Approximately 90% of classroom hours are taught by Marc David, the Founder of the IPE. The remaining classes are taught by a collection of highly skilled and compelling guest faculty who bring a wide range of expertise.

Our Training is by application only. If you are interested in filling out an application, please click here. Admission to The Institute for the Psychology of Eating is not determined by any academic prerequisites or previous scholastic achievement. Your enthusiasm for this kind of study is what counts the most. Please contact us if you’d like some help in making the best choice for your needs and goals.

Each application is carefully reviewed by our admissions committee to determine whether the applicant would be a good match for this Training and for this type of work. There are no academic prerequisites; rather, we look for qualities such as passion, enthusiasm, commitment, and innovative thinking. As a result of the application process, our student body is a wonderful and inspired group of individuals from many perspectives and walks of life who are committed to a fresh, new, breakthrough approach, and to making a real difference in the lives of others.

The training is delivered over approximately 8 months.

Although it is very flexible, the Training is not completely self paced. We operate more like a traditional school, where everyone starts and ends at the same time each year. We find that this creates a great sense of community, as everyone is progressing through each of the 7 modules as a group.

We deliver the Training via a multimedia platform distance-learning website, which you can access anytime, and view the videos or listen to the audio recordings at your convenience once the appropriate module is released. Each module concludes with a brief multiple choice assessment. You’ll need to complete the assessments by the due dates provided for each module.

All of the classes are also available as downloadable mp3’s so you can listen to them on the go – and these are yours for life. Many students return to the material further down the line if they didn’t have enough time to dive in as deeply as they wanted to during the Training. So, you can choose how deeply you immerse yourself in the material as a way to manage your changing schedule.

Since the Training is delivered through a distance-learning website, you will need a computer or tablet and an Internet connection.

A high-speed Internet connection is desirable for watching videos.

We strongly recommend that our students get a blank journal or notebook so that you can keep all of your responses to the Training exercises in one place.

Finally, the Training includes a number of recommended readings. These books are completely optional, and you can either purchase them or get them from the library.

Upon registering for the Training, we’ll send you a list of the recommended books for the Training. This optional reading list is highly recommended for your study and advancement.

The Training consists of 7 time-released modules. The Training duration is approximately 8 months. At the end of each module there’s a multiple choice, open-book test.

These are not complex or difficult questions, but rather a reflection of the core concepts that were covered in that module. Students will also have a final multiple choice, open-book exam due at the end of the Training. There’s plenty of time before it’s due to prepare for it.

There is no grading system in this Training, as this is a stand-alone certification rather than a series of separate courses.

Don't worry! We'll train you extensively on the coaching strategies, tools, and techniques that will empower you to catalyze powerful breakthroughs for your clients. Marc's unique approach to coaching will help you go beyond dietary intakes and nutrition protocols to learn the art and science of human behavior change, and how to identify the unique needs of each every individual you coach.

Additionally, you'll have the option of being matched with a peer student so you can practice your new skills. By the end of the course, you'll be coaching with confidence!

Our program is entirely unique because it teaches about food, eating and health by NOT focusing exclusively on nutrition. You will learn extensively about Mind Body Nutrition™ – which is a field of study created by Marc David that examines how digestion, assimilation, calorie burning and all the nutritive functions of the body are impacted by mind, emotions, and lifestyle.

Prior nutrition knowledge or training is very helpful for our program, but not necessary. If you are totally new to nutrition, we will recommend books to easily help you acquire a foundation of nutritional knowledge before your Training begins.

This Training is not about eating disorders. Our curriculum focuses on the kinds of eating challenges and issues that most people tend to face – weight loss, body image challenges, binge eating, overeating, emotional eating, chronic dieting, stress induced eating, food worry, and others. Our program, which focuses on Dynamic Eating Psychology™, addresses people who don’t have a clinical disorder, but have everyday concerns that are meaningful and important to them. Since we teach “an eating psychology for everyone,” everything in the program can be easily applied to clinical eating disorders and useful to a client’s recovery.

Thank you for your interest! If you’re passionate about health and healing, and you want to build a lucrative career that gives you flexibility and freedom, we encourage you to consider the program. As Marc teaches, you only need to be one or two steps ahead of your clients in order to help them. Many of our graduates discover that their eating challenges are actually a unique credential as a health coach, giving them a deeper understanding of what their clients are going through. No matter what your unique food and body concern is, we can guarantee that you’ll come away from the Training transformed. It could be just the thing you’ve been looking for!

No previous training in psychology is necessary for students in our program. Our Training features easy-to-learn and easy-to-practice counseling and coaching principles. Those with an already strong background in psychology will find the kind of psychology presented in this Training to be very effective and great advanced training.

Great! Our Training is especially designed to help take professionals to the next level in working with the psychological, emotional and mind body dimensions of the most common food, eating, and nutrition-linked challenges. A great number of our students already have some kind of practitioner training and have found our Training to be a powerful next step in their education.

We have students from all kinds of backgrounds. Coaches, fitness experts, psychologists, dietitians, nurses, medical doctors, social workers, chiropractors, naturopaths and other medical professionals have graduated from our Training and found it to be a very effective, transformative part of their toolbox. If you’re already seeing clients or patients, you’ll very likely notice that your effectiveness will increase soon into the Training!

Everyone starts at the same place when they come to study at IPE – and while some might have experience from past work, the approach of Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind Body Nutrition will create cohesion between all that you’ve learned and elevate you to the next level. It really is an incredible body of work.

Don’t worry! We’re here to help. During the course, we’ll provide you with effective business and marketing training through a separate business module. You’ll learn about sustainable practice building as a new practitioner - without the hard selling or glitzy social media presence. We’ll give you clear, catchy copy that tells the world what this unique approach is all about. You’ll also receive essential intake questionnaires, client agreements, and more to help you launch or elevate your practice. 

We provide a private online community for support and peer engagement during the Training, as well as a separate community for alumni. These communities have many active participants and are a place where our graduates can network with each other, brainstorm together, and support one another. Many students also form local groups to get together in person after the Training is over, as well.

The Institute does not espouse any specific nutritional approach. We believe in a huge spectrum of nutritional possibilities that are unique to each individual, region, culture, and community. We encourage our students to let go of nutritional dogmas and find what truly works best for them, and their clients. We teach about cultivating body wisdom and a healthy, natural, intuitive, body-based sense of what’s best for each one of us. We do tend to support organic, natural, quality, non-toxic, non-GMO and humanely produced foods as a wise strategy for people and planet.

Practical: The Training is rich in skills, techniques, and protocols that build your confidence as a practitioner.

Powerful: The work is deep, real, immediate, and goes to the core of what ails our relationships with food, body, and health.

Soulful: Our whole approach is grounded in the richness of the soul, and the teachings of timeless wisdom traditions that view human affairs from a greater, more artful and compassionate reality.

Scientific: The Training is rooted in nutrition knowledge that is clear, concise, and clinically useful.

Intuitive: In addition to exercising your cognitive muscles, you’ll honor and strengthen your intuitive ones as well.

Transformational: The Training is designed to assist you in your own alchemical growth and healing, which truly qualifies us more deeply as a healer and counselor of other.

An education is best when it’s fulfilling rather than stressful. We want you to succeed. Our Training has components that are designed to be self-paced. You’ll have many opportunities to create your own desired level of learning. The Training is intensive, but the amount of reading, homework, and preparation that we suggest is highly doable. We have done our best to create a learning experience that fits your personal style and needs. Expect to need between 6 to 8 hours per week.

The Institute for the Psychology of Eating offers a curriculum that is unlike any other.

In our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training, you’ll learn powerful, soulful, and results-oriented coaching and counseling techniques providing you with the framework for working with your clients' unique needs. You'll discover an entirely new paradigm on the true underlying problems behind the food and body issues your clients may be facing. There are many places to learn about nutrition and health coaching, but the Institute for the Psychology of Eating is the only school that emphasizes an extensive approach to Eating Psychology along with Mind Body Nutrition, which are fundamental to shifting unwanted eating concerns.

As we often say here at the Institute, good nutrition is very important but it won't solve eating challenges, which are rooted in your clients' psychology - the thoughts, beliefs, and feelings they hold about food about body.

To that effect, we've originated a whole new approach – Dynamic Eating Psychology. This emphasis on our relationship with food makes for a professional educational training that teaches the most effective tools and protocols to successfully address weight, body image, overeating, binge eating, emotional eating, endless dieting, unwanted eating habits, and the most common nutrition related health challenges such as digestion, immunity, fatigue, mood and more.

IPE is also the only school in the world focusing on the study of Mind Body Nutrition. This approach to nutritional metabolism addresses how digestion, assimilation, calorie burning, and all the nutritive functions of the body are powerfully impacted by stress, relaxation, breathing, pleasure, thoughts, feelings, rhythm, personal story, and so much more. Mind Body Nutrition goes far beyond the common nutrition conversation called “eat this, don’t eat that”. It examines how the relationship between who we are and what we bring to the table profoundly impacts the metabolism of a meal.

Other schools that train health or nutrition coaches focus primarily on different nutritional systems, and typically give their students a basic, broad-stroke nutrition education in different dietary theories. There is very little overlap between this approach and our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training. In fact, many students who have previously studied at other schools are attracted to our Training because they want to augment their existing professional training and expertise with our unique focus on transforming eating challenges through the power of eating psychology.

We take great pride in providing our students with high-touch personal experience. You will be supported throughout the process by highly-responsive customer service and a team who truly cares. We provide email support with our on-team psychotherapist to help you navigate any personal challenges that can come up along the way as you work with any existing eating challenges of your own. Our graduates consistently give our Training very high praise. For so many people, our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training is life-changing.

Our student body is inspired and engaged, and come together from around the world passionate to learn this incredible body of work and ready to be part of our mission to change the way the people think about food and body challenges. The relationships you can create with others students in the Training are profound in and of themselves.

Lastly, IPE is the only school that certifies you as a Mind Body Eating Coach, giving you a competitive edge in a marketplace filled with tens of thousands of health coaches.

One of the best ways to determine whether this Training will be a good match for you is to download our School Catalog, and tune into Marc's orientation video about the Training. Click here to sign up. 

We offer complimentary consult calls with our Enrollment Advisors - all graduates of the Training and well-qualified to help you determine if our program is right for you. Go here to book a call today, or reach out to us at info@psychologyofeating.com with any questions you may have.

If you're interested in seeing this work in action, we encourage you to tune in to Marc's "In Session" video series, where he works with volunteer clients looking for a food and body breakthrough!

Then join us in on our public programs!

Our online retreat, Transform Your Relationship With Food, is a perfect start. It covers everything from the origins of your challenges with food to best strategies for working with emotional eating to hidden contributors to weight gain to learning to truly nourish oneself with food, and so much more. Click here to learn more and save yourself a place in the program.

You are also more than welcome to check out our free content on the blog and podcast, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive regular updates in your inbox! 

The Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training and Transform Your Relationship with Food, both draw from the foundational concepts of Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind Body Nutrition, but these programs have very different structures and intentions and are COMPLETELY different! Here is a breakdown of the differences:

Transform Your Relationship with Food (TYRF) is an 8-week program for the public that takes a cutting edge approach to help people with body image concerns, emotional eating, binge eating, overeating, weight challenges, endless dieting, and health issues such as digestion, fatigue, immunity and others. It’s a personal growth program, NOT a professional certification training. It features powerful concepts designed to help people get unstuck – coaching tools and personal growth strategies that are results driven. The entire online program is designed as a transformational experience to help people create the change they need most.

Our Mind Body Eating Coach Certification(MBECC), on the other hand, is a powerful, information-rich, 230 hour professional program that certifies you as a Mind Body Eating Coach and provides an unprecedented professional training that’ll leave you with a strong skill-set and the confidence to work with the most common and compelling eating concerns of our times – weight, body image, overeating, binge eating, emotional eating, endless dieting, digestion, fatigue, immunity, mood and much more. We offer this training in an online distance learning format that you can take from anywhere in the world. This professional training lasts for 8 months and when completed, graduates are certified to practice as a Mind Body Eating Coach from anywhere in the world.

The total tuition for MBECC is $6,950 and confers a certification as a Mind Body Eating Coach upon completion. The total cost for TYRF is $297.00 and is a unique personal transformational experience that confers no certification.

The short answer is yes! The Training strongly supports personal growth and transformation while also teaching you the skills you’ll need to help your clients move through their own process.

In this Training, you’ll explore your own relationship with food and eating, and do all of the exercises and reading all of the materials that you will eventually share with your clients. If you truly engage with the Training, you are certain to have many “aha” moments, insights, and new ways of understanding the role of food and eating in your own life — an understanding which you will be able to use to meet your clients where they are.

We offer several payment plan options that you can learn about in our School Catalog. 

If you need assistance to help you pay for the Training, we’ve put together this handy resource to provide you with some options.

We offer a risk-free, money-back guarantee in the event that you would like to withdraw. Please refer to our Terms & Conditions page for full details. While we're confident you'll love the Training, we want you to have the same assurance – so our refund policy provides the opportunity to enjoy Module 1.

If you have further questions about our refund policy, please reach out to us at info@psychologyofeating.com.

No problem! Our Student Services team is always happy to help. You can reach us via email at any time - and if you need an answer straight from Marc, you’re welcome to ask during our bi-monthly online classes.

Our Training attracts students from all over the world -- in fact, we have graduates from over 100 countries, and growing!

As a Certified Mind Body Eating Coach, you will be able to practice in any country as a coach. Our certification will not legally allow you to be a licensed clinical psychologist, counselor, nutritionist, or dietician. In most countries (including the U.S.), coaches cannot receive insurance payments unless they also hold other credentials. You also won't be able to diagnose ailments or prescribe any particular dietary plans.

Coaches offer insight, advice, suggestions, give tools and skills to clients, offer strategies, and more.

Every country has different rules and regulations regarding how they address various certifications. As with any certification or degree, there are both limitations and options – it depends on the type of work you want to do. As long as you stay within the parameters of what a Mind Body Eating Coach can and cannot do – which we fully discuss in our Training – you will be able to practice from anywhere with our certification.

We know that many of our students need Continuing Education Units (CEUs) to keep up their certifications through a variety of professional organizations. At the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, we do our very best to help you get continuing education credit when you take our premier 8 month Mind Body Eating Coach Certification Training.

If you want to independently apply for CEUs through a professional organization, we will work with you to provide you with documentation of hours of study and topics covered. Many of our students have been successful in having the Training approved by their organizations on an individual basis.

Our students come from many different backgrounds and specializations, and we want you to know that you can use this Training to fulfill your continuing professional education needs!

Helping our graduates succeed is so important to us! We have a private online community for alumni where you can ask for support, receive feedback, and network with other professionals. And you’ll be the first to know about any advanced training and offers we create.