2 days ago

Our Brain & The Vicious ‘Diet Cycle’

In this episode, we dissect the vicious "Diet Cycle" that keeps women trapped in restriction, binge eating, and self-blame.

Learn why willpower fails, how your survival brain sabotages weight loss efforts, and why the diet industry profits from your "failures."

Discover the neuroscience behind cravings and how to rewire your brain for lasting food freedom.

Key Takeaways:

Diets are designed to fail. The diet industry earns billions by keeping you in a loop of hope, restriction, "failure," and self-blame.
Your survival brain sees diets as threats. Rigid rules trigger primal panic, making cravings and binges inevitable—not a lack of willpower.
The "Tightening the Rope" effect: Extreme control (e.g., calorie counting) amplifies fear of failure, leading to self-sabotage.
Perfectionism fuels the cycle. All-or-nothing thinking ("good day" vs. "bad day") justifies binges and erodes self-trust.
Healing requires rewiring. Emotional regulation (not more rules) breaks the cycle by addressing the root cause: your brain’s survival response.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

02:00 - The Diet Culture Scam: Why diets aren’t the solution

04:30 - The Binge Eating Model: How emotions drive overeating

07:15 - Neural Pathways 101: Why habits feel automatic

10:00 - Survival Brain vs. Conscious Brain: Why logic fails

12:45 - The "Tightening the Rope" analogy (plank between skyscrapers)

15:30 - How diets create perfectionism and loss of self-trust

18:00 - The Diet Cycle: Rigidity → Fear → "F*ck it" → Guilt → Repeat

22:00 - Why willpower backfires (and what to do instead)

25:00 - The hidden cost: How dieting destroys body trust

28:00 - Breaking free: Rewiring your brain’s relationship with food