You’re Not Too Late for Food Freedom

Think you’re too old or too far gone to stop dieting? Think again. In this episode of Rebuilding Trust With Your Body, Katy sits down with Sarah, a 47-year-old woman who spent decades bouncing between diets, food guilt, and shame, who’s now thriving as an intuitive eater.

After a breaking point in her doctor’s office left her crying and confused, Sarah found intuitive eating. What happened next was a complete transformation, not only with food, but with how she sees herself.

If you’ve been stuck in the binge-restrict cycle for years, this conversation is proof that it’s never too late to change your relationship with food.

Why Diets Weren’t Working Anymore

For Sarah, dieting had always felt “normal.” But despite decades of effort, the scale kept creeping up and so did the frustration. The final straw? A doctor visit where she was told to lose weight without any real support or strategy. That moment sent her down the rabbit hole that led to intuitive eating.

Through Katy’s programs, including Intuitive Eating Exploration, Non-Diet Academy, and the Non-Dieter’s Club, Sarah began unlearning the toxic food rules she’d carried for years and building a new toolkit rooted in trust and nourishment.

What Food Freedom Actually Looks Like

The surprising part? Food freedom didn’t look like a free-for-all. It looked like:

• Eating a real breakfast with carbs, protein, and fat
• Enjoying Girl Scout cookies without inhaling the whole box
• Choosing full-calorie Gatorade on a hot day without guilt
• Not obsessing over food at office meetings
• Learning to eat what feels good instead of what’s “allowed”

As Sarah shared, “Now I can keep cookies in my cupboard for months. I just eat them when I want them.”

Healing Body Image After 40

Healing your relationship with food doesn’t mean magically loving your body. Sarah is candid about still struggling some days. But now, instead of spiraling into shame or jumping back on a diet, she practices:

• Body neutrality (you don’t have to love your body every day)
  Gratitude for what her body does for her
• Setting boundaries with movement and self-care
  Avoiding body checking on tough days
• Reconnecting to her values beyond her appearance

If this sounds like the kind of progress you’ve been craving, know this: you don’t need to do it alone.

The Power of Starting Even If You’re Scared

One of the most powerful moments in this episode is Sarah’s advice for anyone stuck between dieting and intuitive eating:
“What you’re doing now isn’t working. What do you have to lose by trying something different?”

Her recommendation? Start small. Focus on one intuitive eating principle at a time. And if you can, get support, whether that’s a group like Non-Diet Academy or simply a friend who gets it.

Need a place to begin? Try ranking yourself 1–10 on each of the 10 intuitive eating principles, and focus on the lowest-scoring one. (This method helped Sarah build momentum in a way that actually stuck.)

Final Thoughts: You Deserve a Better Relationship With Food

Whether you’re 27, 47, or 67, your worth isn’t defined by your weight. Healing is possible, and it doesn’t have an expiration date.

As Katy reminds us at the end of the episode, “You are worthy just as you are.”
Prefer reading? Click here for the full transcript

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Referenced Episode: Ep.188 – She’s 47, Done Dieting, and Finally at Peace With Food

Looking for more resources?

• Discover your unique path to food freedom with my free 2-minute quiz
• NDA Alumni? DM Katy for info on the Non-Dieter’s Club!
• Grab my Daily 3 Body Kindness Journal Pages
• Join the Intuitive Eating Made Easy Facebook Group
• Explore the self-paced mini-course: Stepping Off The Dieting Rollercoaster
• Intuitive eating education on the blog
• Work with Katy
• Join Non-Diet Academy: The Self-Study Edition to get started NOW!