Episodes

Hon, can we talk? I know... the word rebel doesn't feel like it fits. Yet, what is possible if it is the way to lead the life you actually want? Today we're gonna catch up, because I look a 2 month break from y'all, and I have gained so much more along the way. Because I gave myself permission. Permission to STOP. To CHANGE. To CHOOSE. Join me as we explore permission and how we think it is for and from others. And let's start looking at the permission that we want to give ourselves. Perhap...

What's the link? Yes, I do believe there is one, one that is particularly seen through the eyes of a pediatrician who has struggled with stress, burnout and personal and professional struggles to create whole family health. What could it be? Seriously, it's time to take a listen. Learn about the missing link and how to use it for health, decreasing stress and addressing burnout. Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so glad you're here, to benefit yourse...

This is the real-deal of parenting. Our kids have big feelings. And we haven't learned how to deal with our own, let alone help them. Until today. Let's do this, together. Ten minutes to review the prior episodes on emotions (check out Episodes #93 & 94), AND go through the foundations of how to help your child feel their feelings, today. If this is completely new to you, take a few minutes to practice for yourself first. It's well worth the time. And, here's the link to connect with me for...

Emotions are the fuel for our lives: they drive everything that we do (and what we don't do). Let's explore more, along with a particular example with a feeling I know very well: frustration. As mentioned in the episode, here is the feelings wheel. Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so glad you're here, to benefit yourself, your family, and your patients. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and earn credits: htt...

Let's talk emotions: Why are they important, where do they come from, how are they made? It's the first in our series on emotions. Getting vulnerable here with the real deal about my struggles with sadness and depression in medical school, as well as the way to NOT deal with it. Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so glad you're here, to benefit yourself, your family, and your patients. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here ...

Sleep.Comes.First. Let's talk about all the ways that getting better ZZZZ's can help you and your kids with better health AND What's getting in the way of the sleep you need. Learn about how much sleep our kids need The impact of sleep-deprivation upon many aspects of health AND Why we can address sleep before we see external signs of sleep-deprivation. Complete with the stories of how this is something my family is still working on - we all are, as we are a work in progress! Reference ...

Hold on, we were just talking about relationships with food, and now we're talking about efficiency? Yup. This is real-deal life as a parent. It's all the things. The mental burden. The many-tabs open at once. In today's episode, we're going to talk about where that mental burden comes from, how our socialization contributes to it, and how it is intertwined with struggles around efficiency. You'll learn the questions to ask to start untangling the grip that these expectations have upon our l...

"I just want my kid to have a healthy relationship with food." What does that even mean? It's a new approach, better than the whole let's-just-focus-on-changing-body-size, and yet I sure didn't learn about cultivating healthy relationships with food growing up. In fact, I share stories about how I messed it up with my own kids and what we can do right now as parents to start helping our kids. Understand our own relationship with food Why it's not about the way they eat How to find out more a...

Brains, Pandemics, Weight, and Trauma... Ooph - yeah, it sounds like a hard topic, but we're going to explore today a few concepts that have been spinning through my head and readings, of course with laughter, stories, analogies and (once again) Allen Iverson references. Let's talk about the very important function of 2 different parts of our brain: amygdala and prefrontal cortex (aka downstairs and upstairs brains) with a nod to Daniel Siegel, MD and Tina Bryson, PhD wh wrote "The Whole-Brai...

Seriously, y'all, if you're gonna have your first-ever podcast guest, who are you gonna have? P!nk? Yup, thought about it. My sister? She's coming... And Corinne Freaking Crabtree! The Queen Bee of the No BS Weight-loss Program, host of Losing 100 lbs with Corinne, she is a force to be reckoned with, and one down-to-Earth woman. And that's what I love about her: talking real-talk about raising healthy families, building the whole family up instead of all that crappy judgy bologna, and how w...

"This is just the way I am." That is THE biggest obstacle to change: thinking that you are your habits, your actions, your thoughts and feelings. Thinking that they are set in stone. Nope, they are just practiced a lot. And when we practice things they become relatively automatic, Default Mode is activated in our brains. What to do? Take a listen about how to detect default mode and the three steps I'm using right now (complete with a fun adult soccer story) to create change. Full show notes ava...

"I'm only as happy as my unhappiest child." What on Earth?! With all the kid-angst and unhappiness that kids experience, it sounds crazy to think that we would tie our emotions to theirs. But do you see that happening? Do you try to make your kids feel better so you can feel better? Let's talk about recognizing that there is an ongoing drive to have happy, healthy kids. And yet, it's not really helping them or us. Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so g...

Today, we celebrate. I'm celebrating the birth, evolution and growth of Family in Focus. I've been asked time and again, "What is the evidence that Family in Focus is effective?" I'm creating the evidence. It's been a labor of love, seeing the problems with the traditional approach to weight in the medical office, the community and my own home. And now, I'm proud to announce that I have a collaboration that is specifically collecting the evidence of the effectiveness of Family in Focus to impr...

Have you heard the questions about identifying your kids' needs? It's really the heart to understanding their behavior, but let's not jump too far ahead: When's the last time you asked what YOU need? This is critical for health as an individual and a family: identifying and meeting needs. And in order to be the parent that our kids need, we have the opportunity to understand and address OUR needs. That's not selfish, it's a freaking need. Join me to understand what needs really are, how to u...

"You're the worst parent in the world." "You've f'd me up." Ah, kids. Gotta love them. They sure know how to make us feel amazing. That's what we're talking about today: the explicit is for feeling "shitty" a few times, and "f'd up" wihtout the rest of the word (you're welcome... and there are very quick "ear-muffs" warnings.) This is real-deal parenting: kids do not agree with the job that we are doing. Let's talk about boundaries and pushing back as kids, how it's normal, and.. how to not ...

We've been working through a series on stress eating, and we need to understand the stress first. We've started with ourselves: understanding our stress, what we do with stress. Now we can start talking about helping our children. (After all, we can't just swoop in and address their stress and stress eating if we don't have a solid understanding for ourselves first.) Today, learn about our natural desire to fix the stress, try to not feel it, and what can happen if we keep it bottled up inside...

Continuing on from Episode #80, "How to deal with stress eating," we dive into 8 ways... yes 8, to address the stress. Please notice if there's stress about 8... you can try any one and see how it works for you. That's the ticket: awareness, experimentation, curiosity and noticing how we stress about stress (dude, me too). As parents, we get to understand our stressors and how to deal with it, so we can then help our kids (oh you betcha that's what's coming in Part 3, next week!). Full show ...

Do you find yourself stressed out, collapsing on the couch with a bag of tortilla chips in exhaustion, and scrolling on social media? You are not alone: stress eating is so common for us and our kids. In order to address it we need to understand it. Just addressing the eating part is a plan for disaster as it changes eating habits without addressing the stress in the first place. Today we talk about what we experience with stress (aka the stress cycle), and how to understand it to get clear o...

What happens when we focus on the scale? Finding it hard to NOT do it? In this episode, I share the story of how I smacked face-first into the reality that it is really hard to not focus on what the scale says. But also, what happens when we practice not letting it have control over our lives. Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so glad you're here, to benefit yourself, your family, and your patients. The CE experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy...

We think we need to focus on weight: after all, isn't that how we identify a problem and fix it? In today's episode, I start the conversation about how there's more to it. Our focus on weight has NOT been helping our families. In fact, it's causing more problems. Let's dive in and see what we can do. Where should we be placing our focus for health? This is from my recent guest article on the KevinMD.com blog. Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so glad ...

"And the reality of my weight is..." Let's talk about the facts of weight. How is the number on the scale impacting your reality? How do you determine what is possible for you and your family, given the reality? Much to discuss. Take a listen. And drop me a line: wendy@wendyschofermd.com. Let me know how your reality has impacted your possibility - and now what? --------------------- Full show notes available here. Calling all Healthcare Professionals: I'm so glad you're here, to benefit yo...

Challenges! We've sure got them. What are the challenges you're facing right now? Work, stress, relationships, health, weight... What makes them challenging? Challenges are situations we don't know the outcome. It's stressful. And yet... we can grow. Let's talk about the challenges that arise, as well as challenges that you WANT to sign up for. And I invite you to join my free 5-day LIVE challenge, Family Weight Help 101. You'll be challenged as you are introduced to the 4 Pillars of Health...

Do you have a plan for your family's health? How's it working? Want to throw it out? Or is it something that you hate the rules and structure of a plan? In today's episode we talk about how to create a plan for your own family: why it's important, and what to account for. We also talk about why all those other plans haven't worked (and why there's nothing wrong with you or your family that a certain plan hasn't panned out the way you wanted). Full show notes available here. The upcoming LIVE...

Previously we discussed doing a little sleuthing - observing behaviors. What is it that your kids are doing? What are you finding out about the patterns of their behavior? This week we are exploring what comes before the behaviors. Why do we do the things that we do? It's not as mysterious as what it's made out to be. In fact, we pretty much do everything for one reason: emotions. We have a feeling that leads us to act, or to not act. Or perhaps we are totally uncomfortable with a feeling, ...