Confessions Of An Overeater

Lately, I've been trying to tell myself that I've been dealt a bad hand of cards.  I want to tell myself that if I were dealt a different hand, my outcomes would be different.  And I don't stop there.  I want to tell everyone about the bad hand I've been dealt.  But have you ever noticed that getting sympathy is like eating Halloween candy?  There is momentary comfort, followed by an emptiness and an immediate desire for more?  Listen in today to hear about playing the hand you are holding.

Making progress on my health and wellness goals will never be done on autopilot.  Losing 45 pounds has required consistent attention and focus.  Sometimes, life gets in the way.  Today I’m sharing the story of what I learned from a lost month.

What is a blamestorm and how do we tame it?  Tune in today for a dispatch from the middle of a blamestorm in sunny Portugal.  

Last week, I was walking down the High Street in Edinburgh, and I saw an El Camino idling at the light with California plates.  I watched, stunned, as the car in the front, truck in the back drove off down George Street, and I had so many unanswered questions.  For listeners joining in the middle of my story, today’s episode is a lookback at lessons learned so far in my life as a glucose monitor evangelist.  

When it comes to managing the thought playlist in my brain, both thoughts served up to me by other people and those I create myself, I like to imagine myself walking through life with a badminton racket casually in one hand and a Whac-a-mole mallet in my back pocket.  Thriving in my life requires mental agility.  Errant and pernicious thoughts impede that mental agility.  What thoughts require a racket and what thoughts require a mallet?  

Failing to navigate the double binds in our lives keeps us stuck in the stories that other people tell about us for us.  But failing to navigate the cognitive dissonance in our own brains keeps us stuck in the stories we tell ourselves.  In these last fifteen months, I’ve learned that keeping my glucose low and steady does lead to weight loss.  But, more important – low and steady glucose gives me the mental agility I need to navigate the double binds and cognitive dissonance of every day modern life.

A double bind is an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual receives two or more contradicting messages.  This creates a situation in a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other.  In my life as an overeater, I was trapped in double binds that were invisible to me, but certainly distressing.  Things I accepted as truth, like “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, were actively working against ever changing my eating habits. Join me today as I share the way we author a way out of these double binds that is unique to who we are.  

On my first audit episode of social media, I answered the question about when to use social media and things I’m trying to limit compulsive behavior.  Today, I cover the what, and also, the who.  What do I want to use social media for?  And who do I want to be online and in real life?  Can lessons learned in the complex human network of social media help me evolve in my real life interactions?  Listen today to find out.    

I had an incredible summer. I lost five pounds, I upped my game in how I collect data from my glucose monitors, I learned that my true food labels change over time, and got a glimpse of how my personal fat burning factory works.  Taking it all in, I realized that what I practice is Evidence Based Dieting.  Listen and find out more.

Are you a habitual phone checker?  Is there a compulsivity about the frequency you check your social media feeds?  And what does that have to do with overeating?  Listen today to understand how the "magic of maybe" can lead to compulsive behavior with social media.

I’m recording a follow up on my first Purpose Driven Drinking experiment.  Listen to find out what I drank, what I learned and why I’ve spent so much time thinking about alcohol, fructose and my liver.

As an overeater for three decades, I often used overeating to generate dopamine and it’s associated feel good affects in my brain.  Which led me to audit all the behaviors I use in my life to generate dopamine.  Join me today as I discuss the science on the impact of alcohol on our liver and weight loss efforts, my history with dopamine and alcohol, and my plan for alcohol in my life going forward.

I’m committed to doing a full audit of the behaviors in my life that produce dopamine.  One of the ways that I do that is to build good bricks.  Bricks are memories – but I’m making them into super memories.  Memories that I am creating intentionally – to help my brain learn the ways I want to get dopamine.  Today, I’m sharing with you 5 of my favorite dopamine bricks from the summer.  

Today we cover an interesting bit of research about the role dopamine plays in creating expectations for future enjoyment.  When you think about events in the future under the influence of dopamine, you could develop higher expectations for enjoyment.  Tune in to find out the connection between overeating fueled dopamine binges and disappointment. 

What is dopamine, and why is it so important to understand if we want to stop overeating?  Dopamine is one of the feel good chemicals in the brain, understanding the way it interacts with our eating habits might be the missing piece of the puzzle to permanently change your overeating patterns.

Buffering is engaging in activities like overeating to distract ourselves from negative emotion.  What’s the big deal?  Why not just buffer?  Today’s podcast explores what Blaise Pascal knew in the 1600s – distraction is the greatest of our miseries.

Thai cave rescue, Chick Fil-a, cross cultural observations on civility…..today’s episode takes the scenic route through my goal of being an ordinary hero.  An ordinary hero is someone who strives to emulate the best of human nature, not just the inclinations of human nature.  Taking excellent care of our physical and mental health is foundational for the ordinary hero.    

Where do we find the courage to change?  This week, in honor of the 4th of July holiday, I’m going to convince you that the answer lies in the Declaration of Independence.  We have to know and name the forces that bind us.  When we understand the big picture and declare our grievances, then we’re ready.  Ready to declare our independence from food.

Food labels tell us only a fraction of the information we need in order to make an informed choice of whether or not to eat a food.  If you let it, your body can be the most powerful food detective – but we have to pay attention.  Only your brain can give foods their true labels for you - but there are competing narrators in your brain.  How do we solve this mystery?

Join me for Part 5 of the million part series, Why Do I Overeat?  Today, we’re talking about desire for food.  Is that a good place to spend our desire?  If the answer is no, what do we do about it?