What was your biggest Takeaway from this Episode! I would Love to hear from you!

What if the very love you’re giving is the thing keeping you stuck?

In this powerful episode of Empowering Women in Conversations, host Anita Sandoval, LPC, sits down with Dr. Eluterio Blanco, Jr., Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and Nationally Certified Master Addiction Counselor, to unpack one of the most dangerous myths women believe:

“If I love them enough, they’ll change.”

Together, we explore how addiction isn’t just about substances—it’s about compulsive behavior, loss of choice, and continuing patterns despite negative consequences. We also examine how people pleasing and codependency can function like an addiction, keeping women emotionally bonded to unhealthy relationships and chronic burnout.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why love, pressure, and ultimatums don’t create real change
• What addiction really means (and why language matters)
• The difference between supporting recovery and enabling harm
• How intrinsic motivation—not sacrifice—is the foundation of change
• Why boundaries don’t fix them, but they do free you
• How women can begin reclaiming their voice, identity, and self-trust

This conversation is compassionate, honest, and empowering—especially for women navigating relationships affected by substance use, compulsive behaviors, or emotional over-functioning.

If you’ve ever felt exhausted, resentful, or confused by giving everything and still feeling like it’s not enough… this episode is for you.

🔗 Connect & Learn More

📚 Recommended Reading
Codependent No More by Melody Beattie

Some links may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only share resources I personally trust and recommend.

🌸 EmpowerHer Pathways & Resources
👉 https://www.anitasandoval.com/empowerher/links

🎧 Listen to More Episodes
👉 Empowering Women in Conversations (available on all major podcast platforms)
https://www.anitasandoval.com/podcast-directories

💌 Join the EmpowerHer Community
Support, resources, and conversations for women moving from people-pleasing to empowered living.

🎓 About Our Guest
Dr. Eluterio Blanco, Jr. is a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, Nationally Certified Master Addiction Counselor, and Clinical Associate Professor at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he coordinates the Bachelor of Science in Addiction Studies.

What was your biggest Takeaway from this Episode! I would Love to hear from you!

What if your “little food problem” — the restriction, bingeing, or rigid food rules — is actually your nervous system trying to survive?

In this powerful conversation, I’m joined by Marnie Davis, LMHC, Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Consultant, Certified EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA-Approved Consultant, and HAES®-aligned clinician.

Together, we explore the hidden link between people pleasing, trauma, neurodivergence, and eating disorders — and why so many women, clinicians, and families completely miss what’s really happening beneath the surface.

This is a compassionate, non-shaming, neurodivergent-affirming episode that reframes eating disorders from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What happened to me, and how did my system try to keep me alive?”

✨ In This Episode, We Explore:

• How, from a trauma lens, eating disorders are maladaptive coping strategies that once made sense to your system
• The impact of attachment injuries, perfectionism, and people-pleasing on food, body image, and control
• Why eating disorders are not about vanity or willpower, but about safety, power, and relief from overwhelming sensations and emotions
• The role of culture, family rules, and “finish your plate” messages in shaping food beliefs
• How neurodivergent brains (ADHD, autism, sensory sensitivities) can be especially vulnerable to disordered eating
• Why one person dies every hour from an eating disorder and why a comprehensive medical + therapeutic team is crucial
• What healing can look like: becoming more self-led, value-driven, and authentically you

👤 Connect with Our Guest: Marnie Davis, LMHC, CEDS
Website:
🔗 www.MarnieDavisLMHC.com
Email:
📩 Marnie@MarnieDavisLMHC.com

LinkedIn:
🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/marnie-davis-lmhc-ceds-c-33187b45/Instagram:
🔗 @marniedavislmhcFacebook:
🔗 MarnieDavisLMHC
🔗 Davis Counseling and Consulting

🌿 Connect with Your Host, Anita Sandoval, MA, LPC-S
🔗 All My Links & Resources:
Start here for everything: podcast, free tools, courses, communities & more.
👉 https://www.anitasandoval.com/empowerher/links
🎧 Listen on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
Find Empowering Women in Conversations on all major podcast directories.
👉 https://www.anitasandoval.com/podcast-directories

💌 If This Episode Spoke To You…

• Share it with a friend, client, or loved one who struggles with food, people pleasing, or feeling “never enough.”
• Subscribe so you don’t miss future conversations on people pleasing, boundaries, trauma, neurodivergence, and empowered living.
• Take a quiet moment after listening to ask yourself:

You’re not broken. You’re a system that learned how to survive. 🩷

What was your biggest Takeaway from this Episode! I would Love to hear from you!

Why are so many women struggling with reflux, IBS, bloating, and chronic stomach pain—despite changing diets, taking supplements, and doing “all the right things”?

In this powerful episode, Dr. Scott Rower, PhD—clinical psychologist and founder of Rest and Digest—joins Anita Sandoval LPC-S to reveal the real root cause of women’s gut issues: the gut–brain connection and the hidden impact of chronic stress, overgiving, and people-pleasing.

If you’ve ever wondered why your symptoms flare during stress, why tests come back “normal,” or why your digestion falls apart during burnout… this conversation may completely change the way you see your body.

💡 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why women are more likely to develop gut problems—especially people-pleasers
• How the sympathetic nervous system shuts down digestion (and what to do about it)
• The difference between functional GI disorders and organic diseases
• The “stress bucket” model and why your symptoms flare on overload
• What GI psychology is—and why most people have never heard of it
• The 3 pillars of digestive healing (medical, diet, and gut-brain regulation)
• Why guilt, perfectionism, and emotional suppression fuel gut symptoms
• How to begin down-regulating your nervous system so your gut can finally heal

🌿 Connect With Dr. Scott Rower

Explore his free resources and gut-brain healing tools:

🔗 Website: www.restanddigest.org

🔗 Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/RestAndDigest

🔗 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RestAndDigestGuide

🔥 Key Moments:

• 00:04:00 — The three pillars of gut healing
• 00:07:00 — Why slowing down feels unsafe to people-pleasers
• 00:14:00 — Sympathetic overdrive and digestive shutdown
• 00:17:00 — The stress-bucket overflow and gut responders
• 00:23:00 — What “disorders of gut–brain interaction” really are
• 00:33:00 — Polyvagal theory and why safety matters for digestion
• 00:39:00 — The truth about resentment, guilt, and chronic symptoms

✨ If You’re a Woman Healing From People-Pleasing…

This episode is for you. Awareness is the first step toward reclaiming your health, your boundaries, and your peace.

✨ Work With Anita & Begin Healing People-Pleasing

Ready to stop overgiving, reclaim your boundaries, and finally honor your emotional and physical energy?

Join my transformational 12-Step People-Pleaser Recovery Group:
👉 www.anitasandoval.com/support

Explore more ways to work with me, including courses, resources, and community support:
👉 www.anitasandoval.com

Listen to more empowering conversations on the podcast:
👉 www.anitasandoval.com/podcast