# 276 Making Peace With Your Body

Moms, have you ever wondered how to protect your teen's mental health and foster a positive body image in the face of pervasive diet culture and social media pressures? In this episode, Colleen O'Grady talks with Marla Mervis Hartman, creator of "Love Your Body, Love Yourself." After experiencing years of dysfunction in relation to food, exercise, and body confidence, Marla transformed her life through the radical act of self-compassion and friending herself. She has since used her experiences to help empower women as they choose appreciation for their bodies, honor themselves through nourishing lifestyle choices, and cultivate confidence along the way. Marla works at Ai Pono  a Eating Disorder Recovery Center. Most recently, she has been featured at TEDx Salinas. Currently, Marla lives in Maui with her husband, Olaf, and son, Aspen–where she works full-time as a professional coach, speaker, facilitator, and Instructor. Marla will see her first book, Be-Friend Yourself on bookshelves beginning of 2024. Marla discusses her journey of healing her relationship with food and body image, emphasizing the importance of self-compassion. Marla shares tools for managing emotional eating, such as identifying underlying issues, promoting self-care, and fostering a positive body image through modeling healthy behaviors. She highlights the impact of diet culture on both moms and teens and offers strategies for open communication. The conversation also covers the importance of parents healing their own relationships with food to provide a supportive environment for their teens and the critical influence of a mother's relationship with food on her children's attitudes towards eating and body image. Follow on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/loveyourbodyloveyourselfalways/ Learn more about Marla at https://www.loveyourbodyloveyourself.com/ BE-Friend Yourself Book Pre-order Link: https://www.loveyourbodyloveyourself.com/book FREE GIFT Breaking the Cycle of Emotional Eating https://goloveyourbodyloveyourself.com/emotionaleating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices