Former Food Industry Insider Reveals How to Beat Binge Eating | Dr. Glenn Livingston

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Glenn Livingston — veteran psychologist, author of Defeat Your Cravings, and former CEO of a multi-million-dollar consulting firm that worked with Fortune 500 food and pharmaceutical companies before he turned away from that work to help people fight the very industry he once served.

His research and theories have been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Sky News, and he's been interviewed on over 300 podcasts.

Glenn brings something rare to the recovery space: decades on the inside of the food system that engineers cravings, paired with his own lifelong personal struggle with binge eating and a self-funded study involving over 40,000 participants. His approach is rooted not in willpower or restriction, but in simple, bright-line personal rules that take the decision out of the moment of temptation.

Here's what we cover in the episode:

What it was actually like consulting for Big Food and Big Pharma — and the moment Glenn realized he was on the wrong side of the war

Why he believes there's real "evil" built into parts of the food system, engineered by rocket scientists to hit the bliss point in the brain — and why the responsibility to navigate it still falls on each of us

Glenn's own decades-long journey through Overeaters Anonymous, therapy, and medication — and why healing his self-hatred never actually stopped the bingeing

The "food monster" — Glenn's term for the part of the brain that rationalizes, minimizes, and talks you into "just this once," and how it mirrors the tactics companies use to sell you their products

How to extinguish cravings that feel "irresistible" — and how to recover faster when you do slip

His single best piece of advice for getting started: pick one rule so simple you can follow it even on your worst day, and let the identity shift do the rest

00:00 – Opening: "There's Evil in the Food System"

00:40 – Meet Dr. Glenn Livingston