Shownotes
If you've ever felt guilty after a meal or waited for "Monday" to eat right again, this one's for you.
Eating psychology coach R.L. Malpica breaks down why food freedom isn't about willpower, it's about trusting your body's ability to heal, one honest, incremental step at a time.
About the Guest:
R.L. Malpica, known as The E.A.T. Coach, is a certified detoxification specialist and natural health and lifestyle coach. He's authored a book and several e-books on natural healing and self-connection.
Key Takeaways:
- Your body is designed to heal itself. Real change starts with removing what blocks that, not chasing another outside fix.
- Chronic struggles with food or health often trace back to one root cause: an over-toxic, over-acidic body.
- One "bad" meal isn't a failed day. Give yourself grace and just return to the next choice.
- Big lifestyle shifts stick best as small, incremental changes, not a total overnight overhaul.
- Find a coach or a like-minded community before you start; isolation is what makes people spiral back to old patterns.
Connect With the Guest:
Website: https://www.theeatcoach.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rl_malpica/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theeatcoach
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theeatcoach
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rl_malpica
Episode Chapters:
[00:00] Cold Open — the rules we've been fed about food and control
[02:30] (approx.) Meet R.L. Malpica — his own healing journey and the E.A.T. philosophy
[05:30] (approx.) The Biggest Misconception — why nothing outside you can "fix" you
[10:00] (approx.) It Starts In The Mind — relearning how your body actually works
[15:30] (approx.) Grace Over Guilt — dealing with food anxiety and the "cheat day" spiral
[21:00] (approx.) Why Isolation Derails Progress — finding your coach or your people
[26:30] (approx.) The Power You Already Hold — the closing takeaway
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Transcripts
00:00:00 Ria: Dear listeners, we live in a world that tells us food is something to control, something to earn, and something to fear. We count. We restrict and we promise ourselves will be better tomorrow. And somewhere within all that noise, we forget that eating is supposed to be one of the most natural things we do. What if the rules we've been following are the very things keeping us stuck?
00:00:29 Ria: Welcome to mind over matter. I'm Rhea, and this is where we explore the psychology beneath the surface, the patterns that shape how we live, and the quiet shifts that lead to lasting change. Today we're having a conversation about food control and what it really takes to find peace at the table. Joining me is Ariel Malpica, an eating psychology coach who works with people ready to move beyond the cycle of restriction and reclaim the relationship with food. Hello. Ariel. How are you? Thank you.
00:01:02 R.L. Malpica: I'm doing well. How are you?
00:01:04 Ria: I'm good. I'm good. Thank you so much for being here. Uh, can you share a little bit about yourself with our listeners?
00:01:11 R.L. Malpica: Yeah, for sure. I'm a certified detoxification specialist and natural health and lifestyle coach. Um, I've written multiple books, uh, one physical book and a few ebooks and I just help people, you know, uh, pretty much get back in touch and connected with nature from a physical, mental, and a spiritual standpoint.
00:01:35 Ria: Uh, that's very inspiring. Thank you so much. Um, so moving on to our discussion, um, there's this idea that if we just had more willpower or follow the right plan, everything would click into place according to you. What's the biggest misconception that people carry about their struggles with food?
00:01:56 R.L. Malpica: Um, I think the biggest misconception is thinking that food or any type of outside resource can help fix you or heal you. Um, and, and what I mean by that is like, we're shown so many different things from the media or even doctors or even certain nutritionists that try to tell us that certain foods are going to help fix this, or certain foods are going to help fix that. But the truth is, is that your body is self-healing, it heals itself. And so what you want to do is actually provide the right conditions for your body so it's able to heal itself. Unfortunately, the diets that we eat prohibit our body from healing itself. So that's, to me, the biggest misconception. People are always looking for something from the outside instead of understanding that their body in itself has the power.
00:03:00 Ria: Thank you. That's very insightful. I don't think many people have thought of it that way because, uh, the current media that we've been consuming almost always sound this rigid plan or this rigid list of things that you're supposed to follow in order to heal yourself. So I think that's a really different way to look at it. So when you work with someone who's been cycling through diets for years, what do you notice as the deeper pattern underneath all that effort?
00:03:30 R.L. Malpica: Well, I mean, they don't they don't work on the root issue of the problem. Like people, you know, like, let's say somebody wants to lose weight. Um, they're going to look for different workout plans or certain foods that they can eat so they can lose weight, but they never really fix the root issue. And to me, it all starts right here in your mind. Like you have to understand and learn or I should say, relearn how your body works before you can actually make sustainable changes. Just because we've been conditioned to look at health in such a different way, um, like, and it goes back to my previous answer is always looking for something to fix the problem instead of starting with yourself first. So that's the one thing I see. So when I work with people, that's where I start like, okay, let's get to the root issue. Let me let me give you a detailed explanation of how your body works from a natural perspective. And then we're going to work on it from there.
00:04:31 Ria: When you say it all starts in the mind, what, what really do you mean? Is it that when people, when someone says that they wish to lose weight, do you think when it comes up in the mind, it means it's um, if it's laced with insecurity, it would be harder to follow through or what exactly do you mean by it starts in the mind?
00:04:51 R.L. Malpica: Uh, I think it's all all encompassing kind of part of it is what you said, but at the same time, like if you don't know, like, if you don't recondition your brain and your mind to understand how your body works, it doesn't matter what diet you do. It doesn't matter what exercise you do, you're always going to fall into the same traps like people, uh, you know, and obviously people have different issues. Some are some of it's weight loss, some of it is healing, some type of sickness. But whatever the case may be, you have to understand that the reason why you're in that place in the first place and understanding that is going to help you navigate your way through changing and making sustainable changes to your lifestyle. So like if you know you're dealing with an autoimmune disease your entire life, you've been told that that autoimmune disease is something you can't control, right? It's your body attacking itself. There's really nothing you can do. All you can do is try to manage it, right? So that's the mindset that the world has given people. But the truth is, is that the reason you're dealing with an autoimmune disease is it comes down to one fundamental thing. It's over toxicity within the body, and your body has different manifestations and reactions to that one thing. It doesn't matter what the sickness is, doesn't matter what the issue is. If you do not have, I'm sorry if you have an over toxic body, an over acidic body, it's going to manifest into different diseases. So that's what I mean by relearning and understanding from a mental aspect. Okay, I need to get to the root of the issue versus I need to try and remedy my symptoms. Right? Just a completely different mindset.
00:06:38 Ria: Absolutely, absolutely. Um, and if somebody begins to recognize this mental pattern in themselves, a lot of times this mental pattern has been in there for so long, it almost starts to feel like a truth. So how do you help people? How do you help people kind of recognize and break free from something that's been fed to them for so long? Is the other certain practices or.
00:07:02 R.L. Malpica: No, that's that is one of the toughest things because when you're dealing with something that has been instilled in somebody's mind, like it's all they know, you know, me trying to explain to somebody how their body can heal itself versus, I need to take these pills or I need to take this medicine. That's a, that's a tough sell. But I do think that, you know, just kind of with the conscious movement going on right now, a lot of people are more open minded. Um, but it starts with really, it's going to come down to trust in a way Like they have to trust me as their coach to know that I'm, that I, that my best interest is the betterment of them. And my best way of doing that is, is my own personal journey. You know, I overcome eczema. I've overcome chronic headaches, I've lost over thirty pounds and been able to sustain and maintain that. I've fixed my digestive issues. Um, and I've worked with tons of people who have done the same. So like I have the skins on the wall per se and, and that that helps as well. But it is, it is a process and, um, ultimately something that needs to be done in order to, to continue to move forward. Because if you don't believe and trust in the natural way of healing, then it's, it's never going to work for you because you're not going to be able to put that discipline in place in order to help it manifest.
00:08:34 Ria: Yeah, absolutely. I think trust, although, although regardless of how difficult it might be to develop at first, seems to be a really important part of the journey. I completely agree. Um, now if for someone who's listening, who might not identify as having an eating disorder or something of that sort, but they still feel really anxious around food, how do you think this shows up in everyday life and what does it really mean?
00:09:02 R.L. Malpica: Um, well, I mean, if you talk about anxious about food, um, do you mean like worried about what they're eating or kind of kind of explain what you mean by that?
00:09:11 Ria: Yeah. Kind of when they're anxious about food is constantly overthinking about whether they should be eating this, whether they should be eating that. And also the instant regret that might follow through after they perhaps have a hearty meal with friends, something like that, anxious by any everything related to food.
00:09:28 R.L. Malpica: Yeah, yeah. So, um, the first thing I say to anybody I work with and anybody out there is to give yourself grace, right? Like you're like to think that you're going to completely be able to change your diet one hundred percent in one night or a few days is just not practical. Right. You have to give yourself grace. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to take steps back. Remember, you've been eating a certain way for a very long time. So that's a lot of habits that you need to break. That's a lot of conditioning you need to break as well. And ultimately, you know, slowly and incrementally transition into a new type of lifestyle. So that's a big thing. Um, and specifically with me, because the type of diet I profess is going to be a high hydrating mate, you know, fruit based diet, right? Which is very foreign to ninety seven percent of the, the world. So to think you're just going to switch that and do that in one day is just not practical. So that's why I meet you where you're at and help you make incremental changes towards a healthier lifestyle.
00:10:46 Ria: So does it start with extremely small changes in their diet before transitioning into something entirely different?
00:10:53 Speaker 3: Oh yeah.
00:10:54 R.L. Malpica: Yeah. Because everybody's in different places. Like, you know, somebody out there, if I'm working with, you know, let's just say, um, Hakim, right. Hakim. He still drinks coffee every day, multiple cups of coffee every day. He's still, you know, eats processed foods. He eats a lot of meat, you know, he eats a lot of cooked, like mostly cooked food. Okay. That's a lot of things that we need to work on to sit. You know, I can't I can't start and say, okay, we need to eliminate everything immediately. No, let's start with, let's start with the coffee. Let's ease you off the coffee, right? And then transition into easing you off of some of the other things. And then if we look at things in a totality, Six months to a year. If you've reduced those things just by fifty percent, you're going to see major transformations in your life. And I'm talking major. I don't care what you're going through. Like you're going to see major changes. So yeah, just incremental steps will help you do some amazing things.
00:12:00 Ria: Thank you. Um, so if someone is ready to step out of this cycle, and if someone's ready to change their relationship with food and heal themselves and reclaim the power that their body has of healing itself, like you said, what's one reflective or practical approach you'd recommend a beginner start with?
00:12:22 R.L. Malpica: Um, I mean, if they're ready to do it, I would, um, probably find either a coach or a like minded community that you can be a part of. Because when you make changes like that in your life, especially to that drastic measure. It gets lonely because there's not a lot of people doing it. And when you're lonely and you're isolated, it becomes even more difficult. So find someone that can help you through the process. Who's done it, who's, you know, been a part of it, or a community that's very like minded and doing the same thing. So you have that support, you have that guidance, and you just have that, that group that you can, you know, fall back on. So if you do have a couple missteps or if you have a, you know, a week or two where you kind of fall back a little bit, you have that support to help you kind of get back on track to.
00:13:14 Ria: Absolutely. Also, it's this huge thing with peer pressure, especially if you're in a group who isn't trying to do the same thing as you are, you can kind of be an inconvenience to them and which they might constantly feel like what you're doing is perhaps too extreme or to unnecessary, and they might make you feel like what you're doing is really inconveniencing them, and it's really not worth it. So I think that's also a really big challenge people have to deal with.
00:13:38 R.L. Malpica: That's a great point. No, that's a great point. I deal with that to this day. You know, with with people I'm around. You know, my circle has gotten smaller in as a result of, of going down this path. But, you know, it's for the betterment of me and my family. So that's more important.
00:13:58 Ria: Absolutely. Um, now a change really happens in a straight line. It's hardly linear when someone has a heart, especially for something like, uh, something like eating because people struggle a lot with this. And you find examples of this everywhere. People talk about how they're going to start a new diet or how they're going to, how they're going to try to heal themselves and whatever. And often they often fall back, especially if they're trying something that's really extreme. Uh, they often spiral back into old patterns. How do you help them? How do you help them stay consistent with something that they've committed to? And how do you help bring them, bring them back from that spider.
00:14:38 R.L. Malpica: Yeah. I mean, that's that's a big part of my coaching. Um, like when you like, I basically the way I do coaching is I do them in, um, you know, packages of time. So you can do an eight week program, you can do a six month program, you can do a twelve month program. Um, and I do month to month as well, but, um, it's going to be a similar pattern. And what that is, is I'm going to do a quick assessment, a weekly assessment of what your eating patterns are, right. And I'm going to take that information mixed with your information about your lifestyle and everything. And I'm going to build a incremental plan for you to transition into a healthier diet towards your goals. So by working with you one on one and having that detailed plan, it allows us to, you know, learn from each other. So if any adjustments need to be made, uh, I'm there for support and guidance and education because when you make changes to your diet, specifically in a natural perspective. Things are going to happen because you're going to free up a lot of your body's vital energy to utilize and heal. So that means you're going to go through detoxes, you're going to go through healing events, you know, colds and flus and aches and pains and inflammation and things like that, because that's your body's healing itself. It's cleaning itself out. It is repairing tissue. So being that guy, being that person that could be with you along the way with a guided plan, um, is imperative, I think, to actually help you get to your goals and achieve your goals.
00:16:10 Ria: Absolutely. I think that's really important. And especially like we discussed about the people around you, not always being so understanding of your goals. I think it would really help if you had a mentor or a coach in your life who was experienced enough that you felt like you could trust them. Absolutely. There's also this, um, mindset that I've, that I've come across a lot on social media and I think so many people experience this is that when they're going through a change in their diet or something like that. And they perhaps have one cheat meal and they fall back for one meal. They begin to think like, oh, you know what? The day is already wasted, so why not? I have a few more. Why don't I start from next Monday or I'll start tomorrow? How harmful do you think that is and how how do you fight that?
00:16:54 R.L. Malpica: Um, I mean, if you if you make one misstep in a day, I mean, it's it's a step back, but it's not like something that you can't come back from, but it really comes to the mindset because specifically when it comes to diet, the foods that we've been conditioned to eat are very addicting. Cooked food is very addicting. Um, you know, anything with salt, anything with garlic, like high seasoning, things like that. They're very addicting. They have addictive properties, obviously. Um, sugar, specifically refined processed sugar, very addicting. So yeah, you make that one misstep, you know, but that's going to cause something in your body. Um, you know, from a chemistry standpoint, that's going to make you want that more. And then when you continuously add upon that. So if you do one bad meal and then you say, you know what? This day's ruined. I'm just going to eat whatever today. Yeah. That has multiple, there's multiple layers of effects that that has. That doesn't mean that it's the end of the world or anything like that, but just know that you know, everything matters. So if you make one misstep, you know, not a big deal, you know, just, you know, build a, you know, try to reverse that and, and, and go the other direction. Don't compile and compile and compile. Because that's when days become weeks become months become years. And then yeah, then you're really in trouble.
00:18:23 Ria: Uh, so if you, if you wanted, if you could give one message to all our listeners today, and if there's something that you'd like them to take away from this conversation, what would that be?
00:18:34 R.L. Malpica: It would be to understand and realize how powerful you truly are. Um, you have the ability to heal yourself. Like that's just if you, if you think about the totality of that, that is just amazing. Like that's the power you hold your whole life. You've been told that, you know, you're dealing with this because of genetics and you're dealing with this because of germs and viruses and all these different things that they stay affect your health. When the truth is you have the power to actually fix it. Not a hospital, not doctors. You. So understanding that power in itself should help you look at health in a completely different perspective and know that everything that you do, every habit that you have, is going to contribute to one of two things either the betterment of you or the detriment of you. So you got to make that conscious choice.
00:19:29 Ria: I think that's a really powerful takeaway from the conversation. Just realize how, how important you are in making and changing your own life. How important you are in determining the way you turn out and that power rests within you. And just recognizing that power could probably motivate you to start being better for yourself. So if someone, if a listener wants to continue this conversation with you or connect with you and your work, how may they find you? Is there any.
00:19:57 R.L. Malpica: Yeah, yeah. Just go to my website, w w w dot coach dot com, and it has everything on there. You can get to my socials from there. You got my books are on there. You can set up a free consultation with me on there as well as my coaching packages. All that's on there. Uh, you can contact me. My email is on there as well. So yeah, just go to my website.
00:20:20 Ria: Got it. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being here, being here today. Thank you so much for giving us so much insight into a topic that's been discussed so much, but never really fully understood. And to everyone listening, I hope that this conversation gave you me permission to question the rules that you've been carrying along with you for so long. I hope you can trust that there is another way forward. Change doesn't have to be loud or perfect all the time. It has to be yours. Um, I hope until the next time we meet, all of you. Take care of yourself. I'm Ria, and this is mind over matter. Thank you for listening.
