The crew normalizes why sugar becomes the go-to “tool” for anxiety, boredom, and stress—and offers harm-reduction pathways that build capacity without shame. You’ll hear personal recovery pivots (like treating your recovery as seriously as your addiction), crowd-out strategies, micro-delays for cravings, and how to use community even if you don’t feel like it. This is practical hope: tiny, doable steps that add up.
What We Cover
• You’re not hopeless—you’re human: Brains repeat what works for relief. That’s learning, not moral failure.
• Add before you subtract: “Crowd out” by adding protein, fiber, and structure before trying to remove sugar.
• Environment tweaks (not ultimatums): Out of sight storage, partner hides, garage stashes, plating treats at the table vs. eating from the bag.
• Micro-delays for cravings: 10–20–60 seconds → a few minutes → an hour. Build the “wait” muscle.
• Choose your hard, but choose support: We rarely recover alone; groups, meetings, lives, or any community can be anchors.
• Treat recovery like it’s as big as the addiction: Boundaries around meal times, bedtime eating, social plans, and high-risk settings.
• Compassionate curiosity: If you do eat it, slow down, plate it, and notice what it’s solving—then find other ways to meet that need.
Practical Try-This List
• Protein + Produce First: Keep easy protein (rotisserie chicken, eggs, edamame) and a “default veg” ready three ways this week.
• Plate & Pause: If you’re having the thing, put it on a plate, sit at the table, and take 3 slow breaths first.
• 10-Second Ladder: Delay 10s → 30s → 2m. Text a friend while you wait.
• Out-of-Sight Ops: Ask a partner/roomie to store trigger foods out of view (garage, trunk, top shelf bin).
• One Boundary This Week: Pick a single non-negotiable (e.g., “no eating after 7pm” or “no eating in the car”).
• One Connection Anchor: Pick one community touchpoint (a meeting, live, or accountability check-in) and show up.
Host Insights
• Molly C.: “My recovery only started working when I treated it like the serious condition it was—my recovery had to be as big as my addiction.”
• Clarissa: “I didn’t have the skills yet, so I built a ‘home treatment’ season—invited people over when I didn’t want to, because it kept me safe.”
• Molly P.: “Years of tool-building mattered. Curiosity over shame lets you add supports first and make removal feel possible later.”
Key Takeaways
1. Hope is a skill you practice, not a feeling you wait for.
2. Add supportive structure before subtracting the substance.
3. Micro-wins compound. Ten seconds today can become an hour next month.
4. Community is medicine. You don’t have to like it to benefit from it.
Share your question or topic
Email: AskTheShrinks@FoodShrinks.com
If this episode helped, please follow, rate, and review—it helps others find the show and keeps these conversations going. 💜
The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.
