Feeling Full

Episode Summary

In this episode, James talks about transformations, the healing power of the human body, how to change beliefs, and the importance of being non-attached.

"Everything is absolutely always unfolding perfectly" - James Colquhoun

Highlights

• James discovered that it is important to clear your slate to reset how you think before trying to move forward.
• Most people never clear their mental and physical slate to help discover what truly drives them.
• Going through some big transformation can give some deeper insight into your essence and what you are here to do.
• James has been trying to help people understand what a powerful healing machine their body is.
• Detoxing and cleansing can offer your body a reset to help focus your approach on food.
• Now James is focusing on spiritual and mental reset to help focus attention.
• Non-attachment is a difficult muscle to recognize since we are trained to expect outcomes and instant gratification.
• Instead of paying attention to what is causing the symptoms of our discomfort, we are relying on instant relief from manufactured medicine.
• The idea of suffering is an illusion because we create it through an attachment to an outcome and desire for an outcome.
• Step 1: Practice being nothing and just being in the moment. 
• Step 2: Be non-attached to what happens next.
• When things get “too comfortable” for James he tends to blow it up and move on to something new.
• James worked as a Qualified Ships Officer which allowed him to work with some of the world’s wealthiest people.
• James had an extraordinary job but was thinking about changing. He was told by his boss, “If you’re thinking about it, do it.” Which was a pivotal moment for James.
• While working for some of the wealthiest people in the world he realized that money does not make you happy or healthy. 
• He witnessed the trap of wealth firsthand.
• Part of the reason for recording the experts was to let James’ dad see them. 
• Education shifts your beliefs. Beliefs shift your choices. Choices shift the outcome of your life.
• People are living longer but also dying longer.
• Once James’ father shifted his beliefs, he saw major health and wellness improvements.
• Transformation comes through insight and/or pain.
• One of James’s favorite juices: Celery, cucumber, lime or lemon, ginger, and/or Turmeric.
• The Four Agreements and Man’s Search for Meaning are two of James’ favorite books to gift to people.

Relevant Links
Food Matters Website
Food Matters Nutrition Certification Program
Food Matters Film
Man's Search for Meaning
The Four Agreements  

Episode Summary

In this episode, Frank talks about his lifelong journey through addiction and what he’s learned through the trials of recovery. He talks about his documentary “May I Be Frank?” and the impact that it has had on his life.  

“A commitment is a spiritual experience” Frank Ferrante

Highlights

• Frank doesn’t blame his addiction on anybody but himself, but he does believe that his tough childhood helped “clear the runway” and perhaps made him more susceptible to addiction.
• A problem for people staying on path is that they believe that there is one place of ultimate nirvana where everything is ok all the time. This is a false belief and causes stress and setbacks.
• Frank found the Alcoholics Anonymous group incredibly supportive. 
• Frank doesn’t believe that not drinking or using drugs is the hardest part of the process. Making amends and restitution are much more difficult.
• Drugs and alcohol are symptomatic of a deeper underlying condition.
• It is not about getting rid of the ego. It is about learning how to make peace with it.
• People must go through an interval of discomfort to have a transformative experience.
• For the documentary “May I Be Frank?”, Frank ate all vegan and raw food for 42 days.
• After the 42-day experiment, the help that Frank had all left him, and it was tough to continue.
• Frank was later treated for Hepatitis C and was given opiates. He started to fall back into his old patterns and went through a dark patch where he almost died and had to go to rehab.
• He then committed to a healthier diet and began to work out and lost 125 lbs.
• Frank has been sober for over 15 years.
• One of Frank's favorite things about having done the film is how open it makes others to speak with him openly and share their stories.

Relevant Links
May I Be Frank - Movie
May I Be Frank - Book
Outwitting The Devil - Napoleon Hill
Gabor Mate - The Power of Addiction - Ted Talk

Today I am joined by Dr. Judson Brewer to discuss how we can use curiosity to investigate our behaviors and break bad habits. Dr. Jud is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center and associate professor in psychiatry at the School of Medicine at Brown University, the executive medical director of behavioral health at Sharecare, as well as a research affiliate at MIT.

He is also the author of several books including The Craving Mind and his new book is called Unwinding Anxiety:  How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind.  His TED Talk ”A Simple Way to Break a Bad Habit” has over 16 million views on YouTube.

Topics Include:

• Defining addiction
• Can overeating be an addiction
• Addictive behaviors versus addictive substances
• How and why habits are formed
• Craving, dopamine, and the anticipation of reward
• The connection between dopamine and learning
• How curiosity influences awareness
• How Dr. Jud's app helps people reframe their relationships with their addictive behaviors
• Why Dr. Jud's nonnegotiable habit is curiosity
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Newest Book – Unwinding Anxiety by Dr. Judson Brewer
Book – The Craving Mind by Dr. Judson Brewer
Dr. Jud's Website
Eat Right Now App
Unwinding Anxiety App
Ted Talk - How to break a bad habit
Feelingfull.com

In this episode, Sarah talks about her difficult journey through the process of weight loss, her experience with gastric bypass surgery at the age of 19.  Sharing how she ultimately changed her mindset, learned to deal with her emotions, and lost 150 pounds. She talks about what Wavelength is and why she decided to create it as a platform to help others.

Highlights

• When Sarah gets a craving, she asks herself “What is it that I need now?” The answer is usually to take a break.
• Sarah suffered from internalized fatphobia.
• Gastric bypass surgery is a major surgery and can leave you with long-term negatives.
• The first few months there was pain and Sarah’s hair fell out. She threw up after almost every meal as she tried to learn to control her eating with the smaller-sized stomach.
• She wished she had known there were other paths.
• Sarah decided that she wanted bypass surgery in September and had it in December. Since her surgery was not being paid by insurance it was a fast path.
• There was very little in the process to protect her from making a poor decision for herself.
• Because of the shame and stigma involved, she kept the surgery a secret for 10 years.
• She lost a lot of weight quickly after the surgery and it did feel great but there was also some emotional struggle when people complimented her on her new look. Those compliments highlighted how much she was being judged before the surgery.
• Sarah lost about 80lbs but then the pouch started to stretch so she could eat a little more and she began to gain weight. It was a slow gain but after a few years, she was back to where she started.
• The things that Sarah thought that she needed for love were different than what she thought they were.
• Sarah realized that she needed to change her relationship with food.
• She started by obsessing about food and counting macros and scrutinizing everything that she ate. But then realized that was not healthy and started to try to understand the neuroscience behind eating.
• The food environment and system that we currently live in is having a huge impact on people.
• Eliminating shame is a critical step to mentally managing your eating and the process of changing the relationship with food.
• Understand that every emotion is a physiological experience.
• Wavelength tries to get you connected to the idea of yourself as a holistic being that is not contingent on how you eat, what your body looks like, etc.
• Wavelength takes all of the best research and makes it useful.

Resources Mentioned:
www.joinwavelength.com
www.feelingfull.com
Listen to Episode 1 wavelength
Obesity code, By Dr. Jason Fung
The body keeps the score
The body is not an apology

Today I am joined by Laura Schmidt Ph.D. to discuss how some tobacco companies took over the world’s largest food companies in the late sixties and early seventies. How junk food companies market their products to children and why regulation is key to solving the countries weight pandemic and much more. 

Topics Include:

• Sugar addiction
• Chronic diseases connected to sugar consumption
• Taxing sugar and soda
• Campaign finance reform
• Why will power isn’t enough to stop us from eating unhealthy foods
• Effective regulations
• Food versus food-like substances
• And other topics…

Laura A. Schmidt, Ph.D., is a Professor of Health Policy in the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. She holds a joint appointment in the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine She received her Ph.D. training in sociology at UC Berkeley and while there, completed doctoral coursework in public health, and holds a masters degree in clinical social work.  

Dr. Laura Schmidt works to understand how changing lifestyles are contributing to globally rising rates of chronic disease and seeks options on what to do about it. Dr. Schmidt bridges the worlds of biomedical research and population health in exploring the growing pressures of globalizing economies, rising inequality, and the marketization of products that are undermining our health. She is currently writing a book about the rise of corporate medicine in America. 

Resources Mentioned:
NY Times Paper – How Big Tobacco Hooked Children on Sugary Drinks
Website – https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu
Ted Talk – Why we can't stop eating unhealthy foods
USFC - Sugar, and other food industry documents

Today I am joined by Tommy Tomlinson to discuss food addiction, weight loss, how to feel good BEFORE you reach your target weight, strategies for sustainable weight loss, and much more. Tommy is an acclaimed journalist, author of The Elephant in the Room, and host of WFAE's SouthBound podcast.

“I can’t do so many things because I didn’t do the main thing”  Tommy Tomlinson

Topics Include:

• Growing up on the Southern American diet
• Being the biggest kid in class
• Making the connection between weight and health early in life
• The treadmill of diet plans
• Giving up. "This is just who I am"
• Addiction and overeating
• Sacrificing long-term wellbeing for short-term pleasures
• Finding a personalized weight loss plan that works
• Consistency over perfection
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Website: http://tommytomlinson.com
Podcast: SouthBound with Tommy Tomlinson
Book: The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson
Jared Lorenzen ESPN Article: You Can't Quit Cold Turkey by Tommy Tomlinson
Article: Everything you need to know about storytelling in five minutes by Tommy Tomlinson
Twitter: @tommytomlinson
Instagram: @tommyltomlinson

Today I am joined by intuitive coach and clinical hypnotherapist Melinda Jacobs to discuss tuning into our energy systems, living an embodied life, and much more.

"I release anything that's not mine to feel"  Melinda's Mantra

Topics Include:

• Cellular memory
• Working with the subconscious mind
• The nervous system of an empath
• Nature versus nature
• The Aurora, Colorado shooting
• Taking on other people's energy
• Energy work
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Website: www.quantum-therapeutics.com
Book: The body keeps the score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D
Article: 30 Traits of An Empath
FB: Melinda Jacobs
FB: Quantum Therapeutics

Today I am joined by BJ Fogg to discuss proven methods for behavior change, habit myths, why tiny habits and designed environments are the keys to behavior change, and much more. BJ Fogg is a research associate at Stanford University, and is the best-selling author of Tiny Habits.

Dr. BJ Fogg is a behavior scientist at Stanford, where he directs research and innovation at the Behavior Design Lab. He also teaches his models and methods in graduate seminars.

His early work on Persuasive Technology has informed the design of products that millions love and use every day (including Instagram, which one of his students co-founded)

BJ created a new method of habit formation called Tiny Habits®. Using his online platform and email, he has personally coached over 40,000 people in creating habits.

Topics Include:

• BJ's background as a behavior researcher
• Studying behavior design
• Why BJ champions simplicity for behavior change
• The origin story of Tiny Habits
• Two proven methods for behavior change–tiny habits, and designed environments
• The problem with motivation
• The identity shift necessary for long term behavior change
• What it means to live in personal integrity
• Deliberate self-reinforcement
• Why feeling good is the key to building good habits
• And other topics...

...

Resources Mentioned:
Book: Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
Website: https://www.bjfogg.com
Twitter: @bjfogg

To see an overview of BJ’s approach, see the Fogg Method.

To experience how behavior change works, join a Tiny Habits® session. It’s simple, powerful, and free. Sign up at http://tinyhabits.com/join

To learn his methods in Behavior Design, attend his Boot Camp. https://www.bjfogg.com/bootcamp

Today I am joined by Mike Gorman to discuss how mindfulness can help us lose weight and keep it off by empowering us to get in touch with our bodies and emotions. Mike shares what it was like to be 540lbs, and how paleo and ketogenic diets helped him lose weight and feel great in his body.

“It wasn’t that I ate in reaction to emotion. I ate to suppress my emotions. I ate to suppress everything.” - Mike Gorman

Topics Include:

• Early associations of weight with shame
• Losing weight, but not learning lessons
• Forming an identity around being "the fat guy"
• How Mike normalized his food addiction
• Dropping from 540 to 210 lbs
• Lapsing after more than two years of clean eating
• Poor health and hospitalization
• Losing the weight again
• How mindfulness has empowered Mike to keep the weight off
• Abstinence versus moderation
• Hunger versus craving
• Framing abstinence as choosing freedom
• Carrying a message of hope
• And other topics...

Resources Mentioned:
Coaching: https://www.theketoroad.com/coach-mike
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fat-guy-forum/id1472369190
IG: @gormygoesketo 
Twitter: @gormygoesketo

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Michael Breus (The Sleep Doctor) to discuss the connection between quality sleep and weight loss, how to find the sleep schedule that works best for your body, what you can do to sleep better tonight, and much more.

“Sleep is a lot like love, the less you look for it, the more it shows up,” Dr. Michael Breus

Topics Include: 

• Why we crave low-quality food when sleep-deprived
• How sleep deprivation changes the body
• A five-step sleep plan to support weight loss
• Sleep hacks for insomniacs
• Sleep chronotypes
• Intermittent Fasting
• Sleep hygiene
• An evening routine for better sleep
• And other topics...

Michael J. Breus, Ph.D. is a Clinical Psychologist and both a Diplomat of the American Board of Sleep Medicine and a Fellow of The American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He is one of only 168 psychologists in the world to have passed the Sleep Medical Speciality board without going to Medical School. Dr. Breus was recently named the top sleep specialist in California by Reader’s Digest, and one of the  10 most influential people in sleep.. Dr. Breus is on the clinical advisory board of  The Dr. Oz Show.  

For over 14 years Dr. Breus served as the Sleep Expert for WebMD. Dr. Breus also writes The Insomnia Blog and can be found regularly on Psychology Today, and Sharecare. 

Dr. Breus has been interviewed on CNN, Oprah, The View, Anderson Cooper, Rachel Ray, Fox and Friends, The Doctors, Joy Behar, The CBS Early Show, The Today Show, and Kelly and Michael.

Resource Mentioned:
The Power of When By Dr. Michael Breus
The Sleep Doctors Diet By Dr. Michael Breus
Find out your sleep type at Chronoquiz.com
Website: The Sleep Doctor
Dr. Michael on Instagram