Health Futures: Taking Stock in You continues its podcast-only format with a deeply personal and practical conversation about emotional health, food freedom, and the nervous system. In this episode, host Bob Roth welcomes health coach and EFT practitioner Edie Feffer for a wide-ranging discussion on how unresolved stress, trauma, and self-distrust quietly shape our health, especially as we age or take on caregiving roles.
Feffer shares her own journey into health coaching and emotional work, explaining how what often begins as a desire to lose weight or “feel better” can open the door to deeper healing and long-term well-being.
🎧 For the full episode, CLICK HERE
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A Journey Shaped by Stress and Self-Discovery
Feffer, an Arizona native, describes a non-linear path to health coaching, shaped by early experiences with anxiety, OCD, depression, and eating disorders. While outwardly high-functioning, she explains that years of chronic stress left her nervous system in a constant state of fight-or-flight.
Like many people, her health journey initially focused on weight loss. But as she began repairing her relationship with food, she discovered something deeper was required.
“What started as a surface-level goal turned into learning how to like myself, trust myself, and regulate my emotions,” Feffer explained.
After nearly two decades in real estate, she gradually built her health coaching practice alongside her corporate career before stepping fully into what she now calls her life’s work.
Primary Food vs. Secondary Food
One of the central frameworks Feffer introduces is the concept of primary and secondary food.
Secondary food is what most people think of first: the food we eat. Primary food, however, is what feeds us on a deeper level, including relationships, purpose, work, creativity, spirituality, and joy.
“When primary food is out of balance, it almost always shows up in our relationship with secondary food,” Feffer explained.
For many clients, emotional hunger, stress eating, or rigid control around food are signals that something deeper needs attention.
Goal-Setting That Actually Lasts
As the conversation turns to New Year’s resolutions and long-term change, Feffer emphasizes identity over willpower.
Rather than starting with strict habits or accountability alone, she encourages people to begin with curiosity.
“What am I thinking? What am I feeling? And do I like my choices?”
She also introduces a simple but powerful exercise to uncover a deeper “why,” asking listeners to ask themselves why a goal matters three times, peeling back surface motivations to reach something meaningful enough to sustain change.
GLP-1s, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health
Feffer approaches the topic of GLP-1 medications with nuance. While she does not prescribe or advise on medication, she stresses that emotional work remains essential regardless of the tool someone uses.
“Without addressing the root causes, we risk repeating the same patterns,” she noted.
She also emphasized the importance of protecting long-term health through adequate protein intake, strength training, and nervous system regulation, especially as rapid weight loss can come at the expense of muscle and bone health.
Stress, Emotions, and the Aging Body
A major focus of the episode is how emotional health directly affects physical health, particularly for older adults.
Unprocessed stress and elevated cortisol levels can disrupt sleep, increase inflammation, weaken bones, and impair healing. Feffer points to research showing that many adults can only name a handful of emotions, making it difficult to process what they are experiencing.
Increasing emotional fluency, she explained, allows people to respond to their needs rather than suppress them.
Understanding EFT (Tapping)
Feffer also explains Emotional Freedom Techniques, or tapping, a modality that combines acupressure with cognitive and exposure-based techniques.
By tapping on specific meridian points while addressing stressful thoughts or memories, EFT helps calm the brain’s threat response and decouple emotional charge from past experiences.
“It’s like turning down the smoke alarm,” Feffer said, describing how tapping sends a calming signal to the amygdala and helps retrain the nervous system.
Support for Caregivers
The episode comes full circle with a focus on family caregivers, a group Feffer sees as particularly vulnerable to burnout.
Caregivers often suppress their own needs while managing chronic stress, grief, and uncertainty. Feffer recommends small but intentional practices such as journaling, movement, time outdoors, and tapping to help caregivers process emotions rather than store them in the body.
“Caregivers don’t need to do this alone,” she emphasized. “Support creates relief.”
A Message of Hope
As the conversation closes, Feffer leaves listeners with a message rooted in her own experience.
“If something hasn’t worked yet, it doesn’t mean nothing will,” she said. “Your peace, your health, and your happiness are worth continuing to try.”
Bob Roth reflected on how Feffer transformed her own struggles into a source of strength, using them to help others live fuller, healthier lives.
“This isn’t a dress rehearsal,” Roth said. “The goal is not just more years, but better ones.”
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Health Futures: Taking Stock in You featuring Edie Feffer: CLICK HERE
📌 Learn more about Edie Feffer’s work: EdieFeffer.com
📌 Learn more about Cypress HomeCare Solutions and its support for families aging at home: CypressHomeCare.com or call (602) 755-9584
📝 This content is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.
