Sarah: What if the reason every diet you ever tried that didn't work isn't about willpower, discipline, or knowing what to eat? What if it's about something much deeper? A version of you, maybe even from childhood, who quietly decided that food meant safety. And what if, until you understand him or her, no meal plan in the world is ever going to stick?
Welcome back to Exploring Ways to Wellness. This week, I'm chatting with Jenny about her experiences with her relationship with food. I have to say, I found myself resisting talking about wellness from the perspective of body shapes and weights.
There are hundreds of podcasts that can do that and can probably do it better than me. However, I believe Jenny's story is perfect for this podcast because losing weight is effectively the bonus rather than the aim of what she does. Her experience does involve the diet industry, but actually she arrived at a completely different understanding of what's actually going on when we reach for food when we're not hungry.
Whether you have an inkling that your relationship with food may not be a healthy one or not, there is something for all of us to take away from this conversation. Jenny works with tools that gets underneath the conscious mind to the hidden beliefs your body is holding onto.
The ones that say things like, "My weight keeps me safe," or, "I'm not worthy of a smaller body," or, "If I change, who even am I?" In this episode, we talk about why restriction almost always backfires and what's actually happening in your body when it does. The fascinating muscle testing technique that reveals what your subconscious believes even when your conscious mind is absolutely convinced it's ready to change.
How the people around you, partners, parents, the friend who you've always shared cake with, are more tangled up in your food story than you might realise. And the beautiful coat analogy that many, including me, can relate to. If you've ever found yourself feeling shame around food or wondering why you know what you should eat but somehow can't seem to do it, this conversation is very much for you.
But as I say, many lessons are relatable to other addictions we may hold.
And it can be as much about our relationship with ourselves as it can be with what we consume
So, let's get started
I am absolutely thrilled this week to be able to introduce you to Jenny McDonald, who is also known as the Food Freedom Fairy...
welcome, Jenny.
Jenny: Thank you. I'm super excited to be here.
Sarah: Oh, it's fabulous to see your lovely, happy, smiley face. Jenny and I actually we met many years ago in a different, completely different guise through my son at a, a theatre school that she was running. And so when I saw what Jenny was doing more recently, I was absolutely fascinated.
So could you give us a little bit of background, Jenny, in terms of where you came across this approach and what led you to that?
Jenny: Yeah, absolutely. So if it's okay, I'll take you right back to my childhood. Of course. 'cause it's where it all started. Um, it was apparent, I think by the age of eight that I had a difficult relationship with food.
And when I say apparent, I was the biggest girl in my class and back in the eighties. There wasn't many larger children in the class, so I, it, I really stood out and was bullied for it. So my parents did what they thought was right, and they started restricting my food, tried to get me to exercise more, which we all know.
We need to nourish our body. We need to treat our body with the love, the respect, with the movement and everything else. But at that time, as a child, watching my brother be given different portions to me. We lived next door to a paper shop. So you know, I'd got into the habit of going next door for Sweetss and so on.
It was quite difficult. And what that restriction led to was me hiding food under my bed, me taking money out of my mum's pocket to go to the shop, buying extra, and then eating something small in front of them and then eating the rest later on my own. So I developed this, this secret relationship with food.
And I remember at some points begging my mum, especially as a teenager, begging my mum to help me. All I wanted to was to just be normal and fit in. And her really trying, as I say, to help me with that, but not really understanding what was going on. And it wasn't until... Into my late twenties after doing so many different diets and weight loss plans that I found a programme which offered closed group therapy and where you sat down and you looked at your relationship with food.
And for me, this was an absolute game changer. And it was in that moment that after losing six and a half stone. But more importantly, yeah, it was, it was incredible and obviously life changing, but more importantly, knowing that I had the tools not to regain that six and a half stone because I had really worked on understanding what those pools to food were and why I was using food for so many different reasons other than actual physical hunger and
recognising that I'd been caught in this cycle that... Society shows us from an early age that we need to fit into a certain box, um, and look a certain way. And, you know, I'd been caught up with this cycle and developed this real loathing for myself at that time.
Sarah: Wow.
Jenny: And funnily enough, you mentioned the how we met with the theatre world, and at the time I was going through this programme, I was actually working in theatre and I think it was my escape.
I got to play different characters and... I could be whoever on stage.
Sarah: Yeah.
Jenny: Because I wasn't being judged for my size. If I was playing a larger than life character, that was okay 'cause that wasn't me. Um, so it was my way of escaping. So I went through this programme, changed my relationship with food and it was at that moment that I was like, wow, if, if this works for me, I need to help other people do the same.
And that's where my journey into this world of food freedom started.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. I find it absolutely fascinating. 'cause what you've touched on there is it's, it was as much about your relationship with yourself as it was directly related to food.
Jenny: Yeah, absolutely. And it, you know, it was eating to shove down emotions.
Mm. But within that, it was that self-worth piece. And I think every single lady that I meet on this food freedom journey, it's all about, am I worthy enough? Am I worthy enough to have the smaller body? It's what that smaller body actually means. Um, sometimes our weight keeps us safe. And actually this is really interesting and some of the listeners may resonate.
So our weight can keep us safe in many ways. For me, I had been in hospital when I was about three, and then back in for my tonsils out about four, and it was back in the day where parents couldn't stay with their children. So I was literally left in this hospital bed. I mean, my parents waited till I went to sleep, but clearly as a child, you know that they're going home and
that when you wake up in the morning, you're waiting for them to come. And I think that was quite traumatic for a 3-year-old. And when I came out of hospital at that point, I was quite underweight and I was really encouraged to eat and praised to eat. And. I think subconsciously I developed this belief that if I stayed in a larger body, I was safer.
I wouldn't have to go back in hospital
Sarah: wow. Yeah.
Jenny: Years later I recognised that, but it, it obviously took a lot, a lot of work to understand. The penny to drop that. Oh, actually my weight was keeping me safe. It was protecting me. And other people will use their weight again subconsciously, maybe to protect them from pushing their self in their career.
Maybe they've always, always said, once I change my relationship with food, I will apply for that promotion or I will leave my abusive relationship.
Sarah: Yeah.
Jenny: So, you know,
Sarah: um, it's so complex, isn't it? There's so many things can be weaved in and I think it's, it's easy for assumptions to be made, particularly where, again, growing up in the eighties and nineties and there were all these images of these stick thin supermodels and, and that being a, a
particular body type in order to aspire to. That's how you get famous. That's how you get rich. That's how you, you know, people heap praise on you. But that's all external, isn't it? That's all external reasons. And actually what I love about what you do is you've really turned that on its head and said yes.
There were all of these things, but actually it's the way that we've in internalized what food means and its relationship to us and our body size and our body shape. I find that a much healthier way of looking at it rather than putting the blame out to other things that weren't helpful at the time.
Actually, when we are looking at healing and we're looking at moving forward we can't control what's on the outside, but we can control our relationship to it and our reactions to it and the way we respond to situations. Yeah. So are there any examples you have of how you do, get to those stories, maybe subconscious stories that people don't realise?
As I say, you presumably you didn't wait, uh, you didn't. Spend your life realising there was this 3-year-old you that needed to be told that they could be safe without having to look to food.
Jenny: Yeah, so I think one of the beautiful exercises, if you like, that I always start with any client is a reconnection to the version of themselves that reaches for food when she's not physically hungry.
Sarah: Right
Jenny: And.
It's about, so which version of you, and there might be more than one part of you, but which part of you is that? So for me, I went back to probably around eight years old and it was like, okay, so let's first of all acknowledge that version of you... Somewhere along her path, she learned that food equalled you know, a reason.
So let's say safety food kept you safe, food kept you feeling that discomfort. So actually, let's be really grateful for her because she worked out a way of surviving and comforting herself.. In this world, in this crazy world. So we start with reconnecting with those parts of ourselves and really understanding them and healing them, and bringing them on the journey to food freedom because...
Let's face it for anyone who struggles with their relationship with food, whenever they have been on one of these restrictive diets, what's happened is that version inside is screaming, no, not again. You are taking away something that keeps me safe.
Sarah: Yeah.
Jenny: So we have to heal from that place and we have to bring her or him on that journey with us.
And at every single step she has to be loved and treated with so much kindness and compassion so that she can heal.
Sarah: I love that. Absolutely love that. Presumably, again, this is from your experience of trying various diets before you got to this place.
Jenny: Yeah. And onwards because my original, um, group sessions were cognitive behaviour therapy.
Sarah: Right.
Jenny: Which is really powerful and all about, um, you know, understanding how your thoughts and your feelings and your behaviour is all connected. But since then, through various different, modalities, training, learning, as we, as we all do, I discovered, more about the parts work, the inner child connections and, um, energy therapy as well.
It's a combination of all of my experiences and you know, further learning that I've created a formula, I call it a formula. A formula that I feel is all of the pieces of the jigsaw. Because actually looking back, whilst those six months CBT group sessions changed my life, there was still work to do.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. And how did you come across this, this way of approaching things?
Jenny: So I guess the, well, the original programme was a, uh, it's not around anymore, but it was a well-known company back in, when was it 2004, which offered, it was a meal replacement programme alongside cognitive behaviour therapy.
Sarah: Right.
Jenny: And I chose that route because for me personally. It just ticked all the boxes. And I was at burnout with food and I felt like this was my only hope. I was addicted to food and like the alcoholic, I had to take it out the equations for a little while. Mm-hmm. And have some rest. So that was where I originally discovered the relationship with food because it was teamed up with a meal replacement programme, but...
Sarah: well,
Jenny: That evolved then for me because I actually went on to work for that company. But then when they started selling their products on the high street, I was like, no, you have broken this model. The magic of this programme is in that room.
Sarah: Yes.
Jenny: It isn't in
the product. So I had to shift away and that was when I realised that for people that could just buy meal replacements which I felt like I was then just selling.
It was just like, it was I, I described
it to my other half was I feel like I'm a drug dealer. I feel like I am giving people this fix that is not the answer to their problems. And I would see ladies say, I just need to try harder. I just need to do better. And I was like, gosh, I have all of this information in my head.
And. You now don't want to listen because this is all about the product, the food pack. And that was when I moved away from the diet industry and, um, set up my own practice because I felt so passionate about the work we were doing in that room. And that had shifted.
Yeah. Yeah it's interesting that when you related it to a drug industry, because.
I guess people end up relying on it, don't they? Because they're not learning the inner tools themselves to rely on themselves and trust themselves to make the right decisions because that piece of work hasn't been done. They end up relying on the replacement Yes. Or food replacements which again doesn't feel like a very healthy so, so their, their body might fit more the shape that.
Society wants it to, or it may be more healthy from a medical perspective, but actually they've just replaced one thing with another. Yeah. One, one sort of in theory unhealthy with the, another potentially unhealthy habit. So, so I can totally see how, how you would've made that connection and want to go.
Go for the other route instead. You mentioned there about the sort of energy work and that kind of thing. I have, um, I have a proud, uh, owner of your book, which I found absolutely fascinating and was another reason why I really wanted to have you on today because it was very clear that it, this is not about diets.
This is about a different way of thinking, and you mentioned in the book about energy kinesiology. Could you talk a little bit more about that, which might be new to people?
Absolutely. Um, I. The practice that I learned was, um, how to release beliefs and past traumas and so on using energy kinesiology.
And, and there's four steps. So you're muscle testing. So for anyone who is not sure what that is, you can use your body to get a yes or no answer. So you quite simply stand with your hands by your sides. You go within and you say, "Body give me a yes". I like to do it with my eyes closed. And you are likely to feel a, a slight pull.
Usually yes is forward. And then you say, body give me a no and no is backwards. But sometimes people experience it differently, but the majority will find that a forward sway is Yes. So then you can play around with that and you can, you can ask yourself like, my name is Jenny, and obviously I would get a yes.
Other people might get a no. I am 21. Uh, you can just play around. So you get to, I always say, you've got to trust your sway. And then once you've done that, you check in with, do I believe my weight keeps me safe? Am I holding any resistance to releasing the excess weight? And so on.
But you can use to muscle test for the energy and food, so you could, um, you know, hold up an apple. Is this what I need today? You know, is this nourishing for my body today? And so on. And then the other steps are the releasing process. So depending on what you find, what you tap into. You can then go through a process of releasing that belief.
And as anybody listening that knows energy, it's about the intention. It's about being ready to let it go. So however you release, actually it, it doesn't have to be that process that you know, the process that I use, it's just about being intentional that you are ready to let it go.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Because as you may know, I do EFT and there are EFT programmes also that are around weight loss and, and people's relationship with food. So, as you say, I guess it's sort of bringing together what you've learned and what works with your clients. There may be other, other ways to get to that same point, but the, in any case, it's all about reaching those sort of some, sometimes subconscious
thoughts and feelings that you have around a subject in order to appreciate them and then be able to release them.
Jenny: Yeah.
Sarah: So I guess you've had some amazing sessions with clients where you've made a real difference to people.
Jenny: Yeah, I really have. And I think what's great about muscle testing is, you know, you can be having a coaching conversation and say...
i'm gonna stick with the weight, keeps me safe one. 'cause it's a great example, but do you think your weight keeps you safe? And they're like, no, I, you know, I can't, I, I want it gone. I'm ready. I, I, and then we muscle test and it's like, do I believe that or do I have a hidden belief
that my way keeps me safe? And they're like, they're getting these really strong yeses. So they, you know, their, their conscious mind is, is going absolutely no, I'm, I'm good. I want it, I'm ready. But it's what's held in our body and maybe in our, past generations maybe past lifetimes.
So it's understanding that it's not just about consciously what you think, but it's what's held beneath the surface. Beneath the layers.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. That's so important. There is we can, we can tell ourselves all sorts, can't we? And genuinely believe that we think we are doing the right thing or.
Believe that our intentions are correct, but actually, as you say, everything's stored in our body and we're not necessarily conscious of what's really going on.
Jenny: Yeah. And that, you know, there can be so many other blocks not being, you know, successful or I vowed never to be more successful than my sister, or never to be lighter than my sister. You know, all of these subconscious programmings that again, may not even be from this lifetime.
Sarah: Yeah.
Yeah. And. As you say, each of those examples isn't necessarily related to food, but its expression can be in your relationship with what you're eating. So that's really, really interesting. Another thing you touch on in the book, which I think is really interesting and I would love to dig into a bit is the circle of support.
Jenny: Yeah.
Sarah: And sort of your relationship, taking this more externally, so you've got your relationship with yourself, but also with the people around you. And we've touched on the safety aspect. It, it may be that safety plays a role within that circle of the people around you, but also they can help with the healing, presumably.
Jenny: Yeah, and I always talk a lot about relationships with my clients because often it's intertwined like relationships with mothers and how they fed you and relationships with partners, whether they cook for you, whether they show their love with food. So I'm very much like as you evolve your relationship with yourself and food.
As you are feeling open to it, start to bring other people along on that journey and help them to understand where you are so they can support you. Um, for me, for example, my Dad would often say, "should you be eaten that?" And that was a real trigger 'cause that sent me into my child ego state. And like, even after I'd been maintaining and having a healthy relationship with food for, for several years, like I could be eating a slice of cake and they go, "Ooh, should you be eaten that?"
And one day I had to say do you know what? When you say that, that's really triggering for me because it makes me... It makes me feel like you don't trust me to have a healthy relationship with food, but then it makes me think maybe I don't trust myself and you know, like it triggers all of these different thoughts and emotions.
But what's likely to happen until I was really healed was I'd go, yeah, maybe I don't want it. And then I'd go and eat it twice later on.
Sarah: Right.
Jenny: Because it was like, oh, okay, yeah, I shouldn't have it. So it's noticing what other people's comments and how that affects you. And also how, another example is partners often show their love by cooking, or that might be you, that might be your role in the family to show your love with cooking.
So the fear could be if I change my relationship with food. Who am I? Because that is my role. I invite people into my house and I cook for them, or, you know, this is, I am the provider of the, the nourishment in the home. And likewise, if it is the partner in the home that is doing the cooking and you start saying, actually, I don't want to eat in this way.
I wanna change some of the nourishment that my, I'm giving my body, that to them can feel like a criticism. Mm-hmm. And they can feel like they're losing their role if they've always been the feeder. And you are now saying, actually, I don't wanna eat in this way. Well, who, who are they? How do they fit into the relationship if that was their, their service, their act of love to you.
It's really interesting to watch these roles within your life and make sure your circle of support is that... evolves with you. Another example is the friend that you always go for cake with. And I remember a client years and years ago sharing a story just about how she'd always go for cake with friend.
And when she started recognising that... What she really wanted was the conversation and the catch up. It wasn't about the cake. And when she started looking at the cakes and saying, you know what, I, I don't even fancy any of them. I'm all right. I'm just gonna have a coffee. Her friend couldn't compute that because it was what they had always done.
Sarah: Yeah.
Jenny: And then her friend would still buy one, cut it in half and say, you've gotta eat it. And she would feel under pressure to eat and it, it, she was in her friend's eyes taking something away from that moment. But in her
Sarah: right
Jenny: from where she was, she'd done the, the work and she was just listening to her body and recognising that she didn't need the cake to enjoy her friend's company.
But
Sarah: yeah.
Jenny: Depending on her friend's relationship with food and what that sharing moment meant to her that could have been triggering for her.
Sarah: It's interesting, isn't it, how in society food has got so connected with our identity and with our relationships and it sort of is the backbone of so many of our social interactions.
Jenny: It really is.
Sarah: It really is incredible. I also wanted to touch on, the concept of moving towards something as opposed to away from it.
Is that something that you discuss in your teaching about moving towards a healthy relationship, nourishing your body?
And then that's the sort of long-term goal as opposed to not being fat or thick or the size or particular size that you are. Because do you feel, again, from seeing in the dietary world that you were in previously, that maybe that's not sustainable because once you've moved away from, from the thing that you don't want to be.
It's easier to slip back because you, you don't have the motivation anymore. Yeah. If that makes sense.
Jenny: Yeah, it does. And definitely the towards goal is finding a way of eating that works for you, for the rest of your life.
Sarah: Mm-hmm.
Jenny: But also that you can flex with and you change, you can change with, and.
That's about eating for pleasure and recognising there'll be food that has very little nutrition, but you like it for pleasure and it brings you joy or it feeds your soul and it is okay to eat that some of the time. So it is very much working towards that healthy relationship with food, but more importantly with yourself.
Because actually when you have a healthy relationship with yourself, you value yourself in a different way.
Sarah: Yes.
Jenny: And when you use something, you treat it well. Yeah. The analogy I often use is think about the coat that you maybe brought that you would never have spent that much money on, but it cost 150 pounds.
But you loved it, but it's your best coat. You hang that up in the wardrobe and you only get it out on special occasions. The coat that you bought for 40 pound, 50 pound. That goes under the stairs.
Sarah: Yeah,
Jenny: things get piled on top of it. When we value something, the more value we have, the more we cherish and we look after it.
So it's about working towards really valuing yourself so that the love and the care that you give to yourself is above, or the same as the love and the care you would give to your friend, your partner, your child. Whereas most
Sarah: beautiful,
Jenny: we, most of the women, they're at the bottom of that pile. They're the coat that's hung, you know, with all of the other coats on top because they, they haven't learned to really value and appreciate theirselves in the same way.
And just talking about that towards and away from goal. What I see with a lot of people who have been through that diet cycle several times is their towards goal is a number on the scale. So let's say it's, I want to be 10 stone and their focus, focus, focus. I'm gonna be 10 stone. I'm gonna be 10 stone.
As soon as they get to that point on the scale, they focus on the away goal without realising it pulls them back.
Sarah: Right.
Jenny: What they do is they go. Right. I don't ever want to go over 10 and a half stone. I'm never gonna go over 10 and a half stone. And we know the subconscious mind is just hearing 10 and a half stone.
10 and a half stone. It's not hearing.
Sarah: Yeah, I
Jenny: don't want, so then all of a sudden they're 10 and a half stone and they're going. Okay, well I'm definitely not going over eleven stone. I'm never going over eleven stone. All of a sudden they're eleven stone. So the way I always talk about the towards and away from goal is in that sense because most of the women I work with, they are so fixated on the number at the scales.
And if it was up to me, they would never ever weigh again. Actually, if it was up to me, I would never even talk about weight loss. I wouldn't talk about it in my marketing, on my website, but actually what I've come to realise over experimenting over the years is women find me because they're looking for weight loss.
Sarah: Yes.
Jenny: What they actually get is completely different and people find that when they heal, they go. I don't even care what I weigh anymore.
Sarah: Yeah.
Jenny: It doesn't matter what I care about is that nourishing my body and having that healthy relationship with myself.
Sarah: That's absolutely beautiful. And again, I, I guess it's a demonstration of the language that society has connected to a certain issue, if you like, when actually that's not what the issue is at all.
Jenny: No,
no. For many years I experimented with only talking about food freedom and having a healthy relationship with food and yourself, but it didn't land with people because they weren't using that language until they understood what that meant.
Sarah: Yeah. And, and on that note, what, so what has it meant for you?
What changes have happened as a result of the approach that you now take?
Jenny: Wow. Just an inner peace, a complete inner peace. And I will be honest, when I was still working in that world of dieting, I was one of the ladies who was still using meal replacements to top me up, after a holiday to keep me on track.
I was still in that cycle, and I think it was when I had my little girl that I started to think, I don't want her to see me with these products. I don't want her to see that I need to use these things that are not food to, to maintain my weight and that isn't any judgment about against anybody that still does that.
You know, we are where we are because of the experiences and the knowledge we have. But for me it was time to let that part go. And yeah, I have just such an inner peace and I'm a, I come to terms with my body and you know, that it isn't, it isn't perfect, but it's perfect for me, if that makes sense.
And, I think the joy is that, oh, I feel emotional. The joy is that, that I get to help so many women work this out because I know how. Sorry.
Sarah: No, it's beautiful.
Jenny: I just know how hard it is.
Sarah: Yeah,
Jenny: and how many years I lived in that place. And I just don't want that for anyone else. So if I can share even a glimmer to get somebody thinking about how it can be different, then I've ticked the box for the day.
Sarah: Yeah. And, and I want to thank you for being there as an incredible voice for so many women. I can relate to a lot of what you're saying in terms of the, the being this, this relationship with food and, and the external impact as well as internal things.
I mean, I'm the first one to reach for a chocolate bar when I, when I've had a bad day, and then feel awful about it afterwards and, and all of those things. But it's, it's incredible that not only you have been through that journey, but you have had the courage and the strength to want to make a difference
to others, and you genuinely do make a difference of whether that's through your courses, which we'll, we'll come onto. Again, I would highly recommend the book because there is so much incredible information in there as well. Um, I'm, I guess this is a great opportunity actually to, to come onto how is it that you, um.
That you help women now if, if people do want to take the next step and find out more about your offers and your services?
Jenny: So I have various methods like you say from the book to the Food Freedom Journal, which is a 12 week journal. I have, low entry, which is I've got a 21 day audio challenge, which I run a couple of times a year.
The next time, I dunno when people will be listening to this, but we've got one starting on the 1st of June, which is me in your ear for 21 days, giving you small action steps to work on your relationship with food. Then I have 'How to manifest weight loss', which again, is a really low cost, uh, a 90 minute masterclass.
And I use the 'How to manifest weight loss' because it, it catches attention. Again, once you are inside my world, you'll see that actually it's about how to align your energy to food freedom. And I teach the, uh, sway test and the releasing in that class. And then my main programme is my Food Freedom Formula.
So this is a six month journey to really dive deep and work on your relationship with food. And we do that in small group programmes, so very small groups because... I know the power of being in a community and we know so much historically about the community and obviously my audience is women, community of women.
We rise together. We've got each other. I literally started a programme last night and they've got their own WhatsApp space and the support and love they are giving each other. They've not even known each other 24 hours and this morning they are all like, just cheering each other on and sharing things that they've possibly not shared with other people, you know, and you're just like, yes, this is what it's about.
We heal together.
Sarah: Yes.
Jenny: So that's my, my formula programme. And we go through various different activities, some of which I share in the book and we break down those hidden blocks, those beliefs that we've told ourselves releasing past, thoughts, traumas, whatever it is, um, to really heal.
Yeah. And we very, we talk very little about food because actually what I've come to realise is... All of the ladies I work with, they're experts in nutrition.
Sarah: Yes. Well, I guess they've spent so long thinking about it. Yeah,
Jenny: and they know exactly what to do. It is not about them being educated. Some of them probably know way more than me.
It's about them understanding why they're not doing what they know is nourishing for their body.
Sarah: Yeah.
Jenny: So that's,
Sarah: yeah. Fantastic. Well, I'll make sure all links are in the show notes. So if you are interested in speaking to Jenny about finding food freedom, um, or joining her on any of her challenges or courses, then I would really recommend that you, um, have a look at those links.
Follow Jenny, I'm sure you're on social media. I, Jenny.
Jenny: I absolutely am, and I have a Facebook group actually, so if anybody wants to come and hang out in my Facebook group, grab my free training. They are more than welcome to.
Sarah: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being with us today, for opening up the world in terms of from a food perspective, it not just being about food and not just being about nutrition, but really understanding what's going on within yourself and finding peace with that.
I am absolutely thrilled that I bumped into you at the Mind, Body and Spirit Festival.
Jenny: Me too.
Sarah: Remake this connection after, um, after knowing you years ago. Um, and wish you all the best with everything that you're doing because it is so special. And, uh, thanks again for coming on.
Jenny: Thank you so much for having me.
I.
Sarah: Well, that was a lot more than a conversation about food, wasn't it? What Jenny has built isn't a diet programme dressed up in softer language. It's a genuine rethink of why we eat the way we eat. Her own story is proof that the shift is real. From hiding food under her bed at eight years old to standing inside the diet industry feeling like she was selling something that couldn't actually help people in the long term,
to now holding space for women to do the work she wishes she'd had earlier. There's something quietly powerful about someone who found their way home and then spent their career lighting the path for others.
The muscle testing piece was fascinating to me. This idea that your conscious mind can be completely convinced it's ready to change while your body is quietly broadcasting a very different answer. It's not about lying to yourself, it's about layers.
And the releasing work Jenny does gets underneath them in a way that willpower simply can't reach. Her point about towards goals versus away goals is worth sitting with too. Most of us are motivated by what we don't want to be anymore, but the subconscious mind doesn't hear the 'don't', it just hears the number, the size, the thing you're fixated by.
Moving towards a feeling of nourishment, peace, self-worth is a completely different orientation. And apparently, when people do the deeper work, the scales stop mattering anyway. You can find Jenny at foodfreedomfairy.com and on socials as the Food Freedom Fairy. Her book's called The Book the Diet Industry Doesn't Want You to Read, and it's a brilliant place to start.
Her Food Freedom Formula programme runs as a small group, which given everything she said about the power of women healing in community, feels exactly right. Links to everything are in the show notes. Until next time, take care of yourselves, and remember, you don't have a willpower problem, you have an unheard story that's been running the show, and when you're ready, you get to choose a new one
