We have a really special guest on the show with us today. She’s Karen Donaldson, someone that Nicole knows, loves and works with. Karen is a registered Dietician, a Certified Personal Trainer, an EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Practitioner, a Certified Weight Loss Coach and she’s also an Authorized Speaker and an Emotional Eating Expert. Her book, Beat The Belly Fat Blues- Mind Body Solutions For Permanent Weight Loss has sold thousands of copies on Amazon and it’s helped countless people on their journey to heal their emotional eating issues. She has helped hundreds of people, all over the world, to lose weight and to keep it off.

One of her really heartfelt missions in life is to share her amazing Mind Body Tools and to help people to curb their cravings and also to heal the traumas which lie behind their emotional eating. She also specializes in teaching powerful tools to help people to both calm their fight or flight response and to better manage the stress and anxiety that usually accompanies it. Karen is really passionate about teaching people to learn to love and accept themselves and she thinks that it’s high time for people to stop feeling so bad about themselves and beating themselves up for failing. Michelle is really over the moon, to hear what Karen has to share with you today, so listen in while we sparkle that shit out!

*Sometimes we swear.

Listen to this episode (Click here).

Karen Donaldson is a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer, and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) Certified Weight Loss Coach. She is an author, speaker, and emotional eating expert. Her book Beat the Belly Fat Blues: Mind-Body Solutions for Permanent Weight Loss has sold thousands of copies on Amazon and helped countless people on their journey to heal their emotional eating issues. She has helped hundreds of people, from all over the world, lose weight and keep it off. One of her heartfelt missions in life is to share amazing mind-body tools that help people curb their cravings and heal the traumas behind their emotional eating. Karen’s other specialty is teaching people powerful tools that help them calm their fight-or-flight response to better manage their stress and the anxiety that often accompanies it. She is also passionate about helping people learn to love and accept themselves and find peace in their lives.

Show Notes:

Karen used to be really good at emotional eating, but now she’s learned how to not do emotional eating! #00:02:27#
We need to stop beating ourselves up and rather do something holistic, or proactive, that’s actually good for us. #00:03:20#
Both Nicole and Michelle are keen to talk about what this means, because they’ve both gained weight. #00:03:52#
Karen talks about what got her into all of this. #00:04:13#
Just having and conveying the knowledge and information doesn’t actually do it. #00:04:38#
True confessions of a Dietician. #00:05:20#
Karen and her clients were getting tired of it all and then stuff started showing up, synchronistically, in her email. #00:05:44#
Our emotions are connected to our physical bodies. #00:05:55#
Karen’s foray into the deeper mind body stuff. #00:06:16#
Where our shame comes from. It’s a really heavy emotion which does not motivate us at all. #00:07:21#
Shaming people really doesn’t work. Karen doesn’t want to be part of making people feel bad about themselves. #00:09:05#
How shame bombs get started. What happens to us in childhood greatly affects us, so we need to honor that an work out what to do. #00:09:49#
Karen found a study called A.C.E. (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and she got to interview one of the co-founders of the study on one of her radio shows. #00:10:34#
Why are people dropping out of treatment when they’re having success? #00:11:20#
A number of people who were dropping out had a history of sexual trauma, so it became linked to problems with weight. #00:11:46#
Food becomes a coping mechanism for trauma. It affects the levels of Serotonin and Dopamine in the brain. #00:12:04#
Patterns start becoming hard wired to your brain. #00:12:54#
We really need to pay attention to our adverse childhood experiences, not as an excuse, but as an explanation. #00:14:16#
An exercise to help you to survive a triggering moment. #00:13:35#
The study shows that the more categories of trauma that you had, as a child, the greater the likelihood of your having health, or other issues later on. #0017:11#
You’re in a chronic state of fight or flight, when growing up with trauma. #00:18:46#
Suppressing or holding emotions in actually affects the development of the brain. Understanding this is a key to healing. #00:19:14#
Why diets will fail. #00:22:31#
Finding your way to healing after getting caught up in the love hate relationship with food. It can take some time to develop some coping tools, like EFT tapping or meditation. #00:23:26#
Karen gives you an exercise to do, to shift yourself, if you’ve used food to make yourself feel better. #00:24:43#
Trust is a huge issue for many people and that can lead to issues. You really need the right kind of support. #00:26:57#
Karen overcame her emotional eating and her cravings through doing some work on her stuff. #00:28:16#
Look at what you’re attracting into your life. Learn to put out energy that is different from the doormat energy (which may be hidden). #00:29:26#
What happens when you’re in a relationship that sucks and then you do some healing work on yourself. #00:31:01#
You always win when you have healed yourself. #00:31:42#
Let your inner sparkle out! (You may have to find it first!) #00:34:37#