Hello there,

Emotional eating is often treated as the problem to solve. In reality, it is usually a signal that something essential is missing.

In this episode, I explore emotional eating through the Eating Freely framework, introducing the Three Fs that help reduce intensity, urgency, and self-blame:

Feed yourself properly.
Forgive yourself quickly.
Focus on health and wellbeing — not weight — for now.

This episode is for anyone who feels stuck in cycles of emotional eating, self-criticism, or constant monitoring of food and body, and wants a calmer, more sustainable way forward.

What You’ll Learn

• Why emotional eating escalates in under-fuelled and high-pressure systems
• How consistent nourishment reduces emotional urgency
• Why self-forgiveness — not discipline — shortens emotional eating cycles
• How weight-focused goals can unintentionally worsen food preoccupation
• What it means to prioritise health and wellbeing while rebuilding trust around food

Key Topics Covered

• Emotional eating as regulation, not failure
• The role of restriction and self-punishment in maintaining cycles
• Feeding yourself properly: meals, snacks, and predictability
• Forgiveness as a nervous system intervention
• Shifting from weight surveillance to wellbeing and stability

Who This Episode Is For

• People struggling with emotional or binge eating
• Anyone exploring undieting or the Eating Freely approach
• Those transitioning away from weight-centred goals
• People wanting a psychologically informed relationship with food

Mentioned in This Episode

• Eating Freely principles
• Emotional regulation and nourishment
• Non-diet, CBT-informed approaches to food and wellbeing

Takeaway

Emotional eating does not resolve through control.
It softens when the body is fed, the mind is not punished, and wellbeing — not weight — becomes the organising goal.

About the Host

Deirdre Coyne is a CBT therapist, Eating Freely practitioner, and coach specialising in emotional eating, undieting, and psychologically informed wellbeing. Her work supports people in building trust, stability, and calm around food.

Have a great day

Deirdre

Hello,

In today’s episode of Food Without the Fight, Deirdre Coyne explains the HALT chart – a simple but powerful CBT-based tool for interrupting emotional eating and all-or-nothing thinking around food.

You’ll learn why writing off an entire day after one eating slip keeps the struggle going, and how breaking the day into three eating windows creates multiple opportunities to reset. Deirdre walks through how the HALT chart helps you identify what’s really driving the urge to eat, whether that’s physical hunger, anxiety, anger, loneliness, boredom, tiredness, or the need for pleasure.

This episode is especially helpful if you:

• struggle with emotional or binge eating
• feel stuck in “start again on Monday” thinking
• are using, considering, or curious about GLP-1 medications
• want a calmer, more compassionate way to work with food

A practical, grounding listen to help you reduce food noise and rebuild trust with eating.

I hope this is helpful.

Bye for now

Deirdre

Good Morning,

Emotional eating is often treated as something to stop or fix — but that approach usually adds more pressure and self-criticism.

In this episode of Food Without the Fight, Deirdre explores the H in the HALT framework — hunger — and how physical and emotional hunger often overlap.

We look at why emotional eating makes sense in the context of busy, demanding lives, how under-fueling can intensify emotional urges around food, and why curiosity is often more helpful than control.

This episode offers a steady, wellbeing-focused way to understand emotional eating without judgement — and a gentler place to begin listening to what you need.