The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos - How to Eat Intuitively

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

Everyone has a view about what you should eat and how much. We're so bombarded with fad diets, fasting plans and nutritional advice that we can bounce from one way of eating to another without stopping to think: "What do I want to eat?" Psychotherapist Andrea Wachter endured years of disordered eating and obsessing about her weight, until she decided to heed her inner voice and what her body wanted to consume. She explains to Dr Laurie Santos how so-called intuitive eating can free us from both diets and overeating.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pushkin. to one global consumer survey, nearly half of people who made New Year's resolutions last year wanted to change what they ate and how much they exercised, with more than four in 10 specifically saying that they wanted to lose weight. And this time of year, there are lots and lots of outside voices that are ready to tell us exactly how we should fix our bodies. If you look at a magazine or your social media feed this month, you'll probably get bombarded with healthy eating ads claiming to have a scientific solution to the perfect beach body, or stories of people who successfully toned their butts with the latest fad diets. Every January, we're surrounded by concepts like keto and pegan

and intermittent fasting and belly blasting. And even if we know rationally that bellies probably aren't supposed to be blasted, it's really easy to get swept up by all those deafening, body-shaming voices and to think that we're going about something as fundamental as feeding ourselves in all the wrong ways. But if you think about it, all this body shame is kind of weird. Because we don't let outside voices tell us what to do when it comes to navigating our other bodily needs, like when to go to the bathroom or whether or not it's a good idea to put on a sweater if we're feeling cold. When it comes to

these physical requirements, we don't feel the need to look to social media suggestions or magazine ads. We just listen to our bodies in order to figure out what they need to feel good. Our guest today, author, psychotherapist, and Happiness Lab regular, Andrea Wachter, argues that it's time to start thinking about feeding ourselves in the same intuitive way that we think about other bodily needs. Andrea herself struggled for many years with disordered eating. She dieted, drastically restricting her intake of food, but also rioted, the phrase she uses to describe the eating binges she went on when she wasn't dieting.

It was a rollercoaster ride that took her decades to get off. Andrea has seen that taking time to listen to your wise inner hunger voice can help you avoid the shame that comes from outside diet advice. In fact, she's living proof that with some inner work, it's possible to not even hear all those loud diet voices. Truth be told, I don't keep up on those anymore. I used to know every single diet because I was on them. And now I don't even keep up because there's so many. I know a lot of people are doing the intermittent fasting and carrying scales to the restaurant.

I mean, there's just so many things, but so many of us have been hypnotized and programmed to think that we need to be a certain body size or weight. And that if we attain that certain magical number or size, we will be happy, we will be healthy, and we will even be more lovable. Nevermind if that size is even natural for us. But once we're programmed and we buy into the programming, which is hard not to buy into it, but once we're programmed, it causes us to cut ourselves off from our natural hunger and fullness and satisfaction and cravings. We have this innate knowing inside of us. We're not born thinking foods are good or bad or body sizes are good or bad. We get programmed. So like you say with the bathroom,

I have to go to the bathroom, I go. There's no shame involved. There's no pressure about it. Well, maybe bladder pressure. If I'm cold, I put on a sweater. It's not about my self-esteem, but because there's so much pressure and programming around body sizes, perfectionism, fat phobia, my okayness being based on my size, then it causes us to split ourselves off from this natural mechanism that tells us when, what, and how much to eat. It must be really frustrating at the start of the new year where you just see article after article and Google search after Google search about all these new weird diets when you've seen the answer isn't out there, it should be inside.

It is. It's sad to me because we're so seduced. And I would say to everybody listening, be prepared to be seduced by the new fad diets, the old fad diets. And we don't click on every ad that pops up on our screens. We don't buy every item that pops up. It's like to have the, not just courage, but the willingness to believe that if diets worked, they would have worked by now. The diet industry is the only industry I know of that continues to grow despite a huge failure rate, but people still believe in them. And so yes, when I hear people going on some new diet and they're even like high in the beginning from it, it's hard not to intervene, but I only

intervene with people who come to me for intervening. I don't go out and get them. So yeah, people are so seduced by diets. And I would say there's a very small percentage of people that they work for. I haven't met any of them, but I'm guessing there might be a few. But for most people, they cause obsession, they cause feeling unwell and malnourished, and then they cause riotous rebellion, if not full-blown eating disorders. And you're talking about this in the abstract, but this is something that you know personally, like you were under this spell a lot yourself, right? Completely, like in a trance from this spell, restricting, obsessing, and or binging.

I was caught in it for decades. And what was that like for your psychology, right? Because it's one thing to kind of, it's stressful for how you eat, but it's another thing because it really affects your flourishing too. It affects everything. It affected my thinking. I was so focused on body size and food, not only mine, but others, comparing and worrying about it, stressing about what I was going to eat or not eat. And then of course, being so unsatisfied and hungry that I was out of control so often. So I call it the diet riot rollercoaster. And I was riding that ride for a long, long time. And so what was your

turning point? Because this idea of turning to the internal signals we have when it comes to food, you know, it can be really scary. How did you find your way back to your own inner food voice? Well, I struggled for a really long time with an eating disorder. Some people have lesser severe disordered eating. And I'd gotten help for a really long time on those issues. And I've made a lot of progress, but I still had that leftover diet mentality and body dissatisfaction. And there was just this moment, I'll never forget it. There was this moment where I decided I wanted peace of mind and wellness more than I wanted

to be a certain number or a certain size. I was so tired of restrictive eating and chaotic eating. And I took this vow with myself. I was like, Andrea, do you take Andrea? I took this vow with myself that when I approach a food choice, whether it's walking into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, opening a menu at a restaurant, I am going to tune into the part of me that is wise and loving and just that knows. And prior to that vow, I had like a committee going

every time I approached a food choice. Is that the dieter? Should I eat that? Is that the writer? Is that too, is that over feelings? It was just like this whole big deal once I was trying to heal these parts of myself. But once I had this moment,

it was like, I'm just going straight to the love. I'm just tired of the battle. And I'll never forget it. I went to the store for the first time in my adult life and I just bought what sounded good to me. I went home and it was the first meal I can remember that I ate a non-restrictive, delicious, nutritious meal and I was totally satisfied. I mean, that sounds amazing, right? To kind of get off this roller coaster. But I think, you know, for many of us and, you know, even for you back in the day, like, I think it's really scary because there's so much information out there telling us, hey, this is the right way to

eat or that's a bad way to eat. You know, this is so out there in the culture. It was scary because I'd only known two modes. I'd only known like caged animal around food or animal breaking out of the cage. I really didn't have any reason to trust myself because I hadn't been very trustworthy with food, but I just knew and I kept reminding myself that I wanted peace of mind. And I didn't know what would happen to my body if I let go of that crazy rollercoaster, restricting and obsessing and binging, but I just decided I was willing to find out and willing to be kind to myself. You engage in this process after a lot of recovery work, but these days, this practice has become a little bit more popular in the field. Talk about this

idea of intuitive eating. Yeah. Intuitive eating, it's like a paradigm. It's a way of approaching wellness and food choices and taking care of yourself. That really encourages going inside for your cues rather than outside from all the rules. And it really is a commitment. It's quite a do-over for people that are used to going outside to get their ideas of how to eat, how to move, what to feel. It originated with these two authors that are dieticians and they wrote the book Intuitive Eating in the 90s. And it's still quite applicable today. We need it more than ever. So it's really about giving yourself permission,

but also being kind to yourself and feeding. The old paradigm has been that we're told what we're supposed to look like. And then we try to eat and exercise in a way that makes us look that way. But this paradigm is about feeding yourself and treating yourself respectfully and allowing your body to unfold into the body that nature intended for you. I mean, it sounds in some ways so simple, but it's so counterintuitive given so many of the other outside forces. I think another paradigm that's really connected to the intuitive eating approach is also this approach that's known as health at every size. What's that and how is it related to this idea of intuitive

eating? Health at every size, or they call it HAYS for short, is a long needed movement to end weight discrimination and to help people shift the assumption that all fat people are unhealthy. It's just simply not true. And both intuitive eating and health at every size promote practicing self-care, self-respect, feeding yourself non-restrictively and respectfully for the sake of well-being rather than for the sake of trying to be a certain size that might not even be meant for you. You know, you engage in this process after, you know, a lot of recovery work for eating and things like that. But these days, this practice has become a little bit more popular in the field, right? And, you know, so talk about this idea of intuitive eating, like a little bit of the history of this kind of program.

In practice, it's about becoming aware of diet mentality, being willing to acknowledge or even consider that diets don't work, that they're ineffective. If they worked, you would have been happily ever after after your first one. If they worked, you would have been happily ever after after your first one. And I'm guessing most listeners have been on more than one. Increasing your awareness of your body's needs, just like you're aware when you're thirsty, cold, have to go to the bathroom, starting to get to know, when am I hungry? What are those signals? What sounds delicious to me? What does my body need? Tuning into your body's signals around movement instead of I should exercise or I'm not getting off the couch. What does my body

want to do? And it takes a while to kind of peel off the layers and get through the brambles of diet mentality to really hear that voice. It's a soft voice inside, this knowing, loving wisdom. And these loud voices of diet mentality, body hatred, exercise rules can sometimes, often, sometimes slash all the time, drown out that soft inner knowing. Another problem with hearing those soft inner voices is that we have to actually be paying attention to them in our lives, right? And I feel like there's the noise of all these external signals of what we should be eating and our own inner diet mentality. But there's also just like the noise of our lives. There's probably some days that I don't notice I'm hungry because I'm like running

around and it sometimes just feels easier to eat by the clock or make a rule about what I'm going to eat because it's hard in a busy lifestyle to really pay attention to what your body needs. I mean, is this something that a lot of people who start intuitive eating seem to go through? Absolutely. It's like a symbol if you're struggling with feeding yourself or paying attention to yourself, look at your whole life, not just the food. Food issues are about so many more things because this is really a holistic approach. So it's almost like the body is the child and the wise mind and the respectful actions are the parents. And so, yes, if we're busy, if we're lost on screens, if we're not paying attention, if we're overworked, how can we take care of ourselves? But I would think most people,

if you have a child with a super busy day, school, after school things and sports, you would pack that child food. So it's being willing to take that time for ourselves. So let's kind of go even deeper because I think, you know, as we start to think about intuitive eating, I think a lot of people have even more specific questions about, you know, what are the kinds of things that count as part of intuitive eating and not. So many people, for example, think about the possibility of a particular way of eating. Let's say you're vegetarian or vegan, or let's say you want to give up a particular food group. Can that be done in the context of intuitive eating, or is that always restrictive?

No, I definitely think it depends on the motives. If somebody is cutting out a certain food because ethically that's important to them or because their body has an allergic response, they don't feel well when they eat that food, it's respectful not to eat that food. But if somebody's cutting out a food because they think it's too high in calories or fat, or they think it's not going to make them get to their goals, then it's very likely to cause obsession and preoccupation about that food and or rebellious eating on that food or every other possible food around that food. What about other forms of kind of paying attention to external cues, right? For example,

is weighing yourself consistent with intuitive eating? Is tracking other kinds of nutritional values, is that consistent with intuitive eating? I imagine it's kind of the same thing. I'm hearing it might be the motivation, the reasons why you're doing those kinds of tracking. And the effects they have. So if someone struggles with their eating and their body image, weighing is usually not helpful and actually often triggering because intuitive eating is about getting your answers from inside. Am I hungry? Am I tired? What do I need? Do I need fresh air? Do I want a sandwich? Do I want to rest? And a scale can't tell us that. And if anything, oftentimes people will get triggered by the number and it will lead them to restrict and or rebel from the feelings. So I think for someone who has body image issues and or disordered eating or an eating disorder, I don't recommend scales.

If anything, write down on a piece of paper, listen to your body, sweetheart, and then tape it on top of the scale. Those apps, those tracking apps, my response would be similar that if someone doesn't have listen to your body, sweetheart, and then tape it on top of the scale. Those apps, those tracking apps, my response would be similar that if someone doesn't have issues or a history of body shame, dieting, riotous eating, those tracking apps can be fun. My husband has one and he even enjoys looking at his steps or whatever that he tracks, I don't know. But an app can't tell me when I want to take a walk or when I want to lay down. That's up to me to know. So it really depends on what the app or the group or the scale, what they're aligned with. And the values here are

about self-care, not having a certain food that you should or shouldn't eat unless it's a loving motive, and not having a certain size that you should or shouldn't eat unless it's a loving motive, and not having a certain size that you should or shouldn't be. And so when we think about some of the benefits that come from eating this way, it's a different kind of benefit than we usually think about with this diet mentality, right? A lot of these keto, paleo, whatever the new thing is, the benefit that comes from that is supposed to be a certain body size, a certain number on the scale. Intuitive eating doesn't come with that benefit.

What are the benefits that come from eating this way? Yeah, that's a good question. There are a lot of benefits and the authors of intuitive eating have hundreds of studies on their website. I'm not affiliated with them, but if somebody cares to look into that, benefits are increased energy and clarity, obviously, if you're not starving yourself or stuffing yourself regularly. Decrease in disordered eating and eating disorders. Improved well-being, improved happiness, improved cholesterol levels. There's really a lot of benefits that have been shown for people who intuitively eat for an ongoing basis. I'm glad you mentioned this idea of things like reduced cholesterol too, because I think

when you're so used to the diet mentality, you assume that if you just ate what you wanted to eat, it would lead to these negative consequences in terms of your health. I mean, I think obviously people think in terms of the negative consequences for their body weight and the particular body weight they might be aspiring to be or something like that. I think we also assume that if we just let ourselves eat the way we'd want to eat, it'd be hot fudge sundaes every day, ruin your cholesterol, your numbers would go badly. But that's not actually what people see when they commit to eating with love for themselves and really paying careful attention to what this inner voice is saying. Right. Over time, because sometimes there's that rebellious response.

If someone's been dieting for years and now they're going to give themselves permission to eat, there can be this riotous reacting. But to me personally, that wasn't loving either. And when I was in my early years of healing, I even read books and worked with people that said, well, in order to get over this diet riot mentality, you have to just buy all your forbidden foods, load up your house, and eat as much of them as you want till you get sick of them. And that just didn't work for me. much of them as you want till you get sick of them. And that just, that didn't work for me. I ate till I got sick from them, not of them. And so that was not my path. My path was just to find what was loving and respectful and to deal with the unmet needs and underlying issues that,

dare I say, fed into my eating issues. So far, we've heard that intuitive eating, this practice of listening to what our bodies really need, comes with a host of benefits for our bodies and physical health, but also for our happiness levels. But intuitive eating can also be tough to do, at least at first. So when we get back from the break, we'll talk more about specific strategies we can use to stop focusing on inches or calories or pounds and move towards a more intuitive relationship with food. The Happiness Lab will be right back. on Bumble. More of you shamelessly sending playlists, especially that one filled with show tunes. More of you finding Gemini's because you know you always like them. More of you dating with intention because you

know what you want. And you know what? We love that for you. Someone else will too. Be more you this year and find them on Bumble. Psychotherapist, author, and insight timer app teacher andrea wachter has helped thousands of students find their wise inner eating voice so i was interested in what she recommends for beginners what are the first steps we should take when it comes to developing a more intuitive relationship with food well one of the first things that I do in my course is really try to diminish shame because if somebody has a problematic relationship with food and their body, they usually feel ashamed about it. So to try to help people see that they're not bad, that their

body and their eating are the kind of the innocent recipients of faulty and insane programming, because then people eat over the shame and they restrict over the shame. And so that's, to me, one of the first steps is really seeing that we've been duped and we've been taught that there's a certain body size that's okay and acceptable and that will bring you happily ever afterness. And it's not true. Then we dive into how to deal with your feelings, how to identify your feelings, how to become aware of your thoughts. And if they're not kind to consider challenging them, upgrading them, we update our phones all the time, updating our thinking. And it's really

all about awareness, right? I mean, that's the name of the game and the willingness. Like I took that vow back then, I wanted peace of mind and wellness more than I wanted to try to control my body. So for people to continually look at their values, is this working for me, spending so much time and energy trying to control my eating and my body size and or rebelling from the control? Or do I want to find another way? It does take work. It does take practice. It does take patience, but it's a whole huge do-over from what most people are doing. And so let's say you want to engage with this practice of intuitive eating, but you're like

not really feeling that intuitive or, you know, like, you know, you're a little worried, you're on the baby steps, you know, to doing it, you know, you sit down at a restaurant, right? You know, look at a menu, you know, any tips for what to listen to, to kind of make that choice? Well, I, for myself, when I was in the trenches, I would ask myself these questions. I think we did a whole podcast on one of them. I love these questions because it is so hard when you're immersed in diet mentality, it can kind of, it can drown out that inner knowing. So I found when I would ask myself, how would I feed someone I love who doesn't diet or riot? Because if you're thinking of feeding someone else, there's not

the shame there. There's just kind of wisdom and, oh, I would feed them this or this, or I know they love this or they like this. So how would you feed someone else you love who doesn't diet or riot? What feels the most loving for your body right now? What feels the most respectful for your body right now? It's not respectful to restrict and eat things you don't even like, and it's not respectful to stuff ourselves. It's just to tune into the kind voice inside. I also like to help people distinguish between the different internal voices that might be going on if they're sitting at a restaurant, but know that if you keep practicing, it won't be this much work. It gets more natural. So for most people, there's an inner dieter voice. I should eat that. I should order that. Oh, I shouldn't have that. That's bad. Oh, my friend is having that. I shouldn't have that inner dieter.

And then for a lot of people, there's the rioter from the dieter and that's, you know, I want 20 or I want it all or forget it. I'll have it when all, when I get home. And then there's this body wisdom. So to begin to ask themselves, try to connect with the different parts till you get to what feels loving, respectful, non-restrictive, delicious. What does my body truly want? And I think the act of doing that requires a certain kind of mindful attention in these moments of decision, right? My guess is that you're not going to get to that wise inner voice that can really tell you what you want if you're checking your email while you're pulling up the

menu or showing up to this meal in a completely frantic space. It takes a lot of intention and attention to kind of figure this out. As does everything. I mean, if we wanted to learn French, we wouldn't just go to class and be on our phones and expect to be fluent in two lessons, right? Anything we want to learn, it requires desire to learn it, the solution of what to learn, what to do instead of what we've been doing, and practice, practice, practice, and patience. Of course, when you say that, it makes absolute sense. Like, this is how we do anything important in life. But I think that's the contrast from what our culture is telling us. You know, our culture is telling us like, oh, if you just do intermittent

fasting, everything will be perfect, or just follow keto. Like, is there a sense in which people can get worried about intuitive eating because it is committing to this long process and this mindful process of paying attention? It's not a quick fix in the way that other kinds of external plans seem to be. That's true. And I would say, look at your history. If diets were effective, the first or maybe even second, I'll be generous, the second diet you went on would have done the trick. You'd be at the body size that you think would make you happy. You'd feel great. Your eating would be pleasurable and nourishing and not a big problem. You'd be happy with your body.

It's like the diets promise us all of these things and people still believe them because they're so seductive and they don't come true. They don't pan out. So it's questioning the diet rather than yourself. Another challenge people face is that if you've really been on this kind of diet mentality, diet riot rollercoaster for a long time, it can be hard to start, right? I think there's this real worry that, you know, if you really listened to what you wanted, you would be out of control. And so how do you kind of overcome this sort of shame and guilt that comes up, especially for people who've had a real struggle with eating history for a long time? Well, I think it's being willing to consider that even though your eating has been problematic, it's not the problem and that the problems are deeper.

And so to be willing to question the programming around body sizes, perfectionistic eating, perfectionistic looks, fat phobia, diet mentality, to begin to question those programs the same way we question other social issues we take a stand against social issues all the time or for social issues all the time so what's happened for so many people is they get bombarded with the diet mentality and body perfectionism and fat phobia and then they kind of side with the programming and turn against their poor bodies. But what we're talking about here is siding with your body and say no to those programs and decide that you want more peace. It will take time. It will take work. So is dieting and writing. I mean, that takes time too. And hating your body, that takes a lot of time. And then I think another worry that people have when they hear about intuitive eating,

I've heard friends of mine mention this, is like, especially if you have a history of diets, you know, it can feel easy to maybe turn intuitive eating into its own diet, right? Like, now I must eat intuitive. I must find inner voice. And I mean, do you see that with some of your students? Like, how do you prevent intuitive eating from becoming just another thing that we should be doing in our minds. I definitely see that. And we talk about that in the course classroom often. If someone has been dieting and or have diet mentality, you don't have to be on a diet, by the way, to have diet mentality. It's like I say in action or just reacting to food as good or bad. So that diet

mentality is so tricky and sticky. It's like it can be so subtle and come into even this new way of being with food. So I say to people, just keep an eye out for it. Keep an eye out for that perfectionism. I blew it. I have to start all over. I shouldn't have that. I should be a certain size. Just to kind of keep an eye out for the diet mentality statements that feel familiar and know that when you're learning something new, of course, it's challenging at first. It takes practice. And just to keep renewing your vows that we want peace here, if somebody wants that. That's the only reason someone comes to my course is because they're tired of battling with food and their body. So renewing that commitment

is because they're tired of battling with food and their bodies. So renewing that commitment again and again, oh, that's the reason I'm here, not to control my weight and not to continue on this diet track. And I think it sounds like also that that takes a lot of inner listening, right? You need to notice the like subtle judginess that's there or the subtle riotiness when you've kind of given yourself permission. And I think in some sense, like, you know, notice it without judgment, right? Without then keeping more shame onto yourself because that's not going to help the process. Right. Beating yourself up about beating yourself up. Yeah. Not helpful. Yeah. Absolutely. Noticing, being aware, and it doesn't have to be perfect, intuitive eating. Diets are about perfection. This is like not about perfection. It's just about continuing to be

willing to look inside, to be awake. We can't really learn anything if we're not awake. So it does definitely take being aware and being willing and renewing your commitment to why you're doing this. You've been using these practices for a long time and you've seen the benefits in your own students. How can this really change our relationship with food and our bodies? It brings freedom. There is so much more free time if you're not obsessing on your food or your body. It brings a feeling of wellness. It doesn't mean that we don't struggle with other things or get sick from other reasons, but it brings this sense of liberation that there's nothing to memorize.

There's nothing to calculate. I remember I just would have to work so hard to kind of keep track of what I ate and how much should I be eating now? And what time is it? Now it's just, the answers are inside. It's so simple. It's just like simple, but not easy. One place inside, same place I know if I'm thirsty

or hungry or tired or have to go to the bathroom, but it does take a lot of unlearning. So yes, it is so liberating and freeing. And that's what I hear from people. Often I hear from people that have been dieting and riding for decades and now they're feeling freer. And then a lot of grief comes up like that they wasted so much time obsessing on food and their body and to just have some freedom where you tune inside, you eat what you and your body love and like,

you stop when you're satisfied and comfortably full, and you deal with your feelings in other ways. And it's kind of ironic because I feel like people, when they go into the diet mentality, they're willing to learn some elaborate point system. They're willing to learn how many carbs a slice of pepperoni has. They're willing to learn and put lots of time into some new workout. Intuitive eating kind of is the same. If you just put in the time and listen, you'll get this benefit that won't have the blowback

later. A hundred percent. And how much I weighed and how many fat grams were in a cookie and what, yeah, exactly. The other day, I had bought some cookies a couple of weeks ago from a bakery that my husband and I love. And I ate a few when I got home and then I put them in a Tupperware. And about a week or so later, he said, I'm starting to finish up these cookies. Do you want to get in on any before they're gone? And I had completely forgotten about them. And I thought, there you go.

I mean, I would have been possessed by them, eaten them all on the way home, told myself I can't have any. Cookies and I had a very difficult relationship in the past, but just that I could forget about them, enjoy them when I had them, and then was not possessed by them. I say no more. I think part of it is that we get really seduced by the hope of a new diet and maybe in some cases, even the kind of veneer of science that comes with some of these diets that are out there.

But I think there's also a deep skepticism of our own inner voice. You know, I've heard people who hear about intuitive eating will say, yeah, other people have an inner voice when it comes to food, but not me. Like I'm always going to be this ravenous pit that's riotous all the time. I mean, do you get that in your students of people who just simply don't trust that the inner voice is in there and that they'll find it. Right. But we've been brainwashed to believe that a certain body size will bring us happiness, health, and forever afterness of everything. And so that brainwashing is thick. So it takes a lot of washing our brains of those beliefs, those programs. They're so deep for so many people. Because if you look at it, well, if someone says to themselves, I've been dieting on January 1st for the last however many years, and then it ends up, I end up failing the diet thinking I'm the failure. I end up blowing it. I end up rebelliously eating. I end up hating myself. How many years in a row have I done that? And now I'm going to try it again, but it's not your fault.

The diet industry, the fitness industry, the media, they got us right where they want us. So it's really taking a stand against those messages instead of taking a stand against your poor body. I hope all my listeners can start following Andrea's advice and commit to shutting out those outside diet voices and listening to what your body truly needs in the new year. And if you want to learn more, you should check out some of Andrea's courses on the Insight Timer app, including my favorite, Making Peace with the Body You Live In.

Next week, we'll tackle ways to listen to another quiet voice that often gets drowned out in the midst of all our New Year's plans and goals. It's the voice that tells us that we'd probably feel better if we could be a little less critical of ourselves. We'll meet a psychologist who thinks we should commit to a new workout, one that exercises our positive self-talk muscles, and that doing so can help us be a little kinder to ourselves in the new year.

We'll see just how to do that in the next special New Year's season episode of The Happiness Lab with me, Dr. Laurie Santos. in the next special New Year's season episode of The Happiness Lab with me, Dr. Laurie Santos. The Happiness Lab is co-written by Ryan Dilley and is produced by Ryan Dilley and Courtney Guarino. The show was mastered by Evan Viola and our original music was composed by Zachary Silver.

Special thanks to Shane Beard, Greta Cohn, Nicole Morano, Morgan Ratner, Maggie Taylor, Jacob Weisberg, my agent Ben Davis, and the rest of the Pushkin team. The Happiness Lab is brought to you by Pushkin Industries and by me, Dr. Laurie Santos.