Heart Led Wellness

The Heart Led Wellness Podcast is hosted by Ashlyn Burnett, a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach and Integrative Healthcare graduate, who has helped 500+ women learn to eat the way naturally thin people do…no tracking, no rules, no obsessing. Rooted in Polyvagal theory and somatic healing, this show teaches you how to heal your relationship with food at the nervous system level so you can finally eat from your body instead of your brain. New episodes every week. Follow Ashlyn on Instagram @heart.led.wellness.

Latest Episodes:

39: STOP honoring all your cravings!...One thing people get wrong about intuitive eating and what to do instead Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

Trying to “honor all your cravings” so you don’t feel restricted and deprived isn’t the best solution for true food freedom and long-term health. You care about your nutrition and physical health, and you also don’t want to feel obsessive and orthorexic about what you eat…but how do you find that balance? In this episode I explore the difference between cravings and your intuition. After listening, you will know how to eat from a heart led intuitive place, not just responding to all of your impulses.

I explore…

How I deal with cravings
Why “honoring all your cravings” isn’t the best idea
The difference between intuition and cravings
Telltale signs you’re having a craving
Physical health reasons for why you have lots of cravings
How your nervous system and emotions impact cravings
Subconscious roots of cravings
The shocking negative effects of honoring all your cravings
How to use your true body, mind, and soul intuition to make food decisions
Specific examples of when you should and shouldn’t honor your cravings
Are you restricting or depriving yourself when you don’t eat your cravings?
What is heart led eating?

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Connect with me on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram @heart.led.wellness⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (I'm on my stories everyday!)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠1-on-1 Coaching info⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

38: When you know what to do but it feels IMPOSSIBLE to do it in the moment: The missing link to healing for good and actually making changes in your life Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

You’ve read all the self-help books, listened to all the podcasts, and follow all the gurus on IG, but you still feel stuck when it comes to implementing what you know. It can be SO frustrating to be in a moment where you know what you “should” do, but you feel like you can’t get yourself to do it. Maybe you catch yourself over or under eating, but you feel like you can’t get yourself to make a different choice. Listen to this episode to learn why this happens and what you can do about it, so you can actually make choices that align with your goals.

I dive into...

Being a knowledge junkie but struggling to implement what you learn
Why listening to podcasts, reading books, following people on IG won’t create permanent change without this one thing
Why you can’t stop overeating, undereating, or being a perfectionist even though you know logically what to do
The self-development trap that can keep you stuck
Why you are so self-aware but still can’t change your “bad” habits
How do habits impact your life?
What is a counter desire and why you must bring it out of your subconscious?
A deep dive into the nervous system freeze response
The reason why logical thinking shuts off when you are dysregulated
How to get out of the freeze response that keeps you from taking action
Creating your own personal regulation toolkit
How your life drastically changes when you focus on body and nervous system work before logical work

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

37: Navigating Thanksgiving with intuitive eating AND health in mind: Binge free, guilt free, obsession free holidays Nov 21, 2023

Show notes

Holidays should be a time to celebrate with family and friends, but if food is the only thing on your mind, you can’t be fully present for that joy. Overeating, feeling guilty, comparing your portions to other people, not knowing how to navigate your food preferences at gatherings, dealing with food pushers, and worrying about gaining weight are common holiday struggles. I’m here to tell you that this doesn’t have to be your reality when you heal your relationship with food for good. Listen to this episode to learn a better way that will leave you feeling good in your body on January 1st.

I dive into…

How can you navigate holidays with food freedom AND still honoring your health?
Common struggles people have with food on holidays
What’s the deeper work that’s needed before you can feel free around food?
Should you overeat on Thanksgiving or other holidays?
How to eat leading up to Thanksgiving so you can avoid a binge
Scarcity mindset vs abundance mindset with food
Comparing your portion of food to others
What is co-dysregulation with food?
How to feel free even if you are gluten free, dairy free, or plant based?
What to say to “food pushers”
Why you should be picky about what you eat
What to do when you’re full but the food tastes so good
How to cope with body and diet talk with family and friends

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

33: Feeling bad about your body? Don’t fall into these 2 common traps that will keep you stuck! Nov 18, 2023

Show notes

When you have bad body image days (or months like I used to) what do you do about it? Have you ever said “screw it” around food and eaten more than your body wanted, leaving you feeling sick and guilty? Or do you wonder why sometimes you get super obsessive around food and have to count every calorie and look at every ingredient before you can eat it? Today I’m talking about why this happens from a nervous system perspective, and what you can do about it to end these cycles for good. I feel more passionate than ever before about helping you heal your relationship with your body and food once and for all so you can spend your precious time on earth doing something more important than worrying about if you will eat dessert or not.

Press play to hear…

A really important message I need you to hear after an experience I had surrounding death this week!!
The real reasons you have bad body image days
How to end the cycle of feeling bad about your body and then obsessing over food
A model for looking at life that explains why you keep under or overeating
Why trying to change you thoughts about your body won’t work
2 common traps people fall into on bad body image days
How the nervous system and polyvagal theory explains these 2 traps
How to avoid saying “screw it” around food
How to avoid feeling obsessive around food
The many layers of healing this cycle and where to start
Can you have a desire to lose weight and follow “heart led eating”?
In the moment strategies for when you feel bad about your body
How to expand your nervous system capacity with body image

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

36: Potatoes help regulate the nervous system: Mind blowing information on how whole carbs impact your emotional health Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

What you choose to eat everyday plays a huge role in your mental health and nervous system health. The nervous system inside your gut is extremely important in your moods, emotions, and ability to handle stress. Whole food carbohydrates are especially important for creating a healthy nervous system, and this episode explains why! Having nutritional knowledge like this about how to best support your body is key in healing your relationship with food. You don’t have to give up your love for health just because you want to eat “intuitively”. You can have both health and food freedom!

Learn about…

Why you shouldn’t give up your love for nutrition in the name of food freedom
How the food you eat impacts your nervous system and mental health
How carbohydrates help regulate your nervous system
How starchy foods impact your gut and therefore your nervous system
Mind blowing facts about the nervous system inside your gut!
How your gut microbes impact your nervous system
Why your gut health matters more than your brain health
How to create more GABA neurotransmitters from your gut
How to increase serotonin in your brain through your diet
Why high protein meals are not great for serotonin production
The thanksgiving turkey tryptophan myth
Blood sugar dysregulation and stress
The one type of food that helps balance blood sugar and cortisol spikes
The energetic way root vegetables help with anxiety and stress

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

35: Surprising benefits of having a natural period (not hormonal birth control) & how to get it back if it’s missing: Hypothalamic Amenorrhea recovery low down Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

Missing your period? Taking hormonal birth control? Listen to learn the surprising negative health effects of not ovulating or having a natural period. Hypothalamic amenorrhea occurs when your period goes missing due to stress (physical, mental, or emotional stressors) and is more common than you might think! If you are wanting to heal your relationship with food and also get your period back, this episode is for you! Subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes addressing common myths about HA recovery like if you can be vegan and still recover, how to lose weight after recovery, and how long it takes to get your period back!

Listen to learn…

Why is it SO important to have a natural period?
How does estrogen and progesterone benefit your health (outside of pregnancy)?
How can disordered eating in your teen years impact your hormones?
How the health of your monthly cycle is a reflection of your overall health
My journey of losing my period and how I got it back
What happens hormonally in each week of the monthly cycle?
Why ovulation is the main event of the cycle
What are the risks of not ovulating? (must know!)
BIG health risks of not having a period
Do you have Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA)?
The differences between PCOS and HA
Root causes of HA (physical and emotional)
How nervous system dysregulation affects missing periods
Why your “skinny” friend has her period and you don’t
Why hormonal birth control is NOT the answer to balancing your hormones
Scary truths of hormonal birth control
How trauma impacts hormones

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

34: How to eat sweets without losing control: A practical guide for eating soul foods on holidays (or any day) Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

It’s Halloween!!!!... which means it’s the start of the holiday season in America! For so many people (including my previous self) the holidays are full of stress and obsession over food and body things! There are so many gatherings centered around food, and especially desserts. How can you navigate this without feeling out of control? Listen to today’s episode to learn how you can eat these delicious treats (on holidays or any day) without overdoing it and disrespecting your body’s desire to feel physically good. You can have both…soul pleasure and a healthy body.

Tune in to learn…

My own relationship history with desserts and treats
The physical reason why desserts can feel addicting
Can you value your physical health and still eat “unhealthy” desserts?
What are “soul foods”?
How to honor BOTH your soul and body while eating desserts
How to eat desserts on holidays without overeating and regretting it
5 key steps to eating sweets from a heart led place
How to use nutritional knowledge and still feel free around food
Why trying to hear “fullness” cues with desserts doesn’t work
Do I eat candy on Halloween? (My answer might surprise you!)

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

32: Is “high vibe” living making you sick? Why negative emotions aren’t a problem and how FEELING them makes you more magnetic Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Stress doesn’t cause disease! Anger doesn’t cause disease! Trying to be positive and high vibe all the time so you don’t attract negative things into your life misses a huge part of the picture…YOU. You are the one holding your emotions and how you hold them matters more than the emotion itself! In this episode I explain how suppressing negative emotions can backfire on our health, relationship with food, and ability to manifest good things. Regulating. your nervous system can make you a magnetic manifestor that attracts more amazing things in your life…not because you are “high vibe” all the time, but because you change your baseline of operating.

Find out…

Why do so many of us fear our negative emotions?
What the law of attraction and manifestation communities have wrong about negative emotions
What to do if you’re scared of your negative emotions attracting bad things into your life
What is emotional suppression?
Signs you’re suppressing your emotions
The problem with emotional hierarchy
Are “low vibe” emotions really a problem?
Why stress does NOT directly cause disease
What actually happens biologically when we don’t feel our emotions?
What happens to your nervous system when you suppress emotions?
What is emotional hormesis?
The real secret to manifesting amazing things in your life!!
What does all of this have to do with food and body?

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

31: My story from rock bottom to heart-led-living: How perfectionism, disordered eating, and mental/physical health issues almost took my life and how I came back home to myself Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

This is a big episode. I finally feel ready to open up and share the vulnerable and intimate details of my own story. People and clients often ask me how I got into the world of health and wellness, coaching, nervous system regulation, food freedom, and mental health…and it’s all because of my own personal evolution. I live and breathe everything I share about on my podcast because it truly changed my life. Listen to this episode to learn how I went from rock bottom (severe mental health challenges and physical health struggles) to thriving and feeling so in love with life! I hope this heart-to-heart conversation can inspire someone out there to shift their own life and choose recovery.

I dive into…

Why I don’t believe in “trigger warnings”
All the vulnerable details of my journey from rock bottom to hope and healing
My evolution from severe depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, self-hate, acne, hormonal imbalances, and unhealthy coping mechanisms to true health, self love, and freedom!
How my physical health issues evolved into mental health challenges
How perfectionism and self-hate almost killed me
The biggest piece I was missing when trying to heal my mental and physical health
Going from extreme numbness to living with a open feeling heart
My biggest tips for humans who are struggling now

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

30: Food cravings come from the nervous system: How eating feels in each of the 3 nervous system states & tips for getting back to regulation Oct 03, 2023

Show notes

Have you ever tried to use willpower to keep yourself from eating your cravings? Or confused about why you end up on the couch with a bag of salty chips every night, despite your efforts? Or maybe you don’t understand why you never feel satisfied or full at the end of a meal? All of these examples can be explained through the lens of the nervous system! In today’s episode, I am expanding on how our food cravings shift depending on what state of the nervous system we are in. Eating feels very different in each of the 3 states, and you can use this information to give yourself the support you are needing to come back into regulation.

Find out…

Why healing your relationship with food isn’t really about food
How does the nervous system relate to your food cravings?
The different foods we crave in each of the 3 nervous system states
Why do we crave different foods?
How do our cravings help regulate our nervous system and bring us back to balance?
How eating feels in each of the 3 states
The real reason you eat when you’re not hungry
Why salty and creamy food cravings can tell you a lot about your nervous system
How can overeating be helpful in the dorsal vagal state?
How to eat “soul foods” from a regulated state
Action steps for you to regulate your nervous system so you feel in control around food

Links Mentioned

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free Root Cause Identifier Quiz!⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ (see what the root cause of your food struggles is)

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠JOIN Heart Led Eating⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠My DIY Somatics Masterclass⁠⁠⁠

Email me: ashlyn@heartledwellness.com

Intro music created and produced by Wavesy!

Disclaimer: Nothing in this episode is to be taken as medical advice. Please speak to your own physician or functional medicine practitioner before making changes in your life.

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