What I'm Tuning Into [Favorite Podcasts]

I’m a podcast junkie. 

I listen to them while I cook, clean, walk, drive and ride the bus. They make washing dishes, folding laundry and sitting in traffic so much more enjoyable.

I love how podcasts enrich my life. They fill my mind with new ideas and different perspectives, inspire me to take a different path, help me better understand myself, make me laugh, cry and ponder, and nourish my soul.

I listen to a variety of podcasts from Fresh Air and Freakonomics to Dear Sugar. Here are a few of my favs in the realms of health and well-being that you may enjoy as well:

Psychology of Eating
Breakthrough coaching sessions with Marc David, one of my teachers and the founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Covers topics from cravings and emotional eating to chronic dieting and body image.

Tara Brach
Weekly dharma talks and guided meditations by Tara Brach, a well-known, warm, wise and witty meditation teacher, author and psychologist.

The Splendid Table
An enlightening and entertaining show on all things food, from culture and politics to history and cooking tips. I also enjoy The Sporkful, America’s Test Kitchen Radio and Bon Appetit Foodcast.

Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Tips on how to make and break habits, and live an overall happier life, from New York Times best-selling author Gretchen Rubin and her sidekick sister. 

On Being
Krista Tippett asks big questions on the meaning of life in her provocative conversations with a range of thought leaders from artists, authors and activists to philosophers, researchers and scientists.

10% Happier
Newsman and author Dan Harris talks with smart people about mindfulness and meditation for fidgety skeptics.

Perhaps one or some of these podcasts will resonate with you, too, and provide some good company on your next summer road trip.

Happy Listening!

She Can Eat Whatever She Wants; I Gain Weight Just Looking at Cake

Do you often find yourself sinking into compare-and-despair mode?

In the realm of food and body, it sounds something like this:

• It’s so unfair that she can eat whatever she wants and not gain a pound. I gain weight just looking at cake.
• I’ll never look that good in a swimsuit; her stomach is way flatter than mine.
• Why can’t I have as much willpower as she does when it comes to sugar?
• Everyone in my yoga class is so fit and toned; I’m embarrassed of my flabby body.
• It’s so easy for him to lose weight. Why does it have to be so hard for me?

While it’s human nature to compare yourself to other people, the comparison game usually backfires. When your comparison puts you on the losing end, it often leads to feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, isolation, jealousy, desperation, despair and depression.

Quite simply, comparison is the death of joy.

Comparing yourself to others is a disempowering, futile act that results in unnecessary stress, struggle and suffering. However, rather than judge yourself for falling into the comparison trap (you are human, after all!), you can stop yourself from continually going down this path of self-attack.

Here’s one of my top strategies for ending compare and despair:

Start a gratitude journal.

Every day, write down a handful of things you’re grateful for—big and small. Be sure to include things you appreciate about your body.

For example, recent body-related entries in my gratitude journal included:

• My heart for beating all on its own.
• My eyes for allowing me to witness the magnificent sunrise.
• My strong legs for taking me on a gorgeous coastal hike.
• My arms for enabling me to hug my loved ones.
• My tongue for tasting the delicious dinner I made tonight.

By taking time to reflect on and appreciate all that’s good in your life—including what you cherish about your body—you’ll boost your positivity, improve your body image, elevate your overall well-being, and be much less inclined to compare yourself to others.

This certainly has been the case for me, and for my clients. But don’t just take my word for it—try it out for a few months and see for yourself.

This Crushed My Dream of Becoming a Solid Gold Dancer...

In my tween years, I loved to watch Solid Gold. I’d leap around my family room mimicking the dancers’ provocative moves. I fantasized about becoming one of them, until…

…I heard that Solid Gold dancers couldn’t weigh more than 100 pounds.

I don’t recall where this rumor came from, but I’ll never forget it. It crushed my dream and instilled in me the belief that to be a hot, sexy female, I needed to keep the scale from tipping past 100 pounds. With a naturally pudgy belly, I had a feeling this would be tough for me.

Faulty Formulas
In my teenage years, I learned a new “formula” for calculating a woman’s ideal weight: 100 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, and then an additional 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet.

At 5’ 5”, this meant that if I weighed more than 125 pounds, I would be considered overweight.

I’m pretty amazed at how deeply ingrained in my brain this calculation became. And how much unnecessary suffering it caused me. And I’m not alone. Many other women often recite this same formula when I ask them how they determine how much they should weigh.

It’s sad that so many of us bought into such a simplistic formula that doesn’t take into consideration so many key factors, such as genetics, race, age, bone density, muscle-fat ratio and your state of health.

Just because someone is thin, it doesn’t mean they are healthy. When I was at my lowest weight and living on dry toast and fruit (while bingeing on cookies), I was anything but healthy.

Don’t even get me started on the BMI.

Finding Your Natural Weight
No formula or person can or should dictate your weight. Healthy, beautiful bodies come in all shapes and sizes and all bodies deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and care.

I no longer rely on an external tool, formula or myth that discounts the incredible uniqueness of my body to tell me what I should weigh. 

Instead, I’ve discovered that by trusting my innate body wisdom, including honoring its needs and desires for food, rest, movement and more, my body will settle at its natural weight—one that I can maintain without struggle, deprivation, rigid rules or hypervigilance.

I will never meet the rumored criteria for becoming a Solid Gold dancer or our society’s standards for the perfect body, but that’s okay. I’d rather love, accept and care for the body I’ve been blessed with than waste one more minute trying to shape shift it into something it was never meant to be.

I wish the same for you.