to normal eating feels impossible. So you keep going. More takeaways, more overeating, and the cycle continues.

• What actually changes when you heal your relationship with food.I share my own experience from my recent trip to Italy, eating pizza, cakes, and enjoying everything and then simply coming home and returning to normal eating without drama.

• What mindful eating looks like in real life.Listening to hunger and fullness. Making compassionate decisions with food. Enjoying what you love without spiralling into restriction or overeating.

• A real client example of breaking the cycle.I share Jo’s story, an ex-client who went on an all-inclusive holiday, listened to her body, enjoyed the buffet, and came home feeling lighter both mentally and physically. No restriction. No rebound.

Your body doesn’t actually want to make you feel rubbish. But when decades of food rules, diet culture and body pressure are running the show, it can feel like it does.

Learning to listen to your body is a skill. And once you have the tools, everything around food including holidays becomes so much simpler.

If holidays currently fill you with food anxiety, guilt, or the fear of spiralling when you get home, you don’t have to keep doing it this way.

You can book a free consultation call here and we’ll talk through what’s going on for you and how to change it.

Holidays should be about rest, memories, and good food, not food stress. 

And it is possible to get there.

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? 

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!

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is one I've been dying to record for ages because if there's one thing I am, it's a low-key psychology geek. And this topic genuinely lights me up.

Today's episode is for the woman who has everything together. The career, the colour-coded calendar, the kids' clubs, the lot. But who is absolutely exhausted by the constant food noise in her head. If that's you, and I suspect it is, this one's for you.

You're probably type A. 

And type A comes out in your relationship with food in ways that are really, really specific. The control. The rules. The all-or-nothing. The secret Monday resets that nobody sees because from the outside, you look like you've got it all sorted.

I've coached so many women like this. This episode, I talk through two of them Lisa, a teacher who was paralysed at the holiday buffet and living in the exhausting cycle of full control or total chaos. And Sarah, a decades-long dieter who had just hit the peak of her career and finally realised she'd been trying to fix the wrong problem all along. Both of them had their minds blown. Not by more rules. By finally doing something different.

In this episode, we cover the ways type A shows up in your food relationship —

• Using food as a control mechanism. Calorie counting, clean eating, ultra-processed food obsessing, it's not about health, it's about having something to master. The rigidity creates a box to operate in and when you fall out of it, there's nothing in between. Just the binge-restrict cycle on repeat.
  

• Emotional eating at peak life, peak stress. Young kids, aging parents, a career you're pushing hard in, a mental load that's genuinely phenomenal. Food is available, it doesn't talk back, it doesn't want anything from you. It's not weakness. It's an exhausted nervous system reaching for the easiest crutch.
  

• The high-functioning secret struggle. On the outside you're nailing it. On the inside the food thoughts are relentless. And because you excel at everything else, this feels like the one shameful gap which makes it even harder to ask for help.
  

• Hormones making everything feel like personal failure. What worked in your twenties isn't working now and no amount of willpower is going to change that. That's physiology, not failure. But against the backdrop of diet culture telling you it's all about discipline? It sends you deeper into the spiral.
  

• Knowing it all and still not being able to stop. You've read the books. You can explain the binge-restrict cycle. You're listening to this podcast. And yet. The pull back to tracking, to the meal plan, to being more rigid this time, it's still there. Because knowledge isn't the problem.

The answer isn't more rules. It isn't more willpower. It's fixing the actual problem and that's the mindset shift. Living in the grey instead of the all-or-nothing. Introducing mindful eating. Getting the food noise quiet enough that you can just... get on with your life.

If you heard yourself in any of this, book a free 30-minute call here. I know what I'm looking at. I'll hear you, I'll see you, and we'll figure out what's actually going on. It's not scary. And you don't have to keep doing this on your own.

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!

Women’s health deserves better (and here’s how we start fixing it)

This week’s episode of Chatting with Cara is a special one because I’m joined by consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Laura Bangs and honestly, it’s one of those conversations every woman needs to hear.

We talk about postnatal care, menopause, medical myths, why women’s symptoms are so often dismissed… and what we can actually do about it. Because while the system might be stretched, we don’t have to accept poor care or silence around our health.

Dr Bangs shares her journey leaving the NHS to start her own women’s healthcare company and why empowering women with knowledge is at the heart of everything she does.

This episode isn’t just about ranting about the state of women’s health (though there is some very satisfying ranting). It’s about what you can do right now to advocate for yourself, your friends and the next generation.

•  Stop accepting symptoms as “just how you are.”

Heavy periods. Pelvic pain. Leaking after birth. These things might be common, but they’re not necessarily normal. If something is affecting your quality of life, you deserve answers, treatment, and support.

•  Get informed, knowledge really is power.

  Whether it’s postnatal recovery, perimenopause, or understanding a diagnosis, asking questions and learning about your body is key. You are not wasting your doctor’s time. If you’re worried about something, it matters.

• Be sceptical of social media health claims.

  You can’t “balance your hormones” with a magic supplement. Collagen isn’t the miracle fix influencers promise. Evidence matters. Follow qualified experts, ask questions and don’t let marketing hijack your critical thinking.

• Demand better postnatal and women’s healthcare.

  Postnatal care shouldn’t be a rushed phone call. Birth trauma deserves to be talked about. Women deserve proper checks, proper support, and care that treats them as whole humans, not just an afterthought once the baby arrives.

Women’s health is changing. More women are asking questions, sharing experiences and refusing to suffer in silence.

Every time you book that appointment, ask that question or share this episode with a friend, you’re part of the shift.

Because your health matters. And so does every woman watching you advocate for yourself. 

If you listen and think “I need to chat with Dr Bang’s” then here is how you can find her -

Email -  info@dahliamedical.co.uk

Website - https://www.dahliamedical.co.uk/

Whatsapp - 07754 996975

Instagram - @dahliamedical

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? 

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!

Diet culture can do one (and here's how you help make that happen)

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is a special one, it's International Women's Day, and if you know me, you know I’m a massive feminist. If I’d been born in the Suffragettes era, I’d have been right there on the front lines. No question.

Last year on International Women's Day I talked about diet culture. This year? I think it's gotten worse. And she's got some thoughts on why (spoiler - Donald Trump gets the blame).

But rather than just ranting about it (though there is some very satisfying ranting), this episode is all about what you can do, at your level, right now to help shift things. Just like recycling and bags for life felt ridiculous at first and are now just... normal life, the same paradigm shift can happen with diet culture. But only if we all start making small changes.

In this episode, we cover four tips for telling diet culture to sod off - 

• Change your language around food. No more "good," "bad," "naughty," "treat," or "clean." Foods aren't moral. Some are more nutritionally dense than others, but no food deserves to be put on a pedestal or demonised. When we use that language, we're feeding into a system that keeps us preoccupied with making ourselves smaller. That's by design.
  

• Stop commenting on other people's bodies. And your own. Don't compliment weight loss. Don't narrate what you're eating on a night out. Don't watch the Kelly Osborne reels or the Wicked cast reels. Scroll past. Don't feed the algorithm, don't give it the views, just keep moving.
  

• Curate your social media and your real-life circle. Unfollow anyone pushing diet culture. Mute them, grow apart from them, whatever works. Follow people for their ideas, their businesses, their parenting content, not for what their body looks like. And if you've got people in your real life who are very appearance-focused or make you feel a bit rubbish? Have a little think about that. Once you know better, you can do better.
  

• Move your body in a way that feels good. Not to sculpt, re-sculpt, tone, or earn your dinner. Legs, bums and tums classes and Pilates sculpt sessions are diet culture in a leotard. Exercise because it feels good mentally and physically, because your body houses your soul, not because you want to change what it looks like.
  

Diet culture is a feminist issue. And every single time you implement one of these four things, you're part of the shift. Tell a friend. Share this episode. The ripple effect is real and the next generation is watching.

Happy International Women's Day. Now let's get to work.

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

#coachingwithcara

This week's episode is a little different, it's a special guest appearance I made on Charlotte Williams' Mindful Monday Marketing and it's such a good one that it deserved its own episode.

In this episode we cover - 

How Cara got to where she is today - From a sports science degree to PT, Pilates, nutrition and now relationship with food coaching. It's been a seven year journey to find the work that truly lights her up. Spoiler - it started with noticing that the clients who did the deep work always got the best results.

Why she moved fully online -  Becoming a mum shifted everything. Moving online meant more flexibility, more sustainability and the freedom to go all in on the coaching work she loves most, one-to-one relationship with food coaching.

What makes her approach different - No "eat this, not that." No pain point marketing. No making people feel rubbish about themselves. Cara's whole philosophy in her coaching and her marketing is about compassion, feeling seen and showing people the way forward rather than making them feel like something is broken.

The marketing conversation that might change how you show up - Charlotte asks Cara about how she markets her business, and what comes out of it is genuinely thought-provoking, why leading with fear and scarcity doesn't serve anyone, and what it looks like to build a "safe space" corner of the internet instead.

Her advice for business owners right now - Stop digging into pain points. Show people what's possible. If everyone did that, the world and the internet would be a better place.

Connect with Cara - 

Thanks for joining me today on Chatting with Cara. I hope today's conversation gave you some food for thought!

You can find Charlotte on Instagram here

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

#coachingwithcara

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is about something I see with nearly every client who walks through my door, stress eating. But it's not actually about the food.

I've been collecting client reviews this week (yes, I know I should do them as I go along), and reconnecting with ex-clients has reminded me why I love this work so much. So I wanted to share Sarah's story with you (not her real name, because confidentiality is everything).

If you've ever had a stressful day, dealt with a nightmare boss, wrestled with feral kids, watched your inbox explode and then found yourself in the kitchen eating an entire bag of something without even processing it... yeah. 

You're Sarah. 

And you're exactly who I work with.

In this episode, I talk about - 

• Why stress eating isn't a food problem - it's an emotional regulation problem - The food is a symptom, not the cause. Your nervous system is running at its highest level, you're stressed, maybe a bit isolated or lonely and food is the only thing that seems to soothe you. It works in the moment, then the guilt hits.

• What Sarah was actually dealing with - Burnt out from her job, stressful boss, typical kid chaos and using food to cope with everything. She'd eat without stopping, even though she knew she "should" stop, then beat herself up about willpower.

• The shift that changed everything - Instead of heading to the kitchen, imagine sitting down and actually asking yourself: what's going on with me? Naming the feelings - helpless, frustrated, powerless, overwhelmed and using different tools. Deep breaths. A walk. A cup of tea (without the biscuits). Not white-knuckling it or throwing biscuits in the bin - actual emotional regulation tools.

• The breakthrough moment - Sarah messaged me one Wednesday after a stressful meeting with "that tosser of a boss" and said: "I didn't go to the kitchen to eat. I didn't do it." That's not Instagram-worthy transformation pictures - that's real-life progress. That's an actual shift.

• Where Sarah is now - Still has stressful meetings. Boss is still a tosser. But now she names the feelings, has coping strategies at work, understands the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger. Her body feels like hers again because she's living in alignment, regulating her emotions, feeling successful around food. And she's still thriving months after we finished working together.

• What this could look like for you - Imagine having one of those overwhelmed days but instead of heading to the snack drawer or fridge, you pause. You name the feeling. You do something helpful for that feeling. No guilt. No shame. No "I'll start Monday." Just calm and in control.

This isn't about meal plans or calorie counting. We go deep in coaching - tackling the root cause. Why you reach for food when you're not hungry. What emotions you're avoiding. How to cope with emotions without food (and wine, because let's be honest, it's half term isn't it?).

If you're nodding along thinking "yeah, that's me, I'm Sarah" - you're exactly who I work with. 

You don't need more willpower. You need to understand what's going on deeper under the surface.

Let's just chat, I offer a free, no-obligation consultation call which you can book here.

No pressure, not a sales pitch, just a nice conversation about what's going on, where you want to be and if coaching is right for you right now.

That version of you seven months down the line? 

She's waiting for you and I can get you there.

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

Subscribe to my newsletter- ⁠here⁠

#coachingwithcara

Why I Can Coach You Through Menopause (Even Though I Haven't Been Through It Myself)

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara tackles a question my 11-year-old stepdaughter Ruby asked me: "How can you tell people what to do if you've never done it yourself?"

Fair question, Ruby. And if she's wondering, I bet you are too.

I'm hosting a No-Nonsense Menopause Workshop on February 28th at TP Fitness in Wem (2-4pm, £30), and this episode breaks down exactly why I'm qualified to guide you through perimenopause and menopause - even though I'm still in my late 30s and haven't experienced it myself.

If you're tired of the noise, the supplements that promise everything, the influencers selling you magic pill, and wondering what actually WORKS for menopause symptoms, this episode cuts through that noise.

In this episode, I talk about - 

• Why evidence-based coaching beats personal experience - I'm a scientist (sports science degree and all). Everything I teach comes from peer-reviewed research, not anecdotal "this worked for me so it'll work for you" advice. No magic gummies here - just facts, figures, and what's statistically proven to help women like you.
  

• The unsexy stuff no one else tells you - Because it doesn't sell supplements or courses. I tell you what actually works, even when it's boring. This is about real solutions, not clickbait.
  

• My track record coaching women through this - I've coached countless women through perimenopause and menopause. I've helped them sleep better, exercise consistently despite fatigue, communicate their emotional needs to partners, overcome brain fog and feel more energetic. I know how to apply the science to real life.
  

• Why I get your life - I'm 38 with a young child, a partner with a demanding job, and I do the majority of cooking, planning, shopping, life admin, washing, hoovering - all while running a business and maintaining a social life. I understand you don't want to cook three meals a night or wake at 4:30am to exercise. I know what your life looks like.
  

• What the workshop actually gives you - A hierarchy of the most important things you need to be doing, where you score yourself 0-10 in each area (sleep, training, nutrition, emotional regulation, supplements), and you leave with a personalised action plan for where to focus your efforts.
  

• The supplements thing - I'll tell you the maximum FIVE supplements you should be taking and help you throw the rest away. This actually saves you money and makes you immune to the golden pill advertising you see on social media.
  

This isn't about selling you something you don't need. It's about giving you evidence-based strategies that actually work for your real life.

If this has resonated with you please come to the No-Nonsense Menopause Workshop on Saturday, February 28th, 2-4pm at TP Fitness, Wem - £30. Perfect whether you're deep in menopause, experiencing perimenopause symptoms, or want to set yourself up for success before it arrives.

Book here - https://www.coachingwithcara.co.uk/themenopauseworkshop 

And if you want one-to-one support implementing what you learn, that's exactly what I do in my coaching - I take your scores and help you apply the science to your actual life.

Book a *FREE* consultation call here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

Message me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara

Please share this episode with anyone who's perimenopausal, menopausal, or thinking about menopause - and subscribe so new episodes go straight to your library every Friday!

Until next time, thanks team!

#coachingwithcara

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara addresses something a PT said to me over coffee - "Don't you find clients drop off after a bit?"

“No, not my clients”.

If you're tired of the four-week motivation crash, the endless cycle of starting strong and fading out or wondering why nothing seems to stick, this episode is going to completely shift your perspective.

I'm breaking down why relationship with food coaching is fundamentally different from traditional fitness coaching and why my clients actually get MORE invested over time, not less.

In this episode, I talk about -

• The four-week drop-off myth - why traditional PT clients often lose momentum after the initial buzz, but relationship with food coaching works completely differently. It's not about willpower or motivation - it's about deep learning.

• Why my clients love the work - they're learning about themselves, why they do what they do, why they think the way they think. Self-awareness is a form of self-care and once I open their eyes, they can't unsee it. It becomes almost addictive.

• The tools that change everything - food noise, emotional eating, diet culture conditioning, how friends and family talk about food. My clients don't just learn these concepts - they understand them, apply them to their lives and even start coaching others with the same strategies.

• When it becomes natural - it stops being something you're "on track" or "off track" with. It just becomes something you do. And when it becomes natural, it becomes part of your identity. That's where the real transformation happens.

• Real client results - from applying emotional regulation to parenting, to completely transforming how they approach ANY goal (not just weight loss), to leaving food on their plate without guilt, to being free of food noise entirely.

This is the deep self-awareness work that creates lasting change. Once you understand yourself and why you've been running these patterns, you simply don't do it anymore. You build new patterns, new behaviours, and that becomes the new you.

If this has resonated with you -

I currently have space for someone exactly like you. Book a free consultation call where I'll talk you through how I'll help you leave food on your plate without feeling guilty, and achieve your health and fitness goals without restricting or counting calories.

Book your call here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara 

Message me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara if this episode has hit home.

And please subscribe so new episodes go straight to your library every Friday - don't make yourself search for me!

Until next time, thanks team!

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara tackles something I hear constantly - "I'm a boredom eater." 

But here's the truth bomb - you're not actually bored.

If you're standing in the kitchen grazing after dinner, picking at snacks throughout the day or eating while cooking, calling yourself a boredom eater, this episode is going to completely shift your perspective.

I'm breaking down why boredom isn't the real issue and what's actually driving your emotional eating.

In this episode, I talk about -

• The boredom eating illusion - why I haven't met a genuinely bored woman in 20 years. You've got a to do list longer than you are, the mental load of a small country, and constant productivity pressure. Boredom simply isn't the problem.
  

• What's really going on - emotional eating is a coping strategy for numbing, distracting or avoiding. Food is freely available, non-judgmental, doesn't talk back, and you don't need an appointment. But what are you actually avoiding?
  

• The real culprits - are you overwhelmed? Procrastinating? Living misaligned with your values? Avoiding difficult conversations? It's along these lines, not boredom.
  

• Getting to the root cause - once you identify what you're actually numbing, distracting or avoiding, you can tackle that specific thing. The tonic to boredom is doing something, but you already have plenty to do, so we need to find the real tonic for your real issue.
  

• How the pattern breaks - when you address the root cause instead of the surface behaviour, the emotional eating just disappears. You stop thinking about it. You focus on what's actually going on for you and the old coping strategy fades away naturally.

This is the deep self-awareness work that creates lasting change. Once you know yourself and understand why you've been running these patterns for years, you simply don't do it anymore. You build new patterns, new behaviors and that becomes the new you.

If this has resonated with you - 

Join my Mindful Eating Workshop this Saturday, 31st January at TP Fitness in Wem. There's a game-changing emotional eating section that goes into this in much more detail. You can secure your seat here - https://www.coachingwithcara.co.uk/themindfuleatingworkshop 

Or watch the virtual Mindful Eating Workshop back (two hours of transformative workshop). Buy it here and the links will be sent over to you.

Or book a free no obligation consultation for 1-1 coaching where we explore these patterns together through powerful coaching questions that help you find your own answers.

Book your call here.

Message me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara if this episode has hit home.

And please subscribe so new episodes go straight to your library every Friday - don't make yourself search for me!

Until next time, thanks team!

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is all about a pattern I'm seeing everywhere right now, people putting massive effort into things that simply won't get them the results they want.

If you're drinking more water, buying vibration plates or doing sporadic YouTube workouts with light weights hoping it'll transform your body, this episode is for you.

I'm breaking down exactly why surface level solutions keep you stuck and how to direct your precious energy toward the root causes that actually creates lasting change.

In this episode, I talk about -

• The vibration plate problem - why there's zero scientific evidence they help with weight loss, muscle building, or fitness and why following what everyone else is doing keeps you stuck.

• Surface level vs root cause - how drinking more water or random light workouts tackle symptoms, not the deep stuff like what's draining your energy, people pleasing pattern, and misaligned values.

• Why you don't need more motivation - you just need to focus your effort in the right place, then it becomes sustainable, consistent and enjoyable without needing discipline or determination.

This is the deep work I do in coaching. Itt's about changing the root so your behaviors, actions and thoughts naturally shift in the right direction.

If this has resonated with you and you're tired of misdirecting your precious energy, I'm booking consultations now for people who want to start in February. 

Book your free no obligation consultation here - https://calendly.com/coachingwcara/call-with-cara

Message me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara or email me at cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk if this episode has resonated with you.

And if you love the show (I mean, who wouldn't?), please subscribe so new episodes go straight to your library every Friday and share it on your socials to help other people find it too.

Until next time, thanks team!

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is all about a pattern that's keeping so many of my clients stuck - the all-or-nothing mindset.

If you find yourself either "on track" with perfect eating and daily workouts or completely "off the wagon" with takeaways and zero movement, this episode is for you.

I'm breaking down exactly why you keep cycling between extremes and how to finally find consistency in the middle - the grey area where real, lasting change actually happens.

In this episode, I talk about - 

• The all-or-nothing cycle - why you're either counting every calorie or binging at Christmas with no middle ground.

• How this shows up everywhere - from house cleaning to starting podcasts, not just food and exercise.

• Why the "nothing" bit keeps you stuck - doing nothing actually feels safer than being in your comfort zone.

• Living in the grey - what the 50 shades of grey between black and white actually looks like for you.

• Building consistency through evidence - how doing something regularly (even imperfectly) rewires your brain.

• The perfectionism connection - how perfectionist traits and people-pleasing tendencies fuel this mindset.

• Reframing your identity - why you're not "someone with an all-or-nothing mindset" but someone who's learning to live in the grey.

This is the mindset work I do in coaching. It's not about willpower, determination or motivation - it's about shifting the root cause so your actions and behaviors naturally change.

If this has resonated with you and you'd like help breaking free from the all-or-nothing trap, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara or email me at cara@coachingwithcara.co.uk.

And if you love the show (I mean, who wouldn't?), please subscribe so new episodes go straight to your library every Friday, and share it on your socials to help other people find it too.

Until next time, thanks team!

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is all about something I saw on social media that stopped me in my tracks - a Welsh food blogger who said she wants to "see her vag again" in 2026.

Here's her profile link

If you love your body, love food and don't want to be miserable but still want to feel stronger, lighter and more like yourself, this episode is for you.

I'm breaking down exactly what I would do as a coach to help you transform your relationship with food and your body without sad salads, punishment workouts or giving up joy.

• The black-and-white thinking trap -  why you think your only options are "love food and stay as you are" or "sad salads and punishment workouts".

• How to identify your true values and why connection might matter more than the cake.

• The power of changing your language around food and why words like "naughty" and "treat" are sabotaging you.

• Finding movement you actually enjoy (no sweating with strangers required!).

• Understanding emotional eating and learning to regulate emotions without food or drink.

• Why the food might not be the thing at all - it's about what food facilitates.

This is the work I do in coaching. I don't count calories. I don't create meal plans. I don't do before-and-after photos. I give you the tools and strategies to make informed decisions in the moment so you feel confident, safe and empowered and that feeling is what creates real, lasting change.

If you'd like to be on "nodding terms" with your body and feel stronger, lighter and more like yourself without giving up joy, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara and I'll give you your bespoke plan.

Until next time, thanks team.

#coachingwithcara

This week's episode of Chatting with Cara is all about fresh starts and the power of simplicity. As we step into 2026, I'm sharing three powerful coaching questions that will help you create real, sustainable change in your life.

These aren't complicated strategies or overwhelming resolutions,  they're back-to-basics questions that cut straight to the heart of what matters.

In this episode, I talk about –

• The three foundational questions: What will you start, stop, and continue doing?

• How to use the "Five Whys" technique to uncover your real motivation

• Why getting specific and honest with yourself is super important.

• The importance of celebrating what you're already doing well.

• Why you shouldn't let timescales put you off making changes.

This episode is your kickstart to 2026. Grab your journal and really dig into these questions with honesty, curiosity and without shame, that's when the magic happens.

If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe so new episodes drop straight into your library and share the episode on your socials, it really helps the show grow.

You can connect with me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara.

Thank you for listening and until next time, thanks team.

This is Your Story Too

This week on Chatting with Cara, I'm telling you a story. A story about someone called Cara.

This story isn't about anyone in particular. It's about everyone.

If you grew up in the 80s and 90s, if you lived through the diet culture of the noughties, if you've ever felt like you've failed every diet you've tried, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I cover - 

• How growing up around constant dieting shapes your relationship with food and your body.

• The impact of 90s and 2000s diet culture, from size 0 to circles of shame, What Not to Wear to Super Size vs Super Skinny.

• The endless cycle of clean eating, Slimming World, gym obsession and calorie counting that never actually works long term.

• Why pregnancy and motherhood can intensify body image struggles and disordered eating patterns.

• How hiring a coach with a restrictive plan can make things worse, not better.

• Why you haven't failed. Your upbringing and environment failed you.

• What I actually do as a coach to break this cycle once and for all by tackling the root cause, not just the symptoms.

The work I would do with you - 

• Educate you on how your childhood and environment have shaped your relationship with food and body image today.

• Change your language around food so you stop using words like treats, earn and burn.

• Unlink exercise from food so movement becomes enjoyable.

• Unpick every food rule you've picked up from decades of dieting.

• Turn rigid rules into flexible, healthy guidelines.

• Most importantly, tackle your emotional eating by getting to the root of the problem, not just the behaviour.

This cycle is so easy to stay in. It's tempting to join another gym, hire another coach with before and after photos or try the latest trend. 

But none of that gets to the deep root cause. 

Coaching with me does. And when you learn it, you can't unlearn it. It's sustainable. It's ethical. 

It's forever.

If you're ready to stop writing another chapter of this story and break the cycle for good in 2026, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara and I'll get you booked in for a free consultation call. We'll chat about what's going on for you, where you want to go and I'll give you the roadmap to get there.

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it. You're not the only one. Trust me.

Until next time, thanks team.

#coachingwithcara

How I'm doing a lot, holding it all and enjoying it.

This week's episode is all about how I'm genuinely enjoying December despite doing a lot and holding it all together.

I know, I know.

It's December.

Surely I should be run ragged, but I'm not.

I'm enjoying it.

And I'm here to tell you how you can too, because it's all about emotional regulation.

In this episode, I talk about -

● What emotional regulation actually means.

● My two main strategies - building resilience long term and parenting myself in the moment.

● Why doing something for you isn't selfish, it's essential for being a better person, parent, partner and business owner.

● The importance of knowing your values and living in alignment with them.

● My in the moment tool for when chaos hits - stepping back, looking at yourself in the third person and asking what you actually need.

Long term strategy - Building resilience

This is about having things in your life that you enjoy, getting out of your mind and into your body, and building up communication tools. For me, I journal every single day, I move my body and I communicate with people I love.

When you do things for you and live in alignment with your values, your resilience is better. You've just got a higher tolerance for things.

In the moment strategy - Parent yourself

When the washing machine is beeping, everyone wants feeding, someone spills something, your WhatsApp is going off and there's so much going on, this is what you do.

Parent yourself.

Step away from yourself and look in at you. Ask yourself, what does this person in front of me need?

Then you do it.

You treat yourself like you're another person. When you objectively see yourself from somewhere else, it's really easy to see what you need.

A note from me

These are my two top tips for actually enjoying this Christmas period. I parent myself in the moment and I build resilience every single day.

I remember that life is meant to be enjoyable. Christmas is a magical time of year. Don't let society and all the events take that away from you.

If this episode has resonated with you, please send me a message over on Instagram or Facebook @coachingwcara .

If you would like to find out your values or regulate your emotions even further with accountability and support, that's what I do in coaching.

Enquire for a January start here.

Thanks for listening.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it on your socials.

Until next time. Thanks team.

This week's episode is all about surviving December without self-sabotaging your efforts.

If you've ever found yourself pressing the f**k it button in December, watching yourself spiral into overwhelm, skipping exercise, overeating and promising yourself you'll sort it all out in January, this episode is for you.

December is busy. 

The magic making, the events, the admin, the Christmas cards, the presents, the work deadlines, the food everywhere, the people pleasing, the perfectionism. 

It's a lot. 

And when overwhelm hits, it's tempting to just give up and tell yourself you'll deal with it all in January.

But we're not doing that this December.

In this episode, I share my 3 top tips to not pressing that button -

• Manage your expectations

Not lower them, manage them.

•  Know your triggers

What tips you over the edge? The dark evenings? Having no time for yourself? A packed schedule with no breathing room? Debbie from the school run?

• Do not leave it to January

Don't push your mental health, nutrition or exercise until January.

If this resonated with you then my Mindful Eating Workshop will too.

It’s perfect for emotional eaters and yo yo dieters.

The Virtual Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop is on Tuesday 9th and Thursday 11th December at 8pm to 9pm. Come for both nights (or catch the recordings). 

I will make you think and feel differently around food this Christmas. You'll reduce your emotional eating and you won't feel like you need to restrict yourself in January.

Book here.

Thanks for listening.

It’s Not What You Do, It’s How You Do It

This week’s episode of Chatting with Cara is a short but important behind-the-scenes update about how I’m bringing my business into full alignment.

If you’re considering working with me, this episode will give you clarity on what coaching with me looks like going forward.

• Why I’ll only be sharing anonymous feedback from now on
• Why traditional social proof has never felt aligned
• Why I’m now sharing my pricing openly.
• Why alignment matters in how I run my business

This episode doesn't have any deep questions to ask yourself it’s about bringing everything behind the scenes into alignment so your coaching experience feels safe, supportive and clear.

If you would like to book in your *FREE* consultation call just follow the link and book on here.

If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe so new episodes drop straight into your library, and share the episode on your socials, it really helps the show grow.

You can connect with me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara.

You might have heard my little advert for the new Virtual Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop.

There’s not long till it so if you would like more information and to book on please follow here.

Tuesday 9th and Thursday 11th December (it’s split over two nights)

8-9pm

Google Meet

£45

Book here.

Thank you for listening and until next time, thanks team.

This week on Chatting with Cara, I'm talking about… a coat.

Yes.

Really.

My brand new, below the knee, duvet like coat and what this coat means for my body image.

If you’ve ever avoided oversized clothes because you didn’t want people to think your body looked bigger… or if you’ve ever dressed purely to “flatter,” hide or shrink yourself… this episode is going to land deeply.

It’s not about the coat.

It’s about how we think and feel about our bodies and how freeing it is when we finally stop fighting them.

In this episode I dig into -

• What body image actually is and why it’s about how we feel, not what we look like.
• How we absorbed “hide this / flatter that” messaging from What Not to Wear, magazines and the early 2000s.
• The game-changing realisation that people can see your body anyway coat, cardigan, flattering dress or not.
• The silly poses we all did (hello skinny arm!) to look smaller in photos.
• How body appreciation works (focusing on what your body does for you, not how she looks).
• Why ageing often improves body image.
• The three purposes clothes are meant to serve (“flattering” isn’t one of them).
• How dressing for comfort, warmth and personality helps you become more you.
• Why building positive body image helps you show up brighter, bolder and unapologetically yourself.
• Appreciate your body for what she does, not how she looks.

This week’s homework -

• Wear clothes that fit, have a purpose and show your personality.
  

• Wardrobe audit- 

• Do they fit?

• Do they serve a purpose (warmth, waterproof, practical)?

• Do they express your personality? If not then get them in the charity shop bag, recycle or get them on Vinted.

When you do this consistently, your body image improves, your mindset softens and your life genuinely feels lighter and brighter.

Until next time 

Thanks for listening.

This week on Chatting with Cara I’m diving into one of the most overwhelming and confusing topics out there right now: nutrition advice and the constant noise around what you “should” or “shouldn’t” eat.

If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling through social media wondering “Should I cut out dairy?” or feeling guilty for grabbing a takeaway after a long day, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I cover - 

• Why the world of nutrition feels like the Wild West and how endless conflicting advice leaves you second-guessing every meal.

• How black-and-white thinking around food sets you up for failure and why flexibility, not perfection is key.

• The power of guidelines over food rules and how to find the wiggle room that real life requires.

• How to spot manipulative language in nutrition,  “you should,” “you need to,” “you must” and how to filter out the noise.

• Why it’s time to audit your media feed and unfollow people who don’t know what they are talking about.

• How to build a calmer, more compassionate relationship with food by quieting the chaos and focusing on what actually nourishes you.

  
  

I want you to do three things -

• Follow guidelines and not food rules.

• Listen to people's language around food.

• Do a media audit so anyone who makes you feel like their way is the only way - it’s time to unfollow. (that also goes for Steven Bartlett)
  

If you’re ready to unpick diet culture and the food rules that keep you stuck, join me for my Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop

• Saturday 15th November

• Flaxmill Maltings, Shrewsbury

• 2–5pm

• £45

• Book here

  
  

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it and connect with me on Instagram or Facebook @coachingwithcara

#coachingwithcara

This week on Chatting with Cara, I’m diving into one of the most eye-opening conversations you can have as a parent, your relationship with your child’s food.

If you’ve ever worried about whether your kids are eating “enough,” felt guilty about giving them “treats” or found yourself saying things like “you can’t have pudding until you eat your veg” then this episode is for you.

In this episode, I cover  -

• Why are you stuck in the “wild west” of children's nutrition advice?
  

• How your own beliefs and habits around food influence your children more than you realise.
  

• The common phrases and conditions parents use around food and how they shape a child’s relationship with eating.
  

• Why kids are naturally intuitive eaters and what happens as they get older.
  

• How to talk about food without guilt, morality or “good” vs “bad” labels.
  

• Why changing your own relationship with food can help your children keep their healthy, intuitive instincts for life.
  

• The role of emotional eating, and how our reactions can teach children how to manage feelings without turning to food.

  
  

I have three questions for you -

• What feelings do you have around food for your child?

• What phases do you repeat to them?

• What conditions do you put on them, if any?

  
  

If you want to explore how to improve your own relationship with food so your children can build a healthier one too, come along to my Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop.

Saturday 15th November

Flaxmill Maltings - Shrewsbury2–5pm

£45

Book here: https://buy.stripe.com/14A7sK30j9YJh2f93xfAc0j

If this episode resonates, share it with another parent who needs to hear it and connect with me on Instagram or Facebook @coachingwithcara.

#coachingwithcara

This week on Chatting with Cara I’m diving into one of the most powerful mindset shifts you can make when it comes to food and exercise -  unconditional permission to eat.

If you’ve ever checked your smartwatch to “earn” your dinner, skipped pudding because you didn’t do enough steps or felt like you had to “make up” for what you ate, this episode is for you.

• How a hen do in Liverpool revealed how deeply we link food, movement and guilt.
  

• Why fitness trackers and calorie counts can mess with your mindset and why those numbers aren’t even accurate.
  

• The sneaky “earn and burn” cycle that keeps you stuck in all-or-nothing thinking.
  

• What unconditional permission to eat really means and how to start practicing it.
  

• The difference between eating with guilt vs. eating with intention and nourishment.
  

• How to separate food from exercise.
  

If you want to explore how unconditional permission to eat can change your mindset around food and exercise then get yourself booked on my upcoming Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop

Saturday 15th November

Flaxmill Maltings - Shrewsbury

2-5pm

£45

Book here - https://buy.stripe.com/

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it and connect with me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara.

#coachingwithcara

This week on Chatting with Cara, I’m diving into one of the sneakiest things that shapes your relationship with food  - food rules.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking “I shouldn’t eat that,” felt guilty about bread or pasta, or skipped foods you actually enjoy because they feel “bad,” this episode is for you.

In this episode, I cover - 

• What food rules really are and how they quietly influence your daily choices.
  

• Where they come from, childhood, diets and social media trends.
  

• The subtle ways restriction hides in your habits (like avoiding soup because it comes with bread).
  

• Why these rules make eating feel complicated and how to simplify it again.
  

• How to start eating intuitively by listening to your body instead of food rules..
  

• The role of emotional regulation and why soothing feelings, not controlling food is the key to real freedom.

  
  

• How my Introduction to Mindful Eating Workshop helps you uncover, unpick and replace your food rules with freedom and awareness.

  
  

If that sounds good then get yourself booked on to the workshop.

Saturday 15th November

Flaxmill Maltings - Shrewsbury

2-5pm

£45

Book here

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it and connect with me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara.

#coachingwithcara

This week on Chatting with Cara, I’m diving into one of the most common frustrations I hear from women in my coaching sessions,  why you can read all the self-help books, listen to every podcast, follow all the motivational accounts and still feel stuck.

If you’ve ever had that moment of reading a golden sentence and thinking- 

“That’s me! That’s what I need to do!” only to forget it completely in the chaos of real life then this episode is for you.

In this episode, I cover- 

• Why awareness alone isn’t enough to create change.
  

• The missing link between knowing and doing.
  

• How “all or nothing” thinking stops you from making progress.
  

• What it really means to apply personal growth to your life.
  

• The role of accountability and why going it alone rarely works.
  

• How coaching bridges the gap between theory and real life.

  
  

You’ll learn why personal development feels so frustrating when it stays theoretical and how coaching helps you turn that knowledge into meaningful, lasting change that fits your unique circumstances, lifestyle and responsibilities.

This isn’t just about knowing what to do, it’s about knowing how to actually live it.

If today’s episode resonates, come and explore how coaching can help you apply what you already know and move forward with confidence. 

Fill out this coaching enquiry form and we can get you booked into your free consultation where I will map out how I’m going to help you apply the theory to your life and keep you accountable along the way.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSev_YEr7gNPt44lgOICaUPBB9OUdXKPvsOTYobt_4SgmPz3Ag/viewform?usp=sf_link

And if you loved this episode, please share it on your socials and tag me,  I love seeing where you’re listening from!

Connect with me on Instagram or Facebook at @coachingwithcara

#coachingwithcara

When I talk about mindful eating on Chatting with Cara it's always really popular.

So I’m relaunching my Mindful Eating Workshop, because quite frankly the jaw dropping moments that the women had in the first two are just too good to keep to myself.

They were ever so popular and I’ve made this one even better, more comprehensive and I’m adding on a bonus 1-1 call afterwards with myself, so you can chat through what was the breakthrough moment for you and how you can implement the tools and strategies which I will teach you to your own life.

This podcast goes into detail about the workshop, what you can and can’t expect from it.

Drop it a listen and then book on via the link below.

• Saturday 15th November

• 3-5pm

• The Stables @ The Flaxmill Maltings Shrewsbury SY1 2SZ

I look forward to transforming your relationship with food.

This week’s episode of Chatting with Cara is short but important. I’m diving into the idea that food is often sold to us as medicine, but that’s not the truth.

Yes, food can bring us joy, energy and health when it’s varied and balanced. 

But it can’t heal us in the way advertising tries to make us believe. 

Medicine is medicine. 

Food is food.

In this episode, I explain - 

• Why food is often wrongly framed as a “cure”.

• The difference between supporting your health vs healing illness.

• How the advertising industry exploits our desire to feel better.

• Why language around food matters so much.

• What to do instead of reaching for food as a “fix” when you’re unwell.

Food can support your wellbeing, but it’s not a substitute for medicine, rest, or lifestyle changes that actually help you recover.

If you find yourself saying “food will heal me” or using it as a crutch when you’re run down, this episode will give you clarity on how to shift your mindset and relationship with food.

If this resonates and you’d like support in building a healthier, more balanced relationship with food, send me a message on Instagram or Facebook at Coaching with Cara. I’d love to chat with you.

#coachingwithcara

This week on Chatting with Cara, I’m diving into one of the biggest challenges I see with my clients (and one I’ve struggled with myself) - people pleasing.

If you’ve ever found yourself saying “yes” when every part of you wanted to say “no,” sacrificing your time, energy and happiness just to keep the peace, this episode is for you.

In this conversation, I’ll walk you through where people pleasing really comes from, how it affects both you and others, and most importantly what you can do to break free from it so you can live with more honesty, integrity and joy.

In this episode, I cover –

• Why people pleasing is especially common for women (and how society conditions us to comply).
  

• The hidden roots of people pleasing: approval seeking, fear of rejection and conditional love.
  

• Why saying “yes” when you mean “no” actually harms both you and the other person.
  

• A memorable (slightly crude!) analogy that explains why false “pleasing” never helps in the long run.
  

• How to reframe “no” as honesty, authenticity and integrity.
  

• Practical strategies to start saying “no” with confidence including the power of silence and resisting the urge to over-explain.
  

• How to build awareness of who you people please most and in what situations.
  

• Why celebrating your small wins rewires your brain to see that saying “no” is not only safe, it’s liberating.
  

If you’ve been overcommitting, over-giving or quietly resenting how much you do for others, this episode will help you step back into alignment with yourself and free up more time for the things that truly matter to you.

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who needs to hear it and connect with me on Instagram or Facebook at @Coachingwithcara.

If you would like further indepth 1-1 support then book a life coaching consultation where I will talk you through how I can stop you being a people pleaser, once and for all.

Book here

Thanks for lsitening