Live Like a Girl with Dr. Mindy Pelz

Why can changing the way you eat feel so emotional, even when you know exactly what you want to change?

In this conversation, I sit down with therapist and Mother Hunger author Kelly McDaniel to explore the deeper emotional and relational layers that can become intertwined with food.

Through Kelly’s Mother Hunger framework, we look at how early experiences with nurturing, safety, attachment, and caregiving may influence the way some of us relate to food later in life—and why food can sometimes become connected with comfort, connection, routine, and relief.

We also talk about emotional eating, body image, nervous system regulation, fasting, food noise, GLP-1 medications, and the messages about our bodies that can be passed from one generation to the next.
This conversation gave me an entirely new way to think about some of the struggles I’ve seen women experience when changing how they eat, because sometimes there may be more happening beneath the surface than what’s on the plate.

In this episode:
Kelly’s Mother Hunger framework
Why food can become emotionally significant
What Kelly means by “surrogate comfort”
Why changing eating patterns can bring up difficult emotions
Food and nervous system regulation
What mothers can unintentionally teach daughters about their bodies
Kelly’s perspective on food noise and GLP-1 medications
How support and connection can help us create new patterns

MORE ON KELLY MCDANIEL
Instagram: @kellymcdanieltherapy
Mother Hunger, Revised Edition
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep369

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Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

You’re exercising more, fasting more, changing what you eat, and trying everything you know to support your weight, and yet the scale still doesn’t seem to move.

In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy breaks down five foundational habits she wants you to look at before assuming your body simply isn’t responding. She explores how fibre-rich foods can support satiety and your gut microbiome, why walking after meals can benefit blood sugar, how meal timing interacts with your circadian rhythm, and why sleep and consistency deserve a much bigger place in the weight-loss conversation.
She also explores GLP-1, food noise, nervous system state, and what research tells us about maintaining weight loss after stopping GLP-1 medications.
The takeaway is refreshingly practical: instead of chasing another complicated strategy, start by looking at the everyday rhythms you can actually repeat.

Resources Mentioned
FREE Nervous System Questionnaire
Time & Light: Missing Pieces of a Healthy Lifestyle with Dr. Satchin Panda
The Cancer Conversation Women Aren't Having Yet with Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy
Reset Academy
Eat Like a Girl
Age Like a Girl
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep368

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
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Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

Women spend so much time trying to change their bodies, but how often are we taught how to actually experience and enjoy them?

In this conversation, I sit down with Emma-Louise Boynton to explore what happens when we begin reconnecting with our bodies through pleasure, presence, and curiosity rather than constant criticism. We talk about body image, intimacy, sex therapy, self-pleasure, mindfulness, and the small everyday practices that can help you feel more at home in your body.

Because your relationship with your body affects far more than how you see yourself, it shapes how you experience your life.

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MORE ON EMMA-LOUISE BOYNTON
Pleasure: The Reclamation of my Body by Emma-Louise Boynton
Instagram: @emmalouiseboynton
LinkedIn: Emma-Louise Boynton
Substack: @emmalouiseboynton
Pleasure: The Reclamation of my Body Audiobook: Spotify
Website: emma-louseboynton.com
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep367

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

If you’re constantly thinking about food, battling afternoon cravings, or struggling to feel satisfied after eating, your fullness hormones may be an important part of the conversation.

In this solo episode, Dr. Mindy breaks down the foods that can support your body’s natural GLP-1 production and explains how fiber, protein, resistant starch, fermented foods, and omega-3-rich foods influence satiety. You’ll learn practical ways to build meals that help you feel fuller longer, support your gut microbiome, and work with your body’s natural appetite signals.

Resources Mentioned
Qualia Magnesium+, use code MINDY for 15% off
Reset Academy
Wise Goat Organics Fermented Foods, use code MINDY for 20% off
Eat Like a Girl
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep366

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.

What if a healthier relationship with food started with enjoying it more?
In this episode of Live Like a Girl, Dr. Mindy sits down with acclaimed chef and Next Level Chef mentor Nyesha Arrington for a conversation about food that goes far beyond calories, macros, or following the “perfect” diet.
Nyesha shares how cooking with her grandmother shaped her relationship with food from childhood, why recipes can carry memories and identity across generations, and how years in professional kitchens taught her to see food as art, connection, and eventually, fuel.
They also get practical: cooking oils, salt, spices, kitchen tools, meal prep, fasting, strength training, hydration, and the small upgrades Nyesha has made that helped her feel dramatically better in her body.
Plus, Nyesha opens up about leadership in high-pressure kitchens, working alongside Gordon Ramsay, earning the title of “Chef,” and why she refuses to fit into anyone else’s definition of what a woman should look like.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn
 How childhood experiences can shape your relationship with food 
 Why food is closely tied to memory and identity 
 How Nyesha shifted from cooking purely for taste to thinking about food as fuel 
 Which cooking oils she keeps in her own kitchen 
 Why salt and spices can completely change a meal 
 The kitchen tools every home cook actually needs 
 How meal prep helps Nyesha make better choices when life gets busy 
 Why she uses fasting during periods when she needs deep focus 
 How strength training and sleep became part of her wellness routine 
 What working in elite restaurant kitchens taught her about leadership 
 Why she refuses to make herself more “digestible” for anyone else
Resources Mentioned
Olive Oil
Bone Broth, use code MINDY10
More on Chef Nyesha Arrington
Nyesha Arrington is an acclaimed chef, television personality, and co-star of FOX’s Next Level Chef. Trained in Michelin-starred kitchens, she has become known for her creative approach to food, mentorship, and commitment to thoughtfully sourced ingredients. She also hosts and produces Eater’s Plateworthy and is passionate about wellness, functional fitness, and using food to bring people together.
Instagram: @nyeshajoyce
Native by Nyesha
For more resources related to today’s episode, visit the podcast episode page: drmindypelz.com/ep365 

Connect with Dr. Mindy:
Join Reset Academy
Watch the episodes on YouTube
Follow Dr. Mindy on Instagram
Subscribe to Dr. Mindy’s newsletter

Disclaimer: This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, fasting routine, or lifestyle.