The Girlfriend Doctor w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca

Binge eating happens to all of us, whether due to addiction or emotional trauma. I’m joined by Dr. Glenn Livingston to talk about how he cured himself of binge eating by following four simple rules.

About Dr. Glenn Livingston

Glenn Livingston, Ph.D. is a veteran psychologist and was the long-time CEO of a multi-million dollar consulting firm that has serviced several Fortune 500 clients in the food industry.

You may have seen his (or his company's) previous work, theories, and research in major periodicals like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Indiana Star-Ledger, The NY Daily News, American Demographics, or many other major media outlets. You may also have heard him on ABC, WGN, and/or CBS radio, or UPN TV.

Disillusioned by what traditional psychology had to offer overweight and/or food obsessed individuals, Dr. Livingston spent several decades researching the nature of bingeing and overeating via work with his own patients AND a self-funded research program with more than 40,000 participants.

Most important, however, was his own personal journey out of obesity and food prison to a normal, healthy weight and a much more lighthearted relationship with food. Glenn is a regular blogger on Psychology Today.

Designed to be Addictive

As much as there is to say about trauma, stress, and emotional responses to blame binge eating on, Dr. Glenn Livingston opens this episode with an alternative reason: marketing and food production.

Some foods are just designed and created to hit all our bliss points: salty, greasy, sweet, comforting, and, often, with something else added to increase our addiction. Glenn reveals that a former executive of a big brand confectionary company told him they took all the vitamins out of their product and spent that money on packaging.

So if you’re ever feeling like you can’t control your binges, let’s just say you’re not alone. Big business wants you to binge.

There are some people who find so much solace and comfort in binge eating. Along with these marketing ploys, binge eating can absolutely do its part to fill a void in your body you don’t know how otherwise to fill. Glenn also talks about some early research into how what you binge on might be an indication of where you have stress in your life.

Adopting Healthy Habits to Curb Binge Eating

But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to get your binges under control. Glenn introduces us to his four rules of binge eating. He urges his clients to use these rules to start mastering their binge eating.

Glenn also encourages you to stop beating yourself up after binge eating. Getting angry and yelling at yourself is so counterproductive; you need to change your thought pattern. Instead, Glenn says you should start a success collection. This builds up your own self-identity as a success.

With some incredibly helpful words, Glenn reminds you that successful people have more failures behind them than anything else. It’s like Paolo Coehlo says, ‘fall seven times, get up eight.’ It’s not about how much you fail or fall back into a binge, it’s about how many times you pick yourself back up and try again.

Finally, Glenn wants you to stop using the excuse of a binge to start tomorrow. You don’t get a scratch on your car and then decide to crash it, right? Use the present moment, even if that’s directly after a binge, to make your next healthy move.

Do you find you binge eat? You’re not alone. I’d love to know what your favorite food to binge is. Mine’s french fries! As always, you can ask me anything and let me hear your thoughts in the comments on the episode page. If you have questions, email [email protected].

In This Episode

• How food hits our bliss points [9:00]
• How food marketing increases your desire to purchase them [10:00]
• Why some people use food as a comforting activity [17:00]
• How what we binge eat on might indicate where we’re feeling stressed [24:00]
• How you can master control of your binge eating urges [29:30]
• Why you should collect evidence of successes to build your success identity [37:30]
• Why you need to let go of any pain or anxiety that follows a binge in order to stop binging in the future [39:11]
• What happens when you have failure behind you [41:00]
• How you can use the present moment to be healthy [45:45]

Quotes

“Just pick one rule. What is the smallest thing that you could and would do, that wouldn’t feel like too much of a burden but would turn the ship around.” [32:06]

“The mantra to think of post-binge is to commit with perfect but forgive yourself wit...

Taking a holistic approach to your health means looking at your mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, and nutritional health. I’m joined by wellness coach Sarah Anne Stewart to talk about how she encourages holistic health with her clients. She also shares some great tips on increasing your overall wellness!

Key Takeaways

Some quick exercises you can start doing that will help you heal your mental and emotional health and your relationship with your body.

1. Practicing daily affirmations
2. Getting involved in Mirror Work
3. Writing a letter to our body

About Sarah Anne Stewart

Sarah Anne Stewart discovered the world of wellness as a teenager when her father received a terminal cancer diagnosis. Her family made a choice – to fight back with alternative medicine. Seven months later, her father was cancer-free, and a spark was lit in Sarah that propelled her to dedicate her life to spreading the healings her family had discovered.

Today, as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach (AADP), Sarah runs a leading private coaching practice with a focus on breaking free of diet culture through mindfulness. Her heart-centered approach has supported hundreds on their journeys to body love.

Sarah is the founder of the Awesome Inside Out Movement, an advisor to international wellness brands and soon to be Hay House author.

Taking the First Steps into Holistic Wellness

Sarah starts by sharing the story of when she first ventured into the wellness world. As a professional model, she struggled with what she knew to be true about her diet and lifestyle and actually putting it into practice.

She opens up and shares how she nearly killed herself with anorexia before she finally realized she needs to work on her mental and emotional health, as well as her nutritional and physical, in order to truly heal.

This led Sarah on a journey into holistic wellness that included a deep spiritual practice of healing. She found a spiritual teacher who told her that she needs to relearn everything she knew about suffering.

Sarah talks about self-sabotaging behavior and how, even when we’re actively trying to change our lives for the better, we can still engage in it. She explains some of the reasons for this and what we can do to stop this behavior.

She also shares some mindset tips to change who and what you attract into your life. I love these tips and I think we should apply them often!

Comparison is the Number One Barrier to Wellness

Sarah suffered from breast implant illness for years. She found herself in a bubble of people who denied this could be happening, but eventually discovered how sick her implants were making her.

Sarah shifts into explaining the mindset behind why people get implants. Social media is often blamed for poor body image issues in young women, but it’s not uncalled for blame. Sarah believes that social media and comparing ourselves to other women is definitely one of the reasons women get implants.

She encourages you to go on regular social media detoxes. Other wellness practices Sarah promotes are spending time in nature, writing or repeating affirmations, regular meditation, and engaging in mirror work.

One of the ultimate things we need to do in order to heal is to stop comparing ourselves to other people. Comparison doesn’t serve you at all, my friends. It’s time we let go and embrace who we are as our unique, wonderful selves.

How is this comparison serving you? How is it keeping you in a place of discomfort? What would happen if you actually let it go?

As always, you can ask me anything and let me hear your thoughts in the comments on the episode page. If you have questions, email [email protected].

In This Episode

• Why you need to take a holistic approach to your health that includes your mental and emotional along with your physical and nutritional [7:00]
• How to unlearn the way you were taught to suffer [12:15]
• Why we might engage in self-sabotaging behavior [16:15]
• How to control who you attract into your life based on the thoughts you have [20:00]
• Some of the symptoms of breast implant illness [25:00]
• Why it’s important for our mental health to have social media detoxes [29:00]
• How to reconnect with yourself by connecting to nature and disconnecting from your thoughts [31:00]
• How to break free from comparing ourselves to other people [35:15]

Quotes

“So often, people are reluctant to go beyond the mind because we’re taught more research means that we have a higher IQ and we’re better at coping with the world and we’ll be more successful. But, often, what it really is ...

Grief is one of the most difficult emotions for humans to process. I’m joined by grief therapist, Deb Antinori, to talk about how you can support yourself with brainspotting, a technique designed to ground and calm yourself.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify what feels good, comfortable, or at least “less bad” in your body, then avert your gaze and try to return to a state of homeostasis. [26:00]
• Be gentle with yourself right now. The world is going through a collective trauma, so cut yourself some slack. [34:00]

About Deb Antinori

Deborah Antinori, MA, LPC, FT, RDT is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 29 years in private practice. She is a Brainspotting Trainer and Certified Consultant. She has been using Brainspotting since its inception in 2003 as she met the developer of Brainspotting, David Grand, in the late ’90s when he was her supervisor for her private practice of therapy.

As a grief therapist, Deborah holds her FT, Fellow in Thanatology, from the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She authored a chapter on Grief and Brainspotting in The Power of Brainspotting: An International Anthology. Deborah is the author and narrator of the double award-winning audiobook, Journey Through Pet Loss. (Audie Award - Audio Publishers Association, ForeWord Book of the Year Award – Silver)

She is a master's graduate of NYU’s Drama Therapy Dept. Originally an actress, she earned her BFA from the Boston Conservatory of Music and is still in the professional actor’s unions, AEA and SAG/AFTRA.

She has begun work on a Ph.D. through the International University for Graduate Studies and is hoping to be able to get to Innsbruck for an EEG study with her mentor, Damir DelMonte, Ph.D., on Brainspotting for her Ph.D. when the travel bans lift.

Grief Is Difficult Whether It’s a Pet or a Loved One

Deb joins me to talk about the intersection of grief and brainspotting. Grief is one of the most difficult emotions for humans to process, regardless of whether it’s from the death of a loved one, a pet, or a different experience of loss.

One of Deb’s specialties is working with people who have lost a pet. The death of our pets impacts many of us just as hard, if not harder than the loss of a loved one.

We all know how good it feels to sit and cuddle with our pets when times are tough. That sense of comfort and wholeness gets so many of us through difficult times.

That’s one of the biggest reasons losing a pet is difficult. Deb explains what stages of grief look like when our pets die; they’re not altogether dissimilar to when we lose a loved one.

Deb talks us through a practice we can use when we’re settling into our feelings of grief. She explains how this practice can help calm us down. It’s called brainspotting, and Deb has been using it since 2003.

How Brainspotting Helps You Process

Brainspotting helps you process difficult information and return to a state of calm. The three stages brainspotting helps guide you through are survival, homeostasis, and restoration. Our brains are at their best when they’re in homeostasis and restoration.

In this episode, Deb actually guides us through the brainspotting process. We take a few minutes to guide ourselves into the right space and sitting, breathing, and feeling our brains return to homeostasis.

Just like every new technique, brainspotting is something you need to consistently practice in order for it to have a positive benefit on your life and mental health. When you use it regularly, you’ll have a much easier time of returning to that state of calm.

Finally, I really just want to give you permission to be kind to yourself. 2020 has been hard for all of us and it’s absolutely okay if you’re experiencing feelings of grief and overwhelm. I hope that Deb’s advice and brainspotting technique can help you return to your own natural state of homeostasis.

Do something to get yourself out of your comfort zone. Collage, dance, chase your dog, watch a new series on Netflix. Get out there so you can get back into your zone.

As always, you can ask me anything and let me hear your thoughts in the comments on the episode page. If you have questions, email [email protected].

In This Episode:

• Why we feel so good when we’re cuddling with our pets [5:30]
• The stages of grief when we lose a pet [6:30]
• A quick practice we can use when we’re experiencing moments of grief [12:00]
• What brainspotting is and how you can use it for yourself [14:45]
• What happens when you bring your brain back into homeostasis and restoration [17:50]
• A simple technique to help you return t...

Showing up as your most authentic self to create your brand is the future for women in perimenopause and menopause. I’m joined by speaker and personal branding expert, Juju Hook, to talk about how you can create your own personal brand.

Key Takeaways

• Search for what lights you up. When you find that one thing that brings you joy, create your personal brand around that. [14:15]
• Don’t wait for the other shoe to drop. Create your own success by finally embracing what it is YOU want to do after all these years of pleasing everyone else. [26:00]
• Commit to doing the mirror work. Stand in front of your mirror and speak to yourself. Ask yourself what you want to do and listen to the answer. [29:35]

About Juju Hook

Juju Hook is a consultant, coach, and speaker. For more than a quarter-century she developed brand strategies for corporations.

Today, through online programs, live events, and one-to-one coaching, Juju motivates, inspires, and educates PrimeTime women in topics related to business, life, and relationships.

She holds a BA in English, an MBA, and is a certified coach and a yoga teacher. Juju lives in San Diego with her husband and her son. You can find her branding blog at StrategicJuju.com and her program for PrimeTime women at PositivelyPrimeTime.com.

You’re Entering Your Ultimate Prime Time

Put your hand up if you have kept yourself, your hopes, and your dreams on the back burner for most of your life. You put your family, your friends, and your career first, but you’ve never really given much thought to what it is you actually want to do.

I’m joined by Juju Hook, a branding expert who works with women in the prime of their lives, to talk about how you can reclaim that essence of who you really are and finally create the life and career you’ve always wanted. Your perimenopause and menopausal years are the absolute best time to reinvent yourself - as Juju says, they’re your primetime!

Juju shares her amazing wisdom that’s come from personal experience. There came a pivotal moment in her life when she knew her destiny was for greater things - and when she finally had the space to do it in her family life, she jumped at the chance.

Speaking with Juju, you can see the tremendous potential that you have. You can take what you already love and what you’re already good at and turn it into something uniquely you. You can start your own business based on YOU: your personal brand that makes people want to buy from you.

Juju encourages you to think outside the box. If you’ve had a career in marketing, you don’t need to just keep being a marketer for the rest of your life. In fact, this was Juju’s own career, which she’s since reinvented to help women with their personal branding.

Showing up Joyfully as Yourself

What makes your new brand work is that you’re showing up by being your most authentic self. People love to work with other people. When you shine through and bring your whole personality to your brand, you’ll naturally attract the kind of people you want to work with - and who want to work with you.

But of course, there will be people out there who don’t like what you’re putting out there. Juju is here to tell you that that’s absolutely okay! You don’t have to be everyone’s cup of tea. She shares her best advice on how you can handle negative feedback and criticism.

But ultimately, when you’re showing up joyfully as your authentic self, you will start bringing in money and success!

This was such a joyful conversation with Juju. By embracing our beginner’s mind, following what our heart and head knows we’ve always loved and wanted to pursue, and showing up authentically, we will have success in rebranding ourselves during our Prime Time!

Share with me in the comments what your Essence of Influence is. As always, you can ask me anything and let me hear your thoughts in the comments on the episode page. If you have questions, email [email protected].

In This Episode

• Why your perimenopause and menopausal years are the best time for reinvention [6:00]
• How you can apply your skills and expertise to something entirely new and different that will fulfill your menopausal years [11:45]
• How joy and clarity on who your authentic self is can bring money and success [17:45]
• What you need to know about hearing negative feedback when you’ve created a personal brand [19:30]
• What power there is in the beginner’s mind [28:20]

Quotes

“...

Fasting For Greater Health

So first, let’s just talk about what fasting is. It isn’t about what you eat, but when you eat it (although you’ll get better health results if you eat a healthy diet when not fasting!). So all of you who are focused on achieving weight management and better health simply by cutting calories…you need to throw that concept out the window!

Fasting is when we restrict ourselves from the intake of food, not through intentional calorie restriction, but through meal timing restrictions.

I routinely recommend and use a form of fasting called “intermittent fasting” in my women’s restorative health programs. This is also referred to as time-restricted feeding, or a 15/9 or 16/8 fasting and feeding window (when the period you are fasting starts after dinner and is roughly a 15-16 hour period, and your feeding time is closer to an 8-9 hour period).

There are numerous studies that support the health benefits of fasting. It has been shown to:

• improve biomarkers of disease (including cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and diabetes),
• increase metabolic function,
• improve insulin sensitivity,
• reduce oxidative stress,
• reduce cravings, and
• help people become more efficient fat burners. 

It also turns out that when people fast, they tend to take in fewer calories as well because they usually eat less overall!

I recently provided you with an extensive article (including research) on the health benefits of fasting. You might like to read that along with listening to today’s podcast.

Today’s Special Couch Talk Guest: Nadia Pateguana, ND

She’s a Canadian naturopathic doctor and has had 15 years of clinical experience helping women and men go through an intensive dietary management program primarily based on the concepts and benefits of fasting. She currently specializes in coaching people with metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and PCOS at IDM (Intensive Dietary Management), working with Dr. Jason Fung, author of “The Complete Guide to Fasting” and “The Obesity Code”.

We delved into all things fasting!

Testing Your Glucose Level Isn’t the Whole Story!

Nadia talked about how metabolic syndrome, diabetes and so many other issues (hypertension, fatty liver, cardiovascular disease, PCOS…!) are really rooted in insulin management.

And while you can test blood sugar at home, you can’t easily test insulin so many people don’t realize that they already may have an insulin issue.

Even if your blood sugar levels test within the normal range, you also have to know what your insulin is doing.

According to Nadia 70-80% of US adults have metabolic syndrome! Even though they may test as “normal.”

We discussed how insulin, a hormone that our bodies produce in response to eating is really a fat storage hormone. Every time you eat your body produces insulin to lower your blood glucose levels and it takes a while for insulin levels to get back to lower levels. So if you eat again too soon, your insulin levels never come down. If your insulin remains high, you store fat. If insulin is low, you burn fat.

And what has the highest impact on insulin levels? Refined carbs!

So for all of you grazers or snackers out there, or those who think eating more small meals throughout the day is a better dietary strategy than eating a few full meals, it is the absolute worst thing you can do!

This means that your insulin will stay high. You will store fat, not burn it. And when you are in this “storage” mode, you will also still be hungry!

Listen To Our Couch Talk Interview and You Will Learn:

• That there is an insulin cycle…and what eating too often – and eating refined carbs and sugar – does to that cycle! Insulin truly regulates weight and hunger!
• While 70-80% of US adults have metabolic syndrome, how that is expressed is different in each person (diabetes, cardiovascular, fertility issues, poor skin, etc.)
• Why an intermittent fasting program (like 16/8) is a common, safe dietary protocol that pretty much anyone can do
• Why more serious fasting programs (like fasting on alternate days) need medical supervision
• How fasting triggers autophagy (when the body eats up its own garbage and diseased cells…viewed as an anti-aging and disease...