January often arrives with fresh notebooks, new plans, and the quiet hope that this time it’ll be different.

But it can also come with a familiar heaviness - the sense that you should already be doing more, feeling better, or getting back on track… even when you’re still finding your feet.

In this episode of Beyond Diets, we pause together and gently question the pressure that creeps in at the start of the year - especially around food, productivity, and expectations of yourself.

We explore why that pull back into all-or-nothing thinking isn’t a personal failure, but conditioning - and why safety, not pressure, is what actually creates momentum.

You’ll be invited to try a different question this week:

What am I asking from myself - and does it make sense based on what I genuinely have to give?

This is a calm, grounding listen for women who want sustainable change, not another plan that turns into pressure. No fixing. No forcing. Just space to reconnect, reset, and move forward in a way that feels supportive.

If you’re craving a gentler start - and permission to do less without falling behind - this episode is for you.

This week I’m joined by the incredible Alex Bottomley, a trauma-informed somatic practitioner who helps people break free from binge eating by rebuilding safety and trust in their body.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the all-or-nothing cycle with food…

If you’ve tried every plan, every mindset trick, every rule…

If you blame yourself for not having enough willpower…

This episode will feel like a breath out.

Alex shares
• why binge eating isn’t a motivation problem
• how disconnection from the body keeps us trapped
• what somatic work actually looks like in real life
• the role shame plays in our eating patterns
• how to create safety so food stops feeling like the only escape

We also dive into the perfectionism trap, why “doing the work” can easily become another pressure, and how to approach healing from a place that’s actually supportive rather than overwhelming.

It’s an honest, grounded conversation about what it really takes to feel calm around food again - especially if you’ve spent years feeling like something must be wrong with you.

If you’re ready for a kinder, more sustainable way to change your relationship with food, this is the episode to listen to

Emma is a full-time vet nurse with a hectic rota who spent years in the on-again, off-again cycle with food. In this episode we unpack how she created calm, sustainable physical changes without another strict plan - and how those habits carried her through pregnancy without guilt or all-or-nothing thinking.

What we cover:

• Why “fit your life to the plan” fails - and how Emma flipped it to “fit the plan to real life”
• The exact low-pressure habits she used: flexible meals, gentle movement (hello, walks), and nervous-system resets
• Releasing food guilt in pregnancy (even when only chips would stay down)
• How dropping perfectionism ends the binge–restrict loop and makes change stick
• Practical strategies for high-functioning mums: simple food structure, stress-aware choices, and celebrating small wins

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