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The Self Led WOman Podcast

A podcast about emotional eating and nervous system healing for self-leadership
Podcast cover art featuring a woman with long, reddish-brown hair, wearing a black blazer with gold buttons, smiling and looking to her left, standing outdoors in front of large rocks. The text overlay reads 'The Self-Led Woman with Megan Darnell'.

A podcast for women who are done with the surface-level answers.

You've probably already done a lot of work on yourself. You understand your patterns. You've read the books, tried the approaches, maybe even been in therapy. You're self-aware enough to know that food isn't really about food.

And yet the noise is still there.

The Self-Led Woman is what I wish had existed when I was in it. Each episode goes underneath the behaviour — to the trauma, the unmet needs, and the protective patterns keeping the cycle running — through a trauma-informed, Internal Family Systems and somatic lens.

This isn't a podcast about meal plans, discipline, or trying harder. It's about understanding why emotional eating and binge cycles happen even when you know better, and what actually changes when you address the root.

What we talk about

Emotional eating rarely exists in isolation. So while food is always part of the conversation, episodes also explore nervous system regulation, relational trauma, self-worth, inner critic patterns, body image, boundaries, grief, and what it means to build a self-led life.

If you've been cycling through shame and resets and want a more honest conversation about why — this is the podcast for you.

About the host

I'm Megan Darnell, an Internal Family Systems therapist and trauma-informed practitioner based on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. I specialise in emotional eating and binge cycles, working with high-functioning women online across Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

I'm also someone who spent decades believing food and my body were the problem, until I discovered what was actually underneath.

If what you're hearing is landing…

The podcast is a starting point. When you're ready to go deeper, there are two ways to work with me.

Breaking the Emotional Eating Cycle is my self-paced course: the psychological framework behind everything I teach on this podcast, built into a structured journey you can move through in your own time. It's coming soon. Join the waitlist to be the first to know when doors open and receive founding member pricing.

Join the course waitlist
Join the course waitlist

Or if you're ready to do this work with me directly, the next step is a free 30-minute consultation, a focused conversation about what's actually driving your pattern, what's keeping it in place, and whether working together is the right fit.

Book your free consultation
Book your free consultation
Featured
Episode 22: What If Your Hunger Isn’t About Food? Understanding Developmental Hunger
Episode 22: What If Your Hunger Isn’t About Food? Understanding Developmental Hunger

Many women believe their appetite means something is wrong with them. They feel like they are always hungry, never satisfied, or constantly thinking about food. But sometimes the hunger isn’t about food at all. In this article, we explore the concept of developmental hunger and how unmet emotional needs in childhood can show up later as emotional eating, food noise, or feeling unsatisfied even after eating.

Episode 21: ADHD, Food Noise & Healing Your Relationship With Food with Kiah Paetz
Episode 21: ADHD, Food Noise & Healing Your Relationship With Food with Kiah Paetz

Many women believe their struggles with food come down to discipline or willpower. But what if the behaviours we label as disordered eating are actually adaptations trying to help us cope. In this episode, eating disorder dietitian Kiah Paetz joins Megan Darnell to explore the deeper patterns underneath emotional eating, bingeing, restriction, and food anxiety. They also discuss how ADHD and executive function challenges can influence eating behaviours and how self compassion and nourishment can help you find more peace around food.

Episode 20: The Missing Piece in Emotional Eating Recovery
Episode 20: The Missing Piece in Emotional Eating Recovery

Most women are told that emotional eating is a discipline problem. That if they just had more willpower, a better meal plan, or stronger self control, the pattern would stop. But the real missing piece is support. In this article, we explore why emotional eating often persists when women try to heal it alone and how building nervous system support and capacity can change your relationship with food.