Why Willpower Fails: The Psychology of Food, Cravings, and Weight

You can know exactly how you want to eat and still find yourself reaching for something else when you’re stressed or exhausted. I’ve been there. Our relationship with food is influenced by far more than nutrition knowledge, and blaming ourselves for struggling doesn’t help us understand what’s actually happening.

Today, I’m joined by clinical psychologist Dr. Rachel Goldman, author of When Life Happens, to talk about the biology and psychology behind cravings, emotional eating, and food noise. We also explore how to care about nutrition without letting food rules take over your life.

Here’s what we get into:

Why you may reach for food when what you really need is rest, comfort, or a break

How to pause before an automatic food choice and figure out what’s driving it

How rigid food rules can turn one choice into a cycle of guilt and overeating

How GLP-1s can quiet food noise, and what they can’t change about your relationship with food

How to build other ways to cope when food has become your go-to response to stress

I know what it’s like to want the cookie even when I know it isn’t what I really need. Knowing better doesn’t make us immune to being human. My hope is that this conversation helps you meet those moments with more curiosity and less blame, so your relationship with food can become a source of nourishment rather than stress.

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