Why Am I Eating This Now ?

Cultivate the Courage for Consistency 

Comfort Eating Style Quiz

Quiet your food noise, build lasting habits, and end emotional eating in 12 weeks—no white knuckling required. 

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Let me guess...

This isn’t your first self-improvement rodeo.

You believe you’ve tried everything by this point. 

And, you may even be a little bit irritated you’re even reading this page.

Maybe you’re annoyed or even angry you haven’t figured this food thing out yet. 

You’re exhausted from food being THE project in your life. 

It’s OVERWHELMING…

It’s been multiple decades, probably since at least middle or high school, that you’ve been battling food.

You danced and sweated to the oldies with Richard Simmons. You’ve done step aerobics at Bally’s, the New York Sports Club or the Y. You’ve gone spinning in neon rooms with the best of them.

You’ve done Weight Watchers, the new Weight Watchers, meal delivery services, Paleo, Vegetarian, therapy, and maybe even a sprinkle of woo like astrology or psychics. You might have dabbled in some functional medicine or precision nutrition too.

And you’ve certainly picked up some tips and tricks along the way. And yet, you’re still here, “being good” during the week only to give yourself a pass during the weekends, holidays, and/or “once I get through this stress.” Or being “good” all day until you reach that hour when your “I deserve this eating” kicks in.

And what lays heavy on your heart is that you know that all this preoccupation with food, this “food noise” is crowding out the learning and living you really want to spend your time on.

And now, all these years later, you find yourself maybe still wanting to lose weight or not slip back into old disordered eating. If you’re like a lot of my clients, you also live in the real world and have aging, and hormonal concerns from postpartum to perimenopause/menopause health concerns like anxiety, body pain, and trouble sleeping. 

So now it’s not just about your weight, but your overall health as well. 

You might feel like a failure for the toll that yo-yo dieting has taken on your body over all these years and yearn for a dramatically better relationship with food and yourself. There’s a part of you that believes that maybe, just maybe, the right meal and/or fitness plan is out there just waiting for you around the bend. You’re determined that this time will be different because you’ll be you, but version 2.0. 

You’ll somehow summon up MORE. 

More discipline. 

More willpower. 

More, more, more… 

But haven’t you been down this road before? 

I get you because I’ve been down these old roads myself…many times (I do have an excellent astrologer to show for all my efforts, but that wasn’t really the result I was looking for).

At some point that unsettling déjà vu feeling would come over me and I’d try to retrace my steps back home. With each “failed” attempt, the distance back to myself took a bit longer. 

The truth is that it’s not your fault that you’ve ended up at this intersection in life. And I’m sure you’ve learned a lot on your travels. But before you consider setting out once again, ask: “Will I just end up back here in six months if I don’t get to the root of what’s really going on with my relationship to food?” 

Is Why Am I Eating This Now For You?

This course is made specifically for those who want to address the roots of their food noise and falling off track for lasting, liberating, and sustainable results. 

This course has been tailor-made for all the healthy skeptics out here who sense something is missing that’s keeping them from resolving their food struggles, but can’t put their finger on it. 

Because you suspect that you already know enough about nutrition or meal planning. As much as you like to do your research, you’re beginning to suspect that the answers you seek are not going to be found Googling (not even on the no man’s land of the second or third page). 

That is, you don’t have a research problem. Or a one-more-diet or exercise plan problem. 

If you believe another round of Googling is the answer,* then this is likely not the course for you (but I get it, we’ve all been there). 

However, if you yearn for the courage to look inward and be supported by me and a life-changing community, then you’ve landed in the right place. 

If you’re looking for an evidence-based, 17-year client proven process, then keep on reading.

If you’re ready to figure out why your struggles with food actually make sense, so that you can move on with your life, feeling amazing and free, then keep on scrolling.

*The only exception is if Googling led you here, in which case consider this the end of your research rabbit hole.

Methodology

After Taking this Course, You Will...

  1. Discover what works for results that last as you make connections that have been elusive for years about your falling off track, including why other attempts at figuring out this “food thing” didn’t work (hint: they never touched on a critical  piece of the puzzle I’ll get to below) 
  2. Feel less shame and guilt around your food choices as you start to realize your food noise and falling off track actually makes sense.
  3. Feel increased self-trust and self-belief that you can actually change as you increasingly understand your habits from a place of “this makes sense,” instead of beating yourself up further (which leads to chuck it, f— it eating.) 
  4. Feel relief in identifying your eating triggers that actually have nothing to do with food, which means less food rules and discipline required. 
  5. Increase your food consistency as you learn how to satisfy your triggers without food.
  6. End the crash-and-burn cycle by receiving the tools for generating the courage to get your needs and wants met as you satisfy the true needs in your life and not reach for food to soothe. 
  7. Decrease stress as you feel more confident with yourself and more closely connected with others. 
  8. Experience the food freedom you’ve dreamt about as realize turning to food becomes less satisfying and what replaces it is that you want to make the healthy choice, which is the pinnacle of food freedom. Or, as one client said, “I wish I could bottle this feeling up and give it to everyone.”

How Is This Course Different?
Glad You Asked...

1. Gets to the Root Of Your Food Battle

What makes this course unique is that it targets the roots of your food battle, which is not about food. Rather, your food noise is generated when you feel separate or alone in what you’re struggling with. 

That’s because food stimulates attachment (safety) chemicals. 

Food noise connected to safety can arise during stress, after a long, exhausting day that ends with “I deserve this eating,” holidays, and even during happy times or times that are supposed to feel happy but don’t.

And yet, as the developmental psychologist Dr. Deborah McNamara says, “Food was meant to follow attachment. Not be a substitute for it.”

In other words, in these moments, those of us who are highly independent, disciplined, and hard working, will try to further go at it alone.

We”ll tell ourselves we’re fine, we don’t want to be a burden, or it’s on us to take control of the situation. Or often, we don’t even know we’re having these emotions because we’re too busy pushing through.

And yet, it’s this internal battle happening around needing support in our stress, but not knowing what those needs are and then, how to get those needs met that makes us fall off track with our food. 

Specifically, this is a battle of belonging. And you must be willing to mature and grow your sense of belonging from “What will they think of me?” to “What will I think of me?” so that food can retire from the attachment job it can soothe but not satiate.

You know enough about nutrition and, what you don’t know, you can Google. You don’t have a Google problem or a more nutrition-research problem or a one more diet plan is the answer problem.  

The reason nothing has worked before longterm is because you’ve never addressed belonging and it’s the invisible thread of feeling like we matter, and thus are allowed to need and want support in our stress.

2. Doesn't Focus Exclusively on Food

This course doesn’t focus on the ins-and-outs of nutrition that you can easily research online or find in a book. 

Instead, it focuses on you and building your skills to be able to identify your eating triggers, the needs they’re pointing to, and how to resource yourself to feel stronger (not more deprived) when your eating triggers are activated.

This is also a unique container to practice being “needy,” which is really just getting your very human needs met. Believe it or not, many group coaching programs don’t set the tone for a safe container or name what happens silently: comparing to others progress, feeling like you have to help others as much as they help you, not take up too much space, the list goes on… 

3. Life-Changing Community

I consistently hear from clients that the women who take my programs create “life-changing” community. That’s no small feat since many of us are “bad joiners.”

This approach not only dramatically decreases your food noise while increasing your consistency, it also does so in a way that leads to more food freedom. Because there’s no white knuckling that comes with most plans. Or even a rigid 5 step self-care plan that must be completed.

Rather, you’ll discover being self-aware is your self-care. This leads to “less is more.” Less to do (food rules included) and more room to be and experience.

The more you develop the courage to have your own back (i.e. belong to yourself) and invite others in on this version of yourself, the more confident, resilient and trusting you feel. Food then falls into place on its own as you’ve retired it from a job it cannot fully do well..

I Know What You May Be Thinking...

“How is this really going to be different?” even perhaps different than therapy. My clients often come to me as their last resort, so I get the healthy skepticism.

As far as different, very few (if any) offerings in this space touch on an essential missing piece: Belonging. 

So from the start, we’re working on an thread running through all this work that is invisible to most emotional eating and health coaches!

The curriculum is evidence-based, client-proven over my 17 years as an integrated health coach, and unlike anything else out there. 

And what many clients have told me is this work has been able to open them up in ways therapy can’t touch. Therapy is good and could be a great compliment to this course. However, we’ll be coming at your food struggles from a different angle, rooted in  developmental psychology, that asks: “How can we thrive?”

photo Why Am I Eating This Now client review Tina

“Why Am I Eating This Now is about getting to the root of things, not hovering on the surface as too many other programs/plans do. As a result, I stopped slipping with my healthy eating and falling into old thought patterns. I got unstuck and have the tools to keep going. One year out of the process, I have a deeper understanding of my relationship to food thanks to the tools I learned in this program (I’ve also lost 20 pounds).” 

—Dr. Tina H. Boogren, Colorado

Ginny

“Before Why Am I Eating This Now, I was stuck in the ‘Why don’t I have any willpower loop? That person did Weight Watchers and looks great. What’s my problem? Why can’t I stick with this?’ It seemed so easy for everyone else, just count points and you’re gonna lose weight. Why Am I Eating This Now? got me out of my black-and-white thinking and showed me that there’s an option C! It helped me break the cycle of self-blame, inadequacy, and isolation. It saw me as a whole person within our supportive group. I now have a new inner dialogue around my food choices and a more profound understanding of myself. This program has been transformative.”

—Ginny Summerlin, Virginia

IsisResizedPhoto

“I’ve done EMDR, CBT, and other forms of therapy, and Why Am I Eating This Now is a far more gentle experience. The program is filled with purposeful learning material that we go out and immediately apply to our lives. We bring our experiences back to Ali and the non-judgmental supportive group—it’s a far more shared learning environment than therapy. Why Am I Eating This Now may not be therapy, but it is certainly therapeutic.”

—Isis West, Colorado

12 Weeks of Coaching Support Outcomes

Lesson 1: Planning a Retirement Party for Food

We’ll dive into the 4 eating triggers driving your psychological desire to emotionally eat and causing you to “fall off track.” We’ll identify and leverage your biggest trigger to start silencing the food noise.

Lesson 2: What Job Have You Enlisted Food To Do?

With this newly discovered clarity, we’ll dive into the needs buried in your eating triggers that must be satiated for food to become easier. In other words, once you have your own back and get these needs met, you’ll want to want to make the healthy choice because your deeper belonging need is being satiated. 

Lesson 3: Connecting the Dots

Part of why you feel out of control around food is you don’t know what’s happening. Why do you feel so powerless?

By this point, you’ll have surprising wins around your food triggers. If you were a car driving in fog, you’d now be able to see a few feet in front of you (which is progress as the fog of confusion around staying on track has been around for decades. Now you’re headed in the right direction).

Here, you’ll make connections that have been elusive for years to clear the fog further and put you back in control of your food. 

Lesson 4: Three Self-Protection Stumbling Blocks to Change

As we venture out with new clarity, self-awareness, and self-trust, life will start to look and feel different.

And you’ll discover some triggers are bigger than others (the more intense the trigger, the more you eat and the longer it takes to get back on track). 

You’ll learn why it feels scary to get your needs met with certain triggers and how to work through this fear to get your needs met for results that last. 

Lesson 5: Wherever You Go, There You Are

You’re a new and improved person. You are You 2.0—just kidding. But in all seriousness, how you look at and respond to your food challenges will shift. You’ll be staying on track more.

And, w
e’ll integrate all you’ve learned to solidify your skills with experiments and bring back our findings to the group where I’ll be sure to coach you through any sticky situations. 

Your consistency will continue to increase based on what you’ve learned from imperfect action. 

How You'll Be Supported

  • Seven live group coaching calls with Ali (all recorded if you can’t make it live).
  • Small group coaching to get further support and scheduling flexibility.
  • 24/7 online community where you’ll be supported and seen with a high caliber of women working through the same issues.
2025 Schedule (EST)
  • Coming soon!

* Can’t make a live call? Recordings are posted within 24 hours.

12 weeks of master coaching, group support, and tangible outcomes—what’s not to love?

What Participants Are Saying...

"I joined Why Am I Eating This Now? because I wanted to move forward in my own self-development. I was able to discover the deeper conflict around my food battle, including how it protects me and how to move forward. I exceeded my own expectations for my progress. I truly thought I’d never break free from emotional eating but I have!"
photo Why Am I Eating This Now client review Lourdes
Lourdes Brolly
Philadelphia
"I had tried to manage my autoimmune disorder through food with great results until I crashed and burned. I was convinced I had a compulsive eating disorder. Why Am I Eating This Now? was the perfect program to show me how to stop crashing and burning. I learned more about myself than I expected; to say it was eye-opening would be an understatement. Using the tools I learned, I’ve now had break-through moments where I can work through the urge to eat without eating. I know I got this!"
photo Why Am I Eating This Now client review Laurie
Laurie Horowiz
Michigan
"Why Am I Eating This Now? empowered me with tools to help me make balanced, healthy choices with not only food, but relationships, work, and life in general. As someone who values nuance and growth, it was just the right amount of time and information for where I was at with my health, food, and life. Ali’s teaching is both deep and practical."
photo Why Am I Eating This Now client review Reese
Reese
Michigan

Listen to the experience of two recent "Why Am I Eating This Now?"
program participants in the Insatiable podcast episodes below.

Check out the recent master class below to get a sneak peek into the program.

Investment

3 Month Payment Plan

$ 267
Per Month for 3 months
  • Seven live group coaching calls with Ali (all recorded)
  • Small group coaching to get further support and scheduling flexibility
  • 24/7 online community where you’ll be supported and in the company of other high-caliber individuals working through the same issues

One Time Payment

$ 697
One-time Payment
  • Seven live group coaching call with Ali (all recorded)
  • Small group coaching to get further support and scheduling flexibility
  • 24/7 online community where you’ll be supported and in the company of other high-caliber individuals working through the same issues
Best Deal

Still on the fence? Click here to book a free no-pressure chat with me. I’m not into hard-selling and want to make sure this is a good fit. 

*If you have a quick question, click on the chat widget on the lower right portion of the screen to connect with me or a member of my team.

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*Registration closes 9/16 and we have our opening circle on 9/18.

AliShapiro 1.31.04 PM e1521657309836

Hi, I'm Ali!

About 20 years ago, I discovered food could be medicine. Specifically, using food to heal my gut after childhood cancer treatments and to balance my blood sugar levels after years of yo-yo dieting. In time, I was able to reverse my acne, IBS, and depression. And, I lost 15 pounds as a side effect of being more satiated and less inflamed.

I felt amazing! And I had discovered how much control I did have over my health.

And yet…

I couldn’t keep it up. I already had so much accumulated shame from years of failed dieting and still not being at my ideal weight. And now? I knew how great I could feel, but couldn’t stay consistent when I was stressed. In some ways, I felt more out of control around food as my heartburn would return or I’d see the scale going up.

And I felt super guilty about being a bad cancer survivor who was throwing their health away.

Specifically, I’d binge on sugar when it was “scanxiety season” even though I now knew cancer fed on sugar. 

It was clear that knowing and doing were different stories. 

I’d tell myself “I deserve this” and overeat after being bored, but stressed at my unfulfilling corporate job.

And when dating was awkward or I felt like my weight was the reason I couldn’t find someone I’d want to date, I ate from frustration.

Why was I doing this, now?

I applied the systems thinking from functional medicine and asked, “What if falling off track with my food was a symptom and not the problem, just like my acne, depression, and IBS were symptoms of something deeper going on?”

This led me to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania to really understand and resolve the roots of falling off track with our eating and healthy habits. And what I found was so relieving! And challenging.

But most of all, I found that falling off track makes sense and in many ways we’ve been setup to fail. And for the past 17 years, I’ve used my evidence-based, client proven process to support others in making this discovery for themselves by working through the root causes of why they fall off track too. All with no white knuckling required.

Professional Bio

Masters of Science, Organizational Dynamics, University of Pennsylvania, 2013. (Concentrations in Change Management, Coaching and Leadership)

Lois A. Ginsberg Community Award, University of Pennsylvania, 2013

Functional Medicine Apprenticeship, 2008-2012

Institute for the Psychology of Eating, 2010

The Institute for Integrative Nutrition/Columbia University Teachers College, 2006-2008

My work and clients’ unique success has been featured in well + Good, mindbodygreen, Prevention, Women’s Health and Forbes, as well as industry- leading podcasts like Being Boss, Tell Me Something True, and Food Heaven Made Easy. For several years, I was a regular on-air talent for NBC’s morning show in Philadelphia. 

Ali Press

Are You Ready?

Learning how belonging was the invisible thread that caused my food noise and for me to fall off track and search for answers in all the wrong places changed my food, body, health, and life. And it’s done so for thousands of my clients. I know you don’t have any more time, money, or self-trust to waste. If you’re up for the challenge to learn how to cultivate the courage to have your own back for consistency and food freedom, then we'll be waiting.

Are You Ready?

Still Undecided?

Let's Check-In

If you can say yes to the following statements, then you’re in the right and ready place.

I’m ready to…

However, you’re probably not ready yet if…

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

A healthy skeptic. I totally get it. On the surface, this program is different because I’m not telling you what to do. So there’s no rigid 5-step morning plan you have to complete or more rules about keeping food in or out of the house.

But more deeply, my approach is on food being about belonging. This still isn’t on the radar of most emotional eating courses.

As a result, this program is about self-awareness and meeting your needs, not food.

You’ll have to get out of your comfort zone but not in the way you’re thinking about finding more willpower or discipline for food.

It’s about challenging yourself to look inward and show up differently in your life.

If you’re still not sure after reading this program page, I recommended listening to this episode of my Insatiable podcast, or Season 5, which focused on Eating Triggers.

You’ll get a clearer sense of how this is different.

Still not sure? Don’t take the program. You don’t want to bring intense doubt and fear to this process – this makes us resistant to self-exploration and trying new things.

You may find, at another point in the future, this message resonates better and the program will be here if you eventually decide it is the right path for you.

I don’t believe people are addicted to food.

(I do think some people have more sensitive physiology to sugar yet not so much that they are powerless over food).

Rather, we all have a primal, non-negotiable need for emotional safety via belonging. 

And if we don’t feel emotionally safe, we will turn to food to simulate that feeling. Food makes us feel safe but doesn’t satiate the deeper belonging need we have.

As Dr. Gordon Neufeld says, “There’s nothing as addictive as something that almost works.”

And telling people they’re addicted to food only makes them feel less safe of themselves!

Having said this, this course isn’t for people with active eating disorders. Once you feel stable and firm on your recovery path, this is when this course would make sense.

My work is a wonderful compliment to AA and/or therapy.

About 25% of my clients are in AA and most of them tell me, “this is what AA is missing” and they love AA. (about 50% of my clients are sober).

This isn’t to say it’s an either or with AA, just that this is different.

And it has to be because while you can avoid alcohol, you can’t not eat.

It’s also why 12-step food programs don’t work for most people. More restriction with food isn’t the answer. In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), which I tried myself, they often reinforce the all-or-nothing thinking and corresponding restrict-binge cycle with their “no white flour, no sugar, etc”.

My work is about getting to the root cause of why we turn to food and enable you to feel like you can eat just one of something (moderation is the new radical!).

In terms of therapy, I love a good therapy/therapist! Again, this isn’t either/or, it’s just that this work is very today and action oriented whereas therapy is often looking backwards and reflection. You need both.

I’ve actually found my sober and therapy clients to do incredibly well because they’re comfortable becoming more self-aware.

Yes. This is a wise choice because when you stop turning to food, your problems will still be there that caused you to turn to food.  The self-awareness and tools you’ll learn in Why Am I Eating This Now? will enable you to work through the emotions that will arise when the food isn’t covering them up. This means you’ll be better able to keep the weight loss off.

Additionally, without addressing your emotional eating triggers, you can feel very overwhelmed. Some people report anxiety and depression on these drugs because now they’re coping mechanism of food is gone. This program will enable you to work through the triggers so you can enjoy the results of your weight loss (as weight loss alone won’t make us happy or resilient in the face of stress). 

Also know that this community doesn’t care if you do want to lose weight or not. I know some programs and communities judge weight loss goals. Not here. You do you (I myself just lost 30 pounds after pregnancy and going through menopause so weight loss was a focus for myself up until recently)!.


In an ideal world, every client would start with Why Am I Eating This Now?.

I recommend starting with Why Am I Eating This Now? and then if you want to take the next step in your Truce with Food journey, you’ll have a running start and will do better in Truce with Food because of your increased self-awareness and sense of belonging.

Plus, I credit the price of Why Am I Eating This Now? towards Truce with Food so there’s really nothing to lose and everything to gain by starting with Why Am I Eating This Now?.

Also note,  you might not need Truce with Food after Why Am I Eating this Now?. as it’s  a hearty dish of my methodology that is designed to be empowering and life changing on its own. Plenty of people have ending their emotional eating issues with this program alone. 

If you have an FSA or HSA account, most likely. Many clients pay directly with their HSA credit cards and successfully submitted their receipts to their FSA accounts. However, check with your plan as each of them do vary. I’m happy to provide a receipt for health coaching if you need one. 

Why Am I Eating this Now? can definitely support you.

In fact, this program can help you not only stick to your healing diet, it can exceed your expectations for what you think is possible with your healing.

This is because we address how you’re relating to yourself. Those of us who’ve struggled with chronic health issues (I used to have depression and IBS) often have a unhelpful relationship with ourselves. Meaning, we are mean to ourselves and put so much pressure on ourselves to heal perfectly.

This process is about changing your relationship with yourself, which physiologically will put you more into a “rest and renew” healing space than fight or flight. 

I’ve had past clients be amazed at how their stomach issues got resolved as their stress profoundly reduced.

And you cannot fully heal if you don’t address the emotional tiggers and patterns that contributed to your physical symptoms (functional medicine and most nutrition-based healing approaches miss this all the time).

By the time we are officially diagnosed with a chronic issue, there’s been unaddressed overwhelm or stress on us for years.

What my clients come to realize is what I experienced when I wanted to fully get rid of my depression and IBS: being able to transform emotional triggers and overwhelm into safety is the missing piece in fully healing.

In other words, the emotional component is as important as the food.

We won’t be addressing the food in Why Am I Eating this Now?. However, the emotional transformation is as critical to your healing and, it will make implementing the food changes easier.

Plus, as you emotional heal more, your gut becomes more resilient so you can eat more foods, not restrict more. Total win-win.

Great question. I’ll break this into two parts. First off, do people show up and do the work?

80-90% of people show up and d0 the work in my programs.

This is far above average than most programs. Clients who’ve never finished any program before have finished my programs because they’ve become self-aware of their emotional triggers that make them want to quit or not carve out time for themselves.

Once they see this pattern and are given the tools to correct this pattern, they continue to show up, surprising themselves.

This question also implies how many people have sustainability after the program.

Both of these are important questions. If you’re asking: can I do this, can I show up, can I do the work? Can I continue to make the changes in my life? Yes. I assure you you can do this. This isn’t a diet. This isn’t a plan. This doesn’t require willpower like you imagine.

This is for anyone who wants to stop the insanity of fighting food and get out of the crash and burn cycle of healthy eating.

Why Am I Eating this Now? is a completely new orientation to how you think, act and respond to overwhelm in your life.

The change is fulfilling and exciting, which creates a desire to continue to do the work because you’re finally getting results from the effort you put in. Continuing to do the work doesn’t feel like Sisyphean task. Instead, it feels like a snowball going down the hill, continuing gaining speed. 

Yes. This program could also be called “Why Am I Not Eating Now?” or “Why Am I Restricting Now?”

Some of us turn to food, some of us stop eating, and some of us start restricting.

While different food behaviors on the surface, underneath, the common thread still leads back to belonging and safety. We all just relate differently to belonging.

Why Am I Eating This Now?  will provide the self-discovery and tools so you can now choose how you respond to the triggers that make food a bigger part of your life than it needs to be.

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