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

Dr. Mark Hyman (0:00)

That this is not just a matter of being weak-willed or not having willpower. Our brains and our microbiome have all been hijacked by the food industry.

Dr. Rachel Goldman (0:08)

So I think the first thing is to acknowledge that it's not your fault, and then to focus on what's in your control. So obviously, there are some health behaviors that are in our control. We know that lifestyle is so important. And what can I do about this now? You know, I think there's a difference between why me, why is this happening to me, which isn't gonna get us anywhere, as opposed to now, what's in my control? What can I do? What is an action I could take to move one step closer to reaching whatever goal it is that somebody has?

Dr. Mark Hyman (0:36)

Welcome, Rachel, to The Dr. Hyman Show. So good to have you here.

Dr. Rachel Goldman (0:40)

Thank you so much. I'm honored to be here with you today.

Dr. Mark Hyman (0:42)

Okay, your work's really important because it covers an area about food that often doesn't get discussed, which is not what to eat or what's good or bad to eat, but more about our relationship to food, the psychology of eating and nourishing ourselves, and the challenges that a lot of people face around the relationship to food. And often people have a very dysfunctional relationship to food, and often people are struggling with cravings, with food noise, with just dysregulation. And that's why we see 75% of Americans overweight. We see people struggling with weight. We see this craze of GLP-1 drugs that have taken off that are exploding as people are looking for a way to kind of interrupt this cycle of addiction and craving and food noise and also emotional eating.

I mean, I've done that for sure. I'm stressed, tired. I'm like, God, I just want a pint of ice cream right now. Give me a pint of Chunky Monkey. I'll be good.

I kind of want to kind of talk about how, even though we know more about nutrition than ever before, why is changing the way we eat so difficult? What are we missing about food noise, about cravings, about willpower? What have we got wrong about it? How do we need to rethink our whole relationship to food? We'll sort of get into the details of it, but I want you to kind of give us a little land here.

Dr. Rachel Goldman (2:03)

Yeah, and you're right. So many people struggle with their relationship with food, their relationship with their body, as well as emotional eating. I'm actually glad that you mentioned that you've done it before, because we've all participated in emotional eating before. And I know we'll dive into more of kind of why it matters, when it matters and what to do about it. But I think what's really important to just bring up is that knowing what to eat isn't the problem, like you said, right? But being able to do it consistently is two different things, right? Like we know what to do.

Knowing what to eat and being able to do it consistently are two different things. And I think that's really important to remember because people know what to eat. There's not an information problem. There's not a lack of knowledge out there.

But it's how to do the behavior change. And it's not just simply willpower, right? There's so much more to it and it's so much more complex than that. And I think that's what people are missing, is that. And then I know we're going to dive into it so much more.

Dr. Mark Hyman (3:06)

People feel like often this sort of not just poor relationship to food, but to their bodies. And it's kind of this vicious cycle. And why do people feel so uncomfortable in their bodies? Why are they like, even if maybe nothing is wrong with them, why do they feel kind of not cool?

Dr. Rachel Goldman (3:24)

Right. And it's unfortunate.

So many individuals struggle with body image.

But if we think about it, it makes sense. Society has told us for years, or rather all the time, that we should, should I put it air quotes, that we should look a certain way. It's whatever media is showing us, whatever the celebrities are showing us. And we are throwing these messages at a very young age. And eventually when we hear the same message over and over and over again, we begin to internalize it and we compare ourselves to others. And then we think we're not good enough if we don't look like, maybe what the celebrity looks like or what the influencer looks like. So it is, it's so challenging and difficult for individuals today, especially, but always with body image because of the messages that we are given. And those messages could be obviously at home also, but then there's the media, the magazines, the social media and everything else as well.