Episodes

4d ago

If you’ve ever felt wildly inspired, full of ideas, and unable to slow down—I see you. I’ve been living there lately myself. In this vlog, I share a practice I’m using to transform that “rev” into something calmer, steadier, and deeply joyful—without losing the magic of creativity. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/i4hahb Channel Excitement Into Gratitude | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 10

If you’ve ever wondered whether your struggles could actually become the source of your strength, this vlog is for you. I’m open about my past—and how I learned to rewrite my story into something extraordinary. Here, I show you how to make meaning out of your own challenges and struggles. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/0m9bzy Meaning Making | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 3

If you lived through childhood trauma, you’ve likely heard of Anna Runkle. The million-plus subscribers at her YouTube channel, Crappy Childhood Fairy, have used her ideas and encouragement to heal. She’s also a Bright Lifer, and in my conversation with her, we talked about the overlap in the two programs, as well as nervous system healing, CPTSD, and the daily practices that transformed her life. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/rqxuh4 Healing Trauma: An Interview with Anna Runkle | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 26

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S., and there are people with food addiction who will think that they can eat something “just this once” and not face consequences. I’ve run this experiment myself, many times, and unfortunately, it doesn’t pan out well. In this vlog, I share the science behind why that’s the case. The solution? I share that, too. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/8x4dgj The Best of The Weekly Vlog: Food Addiction Amnesia| Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast Food Addiction Amnesia was originally published on March 20, 2024: https://www.brightlineeating.com/podcasts/bright-line-living-the-official-bright-line-eating-podcast/episodes/2148570490

Nov 19

In this “Best of the Vlog” favorite from 2021, I share an analogy that highlights why and how food addiction is so stubbornly pernicious. If you have been working your program as best you can but still find yourself cycling, this vlog’s for you. In it, I have a suggestion that may help you break the cycle. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ph6tor The Best of The Weekly Vlog: The Acne Analogy | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast The Acne Analogy was originally published on September 22, 2021: https://www.brightlineeating.com/podcasts/bright-line-living-the-official-bright-line-eating-podcast/episodes/2147779189

Nov 12

When I was an undergrad, I learned about something called a declaration , which is a type of speech that changes reality. Like the phrase “you’re fired.” When you’re in maintenance, a declaration can help you keep your Lines Bright and clear, avoiding fuzziness and lost clarity. In this vlog, I explain how that works. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/djsryj Food Plan Clarity | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 5

In our first session of The Resourced Self, I taught a technique called the butterfly hug, and people LOVED it. In this vlog, I explain what this easy, fun, and effective technique is, and fill you in on the science behind it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/bdagro All About the Butterfly Hug | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 29

Travel can be stressful and complicated, but that doesn’t mean your food should be. If you’ve struggled to stay Bright while you’re on the road (or in the plane or on the boat…), this vlog is for you. In it, I share three tips that make frequent travel solid and manageable…hard-won lessons that I learned from years of hitting the road frequently and finally finding the magic formula that works to keep me squeaky-clean Bright. Download Susan’s Nightly Travel Checklist templates. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/pkivkb Advanced Travel Tips | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 22

It’s not uncommon to feel your world starting to narrow in when you first start Bright Line Eating. Suddenly, you have food limits and may feel isolated in social situations. It can feel very confining and restrictive. But I’m happy to tell you it doesn’t last. In fact, recovery is shaped like an hourglass, and your horizons will soon expand. In this vlog, I share what that may look like. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/zpvkx6 The Best of The Weekly Vlog: The Hourglass Shape of Recovery | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast The Hourglass Shape of Recovery was originally published on March 11, 2020: https://www.brightlineeating.com/podcasts/bright-line-living-the-official-bright-line-eating-podcast/episodes/2147779266 Historical note: When Susan and her five friends went to Toronto, the news of an illness was in the media but it was unclear how worrisome it was. As they drove back to Rochester, NY from Toronto, COVID lockdowns happened. They were some of the last people from the USA to get across the border from Canada.

Oct 15

In my next book, Maintain, I’ll be talking about the art of keeping weight off over the long term. One way to accomplish that is by doing your inner work. What does that mean, though? In this vlog, I explain what people are talking about when they say they’re doing their inner work, and offer you some concrete examples of what it looks like. This vlog was originally published on October 15, 2025. Registration for this course has closed. The Webinar and Masterclass are no longer available. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/mkdxg7 The Inner Work | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 8

In this fan-favorite vlog, we look at an important question: Is it really true when they say once a food addict, always a food addict? You may be doing great with your Bright Lines and wonder if you can go back to eating the way you used to—but is that safe? There’s some good science that answers that question, and in this vlog, I share what the research tells us. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/hsvzuv The Best of The Weekly Vlog: Once a Pickle, Always a Pickle | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast Once a Pickle, Always a Pickle was originally published on March 21, 2018: https://www.brightlineeating.com/podcasts/bright-line-living-the-official-bright-line-eating-podcast/episodes/2147779365

Oct 1

In this “Best of the Vlog” offering, I talk about how to support others in our community, and people in general. The top rule? Never give advice. Never. But, you say, how can I help them then? Watch the vlog to see what you should do instead to provide loving, compassionate support—it’s way easier and it helps way more. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/d22ou4 The Best of The Weekly Vlog: How to Provide Loving Support | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast How to Provide Loving Support was originally published on May 16, 2019: https://www.brightlineeating.com/podcasts/bright-line-living-the-official-bright-line-eating-podcast/episodes/2147779306

Sep 24

The World Health Organization is RIGHT NOW considering the addition of food addiction to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the globally recognized manual of physical and mental disorders. Why should this matter to you? Because you can play an important role in letting them know why it’s vital that we take this step! In this vlog, I explain it all. Click here to download the PDF with instructions on how to submit your opinion. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/lxyudx Let’s Get Food Addiction Into the ICD! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 17

In this week’s vlog, I talk about an exciting new opportunity for those who want to take their program to the next level, or who need to restart their program when they’ve drifted off. Whatever your reason, you can benefit from the powerful new course we’ve created to support you. Click here to access the MiniClass. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/brxpse How to Restart Bright Line Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 10

In this fan-favorite “Best Of” vlog, I answer a question from Susan, who is retired and often takes spontaneous trips that make it hard for her to write down her food beforehand. Is this ever a good idea? Find out when it’s a sane choice to allow some flex in your food planning, and when it’s not. Sane Choices was originally published on November 1, 2017: https://www.brightlineeating.com/podcasts/bright-line-living-the-official-bright-line-eating-podcast/episodes/2147779385 FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/sconob The Best of the Weekly Vlog: Sane Choices | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 3

In this “Best Of” vlog, I talk about how important the hours of evening are in helping you to maintain your Bright, beautiful life. In fact, we say that the day begins not at sunrise—but at sunset the day before. Why is this the case? Find out more in this classic vlog that’s proven popular since I shot it several years ago. The Day Begins at Sunset was originally published on August 2, 2023. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ycd4wn The Best of The Weekly Vlog: The Day Begins at Sunset | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 27

A Bright Lifer wrote in with a question about affirmations: Do they really work? The answer isn’t a simple “yes” or “no.” Researchers have uncovered some interesting factors that play a role in their efficacy. Sometimes they help, and sometimes they actually hurt. In this vlog, I take a look at that research and share exactly what you can do to make sure you’re getting benefit from your affirmations, and not unintentionally undermining your Bright mindset. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/nipuvm Do Affirmations Really Work? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 20

You’ve probably noticed that health insurance costs have increased astronomically over the past decade as diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-related chronic illnesses ravage our health and our pocketbooks. More recently, the cost of GLP-1 drugs has exacerbated the problem. We want to help, and I know we can. In this vlog, find out what we’re doing to break into a completely new sector for us—in a way that everyone benefits. Contact us to learn more about how Bright Line Eating can benefit your company. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ynv7zy Health Care Costs Are Exploding and Bright Line Eating Has an Answer | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 13

This week, I’m introducing a new series of “Best Of” vlogs. Our first one is literally the #1 vlog that Bright Lifers say they refer to again and again. In it, I discuss what happens when you’ve been Bright, but then give in to the little voice that says, one bite won’t hurt … That’s called intermittent reinforcement. Learn what the science says about why it can indeed hurt you to give in to food cravings, even just once in a while. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/1ysucs The Best of The Weekly Vlog: Intermittent Reinforcement | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast Intermittent Reinforcement was originally published on September 23, 2020.

Jul 30

Body positivity can be hard. We’re programmed by society to think negatively about our bodies from an early age. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this vlog, I share a new story you can tell yourself that might just reprogram your thoughts and feelings about your body at the deepest level. This story helps me to think the best about my body…and it may just help you, too. Watch to learn more. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ozn56r Developing a Positive Body Image | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 23

How do you determine if something is an addiction or a bad habit? The DSM-5 has 11 criteria they use to help diagnose addictions. Having even a few of those may indicate addiction. But there’s another criterion I use to help determine whether something is a bad habit or an addiction. Watch this week’s vlog to find out what it is. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/4ms87c What’s the Difference Between a Bad Habit and an Addiction? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 16

Read the research paper here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1586490/full This week, I have another article to share with you from Frontiers in Psychiatry. In this one, we talk about using an abstinence-based model—like Bright Line Eating—with those who have eating disorders, such as bulimia. Does it work? Watch the vlog to find out how my own story may help you to understand the nuances involved. Read the research paper here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1586490/full FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/hqszrq Abstinence-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 9

I’m excited to announce that we’ve just published a paper in the prestigious journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. It outlines the results of a six-year follow-up survey of people who did the Bright Line Boot Camp in 2017. What we discovered is exciting and gratifying—and I share it with you in this week’s vlog. Read the research paper here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12169135/ FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/3w5esg 6-Year Follow-Up Research on Bright Line Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 2

Can you have an allergy to sugar, flour, or unmeasured food quantities? It all depends on your definition of “allergy.” In this week’s vlog, find out what allergies are when you’re talking about food addiction, and why an allergy mindset can help you make your Bright Life possible. Take the Masterclass! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/cqrpll The Allergy Model of Addiction | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 25

Someone wrote in and asked whether people who have a more intuitive, creative, spontaneous personality type can succeed with Bright Line Eating. She pointed out that BLE seems to be a natural fit for people who gravitate toward structure, order, and discipline, but what about the rest of us? I relate to this so much! Watch this week’s vlog to hear my answer. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/nm62oz Can You Do BLE With a More Freewheeling Personality Type? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 18

This week we’ll be addressing a provocative question: How do weight-loss drugs affect romantic relationships? In 2018, a study out of Sweden looked at bariatric surgery outcomes for long-term romantic relationships. They found that those who had the surgery and were married were significantly more likely to get divorced afterwards, while those who were single were significantly more likely to enter into a long-term relationship. Furthermore, the degree of weight loss predicted the changes—the more weight someone lost, the more likely they were to divorce if they were married, or find a partner if they were single. As far as I know, no comparable study has been done with GLP-1 drugs. But earlier this year, the New York Times published an article by Lisa Miller, who interviewed more than two dozen people who were on GLP-1 medications to talk about their relationship challenges. The article focused on one couple, Jeanne and Javier. Jeanne was 53 and had fatty liver disease. She started taking Zepbound and lost 60 pounds—and her marriage utterly changed. At the time of the article, she and her husband had not had sex since she went on the medication. Not once. Both said that the time since she went on the drug has been the hardest in their 15-year marriage. Jeanne reported that the weight-loss drugs gave her her “no” back. She’s a people pleaser, but now she wasn’t afraid to say no—to sex, to staying out late with friends, to alcohol. She and Javier started to fight. The article doesn’t wrap up what will happen to them, but said that suddenly they’re talking about divorce. What are the factors here? Are weight-loss drugs taking away people’s sex drive? Studies on that are mixed, with no clear conclusions. What else could be going on, then? One factor is that weight-loss drugs shift people’s identities. For Jeanne, her identity as a people pleaser went away. She found her no. Another factor: the couples with better outcomes had some looseness in how they navigated things like mealtimes. For example, couples who didn’t eat together fared better than those where dinner was a big production. Couples who were not in lockstep, with relaxed expectations for each other, were better off after the weight-loss drugs came into their lives. The article also got into how some couples split up because the weight loss suggested a change in social status. Data shows that couples are often matched in social desirability and physical attractiveness. So, when one person loses a lot of weight, it may mean their social desirability increases, causing a loss of balance in the relationship. Lastly, there are hormonal changes. Hormones affect our behavior, our thoughts, and our moods, and a lot of them are made and stored in fat. When you lose weight, they are impacted. At Bright Line Eating, we help lots of people lose weight. We help them change when and how much they eat and how they relate to food. This may break social contracts that people have in their relationships. The article talked about how sometimes that weight loss isn’t attractive to the partner. This can be a challenge, too. I lost 60 pounds 22 years ago, and I was married at that point for 3 or 4 years. We survived it—but it was hard. So I appreciate how the light is starting to shine on how weight loss and weight-loss drugs can impact primary relationships. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/2kzrra How Weight-Loss Drugs Impact Romantic Relationships | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 11

I’ve been thinking about weight-loss drugs and long-term weight-loss maintenance. If you’re curious about how these two pair together, you’ll want to watch this video. Last weekend, I submitted the completed first draft for my fifth Bright Line Eating book, called Maintain . It’s about the shift needed to sustain lifelong weight loss. In it, I wrote about weight-loss drugs. It’s clear they are not going to solve the obesity pandemic. Why? Because people aren’t staying on them. 85 percent of people go off them within two years. People see them as a short-term fix, and then regain the weight when they stop using them. The way to keep weight off is to lose it, and then keep doing whatever you did to lose it. This relates to the first of three identity shifts I talk about in the book. You’ve got to become someone who is not dieting, but instead is devoted to a lifestyle change. Diets are a temporary quick fix. But with a lifestyle change, you’re looking at a new way of life. It’s the difference between giving up meat for Lent and becoming a vegetarian. You’ve got to become devoted. The second identity shift is that you’ve got to become resourced, meaning that you’re not using food as a crutch. You’re not eating for every emotion, or getting into food when life becomes lifey. You’ve developed other resources for coping with emotions. Finally, you’ve got to become liberated, meaning you are willing to face what your life will be like without the food and weight struggle, and fill that space with beautiful, Bright pursuits. People generally don’t think of weight-loss drugs as a long-term thing. I assembled a couple of hundred people on Zoom recently who were on or considering weight-loss drugs. I asked the people who were currently on a GLP-1 medication how many planned to stay on them, and 76 percent said no. These people had not crafted a long-term program. Which ultimately means they’re on a diet. Here’s what works: a three-pronged system: food, habits, support. You need a food plan. If you take the Food Susceptibility Quiz, at foodaddictionquiz.com, you’ll get a number from 1-10. 10 means you have a brain that is profoundly addicted to food. Your approach to food needs to factor that in when looking at solutions. You need habits around healthy living. Sleep, gratitude, and self-care habits. You may need habits around meditation and human connection. In the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp, I talk about these habits and guide you in setting them up. Lastly, you need support , a community of people walking this journey with you. People you can call when you’re afraid of the number on the bathroom scale, and so much more. So, where do weight-loss drugs fit in? If you can’t stick to a program because of cravings and hunger, weight-loss drugs can be a tool to help you work your program. But expect to use them for the long term. Whether there are exceptions to this is something we’ll see in the coming years. What works for maintenance is whatever you did to lose weight. Long-term maintenance means doing what takes the weight off, using the three-prong path. If you have relapsed or can’t seem to manage a consistent plan, you may want to consider a weight-loss drug. If you absolutely insist on getting off of them, I would encourage you to reach maintenance, stay on the drugs for at least two years, and then slowly wean off. We’re on this journey together. I’m watching the relationship between these drugs and food addiction, and advise you that whatever method you use to lose weight, keep doing it. I’ve created a new video series, called Weight-Loss Drugs and Beyond: What Really Works for Lifelong Success. I talk about the latest research, side effects, and more. In it, I tell you how you can get the effects of drugs—without using them. I invite you to join our new Boot Camp Cohort to find out more. I’d also like to ask you to answer one quick question at the link below, about how you feel about weight-loss drugs. That will get you free access to the video series. I’m glad we’re all on this journey together, and I love you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/zqxbgp How to Use Weight-Loss Drugs With Bright Line Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 4

In this vlog, I want to talk about how to manage the “muchness” of life, especially if you have multiple priorities—a job, family, and more—and fitting it all into your Bright life feels overwhelming. I’d like to share with you some insights I’ve gained in the past week about structuring my days, and especially my evenings. I struggle chronically with over-busyness. Sometimes I feel like I’m just treading water and can barely keep my head above water. But recently, I talked with one of my life coaches, Clive Prout. I told him I’ve been feeling overwhelmed, but I didn’t think there were any breakthroughs possible, because I’m not willing to get rid of any of my major “buckets” of activity that I’m devoted to. I’m committed to everything: my family, my job, my body work, and more. I knew it was all too much, but didn’t think I could take any of it away. Clive helped me realize something about how I live my Bright days, and it blew my mind that I’d never noticed this before. The first three hours of my day, after my alarm goes off at 5:12, are strictly scheduled. I have a support call at 5:30, meditation at 6 am, then breakfast—and it goes on. I know where every minute of my morning is spent. Between 8:30 and 4:30, it’s also true; I know what I’m doing every hour. But after 4:30, I couldn’t tell you what I’m doing. I never noticed this before, probably because I do have an evening routine. I finish up in my office, I pray, I go through a mental gratitude list, and then get in bed for my nightly readings, 5-year journal, and Nightly Checklist. It all seemed structured to me. But I was in total denial about when all that happens. I intend to get to bed at 9:30 every night, but my Oura Ring told me I wasn’t getting to sleep until nearly 11. I was averaging only 6 hours and 22 minutes of sleep over the past several months—not enough! Working with Clive, I realized my mornings are structured because there are people I need to work with. I’m committed to being there for them. But commitments to myself feel more flexible. So, during my coaching call, I declared that from now on, it’s lights out at 9:30. I committed to that. Then I made a nightly office checklist to streamline my process of shutting down for the day. The first night I did this, I thought it would take me an hour to shut down my office, but at the hour mark, I wasn’t even half done. No wonder it was taking me so long to get to bed! Now, with the checklist, I am clearer about what needs to be done. I can get through it faster. And, because I know the lights need to be out at 9:30 p.m., no excuses, I cut corners and move faster when necessary. So now the lights are going out at 9:30 and I’m getting an hour’s more sleep. My readiness score skyrocketed, and I feel great. For me, structure works. For this time of my life, with three teens still at home who are a priority and a career I’m devoted to, a 25-year marriage, and an aging body that needs attention, I’m committed to a lot of things these days. And structure is key. What about people who aren’t structured? For example, people who are Ps rather than Js on the Myers-Briggs? Believe it or not, I’m one of those—a high P, which is someone who doesn’t prefer structure. I’ve learned, however, that accepting some structure in my life lets me get the things done that I need to do. Without structure, I’m flailing. So I’ve come to prefer structure because that’s how I make things work. I offer this to you if you’re like me, with lots of commitments, and you’re trying to live Bright and still show up for everything. For me, structure is key. My evening Bright Line bedtime is making it all work. I offer this as an anecdote and data point to see if it might feel helpful for your life as well. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/pjh5bd Bright Line Bedtime | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 28

Barb sent in this question: “Recently, I’ve heard you mention a healthy, gentle kind of dopamine. Can you say more about that, especially in connection with Bright Line Eating?” People come to Bright Line Eating with an addictive relationship with food. These people have brains that are more affected by the ultra-processed food environment. Sugar, flour, foods that you buy in convenience stores and movie theaters—these hit the addictive centers of the brain with floods of dopamine, more than the brain can handle. These floods of dopamine cause the receptors to downregulate. They thin out and become less responsive. Then the problem becomes that we need to keep eating that way to feel okay. If we stop, we start to feel depressed and desperate, we have cravings, and feel off. This is addiction. Our Bright Line data shows that within eight weeks of starting the Boot Camp, people’s cravings subside significantly and the dopamine receptors start to heal. Then we want to avoid flooding those receptors with lots of dopamine. We should avoid watching pornography, for example, because that’s too much stimulation for the receptors. We want to avoid using cocaine, or going crazy doing one-click shopping, or going to casinos. Many things can flood the receptors. This dopamine circuit, called the desire circuit, always wants more. It’s in the reward centers of the brain—the mesolimbic pathway that includes the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens. It ensures our survival because it’s about sex, food, protection, and safety. In past days, that part of the brain, for example, would tell us to go back to a stand of berry bushes if we needed food. That’s the desire circuit—but there are other circuits in the brain that are dopamine dominant, particularly the control circuit. This is in the brain’s frontal cortex. This circuit is about planning, preparation, checklists, and calendars. It’s about setting up our environment in an orderly way. I’m very dopaminergic, and I’ve set up my whole day to get dopamine rewards. Early in the morning, over breakfast, I open Wordle and solve the puzzle, and there’s a dopamine reward. Even the finger tapping of video games or screens releases dopamine. As I go through the day, I get dopamine. I have calendar trackers, and I am still doing my decluttering challenge. I get dopamine when I turn to that task, and again when the timer goes off and I’m done. When I put laundry in the dryer, I get dopamine. When I fold the laundry and put it away, I get dopamine. All of this, moving toward the state of the world that I want to create, is controlled by dopamine. It’s manageable and healthy. I didn’t have this when I was mired in my food addiction. I was not doing habit stacks, was sleeping all afternoon, and I was a mess. I felt like I wasn’t able to keep my head above water. Now, I’m in a symbiotic relationship with controlled dopamine where I’m getting dopamine rewards and keeping my head way above water. I’ve gamified my day, with all the things I resist doing, like opening the mail, which I do when I’m decluttering. Another aspect of dopamine is creativity. Creativity and inspiration are all about dopamine. Doing art, writing, and playing music can give you a dopamine reward. Finally, dopamine is not the only happy chemical. Others include serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. There are many ways to use the “here and now chemicals” that are in a symbiotic relationship with dopamine to create a nourished and fulfilled brain, so you don’t have to turn to food. If you use controlled dopamine to do your laundry, write down your food, and declutter, you get a dopamine reward. Then you can sit there and survey your surroundings at the end of a beautiful Bright day. The socks are in the sock drawer, the food is written down and committed, and you’ve eaten three Bright, beautiful meals. And you can let the here and now chemicals flood in and know that you’re safe, well, and Bright. Breathe in your peace, and feel secure knowing that you’ve built a brain that supports your new, Bright life. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qind2x Healthy Dopamine Rewards | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 21

Today, I want to explain why whole wheat flour is a problem for us, even though it may not have been a problem in the past. Beth wrote in with a great question. She said: “Though I am convinced that white flour is horrible for your body and your mind, I’m not convinced about whole wheat flour. Many centuries ago, people ground whole wheat and other grains to make their flour. Why was whole wheat not a problem for them?” Centuries ago, the food environment was different. Whole wheat flour might still have been triggering, but they ate unrefined meats, vegetables, fruits, and unprocessed foods. No industrial ingredients, no chemicals. They weren’t getting 50 to 60 percent of their fuel from ultraprocessed food. Plus, there were times when they ate and times when they didn’t—they were out in the fields, and working. In that food environment, people weren’t getting obese or developing food addiction at the rate we see now. But that doesn’t mean whole wheat wasn’t a problem. Centuries ago, gluttony was one of the seven deadly sins, and looking back, I think, what were they getting gluttonous about? It sure wasn’t broccoli! Maybe bread and butter were in the mix. So we don’t know that it wasn’t a problem. But in the context of a sane, wholesome, farm-to-table diet, the population didn’t develop food addiction or obesity the way ours does. So, wheat flour in the past may not have had enough impact on those diets to cause many people to become food addicted. But if you are living with a weight struggle and an addictive relationship with food that is already formed, what you must eat now to recover may be different from what they were able to eat in the past to stay healthy. I’d put honey in this category also. People ask me about honey all the time. It’s not refined or made in a factory. And hunter-gatherers may binge on it when they find it, and that’s fine. But if you have an addictive relationship with food and a weight struggle, whole wheat flour or honey are highly likely to throw you off track. For many years before I lost weight, I was in a 12-step program called Overeaters Anonymous. They didn’t have a specific food plan; they asked you to figure out the foods that caused you problems and abstain from them. The brown flour vs. white flour experiment was often run. I watched many people, including myself, try to manage with whole wheat flour. I discovered the utter deliciousness of whole wheat tortillas and pastas. They became much-craved and highly dominant parts of my food plan. And what I found is that people didn’t recover when they included whole wheat flour and abstained from white flour only. They didn’t lose their weight and they didn’t break free from food obsession. Whether whole wheat is a problem also depends on how badly your brain is wired for food addiction. Take the Food Addiction Susceptibility Quiz at foodaddictionquiz.com. If you’re a 5, then you probably don’t have food addiction, and whole wheat flour might be able to be part of your program. If you’re a 7 through 10, though, I predict the whole wheat flour experiment won’t work. Running it can help you figure it out for yourself. I do my best to save people the pain and skew my materials to people who are 7 and above on the Susceptibility Scale. But you’re responsible for you. The Bright Line Eating program is strong. It’s for people with a weight struggle or food addiction who want a way out of the struggle, a pathway to freedom, that has worked for thousands. And brown flour is not in our plan. Let me transition to this: We have a Boot Camp coming up in June 2025. We are opening applications for scholarships from Wednesday, May 21, to Sunday, May 25. We are giving out 20 full scholarships to this Book Camp 2.0. Click below, fill out the application, and let us know if you’ve applied before. The launch is going to be about true secrets to success, beyond weight loss drugs. We’ll review research and how these drugs work. Our results in Bright Line Eating continue to parallel the weight loss drugs. Long-term data shows that Bright Line Eating even beats the weight loss drugs. All that starts June 10, and then the Book Camp starts at the end of June. *Applications for a Boot Camp 2.0 scholarship are now closed. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/e5aewk Is Whole Wheat Flour Addictive? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 14

I’m thinking today about how scary and demoralizing it can be to break your Bright Lines. I’ve broken my Lines more times than I can count, though thankfully not in years. I’ve been in food addiction recovery for thirty years now. Relapse has been a common theme of those thirty years. A hallmark of Bright Line Eating is how we orient to a break. It’s important to work a program that is stronger than temptations and challenges. Breaks, for many of us, are part of the journey. In the book Bright Line Eating , on page 237, is a roadmap for what to do when you break your lines. We call it the 4 S’s. They’re like having an emergency kit in the car, with water, a first aid kit, and flares. So let’s go through them. First is Speed . You’re going to get back on track quickly. Not on Monday, not January 1, not later this week. Being a Bright Lifer means that every breath of being Bright is precious and preferable to yet more breaths gulped down while you’re shoveling in food. The moment you become aware that a break has happened, that first S should come to mind. Put down the fork, mid-bite, and say no. This is why we started to spell “resume” as “Rezoom,” at the suggestion of a Bright Lifer. It is foundational to build in speed. The second S is Self-Compassion . Our tendency is to start a shame spiral. The food controller comes in, we’ve blown it, we’re awful. You need the self-compassion to say, “It’s all right, sweetheart. You’re not alone, you’re not bad.” Self-compassion partners with the next S, which is Social Support . We might find it hard to be self-compassionate without help. When we share, in detail, what we’ve done with our food with someone else, it drains the shame away because we’re no longer hiding it. Inevitably, they share how they’ve done the same thing. And suddenly we feel not so alone. Social support facilitates self-compassion. They become reciprocal. The fourth S is to Seek the Lesson . Fundamentally, a break is information. It’s a red light coming up on the instrument panel as you’re flying your plane. Curiosity and proactivity are the correct responses. What made that light go on? This is where the Permission to Be Human Action Plan comes in. The Permission to Be Human Action Plan is in Bright Line Eating and it’s also posted in the resources in both Bright Lifers and the Boot Camp Hub. I encourage you to answer those ten questions in writing every time you break your Lines. That’s how you turn your break into a breakthrough. If you’re breaking your lines and not going through this process, you’re leaving a lot of opportunity on the table. Utilize the information you can take from the break to inform your journey. The goal is peace, personal growth, and flourishing. For those of us who are drawn to Bright Line Eating, our food is the litmus test. It lights up our instrument panel to let us know what we need to do. It’s not like drugs or alcohol, which you can put down and be done with. We have to eat, and that means food is in our face as a reminder of the nature of our emotional sobriety, our spiritual condition, our mental fitness. Food always lets us know how we’re doing. With each wobble in our Lines, we have the opportunity to go inside and see what our system is trying to tell us. There is information there. Maybe it’s that you need to garden more, or leave your job, or you’re lonely—whatever. But the red light means something. Maybe the reality is that you picked up that piece of cucumber off the cutting board and ate it, and the only thing is that you were moving too fast and had a moment of non-consciousness. Then, with some social support and self-compassion, having done your best to seek the lesson all the way through, the reality is that very quickly, you can Rezoom. And you’re clean and clear. You won’t know that, though, without going through the four S’s. Speed, Self-compassion, Social Support, and Seek the Lesson. So powerful. Download the Permission to Be Human Action Plan FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/mmct56 The 4 S's of a Successful Rezoom | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 7

My twins, Zoe and Robin Thompson, turned 17 on May 2. We celebrated their birthday at Plum Garden, the restaurant my family frequently visits for celebrations. Plum Garden epitomises how I’m working my program now that I’m peacefully Bright, as opposed to before, when I was mostly, but not always, Bright. This vlog is for you if you’ve been around Bright Line Eating for a while, but are not getting the results you want. You’re not able to stay Bright consistently, or maybe weight loss is not happening as you’d like. For you, I want to talk about mixtures. Plum Garden is a Japanese hibachi house. That’s where you have a big skillet surrounded by a table and chairs, and a chef comes out and cooks the meal—rice, vegetables, meat, or tofu—right in front of you, and then puts it on your plate from there. He puts on a show for you while he’s cooking. It’s easy to be Bright there, because you watch them prepare it, so you know if they’re putting sugar in it. But back before I was consecutively Bright, I had a hard time in Plum Garden, and frequently overage and felt out of control. I ate in a way that I didn’t feel good about. What I do differently now when we’re there is that I don’t eat the mixtures, and in particular, the fried rice. When they make it, they chop up and add egg, butter, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and bits of vegetables. These are all things I eat, but when you put them together, you have a mixture that crosses food categories. You’ve got rice, which is a grain; egg, which is a protein; butter, which is fat; and vegetables. Four categories in one concoction. The longer I’m Bright, the more I realize that I work my program similarly to the women in Boston in a 12-step program I attended, which I thought was rigid at the time. They used to talk, in derogatory terms, about mixtures and concoctions. These were what they were drawn toward in their food addiction—and so was I. I’d make a big concoction and binge on it. I wouldn’t use measuring cups, I’d just dump everything in a bowl and eat it raw. I didn’t see anything wrong with mixtures. But the research is clear: the number one factor that allows the brain to heal from food addiction is the simplicity of the food we eat, and the lack of triggering “reward value” of that food. Sugar and flour have a high reward value. So do refined carbohydrates. And so do mixtures and concoctions. You don’t find these foods in the wild. It’s not how nature makes food. The layering of all the ingredients has high reward value. If I have a grain in my food plan at dinner these days, when we go to Plum Garden, I order a bowl of white rice and eat it plain. Similarly, their salad dressing has sugar and other ingredients. I don’t eat it. I have a garden salad with a bit of soy sauce. The butter on the vegetables is my fat. And now I have not a whiff of an out-of-control feeling there. It’s gone—that attachment or obsession. This is such a win for me. I’ve reclaimed a cherished family space, and I can show up fully for my family. I don’t feel triggered or obsessed, and don’t need to stress about getting through the meal. I offer this as an invitation for you, if you’re not getting the results you want in your Bright Journey. Have you kept your food complicated? Could you try for a week to keep your food separate, not mixed together, even your vegetables? A six-ounce pile of steamed green beans, four ounces of grilled tofu or chicken, and a beautiful eight-ounce salad with a tablespoon each of olive oil and balsamic vinegar? That simple. So it’s clear what each of the foods on your plate is. For breakfast: 8 ounces plain Greek yogurt, 1 ounce of simple oats cooked up into oatmeal, and 6 ounces of blueberries? Can you try that? And see what happens to your brain as you let go of mixtures and recipes. Bring down the reward value of your food to hit the point where your addiction is matched by the strength of your program. Keep your food simple enough to let your brain heal. Give it a try—what do you have to lose? FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/vsrhna Mixtures | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 30

When you’ve been living in maintenance for a long time, there’s a way to figure out if something you’re doing with your food, whether it’s a specific food, a method of preparation, a restaurant, or something else, is working for you. As we go along on our life journey, we have an instrument panel in front of us—and we need to know how to read that panel, to fly straight and true. These four questions help with that. We used to have these in Boot Camp, but we took them out because we want people to be on their journey for a while before they try them. You can’t ask these questions and get reliable answers if you haven’t been successfully Bright for a long time. If you’re not Bright and peaceful, and ask yourself, Do I have peace around this? You can’t answer that because you don’t yet know what it’s like to live consistently, month after month, at peace with your food and weight. If you’ve been on your path for a long time, and want to experiment, or wonder if a food is working for you and you’ve been Bright and peaceful, you can use these questions. I’ve already given you the first question. It’s: Do I have peace around it ? The longer I live Bright, the more certain I am that peace is the goal. Peace with my food, my weight, and peace in my mind. Then I’m available to be of service to the world, to connect with my family and friends, to do and be all that I can. Then I can go days and weeks without thinking about my food and weight. If I walk out of a restaurant and I don’t think about it a single time that evening, I’m at peace. If, on the other hand, I eat something in the restaurant that crosses my mind five times before I go to bed that night, I do not have peace around it. That’s a sign that it’s not working for me, that it kicks up the obsession. The second question is: Is it messing with my weight? I might have peace with a food, but it’s not sustainable if it puts me on a path toward regaining my weight. If it’s not sustainable, then fundamentally it’s not working. The third question: Is it healthy? Not everyone in Bright Line Eating is aiming for optimal health, which is fine. Our job is to get you free and give you agency over what you eat and don’t eat. You can use that agency to eat for optimal health, or just settle for the general, overall amazing health you get when living Bright. If you add something that is not healthy but passes the other three questions, then you might not care. The last question comes back to sustainability: Is it escalating? If you added a food at breakfast and it was fine, but then you did it again, and suddenly now breakfast doesn’t feel right without it, and you have to have it every day, then it’s escalating. That signifies addictive attachment. Building tolerance and escalation are signs of addiction. Whenever someone asks me something, like, say, “can I have corn tortillas?” then initially, I’d say no, that’s not on the plan. But if you’ve been Bright for five years, are steady in maintenance, and are an eight on the scale, I’d say use The 4 Questions and try it. You just need to start from a strong baseline with your program. If not, you won’t be able to get an honest answer to the first question. Use them while in maintenance to find out how something works. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/yxkhbt The 4 Questions | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 23

I talked to someone the other day who told me that she had binged recently. She shared how she stays Bright for a bit, then she picks up food. She works the program for a while, and then it unravels for her. I was candid with her. I told her that I don’t think she has a problem with the program. The problem is that she doesn’t want to stay Bright, deep down. If she truly wanted to be Bright, she would be using her tools, and she wouldn’t be letting herself slip. She would be defending her Bright Lines. She was so relieved to hear that. I shared with her my own experience. It’s coming up on three years that I’ve been miraculously, sparkly Bright. My experience is that deep, deep down, there’s been a shift. It feels like a clarity, an absolute conviction that I will defend my Bright Lines no matter what. No travel, no restaurant meal, no nothing is worth the peace that I have right now. I know that if you airlifted me into the darkest jungle, I would not break my Bright Lines. I don’t know what I’d do, but I know I would not break them. I would stay Bright, no matter what. I prove that to myself on a regular basis. I stay with my rhythm even when I’m traveling. I print out a custom Nightly Checklist Sheet for each trip I take, thinking about my program in advance, and about how I will carry my program with me. I don’t rely on airplane food; I weigh and measure my own food and bring it on the plane. Don’t get me wrong: I have a food indulger part. My daughter is baking up a storm lately, so my kitchen is filled with all that activity. I can feel the food indulger part of me that wants to consider the NMF in that bowl. But it’s not pleasure, it’s toxic. It comes with the demolition of all I hold dear in my life. And when my food indulger starts to even think about getting curious, several other parts rear up and squash any beginning of an attempt to investigate. When I described that to my friend, it was clear she wasn’t in that space. On some level, the preponderance of her parts thinks it’s not time to get Bright, or that it’s too extreme. She doesn’t have an alignment around being Bright. I think that’s helpful to know and understand if you’re struggling. I don’t think it’s everyone’s story, though. When I was bingeing in Australia 22 years ago, I couldn’t get Bright, but I did actually want to be Bright. Desperately and truly. It took me three months of bingeing to get back to sanity. I don’t believe everyone who can’t get Bright just doesn’t want it. I’m just describing a psychology that you can explore for yourself about how much you want this. You might need to mediate between the parts of you that want it and the parts that don’t. I’ve had three years of this level of defended-to-the-hilt Brightness. I’m not letting it slip—that’s the priority. When I first came into food recovery in 1995, when someone first said that maybe I should abstain from sugar, I was horrified. I had no idea why she would propose such a preposterous thing to me. Nervously, she brought up that I had just shared in the 12-Step meeting about how I had eaten a whole box of brown sugar as a snack while writing a research paper at UC Berkeley. She said, haltingly, “I don’t know, I’m just thinking… maybe that’s not a healthy snack?” It took me 27 years of active research and endless hiking through the Research Rockies to reach the level of surrender and conviction that I enjoy today. I had long stretches of peace during that time, but I wasn’t defending my lines the way I am now. That’s how I feel about drugs, too. But I don’t have the deep level of defense around alcohol that I have around food, because the food has beaten me down so, so much over the decades. So I told her this: don’t feel bad, because you’re in your process. People may have years of experimentation and suffering before they are truly Bright. Years. Decades. Nobody gets there instantly. Everyone is somewhere on their own path. She was grateful for that perspective. She’s got some thinking, maybe some writing to do. And I want to invite you, deep inside, to see if you can allocate more of your resources to that defense; to protecting what’s precious about your Bright journey. When you’re Bright, you have so much vibrancy and aliveness and presence. All the monkey mind around food is a waste. Your Bright journey is so worth defending. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qm20mc Defending Your Lines | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 16

You know what I love? I’ve been weighing and measuring my food and living Bright for 22 years now. I’ve been helping people that whole time to know that following a Bright Line Eating plan is healthy, liberating, and effective. And over the years, science keeps proving us right. For example: eating three meals a day. We’ve been saying that for far longer than the science that showed that you needed fasting windows between meals. Eating discrete meals is so much healthier than grazing all day long. Likewise, eating a balanced macronutrient profile is so healthy for you. You’ve got five distinct appetites: carbohydrates, protein, fat, calcium, and salt. You are driven to eat more food if you don’t get enough of any of these. That means that restricting any macronutrient will backfire and ultimately result in overeating, or even bingeing. And in Bright Line Eating, we support this balanced profile. Today I want to talk about another case where science and Bright Line Eating agree: eating both raw and cooked foods, especially vegetables. The science shows that this is the most nutritious option, and Bright Line Eating supports this as well. With some food there’s no question as to how you’ll eat it. You don’t, for example, cook yogurt. Similarly, you are going to eat brown rice or beans cooked, not raw. The big question is vegetables. Is a raw diet really healthier? I’ve known people who were swayed by the raw food movement, which says that cooking food denatures the enzymes and makes it less healthy. Is it true? It’s not. There’s lots of evidence that eating both cooked and raw food is best because some vegetables are more nutritious when you cook them, and others are healthier when they’re eaten raw. I recently learned, for example, that bell peppers have 75 percent more antioxidant activity when eaten raw. I’ll often have two to three ounces of bell pepper at lunch, and I just eat it raw and crunchy. I also learned that spinach is best eaten cooked, because cooking releases eight times more calcium. So I eat cooked spinach. I do six ounces of cooked vegetables at both lunch and dinner and six ounces of raw, for a total of 12 ounces of vegetables at each meal. In Bright Line Eating, we say “produce is produce” and you have the freedom to make up the mix to suit yourself. I make a dish at dinner with tempeh done in an air fryer and cooked spinach. I break the tempeh strips in half like and pinch them together with cooked spinach as the filling. I love it, and it’s so healthy. Having learned what I did about spinach, I prioritize adding cooked spinach to my diet. Another one is mushrooms. They are better for you when cooked because there is a toxin in raw mushrooms—agaritine—that gets killed when the mushrooms are cooked. So I have a dish I make with cooked organic mixed mushrooms, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. It’s delicious. Carrots and tomatoes have more antioxidant activity if they’re cooked, too. I haven’t incorporated that yet, but that’s okay. I still get benefits if I eat them raw. Onions and garlic are better raw, but that’s tricky. I add red onions to my salads every night. At least once ounce of pure, raw red onion. And I’ve been buying jars of pickled garlic, which are easier to eat raw than plain garlic. I do pickled garlic with my finger food at lunch. That’s just a smattering of evidence to show you how to make this work. If you want more details, the Food Revolution Network has a blog called “Raw vs. Cooked: The Healthiest Way to Eat Your Veggies.” I avoid freaking out about this. I’m 50, and I know I am healthy. My body is evidence of that. I’m doing well because I eat this way. As long as I’m beautifully, immaculately Bright, my nutritional well-being is 95 percent taken care of. And that’s more than a passing grade. That’s a solid A. I sometimes tweak at the margins, but I do not freak out over eating raw carrots or tomatoes, just because they might be better cooked. So it’s fine to learn more about nutritional optimization, but don’t go down the rabbit hole of obsessive focus on nutrition to the point where it’s harmful. And don’t worry if you go out to a restaurant and someone puts raw mushrooms in your salad. You’re Bright—and that’s what matters. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qjb0lq Is a Raw Diet Healthier? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 9

I want to do a follow-up to a vlog I did a few weeks ago called “Maintenance Weight Creep.” In that vlog, I talked about how my weight had crept up even though I’d shaved off food. First, I need to apologize because in that vlog I was not mindful of how my words would land for someone with an eating disorder that included extreme food restriction. I talked with Dr. Joy Jacobs and she helped me understand how she guides people in what we call the Fifth Bright Line Community. The Fifth Bright Line is no bingeing, no purging, no restricting. Dr. Jacobs reminded me that there’s nuance to coaching someone around their food—because everyone is different. I don’t come from a food restriction background and my food addiction has been in full remission for many years, so shaving out food works for me. But if you come from this background, or your food addiction is recently active, it is not an approach for you. I should have mentioned this, and I apologize that I didn’t. Right after the vlog came out, several things changed quickly for me. The first is that I got an InBody scan. Generally, electrical impedance scans aren’t very accurate, but I trust InBody scans. They show a high level of reliability compared to DEXA and other forms of body composition measurement. What I found from this scan shocked me. My lean body mass was way up. I’ve been lifting weights, so that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Lean mass includes muscle as well as intracellular and extracellular water, and all together it’s a very positive sign. In addition, my fat mass was down. I didn’t think that would all be the case because my waist measurement is on the higher end of my range, but now I believe this is happening due to age. I’m 50 now, and my waist is an inch or so bigger than it was ten or twenty years ago. So, overall, the fact that my weight is up a bit is a good thing . Adding lean mass is one of the best predictors of longevity and health. The next thing that happened was that I realized I’d been decreasing my thyroid medicine. I have an extreme case of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and I have two doctors who track my thyroid: a world-renowned thyroid specialist and an amazing functional medicine doctor. I brought this up at an appointment, and we decided to go back up on my thyroid medicine. Now, I feel less cold and my metabolism has come roaring back. Meanwhile, I work with my personal trainer. I start with 35–40 minutes of stretches, and I began doing those earlier, before the sessions begin, which gives us close to an hour of pumping iron (as opposed to 20–25 minutes), a dramatic increase. Because of that, I’ve increased my food. Two additional proteins, and a three-ounce serving of grain. My body loves it, and my metabolism is way better. I thought I’d considered all the factors before I did the vlog on weight creep, but it turns out I hadn’t. The body and mind are such complex systems. I know the number on the scale is not a pure reflection of adipose tissue. It may be impacted by silly things, like whether you’ve pooped that day. And yet, my weight was up and I thought it was a thing. Turns out it wasn’t a thing. My weight’s up because I’m stronger. Sometimes I think we don’t need bathroom scales. I know many of you have gotten rid of them. If my clothes fit, I’m fine. So I’m happy in Maintenance, and am thriving. There were just a few variables that I hadn’t considered. I’m getting over 100 grams of protein a day, and I need it because I’m lifting weights. I’m a work in progress. We all are. And I’m glad I got to share this chapter of my story with you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/gzvur8 SPT's Metabolism Update | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 2

Trauma trigger warning: In this vlog, I talk about topics that may be triggering if you come from a background of trauma. A food binge is when you eat more food, in a shorter period of time, than someone would typically eat, all while feeling out of control. A mental binge is similar, but in the mind. It’s when we let our thinking run away with us, like a runaway train. We catastrophize and freak out. We get stuck in our heads, obsessing over something. I’m seeing it happen a lot to those I love, and in our Bright Line Community—and even myself. There’s an example I want to share with you, about a dear friend of mine. She visited recently and stayed in our home. She has experienced abuse since she was an infant. Mental, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. My family and I have begged her to move near us. Her tiny hometown is not safe for her. She finally committed to moving. Then the other day she encountered one of her abusers, and it didn’t go well. She spun out, and fell into a mental binge. She started believing she didn’t deserve to leave and couldn’t make enough money for the move—she just went around and around in her head. So how do you get out of a mental binge? The first step is to identify it. If you’ve been here a while, you know about the Authentic Self. Think about the Eight Cs. You know you’re in your Authentic Self when you are: Calm Clear Compassionate Confident Connected Curious Courageous Creative If you are not experiencing the Eight Cs, and you’re all up in your head thinking about something, you might be having a mental binge. It may take one of two forms: litigating or catastrophizing. Litigating is when it’s fueled by self-righteous anger, where you’ve got your jury assembled and you’re making your case in your head. There are often kernels of truth embedded in the binge. My friend who needs to move, for example, noted that apartment owners sometimes want you to have an income of three times the monthly rent. She’s a freelance copywriter and her self-worth is so low she only charges $15 an hour. She’s worried about finances, although she knows I’ll help her. So the kernel of truth is that her finances are challenging. But the litigator in her is seeing everything going wrong. She needs productive action, which comes from the Authentic Self. Reactive action, from within a mental binge, doesn’t work. So even if the litigator is right, you need to be in a place of less urgency and more compassion. A mental binge comes from a part of us that wants to be heard. This catastrophizing part wants to be able to explain to you what’s wrong. So your Authentic Self needs to tell it: I’ve got this. I hear you. Let’s take a break and then we can talk about it… The antidote is to recognize you’re in a mental binge. And then, listen to the part of you that wants to be heard about what it’s scared of. When I’m in a mental binge, I BFF. First I breathe. I feel my body, find my feet. I might do a see, hear, feel meditation to get me grounded. I was at a session with Amanda Leith from Shift Recovery by Acorn recently, and someone in a group session had a mental binge. She thought everyone was against her. Amanda had her look around and make sure she was safe. Then she had her check verbally with everyone there, with Amanda’s help, to see what people were thinking of her. People were compassionate with her, and the whole situation de-escalated. Once a situation has started to de-escalate, turn to the next right thing. Maybe you need to weigh and measure a meal. Maybe you need to go to the grocery store. Maybe you need to go back to work. Then, if there’s something to be done about whatever you’re spinning out about, you can come to it from a place of calm. Sometimes, you can’t avoid mental binges. But it pays to learn not to believe them, and not to take action while in that state. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/mf5eve Avoiding the Mental Binge | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 26

Today I have some interesting research to share with you, and a big announcement. We know that carrying around excess weight is problematic on every level. That’s not to say that every person living with obesity is unhealthy. But the excess weight a person carries is a very strong predictor of general ill-health, from cancer to mobility issues to psychological challenges. Healthcare providers know that. So when the weight loss drug revolution happened, with drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic changing the landscape, it was a huge relief for them, because now they had something actionable they could tell their patients. But there’s some interesting new research coming out. First, people aren’t staying on the drugs. After two years, 85 percent of people are no longer taking them. And after discontinuing the drug, two-thirds of the lost weight is regained within just the first year. Could it be because of side effects? I don’t think so. A study that just came out used four years of data on more than 17,000 people. Only 16.6 percent of people using the drug had to get off because of adverse side effects. There must be other reasons to stop taking the drug. Let’s look at how much people are losing. The drugs typically produce a 15 percent weight loss after a year or two. So you start taking the drug, and the weight loss phase lasts for roughly one year and three months. At that point, you stall out. You plateau. Imagine you’re on the drug, and paying $500 a month for it. You’re happy with the weight loss, but then it stops. You’re still paying $500 every single month, but now you’re not losing. At all. How do you feel? Not so great about that, right? After a while, you’ll likely see some weight regain, while you’re still paying $500 every month. On average, between two and four years, people REGAIN one-third of the weight they had lost. This phenomenon is due to downregulation of the GLP-1 receptors, very similar to the dopamine downregulation that causes addiction. Can you see why people go off the drugs at two years? So what does this mean for healthcare providers? Well, Bright Line Eating just finished its own study. Our data shows that weight regain does not happen for people doing the Bright Line Eating program, even after six years. People are maintaining their weight loss. Now we have data that shows that long term, Bright Line Eating works better than weight loss drugs. Which brings me to my announcement: We’ve put together a process for medical professionals to partner with us. Now they can give their patients a way to lose weight without drugs or surgery. Here’s how it works: click the button below to go to the website, download our flyer, and take it to your next medical appointment. This could be with anyone: your doctor, your nurse, your acupuncturist, your chiropractor, your nutritionist, your health coach, your personal trainer, or any health professional. The flyer explains what Bright Line Eating is and gives them a link to their own BLE website where they can opt-in and become a partner with us in offering Bright Line Eating to their patients. This is the biggest win-win-win I can imagine. You and I win, because we’ve experienced the magic of Bright Line Eating. And now we get the satisfaction of helping more people. Healthcare providers win because they finally have something to offer that works, long term. And the people who receive the information win because they have the opportunity to be free of the albatross of weight loss obsession. So click the button and download the flyer. You’ve been asking for this for a long time, and now we have the data to back it up. There’s never before been a study showing weight loss that works that well, for that long, without drugs or surgery—just by becoming a person who knows how to live Bright. Tell Your Doctor About BLE FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/lgjoib Let’s Support Our Healthcare Professionals | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 19

Before I go to bed at night, I read from a book called A Year With Rumi , by Coleman Barks. The introduction to this book is incredible. It’s called “The Love Religion, Wild Soulbooks, and What Is.” In it, there’s a beautiful little three-line poem by Galway Kinnell called Prayer . When I first read it, it just soaked into me. Here it is: Whatever happens. Whatever What is is is what I want. Only that. But that . There’s a falling in love with the present moment, with what actually is , with all the wild twists and turns that life takes sometimes. So many days plod along, same-old, same-old. And then something will happen and everything changes. Then you assimilate, adapt, the days plod along, and then something else happens. There’s a synchrony between creating it, watching it, and experiencing it. And somehow along the way I have mostly avoided fighting it. The deeper I’ve thought about meaning, the more I’ve come to believe that at the very least, the value of a life—my life, your life—is in getting to live. The experience of life itself, for its own sake. It’s such a privilege to experience life! I remember learning in fifth grade health class that sperm are so numerous, that the odds the sperm that was going to be you would reach that egg, and the odds that that particular egg would drop and be there—that those two met and conceived—is so radically improbable. You have better odds with the powerball lottery. Bright Line Eating allows people to do work that frees us up to get to a place where we can hear a poem like Galway’s and go, yes . Out of all the possibilities of what could be happening in my life, this is what I choose. Not because it’s the greatest I can imagine, but because it carries with it the brilliance of what is true. That richness is gobsmacking. There are many moments on my Bright Line Eating journey that I cherish. One that I don’t talk about often is when I was working on the proposal for the first book, Bright Line Eating , and was uncertain about whether to share my history of prostitution. I knew I’d share my drug addiction because that had a clear link to food addiction—but not the prostitution. I had a moment of clarity, though, when I realized if I didn’t share this part of my history, someone else would. What I saw as a flaw needed to be shared as a feature. It was an empowering choice. I’ve processed everything I’ve lived through. I have no traumatic samskara , which is a Sanskrit word that means residue. Sticky, gummy residue. I cleaned it up. Being Bright allows me to do that. I put it all in its place: food, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol. All of it. What’s left when you work through all that samskara is freedom—freedom, and what is . I have no fear of death. I’m excited to die. It’s going to be so much better on the other side. But I love my life and want to live till I’m over 100. One day I was considering the perspective of a friend who doesn’t believe in an afterlife. What if this life is all there is? Suddenly, every breath was even more precious, because I do love this life. All of it. It’s so amazing. Whatever happens. Whatever what is, is—is what I want . Only that. But that. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/waeqdb WHAT IS | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 12

I have a provocative question for you: Is Bright Line Eating your new addiction? If someone says they’ve switched out their eating addiction for an exercise addiction, is that possible? And who is saying you’re addicted to Bright Line Eating? Is it you, or is someone close to you? Someone who does—or doesn’t—support your Bright Line journey? What does it mean for Bright Line Eating to be an addiction? Let’s break these questions down. First, I don’t believe that everyone has an addiction. Addictions are very specific things. They are patterns of use or behavior that cause clinically significant impairment or distress. There are symptoms associated with addictions. Using more than you intended to. Trying to cut back and not being able to, or not being able to stay stopped. Having significant impairments in your life or in your ability to function. Experiencing withdrawal if you quit. You don’t need all these symptoms, but you must have some to be addicted. And there must be clinically significant impairment or distress , meaning it’s got to be distressing you and/or impacting your life. When I was eating pints of ice cream with tears streaming down my face wondering why I was doing this—that was addictive eating. So is Bright Line Eating your new addiction? Someone who says it is might be noticing your passion for it. Some people are super into it and very motivated. But that’s how anyone who is passionate about doing something they love feels. There’s nothing dysfunctional about being super-passionate about something. It happens when you live life to the fullest. It’s not an addiction. It might be the case that Bright Line Eating is disrupting your relationships a bit. You’re eating differently, after all. There are shared norms about how you spend time with those around you, and now you’ve changed those norms. And if you’re spending lots of time talking about Bright Line Eating, it might be disruptive. Does that mean it’s an addiction? Or just a new passion? The disruption to your relationships will settle down if you’re mindful and work to set new norms with them. You can find new ways to bond and connect—just not over food, or not over food the same way. Have a conversation with them. Discuss how to co-create the bond you both desire. I wanted to shoot this vlog to discuss what addiction is and to encourage us to be mindful about how we use that word. Addiction is a beast, and throwing that word around lightly can be harmful. I’m not the language police, but I wanted to share this with you based on my life experience. Think about the criteria we use to judge addictions. Is Bright Line Eating your new addiction? It’s possible. But you would have to identify that it wasn’t good for you, and you would have to be trying to cut back or quit. Your inability to do so would have to be causing you clinically significant distress. Your functioning would need to be impaired. It would need to impact other areas of your life. But if it’s just something that you love, and maybe you’ve annoyed your friends by talking about it, then—no. You’re finally free, and you’re not addicted. You’re joyous, and I’m thrilled for you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ltcbzg Is Bright Line Eating Your New Addiction? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 5

I want to talk to you today about DEI. DEI has been a hot-button topic lately. My friend Eric, a dedicated Bright Lifer, recently told me he had felt like he was on a DEI journey inspired by, and in parallel with, ours. But now, he felt confused about where we stood. And I suspect he’s not the only one. What happened to bring this about? We have two platforms for our online support community, and one is on Facebook. Social media doesn’t always bring out the best in people, but we have Community Guidelines. Those guidelines stipulate that we don’t talk about politics and religion, but suddenly, those broad directives weren’t clear enough. Our primary goal is to help you live Bright. But what happens if someone has a problem related to identity and food? Like a trans person going on a trip, who is a mess about managing her food on a last-minute trip while also handling security concerns about her passport, which shows her as male. Or a Latina Bright Lifer who needs to talk about how stress is sabotaging her food after her uncle disappears, possibly deported. We realized that these types of posts, from people who genuinely needed help, bumped up against our community guidelines. It wasn’t clear what people could and couldn’t say. So our team got together and crafted a new set of guidelines. We wanted to keep incendiary, hostile speech out of our community while allowing a personal sharing of each person’s life and how it related to their food journey. We still ask people to avoid political terms, but sharing your heart and soul with us is fine. Then Eric looked at the new guidelines and noticed that there was a paragraph that had been taken out. He asked me to reconsider. It used to say: “BLE does not accept any type of hate speech or bullying, including anti-blackness, homophobia, transphobia, classism, antisemitism, fatphobia, etc. Practice love, kindness, and support in your comments to others.” None of that was allowed in the new guidelines, but the language had changed. So we worked out a new one. Here’s what it says now: “BLE does not accept any type of hate speech or bullying, including statements or actions that are disrespectful to people based on their age, race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexuality, religion, lack of religion, ability, nationality, political affiliation, background, size, economic status, or ideology. All people are welcome here. Practice love, compassion, acceptance, and support in your comments to others. And where you and others differ, be kind, and keep your eyes on your own plate.” I feel great about that paragraph. The difference between old and new is that the rewritten version specifically focuses on people’s behaviors. Ideologies are one thing, but what we can legislate in our community guidelines are not allowing actions or statements that hurt people. So what about DEI? We did intensive DEI work in the company starting in 2019 with an amazing consultant named Trudi Lebron and I released three vlogs about it, but during our big layoffs and massive restructuring of the company starting in 2022 there was a hiatus. Recently someone sent me an article that several big meta-analyses that show that DEI workshops and the like don’t work. I was blown away, and called Trudi. She told me that that research is true…but that DEI isn’t a workshop. “DEI” refers to outcome measures . In any given group of people, you can look at diversity on any number of measures, such as age, nationality, or cognitive capacity, and measure how much diversity there is. E is equity. You can review how equitable the division of resources is in a company. For inclusion, you can look at whether people feel like their voices are heard. Are their ideas valued? Those are all outcome measures. That makes sense to me. I want those outcomes. I want to live in a world where the extremes of wealth and poverty aren’t as dire as they are today. I want our community to feel welcoming to all people. That may not be possible, but that’s what I want to aim for. I know that for members of our community, seeing the language change in our guidelines, at this particular juncture in history, was very destabilizing. If you felt that pain, I am sorry. I realize that some people don’t feel safe in the large Facebook group right now. And I have some thoughts about not feeling safe. I do think that “not feeling safe” is a feeling. (Unlike “feeling fat” which isn’t a feeling.) But not feeling safe can mean a large number of things. Not feeling safe could mean that you’re in a good place in your environment, but others need to change. It could mean you need to leave the environment because it truly isn’t safe (think of a dark alley at night). It could mean there’s nothing wrong, but you just need to do some work to feel safer, or even just endure it (think of people who don’t feel safe flying on an airplane). One option is to consider moving from Facebook, which is often not a safe place, to our own support community, the BLE Community Circle. That is a very safe forum. Or maybe the large group online support communities will never be your safest place in BLE. You might do better with a Mastermind group, a Gideon Games team, buddies, and attending accountability calls. You might want to partake of the thousands of hours of incredible courses we have and find a few friends to work through them with. If you’ve written in, know that your voice has been heard. You have had an impact. We’ve been reading your messages and really internalizing them. Thank you for letting us know what you think and how you feel. You may not have been aware of any of this coming down. Or it may have been a very big deal for you. I know that I cannot have recorded a message here that will hit the spot for everyone. I don’t know everything and I make mistakes. But I care about this community, and though it took time for me to sort through what I had to say about this, perhaps too much time, I hope that the hours my team and I have been working on this topic have value for you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/1zgrtr DEI Update | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 26

A few people have written in with questions about a topic I’m excited to cover. Dana wrote, “I have lipodystrophy, an autoimmune disease, and cancer. I need to maintain or gain weight. Can this work? I’m a 10+++ on the Food Susceptibility Quiz.” Linda wrote in: “I’ve been listening to your vlogs, and they’re helpful even for someone like me who has no need to lose weight. Can you do a vlog on how meal plans can be a means of self-care and better health?” The X-factor here, which Dana addressed, is the Food Addiction Susceptibility Score. To what extent does a person have food addiction? Some have none, some have a little, and some have full-blown food addiction. Any of those three states can be present in a person who has no weight to lose, or someone who has weight to gain. In my first book, Bright Line Eating , there’s a table that shows the relationship between BMI (body mass index) and the likelihood of being high on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale. The two BMI categories that are most likely to be high on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale are those with Class 3 or 4 obesity—serious obesity—and those who are underweight . Those who are underweight are more likely to be high than those with Class 1 obesity. Being underweight is the other side of the coin when it comes to food addiction. Research shows that a high percentage of people with anorexia nervosa or food restriction issues have an underlying food addiction. And then, of course, there are people who are just naturally skinny and may want to gain weight. If you need to maintain or gain weight, you can use Bright Line Eating by starting on a maintenance food plan. You’ll need to figure out what works for you. Some people need to eat the weight loss plan plus two or three “adds”—which are components of food that you add to the basic plan on a regular basis. So if your weight loss plan had no fruit or grain at dinner, you might add it in, and that would be an “add.” Some people don’t need adds to maintain their weight. Others, such as athletes or people who are very active, could have 20 or 25 adds. Maintenance plans vary widely, so if you’re trying to maintain your weight, make your best guess with the plan, then weigh yourself weekly. If you’re losing weight, add more food. What about if you’re trying to gain weight? I have an old friend who is naturally very tall and thin, who wanted to add weight and asked for my help. He was eating based on his natural feelings of hunger and satiety, and that kept him thin. He was also a vegan. I told him that nuts, grains, and seeds were his best friends, in consistent, steady quantities. I put him on a plan that had 10 or 12 adds, and he started gaining weight. So if someone wants to gain weight, the trick is the consistency and reliability that Bright Line Eating offers. If you do have food addiction but don’t need to lose weight, you’re going to be doing Bright Line Eating not for weight loss, but for the peace, freedom, and feeling of agency. Once you find the food plan that keeps your weight where you want it to be, you’ll be like the rest of us in maintenance. You’ll weigh and measure your food, weigh yourself once a week, and tweak your food plan if your weight trends up or down from your target range. This food plan can be a form of self-empowerment. Bright Line Eating is for those who need it, but it can also be for those who choose it. Doing Bright Line Eating, regardless of your weight status, is going to help with your health. It’s going to ensure that you’re eating way more vegetables. And not eating sugar and flour is one of the linchpins of health. It’s also amazing for time management. When it’s streamlined and automated, you’ll save so much time. It will become the scaffolding that makes the rest of your time management so much clearer. Finally, doing Bright Line Eating contributes to a feeling of mastery. Mastery is one of the linchpin components of flourishing, according to Self Determination Theory. The three components are Autonomy, Relatedness, and Mastery. The standard American diet is so defeating and deflating. Eating out of a vending machine, or succumbing to yummy but less-healthy foods, is defeating. Doing BLE gives you a feeling of mastery over the domain of nutrition and health. That lifts your self-esteem, and it spreads out into other areas of your life. In our society, we don’t take good care of ourselves. Swimming upstream from that toxic flow is empowering. So Bright Line Eating can work for anyone, even if they don’t have weight to lose. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/reh6eg Bright Line Eating to Maintain or Gain Weight | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 19

I have a provocative topic today, and it’s something I’m dealing with myself right now. My friend Sage Lavine has noticed that I’m often super vulnerable with my community and tend to talk to you when I’m in the middle of the river and am not sure if I’m going to make it through. She said I should wait until I get across the river, and I see her point. But sometimes I like to talk to you from the middle of the river, when I’m still vulnerable. This topic may resonate with some of you: What if you are not fully satisfied with your weight, and you’re in maintenance? What if you have weight creep? Here’s my situation: I’m 21 years into maintenance. I have a normal BMI and am a size four. My weight isn’t as low as it used to be, by as much as 15 pounds. I’m 5’ 3”, and have a small bone structure. For most of the past 21 years, I’ve been between 110 and 119 pounds. Lately, it’s hovering around 120. I definitely don’t want to be as thin as I once was (down below 110 pounds), but it feels to me like I’m five to ten pounds above my ideal weight. I’ve been lifting weights and can do four pull-ups now, so I’ve added some muscle, but my waist measurement is up, which is key for me. I haven’t done a body composition test, but I have taken food out of my food plan. Lots of food. In fact, I’m hovering around a weight loss food plan, give or take. I only have one fruit and one grain a day (both at breakfast). My vegetables are 12 at lunch and 12 at dinner (6 oz cooked and 6 oz raw for both), and I have half an ounce of ground flax seed at breakfast, in addition to the one other protein. Other than that, it’s the standard BLE weight loss plan. I’m not hungry or tired. I’m not sleeping poorly, I am menstruating regularly, and I have no other signs that anything is off. I feel great! And I feel like I look good. In order to succeed long-term at weight loss MAINTENANCE, you need to undergo three essential identity shifts. This is what my fifth book is about. It’s called Maintain , and it will be released on April 21, 2026. It talks about the three identity shifts you need to succeed in maintenance long-term. The third one is that you’ve got to be willing to be someone for whom the food and weight problems are solved, and you’ve got to move on. I’ve done that. And I’m hesitant to pick that up as an issue again. When I was in Maui with my daughter recently, I lost three pounds. My food was simple and clean. So I know there are ways I could clean up my food. If you’re experiencing weight creep, the first thing to do is to take out food. My mom, who is quite small and slight, eats little portions. Maybe I need to do the same. But do I want to cut back my food plan any further? I don’t know. My weight creep is more of a plateau at the moment. It’s crept up to five or seven pounds over the ideal, and now it’s hovering there. Several times, I’ve resolved to clean up my food plan and get the weight off. But then I don’t do it, because I’m at peace with my food. And I guess I just don’t care enough. You could adapt the Four Questions to this: Do I have peace with it? I do, mostly. Is it healthy? Yes, it is. Is it escalating? Not anymore. If it was continuing to creep, I would take out food. If you experience steady, continuous weight creep, my advice is to get really Bright and clean up your food plan. And, finally, is it messing with your weight? For me, yes, it is. But just a little. Not a lot. If you are struggling with this, I feel you. It’s hard. I don’t have a lot of scale chatter now. I see the number each week and move on. Almost no food chatter, either. My life is full, and I don’t want to pick up this problem again. My family and I are going on a Disney cruise soon, and I will be putting on a smoking hot dress and enjoying myself. I’ve got so much life to live, and that’s how I’m framing this. Perhaps this is my new normal—but I’ll update you as we go along. I hope that something I’ve shared has been helpful. I know there are many people who love living Bright but aren’t happy with their weight. I shot this vlog for you. You’re not alone. Some of us are still wading through that river with you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/uyev57 Living with Maintenance Weight Creep | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 12

Today I have a topic that’s central to our ongoing discussion on getting food addiction listed as an official diagnosis in the DSM-5 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases). Those efforts are ongoing. There is a proposal currently under review by the American Psychiatric Association for inclusion of ultra-processed food use disorder as a substance-use disorder in the DSM-5, and other proposals are in the works. Something that was a focus during the first International Food Addiction Consensus Conference (IFACC) in London last May was the need for research on withdrawal symptoms when you stop eating processed foods. So I wanted to update you on this research. I belong to a group called the Food Addiction Professionals Network (FAPN). We have a journal article reading group there, and we recently reviewed and discussed an article called “Development of the Highly Processed Food Withdrawal Scale.” The article was from 2018, and I hadn’t read it before. I didn’t know about this scale. It was created with 31 questions that measure physiological and psychological withdrawal symptoms. Physiological withdrawal includes things like nausea, flu-like symptoms, shaking, joint pain, insomnia, and muscle aches. Psychological symptoms include feeling stressed, depressed, or anxious, having cravings or food thoughts, feelings of distress, or being overwhelmed or unable to cope. Physiological symptoms come in two kinds: acute and long-term. Many people experience flu-like symptoms—headaches, muscle aches, and more—during the first four or five days of withdrawal. After that period, you go into another, longer phase where your leptin resistance starts to fade away and your dopamine receptors replenish and repopulate, which takes place over one to eight weeks. It could be longer. Psychological withdrawal tends to peak early. In the first hours or days after giving up processed foods, your cue reactivity is high, which means that anything that reminds you of food is going to be distressing. The cues may hit you hard—for example, if a tv commercial comes on with images of food, it’s going to be attractive to you. Cue reactivity goes up in the first days and weeks of abstinence—or longer for some people. If you’re not being fully bright, if you are intermittently reintroducing addictive foods, it could cause symptoms. But even if you abstain completely, in some very rare cases it could be a couple of years before it resolves. The clinicians in my article study group said they generally see a peak at around seven days, and then people turn a corner. I think it’s comforting to know that it doesn’t last forever. For me, when I was in the worst throes of food addiction, I couldn’t get seven days Bright in a row. I could manage one or two days, but never seven. Seeking relief from withdrawal symptoms can drive us back to the food. Getting through the first week is really critical. Currently we’re working to fill the gap in the scientific literature, putting out good studies using this validated scale. We need studies with a control group, daily measurements, and careful controls (like making sure people aren’t also withdrawing from caffeine and alcohol, for example). We need scientists doing careful research, and I want to be part of that group. Right now, I’m writing up two papers to submit to the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry , for their special issue on ultra-processed food addiction. We are also retooling our own research program so that everyone in the Boot Camp can be included in the research voluntarily if they want to be. If you’ve started Bright Line Eating, or have tried it before and experienced withdrawal symptoms that led you back to the food, just know that it passes. Keeping that in the forefront of your mind can be useful. Know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. You will feel Bright and free if you just hang in there. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/upyojd Withdrawal from Sugar and Flour | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 5

This week I address two related topic suggestions from Bright Lifers. Nena asked, “Does a cluttered house contribute to weight gain? Or does it make sticking to the Bright Lines more difficult?” Meanwhile, Sarah wrote in: “I’m doing a week’s focus with my Gideon Games team on decluttering our mind and environment. Can you speak to how decluttering leads to clearer thinking? I find that the longer I’m Bright, the more I want to declutter my space.” I’ve been decluttering for 15 minutes a day for several months now. I’ve learned that going slow and steady and doing something for 15 minutes a day is freeing, comforting, and effective. I use tracking sheets so I can monitor my decluttering. My new year’s resolution is to declutter 15 minutes a day for 75 percent of the days each month. In January, I did 76 percent. And you better believe I was keeping track and making sure I hit that mark! Research shows that decluttering matters—a lot. It impacts our mood and our sense of well-being. A tidy environment is conducive to rest and happiness and impacts our parasympathetic nervous system. A pleasing environment leads to an elevated mood. A cluttered environment is stressful. It also affects cognition. It impacts reaction time, memory capacity, focus, and more. It’s hard to think and perform well in a distractive environment. If you’re trying to get work done in your office, for example, tidying up your desk is a good first step. As to whether it can impact your Bright Line Eating journey—yes, it can. I once worked one-on-one with someone who was a hoarder. She had little space to weigh and measure her food or to chop vegetables. She had nowhere to sit and eat. It was difficult for her to execute the functions of Bright living, and she did not stay Bright. Even a small amount of clutter can make it difficult to establish Bright habits. I have a friend who says, The way you do one thing is the way you do everything . There’s truth to that. It’s going to be harder to have order in your meal structure and routines if you don’t have order in your physical environment. So what can you do if you feel cluttered? There’s the “Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” method. Marie Kondo, the author, recommends doing your decluttering all at once. There are lots of videos on YouTube if that method sounds good. If that doesn’t work, try the FlyLady approach and do 15 minutes a day. My daughter Maya and I made a list together of decluttering projects. We listed the spaces in our home to declutter: the gift wrap paper area, the medicine cabinets, the kitchen catch-all drawer, the mud room closet. We tackled these areas one at a time. We sorted and organized, wiped down surfaces, and put things back. It was very satisfying. We also noted expiration dates and tossed expired items. I’m also decluttering my email and voicemail, which will easily keep me occupied for a whole year. I’m not good with mail. When we moved to Australia and were selling our furniture, we found behind my desk an envelope addressed to me with a check in it that I’d ignored for several years. My 15 minutes of decluttering may mean just keeping up with stuff. Before I first stopped eating sugar and flour, my habit was to let my laundry pile up until everything was on the floor waiting to be washed. I would go three months without doing laundry! That was my relationship with my physical environment. That was my food addiction. So now I am motivated to spend 15 minutes handling stuff that needs to be handled. I feel so much freer when I do it. I use the Marie Kondo method, where she asks, “Does this bring me joy?” If my heart doesn’t leap when I hold an item, I get rid of it. Now I’m getting a positive energy exchange with my belongings, and it’s so satisfying. It’s true that less is more, and, equally so, more is less . Getting on top of decluttering is amazingly liberating, and it will help keep you Bright. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ybl2fx Decluttering | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 29

On today’s vlog, I was honored to have Amanda Leith, owner-operator of SHiFT Recovery by Acorn , as my guest. Amanda is a dear friend who is a foot soldier in the battle to help those with food issues. She shared her inspiring story and gave us a glimpse of what SHiFT Recovery does. Amanda was first attracted to drugs and alcohol as a teen, but then food became the primary issue for her. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t fix the problem. Until about ten years ago, she did everything she could to deal with her weight problem. She took medicines, invested in program after program, did therapy, and even had weight loss surgery. Despite this, by her 30s, she weighed more than 300 pounds. She had diabetes. Diets didn’t work for her. Even the surgery only led to a 25-pound weight loss. She was facing serious health consequences, and was depressed, too—understandably. She was working as a drug and alcohol counselor but was unable to help herself with her food addiction. Then she heard about a program called Acorn. It was short-term and reasonably priced, so at first she thought it wouldn’t work (because it wasn’t expensive enough to be any good). But she ended up deciding to give it a try anyway, and finally she was diagnosed properly with food addiction. Always before, her symptoms—high blood pressure, obesity—were treated, but not the root cause. With the proper diagnosis, she got treatment and found recovery. She lost over half her body weight and is no longer diabetic. Her high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and depression are gone, too. And she gets to live her life freely, without food obsession. After starting her recovery at Acorn as a patient, she began working there part-time, and when the founders retired six years ago, she bought the business. She vowed to help others have the same kind of recovery she had found. Amanda believes that the people who succeed with Bright Line Eating are a slightly different demographic from those who find help at SHiFT Recovery by Acorn. Both programs serve food addicts, but she believes her program is a good fit for those who are further along in their disease, late-stage addicts needing a higher, more intense level of support. Her food plan is a little different from ours, too. They’re both weighed-and-measured food plans, but hers is four meals a day (which we know is good for people who struggle with binging). Her plan is definitely sugar, flour, and artificial sweetener free, like ours. But it goes a bit further to take out any substance that could elicit a craving, which includes caffeine. Since certain textures may trigger binge responses from food addicts, such as crunchy/salty and sweet/smooth, foods that fit this profile are off the table, too, including peanut butter, rice cakes, and crackers. Also, no nuts, seeds, or cheese (except feta). What does the SHiFT program look like? Amanda filled us in: her basic program is a residential or virtual eight-day program (if it’s in person, it’s usually in Florida, but sometimes they’ll host an intensive at another location). During those eight days, people detox, get information on food addiction, attend counseling, and do 12 Step work. It’s followed by ten weeks of aftercare, which includes three-hour Zoom meetings weekly, one-on-one sessions with a counselor, and daily email check-ins with counselors. These programs are offered six times a year, with the next one starting on March 19. There are also programs for alumni. There is a six-week program called “The Practice,” which gives people practice living in recovery. They also have a six-week online program called “Emotional Sobriety,” which covers relapse prevention, codependency, and more. It's possible for people to be members of both the close-knit SHiFT community and the Bright Line community. DO WHATEVER WORKS , says Amanda. Any way people can have long-term food addiction freedom is wonderful. And what excites Amanda most in the food addiction community? She loves the fact that more and more people are finding out that food addiction is real—and getting treatment for it. Her dream is that food addiction help will be available in every doctor’s office. I agree with her completely, and am so grateful that Amanda joined us on the Weekly Vlog! Schedule a FREE 30-min consultation with a SHiFT Counselor today at foodaddiction.com or https://calendly.com/shift-one-on-one/30min . Learn more about the next SHiFT Intensive at foodaddiction.com. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/se8qb7 SHiFT Recovery by Acorn | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 22

I just returned from one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken—and there’s a lesson here for Bright Lifers. It was with my daughter Zoe. I take each of my three kids on a trip each year. We’ve been doing these for six or seven years now. We don’t usually do something as extravagant as going to Maui. But we did it economically: paying for the flights with points, staying with a friend, and doing lots of free things. On the plane, we came up with a list of things we wanted to do. Here’s what we planned: Go to a sweat lodge Hike Cliff jumping See lots of waterfalls Drive the road to Hana, on the back side of Maui, which takes more than three hours on a winding, narrow road Pick flowers Go snorkeling Experience a hot tub or hot springs Shop for bathing suits Swim with giant turtles Go to the beach at sunrise, sunset, and when the stars are out That was our list—and we did everything on it! We went to the grocery store as soon as we arrived, and I got all the food I needed to be Bright. I bought yogurt, chia seeds, and oatmeal for breakfast—Dina, our host, didn’t have a microwave so I just mixed them together as “overnight oats” and weighed them the night before, and they were ready for me in the morning. Apples and clementines were my fruit; frozen peas, corn, and green beans were my cooked vegetables; and frozen shelled edamame and cheese were my proteins for lunch and dinner. And raw vegetables: baby carrots, peppers, radishes, organic lettuce, a big head of purple cabbage, a red onion—much of it grown right on the island. Since we were out in nature most of the time, there weren’t many restaurants. I brought containers from home, and we washed those out and reused them. We ended up not eating out once. We didn’t plan that, but that’s what happened. We stopped at one restaurant, but the menu didn’t suit us so we didn’t stay, and went back to our food in the car. For me, it was a stark example of keeping my food black and white so I can live my life in vibrant color. We soaked up the soul of Maui, and our food was fuel. We ate simply, and that was a fine complement to the extraordinary time we were having. When people ask me how I can do Bright Line Eating when I travel, I think about how there’s so much art and architecture and nature and people in the world—and there’s only so much attention we can give to any single thing. During this trip, we focused on what we wanted to accomplish, and keeping food as a one percent share of it was fine. I offer that as a lived experience. We didn’t intend it to be this way, and I’m not saying you need to avoid eating out when traveling. But if the food stays simple, there’s a lot of room for abundant life left over. That can be well worth it! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qxy9no An Epic Vacation in Maui | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 15

A new year is underway, and many people are engaging in their Bright journey. Some are here fresh for the first time—welcome to you!—and others are doubling down after years of being here. Thanks to you for your fortitude and unstoppability. I’m so glad to be on this path with you. I’ve been thinking about the concept of surrender. We talk about that because we surrender a lot here. We surrender sugar. We surrender flour. We surrender snacking, and eating whatever, whenever. We surrender going to events or places without having to consider our food choices. But there’s an orientation to it that makes it more effortless. That has to do with the depth of our surrender—how clear we are that the old way of eating didn’t work for us. Surrender is the shift that gives us the fortitude and commitment to embark on this Bright Line Eating journey in a way that sticks. It can be hard. We’re taught that you fight to win. You don’t give up. But in this program, we surrender to win. That can feel like defeat. So I came up with a little story, an analogy that makes sense in my mind, and I hope it will for you too. Imagine that life is a game. The playing field is a massive playground, holding countless people and much activity. The game happens in two phases. The first phase is the first part of your life, however many years that is. During that phase, when you make life choices, you migrate to a certain quadrant of the playground. You are just living your life, making choices as you go along, and patterns start to emerge. Your life takes on shape and form. That process moves you to a certain area. Once you realize you’re there, the second phase begins. During that phase, your job is to notice what the teams are doing and to join the winning team. That’s it. You may wake up one day and realize that the choices you're making have a lot to do with food and weight. You know you’re like this when, every time the new year comes around, the first thing on your to-do list is to lose weight and get your food under control. That defines your playground. What you’ve eaten or not eaten has outsized importance. Not everyone is on this playing field, but this is your reality. It’s the playground you’re on. Now, you need to notice the teams. There are only two on this quadrant of the playground. There’s a team of people who eat whatever they want, whenever they want. They are struggling and feeling less happy; they have low self-esteem. They get to eat a lot, but at a big cost. They’re losing the game. And then there are those who have surrendered the foods and eating behaviors that caused them difficulty. They have adopted habits that serve them and have banded into supportive communities. They’re happier and more fulfilled. They are winning this game. In this context, you surrender to join the winning team . You wake up to the reality that there’s one team that is playing this game to win, and they’re doing it together. Surrender to join the winning team. That’s the game we’re playing here at Bright Line Eating. I’m pretty happy to be here. We fall down sometimes, but we help each other up. It’s a good place. If you resonate with that, welcome to the team. Surrender is an elusive thing. In all my years on this journey, I’ve never figured out how to wave a magic wand and give someone the gift of surrender. But maybe this concept will help you—because, truly, surrender is a gift. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/g1dbec Surrender to Win | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 10

Today I want to talk about the notion that addiction is progressive. It’s a progressive, incurable, fatal disease. 63 percent of deaths worldwide are attributable to diet-related diseases. Most people don’t reach end-stage food addiction, but some do. I did. It may start as an inability to control how much you eat… at least sometimes. You may feel a loss of control—but you’re still living a functional life. Maybe weight is creeping on, but maybe not. Then you move into the mid-stages, where it impacts more areas. Maybe you don’t enjoy social engagements as much. Possibly you don’t like to eat in front of people or don’t like how your body looks. Maybe it impacts your performance at work, or your relationships. At the end of the road with food addiction, it’s mental madness, with massive binges that take days to recover from. I remember packing my binge foods in a garbage bag when I resolved to quit and bringing it out to the dumpster. And then I’d return later to retrieve all the food from the dumpster. The next time I resolved to quit, I dumped vinegar on everything before throwing it away so I couldn’t retrieve it from the trash and eat it later. That’s late-stage food addiction. I remember in my 20s, I had to take a semester off from my PhD program because I was bingeing so badly. Many people come to Bright Line Eating early in the disease rather than as full-blown food addicts. To be a food addict, you need to be experiencing clinically significant impairment or distress. If you’ve tried to quit and it doesn’t last, or you lose control over what you eat sometimes—those are addictive symptoms, but you need clinically significant impairment or distress to have an addiction. In my experience, addiction always gets worse. The prefrontal cortex, which should rein in these impulses, just gets weaker and less functional over time. I was well into my recovery journey before I heard someone say addiction is progressive. But then I heard a magic truth: recovery is progressive, too. At first, the benefits of recovery are small and coupled with challenges. All the sights and sounds pull harder, and the brain really wants what it wants. It doesn’t like dopamine downregulation. Cue reactivity peaks a short time into abstinence. But it feels good to lose a little weight and write down your meals. Moments of peace start creeping in. You start to notice that overpowering cravings turn into simple food thoughts. There’s a difference between intense cravings and a food thought that you can block out. That’s nice. Habit stacks start to form, and you get traction with other things. Your mood gets better, your outlook becomes more positive. Maybe you pick up a meditation practice or become more productive. You weigh and measure your food and before long you weigh and measure your life. Maybe you learn when it’s time to say no, thank you. The vagus nerve develops. This is the nerve that goes from your organs to your brain, and it’s the way the brain communicates with your organs and vice versa. The gut and heart, which have their own nervous systems, bring info up to the brain—these are actually 90% of the signals the vagus nerve sends—and these connections start to strengthen. New horizons open. Suddenly, you're taking a painting class, picking up your cello, or meeting a friend for a walk. You’re showing up for yourself and others. We become more ambitious and able to charge what we’re worth. We earn more money. These benefits all compound and accrue. With food addiction slipping away, we address other addictions. Our self-esteem builds. We find ourselves reborn. I’m thirty years into the journey, and recovery hasn’t gotten boring for me yet. To my knowledge, addiction is the only disease that, when treated, leaves you better off than before you caught the disease. Let that sink in. That’s why I still proudly claim the label of an addict, because my recovery means the world to me. It’s who I am. It’s what I love most in life. I am an addict, and I’m in recovery. I love this path that I’m on. It keeps getting better. Take a look at yourself. Maybe it is for you, too. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/gqm4ui Addiction is Progressive | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 1

Today I want to talk about New Year’s resolutions. It’s likely you’ve set a food- or weight-related resolution in the past, and perhaps you are planning one for this year. But I want to talk about a specific benchmark that is worth shooting for on New Year’s Day. If you’re high on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale, and your food and weight problem is not solved, you’ll be orienting at New Year’s toward thinking about solving that problem. Your focus will be on food and weight. However, once your food and weight problems are resolved, you won’t be thinking about your weight when the New Year rolls in. Your focus will be elsewhere—on the book you want to write, the marathon you want to run, the decluttering you want to do, and so forth… and that’s a good benchmark to note. There are three identity shifts that need to happen to achieve this benchmark and to become someone who is capable of living at their goal weight long-term. The first identity shift is to settle into acceptance around a certain plan of eating that you’re doing long-term, not just while you’re trying to lose weight. This plan must be the way you eat now, and who you are now. If you’re doing Bright Line Eating, for example, you identify as a Bright Lifer, and this is rooted in your deep-seated identity. The second identity shift is to become someone who doesn’t turn to food and use it as you used to: for numbing, for entertainment, for nurturing, for soothing—whatever. Food provides fuel for living, and is lovely and delicious, but no more. You become someone who has tools, coping strategies, and friends to support you, instead of food. As part of this identity shift you fall in love with the journey of personal growth inherent in moving beyond the food…and that keeps life endlessly fascinating and the food in its place forevermore. The third identity shift is to become someone who has solved the food and weight problem. Past tense. It’s done. You’re not focused on “the last five pounds.” You’re not tweaking your food plan, unless you need to add or subtract some food to stay in your maintenance range. All the time you used to spend thinking about your food and weight is now reallocated to other life pursuits. Relationships. Self-care. Work and vocations. Hobbies and avocations. And this is where the benchmark comes in. Because New Year’s will arrive, and you will not be thinking about food, your weight, or your body. And you may not even notice at first. We have courses in Bright Lifers—Maintenance I, II, and III—that cover this and take you through these shifts. They hold your hand until you solve this problem. So, what do you do if it’s January 1 and you still absolutely do have a food and weight problem? Then you resolve to handle it in a science-backed way. Do this by tackling your identity first, because this is central. Your identity produces actions, and they, in turn, produce outcomes. You work from the inside out, meaning you start with identity, then you take on new actions, and the meshing together of your new identity with actions leads to outcomes. In other words, don’t resolve to lose 40 pounds by June 1st. You’ve done that before, and it doesn’t work because you can’t start with outcomes. You need to start with identity. BUT HERE’S THE PRO TIP: Invest in following a PROVEN SYSTEM that gives you an identity and lays out your actions. That’s what Bright Line Eating gives you. It starts with the Boot Camp and continues with Bright Lifers, in a Bright Roadmap that takes you through the transformation. It gives you an identity and a community of people who are on the same path. If you want to hit this benchmark of noticing that you’re not thinking about your weight and food, your task is simple: surrender to following the system. There’s a link below the vlog to the registration page for the Boot Camp. Boot Camp tells you what action to take and helps you build your new identity day by day. It’s a slow process, but it happens faster in community, and when you follow a plan you believe in. So just follow the fabulous plan. And someday, you will notice, as an afterthought, that it’s January 1st and you’re not thinking about your food and weight. You’ve got this. Click below and we’ll see you in the Boot Camp. *This special event has now ended. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/gu2zhh A New Year's Resolution Benchmark | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 25, 2024

*This special event has now ended. This is the last vlog of 2024. January 1 is coming, and that’s a time of year when many people think about losing weight, getting their act together, and turning over a new leaf. I want to tell you about a fun, community-building event that starts soon. We gave it a wonderfully cheesy name: “Come Alive! Lose the Weight and Thrive in 2025!” It’s going to be a live Masterclass that we’ll repeat four times, so hopefully, you’ll be able to join us at some point. There’s a link below this vlog if you want to register for it. That title has three components. In this vlog, I want to talk about the first one: coming alive. I deeply value aliveness. I’ve done things that wouldn’t make sense to other people, just because it made me feel alive. I’ve noticed that I don’t feel alive often. I mostly feel like I’m sleepwalking through life, in a fog. Things that make me come alive are rare, valuable, and interesting. It strikes me that aliveness happens at either end of a continuum. At one end are scary, unusual, or dangerous events. If I’m jumping out of an airplane or riding on a motorcycle at 120 mph, I feel alive. I feel alive when I’m traveling in an unfamiliar country or if someone I care about has just died. I feel alive when my heart is broken or I’ve just fallen in love. A beautiful sunset can also make me feel alive. On the other end of the continuum are moments of stillness and emptiness. Maybe I’m meditating. Maybe it’s a regular Tuesday and I’m going to get groceries. If I’m peaceful and centered, an aliveness can be born in that moment that is soft and rounded, both empty and full at the same time. Aliveness can exist in these two extremes, one of wild chaos and the other of utter stillness. I have a story to share, about a man named Marshall Goldsmith. He’s famous as an executive leadership coach and author. He coaches CEOs of Fortune 10, 50, and 500 companies. When I wrote my first book, Bright Line Eating , we were looking for people to write jacket endorsements, and his name came up because someone on my publishing team knew him well. They sent him my book, and he loved it. He said it was exactly right for people who needed sustained behavior change—so he wrote an endorsement. Later, I talked to him on the phone. He wanted to talk about human growth and potential, behavior change, and habits. He told me his personal system: He tracked a handful of personal variables that mattered to him, and that could change his life for the better. He gave himself a score each day for each variable and even paid someone to call him the next morning, every day, to get his score and hold him accountable. He said the most important variable for him was how much time during each day he felt really alive, truly present for what was happening. He measured this variable as a percentage, and then he confessed something I will never forget. He said, “I usually get three percent, maybe five. Once I got ten percent.” My mind was blown. It was the humility he had to admit that, and to still be excited about pursuing a variable that he only managed to get 10% right a fraction of the time. But it also confirmed what I already knew: that we’re mostly sleepwalking through life. So when I say, come alive, I’m acknowledging that aliveness is a precious commodity. We don’t get much of it. And anything we can do to develop it is worth pursuing. Here’s what I know for sure: as a recovering food addict, I don’t have a prayer of being truly alive if I’m in the sugar and flour. Then, I’m obsessed with getting more, numb from what I’ve eaten, in a foggy bog and plagued by gremlins. So if you want to come alive, and lose weight and thrive in 2025, click the link below. I invite you to think about what it would take to optimize your experience of being alive. *This special event has now ended. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/zi6hym Come Alive! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 18, 2024

I usually don’t date vlogs, but this one is date-specific. This is the week we are officially ending our year-long celebration of our ten-year anniversary. Bright Line Eating was conceived on January 26, 2014. That day, I was meditating at 5 a.m., and the universe told me to write a book called Bright Line Eating . I saw it spreading around the world and having a tremendous impact. At that moment, I felt the prayers that people were sending up, asking for help with their weight and their food. I tapped into a global pain over their utter powerlessness. I knew I could help. Fast-forward to August 2014: I started the Bright Line Eating email list. That’s the day the “me” became a “we.” In these ten years, more than two million people have signed up for that list. Some of those people are still with us, and some are not, but they all had their perspectives shifted. In October 2014, the very first Boot Camp launched, which—along with our courses—has had a tremendous impact. Well over 100,000 people, from across the globe, have signed up for one or more of our courses. This week, we’re taking down all the digital assets from our anniversary year—the logo, the timeline, the anniversary page. And now, moving into our second decade, there’s something else I need to retire. Early on, I could feel the impulse, deep down, to make sure this movement had global impact. At first, I articulated that by saying we were going to get a million people to goal weight by 2040. That’s what it says in the first book, Bright Line Eating. A year later, I was talking to a marketer who said I should make it earlier, so we went with a million to goal weight by 2030. Then we stopped talking about goal weight. We noticed the frustration of so many people who had lost huge amounts of weight but were still focused on “the last few pounds” and realized it wasn’t about weight loss; it was about transformation in body, mind, and spirit. So our slogan became a million Bright Transformations by 2030. Then, in 2021, I got a fire in my belly and felt a calling to scale up. So then we said a million Bright Transformations by 2025. We hired a couple of executives to help us scale up the company. It was a disaster, and a wake-up call. But it taught us an important lesson about what, and who, we want… and don’t want to be. We rediscovered our soul through that process. A few years ago, I started to publish more papers, and got in touch with an international community of people studying food addiction. I attended and spoke at conferences. It became clear to me that the big needle-mover is to get ultra-processed food addiction recognized as a disorder in the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , and the ICD, the International Classification of Diseases . With those changes in place, amazing things will happen. People seeking bariatric surgery will be educated and tested for ultra-processed food addiction. People with eating disorders will be screened for it. Ultra-processed foods will be subject to policies and regulations. Perhaps they will be banned from schools, daycare centers, prisons, and hospitals. The big limiting factor in getting ultra-processed food addiction recognized is having more studies on treatment, and what happens to people who stop eating these foods. With our community, we can contribute in significant ways. I no longer have a big drive to grow this company to a million customers. We’ve got 6,500 Bright Lifers now, and we serve them well. I’m not closing the door to amazing growth, but as a CEO and founder, I wanted to let you know that although the global impact of the company is massive, we as a company get to be cozy. It’s a sweet arrangement. So we’re officially retiring our tagline of “a million transformations…”. I’m not sorry we had it. Good goals are goals you maybe have a chance of attaining. We didn’t fail. We learned, and we grew. That’s what happens to companies as they grow and mature. Some scale up and get bigger, bigger, and bigger. Most go bankrupt and cease to exist. But some get wiser and clearer on their vision: who they serve, and how. We are a boutique company who provides exquisite care to the people we serve. That’s who we are. As we move into our second decade, we’re going to formally revamp our mission, vision, and values, and we’ll share those when we can. The team is firing on all cylinders. Our community is stable and thriving. We have a big impact on our members and beyond. Thanks for being on this wild ride with us, however long you’ve been here. The future is BRIGHT!!! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/sviufm The Dawn of BLE’s Second Decade | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 11, 2024

January 1 is coming up, and we’ll be launching a new Boot Camp cohort at the beginning of the month. At the end of this vlog, I’ll tell you about the scholarships we’ll be offering. I’ve been thinking about you and holiday parties and all the overeating that goes on this time of year. I know that many of you will want to turn over a new leaf come January 1st, and make it stick this time. What’s been holding you back? Could it be addiction to chaos? Perhaps coupled with fear of failure AND fear of success? There’s a meditation I do when Boot Camp starts up. I take the participants through what I hope is an inspirational meditation that gives them a mindset for this journey they’re embarking on. It starts by having them imagine they’re walking in the woods. They come to a river, and they look down and see themselves in the river, clinging to some grasses in the water. They’re in an eddy where the water is gross and foamy, and there are bits of trash around. They realize they’ve been there for so long. The river takes a bend downstream, and the person realizes that they don’t know what’s coming up beyond the bend. And then, fast forward, they decide to let go and take their chances down river, and the meditation continues from there. That foamy, gross water, in real life, is the chaos we live in when we’re in active addiction. The bad choices we’ve made, the relationships we’re in, the chronic patterns that aren’t a good fit—all of this keeps us in chaos, and we eat to fuel that chaos. Chaos is addictive. It releases chemicals in the brain—adrenaline, cortisol, endorphins, and more. There’s a soupy cocktail of chemicals that gets addictive. It’s scary to let go of the grass and float down the river. You don’t know if you’ll face failure or success—but that doesn’t matter because they both scare you. If you can relate to this imagery, and feel like there are pieces of your life fueling an addiction to chaos, what do you do? What are the steps to coax yourself out of the eddy and down the river? I have five thoughts that may help. Surrender. Just let go of the grass and float downstream. That could look like signing up for the Boot Camp, or just trusting that maybe you’re not the best architect of your life. If you have not been getting the results you want in life, you may reach a point of crying uncle, of saying I surrender. Gather support. Find a mentor, ideally someone who has lived the way you are now. In the Bright Line Eating community, you are likely to find someone compatible. Find tools that work for you: writing, meditating, being in therapy. Consider trusted texts—if you’re a Christian, read the Bible. Are you a fan of a certain form of therapy? Find books about that. Of course there’s Bright Line Eating books, too. Surround yourself with people who are living just a little better than you. They can inspire you to be your better self. Look around, and find some people who are living now as you wish to be living. As the saying goes, we will become the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Walk a proven path. Success doesn’t just happen because you start making better decisions. There are proven success paths you can walk. I ran a marathon once and used a book called The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer. It was a success path for me. In Bright Line Eating, we have a success path. It’s called the Bright Roadmap and starts with the Boot Camp. Be willing to live at the edge of your comfort zone. If you’re doing it right, it’s going to feel uncomfortable, because things are changing. It’s scary. Develop tolerance for that, for discomfort. One final thought: We do have a Boot Camp cohort starting up in January. We always give away 20 scholarships. These are full scholarships because we know not everyone has the means to pay for it. We are accepting applications now, until Sunday, December 15, 2024. The Boot Camp starts Sunday, January 5, 2025. We’re doing some fun live masterclasses over the holidays. I hope you’ll consider joining us. And I hope you’ll use the thoughts in this vlog and all your supports to see how you can “Come Alive and Thrive in 2025.” *Applications for a Boot Camp 2.0 scholarship are now closed. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/o0ylan Addicted to Chaos | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 4, 2024

I’m five years from my last slip with sugar and flour and eating outside of mealtimes, and two and a half years into being 100 percent immaculately Bright. I’ve been doing this for 21 years, with good and bad times, and I can testify that consecutive, sparkly Brightness confers a lot of gifts. If you’ve never had a stretch where you’ve lived like that, I want to give you some ideas of why it’s worth striving for; and why it can be a good idea to work your program strongly enough to achieve it. We always say this is not a diet. That we need to focus on “non-scale victories.” That it’s about so much more than the food. But why? What does that mean? These are my top eight answers to that question. These eight factors are the reasons why I am grateful to be strongly and consistently Bright. I have a feeling of outrageous joy, a bursting of gratitude. I’m not alone in this. A Bright friend recently told me how she felt like the luckiest person alive—she felt this same kind of amazing joy. It comes for no reason when I’m driving, or in the shower, or doing chores. Just a burst of gratitude. It’s the feeling of truly being alive. I can be the best version of myself. This is about knowing that I’m achieving my potential and being the best steward of my gifts and capacities. I’m playing the cards I was dealt, and playing them well. It used to be I didn’t have that feeling, and when I tried to address it, the first thing on my list was: I’ve got to lose weight . My relationship with food was holding me back from being my best self. I get to fulfill my purpose in life. Everyone has their own purpose, whether it’s caring for their family or painting a masterpiece. For me, it’s to help ultra-processed food addiction become a recognized disorder in the DSM-5 and the ICD-11, and to help as many food addicts as I can along the way. I know that if I’m not Bright, I’m not doing as good a job at that as I can do. I’m available to do God’s will. If you don’t like the word “God,” feel free to substitute another word. When I’m Bright, sometimes, miracles happen. Sometimes, a coincidence that seems beyond that, happens. Being available to do God’s will is a privilege and occurs when I am at peace with food. I get to be an example of what Bright living looks like. That gives people hope. Hope is optimism—the belief that things could be better—plus a pathway showing how things might get better, plus agency, or the belief that you could walk that path. It’s hard to have real hope without a living example—someone who has walked the path you hope to walk. When I live Bright, having suffered as much as I have in the past with food, it gives you a reason to hope that you can do the same. As a bonus, you then become that hope for others. I live Bright because I love the peace. I meditate for 30 minutes every morning, and peace greets me as I breathe in and out. It is so worth it. I’m at home in my skin. I stay sparkly Bright because I want to grow. I love growing. Not being mired in addictions is the result of 30 years of commitment to addiction recovery. It’s a long process, marked by growth. When life gets lifey, and others are stressing out, it takes growth to stay centered. I don’t have any tattoos, but if I did have one, it might be “meliora,” Latin for “ever better,” a constant state of growth. I am so grateful to be Bright because I can be available for others. For example, one of my daughters was done with high school despite being 15. We found a college program that would give her a high school diploma with college-level courses. So she’s doing it. And I can be there for her, and she can lean on me, and know that I’ve got her back. I can be there for other friends, too. When I was young, I needed so much support. Today, I am the one who can be of service to others. I hope that none of this sounds like bragging. I hope it sounds like inspiration. If you are suffering with your food, I get you. You have so much to give in this world. So please, come all the way in and sit all the way down. Let go of the foods that make you crazy. Weigh out your meals and eat with gratitude. You are on the path, and there are good things ahead. And know that I love you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/tcrjhx Why We Stay Bright | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 27, 2024

You work hard to remain Bright on holidays, but there’s another pitfall you may need to address the day after: post-event collapse syndrome, or PECS. PECS occurs after holidays, when you may have let your guard down. Knowing it may happen, however, can help you avoid it. In this vlog, I break down what it looks like and offer tips to fight it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/zl4aby Post-Event Collapse Syndrome (PECS) | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 20, 2024

We’re coming up on the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States of America. For information on negotiating the day itself, check our vlog archive. Go to www.BrightLineEating.Com and click on the “vlog” link in the menu. Type “Thanksgiving” into the search bar for a treasure trove of entries. Look for a vlog called “Thanks and Giving,” about the twin pillars of navigating the holiday: gratitude and service. There’s also one called “Your Thanksgiving Plan” with concrete information and two on “How to Have a Bright Thanksgiving.” Today I want to talk about another aspect of the holiday. There’s an old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result. Any chronic dieter can feel that. Bright Line Eating can give you a new orientation; it helps explain why your brain has been hijacked in the past. It offers multiple suggestions to avoid the insanity, such as uncoupling exercise and weight loss and breaking up with the foods that plague you. I also say that insanity is finding what really works and then deciding to stop doing it. Anyone who has been Bright for a stretch and then decided to leave BLE has experienced that first-hand. But there’s a third type of insanity with food, and I see it crop up a lot before holidays. It’s thinking that what you really need to make that day work is an alteration to your food plan. For example, you may think, I don’t get fruit at dinner, so I need to rearrange my plan for Thanksgiving so I can have fruit because I need something while everyone is eating dessert . Or, I would never eat mashed potatoes, I would just have a plain baked potato, but it’s Thanksgiving, so I need to have mashed potatoes . I’m sure there are a lot of people who think they can take the day off on a holiday. But the only way I’ve ever found to live peacefully Bright is to adopt it as a deep identity and live it 365 days a year. When I call this insanity, I’m thinking of something like the scales of Lady Justice, with balanced weights on each side. In this case, you may have six ounces of strawberries on one side, counterbalanced with the time spent obsessing over the fruit for days and days before the holiday, as well as the very real possibility that mucking with your food plan may throw you off altogether and result in months or even years of excess eating, weight gain, misery, and myriad health complications. Really, is six ounces of strawberries worth it? A better plan might be to go do the dishes when everyone else is eating dessert; or maybe that’s a good time to lead the table in gratitude sharing. Instead of thinking obsessively beforehand about whether you will or won’t move your food plan around, you could spend that time researching interesting ways to have your family connect at dinner. For me, this is one of the biggest hallmarks of my disease. When my thinking is diseased, I put my health, my happiness, my self-confidence, my ability to show up for my family, my higher power, my ability to wear all my clothes, my comfort in my own skin—all these things—on one side of the scale, and somehow I have it outweighed by an extra six ounces of strawberries—or a cookie, or whatever—on the other side. When I am in the grips of my disease, I am unable to call to mind the consequences of going back to my food addiction. The presence of some small bit of food seems to me like it balances out the risk of giving up all those other things. That’s insanity. INSANITY: a lack of proportion, an inability to think straight. Insanity. I’m not saying that it’s a crime to move your food plan around. But I am inviting you to be curious if the negotiator part of you—that’s a form of the food indulger—has started with an insidious “maybe I could, should I make this change…?” loop in your head. If there’s a story you’re telling yourself that a portion of food is the only way to make the day go well, be curious about the lie that may be buried there. In my experience, the only way I have a joyful holiday is by focusing on gratitude, the people, and the day’s meaning. As soon as I start believing that more or better or different food is the answer, I’ve already bought into the insanity. Remember: there are no Bright Line Eating police. You do you. But I invite you to think clearly about what will make your heart soar on that day. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/bm9ayy Pre-Holiday Insanity | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 13, 2024

I was on the Accountability Call on Sunday morning, and a woman needed support. She’s the mother of two small children, and she’s not staying Bright. She’s had success with Bright Line Eating, but is currently struggling. What’s happening is that she’s going, going, going for her family and getting depleted. At the end of the day, she doesn’t have the energy to start cutting vegetables. She orders takeout, sits on the couch, and overeats. She commented that it seemed like Bright Line Eating was mostly working for older, retired people who don’t have kids at home. She felt like it was impossible to stay Bright with her kids. The part of her that allows her to indulge is a caretaker part—a food indulger part that has, as its motive, taking care of her, so that she can rest a bit. I related. I was Bright through my kids’ earliest years, but when BLE blew up, and I had to juggle a growing business, it tipped me over the edge. Every few weeks, I’d get a bunch of food, sit on the couch for hours, and binge my brains out. I realized that, just like her, I had a part that was trying to give me a rest. It knew I wouldn’t permit myself to take a break unless I was in the food. What I needed was to learn to give myself permission to rest—without eating. I needed to learn, for example, that I could go take a bubble bath. If I had time to binge, then I had time for a bubble bath. We talked about the story this mother has in her head about how Bright Line Eating is just for retired folks. Our population indeed skews a little older than average, but that’s mainly because it takes time for people to do enough research to understand that they want to embrace a solution as potent as this one. What was great was the parents who kept popping into the chat thread to tell us how they were super-bright. This mom realized it was possible to stay Bright and raise your kids at the same time—many others are doing it. Bright Line Eating is for anyone who realizes moderation doesn’t work for them and wants to embrace a powerful approach so they can be free and healthy. Lots of people in their 20s and 30s are doing it successfully. Here are some additional tips: Someone mentioned that you can have a habit stack with kids; it may just mean getting up earlier. Do your self-care before the kids wake up. When our kids were little, they went to bed at 7 pm and woke up at 7 am. I woke up at 5 am, so I could get my self-care done. That may sound like a lot, and it is. Being a parent of young kids is a lot. But it’s way better to do it with gas in your tank, having meditated and having had an amazing breakfast. We also talked about mom groups in BLE. That support is important. It’s a great strategy to have access to others in a similar situation when you’re working to become Bright. Another option? She needs to have an easy-to-grab, emergency dinner meal. So if she reaches the point where she is depleted, she can still have a Bright meal. She needs baby carrots, bags of frozen peas, and then mozzarella string cheese sticks, pre-weighed baggies of nuts, or pre-hard-boiled eggs for protein. If you do this right, it’s faster and easier than take-out. If you have food that you can assemble in 90 seconds—and I’ve done this—you’re set. She loved this idea. All this toward what end? We talked about how it’s so important when you have little kids to be structured and steady. That’s what children need. And when we’re in the food, we can’t do that. When we’re Bright, we’re eating our weighed and measured food on time, we’re feeding them good nutritious meals on time, we’ve got time to be with them in between, to go to a park or museum, or play with them, and we are steady and present for them. We stay Bright so we can be that kind of parent. We can’t be that way if we are binging. I’m so glad this topic came up. If it’s your situation, please get connected to our BLE community, because there are other parents there who want to know you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qc3rzf Doing BLE When You Have Young Kids | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 6, 2024

We had an election last night in the U.S., where I live. I suspect that no matter where you live, you know about it. I’m not going to talk about the specifics, for many reasons, one of which is that I’m recording this on Monday, before the election. I wondered, since we don’t talk about politics in Bright Line Eating, if I should just ignore the election and talk about something else. I decided to address it, though, because I have four thoughts to share. First, I will watch the election returns with my daughter at my dad’s house. We’ll watch late into the night. I remember doing that for two other presidential elections. For one of them, I was happy with the results and for the other, I wasn’t. But in both cases, I binged my brains out while watching with a big bowl of sugar and flour. I’m not doing that this time. Maybe I’ll have a cup of ginger tea. Maybe I’ll have nothing and just cuddle with my daughter. I feel like there are two separate tracks: Life is happening over here on one track, and on the other side, I’m eating Bright, avoiding sugar and flour, on a totally different plane from all the life-gets-lifey stuff. I wasn’t always able to do that, and I have no judgment on you if you ate your way through election night. I thank God that I don’t need to do that now. My second thought is that this election brings to mind the Serenity Prayer, and the difference between what we can and can’t control. We do have some control with this election: we can vote, we can canvas, we can donate. But we can’t control the outcome. The results are out of our hands. But research shows that people are happier when they focus on outcomes that are within their control. So, this is a good opportunity to ask ourselves how much we’re focused on things that are out of our control. Leading up to this election, I’ve been reading a lot of political news and receiving lots of negative inputs. I realized I needed to stop, so I broke the cycle and stopped reading the news for a night. I have control over how much of that stuff is in my sphere. My third thought is this: I am so grateful for our Bright Line community and how we handle politics here. Just so you know, if you post comments about specific candidates, how people should be voting, or anything contentious that’s not about how we Bright Lifers navigate life, we will remove them. We do a beautiful job of staying focused on our primary purpose: creating a safe space for people to find a healthier relationship with food through Bright Lines. Our people participate in numerous groups: Mastermind groups, Gideon Games groups, and other forums, and we come from many different backgrounds and perspectives. We love each other and get along. There may be topics we don’t discuss, but we see each other as humans and are reminded that people are good. We can have a lot in common with people we don’t share political views with. We have a common challenge with food and a common solution with our Bright Lines. That binds us together. At Bright Line Eating, we’re connected to others in a loving, trusting way, regardless of our political views. Many people do not have that kind of connection. It’s a blessing to have a safe, protected space, without political ads or other distractions, where we can connect. My final thought is something my mentor brought up recently related to the election. It’s what she’s been asking herself regularly: is this self-inflicted pain? Am I torturing myself mentally? That’s what I had to ask myself when I was reading too much political news. So happy day after the election! I’m grateful to be in community with you, to have carved out a little piece of the world where we can be together focused on our own healing. We stay Bright so that we can be happy, calm, and useful. If outside events are shaking us, it’s our job to bring ourselves back to our center. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/p6ptie The Morning After Election Day | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 30, 2024

The holidays are coming, and with them come a great deal of socializing—often around food. It can be daunting. But what’s the worst that can happen? I have three stories for you about times when the worst did happen. Here’s the first: a friend told me a story about being around a campfire with his family. A family member offered him something they were cooking—it was NMF (not my food). He said, “No thanks,” but the person just shoved the food closer to him and insisted he take it. When they shoved it into his face a third time, he got mad. He was rocked by the fact that his “no” wasn’t honored. Another story: When I lived in Sydney, Australia, I was going through the worst relapse I’d ever had. I finally put down the sugar and flour and got peace, but I was fragile. During that time, we were Bah áʼí—I’m not anymore, but I was a devout member of the faith then—and frequently went to religious gatherings. There was always a large contingent of Persians at these gatherings. In Persian culture, there is a rule of hospitality called taarof , where the host offers a guest food several times, which they turn down twice, and then accept the third time. It’s a sort of dance between host and guest. It’s woven into their culture. I’d go to these gatherings, and invariably the host would bring a tray of baked goods around and I’d refuse, as clearly and strongly as I could. And they’d lift the tray higher and insist. And by this point, tears would be in my eyes and I’d be looking for a way to escape. It was very hard to not have my “no” respected, and I eventually stopped going to these events. And one more: There was a man I didn’t know very well at a camping event. I told him that I didn’t eat sugar or flour. After that, he took a chunk of NMF and shoved it in my mouth. He meant it as a joke. He thought that since I wasn’t initiating the action, it was a freebie and I’d enjoy it. I freaked out and ran to the sink to spit out the food. He didn’t get it—he didn’t understand that I wouldn’t appreciate a freebie. If you’re not a Bright Lifer, what support can you get for these circumstances? First, there is the vlog archive. Go to BrightLineEating.com, click the vlog tab, and use the search box. There’s one called “How to Talk to Your Partner about BLE.” It can help you if someone is obstructing your progress. You can search the vlog archives on terms like “holiday,” “Thanksgiving,” and “Halloween.” There are good tips there to help support you. There is also support in the books: Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free and Rezoom: The Powerful Reframe to End the Crash-and-Burn Cycle of Food Addiction . Get them from the library or cheap on Amazon. If you are a Bright Lifer, there’s even more support. We have a whole course called “Bright Line Holiday,” and it goes into depth about navigating the holidays and staying Bright. If you’re in Boot Camp, there’s a module Called “A Full, Flourishing Life: Navigating Friends, Family, and Social Situations.” There’s also the Friends and Family video—you can copy the link and send it to your loved ones. They get an explanation from a neuroscientist—me—on why your brain is different. Insults and misunderstandings are hard to navigate but it is not, after all, the job of others to understand what you’re doing with your food. And they may never. But you can stay strong in your “no, thank you” regardless of whether they understand. Think about it this way: If you were allergic to peanuts, and someone made you a peanut butter sandwich, you wouldn’t eat it no matter how much they urged it on you. You would say, “No thank you, peanut butter makes me sick.” That’s helpful language because sugar and flour make us sick. It warps our minds, spirit, body, and brain. I want to leave you with a quote from the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” We have a food landscape that is sick. People eat themselves into illness and early death. For us, it’s even worse because we have an addictive relationship with ultra-processed foods. It’s not good for us, even on the holidays. So stay strong in your “no, thank you.” Appreciate the people who accept this and God bless those who don’t. And bring it here. Bring it here. Bring it here. We get you, we love you, we support you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/dw1qy7 When They Won’t Take Your “No” | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 23, 2024

Today I’m coming off a near-all-nighter at the emergency room with a loved one. It’s my second night this week in the ER—with two unrelated circumstances. Sometimes this happens. And it occurs to me that it might be helpful for you if I describe how I navigated going through a situation like this while staying Bright. So let me lay out how I managed, in the hope that when you’re facing moments like this, it could help you out. The first incident happened Wednesday night. David and I were woken up at 2 am with the news that one of our loved ones was on the way to the hospital. I knew it would probably be a long time in the ER, so I packed my breakfast. I don’t leave the house without my food any more than I’d leave the house without pants on. There’s always a moment to pack a quick meal. I didn’t pack the breakfast I had written out the night before. Instead, I threw some nuts, an apple, and a portable grain in a Tupperware. It took me only a minute. A day and a half later, I was still recovering from that long night. I had a meeting that morning and didn’t think I could face it. I meditated and cried and crawled back into bed for a little while until my Highest Self told me it was time to get up. I went to the meeting…super late, but better late than never. And it was essential that I stay sensitive to my need to fill my tank back up after the ER experience. Then, last night, I was out with one of my kids and some loved ones, and one of them passed out and fell face first into a concrete floor. It was 8 pm, and we were on our way to the ER again. I’d had my dinner and did not need to pack food. I thought, rightly, that we’d be done before morning. If needed, though, I could have swapped out with David to get home for breakfast. A word about my food thoughts and food cravings this week. I shot a vlog a while ago on dragonflies and dragons. A food craving is like a dragon that swallows you up; it demands that you eat. A food thought is like a dragonfly that lands on your shoulder. It feels like an invitation to consider food. When the dragonfly lands on your shoulder, you’re at a choice point. You have the option and the ability to brush it away before it grows into a dragon. As soon as you turn toward it, however, it opens the door to further thinking about that food and before you know it, you have a dragon on your hands. In the past few days, it felt like I was walking through a swarm of dragonflies, particularly when I was in the grocery store. So I called a Bright friend, just to tell her that I was grateful to be Bright, but that the food was calling to me. A two-minute phone call. I used my mantras: that’s not my food, that’s poison to me . And I got out of the grocery store Bright. After I got home last night at 3 am, I went into triage mode and began canceling things. What was most urgent, and what could I put off till later? I canceled a bunch of meetings. I slept a bit, then woke up, meditated, and had breakfast. Then I went back to bed. I needed a nap and then my lunch. I am giving myself the grace of doing this vlog in my office rather than going into the studio because it feels more gentle. I feel like there’s a part of me that is a very effective, kind, skilled Girl Scout troop master. When the Girl Scouts are on a hike and things go awry, the master needs to handle bruises or broken bones, while navigating the route, and making sure everyone stays engaged and safe and well. And I have a part of myself that reviews the calendar, cancels non-essential events, changes plans, and reorganizes my world when life gets lifey. That Girl Scout master in me knows that staying Bright is the top priority. The habits and routines that staying Bright includes are all negotiable, but breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the right times with the right foods—that must happen. I’m grateful for the part of me that takes over and makes that happen. I’ll be in that mode for a few days, I suspect. We’ve been through a lot in the past few days. Today I’m going to go spend time with one of my kiddos and stay close to family. So when life gets lifey for you, I wish you gentleness and care and hope you have a Girl Scout master who can shepherd you through it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ts755i Two Visits to the ER | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 16, 2024

In today’s vlog, I want to talk about fiber tracts. These are neural pathways that your brain builds every day. Your brain is always changing. You are either learning new things or strengthening pathways that exist. Say you begin piano lessons. You create new fiber tracts for piano playing. It’s as if you’re in a dense jungle with your machete, and you need to hack your way through to create a path. This is hard at first but gets easier with time. Repetition beats down the path and then widens it more and more. We come to Bright Line Eating with fiber tracts for the way we used to eat. Maybe it’s a fiber tract for swinging by a cafe on the way to work, scrolling through a delivery app, or rummaging through the cabinet for snacks before watching TV. When we start Bright Line Eating, we abandon those old behaviors and start building new fiber tracts—new paths for writing down our food, assembling meals, weighing our food, and more. The Bright Lifer has two sets of fiber tracts in the brain: all the ones for the old way of eating, and the newer ones for how they eat now. The old ones never go away; you’re just not using them. They’re like an old, dried-up riverbed that no longer has water in it. That’s the reality of “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic” or “once a food addict, always a food addict.” There’s also a third type of fiber tract. We have the old and new way of eating, but there can also be a fiber tract for relapse if you break your lines repeatedly and fall back into old ways of eating. When you’re Bright you get a clean slate with your new ways of eating. After a few months, if you’ve been squeaky clean Bright, eating off-plan is actually hard—your brain doesn’t want to leave the new path. I live right by the Erie Canal, in Rochester, NY. Canals have thick cement walls that keep the water in. Your brain is like that when you become Bright. It has thick walls that keep you from deviating, like those canal walls. These walls are so strong that after a few months, you might find it hard to reach out to something that is NMF (Not My Food). But if you do choose to reach for that NMF, you start to create a third pathway, an off-ramp from the Bright fiber tracts back to the old fiber tracts. And every time you deviate, that path from the new to the old gets wider. Before long, you have fiber tracts going from trigger to relapse. After a while, those new fiber tracts may be so strong that without even realizing it, you suddenly have a handful of nuts in your mouth. So you end up with three sets of fiber tracts: the well-worn old set, the new, Bright set, and a third path that goes from Bright to not Bright. If you find yourself in this position, what do you do about it? The same thing you did when you started Bright Line Eating. The way to create a new reality in your brain is to dam up all the water that was going down into the dry riverbed and become very intentional with your behaviors. Dam the water upstream by recommitting to your Bright Line journey. Do not allow any deviations. This might mean putting yourself in a new Bright environment. This may involve more support, a lot of intentionality, and maintaining firm, cement-like barriers to keep the water from flowing where you don’t want it to flow. You can’t allow any water to leak out, even though it’s easy for that to happen. It’s going to take time, along with maintenance of your Brighter than Bright Lines. You’ll need to up your game a lot. And if you’re not in that situation, keep your canal walls thick and strong, and don’t let any deviation happen. Savor that experience, and protect it. Because the minute you deviate, you’re starting to create new fiber tracts. I spent from 2015 to 2019 in and out of relapse. I built pathways from Bright to not-Bright. But today, I’ve been as Bright as possible, even in restaurants, for two and a half years. I changed by putting myself in a different environment with stronger support and more guidance, and I drew the line in the sand. It took a lot of work. There’s a mysterious grace involved, too. So if you’re in this state, don’t give up. It’s not easy, but you got this. I know how it feels. And you can get Bright again, with vigilance, a stronger program, and time. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/9odlcg The Pathways to Relapse | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 9, 2024

I want to introduce you to something called arousal theory. Understanding the arousal mechanisms in your nervous system can help you see how you may have used food in the past to moderate it, and how you can avoid doing that now. Here’s what arousal theory is: we all have a mechanism that works like a see-saw, moving us from high arousal to low arousal. The sympathetic nervous system, our “fight or flight” response, is associated with high arousal. The parasympathetic nervous system, the “rest and digest” response, is associated with low arousal. The sympathetic nervous system can be active from events that range from being bitten by a spider to riding a roller coaster—activities like these are high-arousal and may involve fear, excitement, sexual desire, or other high-octane emotions. What does low arousal look like? It can include being bored, relaxed, sedated, sleeping, or vegging out on hour eight of a Netflix binge—all these activities turn down our mental dial. Generally, the brain goes to great lengths to keep your state of arousal moderate . So, if you have been watching TV for a few hours, for example, it might feel great to get up and move around and take a hot shower. Or if you’ve been riding roller coasters all day at the amusement park, you might pass on a friend’s offer to go out dancing that night. Your brain has had enough high arousal. There are a few wrinkles to this. Here’s one: the level of arousal that’s optimal depends on the task. A moderate level of arousal is fine for a moderately difficult task. So if you’re helping your kid with their math homework, you want a moderate level of arousal to function best. But if you are taking a calculus exam or trying to pass the Bar exam, you want a lower level of arousal to help you perform your best. Or picture someone at the Olympics: on the high dive, right before they jump, they’ll close their eyes and breathe deeply, doing whatever it takes to bring down their nervous system to an optimal low-arousal state. That’s because the task at hand is extremely difficult. What about easy tasks? Let’s say you’re working for a charity and you’re stuffing envelopes for ten hours. You need to perform fast and consistently. You might want to have your favorite dance-party music pumping to keep yourself in a state of higher arousal. It’s a super-easy task. One last factor: People’s baseline level of arousal varies. Some people are high-arousal naturally. They don’t have enough of the neurotransmitter GABA that dampens arousal in the brain. These people are constantly seeking arousal-dampening experiences. And they might be more drawn to flour products, which have a sedating tendency. Others run low-arousal. They may look for more stimulation. These are the people who ride motorcycles and jump out of airplanes. They do this to supplement their low-arousal brains. I’m one of those people—I’m a hard-core extrovert, have owned a motorcycle, and have had my skydiving license. I remember when I was writing my first book, I was alone in a cabin on a writer’s retreat. When I went to the grocery store I drove like a banshee, with the music as high as it would go! My brain was flipping out from way too much time in a state of low arousal. I needed stimulation. That’s the same thing as eating a lot of sugar. Sugar produces high arousal; flour produces low arousal. Notice how you may have self-medicated in the past to obtain an optimal level of arousal. And notice that sugar and flour aren’t the best ways to achieve those ends. Turning on fast music in the kitchen and dancing while you chop your veggies is a great way to increase arousal. Taking a bubble bath is a lovely way to get some low-arousal gentleness into your evening. So as you go through your day, I want you to look at ways you’ve used food to change your brain state. Notice that food isn’t the sharpest tool you could use. You can do it better with awareness, without toxic foods. Make a conscious decision to find a pick-me-up or a slow-me-down that’s not toxic. If you used to turn to sugar, try dance, or play. If you used to turn to flour, try aromatherapy, a meditation track, or a gentle walk with a friend. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/jzwfdq Arousal Theory | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 2, 2024

Today’s a big day: it’s the start of registration for the Fall Food Freedom Boot Camp. It’s usually our biggest cohort of the year. It’s a wonderful time to start because it takes you through the holidays— the hardest time of year for food. Boot Camp gives you the support you need. And when January comes and you’ve lost weight and are feeling amazing in your body, you’ll be on top of the world. So many of our successful Bright Lifers started with the fall Boot Camp. Every year, we send out a survey at this time to find out what’s challenging you. What we noticed this year was that there were a lot of people who have cursory experience with Bright Line Eating, but who haven’t done the Boot Camp, or tried it but drifted away. They haven’t gotten traction yet. Boot Camp is the strongest foundation for a Bright life, and because registration is starting today, I want to give you my four best success tips for making sure that you start strong. So if you’ve made an effort but are floundering, or haven’t started yet, here’s what you should know: Carve out time at the beginning to get started. Bright Line Eating takes time at the beginning. Week One is a lot—because you’re changing your whole life. I want you to carve out several evenings or a weekend at the beginning. I know, you’re busy. But this is important. For a rocket ship to get from the earth to the moon takes a tremendous amount of fuel, but 90 percent of that is burned off just getting it 100 feet off the ground. Once you’re launched, it gets SO much easier. So be aware that the beginning is time-consuming. Learn how to get help. What happens if you get stuck, or overwhelmed? We have so much for you in the Boot Camp! There’s a green oval in the bottom right of most of our website pages. It says “Bright Line Eating Support & FAQs.” Click on that and you can do two things: First, you can search our FAQs—and I want you to practice that! Type in, “How do you measure soup?” for example, and see what you find out. There are 100s of FAQs, carefully crafted to answer your questions. Second, there’s a little word bubble that says “ask,” and if you click there, you contact our support team, who are standing by waiting to answer your questions. So click on that green bubble and give it a try. But there’s more: there’s our amazing Bright Line community, who are there 365 days of the year, 24/7, to support you and help you. Practice asking a question—like, “How long did it take you to lose your weight?”—and see what you find out. Pick at least one person to share the Friends and Family Video with. This video explains Bright Line Eating and why some people’s brains work differently. It explains why, for some people, if they have a craving, they can indulge in that food, and that scratches the itch. But for other people, scratching the itch just makes it itchier, and a policy of “none” is way easier than “some.” The video explains the neuroscience of this so you don’t have to. Think of how helpful it will be for those in your innermost circle to understand this. The Friends and Family Video is located in Bonus Number One, which comes up at the beginning of the Boot Camp. Look for “Bonus 1: A Full, Flourishing Life—Navigating Families, Friends, and Social Situations.” One of those videos is “for friends and family” and you can send them the link so they can watch it. Take baby steps. Focus on just the next, right action. I think we undervalue the potential in just taking baby steps. Every single step in the Bright Line journey is easy and simple. And it’s all laid out for you if you start at Module 0: the Planning & Preparation Process. There’s a worksheet right up top there; a PDF checklist download that details all your steps. The PDF is called “Module 0: Action Steps & Invitation to Reflect.” Download it. Print it out. Breathe. Ask God, the universe, your guardian angel, or your higher self for support. And take it one baby step at a time. That’s your formula for success. It's daunting, perhaps, to start Bright Line Eating. But it doesn’t have to be. You just need to start with action. And the action you need is to get yourself into the Boot Camp. That’s where the magic is. If you’re one of the people who said in the survey that you’re struggling with the basics, with food prep, with letting go of sugar, with stringing your first few Bright Days together, with cravings, with feelings of self-doubt, let us help you. This is what we do, all day, every day—help you transform. Here’s the link to get started with the Boot Camp: https://www.brightlineeating.com/programs Imagine it’s January 1st and you’re soaring. You will have had the best holiday possible, focused on family, the camaraderie, the joy, with the food in its right place as a supplement. Be with us. I love you and can’t wait to see you on the inside. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ak9jlq 4 Essential Tips to Kickstart Boot Camp Success | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 25, 2024

Restaurants are my Achilles’ heel, and I want to share with you a few meals recently that didn’t go well—and what I did about it. I used to try to game the system and get the biggest, sexiest meals when eating out, but that was giving me near-panic attacks afterward. In 2022, I started to analyze my restaurant behavior and decided to go back to day one because I wasn’t being honest about how I was navigating it. Eating out has been a breeze since then. Here’s how I achieved that: I partnered with someone who has peace with eating in restaurants and we went through my behavior with a fine-tooth comb. Then I stopped triggering myself. An example: at my local Japanese restaurant, I used to order a salad with dressing that had a little sugar in it. I rationalized it as part of my vegetable portion. But when I cleaned up my habits, I started ordering my salad without dressing. I eat it plain now with soy sauce. I also started being more honest about proportions. For example, I used to order French onion soup, (without the big crouton, of course), on the theory that 8 ounces of broth is fine, and I wouldn’t count the cheese as anything. Now I don’t eat melted cheese at all. So fast forward to about a month ago. We went to a restaurant to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. She had been talking about how good their deep-fried Brussels sprouts were. I ordered them without cheese. This was a rationalization. Mind you, the place has steamed broccoli. That’s what I should have ordered. I ate the Brussels sprouts and they were great—but I left the restaurant feeling all swirly in my head. The next morning, my ring didn’t fit because I was swollen from that oil. My thinking didn’t feel right for several days. This was not a big deal, but I didn’t have peace about it. So I talked to several people who have peace in restaurants to debrief. One asked me, “What do you have going on? What is that indulger part of you trying to get from those greasy Brussels sprouts?” I hadn’t noticed that my food indulger part was active, trying to please me and make my life better. But a few days later I walked out of a restaurant again feeling panic and shame. I ordered salmon sashimi and ate it with soy sauce and wasabi. Afterward, I picked up the bowl of soy sauce and drank it. I had a bowl of vegetables with a little butter on them, and I drank that bowl of buttery soy sauce too. I called a friend to talk about it, and I remembered something from my childhood: when my father and I would go to get Chinese food, I’d pour soy sauce and white vinegar together, take my fork, and eat the liquid from the fork. My motive, in all these cases, was a food addiction motive: More . Can I get more of this food to soothe, to calm, to satiate me? Can the food do something for me and help me achieve some level of okay-ness? But food doesn’t do a good job of that. I need to find my okay-ness inside, instead. So I rezoomed. I didn’t break; I just didn’t make good choices. If you need more information on breaks, check out my book REZOOM —there’s a section there on what makes a break. I’m glad I used my tools, talked to people, wrote about it, and sought the lesson. I want to claim the win that keeping my quantities in restaurants has now become automatic. If you’re not high on the Susceptibility Scale, this may all sound crazy. That’s fine. Do what gives you peace in restaurants. For me, analyzing food is vital, because I’m a 10+++ on the Scale. I have to keep my behavior really clean. But keep doing what’s working for you. For me, what’s been working regarding my quantities in restaurants is to HONESTLY eyeball my portions, taking what I’m not going to eat off onto a side plate. Then I start eating. But if, while I’m eating, I start to second-guess my quantities and think I may be about to eat too much, I take more away. I keep taking bits away until I have peace. If you have a restrictor part of you, and taking away food could be an act of anorexia, then don’t do this. I’m an overeater and don’t have a strong restrictor part. So for me, taking food away is healthy. If it’s the reverse for you, you may need to surrender and eat all your food. I share these specifics because I think it’s helpful to have this boots-on-the-ground understanding of what it’s like to live a Bright Life and have these long stretches of freedom. Sometimes, that freedom may get interrupted, and it’s good to know what to do when that happens. For me, it was time to check my motives. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/sofbso Motives in Restaurants | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 18, 2024

I was coaching someone yesterday on an Accountability Call who is going to Italy, and it reminded me of something I wanted to tell you about my very first trip to Italy this past summer. While I was in Italy, I posted on the Bright Line Eating Facebook Community. It was the morning of our last, long day of tours and I wrote this: “My beloved Bright Lifers: I haven’t done this in a long time, but am posting because I need support. I’m in Italy with David on our 25 th anniversary trip. Long days, in the hot sun, powerless over when we stop for lunch. Lots of watching people eat NMF (not my food) and drink NMD (not my drink) and my knee hurts and I’m feeling run-down. We are in Florence and have one more 10-hour day of sightseeing. Tomorrow is a day at sea, with time to journal, make calls, and recharge. I told David this morning that I’m depleted. I cried. I’ve posted like this in the past and have been buoyed up by the flood of support that comes in. I’m breathing, and praying, and trusting that I can make it through this day. It feels so good to be Bright no matter what. Thank you in advance for your love and support.” I was thinking I might not go that day, skipping out to rest and recharge. I think the day before in Rome had really weakened me—it had been a hot, long day with a disastrous tour guide. I was exhausted. After I posted, though, David and I joined the tour. And then a miracle happened. The tour guide was amazing: organized, calm, and clear. The day was laid out beautifully. I felt calm. I kept checking my phone and finding comments of love and support—dozens of them. They urged me to hang in there and keep moving forward. It was the easiest day I’d had. I had so much reserve in my tank. Putting that post out to the world and letting the love flood in gave me tangible support. It reminded me of another time in my life when I put out a call for support and found myself living and floating on peoples’ prayers and support. That was when our twins were born prematurely. A nurse practitioner in the NICU told me they were the sickest of the 54 babies currently there, with a four percent chance of survival. My heart was breaking. But the substance of the prayers we received was so palpable. Last night I went for a walk with a friend. It was a bright, hot summer evening. As we turned a bend, the sun had set and the sky was the most gentle, pastel colors. It was a precious light-filled moment. The moon was almost full, hanging on the horizon, and the air was gentle. That’s what the air felt like in Florence when I was walking through the day supported by all those prayers. Suddenly, the quality of the day turned gentle, positive, and fresh. The Duomo was so beautiful I wept. I was so glad I didn’t miss that day. It was incredible. I bring this to you because an SOS post in our online community gets so many responses. And the results are not what you might expect. It’s not that you get advice. Instead, it activates mysterious forces that change the tone and tenor of what you’re facing, that melt difficulties and buttress your strength. The reality is that, sometimes when we’re living Bright, we’re content to watch people eat and drink stuff that we don’t eat and drink. And sometimes, it wears us down. An SOS post to our community activates a flood of responses that generates energies that my scientific brain is convinced have spiritual and physical substance to them. Something happens to make it possible to get through gracefully and Bright. The next day on that trip, I was fine. I was buzzing from what a great day I’d had in Florence. So if you’re one of the 400+ people who posted, thank you. If you said a prayer or sent strength, thank you. If you do that for anyone in our community, thank you. And if you post an SOS post, thank you for allowing us to show up for you, to rearrange the molecules for you. We are there for you. This is another tool in your tool belt when you’re feeling worn down. Ask us for help. We’ve got your back. Always. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/cb6l5z An SOS Post From Italy | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 11, 2024

Wendy Reynolds wrote in with a great question about diet mentality: “ This term is used repeatedly in coaching calls. I have asked several people in my own circle how they would define it. And I'm hearing so many varied explanations. So I decided to search through all the vlogs, all 3 books (minus the cookbook) and I found only one entry, on Feb 13th in "On This Bright Day" which was fantastic. I would love a more in-depth, clear understanding of what diet mentality means in BLE. THANK YOU. ” In essence, diet mentality is an approach to eating that is short-term and focused on weight loss. Your Bright Transformation happens at the physical level, for sure, but also at mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. If we focus only on the physical, we are missing pieces of the whole picture. You can focus on weight loss even to the exclusion of health. For example, consider someone who is on a GLP-1 medication like Wegovy. They could be in a state of diet mentality: taking it for weight loss, and not caring about other health benefits or detriments. They might not eat healthy foods, or perhaps they save up points so they can eat desserts. They aren’t trying to stay healthy; they’re trying to lose weight. That's diet mentality. Diet mentality is common in BLE as well. There are people, for example, who break their Bright Lines occasionally, but still lose weight because they have a strong metabolism and they’re following the plan 90 percent of the time. They might not even notice that they’re not allowing themselves to experience the full mental, spiritual, and emotional benefits. They may think it’s going great and not even know that they are not really doing Bright Line Eating. They’re just using it as a diet. When we focus on the mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits we have a different experience—sometimes in direct contradiction with diet mentality. Spiritually speaking, surrendering to the Bright Life can lead to tremendous peace and freedom. Emotionally, we can let go of resentments, judgmentalism, and criticism of ourselves and others. We may do deep emotional work. We work our Bright Lines not as a diet, but as a way of life. What we are talking about here is an issue of identity. Who are you really? Are you fundamentally the person you always were, who is just adopting this food plan to lose weight? Or are you fundamentally someone who does Bright Line forever, as an identity? It’s the difference, when the platter of food is passed, between “Oh, I can’t, I’m in a weight loss program right now,” and “No thanks, I don’t eat sugar.” Do you hear the difference? The model that I get from James Clear’s book on forging new habits is this: at the core of sustained behavior change is identity. The next level is the system or process you’re following—which for you may be Bright Line Eating. If you’re here with a diet mentality, you may be less interested in the rest of the system, like getting a buddy, doing Gideon Games, or other support we offer. You might overlook the routines like meditating or starting a gratitude process. You may gloss over anything not directly related to losing weight. What it comes down to is this: is this a short-term or a long-term thing for you? Any of the popular weight loss plans can be done as a diet or they can be worked on in a deeply identity-rooted way and not just with a diet mentality. It’s not the plan you adopt that identifies it as a diet or an identity shift. It’s your orientation toward it. So you need to ask yourself: why am I doing this? If you just want to lose weight, it’s a diet mentality. And if it’s a diet, you will regain the weight, because that’s how diets work. They’re short-term things. If you have a diet mentality, though, don’t beat yourself up. A lot of people “come for the vanity, stay for the sanity,” as the 12 Step saying goes. Just consider working on it a bit. You want to develop a deeper identity as someone who does this long-term, one day at a time. Move from diet to lifestyle mentality. Do some WOOPs—wish, outcome, obstacle, plan. Visualize yourself ten years in the future, still doing this. Really, truly, ask yourself: Why am I doing this? Think about who you want to be as a person, and what you want your life to mean. Weight loss is always for a reason. Why are you here, really? When you have the answer to that question, you’ve moved beyond diet mentality. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/gmh9wd Diet Mentality | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 4, 2024

Today’s topic is a great one, and I’ll follow it with an announcement. A woman wrote: “I am embarrassed to join the community because I don’t have a weight problem, but I have a food addiction. I’m a nine on the Susceptibility Scale and have benefitted from your books and other materials. I’m afraid of being out of place in BLE, but I feel I could benefit from increased support.” You are not alone! It is shocking how common it is for someone to have a food addiction even with no weight to lose. In fact, a study I did in 2015 showed that 22 percent of the respondents who were at a normal BMI tested high on the Susceptibility Scale. Food addiction and the propensity to accumulate weight are completely separate systems in the brain. Because many people do come to BLE to lose weight, it can be easy to think that we’re not the right place for you—but that’s not true. Conversely, those who have weight to lose but aren’t high on the Susceptibility Scale sometimes feel they don’t belong here—and that’s not true either. Almost everyone feels like they don’t belong at some point, for whatever reason: I have too much weight to lose. I don’t have enough weight to lose. English isn’t my native language. I don’t see people from my ethnic or racial background. I’m too young for Bright Line Eating. I’m too old. I’m too much of an introvert. I could go on. I remember at an early Family Reunion Gathering, Everett Considine was on stage and asked the crowd to raise their hand if they felt like they didn’t belong. And three-quarters of the room—including me—raised their hand. Having a part of you that says you don’t belong is something that almost everyone needs to overcome. Search “choose to belong” at our vlog page and you’ll find a vlog I shot on exactly that topic. Ultimately, we choose to belong. We claim our seat by sitting in it. Consider the story you have in your head: that if you are seen in public weighing and measuring your food, without having weight to lose, you’ll be stirring up thoughts that you have an eating disorder. People might think you were disordered. But remember that all of us in Bright Line Eating, walking around in our Bright bodies, are weighing our food in public. Here’s my favorite story about this: there was a Bright Lifer who worked at Apple, where there were amazing buffets. She brought her food scale to one and was about to pull it out when a really good-looking guy got in line behind her. She considered not pulling out the scale. But finally, she summoned her courage and pulled it out, and he immediately struck up a conversation about how amazing it was that she did that. He said, “Everyone who is smart weighs their food. It’s the only way to dial in your nutrition.” If we are the type of person who weighs our food publicly, we can be a beacon to others. They will see that we’re not restricting our quantities—we’re eating healthy, abundant quantities and living in Bright, balanced bodies. Besides, it doesn’t matter what others think. Those that matter don’t mind, and those that mind, don’t matter, as the saying goes. All this is to say that I think you belong in Boot Camp. Come all the way in. Bring your body, that is not burdened by weight but is burdened by mental chaos. Start to shed that load. You belong here. Let us love you. You’ll find others who are like you here. And here’s my big announcement: Starting today, scholarship applications for Boot Camp are being accepted—but only for a limited time. Today through Sunday, September 8, 2024. We will grant twenty FULL scholarships for the Boot Camp in October. At the end of September, the Food Freedom videos will come out, I’ll do YouTube Lives and a webinar, and the Boot Camp will start in the first week of October. I think you should be part of it. If you need a scholarship, now’s the time to apply. There’s a link below the video with more info on the application process. It’s scary to branch out—but that’s where the magic is, and the growth starts. I hope you join us. *Applications for a Boot Camp 2.0 scholarship are now closed. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/iaagld A Sugar Addict with No Weight To Lose | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 28, 2024

I’ve been waiting to do this vlog for months! A few months ago, someone wrote in about the book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY , to find out what happened after our launch. What about the contest? Did it make the New York Times Bestseller List? It’s true—I never did a vlog to sum it up for you. Here’s what happened: It sold about 5,000 copies, about half as many as would have been needed to make the New York Times list. But that’s twice as many copies as REZOOM sold. It continues to sell well. We had three winners for the contest. They came to Rochester to visit with me, but then life got lifey: I got the flu the day they flew in. I couldn’t meet with them. I took medicine, went to bed, and it didn’t work—I was still sick. JoAnn Campbell-Rice, the book’s co-author, had also flown in. She and the contest winners ended up hanging out together. The next day I put on some flannels and met them outside, very separated, and we chatted. But the sweet thing about it is that they all bonded and got very close. So we planned another trip, timed with the Bright Line Eating anniversary, and they had dinner at my house. That all happened just earlier this month, hence the delayed vlog. More updates: We got JoAnn Campbell-Rice listed as a co-author. We worked with Hay House to get a new cover for the Kindle edition and audiobook version—that all happened immediately. We rewrote the author page for the paperback version, which is coming out in October. We also have a title page with JoAnn’s name which you can download at OnThisBrightDayBook.com. On that website, we have other fun things, too. If you post on Instagram, for example, and use the hashtag #OnThisBrightDay, your post will get loaded on the website so everyone can see your picture and posting! Mainly though, I’d like to talk to you about what is so soul-satisfying about this book. It is really helping people to live the Bright Life. It’s a daily reminder with 366 ways to help you break away from the tyranny of addictive eating and live Bright and clear in community with others like you. In fact, in the UK, there’s an accountability call each day with 20-30 people, and they begin each call by reading that day’s reading from the book. And every day, someone shares that it was exactly what they needed on their journey. JoAnn Campbell-Rice and I shared in a recent conversation that we both read the book every day and we both said that it feels magical to us every morning. The book keeps on giving. So was the book a success? What makes a book a success, anyway? I want to let you in on a publishing house secret. I had a private conversation with Reid Tracy before the first book—BRIGHT LINE EATING—was published. I asked him what it takes to make a book launch a success. He said that people tend to focus on the launch and forget what’s really important about a successful book. The key, he said, is to write a really good book that impacts people . Let some time go by, he told me. A couple of years. And then look on Amazon and see how many reviews it has. No phenomenal book launch of a truly mediocre book will get a thousand reviews on Amazon. The only way to get a thousand reviews is to write a book that truly impacts people. I’ve always carried that with me. It’s gratifying to me that REZOOM, which we gave the weakest launch ever, has 966 reviews. It’s a good book. People are still discovering it. ON THIS BRIGHT DAY has 356, but it just came out. So I invite you to reflect on this book. And if you enjoy it, consider writing a review on Amazon. I’d be very appreciative. I suspect that, in the fullness of time, it will creep up to a thousand reviews. I am deeply proud of it, and I know JoAnn Campbell-Rice is as well. Thanks for your patience with me during the months it took me to get this vlog out to you. If you’re trying to do anything for yourself other than the standard American diet, this book will support you every day. You will feel ever-better and ever-Brighter because of it. Get the new title page, read the authors’ bios, and more: https://ble.life/j4wp2z FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/exj21s Behind the Scenes with ON THIS BRIGHT DAY | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 21, 2024

I’ve been sharing a great deal about anniversaries lately, and today I have another one: it’s nine years this month since I began doing the weekly vlog. That’s roughly 270 vlogs. In all that time, I’ve only missed three or four weeks. Here’s a little insight into how it happens: I usually film each Wednesday’s vlog on the Monday morning before. Then my team does all the processing that needs to happen to have it ready by Wednesday. I have an Evernote on my phone titled “future vlog topics,” and it goes back for years. I use it to capture thoughts or add links to articles. The team also keeps track of suggestions you write in—we get about one a day. Sometimes I come up with a topic related to something that’s happened to me that week. Sometimes I want to talk about science. Other times I want to share a life lesson. Sometimes, like today, I come to the vlog in an emotional state that makes it hard to talk about anything. The vlog feels to me like truth serum. I look into the red dot above the camera lens and I feel all of you—thousands of you—there with me. What I have to say has to come from a genuine place. I’m an emotional creature. My astrology chart is loaded with water: Sun, rising sign, Mercury, and Saturn all in Cancer; Moon in Scorpio, and Jupiter in Pisces. If I’m affected by life, it’s hard not to bring that to the vlog. I spent this past weekend with a dear friend who is dying. Though she’s very dear to me, we just met for the first time. We became close online. She drove up from Appalachia, where she lives. She’s dying, and isn’t yet at peace with that. She has less than a year. Then this morning, I got a call from someone who was affected by something I had said to them about their weight. She was feeling comfortable in her body, so what I said sent her reeling. I’ll shoot a vlog about it sometime, as I will on my friend who is dying, with their permission. I can’t shoot those topics yet. I only shoot a vlog topic once, so I have to make sure I’m ready to say everything that needs to be said. I thought I was going to shoot today’s vlog on the book, On This Bright Day , but I’m not ready for that, either. All these things were in my head and on my heart when I was getting ready. I sat down and cried after my shower, and scrolled through my Evernote document. I scrolled through pages and pages of ideas that were nowhere near anything I could remotely face talking about today. And then I found something way back at the end, that I must have written down years ago, and it’s something I can talk about today. It’s a bunch of bunny slipper mantras. Here they are: When I have an extra hard day, I will take extra good care of myself. When I am under a lot of stress, I will treat myself with a lot of kindness. When I feel more overwhelmed than usual, I will take more time to rest than usual. When my emotions are strong, My self-compassion will also be strong. When I am feeling additional tension, I will make space for additional relaxation. When I am feeling deeply, I will also practice accepting my emotions deeply. When I am really tired, I will be really gentle with myself. —Unknown That’s all I could resonate with this morning, and I’m giving myself permission to do a vlog that is pieced together with duct tape and chicken wire. And it’s okay. We have such a sensitive community, and we’re all—myself included—just showing up for each Bright Day. And sometimes that day is vlog day. So, on this day I made space for an unusual topic. I hope that, if you are the one who sent these to me years ago, or posted them on Facebook, you’ll make yourself known so we can give you credit. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/0dq3yw Bunny Slipper Mantras | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 14, 2024

On Friday, August 9, I celebrated 30 years clean and sober. When I lay in bed that morning, I felt suspended in time: then, and now, and all the points in between. I want to talk with you today about the passage of time in a recovery journey. Being clean and sober for 30 years feels utterly improbable and surreal—like I’ve been flipping a coin and it keeps coming up heads. The first coin flips, especially, were true miracles. It was a miracle the day I hit bottom—I’d been smoking crack all weekend, with no food, water, or sleep for five days. I was sitting in the crack house wearing a blonde wig because I’d been working as a call girl, and the vision I got was a crystal clear awareness of the contrast between who I was and the identity I had imagined for myself when I was a kid. When I was 11 years old, I wanted to be an astrophysicist— a scientist and an academic. The cognitive dissonance between what I wanted to be and where I was was mind-blowing. I knew, at that moment, that unless I got up and got out, my life was never going to be anything but what it was at that moment. So I got up and walked out the door. That was the first coin flip. It felt like I had a 50-50 shot. Then improbability kicked in. I thought I was just going to quit. I didn’t think it would be hard. I didn’t know I was an addict and an alcoholic. Then the next coin flip: I had a date with a guy and he took me to a 12-step meeting on our first date. THAT coin flip seems very improbable. It was a Tuesday night, and that’s what he did on Tuesdays, at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. I stayed clean and sober for the next week, and he took me back to the meeting the next week. And the coin flips kept coming, and each time they came up heads. Addicts tend not to get clean and sober. Same with food addicts. But we have people in BLE who’ve been flipping the coin for years and coming up heads. Being Bright doesn’t mean you don’t have to work for it. It does get easier, though. To use my coin metaphor, what happens is that you take actions that weight the coin in your favor. I didn’t feel, when I woke up today, that I wasn’t sure I’d be clean and sober. It’s not a certainty, but it’s likely. Why? Because I have taken so many actions to weight the coin. So when I flip it, it’s likely to come up heads. The actions I took over the years changed my identity. I now identify as a recovering addict and alcoholic, clean and sober. I do not drink or do drugs. I don’t eat sugar or flour, and I weigh and measure my food faithfully. I saw someone at the ten-year luncheon who had a tattoo that read “If the cost is my peace, it’s too expensive.” I relate to that. Last night I went out to dinner, and the salad looked like a little too much. I went over to the trash bin and flicked some of the salad in it. I don’t ever want to walk out of a restaurant wondering if I ate too much food. A few years ago, I wondered if I could pick up drinking alcohol responsibly and safely and have it work for me. I took that idea to David and most definitely did not think it was a sound idea, and his reaction snapped me out of it—and once again the coin flipped in my favor. Time, in recovery, takes time. You don’t get a single year Bright without putting in the time. It isn’t one big Herculean effort. But the time passage isn’t exactly linear. Not linear at all. In fact, I do believe the passage of time in recovery is logarithmic. The early days tend to take forever. Those first hundred days of Bright Line Eating is several eternities because you’re changing everything about yourself. It takes so much focus and many coin flips each and every day. And all day, every day, you have to hustle to do things that will weight the coin. After a year, you may feel like you’re reborn. To have gone through a full year is miraculous. After two years, you start to feel like you know what you’re doing if you’re really working the program. It gets easier. When you get to 5, 7, 10 years, you’re such a different person. When milestones come around, you feel like you’re in an incredible state of grace. You’re Bright, and in your Bright Body, and you feel awestruck that it feels so good. After that, the years start to race by quite quickly, and eventually you feel like you’re just getting credit for not dying. The secret to staying willing to weight the coin is that you must fall in love with the growth you experience. Pour yourself into each new challenge, whatever that might be, whether that’s working on your marriage or getting a new degree or finding new ways to be of service in your relationships. There’s always a new frontier of growth. When you stay engaged, you’re doing what it takes to weight the coin. And it’s all worth it. So very, very worth it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/bx8o28 30 Years of Coin Flips | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating

Aug 7, 2024

This week marks the 10-year anniversary celebration of Bright Line Eating. The conception of BLE was on January 26, 2014. That’s the day the universe told me to write a book called Bright Line Eating. After that, there was a gestation period where I learned that for the book to be successful, I needed to grow a following. So I spent some time writing a report called, “The 3 Huge Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes When They Try To Lose Weight.” I promised to send out emails explaining the psychology and neuroscience of sustainable weight loss. Around 75 of you downloaded the report on August 5, 2014—the day the “me” became a “we.” That’s the Bright Line Eating birthday. This past Sunday we had a celebratory luncheon followed by a book signing at Barnes & Noble. The feeling of community was vibrant. We had groups with printed t-shirts celebrating the anniversary; we had people from out of town sleeping on air mattresses on the floors of other Bright Lifers. There was so much camaraderie. The line for the book signing went out of the store and down to the nearby Starbucks. The manager said he’d never seen such connection and fellowship. One person went out and got a case of bottled water for everyone in line. Others were encouraging those in the back. People had flown in from all over the East Coast, mid-Atlantic, and Midwest, from Florida, California, and Oregon. The most profound thing I personally experienced was that two of my three kids were there—Robbie and Zoe. Maya is at summer camp. But this was a first. None of my kids had ever witnessed first-hand what their mom does for a living. I gave an informal address, and the first thing I did was thank my kids. I told them I know how much they’ve sacrificed because of Bright Line Eating (and they nodded in agreement). I showed pictures of our family in 2014 and 2015. I told them that I hope to bear witness to how a person can commit to an idea and do a lot of good in this world. I was nervous about having them up there with me, but we had fun. They were surprised by how many people knew them! The theme of history was present, too. I’m wearing a BLE pendant that was given to me by the BLE Team in 2017. Now we’ve come full circle. Arianna, who runs our BLE Emporium, has sourced a jewelry maker who is creating beautiful BLE-logo pendants in different metals and designs. There was someone there who was in our first Boot Camp. And, at the book signing, a couple came up to me and said that a vlog I shot four years ago about talking to your partner about BLE was about them. I shot it right after coaching her on a coaching call. Her spouse was with her, and proclaimed that now BLE is no longer a source of tension between them. Amazing! The theme of embracing imperfection was also evident. We commit to maintaining Bright Lines, but we know some of us will falter. We’re not actually striving for perfection; we’re striving to be unstoppable. A funny anecdote: at one point, Chris Davis, our chief of staff, whispered to me that they had no cooked vegetables at the luncheon. I was absolutely horrified! We had worked with the caterer very closely to make sure there would be PLENTY of both raw and cooked vegetables for everyone. NO COOKED VEGGIES? How could that be?? I shared the situation with the handful of Bright Lifers within earshot. And you know what they told me? “It’s not about the food, Susan. We’re just here connecting and having fun! There’s plenty of raw veg at the salad bar. We’re fine!” All I could think was: oh my gosh, I’ve trained them well! Embracing imperfection came up again later when I signed a book that had clearly been chewed by a dog. The Bright Lifer took the chewed-up part and used some colored pens to create a small corner of artwork. Other people had dog-eared books that they’d been cooking meals from for years. I’m excited to see what the next ten years hold. We’re doing good work. Over the next year I’ll be talking more about our big-picture goal to get ultra-processed food addiction acknowledged as a legitimate disorder, and the impact that will have on medicine and the world in general. The best is yet to come. I have no doubt. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/tyna9k BLE’s 10-Year Birthday Celebration | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 31, 2024

A Bright Lifer wrote in with an interesting observation. She said, “One of my buddies told me recently that she started Bright Line Eating not to lose weight, but to avoid being in bondage to eating or food. Has this been addressed in your vlog? I found it a potent comment and have to admit that yes, we are in bondage to food.” I agree. We talk a lot about freedom around here. We have people who sign up for the Boot Camp who do not need to lose weight. My guess is that most of them are suffering profoundly from food addiction, even without needing to lose weight because of whatever compensatory methods they use, whether it’s vomiting or laxatives or something else. You can be a 10++ on the Food Susceptibility Scale and not have weight to lose. You may start BLE purely to get freedom from a feeling of bondage. Others may be lower on the Food Susceptibility Scale, and may or may not need to lose weight. Consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: it places physical needs like food and shelter at the bottom; cognitive needs and intimacy needs in the middle; and at the top, you’ve got self-actualization needs—the need to be all you can be. These people may be living at the top of the hierarchy and yearn to be free of bondage to food so they can be all they are able to be in life. Bright Line Eating also meshes with a lot of personality types. Gretchen Rubin talks about abstainers vs. moderators. People who are abstainers, who need to feel really clean and free, may be drawn to Bright Line for the feeling of liberation and clarity, rather than weight loss. In my own life, almost everything I do to protect my sparkling Bright Lines is for freedom. It’s literally what I’m thinking as I order in a restaurant. What will protect my freedom? And to update my vlog a few weeks ago on scraping the bowl, I’m not doing that now. Every meal I think: I want to be free after this meal. When I choose an apple to eat, I notice which ones are bigger than others, because I am a food addict. But I don’t want to feel enslaved to that thought. So, before I choose, before I even open the refrigerator door, I commit to picking the closest apple to me, not the biggest one. This is not an obsession with virtue or perfection. It’s an appreciation of freedom, and I savor it. I protect it. And if we come to Bright Line Eating to lose weight, we may stay for the freedom we earn through adhering to our Bright Lines. That freedom can motivate us to keep our program’s flywheel spinning. And once I’m free, I can focus on an attitude of gratitude and service. Grateful hearts don’t eat addictively. So thank you for that fabulous observation, and for allowing me to wax poetic on the value of freedom. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/p8itk1 Freedom from Bondage | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 24, 2024

Here in the U.S., we’re in the middle of summer. There are picnics and parties and food all around us. I’ve been thinking about how we orient toward that food, whether someone is staying Bright, eating addictively, or relapsing. This brings up a question: Do you need to binge to be a real food addict? The answer is no. There are different flavors of addiction and they’re all equally legitimate. Think about smokers. Nicotine is addictive. Cigarette smokers are addicts, engaging in an addiction. But it’s not a binge addiction; it’s more a steady, slow drip. It’s a grazing style of addiction. Alcoholics come in either variety. Some are binge drinkers, and some are just maintenance drinkers, who may drink steadily through the evening, but never get black-out drunk. Caffeine is another addiction—but it’s probably more often the grazing, slow-drip variety of addiction. With food, we have both varieties. Some people may graze all day long, a little at a time, never eating to the point of getting overly stuffed. Others may binge. Both can be food addicts. Most people who are active in binge eating disorder also have food addiction. Not all, though. For a diagnosis of binge eating disorder, your bingeing must be pretty intense and pretty frequent. But there are food addicts who binge periodically, or have a subjective experience of bingeing but do not eat enough for it to qualify as a technical “binge.” So they wouldn’t qualify for binge eating disorder. What that means is that they may lose control over what they eat. I have a family member like that. She might be prepping a rotisserie chicken for storage, for example, and suddenly gobble up a bunch of that chicken and feel like she’s lost control, but in actuality she may not have eaten more than four ounces of chicken. She may have eaten it quickly, though, with a sort of furtiveness and loss of control. That might not qualify for a binge eating disorder diagnosis, but it is a symptom of food addiction. It's important to keep in mind what addiction is about. It’s about having difficulty stopping when you want to stop. That could mean bingeing, or it could mean grazing. It might be that when you stop, you have difficulty staying stopped. Addiction is about mental chatter in the mind, the will-I-won’t-I insanity. Addiction is also about continuing to eat (whether you're bingeing or grazing) despite consequences that start piling up—physical, social, practical, or psychological consequences. That’s addiction. So when we think about it this time of year, and what it looks like when someone relapses, it could be a binge, or it could be someone who just eats an extra ear of corn at a cookout and then feels demoralized and desperate. They know it was off the plan and they’re sick in their guts about it. But they’re not bingeing. Addiction is terrible, even without the binge. Obsessing over that ear of corn is indicative of a disordered relationship with food, which is a component of addiction. One of the questions on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale asks about bingeing. But you can be a 10 without giving a high number to that question. If you’re 10+, you may binge, and bingeing does add a layer of experience to the addiction. But it’s not necessary for food addiction. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/v0rc77 Do You Have to Binge to be a Real Food Addict? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 17, 2024

Someone wrote in with the following: “Have you ever seen people succeed after returning to Bright Line Eating for the umpteenth time? I wonder if my intermittent enforcement has done me in. Is Bright Line Eating a broken system for me? Do many resumers turn into success stories, or do 99 percent of your success stories come from first-timers?” It's a great question. Our head of customer support sent it around to all our coaches to get input. The responses were astounding. First of all, when I read the question I thought: that’s my story. I’ve broken and Rezoomed countless times. I can’t tell you how many times—more than 100, for sure. And yet, I stand here now, five years off sugar and flour, and two years of the most immaculate Bright Lines you could imagine. So yes, it’s absolutely possible. Actually, I think it’s the rule more than the exception. That’s what the coaches said, too. They see it all the time. It’s indeed insane to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. At the same time, if you think about how many times the average smoker tries to quit before it sticks—you’re looking at a couple dozen times. One coach said that people finally succeed when they start doing two things differently. First, the bottom drops out in a different way so they are willing to surrender on a deeper level. And second, because they want success more wholeheartedly, more desperately, they engage with the community, the Boot Camp, the courses, and the support in a different, deeper way. And boom. Success. We see that all the time. But here’s another question: Is Bright Line Eating your path, or is there something else you should be trying? Here are a few possible alternatives: Do you need an in-patient program? Should you be doing something like SHiFT—Recovery by Acorn? You’d have their intensive support for 12 weeks. Maybe you need that. Do you need a 12-step program? That is to say, spiritual help, with a sponsor you can talk to every day? Some people prefer a secular approach like BLE, but you may do better with the spiritual element. There are pros and cons to having a sponsor. If you have a sponsor in FA ( FoodAddicts.org ), you give up autonomy, and autonomy is important. But it also helps you walk a narrower path. Some people need that level of accountability and support. Do you need some kind of trauma therapy? Or parts work? Should you go to Everett Considine’s website to sign up for a package of deep-dive sessions, to find out what part of you is keeping you from being successful? Those are three potential steps you could take either alongside Bright Line Eating or instead of Bright Line Eating to try to get results. Yes, we see people being successful after spinning their wheels for years and years. You’re only ready when you’re ready. Sometimes it just takes a while before you’re ready to JFTFP – just follow the fabulous plan. But you’re more likely to reach that moment if you’re here, using the support, than if you’re just out there not taking steps, not available to receive guidance and inspiration from people who are living Bright. It's important that you’re asking this question. As they say in 12-step programs, don’t give up five minutes before the miracle happens. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/zmx5p9 Success After Countless Attempts | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 10, 2024

Recently, a wonderful Bright Lifer in California sent me a stuffed Lorax. If you’re not familiar with him, he is a creation of Dr. Seuss. When trees are being cut down and a beautiful area deforested, he pops up and says “I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees”—because no one else is speaking for them. I’m like the Lorax, but I speak for the 10s. I speak for the food addicts. I do this because no one else is doing it, and it’s 20% of our population. Why do we need someone to keep an eye on how things are for those on the high end of the Food Susceptibility Scale? I have four thoughts on that. First, I speak for the 10s in interpreting dietary recommendations. Many health professionals are starting to see food as a big part of health, which is great. But we need to think about how their recommendations are received by those whose brain is hijacked by sugar and flour—tweaked and warped by addiction. Here’s an example: green juice, like celery juice, is a great idea for health. But it’s not great if you’re a food addict. It hits the bloodstream fast and impacts the reward centers of the brain. There’s no point in drinking celery juice to boost your health if it ups the odds you’ll follow it with a pint of ice cream for dinner. Another example: whole food plant-based advocates often say it doesn’t matter how much you eat if you’re eating the right things. That’s not true if you’re a 10. In that case, large quantities—even of supposedly beneficial foods, like apples or Brussels sprouts—can lead to a binge. Or, can thwart your efforts to live at a healthy weight. Second, I need to speak the truth about research that is incorrectly done or not done with our community in mind. An example: the PET scan of dopamine downregulation in the nucleus accumbens that is all over the internet. It’s completely flawed. It’s got three brains: “Normal” “Cocaine” and “Obese”… but it uses the word “obese” when what it’s talking about is food-addicted. They are not the same thing. Research often isn’t done with the right variables. As the field advances, it’s getting corrected. But I speak to the need for food addiction to be considered in research—and considered properly. A third example is GLP-1 weight loss drugs. For some people, they can be helpful. But who’s going to be watching to notice what happens to food addicts on those drugs? If someone uses them, and then they need to get off them—who’s going to notice what happens to their brain then? Are the cravings going to be worse than ever? Will they be lighter, indicating that the drugs are healing? I need to watch out for these people. I care about what happens to brains like ours. Finally, in our Bright Line community, in the vlogs, the books, and elsewhere, I have a bias. I tilt toward educating the foods addicts in our community about what is happening in their brains. I speak to the 10s. Here’s an example: in our Circles, which are the online support platform, we do not allow pictures of food at all. We have a special place for Bright-Line-compliant recipes and pictures, but nowhere are non-compliant food pictures allowed. Those are just a few examples of how I often feel like the Lorax, speaking for all those with food addiction. And thanks again to the Bright Lifer who sent me the Lorax stuffie! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/8wbhrk The Lorax | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 3, 2024

I just turned 50! And I have five thoughts on this milestone birthday. But first, I have some news: we’ve sold out of tickets for our luncheon to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Bright Line Eating. They went fast! But, if you are within driving distance of the Rochester, NY region, we invite you to join us for a book signing from 2-4 pm on Sunday, August 4th, at the Barnes & Noble in Eastview Mall in Victor, New York. So, my first thought on turning 50: I am SO excited about it! Part of the reason is a book I’ve read several times: The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, by Jonathan Rauch. I highly recommend it, no matter what your age. It explains the science of happiness over the lifespan, and his descriptions match my experience. I was so dissatisfied throughout my 40s. I had an amazing life, but I kept looking for something more. Now, at 50, I look around, at the very same circumstances, and think about how good I have it. The book explains that. It has to do with your expectations, and how life finally starts to exceed your expectations after you hit 50. Another factor is this: I feel young at 50, but I felt old when I turned 40. I think it’s because of my comparison group. At 40, I was among the oldest of the young adults. Now, my comparison group is older adults, and I’m among the youngest of them. My second big takeaway upon turning 50 is this: I feel like I know myself so well. I’m not saying I have nothing left to learn, but now I know what makes me tick. I know how to take good care of myself. I feel like I have the owner’s manual for Susan Peirce Thompson. That’s priceless knowledge. And it keeps me from wishing to be younger. Third, having said that, I feel like I’m at the age where the warranty has expired on my body. Sometimes it’s not so easy to sit down and get back up. It hurts a little. The commitment to taking care of my body has entered a new phase: nothing is free. I won’t be agile and healthy unless I take care of myself. But I also have the ability and willingness to do so. I swim. I lift weights with a trainer. I do Egoscue exercises and shoulder exercises most days. And, of course, I’m Bright so I’m eating immaculately. And here’s something I’ve been wanting to share with you for a while: I have found the best face cream. I don’t get any money from the company, I’m just sharing this for free. I found out about it a year ago when listening to Harvard professor David Sinclair’s podcast called Lifespan. It’s about the science of longevity. He talked about cells becoming senescent—they lose their sense of what they’re supposed to do. He described how some researchers tested 20,000+ peptides on human skin to see which would eliminate the senescent cells. They found a few and put them in a product called OneSkin . It’s amazing. I use the eye cream for my whole face and neck and wow is it working. I feel like I’m aging in reverse. Fourth: I’m noticing that savoring time with my family means so much more to me than it used to. This feels like a golden age. My kids have six grandparents because my parents are divorced and remarried. And all are alive and healthy. That won’t be true forever. I know I only have so much time with all of them. And my kids won’t be kids for very much longer. It’s so important to appreciate the love I have for my family. My final thought is this: It feels like I’ve shifted into an era where service is everything to me. I’ve done everything I wanted to do in my life. I am blessed. All I want to do now is give back—even in small ways. I want to be there with people, and keep myself sane and grounded so I can help others. That’s not an orientation I had five or ten years ago. So here we are. I just turned 50, and I couldn’t be more excited. Ticket sales to the Bright Line Eating 10th Anniversary Luncheon are now closed. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/pyf80q 5 Thoughts Upon Turning 50 | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 26, 2024

I am so excited to share with you a recap of my amazing time in London last month for the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference (IFACC), the Ador@BLEs Conference, and a visit to SHiFT Recovery by Acorn in Margate. The recordings for the 11 presentations at IFACC are available now, and there’s a link below where you can access them for a small donation. The point of the conference was to showcase and present a consensus statement that we have been working on for a year about food addiction. 37 professionals signed on to the statement, which is available at the link below. This will be the foundation of our work as we apply to have the disorder recognized internationally in the DSM-5 and ICD-11. We decided that the disorder needs to be called ultra-processed food addiction. Many of us were not initially thrilled with that but I’ve come around to believing it is the right name. When you put food addiction as a substance use disorder in the DSM-5 and in the ICD-11 in the addiction section, which is where it belongs, next to substances like nicotine, opiates, caffeine, and alcohol, you need to narrow down the focus. By saying it’s ultra-processed food that’s the problem, you single it out as the target for legislation and control. Currently, two-thirds of what we’re feeding our kids are ultra-processed foods, and that’s what’s leading to addiction. So I think this name is the right one. I was blown away by the quality of the presentations. I learned SO much. A few in particular: Dr. David Wiss’s talk on eating disorders vs. food addiction and the war between these two communities was incredible. Dr. Nicole Avena spoke—she was one of the first people to establish the reality of sugar addiction in rats. Dr. Erica LaFata, too—she talked about the NOVA Scale among other things. I’ve had issues with the NOVA categorization system because it doesn’t list sugar and flour as ultra-processed foods. Erica LaFata agrees with me but cautions that the NOVA people are trying to change the food systems, and it’s worth working with them. Because of her presentation and several deep conversations I had with her, I’ve changed my opinion on the NOVA system. So, yes, the talks were awesome. Overall, the tone of the conference was amazing—there was unity and professionalism, and it was a beautiful experience. Then I went to the Ador@BLEs Conference, which was just so sweet. Thank you, Adele and Sue and everyone who put together this gathering. I had so much fun, and got so many good hugs! Then I went by train to Margate with Amanda Leith, founder of ShiFT-Recovery by Acorn and the program’s operations director and a facilitator. We had a whole train ride to connect, and I found a wonderful kindred spirit. She is doing such great work. It was very interesting to be in an in-patient treatment setting. It’s serious work: people have their technology taken away when they register and get their marching orders. And it’s all beautiful. I stayed there for a couple of days. Their food plan is different from the Bright Line plan in a few aspects. One example: no caffeine, at all. They also have a category I’ve never seen, which is textures. They don’t do smooth or crunchy, which means no nut butters, no Triscuits. They also have four meals a day. I’ve seen more and more people who have binge eating disorder benefit from a fourth meal. A fourth meal is automatizable. I’m a fan of that fourth meal for people who need it. I highly recommend that you access the recordings from IFACC. I gave the final talk, about what we had accomplished the day before. We had two workshop groups. One group prepared the strategy for submitting ultra-processed food addiction to be accepted by the World Health Organization and included in the ICD-11. They’re aiming to get their petition submitted within one year. The other sub-committee, which I was part of, outlined studies that would fill gaps in the research to help have ultra-processed food addiction recognized by the ICD-11 and DSM-5. We found a need for studies on withdrawal, and we need studies that are on the efficacy of abstinence-based programs. We want to do a study looking at whether abstinence causes (or cures, or both, or neither) eating disorders. We also need to look at people who have both an eating disorder and food addiction, and ideally show that an abstinence-based food plan improves recovery outcomes. So much has come out of my time in London. So check out those recordings—your donation is well worth it. One thought to leave you with: As great as London was, when it comes to our research and understanding of food addiction treatment, we’re in the dark ages. And we here at Bright Line are ready to work on that. To see the content from the IFACC, click here: https://the-chc.org/fas/conference FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/m3safv Recap on IFACC in London | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 19, 2024

I have a new love in my life: swimming. And I’ve learned three things while swimming that I want to share. Some background: I can hold my own in the water, but I’ve never been a regular swimmer—or even, frankly, a regular exerciser. I have friends who ache to be moving. They can’t wait to get to the gym, or get outside and move their body. That’s not me. But in the past, during the stretches of time when I would get myself exercising, my cardiovascular exercise of choice was always slow jogging. But… I’m about to turn 50, and my knees won’t tolerate jogging anymore. So then I tried incline hiking on the treadmill, and in short order, that bothered my knees. Biking, too. Finally, I tried swimming, and the minute I got into the water and swam a few laps I thought: I love this . It felt amazing. So the first lesson is this: sometimes, when it feels like something is happening to us beyond our control, it is all in service of a good end. All my challenges with my knees, which were so frustrating, resulted in me finally getting into a pool. There’s a wonderful saying: think not about how this is happening to you, but for you. And there’s a sweet story with this same moral in the Baha’i writings. A man was tortured with missing his beloved. She was gone, and he couldn’t find her. One day, he went out to the marketplace to distract himself. Suddenly, a Watchman started following him. Then another. The Watchmen chased him until he came upon a big brick wall. In a panic, he scaled the brick wall, cutting his hands and arms. He tumbled over the wall and fell down into a meadow… where he found himself at the feet of his beloved. She was looking for a ring she had lost in the grass. The man dropped to his knees and cried out, “God, give thanks to the Watchmen, and long life, and love! I thought they were persecuting me, but actually they were my Angel Gabriel, leading me to my beloved.” That’s how I felt about swimming. I was feeling persecuted by knee pain, and that’s the only reason I tried it—and it turned out to be a huge blessing. Here’s the second lesson: I didn’t know if my shoulders would tolerate swimming, so the first day I swam eight minutes, and that was enough. The next day, I did the same—all week, three times. The next week I did nine minutes. The next: ten. I increased by just one minute a week. For months. I couldn’t have done this years ago. I like to go from zero to 60 right away. Moderation is not in my vocabulary. But from weighing and measuring my food, I’ve learned to weigh and measure my life, and, in this case, my exercise. Slow and steady wins the race. It’s amazing how productive we can be when we weigh and measure our output. Here’s the third lesson: this week in the pool I had an experience that was torture. Last week, I had become aware that 30 minutes wasn’t seeming like enough. So, this week, while in the middle of my swim, I started thinking about it: what if I swam more? Maybe 35 minutes? How about 40? And then I thought, why not go all the way to 45 minutes? I tried to do the math in my head for timing all the various options: what time would my swim end? I thought about how my shoulders were feeling, what my day would look like if I swam more… and on and on. It became an obsession. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was the way I used to obsess over food. I finally got out of the pool at 30 minutes, just to shut my head up. It was my first bad swim. I wasn’t comfortable in my head because of the “ Will I? Won’t I? Should I? Shouldn’t I?” thoughts. I committed to my husband that I would swim 35 minutes the next time I was in the pool and not second-guess myself, and still I was surprised at how hard it was not to get caught up in the whirlwind of internal thoughts and questions. The lesson? Thinking, “ Will I? Won’t I? Should I? Shouldn’t I?” is sheer torture, in swimming, with food, with anything. This is why we write down our food in BLE the night before. Not after we’ve eaten it, but BEFORE. It is a mercy and a blessing to take that action. And yes, it takes more than one day to train ourselves to eat only that without second guessing it mentally, but when we stay persistent, that practice silences the internal chatter. The mental peace we get with Bright Line Eating is the number one gift of the program. Those are my three lessons on swimming. I don’t know how I became this person, but suddenly I find myself feeling motivated to do whatever it takes to get in my three weekly swims. It’s taken me years to be someone who can exercise consistently. So that’s a fourth Bonus Lesson: sometimes big gifts come even decades after starting this way of living. Stick with it. It’s worth it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/cs86de Swimming Lessons | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 12, 2024

If you’re new to the Bright Line community—Welcome! We’ve got hundreds of new people joining us, thanks largely to the Food Revolution Network and my friend Ocean Robbins. We just did an event about how to get weight loss drug results without the drugs, and hundreds of people are starting the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp right now. I’m thinking of you! I also want to tell our long-time Bright Lifers that I know we have some loose threads to address. I need to give you an update on the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference in London, and also a recap of on On This Bright Day. Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks! One more housekeeping detail: Bright Line Eating turns ten this summer. We’re going to host a gathering here in Rochester, NY, on Sunday, August 4. Details to come, but just save that date for now! Today, I want to talk about something I’m going through right now, that may be similar to what others’ internal experiences are as they undertake their Bright journeys. My daughter Zoe commented recently that she knows it’s time to get up when she hears me scraping my breakfast bowl—to death, loudly. I laughed when she said that, but I was also a little embarrassed. After my breakfast or a salad, I’ll have a spoon handy to scrape all the flavor out of the bowl. It’s Bright food, so it’s not a break, but I don’t feel free when I do it. I feel powerless over it. This is all about the addiction to quantities, which seems to kick in and grip me at the end of each meal. I felt this way—but even worse—twenty years ago when I started eating Bright. Those last few bites felt like a death, and I was horrified to know that it would be hours before I could eat again. If you’re new and feel this way, know that the intensity of that experience does pass. Now I don’t care so much when the meal ends, but I do seem to get pretty intense about getting those last licks and morsels. It made me start thinking about power and powerlessness over food, though. I’ve regained my power over food by weighing and measuring it. But I still feel powerless in the last few moments of the meal. Then I thought about a few years ago when I let go of gaming the system in restaurants and just accepted the Brightest, cleanest meal there. What changed was that I suddenly wanted the freedom, so badly. So now, I sat where I usually eat my breakfast, looking out at our backyard. And I thought about whether I could find the part of myself that wants to be free of incessantly scraping the bowl. That was hard at first. After a while, though, I found it. And when I found the part of myself that truly, truly wants to be free of that intense scraping, I invited my higher power in to help. I opened up to grace. I use the word God, but I’m really speaking about an unknowable essence that I do not understand. An awe-inspiring energy that helps me with my addiction. It makes me feel like I’m an electric plug that needs power. In my addiction, I don’t have that power. But when I just plug into the outlet, it gives me the power I need. I open myself up to extra power with a plea for help. And suddenly, I found myself able to put the bowl down without scraping. I felt free and light. The next meal, it happened again. I remembered to say please before each meal and to open myself up to that power. I kept tapping into the part of me that wants that freedom and is willing to coast on that feeling of grace. I offer this to you if you’re starting your Bright journey, because it is possible to activate a power source that will enable you to have a Bright meal and be satisfied. A mini-awakening or mini-awareness. A spiritual happening. You can do it for the next meal, and the next. The meals turn into days. The days turn into weeks. And suddenly you realize you’re receiving your Bright Transformation. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/h4khpw Scraping the Bowl | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 5, 2024

I get so many questions about weight loss drugs, and I want to talk to you about why you should care—even if you know that you will never take them. First, there is the magnitude of their impact. Barclays did an investigative report on the financial impact of these drugs. They concluded that they will have as big an impact as the invention of the smartphone. In ten or twenty years, we’re likely to see a significant portion of the population on these drugs. They will come down in cost and be available in pill form. They’re also likely to have mechanisms like anti-nausea compounds built in to mitigate side effects. As these things happen, they may become more acceptable for many people. So I think these drugs are here to stay. As far as safety goes, people have been on these drugs for diabetes for a while now, and there don’t seem to be any common problematic side effects. There are side effects, but they are uncommon and don’t outweigh the benefits of the drugs. Another reason to watch these weight loss drugs closely is that research shows that changes in our orientation toward thinness have a huge impact on society, especially young women and girls. When Twiggy became a supermodel back in the 1960s, ultra-thinness became the unattainable norm, and in a very short period of time, body dissatisfaction skyrocketed. But when you’re thin, you’re not always healthy, and that’s also the case with obesity. It may be true to say that there are people with obesity who are healthy, just as it’s true to say that there are three-pack-a-day smokers who don’t have lung cancer. However, the data on obesity that shows that it’s not healthy is as strong as data showing that smoking causes cancer. But it’s equally important that we not slide into anti-fat bias. These drugs have the potential to make that worse, so we need to pay attention to their impact on our communities. The final reason you should care is that we know these drugs slow down gastric processes…but they also affect the brain. GLP-1, the main receptor affected by these drugs, is found throughout the brain: in the reward centers, in the appetite centers, and elsewhere. Without these drugs, the GLP-1 in your brain spikes when you eat and then goes down. With the drugs, GLP-1 is high all the time. This raises many questions. What will it do to the reward centers? Is it going to reset the reward system? We see some evidence of people being less interested in things like gambling or pornography when on these drugs. So perhaps these drugs will be seen as something that many people should be on. I take hormones because I’m about to turn 50. It’s made such a difference to my quality of life. These GLP-1s aren’t that different. They may, in the same way, become normalized, so it’s not a big deal to be on them. Because I’m so curious about these new drugs, I’ve created a new event: a recorded video series only available for a limited time. The first two of four parts are available today. The series is called “How to Get Weight Loss Drug Results…Without the Drugs.” I dive into the neurobiology of these drugs, and explain how you can get the same results by changing your diet and your habits. Also, next weekend, I’m having a three-hour Fireside Chat with several guests, including a physician who understands both Bright Line Eating and these drugs. I’m also planning two social live events on YouTube. All this is available for free, and clicking on the link below this video will take you to the event page. So that’s the scoop: I think these drugs are here to stay, and you may want to have tools up your sleeve so that you understand their impact, and know if they’re right for you. Note: Our special event is now over. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/e5bg8x Why You Should Care About Weight-Loss Drugs—Even if You Will Never Take Them | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 29, 2024

Julie Harris wrote in with a great question. She said: “Why is it necessary to weigh and measure vegetables in Bright Line Eating? I like to bulk up my portions with vegetables and want to know why that is not part of the fabulous plan.” For many people, the idea of weighing and measuring vegetables is ludicrous. Dieters may think, “Hey, vegetables are super healthy and there aren’t many calories in them, so why bother to weigh them?” And all that’s true. But that’s not why we do it. There are three reasons we weigh and measure our vegetables at Bright Line Eating. First and foremost, it gives the mind peace. It signals a clear end to the meal and lets the brain know that the meal is over once the measured portion has been eaten. For many people, there’s a constant dialogue in our minds that we call food chatter: “Should I eat something more? Is it mealtime yet? How about now? Can I have more of this? Can I grab the bit left on the plate…” and it goes on and on. When we weigh and measure our food—all of it—we have a finite quantity, and when we’re done eating it, the brain stops the infernal noise that distracts us and makes us focus on our food—and that gives us peace. Second, many people, unless they weigh their vegetables, won’t eat enough of them. They’ll think they are, but they’re not. The bulk of vegetables is needed to aid chewing, release hormones, provide nutrients, and add fiber to keep the body satiated. Third, an excessive quantity of food, just the pure bulk of it, is addictive. The bulk of food releases dopamine that results in more eating. Overeating in volume can trigger a binge in some people. You must get enough—but not too much—bulk. All that said, what if you want to eat more vegetables than the allotted amount in the standard weight loss plan? In the Boot Camp, we’ve got a library of options, one of which is a plant-based food plan option, with extra vegetables. Specifically, it has four extra ounces of vegetables at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can add more even more than that to your plan if you want, as long as you keep your plan fixed and consistent and weigh and measure it all. If you have an addiction to quantities, it might be too much bulk for you, but you can try to increase the amount of vegetables and see if it works for you. I’ve been doing this for twenty years, and I can tell you that quantity addiction is the hardest to snuff out. I’m painfully aware, for example, of the size of my apples. I love a big salad, but I’ve recently trimmed back quantities because I don’t want the bulk; I don’t want to be addicted to the quantities. I scrape my bowl clean in the morning, and I can see that the vestiges of that quantity addiction still live in me. I offer that to you for consideration. As a 10++ on the Susceptibility Scale, I want to be free more than I want that quantity. I know people in the plant-based community think I’m crazy for weighing vegetables. But their aims are different from mine. They’re helping people get healthy, I’m helping people recover from food addiction—to break free. Julie, you can do what you choose. If you do want to add vegetables to your food plan, you can weigh and measure them and see if it works out for you. There are no Bright Line Eating police, so do what brings you peace. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/q8s490 Why Weigh Vegetables? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 22, 2024

Theresa wrote in with a very powerful and relatable challenge: “It seems I can’t stop eating once I start. This is especially true for dinner. I’m okay as long as I don’t start eating. Once I start, I want to continue. Even if I’m eating compliant food, I can’t make it through one single day completely Bright. Help!” This is one of the twin defining features of addiction: once we start, we can’t stop. And once we stop, we can’t stay stopped. You’re not alone, Theresa. So what do we do about it? The first thing is to realize you’re dealing with an advanced case of food addiction. The solution lies in a comprehensive, multi-faceted, and rigorous approach to treating it. If you’re trying to do Bright Line Eating after reading the book, that’s not a potent enough solution. If BLE is going to work for you, you will need to do the Boot Camp and use every resource available. You might need a BLE guide—someone to talk with you every day until you get some successful weeks under your belt. But what if you’ve already done Boot Camp? Then you may need to take it to the next level. That could mean going inpatient. I know one really good treatment program for people who have food addiction. That’s SHIFT Recovery by Acorn . Look them up for their inpatient treatment program, which you can do either onsite or virtually. You might also try a 12 Step Program. The most potent one is probably FA— Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous . That would give you a sponsor you can talk to every day who would be directive and authoritative with you. Within the Bright Line Eating program, there are several strategies I would recommend. One is preparing, weighing, and measuring your food the day before so that everything is all set and ready to go. You’re separating the experience of preparing food from the experience of eating. That creates a buffer between you and the food—once the meal is over, it will be far more challenging to keep eating. Another habit to build in: brush your teeth and tongue right after you eat with a strong, minty toothpaste and mouthwash. This signals your brain that you’re done. Dinner is predictable. It shows up at the end of the day. Use that to your advantage. Get a Bright Line Eating buddy to talk to you right when you know you’ll be finishing dinner. And once that call is over, find something else to do, far away from the kitchen, and make it habitual. People tend to have problems with dinner that they don’t have with lunch or breakfast. Here’s why: first, your brain is more depleted by the end of the day. Second, people tend to pair dinner with more variety and more highly rewarding foods. Breakfast and lunch can be more easily automatic, but not dinner. Notice that difference, and try to make your dinner more like breakfast. How? Develop a dinner that does not include rewarding foods. Try steamed green beans rather than butternut squash. Don’t use a lot of spices on your chicken. (Salt and pepper are fine.) It’s okay to enjoy your food, but make it simple enough that it’s not something you look forward to. Using some or all of those strategies can get you on the right track. You need to take this seriously and make dinner hours absolutely protected. Remember: you’re not alone. This is what addiction is. Bring a lot more intentionality to your meals. You’ve got this, Theresa. I love you and am here for you. Let us know how my team and I can help you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ozoaq8 Can't Stop Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 15, 2024

Recently, Flo sent in some great questions. She asked: “What do you mean when you say ‘There are no Bright Line Eating police,’ and ‘Do what gives you peace’? These sound like invitations to tinker with the Bright Lines. What do these statements look like when making food choices? Do they apply in weight loss as well as maintenance?” It’s true: these phrases can sound like invitations to walk off the path. The part of you that worries about this is your Food Controller. This part of you loves the BLE structure and feels supported by it. It’s suspicious of anything that sounds like it’s not exactly sticking to the plan—because the plan works. For your growth as a human being, though, you’ll eventually want to transfer the running of your BLE program from your Food Controller to your highest, Authentic Self. Your Authentic Self chooses to follow the plan because it knows it’s in your best interests. Let me give you some examples, then, of what these phrases mean. Let’s say someone doesn’t like to eat three meals a day. They want to follow the food plan but break it into two meals. In this situation, when I say there are no BLE police, I mean that no one is going to knock on your door to accuse you of not following the plan. This is an example of doing what brings you peace, without worrying about what works for anyone else. Another example: You’re in your first few weeks of Boot Camp, and are invited out to eat with a friend at a Thai restaurant. We generally recommend no restaurant meals during the first 30 days of Boot Camp. So, I can see “doing what gives you peace” going either of two ways. Maybe it means that you don’t go out to the restaurant, because you won’t have peace around it. Instead, you eat your meal in advance and meet your friend afterward for a cup of tea. Or maybe you really, deeply, believe you’ll be fine. You’ve looked up the menu and chosen your meal, and you’ve called the restaurant to make sure they can do it without sugar. You have peace about going. In fact, you feel like you would not have peace about not going. So eating this meal out gives you peace, and that’s fine, too. By saying “Do what gives you peace,” I’m not necessarily suggesting you deviate from the Bright Lines. We also talk about how there are no Bright Line Eating police to reassure people who have broken their Bright Lines and fear they will be judged or ostracized from our community. We’re not judging you. We love you, support you, and want you here. Finally, Flo asked if these phrases apply to both weight loss and maintenance. The earlier you are in your Bright Line journey, the more I’d recommend that you follow the plan exactly as it’s laid out. The longer you are into maintenance, the more your brain is healed, and the better able it is to embrace these sayings. And if you feel better just following the fabulous plan, JFTFP by all means, do that. I also have an announcement for you today: I have 20 full scholarships for the next Book Camp available if you wish to apply. Applications are being accepted between May 15 and 19, 2024, for the Book Camp that starts June 13, 2024. There’s a link on this page that explains what you need to know and how to apply. *Applications for a Boot Camp 2.0 scholarship are now closed. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/etcty6 Do What Gives You Peace | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 8, 2024

I recently received an email from a woman named Peggy Sue Parker. She said she’d been using three of the four Bright Lines: no sugar, no flour, and only three meals a day. She said, “I have not weighed my food, because I have never been one to overeat.” Using those three Bright Lines, though, she has been able to lose weight successfully. She wondered if some people could manage their weight using only some of the Bright Lines. When I was registering BLE as a company, I registered our name officially as Bright Line Eating Solutions, LLC. That’s solutions—plural. Because BLE is not just one solution; it’s many solutions for people who may be at different points along the food addiction continuum. It’s not binary: there are mild, medium, and severe cases of food addiction, plus there are people who legitimately have NO food addiction but do have weight to lose, and each of these situations needs a different approach, not one single written-in-stone solution. This reminds me of a line in Shakespeare’s great play, Hamlet , where the king’s advisor, Polonius, says: “This above all, to thine own self be true.” This sentence can be found on sobriety coins, and back when I was first sober, I didn’t understand it. Now, coming up on 30 years of sobriety, I do understand. Each person needs to make their recovery their own. And Peggy Sue, what I want to say to you is: do what brings you peace. And whatever that is, you are welcome in Bright Line Eating. There are plenty of people who would benefit from what Peggy Sue is doing. Although I do tell people to weigh and measure their food, I’m generally speaking to the tens on the Susceptibility Scale. Maybe that’s not you. Peggy Sue is doing Bright Line Eating appropriately for her needs. She doesn’t weigh her food because she “has never been one to overeat.” That’s a telling sentence. Someone who needs to weigh and measure their food would never say that, because it’s not their experience. Not everyone needs to follow the Bright Lines strictly. Some people can use the Bright Lines as guidelines, like the lane markers on the highway. It’s not a train on a track; you can deviate a bit while still staying in your lane. Another point: psychologist Solomon Asch did powerful experiments to show that people will go along with what others say, even if they believe it’s wrong. People want to conform with others. In BLE, I’ve tailored solutions for those who are high on the Susceptibility Scale. If you don’t fit that model, it can feel like others are exerting pressure on you to conform to what isn’t right for you. In Asch’s experiments, all it took was one person to speak the truth to free others to say their own truth. What that means for Peggy Sue is that she is important to the Bright Line community, even if her experience is different from the experiences of the majority in the community. The reality is that I’m going to spend most of my time speaking to those who are high on the Susceptibility Scale because they need the most support. I’m like the Lorax. The Lorax “speaks for the trees” and I speak for the 10s. But today I’m speaking to those who are not. Our brains can indeed deceive us, and many people are scared to deviate even a little from the Bright Lines because of this. I like to give people the full roadmap for what may work for them, along with the freedom to follow it or not, figure it out on their own, and choose their path. But we’re not going to police you. There are no BLE police. So if you’re using the Bright Lines as guidelines in a way that serves you and it’s working for you, you’re doing great. Please stay with us, because there is a place for you even if you only follow two or three of the Bright Lines. Everyone is free to be here. Remember: to thine own self be true. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/6jfhva Bright Lines as Guidelines for Weight Loss | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 1, 2024

Today I want to talk about my journey to be able to do one pull-up. This has been on my bucket list for a long time. It reminds me in some ways of the journey to lose and keep off excess weight. Here are five similarities I’ve noticed. First, some context: When I was young, every year we had to do fitness tests—including one to hold yourself with your chin above a pull-up bar for as many seconds as you could. I was abysmal at this, at the bottom of my class. Now, I’m almost 50, and upper-body strength is still a challenge. The first Bright Line Eating principle that I’m reminded of is unstoppability. When we come into Bright Line Eating, we may struggle. When I started seriously trying to do a pull-up, shoulder impingements kicked in and I was in too much pain to keep training. Then I got frozen shoulder, and that meant at least one more year without being able to train. This year, however, my shoulder impingement was mostly gone AND my frozen shoulder was mostly gone. I was doing treatments for joint pain, too. I had to move unstoppably through challenges to get to a point where I could start to train toward a pull-up. The second lesson is this: my book Rezoom talks about how to ride the waves in your journey. I mention something James Clear talks about in Atomic Habits : when trying to achieve something, most people focus on the goal. But what creates sustained behavior change is to think about your identity, not your goal, and then move on to focusing on the processes that will get you there. My process was to get a good personal trainer and do what he told me to do. I realized that my identity as an exerciser needed to be: someone who strives for physical goals and who shows up for training consistently, with accountability and support . That brings me to the third similarity to a Bright Line journey: accountability and support. My friend Timo asked to join me in striving for pull-ups: his goal was to do 10, my goal was to do 1. Now we do a voice memo every Sunday night reviewing our week’s exercise progress. We decided we would strive to achieve our goals by my birthday, June 29. I got to the point where I was close to doing a pull-up about three weeks ago. But I couldn’t quite do it—I got stuck at 90 degrees. That’s where the fourth BLE similarity comes in. Last Tuesday, before going on the pull-up bar, I paused and remembered WOOP. That’s an acronym from Gabriele Oettingen that stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, and Plan. It’s a way of thinking that has you visualize your plan to overcome your obstacles. I visualized myself bursting through that 90 degree stuck-point, and this is what happened: I made it! I did a pull-up! I was so proud! The final Bright Line lesson is something I teach in Bright Line Mind. Achieving goals doesn’t make us happy. Was I happy when I did my pull-up? Sure, for a few days. But raising your baseline happiness requires you to be striving for a goal: the pursuit of something matters, not achieving the goal itself. At first, I thought I’d make a new goal to do three pull-ups, or five. But then I realized that neither of those goals felt self-concordant (aligned with my Highest Self), so right now, I’m trying to become a lap swimmer, someone who can (and does!) swim for 30 minutes, three times each week, and that’s my goal. I also have a new goal to be able to do 20 full pull-ups. When you look at your BL journey, know that reaching your goal weight isn’t going to make you happier in a lasting way. What will, though, is being someone who is striving for what matters—whatever that is for you. Maybe it’s making it through the Bright Roadmap and then doing it again to help others, or maximizing your peace and serenity in your Bright Body, or maybe you want to publish a book, or take up painting. A bonus tip: A good goal is one that you have about a 50 percent chance of achieving. That helps you to feel accomplished when you do reach it, but it’s also okay if you don’t. My pull-up goal is one I had about a 50 percent chance of reaching. But I achieved it, it feels great, and I’ve moved on to other goals. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/iq8CnN The Journey Toward One Pull-Up | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 24, 2024

I have exciting news! For a while now, we’ve needed an update on the science behind Bright Line Eating. The first and most comprehensive explanation was in the Food Freedom videos that I put out in early 2015. Those went viral and were watched by people in 195 countries. Then in 2017 the first book came out: Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin and Free . That laid out the scientific case for a Bright Line style of eating. Recently, I wrote a book chapter called “The Badly Behaving Brain: How Ultra Processed Food Addiction Thwarts Sustained Weight Loss.” That also includes information on the science. It’s 100% up to date, but not as accessible for someone who wants the data in layperson’s language. Now, we have something up-to-date that you can send people to or check out yourself. It’s an all-new Bright Line Eating Masterclass . It’s a deep-dive two-hour course that educates you on the science of sustainable weight loss. Here’s some of what it includes: Info about the two foods that block weight loss. Updated science about the Willpower Gap, cravings, and hunger (in fact, the title of the Masterclass is “Conquer Cravings, Harness Hunger and Thrive in your Bright Body… for Life! ”). How to handle food cravings. The one huge mistake people make when they try to lose weight. Why people can’t stick with a new plan of eating. Data, plus a whole lot of pros and cons, on the new weight loss drugs. Data on how people who are in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s can lose weight as easily as those in their 20s and 30s (it’s true! I show data from over 4,000 people demonstrating it!) What people who keep weight off for the long term are doing differently from those who fail again and again—and people are keeping weight off long-term with Bright Line Eating. It’s all in an easy-to-absorb format—and we’ll be doing more. We like this format, and I’ve spent months working on this. We worked with an animator from Italy, and members of my team were super involved. Thank you to all of them. You can access this on BrightLineEating.com . It’s so easy. Go check it out. The link is below the video. Now, when you want to tell someone about Bright Line Eating, all you have to do is refer them to the Masterclass at BrightLineEating.com. In lieu of a 2-hour movie on Netflix one night, they can watch the Masterclass and become one of the most educated people in the world on our current food and weight dilemma. Enjoy it, refer people to it, and help spread the word about sustainable weight loss. Click here to reserve your seat in the Masterclass! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Ynv3tp Introducing the Masterclass | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 17, 2024

Today’s topic was suggested by a conversation I had with a Bright Lifer. She said she had recently gone back to sugar and flour … and it kind of worked. She didn’t intend to keep it up but was surprised that she seemed okay. It reminded me of a time in Australia when I was deep in the throes of late-stage food addiction. I’d stop eating sugar and flour and could only last a few days. I remember that when I went back to the food, it was such a relief. A good way to think of this is with the hourglass analogy. Before we start BLE, the hourglass is wide, symbolizing all the freedom we have because we can do 100% what we want with food. Then we learn to become Bright and our options narrow. We may reach a point where we’re feeling very restricted—eating out feels hard, traveling is scary, dinner parties aren’t fun. Then, as we practice eating in new situations and learn to be Bright no matter what, we develop automaticity with restaurants, travel, and dinner parties, and the hourglass gets wider again. Now we have the ULTIMATE freedom—we’re in our Bright Bodies AND we can live freely in the world. we can successfully navigate life. If you’re in the earlier phases of recovery, it can feel great to give up the constraints and go back to the food. But this “freedom” can be deceptive. Some people may go back to the food when they’re at the bottom of the hourglass. They feel great—and so they get overconfident. It’s a pernicious feature of addiction: when we’re in recovery, we forget the horror of what addiction was like. When the brain wires up to do anything, neurons fire together, synapses develop and connect, and fiber tracts develop in the brain. I think of these as riverbeds. The riverbed grows deep over time, as water wears down the soil. This is how addiction forms. When you want to quit, you have to dam all the water upstream. That dam is the Bright Line program. Over time, as the water is diverted, you develop a new riverbed with the habits you learn from BLE. At first, it feels awkward and unfamiliar, and you’re in the narrow part of the hourglass. Over time, however, it becomes comfortable, because the riverbed is deep thanks to all the practice and automaticity you’ve built up. But what if someone who is comfortable with their Bright habits decides to let some water back into the old riverbed? At first, it feels like it’s no big deal. The grasses and shrubs that have grown up in that dry riverbed keep the water from flowing freely. But eventually, the grasses and shrubs wash away and you’re going to get all the negative consequences of that old river. If you go back to eating sugar and flour, it may work at first. But eventually, it won’t. How long it takes to get back to misery is based on multiple factors, most notably where you are on the Susceptibility Scale. If you have any amount of addiction—if you’re a six or above on the Susceptibility Scale, say—remember that addiction is progressive. Over significant periods, it gets worse. The periods where it works will get shorter. The consequences will become more severe as you age. Addiction is like flushing a toilet—the water swirls around and goes down, down, down the drain. Sometimes the water might head up a bit at the beginning of a flush…before it swirls ever further down. Finally, what if you’re stuck in a cycle where some parts of you really focus on how the food works, and other parts of you want to live Bright? That can be a terrible inner conflict to experience. You go back to the food in cycles and can never stay Bright for long. Getting out of that cycle requires a deeper surrender and a fuller application of the Bright Line Eating tools. But don’t be surprised if, sometimes, being in the food seems to work. Hopefully, this helps you to see the big picture, so that when you think that addictive eating might be working, you can zoom out and see what’s coming, eventually. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/xmbGXB Sometimes Addictive Eating Works | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 17, 2024

I want to introduce you to a lovely mindfulness meditation practice. I learned it in a training session for leaders by the Xchange Group. This method is called the Unified Mindfulness approach to meditation. It’s very widespread, used by Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and other universities that do research on the benefits of meditation. There are many approaches to meditation, but Unified Mindfulness revolutionized my experience. It’s the one and only approach that I find I can use as I move through the day—as I drive my kids around, make my bed, and just experience life. It was created by a man named Shinzen Young. Here’s what he says about himself: “I’m a Jewish-American Buddhist-informed mindfulness teacher who got turned on to comparative mysticism by an Irish-Catholic priest and who has developed a Burmese-Japanese fusion practice inspired by the spirit of quantified science” I love this guy! He is co-director of the Science Enhanced Mindful Awareness Lab at the University of Arizona. He’s a mathematician and scientist, and, basically, he endeavored to distill mindfulness into its mathematical elements. Young says there are three units of experience: what we see, what we hear, and what we feel. Each of those three can be outward-oriented or inward-oriented. So for example, “see-out” is something you experience visually, like a sunset. “See-in” is when you have an image in your mind, perhaps something you are remembering. You might imagine a beach, for example. “Hear-out” is what you hear around you. “Hear-in” is your internal monologue or a conversation you imagine. “Feel-out” is any of the sensations, from a taste on your tongue to the feel of your feet on the floor. “Feel-in” is emotional. Tightness in your belly, joy in your heart—any sort of emotion. To do the meditation, you notice what happens to you and around you, and label it, as see, hear, or feel. You can also note whether it is inward or outward. In the vlog, I do a brief session to demonstrate, labeling as I go, and then explain what I’m labeling. For example, as I was staring into the camera, I saw the color of my burgundy jacket in the lens—I labeled that “see-out.” Then I heard the sounds in my room and labeled them “hear-out.” My ankles and feet hurt, so I labeled that “feel-out.” Then I had thoughts of how watchers would respond to this meditation and labeled that as “feel-in.” I enjoy this practice immensely. It’s fascinating to be pulled into the present moment, whatever you are doing. Meditation increases happiness, clarity of thought, sensory awareness, and the ability to be present. If you go to unifiedmindfulness.com , there’s a free online course you can take on this method. Much of what we do in Bright Line Eating is finding new ways to engage with the present moment. When we stop eating sugar and flour and limit eating occasions, we create space between meals where life shows up. How do we engage with those moments? Mindfulness meditation gives you the agency to choose your response to that moment. Unified Mindfulness is a lovely way to interact with the present moment. It’s a new tool you can use, if you wish. It’s working for me, and now I’m passing it on to you. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/KiaNsa SEE, HEAR, FEEL | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 10, 2024

PECS is Post-Event Collapse Syndrome, and it’s what happens if your Bright Lines get wobbly after an event or holiday. But what does this have to do with Maintenance? Turns out, quite a bit… learn how to protect yourself in this week’s vlog. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/6vkVHs PECS and Maintenance | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 27, 2024

I am thrilled to announce the publication of an academic review article I wrote with Dr. Andrew Kurt Thaw: “The Badly Behaving Brain: How Ultra-Processed Food Addiction Thwarts Sustained Weight Loss.” It’s a chapter in the forthcoming academic book called Weight Loss: A Multidisciplinary Perspective and the chapter is available online now via Open Access Publishing. The article speaks to the science of the relationship between food addiction and weight loss. It’s similar to the science I presented in the book Bright Line Eating —but that was published seven or eight years ago and the field has exploded since then. About Open Access publishing: when you click the link, you can access and download a PDF of the article. Most scientific articles require you to have an academic affiliation to access them. I can see them because I’m a professor at the University of Rochester, but they are not available to the general public. However, Open Access allows anyone to read scientific articles. With this model, we, the authors, pay for access—in this case, since it was a British publication, it cost us 1,400 pounds to get this published. Because we paid that fee, we’ve financed your ability to read the article. On the one hand, this new trend in academic publishing means that ANYONE in the world now who has an internet connection can now access cutting-edge scientific information at its source. The downside, though, is that it makes the playing field for publishing even more un-level, impacting early-career scientists and scientists from poorer countries disproportionately. Two things surprised me in writing this article. The first is how much the field of weight loss science has progressed. We accessed a meta-analysis that looked at all the studies that have used the Yale Food Addiction Scale. There were an astounding 6,425 articles that used the Scale! What they found is that an estimated 20 percent of the population has food addiction. The other thing that surprised me was a number in that meta-analysis. They looked at it by weight class, and for people living with obesity, they found 28 percent tested out as having food addiction. That’s not what I’ve found with the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale. By my instrument, 33 percent of the people with class one obesity are high on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale and 56 percent of those with higher classes of obesity test out high on the Scale. What I learned from writing this article, however, is that you can have multiple symptoms of food addiction, but if you don't answer the right way to the questions asking you if you have clinically significant impairment or distress, then it won’t tag you as having food addiction, even if you have the symptoms. So, someone might say their eating habits aren’t causing them distress, but then you ask them how their work life is, for example, and they tell you they’ve been out on disability. Or they tell you they can’t exercise, or they’re in pain—but they don’t associate this with impairment. So I don’t buy the 28 percent number. There’s a graph at the end of the article that looks at weight-loss drugs compared to Noom, Weight Watchers, the Zone Diet, and others, and it’s stunning: Bright Line Eating does as good a job as weight-loss drugs at helping people lose weight. Weight loss drugs and Bright Line Eating are the only two that address addiction. Weight loss drugs do that by modulating the dopamine response in the mesolimbic pathway in the brain. BLE does it by healing that part of the brain with the foods you eat, stopping the relentless flow of dopamine that is causing those receptors to downregulate. I encourage you to read this article, take it to your doctor, show it to your friends, and pass it around. This article can help advance the field. It’s very satisfying to put it out into the world. I hope you enjoy it. You can access it right here: https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1178624 You can read The Badly Behaving Brain article here . FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/JaukLD The Badly Behaving Brain is Published! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 20, 2024

A few weeks ago, someone wrote to our customer support center. She wasn’t a member, and she’s not in the Boot Camp, but she found us and wrote in. Her email said: “How do I stop the amnesia that sets in when I’m off sugar and flour and go back to thinking I can eat it ‘just once,’ but then my life falls apart all over again?” Aaaaah. Such a great question! You’ve stumbled onto one of the defining features of addiction. Almost 100 years ago, some men discovered this phenomenon. In the 1930s, they developed The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous , and what you’ve written is something they focused on. There’s a paragraph in The Big Book that says: “The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically non-existent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.” They follow this with numerous examples to illustrate how people pick up a drink with no effective thought about the consequences. One example is when you have thoughts of resisting the urge to eat that are so underdeveloped in size and magnitude that they don’t offer anything close to sound reasoning. You have plenty of evidence that the consequences will be tremendous, but your brain doesn’t work in that moment. That’s addiction. But another, similar situation—like being allergic to strawberries—your brain works just fine. If you eat one strawberry and suffer the consequences, you know enough not to eat them again. But with food addiction, that connection doesn’t work. Three things are going on in your brain that explain this. The first is ineffectiveness in the prefrontal cortex. Addictive impulses are generated deep in the part of the brain that gives a good dopamine rush when you eat highly rewarding food. But lots of things can hijack those reward structures, including modern-day concoctions of sugar and flour. The prefrontal cortex is where executive functions are happening. Things like planning, evaluating options, and decision-making. What happens in addiction is that the prefrontal cortex stops having the ability to override impulses. Second, we have a phenomenon called state-dependent learning and state-dependent memory. These cognitive functions have to do with states such as where you are, how you feel, and what substance you’re on. When you’re in the state of not eating sugar and flour, your brain selectively recalls all the times you’ve been in that same state and you feel like life is good and you’re in control—that’s state-dependent learning. In that state, it’s harder to call to mind the state you would be in after you picked up those foods. Third, we have procedural memory. A procedural memory is implicit—it’s also called muscle memory—and an example is knowing how to ride a bike. You get on a bike, and it comes back to you even if you haven’t ridden in years. Procedural memories are automatic and don’t require conscious decisions to execute them. The actions that happen in eating are also procedural memories, so you can find yourself eating in a familiar situation, like having a plate in your hand and going down a buffet line, and suddenly anything and everything is on your plate and you didn’t really make a “decision” to eat all that. So what do you do about it? What the men in AA concluded was this: “We’re absolutely hopeless, there’s no solution to this, therefore our defense must come from God because we are without human aid . ” They encapsulated this orientation toward God in the 12 Steps. That approach works and it’s shorthand for: you’re going to have to work a heck of a program . So, to my writer: from what you’ve written, we’re really not supposed to diagnose people, but what you’ve written is truly the hallmark of food addiction. The impairment and distress you’re describing is the foundation of late-stage addiction. What that means is that you have a fatal, incurable, progressive disease. The only solution is to work a very strong program. You’re not in the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp. You need to get in it. What will that do? It will give you an identity as someone who doesn’t eat sugar and flour. And you need to put it first, even before your family, because if you do that, you’ll get to show up for your family every day, with love to share—because your life won’t be falling apart. There’s no easy answer here. It’s a life-changer to realize the extent of the problem you have. But your whole life will be different if you’re using a full-bodied, comprehensive treatment to deal with the condition that you’ve got. It’s the only way. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/5dtrA6 Food Addiction Amnesia | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 18, 2024

A Bright Liner named Katie recently sent me a message with a great question. She wanted to know if, when you make Bright Line-compliant foods that would normally have sugar and flour—but you’re making them without—the brain has the ability to “fill in the blanks.” In other words, will the brain trick the body into creating the illusion of flour and sugar, so that it produces higher levels of insulin? That’s exactly how it works. The brain does this all the time. It’s called top-down processing. For all sensory perceptions, there are two main forms of processing: bottom-up and top-down. Bottom-up processing is what you might imagine: the brain takes in information—for example, through the retina, if it’s visual stimuli—and processes this to build the image from the bottom up. But it turns out the brain has another way of working, where it gallops ahead and uses beliefs, expectations, and knowledge projected onto what it is perceiving. This is top-down processing. It’s where the brain makes assumptions and fills in the blanks, even if it doesn’t have a full picture in front of it. But the brain isn’t always going to be right when it does this. So, for example, if someone mashes butternut squash and adds pumpkin pie spice to it, as far as the brain is concerned, it’s pumpkin pie. And it will respond accordingly as if you were actually eating pumpkin pie. This is part of the reason why people don’t lose weight when they drink diet soda. The brain assumes you’re drinking sugar, and it releases insulin accordingly. Even with stevia or monk fruit, the total insulin released over a day is equivalent to what would be released if you’d consumed sucrose. What this means for your Bright Line journey is that it’s prudent to be careful around look-alike foods. It turns out that gaming the system, which people have been trying to do with diet soda for years, doesn’t work. You really do need to eat simple, nutritious whole foods, and not something that’s mocked up to resemble something else. In Bright Line Eating, we’re not judging people who are, say, making cauliflower pizza without flour. But there’s science behind why this might not be a great idea, depending on your experience and Susceptibility Score. If you’re a five or six on the Susceptibility Scale, and you’ve figured out a way to make cauliflower pizza part of your regular life, that’s fine. Even if you’re a ten, if it works for you, fine. But if you’re eating cauliflower pizza and you’re not in your Bright body or are having a hard time keeping your lines Bright—this may be why. Top-down processing is very powerful. It even results in heroin addicts overdosing with their typical dose, if they consume it in a different environment or without their knowledge. The conditioned tolerance response that the body launches when the usual sequence of events happens (two $20 bills in the hand … finding the dealer … getting the bindle of powder … cooking it up with a spoon…) literally results in the addict being able to absorb a larger dose of heroin without overdosing. In the absence of this sequence of events (e.g., shooting someone up while they are sleeping), the result can be death. On the same dose. Top-down processing is not to be taken lightly—it affects our physiology in powerful ways. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/w2RK1U Top-Down Processing | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 6, 2024

A few days ago, I was on an accountability call with our Bright Lifers community. One of the people participating shared that when she was a child she sucked her thumb. Later, she switched to eating addictively for comfort. She went directly from using her thumb as a source of comfort, relief, and soothing to using food for comfort, relief, and soothing. As she was sharing this with the community, all I could think was “Oh my gosh, me too! Why don’t I ever think about this or talk about this? Why isn’t it part of my story?” I sucked my thumb until I was 13 years old. The orthodontist even glued little spikes to the backs of my front teeth. That didn’t stop me—it just gave me vampire-like piercings on my thumb! For me, what did it was getting my period. That gave me an awareness that I wasn’t a child any longer. But I still bit my nails until they bled. I didn’t quit biting my nails until much later—and even today, I have a nail I will bite and chew sometimes. As a kid, I also chewed on wooden pencils until they were soggy splinters in my mouth and I devoured Bic pen caps until they were long skinny spikes of plastic covered in teeth marks. It’s all the same oral fixation. After talking to this Bright Lifer, I Googled “Dopamine release and thumb sucking.” Turns out there’s a whole scientific literature on it. And on dopamine release and chewing as well. We use what we can when we’re babies and children to self-soothe, release anxiety, and get what we need. They’re all tools for self-medicating. The link between thumb-sucking and food addiction is partly why I recommend not chewing gum. Chewing is important physiologically, but we get the mastication that we need when we eat whole, real foods. I recommend not chewing gum in order to break that oral fixation. As adults, we don’t want to rely on crutches. We don’t want to feel like we must have something in our mouths to be comforted. When we abstain from soothing or distracting ourselves in that way, we open up a space to ask ourselves what we truly need in that moment: connection? Comfort? Do we need to address something in our environment? Start a project we’ve been procrastinating on? Having something in your mouth at all times is counterproductive, even if you don’t identify as a food addict. Similar to that, research came out a while ago that clicking a mouse—like for a videogame—also causes a dopamine release in the brain. It’s interesting how we, as a species, gravitate toward whatever provides a little ease. Another lesson I’ve gleaned from this is about how we tell our story: how we sometimes miss a key piece of the puzzle. Maybe we’re in denial or haven’t looked hard enough, or maybe—and I think this is true for me—we’re just used to telling our story as we tell it. So, when someone brings something to our attention, it gives us another way to look at our past and the forces and experiences that have shaped us. We are writing and rewriting our story all the time. I invite you to look back at your own history and at the ways we’re similar. I suspect there are a fair number of people who will relate to this. And that may mean you need to ask yourself what kind of comfort you need. Where are you being called to grow and stretch, and how can you learn to tolerate discomfort, so that you can see where you truly need to go next. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/AeAYRn Thumb Sucking and Food Addiction | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 28, 2024

I recently had the opportunity to take my 12-year-old, Maya, to the Super Bowl. I was born and raised in San Francisco, and we’re huge 49ers fans. I grew up in the golden era of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Steve Young and I remember the thrills of those years. I have three BLE-related lessons to share with you from this once-in-a-lifetime experience. The first lesson has to do with planning and preparation. We flew into Vegas on Saturday morning. In my carry-on suitcase, I packed seven meals, my teddy bear, my 5-year journal, toiletries, a pair of underwear, and an extra 49ers hoodie. (Doesn’t everyone pack seven meals and a teddy bear in their carry-on? Lol.) While Maya ate NMF for lunch on Saturday, I asked her if I could make a phone call and she was fine with it, so I got away from that food, stepped into the sun, and called a Bright buddy. Yay! I went out to eat once while we were there, but other than that I packed all my meals. No food or beverage was allowed into the stadium, and we were three or four hours early—we arrived at 11:30 and didn’t get out til eight or nine p.m. I was hungry, but I used this mantra: hunger is not an emergency . And it was fine. The body is equipped to fast. It is never a waste to plan and prepare. Plan for your trip, pack your food, get support, and surrender when necessary. The second lesson has to do with the one aspect of recovery that I never think of, don’t feel particularly good at, never prioritize, and am usually not feeling in the mood for, and that’s play. On the flight out, Maya and I began noticing people wearing football clothing. We challenged each other to find as many teams as possible. It became a game to scout out fans. We approached people who were dressed in team clothing, and we met many lovely people who were happy to share their love for their team with us. By the end of the game we’d found a fan of each and every one of the 32 NFL teams, and we were thrilled! It was great fun. I know there are coaches on the Bright Line Eating team who advocate for play as something to incorporate into our Bright lives and I’m always surprisingly delighted when I invite it in. My third takeaway is about unstoppability. I didn’t think the 49ers were going to win, but the stats were in their favor for most of the game, and we were hopeful when they had a 10-to-nothing lead. And then they lost in overtime. It was heartbreaking. And that’s when the recovery lesson started. I think that when someone is Bright for a long time and then has a break or a binge, there’s a mental effort to metabolize the experience. What does it mean? What just happened? Later, I told Maya that it was our job now to create, protect, and defend our memory of the experience. The reality is that we had the most incredible trip, ever. The 49ers losing did not take that away from us. She lit up when I told her that. We are the guardians of our minds. If the 49ers had won, it would have been easy. But would there have been a teaching opportunity there? Probably not. Instead, I was able to teach my kid how to square your shoulders and deal with pain. I modeled embracing a nuanced understanding of hardship, where no one is necessarily at fault and there may be no easy answers. I showed her how to manage that kind of experience responsibly. It’s the essence of being unstoppable. My hope for you is that if you have a break in your Bright Lines—or any setback in life—that you remember the BLE value of unstoppability, and cull that lesson for all it can give you. The reality is we don’t grow without hardship. Nothing good comes easily. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/lXwCsJ 3 Lessons from the Super Bowl | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 21, 2024

I want to share a bit about my own story and recent events that illustrate what Bright Living looks like. I’m really Bright right now but that hasn’t always been the case. I’ve been in food recovery for 28 years. That was about a year after I got clean and sober from drugs and alcohol, and I’d gained a ton of weight. I went to my first 12-step food meeting, and it didn’t turn everything around the way the drug and alcohol recovery did. That was the beginning of about 7 1/2 years of on-again, off-again attempts at abstinence. I had some success, but overall, I struggled. When I was 28, I started doing things differently: No sugar. No flour. Weighing and measuring my food. Three meals a day. I got down to the size I am now. And then I had a major relapse and gained back all that weight. Within 3 months, I was my heaviest ever. I lost the weight again and was good for almost 10 years. But then I tried intuitive eating, because intellectually it seemed a better fit. That didn’t work. Within a month, my freedom was gone and my weight was increasing. I knew that the no-sugar, no-flour thing worked, so I went back to it, and I was abstinent for about 3 years. But when my life exploded with the Bright Line Eating movement, my food went off track. For about 4 years I binged on and off—mostly Bright, but definitely lots of food struggles. But in September 2019, I stopped binging, put down sugar and flour, and haven’t picked it up since. That began 3 years of immaculate adherence to the first 3 Bright Lines: no sugar, no flour, and eating only at meals. But my quantities were off in restaurants. I surrendered more deeply and got squeaky clean with the 4th and hardest Bright Line: quantities. Since then, I’ve had immaculate quantities. And now I’m grateful for the peace that I have. I wanted to share what the sine wave of living Bright can look like. I go stretches where I don’t think about food at all; I feel free and grateful. My well-being is high, and I’m steady. Just recently, though, I got a little stressed and stopped writing down my food at night. I’ve done that on and off. Recently, though, I went a week without writing it down and I found myself before a meal addictively picking a fattier protein choice. Here’s what happened: beans don’t light me up, but Beyond Burgers do. They’re ultra-processed, fattier, and richer. And they’re allowed, but maybe they shouldn’t be, as an ultra-processed food. I made a Beyond Burger, even though I had beans prepared in the fridge. I made that choice, and it was an addictive choice, even though I weighed out exactly 4 oz. The next day, I took my kids out because I wanted a restaurant meal. And I did have a Bright meal, eating only what was on my food plan. But I know this restaurant has grilled eggplant that is pretty oily, and I had that on my salad. I went out to eat deliberately to get that hit from that food. That night, I went to the grocery store and contemplated buying some huge apples. The rationale in my mind was that I was about to travel 3 time zones west and knew there would be times I would need to go 8 hours between lunch and dinner, so the addictive voice in my mind told me a huge apple would be good to tide me over. I laughed at myself and didn’t buy the apples. But I could feel the soul-sickness in me. I made a gameplan. I called a couple of Bright friends for support. Then I came home and wrote down my food for the next day. When we talk about the sine wave, the downslope is the precursor (potentially) for a relapse. And maybe that means going off the Bright Lines—but maybe it doesn’t. Maybe you just have a little wobble. But you can correct the wobble. For me, that meant making a couple of phone calls and writing down my food again. Someone on an accountability call recently asked me about eating out. She was using the one-plate rule. For me, a 10++ on the Susceptibility Scale, I don’t use the one-plate rule. I told her that I either use a digital food scale or I measure with my eyes. I stay vigilant about only eating the categories of food that are on my plan for that meal. And I’m eyeballing each category of food to make sure it’s my best estimate of the right amount. If a nagging feeling in my gut tells me maybe it’s actually too much, I cut some away. This is what a diamond vase looks like. If you’re not familiar with this metaphor, it goes like this: for people who come into Boot Camp, it starts to feel easy. And I say to them, it’s easy because the system works. It’s like you’ve been given a priceless gift: a crystal vase. So don’t juggle with it. Crystal vasers are those who have never broken their Bright Lines. But if you do break those lines, there is a way back. And you don’t get a crystal vase, you get a diamond vase—one that can’t be shattered. So that’s the little bobble I had and how I resolved it, just so you can hear the language and feel the bodily experiences of what super Bright Living can be like when you surf the sine wave of Maintenance. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/NlOqP7 The Sine Wave of Super Bright Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 14, 2024

Register for International Food Addiction Consensus Conference: https://ble.life/4DURJT Register for Ador@BLE: https://ble.life/PY9sf5 Donate to the International Food Addiction Consensus project: https://ble.life/PVOw1B A miracle has happened, and I can’t wait to tell you about it! First, some history: we used to put on an annual conference called the Bright Line Eating Family Reunion. They were great fun. And then COVID happened, and we haven’t done them since. Our team loved meeting all of you, and we loved seeing you meet each other, too. It took a tremendous amount of work. I put together fresh science talks for them (many of which you can still access in the “Science Bundle” if you’re a BLE member). Preparing for them took a good three months of steady work. Currently, I don’t do much live public speaking because my kids are teens and I am not willing to take on extra trips that aren’t family-related. But now something has come up that feels necessary. It’s the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference (IFACC), in London on May 17. Here, clinicians, academicians, and researchers from around the world will gather to present to the media and the general public our consensus document on food addiction as a legitimate disease and diagnosis. We’ve been deliberating and creating this document for months. It’s powerful and needed, and it’s going to change the world. In due course, the ICD—the International Classification of Diseases—will accept food addiction as a legitimate diagnosis, and the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, will accept it as well. Then, policy will change—you can’t advertise addictive substances to kids, for one thing, and bariatric centers will begin to screen for food addiction before recommending surgery, while food addiction treatments will become available and covered by insurance. I’ll be there in person and will be speaking, and so will Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People , which we talked about in last week’s vlog. So will Robert Lustig, one of the first people to sound the alarm on sugar (are you one of the millions of people who has seen his YouTube talk on sugar??), and Vera Tarman, author of Food Junkies . But there’s more! At the same time, I’ve been in touch with Bright Lifers including Sue Smith in London, who does so much for our community. Sue and the UK Bright Lifers organized a conference for Saturday and Sunday following the IFACC, May 18-19. I’ll be speaking at it, and I can’t wait. The theme is so cute: It’s Ador@BLE. Meaning how do we love and adore ourselves in Bright Line Eating? How do we love and adore our bodies? How do we love and adore every minute of our brilliant Bright Lives? Glynis Roberts, an international expert in self-compassion from Wales, who is also a Bright Lifer, will be lecturing on Saturday. There will be breakout rooms and time to meet people and connect. So you can go to both conferences or just one. There are links to register below. It’s surely not a coincidence that this vlog is coming out on Valentine’s Day. Love is our number one value at BLE, and this Valentine’s Day you can give yourself a truly significant gift: come join us live with other Bright Lifers, at a conference that affirms the reality of food addiction as a diagnosis. If you can’t make it, I understand, but then be sure to livestream the IFAAC conference. One final thought: for the consensus-building efforts, we haven’t raised the amount of money we need. Here’s what that means: before the conference, we’re going to be gathering, to plan out the research that will be needed to fill the gaps that exist in treatment research. Current research on food addiction treatment is very sparse. We need lynchpin evidence that shows that treatment with an abstinence-based approach to eating solves certain forms of disordered eating (those with food addiction as an underlying cause) in a way that current treatments don’t. If we take a large sample of the 30% of people with a diagnosed eating disorder who have not gotten well with the current treatments—probably because they have underlying food addiction issues—and randomly assign them to an abstinence-based eating approach as opposed to an all-foods-in-moderation-for-all-people eating approach, we could show the validity of food addiction treatments. A study like that is going to be expensive. We need to raise some funds to get this study off the ground. This is a moment in time where major things are happening. You can be a part of that. So: there are three buttons below. One to register for the IFACC, either live or via livestream. There’s also a link to register for the Ador@BLEs conference—and I truly hope you can join us for this. If you’ve missed the Family Reunions, now’s your chance. And the third button is to donate. I hope to see you in London in mid-May. These are exciting times, and I invite you to be a part of them. -------------------------------------- FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/MWBFR9 You’re Invited to Experience a Miracle in London | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 7, 2024

Once in a while a book comes along that I predict will revolutionize our community—and I’m excited to tell you about one such book. It’s called Ultra-Processed People by Dr. Chris van Tulleken. This book educated me so much. In fact, I reached out to the author after reading this book, and I have a nice surprise for you that I’ll tell you about in a bit. Here are some key takeaways: First, I never realized the full extent to which the explosion of ultra-processed food is driven by economics. One grim story that the book shares is that of the very first fully synthetic food. It happened in Germany in World War II. The Nazi regime wanted to become independent from all other nations. One problem was fuel—they didn’t have enough. But they did have a lot of low-quality coal, which could be rendered into liquid fuel for their planes, cars, and tanks. One byproduct of this process was a waxy, soap-like substance we would call paraffin. A man named Arthur Imhousen, a soap manufacturer, took that substance and used it to meet another need that was acute for Germans: the need for more domestically-produced, consumable fat. He added salt, coloring, and chemicals and turned it into “coal butter.” It’s an example of how often byproducts from an industrial process are turned into something you can eat. Cottonseed oil is another example, using the cast-off seeds from the cotton industry, which were then pressed for their oil. Another takeaway from the book is related to brand loyalty. It turns out that the way the stomach, taste buds, and brain are wired, when we eat an extra-large bolus of highly dense calories, the brain notices and wires up to prefer that specific flavor. That’s more than addiction: it’s loyalty to a particular brand. If you’re a manufacturer, you don’t just want people addicted to junk food in general, you want them addicted to your junk food. Look at soda. Soda pop when it’s flat and warm isn’t tasty, because it’s just too sweet. Making it cold and carbonated tricks your taste buds and brain into not noticing the sugar, so they can pack more sugar into it without you having a negative reaction. But the extra sugar then delivers such a whopping bolus of calories that the brain remembers that specific flavor profile, and imprints on it. That’s why people are so dedicated to their brand of soda. My biggest takeaway has to do with the reality of sugar and flour. Sugar and flour have been around for a long time. But the reason we’re seeing massive amounts of obesity today is because of ultra-processed food, not sugar and flour. This book showed me the difference between the two. I contacted Chris van Tulleken, and we talked for quite a while. I’ve recorded it, so you can watch it. One of the things I wanted to talk to him about was the difference between ultra-processed food and sugar and flour, because I know you can’t just abstain from ultra-processed food and still eat sugar and flour and recover. It seems to me that sugar and flour should be considered ultra-processed food. I wanted to parse this out with him. Chris van Tulleken is an M.D., Ph.D., BBC star in the UK, and he’s got an identical twin brother, Xand, who was living with obesity, while Chris is not—it’s a fascinating story. That’s how Chris got the idea of doing this book. You’ll also want to see what Chris says when I talked with him about coming to London to be a keynote speaker at the conference on ultra-processed food I’m working on. And you’ll discover that he has a very different idea about how one can quit eating ultra-processed food. It’s different from BLE. Very different. This book is mind-blowing if you’ve ever wanted a clear scientific explanation for all your questions about ultra-processed food: what about flavorings? What about emulsifiers? What oils are good for you? Why is ultra-processed food softer? To see the interview, purchase your copy of the book: hardcover, Audible, ebook—whatever. Go to the website: https://BLE.life/UPP . All you need to do is put in where you bought the book and your order number, and you’ll get access to the video. This is a big deal for us as a Bright Line community. The international community is coalescing around the idea of ultra-processed food addiction. Not just “food addiction” but ULTRA-PROCESSED food addiction. So we need to be up on this. And I have to say, I’m now thinking differently about some of the ultra-processed foods that we have considered Bright Line Eating-compliant. Here’s something Chris said: If you’re ever wondering about whether something is ultra-processed food, just think about the motive behind the food. Is the motive to hook you and make money off you? Or is it to nourish and feed you? I often think about the motive behind how I’ve eaten. Motives matter. Without a doubt, the motives behind our food supply have changed dramatically over the past hundred years, and I’ve never read a better explanation of this than Chris van Tulleken’s book. He’s amazing—a cool guy and a consummate scientist. Get your copy of the book today! Your mind will be blown. Enjoy! Access the exclusive interview with the author: https://ble.life/UPP FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/WBgONY

Jan 31, 2024

A Bright Lifer™ recently wrote in, and I want to address her question because it's on a very important subject—Maintenance. She says, “I've lost over 60 pounds with Bright Line Eating. Since I'm more sedentary during the cold winter months, I've gained about seven or eight pounds back, but the scale goes up and down within a 10-pound window. In the warm summer months, I love to walk and hike, so the weight drops back down. Is this what Maintenance looks like? I'm not quite sure as I'm afraid of gaining—so I'm back to the Weight-Loss Plan.” It's a great question! I’ve been on Maintenance now for two decades. It is very much a process of adding and subtracting food. There are, of course, factors that influence our weight—our activity level, the seasons, injuries, aging. When you age, for example, you need less food, though you still need ample protein. So you may cut back on your food, but not on protein. And then there’s someone I know who was doing great, maintaining a 100+ pound weight loss, but then he got injured and he suddenly couldn’t exercise. He neglected to compensate by removing some food from his food plan, and he also stopped weighing himself. Over the next few years, he slowly put on 40 pounds because he should have been removing food as his weight crept up. Here's what I do to accommodate fluctuating weight, whether it’s because of the seasons, exercise levels, the metabolism shifts that come with age, or whatever it is. I weigh myself once a week to see if I’m keeping within my weight range. My goal weight is a range, not a number. If you don’t want to use the bathroom scale, have some clothes that don’t have elastic waistbands. If you put them on and they fit, you know you’re doing okay. I have some “truth pants.” They’re just black slacks, with no stretch or give in them. And I know from seeing how they fit me if I’m within my range. However you want to track it, think about a roughly ten-pound range that you want to be within. When those pants get a little tight or your weight is at the high end of your range, start to shave out food from your plan. Typically that means taking out one thing—whatever was the last thing you added in, whether it was grain at lunch or dinner, or maybe you’d gone from four to six ounces of grain. Take out the grain or shave it back to four ounces. Then wait a week or two, or even a month or two, to see if that did the trick. You may have to shave out more. Some people might find that they don’t even need all the food that’s on the Weight-Loss Food Plan. For me, I remember being on a food plan twenty years ago that was twice as heavy as my plan right now. That was before I had kids and when I was exercising a lot. I just needed a lot of food. Now I don’t need nearly as much as I age. So you add food when your weight is low, and take food out when your weight is high. There’s nothing wrong with going back to the Weight-Loss Plan if you’re carrying enough extra weight to warrant that, say more than ten pounds. But generally, it’s best to shave back rather than make drastic changes. Your body will respond. Weigh yourself once a week and check back in a few weeks to see if your body is responding. If not, take another food out. This is the ebb and flow of Maintenance. We add and subtract food to keep ourselves within the Bright Body weight range we want to be in. We tend to settle into a size, a shape, a level of mobility that feels right for us, and we can feel when we trend too far in either direction. Then it’s time to adjust our food plan accordingly. That’s one of the beautiful things about Bright Line Eating—the ability to adjust as needed. One last thought: I recommend that everyone work with a Maintenance guide or Maintenance buddy. I never make a change myself without running it by someone. It’s good to externalize it—meaning to get it out of my own head. There’s a recovery saying: if you’re alone in your own head, you’re alone in a bad neighborhood. This is especially true with our food, our weight, and our bodies. Many of us have body dysmorphia and heightened levels of stress about these topics. So I talk to someone before I make a change and then I listen to their feedback. And when you’ve been stable in Maintenance for a while, you can do the service of being a Maintenance guide for someone else. It’s simple. It takes five minutes a week—just check in with them on their weigh day. It’s great for the long term to have someone to talk it through with, to make sure you’re being slow and steady around additions and subtractions to the plan. It’s just the way to go. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/skZ2Pu Adding and Subtracting Food in Maintenance | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 24, 2024

Today’s vlog topic comes courtesy of Michael, who writes: I am shocked that you don’t mention dairy, especially cheese, when you talk about food addiction. Studies have shown that cheese is the most addictive food there is, as it releases the most dopamine. When I went to a whole-food, plant-based diet, it wasn’t sugar or refined grains I had a hard time giving up, it was cheese. And of the three—sugar, processed grains, and cheese—cheese is the worst. Not only is it mostly saturated fat, but it is high in calories, salt, and cholesterol and contains casein proteins, which have been linked to cancer. Why isn’t cheese at the top of the food addiction villain list? Is the dairy industry a sponsor of yours? I’m VERY serious! You make a very good point, Michael! Research does show that cheese can have addictive qualities. Cheese and other dairy products have casein in them. Caseins break down into casomorphins, which bind to opiate receptors in the brain, which then release dopamine. So it’s true: cheese can be addictive. No, the dairy industry is not a sponsor of Bright Line Eating. And if they were they’d be very grumpy with me because I talk all the time about how dairy isn’t healthy and there are way better options. But whether cheese should be allowed on the plan is another thing entirely. First of all, I am not a nutritionist. I’m a brain scientist. You’re welcome to go to other people to learn about nutrition. I’m going to teach you about psychology, food addiction, and weight loss. The Bright Line program is not a health-focused plan—it’s a starter food plan for people to be able to eat the widest variety of food while quelching their food addiction and losing their excess weight. Many people go down a path that allows them to optimize their food plan for health. But we don’t insist on that at BLE. It’s important to allow the widest possible variety of foods because we would be excluding a lot of people from the transformation we deliver if we partnered with a specific nutritional approach. We stay agnostic about that while allowing people to have their needs, preferences, and opinions honored. We allow people to eat hot dogs, sausage, prime rib—things that are not healthy—if you weigh or measure your serving and avoid eating it with sugar and flour. It’s a very different thing to eat melted cheese on pizza versus a two-ounce hunk of cheese, sitting separately on your plate, with your baby carrots and your apple. We want the entry door to Bright Line eating to be as broad as possible. So no matter where you’re coming from, you can wrap your head around weighing and measuring and are not constrained any more than is necessary. If you want to have a steak for dinner, have a steak for dinner. Or if you want a hunk of cheese for your protein, then have it. Why doesn’t cheese trigger addiction? I have a true but possibly unsatisfying answer: cheese works in the food plan because it works. When BLE was founded, there were already 54 years of experience with 12-step programs, beginning in 1960 when Overeaters Anonymous was founded. What the data showed from actual people living these programs was that those who tried to keep artificial sweeteners in their plan were chronic relapsers. Same with whole wheat flour, honey, and non-dairy creamer. But the people who weighed and measured cheese did fine. So there was no reason to exclude cheese from BLE because it wasn’t triggering people. There may have been a few people who went crazy over cheese, nuts, or other foods—but the percentage is minimal, and all these things fall into the category of “individual binge foods”—meaning that you are responsible for noting what lights you up and avoiding it. Let me give two examples: cheese and white rice. In the wrong context, both are profoundly triggering. I recall a woman whose #1 binge food was a pot of rice with a stick of butter melted in it. When her sponsor told her to add rice back to her maintenance diet, she didn’t think she could do it. But when she ate four ounces, with no butter, she did fine. Without the sexy sauces, she was fine. Same with cheese. Weighed and measured, no possibility of more—it’s fine. If it’s not for you, then don’t eat it. If you’re vegan, don’t eat it. And if it offends your sensibilities that it’s available to others, I can understand that, because it has those casomorphins and does seem like it should be problematic. And for some small percentage of people, it is. But we don’t see it being problematic overall. Michael, I want to thank you for your question. Let me reiterate: although I stand by having cheese in the food plan, I agree with you; it’s not particularly healthy. I’m always going to think very carefully, though, about narrowing the Bright Line program. I’m proud of the fact that, on the BLE plan, you can literally eat every single whole, real protein, dairy, grain, legume, fruit, and vegetable option. Your choices are yours to make. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/evhmTo Is Cheese Addictive? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 17, 2024

This week, I want to weave together three topics for you. First: I’m co-writing a book chapter on ultra-processed food addiction for an academic book on weight loss. I’m writing right now about the 11 DSM-5 criteria for substance use disorder. Research indicates that ultra-processed food addiction meets each of these criteria. A large meta-analysis of hundreds of studies showed that about 20 percent of people in the general population qualify for a diagnosis of food addiction. But the average person has 2.38 of these 11 symptoms, and to get a diagnosis, you only need to have 2 of them. A mild diagnosis is 2–3 symptoms, moderate 4–5, and a severe case has 6 or more symptoms. When you hear what the symptoms are, it’s pretty easy to imagine that a lot of people have them. One symptom, for example, is eating more food than you intended to. Another is repeated failed attempts to cut back or a persistent desire to cut back. The whole dieting industry is built on this. The point is this: it would seem that the average person, with 2.38 of these symptoms, would have a food addiction. But they don’t, because having these symptoms isn’t enough. There has to be a pattern of use that leads to significant clinical impairment or distress. The people with two or more symptoms often don’t meet that benchmark. They may have tried to cut back or perhaps they notice themselves overindulging, but they’re not stressed out about it. They just move on with their lives. Many people have what we could call an addictive relationship with food—but they don’t have a food addiction. Food addiction needs that clinically significant impairment or distress. The second thing I want to share has to do with a person I’ve been talking to lately who is struggling. She has a fair bit of weight to lose, but she’s young enough that it’s not impacting her health. She’d like to look better, from her perspective, and she’s distressed. And, when she eats addictively, she loses the ability to function in her life. So she is experiencing clinically significant impairment or distress. Part of her doesn’t believe in food addiction. She thinks it’s a choice, and she should just be able to control it. She thinks she could quit if she just had more moral fiber. She’s been trying for years. Last time we talked, I reminded her that the science shows it IS an addiction, and the belief that she’s choosing to eat these foods is erroneous. There was a professor at NYU, Rodolfo Llinas, who did an experiment: he would try to point his toe forward while electrodes placed in the motor cortex of his brain were telling his foot to flex back. He ran the experiment over and over. He was horrified, not because he could not override those electrodes and point his toe, but because his brain kept telling him that he was changing his mind and meant to flex his foot back. The same is true with my friend. Her brain is telling her she’s choosing, but she’s not. Another example: Let’s say I told you there was a bag with five billion dollars waiting for you up forty flights of stairs but the rule is that to get it, you have to hold your breath the whole time you climb the stairs. You couldn’t do it. You would eventually breathe, and it would seem like your choice—but it really wasn’t. You were capitulating to the demands of your brain which then manipulated you into thinking that you were choosing to breathe. Lastly: I was speaking to a group last week, and I said to them how grateful I was that I both like and want my Bright recovery. This way of life is something that I deeply appreciate for its structure, for the support system, for everything about it that allows me to be the person I most want to be. In addiction literature, there’s a lot about wanting and liking. Initially, when we’re not in an addictive state, we want flour, sugar, and other foods only a little. But then, we eat them and like them a lot. As the brain wires itself for addiction, the wanting gets bigger and bigger and the liking gets smaller and smaller. Studies have shown that people with obesity intensely want ultra-processed food, sugar, and flour. But when they’re eating it, the parts of the brain that are associated with liking are muted. They don’t even like it that much anymore. Lots of people want to lose weight and want to try Bright Line Eating. But when they realize it’s more involved than they thought, a full lifestyle and not a simple diet, they don’t like it and don’t want to do it. Some people grow to like it, Some grow to love it. What a gift that is! So people like my friend may think they have a weight problem and a willpower problem. She isn’t on board with the Bright Line way. She doesn’t believe in it. She thinks intuitive eating makes more sense. And I get that. I’ve tried intuitive eating, not weighing and measuring my food, and eating flour and sugar, and what happened? Within a month I was out of control. Most addicts experience periods where they feel like they’re regaining control. But it don’t last. That’s what powerlessness is—an inability to achieve the desired result, peace with food and weight, on one’s own. If your relationship with food and weight bothers you a lot, that’s clinically significant distress. What a gift it is to work a potent-enough program for whatever degree of addiction you have! To break free. To live joyously, contently, and free. Not everyone gets that gift—because addiction is just a beast. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/uwrsMY Significant Impairment or Distress | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 10, 2024

I want to address something from an email I received this week. It said: “I hear you use the phrase ‘Is my food too sexy?’ Please explain this term! I have a feeling it will be very helpful as I am new to the eating plan, and am still feeling my way.” What a great question! “Sexy food” is a term I use all the time, and it’s worth explaining. It breaks down into three dimensions: the reward value, the level of processing, and complexity. First, the reward value. Generally, sugar, flour, fat, and salt are the elements that make foods more highly rewarding. Some foods on the Bright Line plan fall into that category. Cheese, for example, is highly rewarding. Nuts and nut butters are also sexy because of their reward value. They light up the brain. Sausage, too. Whole-fat yogurt can be highly rewarding, as well as coffee and caffeine. Most of the highly rewarding foods have been eliminated from Bright Line Eating—all the highly processed foods and foods with sugar and flour. Some foods have known addictive qualities, yet they’re allowed on the Bright Line Eating food plan. There are no Bright Line Eating Police, which means that you alone are responsible for noticing if a food is getting out of line; if you’re looking forward to that food too much, that’s important to notice. If so, consider taking it out of your plan for a while. A note about salt: you need salt. If it becomes problematic, you might consider weighing and measuring it, and keep in mind that salt increases the reward value of the meal. The answer isn’t to eliminate it, however, it’s to keep an eye on it. Next, processing. Some BLE foods are processed. Take rice cakes. I don’t recommend starting the day with rice cakes and peanut butter. That’s a highly rewarding food on top of a highly processed food. It’s a very sexy meal. Also lookalike foods like bean pasta and Ezekiel bread—they’re sexy foods. Consider your food on a spectrum from simple to sexy. We’ve already eliminated most of the sexiest foods from your plan. But for someone who’s a 10 on the Food Addiction Susceptibility Scale and who really wants food freedom, keeping food to the simple side of the spectrum is the way to do that. There’s nuance here, though. If you’re a 6 on the scale and are doing BLE to lose weight and it’s working for you, the foods I’m talking about may be fine in weighed and measured quantities. But for the person whose food addiction tendencies are more severe and who is struggling, they will need to make their food simpler. Third, we have complexity. Complexity refers to adding a lot of condiments and spices, plus a lot of different ingredients, and making your food more flavorful and more rewarding. Doing that slides a food up the spectrum in the direction of sexy. Note that there’s a big difference between steamed butternut squash vs. butternut squash that has been sprayed with spray oil and roasted. The procedure makes the food sexier. Roasted vegetables are way sexier than steamed vegetables. Roasted vegetables may be fine for you. But if I need to add oil to my vegetables and am attached to it and do it regularly, it’s going to affect my weight and peace of mind. There’s a big difference between steamed squash versus roasted butternut squash versus roasted butternut squash sprinkled with nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. Then you’re getting into the domain of a lookalike food, and that’s not conducive to mental peace. This is what I mean about complexity: layering in different elements and aiming to create a whoosh in the brain. That’s problematic. Melted cheese can also be over the line. I never do that. It’s just addictive. If I eat cheese, I weigh two ounces and have it in chunks or string cheese. One green vegetable, steamed: that’s the essence of simplicity. When you start adding oil, garlic, spices, or multiple vegetables—say in a stir fry—all of those things add to the complexity level. That’s not necessarily bad. But if you’re looking to simplify food, try eating whole foods, one food per category at a time, with the simplest preparation—and see what happens to your brain. I find simple food delicious. And when I haven’t eaten between meals, my brain is so ready for that food it hits my taste buds just right. The simpler I keep my food, the more likely the next meal will feel like enough. Simple food begets a brain that appreciates simple food. Sexy food begets a brain that needs sexy food. With each choice, we’re creating a brain that is either satisfied or needy. Lightening up on sexy food is a favor to our future self. It will give us a brain that is delighted with simple food; that is peaceful and calm, and for whom simple food is truly enough. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/b2BGTq Sexy Food | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 3, 2024

As we begin 2024, I want to share a letter from Val which is apropos for the start of a new year. Here’s what Val wrote: Please do a vlog on getting past the brain chatter that says “I will start next week” or “I will start next month” or “I can’t do it because I’ll never be able to eat cake again.” I keep wanting to start, but I can’t seem to. Val, many people grapple with this. So to start, I want to encourage you to use the January 1 “fresh start effect.” We’re past January 1st by a few days, but still: Boot Camp registration is open, and you can use the start of the new year to galvanize yourself into action. The fresh start effect may not be enough to keep you going, but it’s often enough to help you get started. Take advantage of the fact that the Boot Camp has a 14-day, 100 percent money-back guarantee. So if there’s a part of you that’s resistant, see if you can convince yourself that you’re just going to give this a try, just for a few days, and see how it goes. Commit to, say, three days. Do the initial part of the Boot Camp knowing that if it doesn’t work you can get your money back—no harm, no foul. That’s a legitimate way to get over the hump and get started. Of course, the reality is that you may want to stay with it once you start, but this gives you a potential out if you need it. Also remember that inside the Boot Camp, there’s a bonus module that’s specifically designed to break through resistance. It’s called “The Break Through Your Resistance Road Map.” I encourage you to use that to address the part of you that is resistant. My guess is that this part of you is trying to protect you from failure, by keeping you from starting. But that part of you doesn’t know about this new program called Bright Line Eating that is entirely tailored to the way your brain works. You may have tried plans before that have “cheat days” or build in snacks or try to sell you sugar and flour products—all kinds of things to hijack your brain. No wonder you didn’t succeed with them! They weren’t designed for the way your brain works. But now you have a plan designed for you, in your most authentic self, and you don’t need to be terrified of failure. Just follow the fabulous plan. JFTFP. Finally, let’s talk about that part about never being able to eat cake again. I have a story for you that you may have heard me share in the vlog before, but it seems fitting. Imagine, for example, that you’re worried about being able to eat cake at your son’s wedding, or some kind of potential future event like that. I had something similar happen to me when I was 20. I had a history of drug and alcohol abuse in my teens. I quit and got clean and sober when I was 20, about 10½ months before my 21st birthday. I was living in California where the legal drinking age was 21, and I thought, I can’t get clean and sober because I will surely drink on my 21st birthday. And people told me not to worry about that, and just to live in the day. That seemed dismissive to me because I was sure I wasn’t going to stay sober on my birthday—but that’s what people kept telling me. And that’s what I’d say to you, Val. Just worry about today. You don’t have to worry about the future. You just need to follow the plan for today. In the end, I DID stay sober, all the way up to my birthday. And I was invited by members of my group to attend an international convention in San Diego. So on my 21st birthday, I found myself in San Diego with 60,000 sober alcoholics dancing at a street party downtown, partying all night long with zero alcohol, and having the time of my life. What I found is that I was so different by that time from the person that I’d been the year before that I didn’t even think about needing a drink. So I envision you staying Bright today, knowing that you don’t have to worry about the future. You only need to plan for today. You don’t need to worry about your son’s wedding, because by that time you may have committed to a MasterMind group and a buddy, and you might go to the wedding thinking instead about your son’s well-being and your new daughter-in-law. And maybe the fifty pounds you’ve lost impresses your beloved cousin who needs to make some changes to their health—and as the night goes on you spend your time talking to them and don’t even care much when cake is served. You stay Bright and have a fabulous time. The main thing is to use the fresh start effect to register for Boot Camp now before it’s too late. Just tell yourself you only have to try it for three days. Get started and see how it feels. Get into action. You’ve got this. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/3YZ71G How to Just Get Started Already | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 27, 2023

As we head toward a new year, when people often work toward new beginnings, I want to share with you a message I received from a woman named Kim. Kim writes: I have read, and thought I have digested, Bright Line Eating. But how do I commit? I feel like I’ve had 100 “day ones,” literally. I know what to do. BLE teaches me what to do. But I can’t make it stick. What are some suggestions for getting it done? I’ve had hundreds of day ones. I started my food journey when I was 21 years old, a year clean and sober. I began a twelve-step program to address all the food I was eating, and that started eight and half years of repeated day ones. Later, there were more twelve-step programs and more day ones. And then I got Bright. I’ve been immaculately Bright for a year and a half now. (My longest consecutive stretch in the past was many more years than that.) What I have now is priceless: a healthy strong body and a peaceful mind. Extremely low levels of food chatter or scale chatter, and tons of happiness and well-being. My food recovery is a blessing in every area of my life. But all that came at a cost. It’s taken me a lot of research, and a lot of suffering, to get here. We each have our own journey. Everyone in Bright Line Eating has come to it knowing that they give up something to get Bright. I don’t have to tell you that—especially at this time of year, when it means giving up holiday food and alcohol. But the trade is SO worth it. Not everyone has gotten through all the pain by the time they get here. They may come to Bright Line Eating and still have a painful journey ahead of them, to get them to the place where they are convinced that it is worth it to put their food addiction in remission. So I have some suggestions for Kim. First, realize that nothing may be out of place. You may be on your path, doing your research and work while you’re in the program. Some people get here, and they’re ready to go. Others need to work at it before they’re convinced it’s the right path. Look at each of your Day Ones as getting you closer to your goal. There’s a study that was done that showed that the average smoker tried to quit thirty times before it stuck. You can think of the first 29 times as failures—or you can say those failures brought them closer to the place where they could quit. Each of your “day ones” may be getting you closer to where you need to be. Next, when I was in Australia, I did something different that “stuck.” My life was out of whack because I was bingeing my brains out and having day one after day one and I hired a life coach. At our first session, he gave me some homework and I said I couldn’t do it because I was doing pretty much nothing but binging and recovering from binging. He told me that my first assignment, then, was to get my food sorted out. Something about him holding me accountable, in addition to my sponsor, that extra layer of accountability, worked. So I would ask you: what extra support or accountability can you give yourself? Another thing that strikes me is that your behavior seems to indicate a diet mentality. Have you truly admitted that it’s a food addiction issue or are you denying that in some way? Addiction doesn’t like being treated. So my question is: have you just been doing a diet, rather than committing to the program? Maybe these are not really “day ones.” In other words, perhaps you need to redefine what it means to try Bright Line Eating. Have you truly committed? Did you back off of other commitments, so you could focus on the Boot Camp? Did you get a buddy? Did you call in for coaching? Perhaps you need to admit that you have a food addiction that is stronger than your attempts to handle it. And here’s another thing I’m curious about: are there parts of you that haven’t wanted this? That are pushing back on it? If so, that’s okay. In Boot Camp 2.0, we make available to you the Break Through Your Resistance Roadmap , which gives you tools to address the parts of you that are resistant to treatment. This is not a diet, Kim. It’s a program of recovery. It’s a new way of life. So have you really tried? How many true day ones have you really had? May every day one be put to good use. And every break turn into a breakthrough. I would love to offer to you what I have now, which is so precious. But before you accept it, know that it comes with a lot of pain, a lot of research, and a lot of day ones before you surrender to what works. You’re not alone. This is just what the path looks like. On January 1, Boot Camp starts. Carve out space for it. Come on in. I promise it will be worth it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/TJEKfS Day One, Again and Again | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 20, 2023

I was writing in my five-year journal recently and noticed that I started my entry with, “it was a super-sweet day.” I’ve been writing the same thing for a while. The thought came to me then that this has been the happiest year of my life. That’s a bold thought—but I checked and double checked, and it’s true. And in this vlog, I want to share what made it so, because so many of us are striving for happiness. I came into the year shiny Bright and doing well, and all I wanted through the year was to be steady with that. That was my word for the year: STEADY. Steadiness doesn’t come naturally to me, but I have been this year. My food has been super Bright. That was also the case in my thirties, but I had other challenges, including two premature twin babies. In my forties, Bright Line was born, and it was a huge success, but it was also a whirlwind and a challenge. So I’m pretty confident that this is the happiest year of my life. It's not just that my food is Bright. My habits have been dialed in, including a new layer I added recently: I’m taking a low dose of hormone replacement therapy (some bioidentical estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone). It helps. I’ve always struggled with depression and high/low moods. This routine of hormone supplementation helps me feel way more even keeled, punctuated with moments of great joy. Other than that, what made this the happiest year? I have three stories I want to tell you that have deep lessons. All three have to do with relationships. I am in service again in a way that’s making a difference—peer-to-peer, volunteer service—sponsoring in twelve-step programs. I’ve been so busy with Bright Line that I stopped doing this. An old friend urged me to get back to it, so I did. Volunteer service, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul, is so good for me. In fact, I talk to one of my sponsees who lives overseas at 5:15 am and while I talk to her I use my light box. That structure has given me an uptick in my well-being, which I attribute to the human interaction, the biology of light, and the structure. That’s the first lesson: peer-to-peer support matters. So if you can do peer-to-peer support in Bright Line Eating, (being a guide, leading a Gideon Games team, etc.) no matter where you are on your own Bright journey, I recommend it. Here's what that could look like, even if you’re not Bright yourself right now. Step 1: GET BRIGHT. Get two weeks of Bright Days strung together, and then post in the online community: “I just got TWO WEEKS of Bright Days, after struggling for a long time, and now I want to help you! Do you need a guide to help you Rezoom and get your first two weeks under your belt? I can share my experience with you.” Boom. Service. The second lesson is this: you don’t have to take out the trash; you can compost just about anything with love. I found this out when one of my primary relationships was ruptured. We tried to get back to each other and couldn’t. And then—probably because we both were praying very deeply—we just tentatively reconnected. Since that day, every single interaction has been off-the-charts loving. No reflection on our past disagreement. Just love. It was like our rupture was a garbage-filled backyard, and I thought we needed to clear away the trash before we could plant flowers. But instead, we took bags of love-soil and poured it on top. And soon we were able to plant flowers in the love-soil, and I realized that all that trash would just compost underneath. I think I was arrogant in thinking that everything needs to be worked through. The final lesson is that it is never too late to reinvent yourself and dramatically revise a story you’ve been telling about yourself for a long time. My motherhood journey has been a hard one from the beginning. When Bright Line Eating was born and I was saddled with massive working-mom guilt, I worried that my kids weren’t getting the best of me. But that’s shifted this year. My kids are older now, and their needs are a better match for my skills. So I started showing up a lot more for my kids, and I crafted, sometime mid-year, what I called my Four Pillars of Joy: A thriving marriage Micro-moments of love with my kids Joy in manifesting Bright Line Eating’s vision A strong, healthy body One of my kiddos was not showing up for class, and I took away her cell phone. When she was protesting afterward, I wasn’t frustrated, nor did I think that I was a terrible mother (even though she was telling me I was)—and in that moment, I saw how much my inner narrative had changed. The next morning, I had a card under my door from one of my other kids. It was filled with love and affirmation. That card is a result of my changing the narrative of my motherhood journey. So if your lines haven’t been Bright; if you’ve struggled with your relationships, your appearance, or your food, it’s not too late to change. My narrative changed because I took action, and started investing in micro-moments of love with my kids. It’s been the happiest year of my life. My word for 2024 is JOY. I’m going to keep focusing on my four pillars of joy. And 2024 will have a lot of anniversaries. David and I will celebrate 25 years of marriage. I will turn 50. And Bright Line Eating will celebrate all its ten-year anniversaries: January 26 is the anniversary of the meditation where the universe told me to “Write a book called Bright Line Eating.” August 5 is the anniversary of the BLE email list and hence the entire BLE movement. September 9 is the anniversary of the Bright Line Eating Solutions, LLC entity. And October 24 is the anniversary of the Boot Camp. My New Year’s resolution is to keep on doing what I’m doing now. Writing in my journal. Focusing on my four pillars. Writing down my food, committing it, and eating only and exactly that. Being of service. Keeping my food simple, so I can be fulfilled, nourished, and happy. It’s the right formula for me. It’s what makes me happy. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ggotPk The Happiest Year of my Life | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 13, 2023

*Applications for a Boot Camp 2.0 scholarship are now closed. We don’t talk about exercise a lot on the vlog, because Bright Line Eating is mostly about what and how you eat. But many people think they need to be more active when they’re trying to lose weight. The science indicates otherwise. Consider the phrase “calories in, calories out.” There are flaws to this idea: your body is not just a step counter that totals up your activities to determine weight loss. It’s a very responsive, intelligent machine, and it accommodates and morphs based on what you do. There’s a whole body of research funded by large food corporations that says that it’s not the sugar or ultra-processed foods we’re eating that are making us gain weight, it’s the lack of movement. But exercise won’t make you thin. There was a study where they took hundreds of sedentary, overweight women and separated them into groups: one stayed sedentary (that was the control group), and the other groups did varying levels of exercise, supervised by a trainer. At the end of this long study, everyone weighed the same, regardless of how much they exercised. And let’s look at the research of a man named Herman Pontzer. He’s an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University. He wondered about activity levels and caloric output in hunter-gatherer tribes vs. sedentary individuals in the Western world. When Pontzer went to the Hadza people in northern Tanzania, one of the last true hunter-gatherer societies, he measured their metabolisms very accurately, at a molecular level, using so-called “heavy water.” What he found was that they weren’t expending any more calories than those sitting at desk jobs in the U.S. What the body does when we’re extra active is that it compensates by burning less for the rest of the time. It shifts you into low gear so that you don’t burn more calories than you would if you were at a desk job. People around the world burn 2,000-3,000 calories a day, no matter what they do. This makes sense. If you think about the times when food is most scarce, the body is trying to keep us alive, so it makes sense that it would downshift and steal calories from other systems to survive. So you might think you could exercise and add the number of calories burned to your baseline, but it doesn’t work that way. This is built into Bright Line Eating. Our take on exercise is nuanced. The diet bashers think we’re against exercise. Tell that to my personal trainer! We’re not against exercise. Here’s where we stand: The science is clear that exercise is one of the best ways to improve your longevity, your health, your cardiovascular fitness, your bone density, your sex drive, your self-esteem. It’s good for just about everything but losing weight. We’ve learned from hard data that people who insist on exercising at the beginning of their Bright Line experience are the least successful. Exercise makes you hungrier, and causes a compensation effect where you justify eating more. And weight loss causes a dip in energy, making exercise at the beginning extra willpower depleting. If you don’t have a standard exercise regimen, it’s not in your best interests to start one in the first few months of your Bright Transformation. Go easy on the exercise, and make sure you’ve got enough in your tank to get the food right. Getting the food right is what will ensure the success of your whole Bright transformation. Food is the driver, not exercise. The beauty of divorcing exercise from food consumption is that when you get to maintenance, if your weight creeps up, your first thought isn’t to hit the gym, it’s to look at your food intake and see if you’re continuing to make Bright choices there. Exercise is in a separate category altogether. You do it for your health, for joy, for flexibility, and for strength, and it’s not part of your weight management plan. So if you have an exercise regimen, and it’s not addictive, keep it up. But easy does it for about the first four months or so of your Bright Line transformation. Once your food is truly automatic, if you still have weight to lose, or if you’ve already transitioned to maintenance, then start exercising. You’ve got to handle your food first, then find out what brings you joy in terms of movement. Before I sign off, I want to let you know that we have a scholarship opportunity for Boot Camp coming. As of today, December 13, 2023, scholarship applications are open, and they close on December 17. Then Boot Camp registration begins on December 31, and the Boot Camp begins on January 6, 2024. So if you’d like a scholarship, we have ten full ones available. Now’s the time to apply. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/lQxpog Why You Can’t “Burn Off” Calories | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 6, 2023

Click here to donate. I’d like to share an opportunity for our community to do so much good in this world. Right now, we can change the course of history. On my next birthday, I’ll be 50, and perhaps because this big milestone birthday is coming up, I’ve been thinking about my legacy. I have two things I want to do before I die. First, I want Bright Line Eating to outlive me, so that it will continue to help generations of people after I pass. Second, I want to help get food addiction listed as an official disease in the DSM and ICD, the two reference manuals that are used to classify diseases and conditions. And you can help me with this effort. Food addiction is not yet recognized anywhere as an official diagnosis. There are two places where that needs to happen. First is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), primarily used by psychologists, psychiatrists, and healthcare professionals in the U.S. and Australia. It’s research-based and very specific, listing the symptoms you need to be diagnosed with a disorder. Second is the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), used globally and created by the World Health Organization (WHO). It’s much older than the DSM and more comprehensive. It includes both mental and physical disorders. Its categories are broader and not as specific. It’s frequently used for diagnosis, whereas the DSM is often used by those doing research. Food addiction needs to be added to both. In 2021, a group submitted a proposal to list food addiction in the ICD. The proposal was rejected with a thoughtful and comprehensive written response. The committee from the WHO felt that food addiction fit into the existing categories and that there wasn’t enough evidence to make the change. Since then, a coalition has developed to build consensus among the experts who understand food addiction. We want to answer questions like: is this really a disorder? Do we have the evidence, or is evidence in some areas lacking? What should it be called—food addiction, eating addiction, processed food addiction, ultra-processed food addiction? Could it potentially fit into one of the ICD’s current categories on eating issues, obesity, and/or eating disorders, or is a new category warranted? These experts are starting to gather in small groups to hash this out and form a consensus. On May 17, 2024, there will be a conference in London to make the international consensus public. Prior to the conference, the experts will gather in two groups to tackle two major projects: design studies to fill any research gaps and resubmit to the ICD with our consensus. The work has already started. I’m in one of the working groups and have met people from all over the world so that we can answer the questions. I'll be in London for the conference, and I’ve been asked to speak at it. All of this takes money. We have some, but not enough. Raising money for important causes isn’t new for the Bright Line community. In 2017 and 2018, I put out a call to raise money for Charity: Water. You responded. Many of you still give monthly—myself included. So far, our Bright Line Eating community has raised more than $1 million, which means thousands of people around the world now have clean drinking water because of our generosity. In 2019, we raised money to write test bank questions about nutrition that would be used by medical schools. We raised $200,000 in two days. That means nutrition is now being taught in medical schools where it wasn’t taught before. So this isn’t a new thing for us. And it’s an amazing opportunity. We only need $36,000. Click below to see the giving page. It’s in pounds because this is a global initiative, hosted in the U.K. Just this morning, I pondered my own giving. I don’t have much money on my own, separate from my family’s finances, but I gave £2,000—about $2,500. My reasoning? I don’t get to make history very often. And if I’m going to ask people to give sacrificially, I need to step up to the plate myself. History is right here for the making. Here’s what’s at stake—if we can get food addiction listed in these manuals, we’ll have treatments for people with this disorder. We’ll have health insurance coverage. We’ll get programs like Bright Line Eating covered by insurance. We’ll have inpatient treatment centers. We’ll get funding for research. All this will help us move the needle on the obesity pandemic. If we can show that processed foods are addictive, you’ll start to see policy changes—changes in what can be advertised, for example, to young children. In our lifetime, we could change how people think about food. It would do so much good in the world. That’s why I’m giving. That’s why I’ll be in London—and yes, it will be live-streamed, so you can watch it from home. We can do this. Be one of our supporters. I know many of you, and can’t wait to see who joins us. No matter how large or small your gift, it matters. We can make a meaningful difference in the world’s trajectory. Click below and join me. Click here to donate. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/xLP0Xx Let's Get Food Addiction RECOGNIZED | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 29, 2023

I want to talk about a Dutch proverb today that dates back to 1622: Live and let live. The general idea of this phrase is to be tolerant and accepting of how other people live their lives, especially if it’s different from how you live yours. This is particularly apropos during the holiday season. We have our own version of this motto in Bright Line Eating: Keep your eyes on your own plate. Sometimes when people start their Bright Line journey and are excited about it, they may be a little judgy about how other people eat and take care of their bodies. To counter that, we say to keep your eyes on your own plate, rather than theirs. Think about the latter part of the Dutch proverb, namely: let live. I think the world works best when it’s man-on-man defense—and the person you’re guarding is yourself. It works best when you’re taking care of yourself, advocating for yourself, and keeping your own side of the street clean. If everyone does that, the world is a utopia, isn’t it? I love that I’m charged with taking care of just one soul: my own. During the holiday season, it can be important to remember this: each of us needs to trust that we’re taking care of ourselves, and it’s none of our business how others take care of themselves. Think of the three Cs of Al-Anon: I didn’t cause it. I can’t cure it. I can’t control it. It’s not mine to judge, manage, or control. Now think about the first part of the motto: live. This first all-important word is often overlooked when we consider the meaning of the motto as a whole. The word “live” reminds us we have our own lives to shape, create, and nurture. Our contribution to other’s lives is first and foremost in living our own exquisite life. We need to remember that we are bold, bright, self-caring, compassionate, kind, ethical, civil, thoughtful, humble, and earnest. We need to practice that to the best of our ability. If we want other people to be inspired, we need to be inspiring. We need to live, focus on ourselves, and be the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be. What a privilege it is to have a life to live! Sometimes I look around in awe and wonder and think that the purpose of life is just to be amazed. To look at the beauty and struggle and death and rebirth and be gobsmacked by it all. To be present and let it all sink it, deep into the flesh and soul and bones, and just live in wonderment of it. This life: live and let live. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Jmm6fY Live and Let Live| Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 22, 2023

As someone who supports thousands of people in staying Bright throughout the year, I’m sensitive to this time of year. I’ve talked about Thanksgiving before in these vlogs. Go to Brightlineeating.com or YouTube and type in “Thanksgiving” and you can find all my past vlogs on how to navigate Thanksgiving shiny Bright. This year, though, I want to talk about a particular facet of eating Bright: whether or not to change your food plan for a holiday or special occasion. For example, let’s say you are on the Bright Line Eating weight loss plan, and you don’t get fruit at dinner, but you do at breakfast and lunch. So maybe on Thanksgiving you want to wait and not eat your fruit earlier in the day, so that you can enjoy it at dinner when everyone else is eating dessert. I don’t do this. I keep my food plan the same on holidays, and for two main reasons. First, I am a food addict, through and through. And because I’m a food addict, it’s really crucial that I not buy into the notion that my being okay, at the most fundamental level, is contingent on the deliciousness of my food. That’s the addictive part of the brain talking. Now, I love my food, and I enjoy eating it. But I don’t want to think about it beforehand, or obsess about it afterwards. I remember eating a meal on a cruise that was so extraordinary that when I had the possibility of going on a cruise like that again with my husband, I spent a whole meditation session months in advance thinking about how and whether I might get to eat a similar meal again. That’s not how I want to live. When I’m considering swapping categories of food around, I find myself in my meditation well in advance thinking about whether I’m going to do it and how I could make it work—but that feels unmanageable to me. Food cannot be the deepest source of my okay-ness and my happiness. So in order to live without mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, I just need to live without them, and see that there are other ways to get the nurturing and sustenance I crave. I need to die to the food, and awaken to the laughter and sharing of gratitude—and everything else that makes Thanksgiving memorable. It’s not a shame or judgment thing. It’s not wrong to swap around your food categories. I just don’t want to feed the part of me that believes that food is the way I’m going to be okay. The second reason is this: I’ve learned that swapping out my food builds a future wobble into my lines. And here’s why. Let’s say I move my fruit from lunch to dinner one time. And then, at the next holiday, I do it again. And it works. No problem, right? But what happens a few months later when I have friends visiting from out of town unexpectedly, and I invite them over for dinner, and since I’ve done it before, I have fruit while they’re having dessert, even though I ate fruit at lunch alreadty. Then it’s not a swap, it’s extra food. The part of me that’s logging whether I’m Bright or not Bright will have a tough time with that, because now there’s a wobble in my line. This is very similar to why I don’t put milk or cream in my coffee, even if it’s weighed and measured. I’ve found that it sets up my program to be wobbly later on. For example: I’m at a conference after a late flight and I’m exhausted so I’m having more coffee than usual, and because I’ve done it before I put creamer or milk in every cup. That’s been the start of a binge for me. That’s why I don’t put milk in coffee. And that’s why I don’t move my food categories around, because it will cause a wobble. I want to work my program so that my years and decades are Bright—not weeks, not months. Years and decades. I’m a Bright Lifer. I’m in my Bright Body, and I eat better than most. I don’t miss or lack anything—even on Thanksgiving. Remember: it’s not the food that makes the holiday. It’s the gratitude, and the people, and the warmth, and the eye contact, and the opportunities to connect and serve. So I move the food onto the back burner and put my focus where it needs to be. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/RaLtuG

Nov 15, 2023

Let’s talk about food thoughts and cravings—the differences between them and how to navigate them. We’re heading into the holiday season in the U.S., and food goes along with those holidays. Many of us experience profound food cravings. A food craving is like a dragon. Dragons are scary and intense, and feel like they can swoop in and then swallow us alive. They motivate us to fulfill their wants and desires. They’re hard to escape from—much like cravings. With cravings, it can take emergency measures to escape alive. Phone calls to supportive Bright Line buddies can be useful, as can prayer, meditation, or gratitude and service—these are the five actions that science shows can help replenish your willpower. But here’s the important thing: cravings subside when we do Bright Line Eating. The dopamine downregulation that is the source of those cravings becomes less acute as we abstain from sugar and flour and give the dopamine receptors a chance to replenish. But that doesn’t mean you’ll never think about food. I call food thoughts dragonflies. Dragonflies are small, harmless winged creatures that may alight near you, but can be shooed off. It’s pretty easy to get them to fly off. That’s a food thought—not a craving. The trick is to shoo away your dragonflies before they turn into dragons—which they will do. Don’t let them hang around, and certainly don’t feed them. This can happen when we’re not clear in our identity, or not clear about intending to stay bright. The food indulger part of us wants to eat all kinds of foods and has lots of reasons why it would be a good idea to eat addictively. But we can recruit our rebel part to say “hell, no!” to this. My favorite way to keep dragonflies from growing into dragons is to use this mantra: “Thank you, God, that’s not my food. That’s poison to me.” Prayer can also help: “God, please remove this food thought. Take it away. Help me to focus on something else.” There’s also an in-between creature, bigger and more grotesque than the dragonfly but not quite a dragon. It can be shooed away, but you’ve got to be more aggressive with it. I discovered this when I was in Australia, and was struggling with dragons. When I got about 21 days away from sugar and flour, it felt like it wasn’t a dragon anymore, but it wasn’t yet a dragonfly either. I had some choices restored and had tools that worked. I had to work my tools hard, though. But I kept stringing those days together, like pearls on a necklace, until I had something quite beautiful. 21 days was the turning point for me to be back on firm ground. So as you live through this holiday season, I want you to know that it’s vitally important to protect your state of mind. If you succumb to the notion that you need to make exceptions because it’s the holiday season, you’ll find that there’s always something that serves as an exception: your birthday, Independence Day, a summer trip....modern life is one long string of “special” invitations to eat off plan. There’s no peace in a life of breaking and rezooming. If you’re new to Bright Line Eating, know that it will pay off if you double down this holiday season. The first holiday season will, of course, be the hardest, but after that, it will be so much easier because you’ll have done it before. No bite of holiday food is worth the trade, no matter what your mind tries to convince you. So if you notice that you have a dragonfly, when a food thought rests lightly with you, all you have to do is stay clear and shoo it away. If you let it sit there, it’ll grow. Use whatever tools you can: mantra, prayer, meditation, whatever works for you. Don’t let it grow into a dragon. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/pgVJyL Dragons and Dragonflies | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 8, 2023

Sometimes life gets really lifey. We say that a lot in Bright Line Eating. It’s true, isn’t it? Life just gets lifey. There are levels of “lifeyness”. There’s intense work stress. There’s long-term caretaking for someone who is ailing. There’s having kids who are struggling. And then there are more extreme examples, that are just next-level stressors. Traumatic things. People I know and love have experienced these things. Coming home to find your life partner dead from suicide. Experiencing your child being killed. Being raped and beaten in your home. Escaping from your burning house with just your life and the clothes on your back. Many years ago, after years of fertility treatments, I finally got pregnant with my twins. It was my first pregnancy, and I was in my mid-30s. But I went into labor four months early, and was told that there was a 4% chance they would both survive and be healthy. Life dishes out major things. This week I’m walking with two friends. One I just met, the other a lifelong friend, and they are dealing with things at this level. Heavy duty stuff. I’ve been amazed and impressed with how they’re dealing. One of them is brand new to putting her food on the scale and not eating sugar and flour. Earlier this week she didn’t even want to be alive. She was overtaken by a destroyer part—a form of the inner critic that tries to help us by wiping us off the earth. Because it’s concluded that we’d be safer if we were dead. I’ve been so impressed by watching this new person adopt the orientation that if she just weighs and measures her food and doesn’t eat sugar or flour, she can grow and change and survive and thrive. She is starting to believe that she can recover from trauma and build a new life. She doesn’t fully believe it all the time, but she takes it one meal at a time. Why is it that for some of us, if we keep our recovery central, it becomes the foundation for a whole new life? It does make sense that giving yourself good nutrition, weighing and measuring the right portions, and not eating after dinner, you’re going to regain good sleeping habits. And nurturing deeply supportive human connection is a lifeblood and keeps you from feeling isolated. And slowly but surely all things are possible. This makes sense. For some of us, for whom food addiction has been a beast, it’s true that if we weigh and measure our food, abstain from sugar and flour, eat only what we’ve committed, work our tools, stay connected, and do the next right thing—we find ourselves taking bold, brave, sane actions. Meal by meal, day by day, we are transformed. We get to blossom into people we never thought we could be, people we love and respect. For some of us, earning respect starts with the food. It’s the keystone habit. The root structure. It becomes the foundation of everything. Every branch, every leaf, comes from that root. So when life gets lifey, we have two options. We can double down on our recovery. Weigh and measure everything. Get extra support. Lean into our Bright Lines. OR we can get dominated by the manager parts of us, the caretaker parts. They say, oh we have other stuff to do, life is lifey, work is stressful, this is too hard, I’m in pain—and we let go of our recovery a bit and numb ourselves with food, or stay busy with other things and lose our Bright Lines. And it all gets slippery. And then of course we’re not getting good nutrition or good sleep, and life just gets lifier. We have two options when life gets lifey. We can drop our roots deeper into the ground and lean into our Bright Lines. Or we can get carried away with the parts that say, I can’t prioritize my recovery now because there’s too much else in my life, and we can get caught up in that swirl. And whether it’s a small or an immense swirl, we can use it as a reason to take us right out. I see people equally likely to get carried away from their Bright Lines when it’s a minor experience of lifeyness or a major life catastrophe. I’ve seen people, including myself in 2008, who weigh and measure and don’t break their Bright Lines during major, major life traumas. For me, when my twins were born weighing one pound each, the food felt like the only thing I could control. It was all I could do. I think that’s why for some folks who are experiencing unimaginable tragedy, they are grateful, often, for the roots and the firm tree trunk of just knowing that no matter what they can weigh and measure and stay true to themselves and nourish themselves with healthy Bright food, and stay connected to their network. It’s beautiful and inspiring to watch people pick that path. There are two paths. Life gets lifey for everyone at some point. So what are you going to do? Are you going to double down on your life, your health, your vitality, and your Bright Lines, and handle what’s in your control? Or are you going to get spun out by the lifeyness of it all, and let your health go by the wayside, and spin like a top until you rezoom? It’s your call. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/igVDxY When Life Gets Lifey | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 1, 2023

Beyond the shadow of a doubt, the most important book ever published about addiction is Alcoholics Anonymous —"The Big Book”—published in 1939. It has so much wisdom that people who have addictions need to understand. People with an addiction have a switch in their brain that flips when they take a substance into their bodies. It kicks off a craving that is overpowering. They lose all choice about whether or not to consume that substance. They also have a mental twist that the book calls “the strange mental blank spot,” where they lose the ability to remember why they need to abstain, making them more likely to use again. In the book, they outline the Twelve Steps to counter this. There’s a line in Chapter Five that goes like this: “Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program.” Cannot or will not . Today I want to zero in on that language, which is repeated throughout the book. Can and will . Or could not and would not . I’ve been fascinated by this language for years. I’ve thought about what it means to be able to do this program. To have the money, time, and ability. Is that a can or a will ? I get asked about motivation a lot. I’m not in the convincing business. I’m looking for people who want to change. People can choose to sit on their couches and eat sugar and flour until they die, maybe too young. They make their choices. If they will not follow the Bright path, it’s not my job to say they should. What we do to maintain our Bright Lines is a lot. Not everyone wants to do it. I have people that I love, people in my family, who say they can’t do what I do. I buried a family member last summer who tried Bright Lines, and her diabetes cleared up, but then she went back to eating sugar and flour and—she died. She could not, or would not, accept the solution. I think sometimes the cannot is real and true. For example, when my twins were one pound in the hospital, I don’t think I could have picked up our solution during that time. There was a woman I met once in Durango, Colorado. She was retired, living on a very fixed income. She didn’t have the money to do the Boot Camp. So she sold her wedding ring—her husband was long dead—and she got the money to register. I was both moved and horrified. She was certain it was the best decision she’d ever made. She had had her Bright Transformation. She knew her husband would be proud of her vitality and the years she bought for herself. She found a way. She turned a cannot into a can , with a strong will. I’m also thinking of a time when I was in Sydney, Australia, and I was in a full-blown relapse. I could not stop eating, despite using every tool. I was praying, and I was as surrendered as I could imagine being. I wrote down my food and committed to it. But the cravings! I could not stop eating. It was excruciating. After three months, the only thing that changed was that I hired a life coach. I explained my food addiction and the program, and he told me that doing what I needed to do for the program was my assignment. If you can’t do anything till you deal with food, then that’s what you need to take care of. And somehow that stuck. And my cannot turned into a can and will . Was it the life coach that turned it around for me? I don’t know. But somehow, working with him turned it around. It was profoundly mysterious. I look at a beloved person in my life who doesn’t do the program and I’m not sure that her will not isn’t actually a cannot somehow, and she just can’t face herself at this point in her life. It looks like a will not , but I think maybe she just cannot do it. There are mysterious forces at work in what makes a cannot turn into a can . It’s way beyond my pay grade. As a spiritual person, I think this is perhaps the crux of spirituality: where someone’s volition combines with their knowledge, opportunity, and circumstance to produce a can and will . It is profoundly mysterious. In Bright Line Eating, we’re dealing with weight loss, and some are dealing with food addiction as well. Both are beasts. It’s nefarious: because when you start losing weight, addiction kicks in. The former smoker does not experience increased cravings just because their lungs are healing. But we, as our bodies heal, experience increased cravings for food literally because our bodies are healing. The fact that weight loss kicks up food cravings and binges—one of the hallmarks of food addiction—is one of the cruelest aspects of the whole food-weight juggernaut. For many people on the Bright Line journey, it’s not difficult at first, because the plan works. To those people, I want to say: have respect for the disease of addiction. Don’t ever assume that your can and will should be taken for granted. Don’t ever assume that the ease you’re feeling means there are degrees of freedom where you can make an exception. The swiftness with which a can and will turns into a cannot and will not is horrifying. Have respect for the Bright Line that signals the cliff. I had the privilege of climbing Half Dome once, for my fortieth birthday. At the top, there is a cliff you can look over. But nobody walks up and just looks over the edge. You don’t play carelessly at the edge of a cliff. You might be safe—but the risk is not worth it. That’s my first takeaway here: respect the disease of food addiction. My second takeaway is that we should have so much compassion for those who are in some mysterious state of cannot or will not . If they used to be Bright and now they’re struggling—well, there but for the grace of God go I. My third takeaway is from my experience as a chronic relapser who has not had a bite of flour or sugar for four years, or eaten outside of a mealtime. But I’ve had lots of relapses. And I want to say from experience that if you want to be a can and will , unstoppability will get you there. I could not keep my quantities line in restaurants for 19 years. Not consistently. And now I can. Flawlessly. For nearly 18 months. About 18 months ago, a deeper surrender turned my cannot or will not in a can and will. After all these years. It can happen for you, too. Just be unstoppable. Summon all the forces. Try another approach. Try more research. Keep praying. Keep questioning: what have you not done? What stone has been left unturned? Try. Try again. Do a jig and try again. Where have you been holding out? Come all the way in and sit all the way down. Try the Boot Camp again. Try Reboot Rezoom. Join Bright Lifers. Join the Gideon Games. Get a guide. Unstoppability will get you there. Even if you feel like you’ve been trying for years, there is still time for your cannot and will not to turn into a can and will . Addiction is a beast. And yet it’s true. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program— or someone who decides to do a jig at the edge of the cliff, once they’ve recovered. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/tFAlXo Cannot or Will Not? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 27, 2023

This vlog is not our usual weekly update. It's an emergency vlog, coming out on a Friday. It's been years since I felt the need to shoot a midweek vlog about something significant and dramatic. So, thanks for taking the time to absorb this. I have to confess that I've made a mistake, and I'm here to make amends. This week has been the book launch week for ON THIS BRIGHT DAY: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom , and the community has shown great love for the book. However, something has felt off about this book launch right from the beginning, and it seems the community and I have sensed it. Two days ago, a profound realization came to light in a Lunchtime Live forum. During Lunchtime Lives, I invited people who purchased five or more copies of the book to join me on Zoom, and only those who could attend live were present—roughly 30 to 35 people, including some from the Bright Line Eating team. On book launch day, we had no special guest; it was just me engaging with the community. During the live session, I noticed JoAnn Campbell-Rice, a member of the Bright Line Eating team who had a significant role in the book, was in attendance. I invited her to share her thoughts and contributions to the book, and our conversation started there. In that face-to-face conversation, a part of me that had been seeking my attention for some time finally surfaced. I'm sure many of you can relate to this—a part of you tries to convey something, but it remains subconscious. During this discussion, I realized that I had not acknowledged why JoAnn wasn't a co-author of this book. The conversation took an unexpected turn, and JoAnn and I ended up discussing this topic in depth. What I found was that I had been avoiding confronting my feelings about the process of writing and publishing books, as it had been a painful experience. Specifically, I had concealed the fact that I received substantial professional help in writing the Bright Line Eating books. During the recent Lunchtime Live, my special guest was Nicola Kraus, who has been helping me write these books. Nicola is a professional writer and writing coach who co-authored The Nanny Diaries and several other books. The journey began when I signed on with my agent to write Bright Line Eating , and my agent recommended that I work with Nicola. Initially, I resisted, thinking I could write the book on my own. However, as my life became increasingly hectic with the explosive growth of the Bright Line Eating community, I eventually realized that I couldn't write the first draft of the book myself. Nicola graciously offered to help, and we mapped out the book together. She transcribed my words from the Boot Camp, from Webinars, and from voice memos I sent her and worked tirelessly for months to write the first draft of the book. Afterward, I went on a writer's retreat to refine and improve the manuscript. This process continued with subsequent books, where Nicola played a significant role in drafting, editing, and co-writing. In contrast, JoAnn Campbell-Rice contributed to On This Bright Day by initially creating a comprehensive outline for the book. Then, her involvement ended, and I took over the project, shaping and editing the content using voice memos and written notes. The heart of the issue was that I failed to recognize the substantial difference between JoAnn's and Nicola's contributions. While Nicola is a skilled writer, JoAnn is an experienced subject matter expert with a background in addiction recovery and spiritual counseling. She had poured her soul into creating the initial content for the book. With this realization, I want to correct my mistake and acknowledge JoAnn as a co-author of this book, On This Bright Day . I've reached out to my publisher, Hay House, to explore the possibility of updating the authorship, but this process may take time, and I can't change the authorship for the already printed books. However, I can modify the acknowledgments for all subsequent printings to reflect the reality of JoAnn's contributions. JoAnn and I talked at length an hour ago. She expressed that she’s very happy right now and grateful for this turn of events. She has been sitting with the question, “Why didn’t I ask? Why didn’t I raise the topic myself?” She looks back at her life and sees a string of events where she didn’t ask for what she wanted. She notices that, in many cases, she’s even stopped asking herself what she wants, because it’s less painful to not even notice. I mentioned that it’s very hard to speak up into power. The power differential (boss/employee) between us will create a very powerful silencing force that can be hard to overcome. My role in that situation needs to be to look EXTRA closely for anything I might be missing, knowing that others may not speak up. I'm deeply sorry for my oversight and the pain it may have caused JoAnn and our community. I value and respect her immensely, and I hope that this vlog and my commitment to correcting the situation will make amends. Life is filled with imperfections, and sometimes we don't see the full picture until it's revealed to us. My main focus is to make this right and ensure that JoAnn receives the credit she rightfully deserves. Ultimately, at this point, the timing of this revelation is beyond my control, and it may take some time to rectify. I hope this experience can lead to positive changes for JoAnn and potentially others. Life is unpredictable, and sometimes we must confront our past mistakes and work toward a brighter future. Thank you for your understanding and support. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/2j2tEA Emergency Vlog – Setting the Record Straight | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 24, 2023

There’s one single reason we’re releasing the weekly vlog on Tuesday rather than our usual Wednesday: IT’S PUBLICATION DAY! On This Bright Day: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom is available today in your local bookstore and online. I know a lot of you have been waiting until it was published, so now is the time to head for your bookstore! We have a hashtag we’re using this week: #onthisbrightday. Take a selfie of yourself with the book in a bookstore and put it on social media. Make it fun! If you’re really creative, we might do something special for you! And if you post on Instagram with this hashtag, your post will automatically transfer over to our book bonus page, at onthisbrightdaybook.com . How fun is that? In addition, you can enter your receipt number on the book bonus page and earn lots of great extras: A special behind-the-scenes video I made for you of the audiobook recording. Some downloadable bookmarks. My personally recommended meal plan for a whole week—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—whether you’re plant-based or an omnivore; it’s geared for maximum weight loss, maximum health, and you can repeat it as needed. A great bonus: the people who buy the most books will have the chance to visit me in Rochester, NY—we’ll craft a custom visit together. And more! It’s all at onthisbrightdaybook.com. There’s a link to the leaderboard there, too. I wanted to celebrate the release of the book by making it a community event. To do that, I’ve been talking to some people you haven’t met before who have all been on their own Bright Line Eating food journeys. Let me introduce some of them to you: First up is Cathy Cox. Cathy and I met in graduate school at the University of Rochester in a graduate student women’s support group, and have been great friends ever since. She began her food journey with a 12-step program, but found it to be a little too harsh, with strict consequences if she ate something she shouldn’t have. She began BLE soon after I started it, where she found a community dedicated to positive, loving support. Cathy is in my Mastermind Group, the “Magnificent Mavens Mastermind,” and I sent her a copy of the book a couple of weeks ago. And she loves it. Why? She struggles to stay Bright from time to time. She travels a lot, and slips happen. Having a book that gives her daily encouragement, with a reading that she can combine with her meditation practice, helps her to stay focused and mindful. Next, we talk to Angela Denby who does graphic design for Bright Line Eating. She’s responsible for how great the book looks and feels. She loves how satisfying it is to be able to start the day with a positive moment. In addition to working for us, Angela has been on her own Bright Line journey now for five years. She says it’s been a bit of a roller coaster—she’s gone through COVID and pregnancy in the past few years, but she’s stayed Bright throughout and she can’t imagine life without BLE. Angela says that the book is important for a simple reason: anything that brings positivity into the world is a plus. For her, a busy mom with a three-year-old, time is limited, but the book is an easy, enjoyable way to remain in the moment and cognizant of her food journey. My next guests are a wonderful group from the U.K.: Sue Smith, Lisa Blackwell, Glynis Roberts, Katie Lopez, and Chris Reilly. They have all undergone a Bright transformation and wholeheartedly embrace the Bright Line Eating experience. This fabulous group does a daily accountability call every morning. They downloaded the pages for October from the book already. Each day, they go through the accountability questions and read from ON THIS BRIGHT DAY . What difference does the book make for them? Katie tells us that ON THIS BRIGHT DAY is a great resource because, unlike other guides, this one is specific to the BLE community—what we go through and how our journeys progress through time. Sue affirmed the strength of the group: day by day, their friendships have strengthened and they become more and more like family to each other. Often, the reading of the day will move them all deeply, and be just what they needed to hear that day. After hearing all the love from our UK family, we talked to Dorie in Charleston, South Carolina. Her Bright journey began four years ago today. She’d done some yo-yo dieting until she found BLE and lost significant weight in her first year. What is most important to her with her bright journey is the peace and serenity she has found from maintaining her healthy weight. It took some time for her to trust this new reality! Every year, on her BLE anniversary, she does a Boot Camp—that’s her ritual. Dorie loves everything about the new book. The size is perfect for fitting in her suitcase during her frequent travels. She loves that she’s able to apply the day’s word throughout her day. Today, for example, is “kindness.” She carries that through all her meals: what sort of kindness was needed to bring her food from farm to table? How can she be kind to herself? Next up is Simone Simms with her adorable one-year-old twins Drake and Naomi. Simone works for us, too: she’s been the manager of the customer support team since 2016. She met me when she took my Psychology of Eating course and explored the BLE plan as part of her coursework. She’s a morning reader, and her copy of On This Bright Day is helping her remember to do things one day at a time. She says it helps her feel like she can live her life as it comes—something that’s important when you have two little ones at home. Finally, we talked to Beth and Tony Wade. Tony started BLE in 2019 and lost about 150 pounds within a year. What really mattered to him was what he got along with his weight loss: peace of mind. Beth started after Tony, in 2020, and lost around 100 pounds. Her biggest takeaway in addition to the weight loss is that the program helped her to think more clearly. She was able to drop a drug she had been taking for depression, and hasn’t experienced any depressive episodes since starting Bright Line Eating. Tony and Beth can’t wait to have the new book in hand and are starting to plan how they’ll use it. Tony says he is waiting “for it to unfold before my very eyes,” while Beth has decided she’s going to start her readings with the turn of the new year. So that’s it. ON THIS BRIGHT DAY is out in the world and is already nurturing and supporting readers in our community and beyond. Go. Get yours today. You won’t be sorry. Click here to pre-order your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY . FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/T4Uwxj PUBLICATION DAY—ON THIS BRIGHT DAY!!! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 18, 2023

This very week, thousands of people have been introduced to Bright Line Eating. If that’s you: welcome! This week’s vlog is for you. Every Wednesday, I put out a weekly vlog. I’ve been doing it for eight years. It’s also published as an audio file, available wherever you get your podcasts. It’s on our website at brightlineeating.com and on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. If you want to find a past vlog, just go to BrightLineEating.com and click “vlog” and you’ll see a search bar that allows you to search from among hundreds of topics. If you’re a BLE veteran and you tune into our vlog every Wednesday, you may notice that the link in the email is taking you to a new place today: YouTube, rather than our website. We made that change just this week because of what I learned at a recent conference. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, with 103 billion visits every month (!!!) and we want to increase our engagement on YouTube in order to help fulfill our mission of reaching more people. I also learned that YouTube is suppressing our videos because we had ads turned off. We’re turning them on so we can share our life-changing Bright Line message even further. We are on a mission to bring about one million Bright Transformations by 2030! The Bright Transformation is the total physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional change that happens to someone when they break free of the food chatter that’s been dogging them and gain control over their food. A new, Brighter life emerges that is more engaging, exciting, full, and soul-nourishing. If you’ve had this transformation, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you’re new and want to get on board, the Bright Roadmap takes you on the journey, and it all begins with the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp 2.0. This week, registration is open for the Boot Camp. We only launch it three times a year, so if you’re interested, check it out. There’s also a lot of free stuff happening. The Food Freedom videos are available right now and you can find them at the top of the website at BrightLineEating.com. They explain how the brain blocks weight loss and why so many people are trying to lose weight but can’t manage it—and why those who do manage it, gain their weight right back, and then some. There’s a link down below this video with all this week’s events, as well as a link to a free webinar called “Your Badly Behaving Brain.” Something else I want to share with those of you who are new is the library of books I’ve published over the past nine years. These include: Bright Line Eating —my first book, published in 2017. It arose out of a morning meditation, when the universe told me in no uncertain terms to write this book. The Official Bright Line Eating Cookbook —this book came out shortly after and features some amazing recipes. Rezoom —This book is all about relapse: how not to relapse and what to do when you do. It includes a crucial framework that inoculates you against relapse. On This Bright Day: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom —this is my latest book, to be released next week. It’s a daily reader that has a page for every day of the year. Each entry starts with a quote, followed by text that gives you food for thought and provides a window into the Bright Line Eating experience and community. So welcome. If there’s anything that I or my team can do to support your journey, please reach out. We have 18 team members and we are here to support you and answer your questions. And once you’re in the Boot Camp, we have coaches who can help you along the Bright Roadmap. We are here to serve you. One more thing: The worldwide Bright Line Eating movement is part of a greater movement to help the world understand that food addiction is real. I’m part of a consortium of experts working to get food addiction recognized in the ICD and the DSM—the two main global handbooks that catalogue mental disorders. We want the world to understand that the global obesity epidemic is not about people being lazy or uneducated. It is the byproduct of the changes that have happened in our food system in the last fifty years. If you have a brain that’s susceptible to the pull of addictive foods, I especially want to say welcome. Maybe you’ve never heard anyone explain how your brain is different. For all of you, we’re glad you’re here. The new book comes out on October 24, but there are bonuses so you can start reading it today. Go to OnThisBrightDayBook.com and you can start reading October’s pages. If you’re in the U.S., Amazon will make sure you get the book on the release day or even earlier. If you get five copies—these are great holiday gifts—you can join me for Lunchtime Live, all through publication week. We’ll share lunch on Zoom and I’ll be talking with you and some special guests—it’s going to be super fun. Get your copies now and see all the juicy bonuses. Next week will be off the hook! OnThisBrightDayBook.com. Click here to pre-order your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/zXHDg7 Welcome to the BLE Movement! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 11, 2023

October 11, 2023 - This week, I welcomed a very special guest to the vlog: my beloved mother, Mariah Perkins. We talked about our respective food journeys, and she shared with me some of the thinking that has brought her to where she is today: honest about food and moving forward with clarity in her life and her eating habits. We talked about genetics related to height, weight, and addiction. We talked about my mom’s Susceptibility Score, which sometimes seems low and sometimes seems high, but might be a 6. Or maybe, different parts of her score a 4 while other parts score an 8. My mom is currently at a place in her life where she wants to reclaim her power, and food is in the way. She was looking for a low-commitment program when she found something that jolted her out of her malaise: my new book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY, A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom . She turned to that day’s reflection, “Befriend the Body,” and wrote at the top of the page Day One. It was addressing exactly what she needed to be thinking about in order to move forward. Mom has done food recovery in the past, including 12 Steps and Bright Line Eating, and she’s been plagued lately by wanting to bring her gifts more clearly to the world. And food was getting in the way of that. It wasn’t the weight. It was the mental chatter. So ON THIS BRIGHT DAY arrived, and she was able to use it to create clarity around food, giving her the nourishment to stay on track and present herself honestly to the world. And that’s the beauty of a daily reader: it nourishes, day by day. The book is out on October 24. She’ll be buying multiple copies. I hope you will, too, to give to your friends, to libraries, to anyone who needs a simple path to food freedom and personal growth. Mom’s final words of wisdom: “I am so with this community, in heart and soul. All the great blessings of a good life to everyone.” FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ocQOAc Meet My Mother, Mariah | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 4, 2023

October 4, 2023 - I was in full-on rebel mode when I shot this video … because sometimes I hate marketing. What I love is helping people with their food and connecting with people. My job this week is to talk about my new book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom . I opened the book this morning and it says “Commitment over 51 percent.” Sometimes we don’t have to be fully committed to stay bright. We just need commitment over 51 percent. I also found a reading on March 22, from Pythagoras. “The oldest, shortest words, yes and no, are those which require the most thought.” I’ve been thinking about my yes and my no around marketing my book. I’m obviously a yes for doing this vlog, because here I am filming it. And I’m a yes for this book getting into more hands. This book is powerful. This book is a little dance with the universe. The fact that I woke up this morning and the reading was about commitment over 51 percent was like the universe saying, “ You don’t have to be all in. You just have to take a baby step.” I am a big yes for our message: Bright Line Eating can create sanity, thriving, health, and well-being for so many people. I want that message out in the world—reaching millions of people. And that’s marketing. And I don’t love that. Here’s something I’m willing to say: we are hoping that some folks will buy more than one book. Why? What would you do with extra books? I have some thoughts about that: donate them to bariatric surgery clinics. Or go to a Brightest group if there’s one in your area. Or bring it to your local library or local Little Free Libraries. Or the best idea: save some to give to people in your life, people you may not even know yet, who struggle with food. Some people have bought more than one book, and they’re on the leaderboard . I’ve been calling some of the folks on the leaderboard, just to get to know them. I called Sue Smith in England. She lost 110 pounds with Bright Line Eating and has been keeping them off for years. She started BLE nearly SEVEN YEARS AGO and never looked back. She takes Bright Line Eating to heart—that you have to stay in gratitude and service. She and others in Europe are reading the book now. If you go to onthisbrightdaybook.com , as Sue did, and purchase just one copy, you can download the pages of the book for September and October in PDF form. She gave me a pep talk—so thank you, Sue Smith. The contest ends on Saturday, October 28. Also, at the bottom of the leaderboard page, there are social posts. Any time you post on Instagram and use the hashtag #OnThisBrightDay, our website includes the post. So that’s kind of cool. The three top people on the leaderboard as of October 28, the last day of the contest, will get invited to come to Rochester, NY. I’ll call them in advance and we’ll craft our trip together. The top person gets all expenses paid. The next two get invitations, and they’re welcome to come. It’s going to be as good as a Disney cruise, but more economical. A dream vacation! We’ll have a blast. The top twenty people will each get five signed nameplates with one inscribed just for them. And everyone who buys five books will get to join me for Lunchtime Lives the week the book is released, which is October 24. These are online Zoom events where you can join me to eat lunch and chat. I’ve been lining up people to join me at the Lunchtime Lives. People like Ocean Robbins, founder and CEO of the Food Revolution Network. Also, Patty Gift, who is the head of Hay House, my publisher. We’ll talk about the inception of Bright Line Eating. Lucinda Blumenfeld, my agent, and the head of an incredible agency in Manhattan. Nicola Kraus, my writing coach and a multiple New York Times bestselling author herself, and Ashley Bernardi, the BLE public relations person. It’s all going to be a whole behind-the-scenes story about the book and the Bright Line Eating movement. So I’ll continue to deeply wrestle with the question of how I show up in the world doing this authentically. Sometimes I love it. Am I doing it right? There are a lot of people suffering with food. Am I serving you as well as I could be? Is this marketing working? If I could just see you in person and sign the book and give it to you, that’s what I’d love to do. But I can’t do that. So I’ll do the next best thing and release this video. FOR THIS VLOG and MORE: https://ble.life/YvV1fy Click here to pre-order your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY. I Hate Marketing! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 27, 2023

I’ve been struggling with something this past week. It’s a personality trait that’s been problematic my whole life, namely ego, elf-absorption, pride, grandiosity. As an only child, I had the feeling that the world revolved around me. My mom and dad were divorced, and I divided my time between them. When I was with each one, they focused on me 100%. I felt like I was the center of the universe. But I learned as a child you’ll be alone if you come across as too grandiose. I was smart but did not make school friends easily. I sat in the front and raised my hand and talked all the time. My dad would try to explain, “You don’t have to raise your hand just because you know the answer. Not always. Don’t toot your own horn.” Then, after I got clean and sober, I started working the 12 Steps over and over. Each time I would inventory myself in Step 4, my ego would reveal itself to me again, and I would pray in Step 7 for God to remove my grandiosity and grant me humility. But it never seemed to take. So when I got that message in my morning meditation to “write a book called Bright Line Eating,” I was fully aware that if this book became influential, it could present yet more complications in my quest for humility. On Facebook last week, I was smacked in the face by a few people in the Bright Line Eating community commenting that they were fed up with how I was marketing the new book. They were angry and disgusted. Everybody with a public persona knows people online can be cruel. Mostly I dismiss it. But I needed to listen this time. I’d made a post earlier, encouraging people to spread the word about ON THIS BRIGHT DAY. I meant to say, “Hey, everybody! We’ve sold about 2,000 books and our goal is 10,000 books. We already reached the core folks who are paying attention and now we need to roll up our sleeves and figure out how to reach everyone else!” And they took it as me saying that, if they hadn’t pre-ordered the book they were not loyal to the BLE movement. Ouch. I felt terrible about communicating so poorly and I edited the post to what I meant to say. I went to my spiritual advisor and later I had a session with a therapist for an hour and a half. We uncovered the parts of me that developed this grandiosity throughout my life. I was an only child; there were no kids in my neighborhood, so I was my only entertainer. It’s been a painful week, but here are some of the lessons I’ve learned. The first lesson is, as we say in Bright Line Eating, “Seek the lesson.” I stayed in action with my spiritual advisor, my friends, and my therapist. It’s painful when I get chopped off at the knees. But I end up being a person that I like and respect better. When we have an aspect of ourselves we don’t want, bludgeoning it out of ourselves with a sledgehammer won’t work, because likely there are parts of that aspect of ourselves that are working for us in some way. Effective change requires a scalpel. We need to carefully cut away certain aspects while leaving others. We talk about peeling an onion in recovery. The core layer of the onion this time was the therapy session when I learned about the part of myself that served as my protection against loneliness. What I’ve learned is that there are aspects of my calling that do require me to be large. But large in terms of creating something for others. Humility is not being small. Humility is being right-sized. And creating something big as a service to the world need not be an act of ego. I need to ensure my efforts in Bright Line Eating are first, last, and always about service. Writing my books is a service. It’s the least expensive way for people to access the Bright Transformation. It's about the people who can wake up every morning and read a passage from ON THIS BRIGHT DAY to be inspired to live free from the tyranny of food obsession. I am egotistical and have always been. I don't like it about myself and that's okay. I'm not okay. You're not okay, and that's okay. We’ll just be here together, doing our best. One day at a time. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/SYE4eQ Ego and Service | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 20, 2023

I recently received a special delivery that brought immense joy. It was a package containing my new book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom. These fresh-off-the-press copies are now on their way to stores across the United States and Canada. I even inscribed one for my husband, David, and penned a heartfelt message in another for myself. As I began reading the book, I noticed how our online community was finding inspiration in its daily reflections. One particular entry, "Indulger Energy," struck a chord with many. It reminded me of the challenging times in 2016 and 2017 when I struggled with sugar and flour binges amidst a whirlwind of responsibilities—raising three young kids, showing up for a marriage, overseeing a business, and supporting thousands of Bright Lifers. My life felt overwhelmingly busy, leaving me little room to breathe. During these binge episodes, I learned to be compassionate with myself, allowing space for the binging to pass. Eventually, I realized that what the indulger in me craved wasn’t food, it was downtime. A reprieve from the chaos. This revelation helped me stop the destructive binging cycle by consciously taking moments to relax, like sitting on the couch for a few hours or enjoying a bubble bath. People in our community also resonated with this reading, and they had access to it through our pre-order bonus package. When you pre-order ON THIS BRIGHT DAY, you gain immediate access to all the entries for this month and the next, a behind-the-scenes video about the audiobook recording, my recommended meal plans for weight loss, downloadable bookmarks, and a chance to win a free audiobook and a personalized nameplate. You can find the bonus package on the website OnThisBrightDayBook.com. Additionally, there's a grand prize for those who buy the most books—a visit to Rochester, New York, where you can join me for a fabulous 3-day, 2-night experience. Our goal is to get this book on the New York Times Bestseller list. But why? Isn’t that superficial, ego-driven, and besides the point of helping people with their food? While, yes, there's an element of personal achievement involved, this goal is primarily about elevating our movement's reach and impact. Achieving this recognition will help us raise awareness about food addiction and expand our influence. So, make sure to pre-order your copy, access the bonus package, and join us on this journey of reflection, inspiration, and lasting food freedom. When you do, you'll be well-prepared to dive into the book's daily entries and share in the collective aspiration for a brighter future. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/TH3oev Click here to pre-order your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY. Episode: Indulger Energy | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 13, 2023

In this Weekly Vlog, I reflect on my 29-year journey of recovery and how a daily meditation reader transformed my life. I want to share four valuable tips for making the most of your daily reader, with a special focus on my upcoming book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom. First and foremost, I can't stress enough the importance of reading the daily page and then meditating, even if it's just for a brief moment. This practice allows me to absorb the powerful message within. My second tip involves actively engaging with the material to enhance memory and using the daily message to guide my day. Remembering and reflecting upon it throughout the day is key. The third piece of advice I have is to stick to just one daily reader in the morning. This ensures a deep and meaningful connection with the content. I often save a second reader for nighttime reflection. Lastly, when my current daily reader no longer provides the nourishment I need, I switch to a new one. I'm excited to announce the availability of my book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY, and an enticing bonus package for pre-orders. This includes immediate access to PDF readings, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the audiobook recording, a weight loss menu, downloadable bookmarks, and a chance to win a free audiobook and a signed nameplate. The grand prize even offers the opportunity to visit Rochester, New York, and spend time with me personally. I encourage you to start your day with a touch of inspiration and wisdom by pre-ordering my book. It's a chance to embark on a journey of self-improvement and reflection that I believe you'll find incredibly rewarding. Click here to pre-order your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY now: https://ble.life/kRkVGT FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/dhz93K Episode: 4 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Daily Reader | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 6, 2023

Today kicks off the official pre-order launch for my new book, ON THIS BRIGHT DAY: A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom . This is a daily reader that helps you to build your identity every single day. It’s aspirational, inspirational, and grounding, and it’s also tailored to you—as someone who wants, needs, and desires to do differently with your food than the standard diet the rest of the world is eating. It cements your identity every day. It supports you in being steadfast with your intentions to use food to nourish your body, rather than to stuff down feelings, numb out, or escape. It will also help you to be a luckier person. For real! Scientists have studied luck, and self-proclaimed unlucky and lucky people do things differently. One of the things that lucky people do is introduce novelty into their daily lives. Picking up a daily reader that will present you with a novel idea or thought each day is a little surprise that will shift your consciousness the way lucky people routinely do. This book will expand your horizons, lift your spirits, elevate your thoughts, and broaden your outlook. Here's the best part: you don’t have to wait. The book will be published on October 24 th . But if you pre-order right now, you can get all the readings from September and October in a downloadable PDF—so you can start reading it TODAY! And that’s not the only pre-order bonus that you’ll get! You’ll get a behind-the-scenes peek at the audio book recording. Some surprising things happened, I cried (you’ll get to hear the story behind why), and you’ll get to see the studio where I recorded it! You’ll also get a menu plan of my personal recommendations for one week’s worth of meals for optimum results on the weight-loss plan. If you are just starting Bright Line Eating and want to know what I would eat if I were just starting, you can download this meal plan and follow it for maximum weight loss. There’s an omnivore and a plant-based version. You’ll also get entered to win one of ten copies of the audiobook and a signed bookplate to put inside your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY . And finally, you can download and print some beautiful custom-designed bookmarks we’ve created. Use them in ON THIS BRIGHT DAY or any of your other Bright Line Eating books. If you pre-order one copy of the book you’ll get all of these bonuses. Now, I know some of you are going to want to get more than one copy. The holidays are going to be coming up and this makes an incredible gift. If you pre-order five or more copies, you’ll also get access to Lunchtime Lives. These are live online Zoom events where you can join me to eat lunch and chat. These will be daily October 24 th through October 30 th . Also, if you order five or more copies, you can join me for the live announcement of the New York Times list. Yes, we’re trying to get this book on the New York Times Best Seller list. So we’ll experience that announcement live online together. Some of you might want to order a LOT of copies of the book. Maybe you want a lot of copies so that you can give them away as gifts for years to come. Or maybe you want to win this next prize… The top three purchasers will be invited to come visit with me in Rochester, NY, for three days and two nights. We’ll spend time together, eat meals together, and do some fun things together. The one person who purchases the very most books will get that trip all expenses paid. If you’re going to order in bulk, be sure to use the Porchlight link on the book order page. Let’s be real: it’s not easy what we do. It takes daily inspiration, daily fortitude, and daily commitment. I’m so grateful to be able to finally release this daily reader to support your journey. Go to OnThisBrightDayBook.com for all the pre-order information and details of all these bonuses. Click here to pre-order your copy of ON THIS BRIGHT DAY now! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/4lYG0R Episode: It's Time to Pre-Order ON THIS BRIGHT DAY! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 30, 2023

Imagine a world in which you are parents of two kids who can’t get along. They bicker and fight. But then all of a sudden, they conspire against the parents and hatch a plan to play a prank together on the parents or get away with some nefarious scheme. Well, I recently discovered that two of my parts—my food indulger and my food controller—have been conspiring against me in this way. I was living my life, everything was fine. I was in the kitchen one day and I had an apple corer tool that cores and slices the apple. I cut up an apple, and there was a piece of apple stuck to the corer, so I popped it in my mouth. My rationale was that it was part of my apple. Another day, I had set up my breakfast grain to cook overnight in the slow cooker, and I woke up in the morning to discover that I hadn’t set it up correctly, so it hadn’t cooked, and I didn’t have any grain for breakfast. I went to the cupboard and got quick oats instead. But as I was popping it in the microwave, I licked the spoon. I stopped and thought, “Ok, this is part of my weighed and measured oats, that’s fine.” Another time recently, David gave me a new hot sauce to try. I checked the ingredients list and it was BLE compliant, so I got out a spoon to try it. I ate a spoonful of it—less than what a Bright condiment serving would be. But I ate a spoonful. Now these things started to weigh on me a bit niggle at my brain. One of my favorite sayings when it comes to my Bright Line Eating journey is, “Do what gives you peace.” So I ended up talking it over with someone whose approach to food recovery I really respect. What she said was: For me, when I sit down at the table, take a breath, and say a blessing, this stuff in front me which was formerly just stuff turns into food. At that moment, it becomes my food. That is the dividing line. Before that FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/fPYVbY Episode: It Doesn't Matter | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 23, 2023

My kids have been away at summer camp, and I thought this time alone would give me the opportunity to fine tune my morning routine. But it didn’t. When I reflected on this recently, I realized that there is one key habit that is really the linchpin to having a successful morning habit stack. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/6ZOm0x Episode: Go to Bed Early | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 16, 2023

One of the things that we, as a modern Western society, have lost touch with is the ancient wisdom of how to prepare foods so that they can give us optimum nutrition and even heal us. This week, I have a remarkable story to tell you of a woman who completely reversed her own health, and how she’s helping me with mine. And yes, it’s all science-backed. The woman Susan worked with in Australia is: Amanda Wright WhatsApp number: +61439682120 Click here to read the Pfizer Adverse Events Data report: https://ble.life/AiCBDQ FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ftZXnM Episode: The Energetics of Food | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 9, 2023

I read an article the other day, and the headline was “USDA Scientists Create Healthy Menu with 91% of Calories Coming from Ultra-Processed Foods.” Let’s unpack all the ways in which this is SO messed up. The USDA came up with this menu, and they use the criteria from the NOVA scale, which is well-intentioned but flawed. (I shot a vlog on this particular topic a few months ago.) Among other things, it doesn’t differentiate between healthier processed foods--like tofu, canned vegetables and beans, whole grain bread, yogurt, dried fruit, milk—and ultra-processed junk foods like cookies, crackers, packaged snacks, baked goods, etc. I wanted to give you a look behind the scenes at what’s going on in the United States when it comes to dietary and nutrition guidelines. And more important, I want to highlight how this impacts our society and our collective weight and food issues. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for two important but conflicting things. First, they are responsible for developing the Dietary Guidelines for America every five years, which are the nutrition guidelines used to create this “healthy” menu. The 2020-25 USDA nutrition guidelines have improved in that they no longer push dairy without alternatives the way they used to. Also, they’ve updated the “meat” group to be the “protein” group which now includes fish, beans, nuts, legumes, and seeds. But the guidelines include a lot of things that I don’t think should be in there. For example, one of the 6 food groups they encourage us to eat is vegetable oil. In what world do we need more vegetable oils? The second thing the USDA is responsible for is protecting the financial interest of agricultural business in the US. It’s their job to protect and support the farming industry. This means the companies in the commercial farming industry that produce our commoditized crops, namely corn, wheat, and soy, genetically modified and produced at a massive scale. We’re talking big agri-business. We’re not talking about corn that’s meant to eat on the cob, but corn that is designed to become feed for cows or processed into high fructose corn syrup or other processed ingredients for snack foods and the like. And we’re not talking about soybeans that become organic tofu, but genetically modified soybeans that are used to create partially hydrogenated soybean oil, which makes up about 20% of the calories that people are eating in their junk food these days. The USDA also controls and regulates the education and training that nutritionists receive, many of the journals that publish nutrition science, and many of the academic conferences that host scientists coming together to talk about nutrition research. I’ve been to these conferences, and they feel underhanded. And simultaneously, the USDA is creating our dietary guidelines. The conflict of interest is astounding. It’s heart-breaking and tragic. It’s criminal. It’s unethical. So, the USDA has realized that because of the tremendous amount of wiggle room and the poor interrater reliability within the NOVA classification system, they can make the claim that a “healthy menu” can consist of 91% ultra-processed foods. Anyone who actually thinks about this must realize that a healthy diet consists mainly of vegetables--a lot of vegetables—plus fruits, and generally a bunch of whole, real foods. And you can’t, by definition, be eating a lot of whole, real foods if you’re eating a lot of processed foods. So, by definition, the USDA’s claim is false. Anyone, even a child, reading that headline can recognize that it must be false. It simply cannot be true. So it’s clear why people are confused. I was talking the other day with Dr. Robert Lustig. He wrote the book Fat Chance . He’s a pediatric endocrinologist at UCSF, and people call him “the sugar guy” because he’s the one who educated us all about how unhealthy sugar is years and years ago. He’s on a crusade to change the California school lunch program, to help it go from sugar- and flour-based processed foods to whole, real foods. He has some school districts in the State of California doing it, making it economically viable and healthy. And their menus sound like a high-end bistro in New York City as opposed to a standard school lunch menu. But he gets pushback when he presents to new school districts. Dieticians there ask why they should reduce or eliminate processed foods because “Processed foods aren’t necessarily unhealthy.” Because, for example, yogurt is considered a processed food (according to NOVA) and yogurt is not an unhealthy food. This menu created by the USDA was big news when it came out. But it just serves to continue to miseducate us and confuse people. Here’s what we know: when people eat ultra-processed foods, their brains get hijacked. It makes them want to eat more ultra-processed foods. They can’t stop eating and they gain weight rapidly and their metabolic health starts to suffer really quickly. It’s a runaway train and it doesn’t end well. I think the reality of this is that our society will remain confused about what healthy eating looks like for a long time. People will have to learn how to feed themselves nutritiously, they will need to be savvy and smart, and they’ll need to be able to wade through all the BS. The powers-that-be will continue to push this narrative, that ultra-processed foods can be part of a healthy diet, part of healthy choices, and they don’t need to be reduced or eliminated. But you and I know the truth. Read the article here: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230711/USDA-scientists-create-healthy-menu-with-9125-of-calories-coming-from-ultra-processed-foods.aspx FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/OLoS0B Episode: No, You CANNOT Make a Healthy Menu with 91% of Calories Coming from Ultra-Processed Foods | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 2, 2023

This is a topic I actually wrote about years ago in a blog post. Yes, back before I started producing video blogs—vlogs—on a weekly basis, I wrote actual written blog posts. But that was only for a short time, and I’ve been sending out Weekly Vlogs now for the past eight years. So, I wrote a blog post 8 years ago, but the topic is timely again now. We currently have a group of Boot Campers going through Bright Line Eating Boot Camp 2.0. The Boot Camp includes video modules about developing a morning habit stack and an evening habit stack. But we actually teach the evening habit stack first, and that’s very intentional. It’s because in BLE the day begins at sunset. That means the evening habit stacks comes first. The reality is that we often have a good day or bad day based on what choices we made the night before. And the same is true for Bright Line Eating. Whether you are going to have a successful Bright Day depends on whether you planned, prepped, and wrote down your food the night before. So how can we transition properly into an evening that’s going to set us up for a Bright Day the next day? One notion is “shutdown complete.” In terms of transitioning from work to home-life, this is when you stop work tasks and transition to what’s happening at home (or wherever you go after work). Another notion is “digital sunset.” This is the concept of turning off all your electronic devices for the evening, which is conducive to healthy sleep and mental well-being. Both of these concepts are based on putting habits into place that transition you and set you up for success. So, when it comes to Bright Line Eating, the evening habits include writing down your food for the next day; having a nightly habit stack that might include journaling, meditating or praying, reading, getting into bed in time to get a full night’s rest; and of course a personal hygiene routine. All the things that prepare you for a good night’s sleep and set the scene for a Bright Day. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/cq57gd Episode: The Day Begins at Sunset | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 26, 2023

I have a great habit hack to share with you this week. I’ve had joint issues for a while now, especially in my shoulder. I recently started doing egoscue, a method founded by Peter Egoscue who was a postural specialist. This involves doing certain exercises to correct your posture. I had been doing physical therapy and I was getting stronger but it wasn’t helping my shoulder and I was getting really frustrated. So I have 15 minutes of egoscue exercises to do every day. And they’re so effective. I can feel them working and it feels really good. I’m committed to doing these exercises. Now, I just got back from a 3-week trip. When I was travelling there were busy days and it would get to be late, and I’d realize I hadn’t done my egoscue exercises. Sometimes I was tired, maybe even in bed already, and didn’t really want to get back up and do them. So the question is, when and how is it ok to miss a habit like this that you want to stick with? What the research shows is that you can miss once and it has no bearing on the effectiveness, longevity, or stickiness of that habit. The key is to not miss twice . Missing once can happen legitimately for any number of reasons. But missing twice in a row is the beginning of a pattern. So, hold onto the mantra: I never miss twice. You’ll cut off at the pass the beginning of the pattern of missing it regularly. What’s happened for me over the past month that I’ve been doing these exercises is that I’ve stayed about 90% faithful even though I’ve been traveling. I held onto the mantra that I’d never miss twice. I have missed a day here or there, but never twice in a row. This philosophy comes from James Clear. I love his book Atomic Habits (go check it out!). He emphasizes that you’re human and life will happen and you might miss once in a while, but the critical factor is to make sure you don’t miss the second time. So never miss twice. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/5aff73 Episode: Never Miss Twice | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 19, 2023

All of us have days when we’re feeling a little down, unmotivated, or lackluster. Does it make sense to just push through and continue to work for the sake of working? This week, I talk about what to do when you’re in a funk like this, how Parts Work plays into it, and how you can use your BLE tools to help you determine what your next best step is. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ofmYqJ Episode: The Ebb and Flow of Work | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 12, 2023

I used a phrase in a meeting the other day and, to my utter surprise, the team members I was with had never heard it before. It goes like this: “Nobody ever falls off the middle of the wagon.” In other words, make sure that you are solidly entrenched in the community–solidly in the middle of the pack, not dangling off the edge in danger of falling off. When someone joins Alcoholics Anonymous, they are encouraged to do certain things to get engaged as quickly and deeply as possible, such as attending 90 meetings in 90 days, getting a sponsor, getting a service commitment, etc. We have the equivalent in Bright Line Eating. We say, “Come all the way in and sit all the way down.” There are so many opportunities in the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp to get engaged. You can get a buddy (or three!), you can be of service to others in the online support community, and you can make sure you’re completing the worksheets in the weekly modules regularly. In Bright Lifers (the membership program that follows Boot Camp 2.0), you can get even further engaged. There are opportunities to attend the daily Accountability Calls, join the Gideon Games, be a Guide, or find a Guide. There are so many ways to get involved and ensure that you are in the “middle of the wagon.” This makes a great mantra. It’s a calming, supportive, action-oriented mantra. Something you can use when cravings hit or life gets stressful. It reminds you to reach out, be involved, and get connected. Also, when you’re at junctures in your journey, whenever you’re deciding whether to further or deepen your journey in a new way that might seem daunting or scary, you can remind yourself to stay in the middle of the proverbial wagon. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/AIUfIQ Episode: The Middle of the Wagon | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 5, 2023

You probably already know about The Susceptibility Quiz. It gives you a Susceptibility Score between 1 and 10. The instructions for the quiz ask you to think back to a period of your life during which your eating habits were at their worst. Then you take the quiz from the perspective of this time period. The reason for this is that once you have the kind of brain that can generate those eating behaviors, you will always need to be more vigilant than someone who has never engaged with food in that way. The old adage is definitely true—from a neurological perspective, “once an addict, always an addict.” So, once a 9 or 10++ on the Susceptibility Scale, then always a 9 or 10++. But the downside of that perspective is that BLE really is an effective treatment for addiction. So even though I might be a 10++, I am living today as though I were a 1 or a 2 or a 3 on the Susceptibility scale. In other words, that’s the impact my Bright Line Eating program has, and my disease of food addiction is currently in remission. I periodically take the quiz based on how I’m doing at that time. And the score I typically get is about a 3. I took the quiz just the other day, and I scored a 1. A little over a year ago, I cleaned up my quantities in restaurants. I went back to square one and prioritized tightening up my program when it came to quantities. And so now, based on how I’m living today, I score a 1. I am utterly free from wanting more food and from obsession over what I’ve eaten. Sometimes I do ebb and flow between a 1 and a 2 right now, and I can use that as a litmus test to measure how well I’m working my program. I was actually really surprised when I got down to a 1. I had never gotten below a 3 before. But what I’ve learned is that if I work a rigorous enough program–rigorous enough for a 10++ food addict like myself–I can actually be a 1. Try it out. You will discover whether the BLE program you’re working is strong enough for your brain. You can go to foodfreedomquiz.com to take the quiz from the vantage point of your eating as it is today and get your Current Susceptibility Score (CSS). If you’re weighing and measuring your food you’ll need to adjust the questions slightly in your head, but I think you’ll find that easy enough to do. Enjoy! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/hFj3Rp Episode: Current Susceptibility Score (CSS) | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 28, 2023

What is the difference between joy and happiness? I was thinking about this recently, so I looked it up and it turns out they are VERY DIFFERENT! And I came to a profound realization about joy and happiness—and how they compare to the feeling of being Bright. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Js53C8 Episode: Joy vs. Happiness | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 21, 2023

I’m so excited to share this week’s topic because it’s especially applicable to the thousands of people who are going through the all-new Boot Camp 2.0 course right now. When you’re just starting Boot Camp for the first time, you’re learning a lot of new things, breaking a lot of bad habits, maybe breaking some addictions, and setting up new behaviors, which is all very willpower-depleting. When your willpower is depleted—which is what happens until you make these new habits automatic—it can feel like the dial is turned up on life. Things just feel more intense, and challenges can feel more difficult. And that’s where this tool comes into play. I’ve been reading the book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why it Matters, and How to Harness it. The author, Ethan Kross, talks about how our internal voices work when it comes to challenging situations. Some people are “distancers,” and some are “immersers”—they get really immersed in the situation. You can see this in the “I” language used. For example, when someone posts on social media something like, “Every time I go to the mechanic I feel like I don’t know anything about cars. It always takes them a long time to serve me and I feel like my ignorance is visible to everyone. Why have I never learned the basics about how to take care of a car?” With self-talk, a lot of “I” language, reflects someone who is very emersed in their story and circumstance. Immersers tend to have higher levels of clinical depression. People who are more distanced generally tend to have more perspective and better mental health. There are exercises that can help create that distancing effect. For example, think about the situation as if you are viewing it from another country, from far in the future, or from far in the past. This enables you to see situations as challenges rather than as threats. What’s difficult about this is that people in stressful, challenging situations have a hard time implementing this. When we feel threatened, our cognitive resources are tapped, and completing this perspective shift successfully takes a lot of mental effort. An easier way to get this distance is to talk to yourself or about yourself in the second or third person. This is simple, and it’s fast. They’ve done brain-scan studies that show that it takes only 1 second for the brain to register this change and for it to impact the brain and the body. For example, in the second person: “You can handle this, Susan. You’re a good mom. Your kid is having some big feelings right now, but you’re not going to get reactive, and you are going to help her through this, and you’ll do just fine.” Another example, in the third person: “Susan is a good mom. She can handle this. She’ll manage this just fine. Her kid is going through something, but she’s got it under control.” This is called illeism and has a long history. The author Ethan Kross stumbled on it by accident, as happens with many scientific insights. One of his research findings got a lot of publicity and he was on the news and got fan mail. But one person took offense to his findings and wrote him a death threat. This really affected him negatively. He was scared and paranoid, and he wasn’t sleeping. Finally, he said to himself, “Ethan this is crazy. What are you doing? This is probably nothing. You need to get back to your life.” He was finally able to sleep that night. Then he started noticing instances of other people using this type of language successfully. The research supports this. Within one second, you will be calmer, able to make better decisions, and have perspective. Being able to see the situation as a challenge and not a threat, allows you to perform better and persevere. And you can implement this to help yourself to overcome, be resilient, and stay Bright—for one more moment, meal, or day. To do the things needed to set yourself up for success and create the habits that will establish your Bright life. Even when it’s hard—you can talk your way through it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/jsxk17 Episode: The Value of Distanced Self-Talk | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 14, 2023

It’s surprising how many vlogs I film that actually have nothing to do with the food that I eat. But this week, we are in my kitchen making vegan Greek yogurt. I have searched high and low for a plant-based yogurt that tastes good and is high in protein. But I’ve never found one. So I make mine own, and this week I’m sharing the process with you. Start with a really pure soy milk. I use West Life brand, organic unsweetened vanilla flavor. You need to pick a soy milk that doesn’t have the added vitamins and minerals—that will ruin your yogurt. 2 quarts makes 1 batch, or 4 quarts for a double batch. This is quite a process, so when I make it I make a double batch. And you’ll need a pressure cooker, I use an Instant Pot Pro Plus. With this cooker I don’t have to heat up the soy milk before starting the overnight cooking process. (You can do it in a yogurt maker or even just in the oven with the pilot light but with an Instant Pot you don’t need to heat up the milk, which saves a lot of time.) You’ll also need a starter culture; this is available in a vegan option—one packet per batch, two packets for a double batch. And then you’ll need a Greek yogurt strainer. I add 4 quarts of soy milk and 2 packets of starter culture to the Instant Pot, stir it together, then set the Instant Pot to the yogurt setting. I set it to cook at 110ºF for 8 hours. I typically set this up before bed, and it cooks overnight while I sleep. In the morning, the yogurt needs to cool and set. So you take it out of the pot, cover it with foil and let it stand for two hours. After two hours, the pot of yogurt goes in the fridge for about 12 hours to set. At this point, you have soy yogurt. Then I like to strain it to make it into Greek yogurt. I use the Euro Cuisine Greek Yogurt Maker. Drain off any excess liquid that you can, then pour it into the yogurt strainer. Once the yogurt is in the strainers, let the whey drain off in the fridge for about 48 hours. The yogurt will reduce by about half its weight. Scoop it out of the strainer and into two glass storage containers. Whip it up to smooth out as many lumps as you can. I find that a double batch of Greek yogurt will make 8 days’ worth of breakfast portions, that’s one 8-ounce serving per morning. And a tip: the morning that I open my second container, that’s the day I start making another double batch. If you do that, then you won’t run out, because it does take three days to complete the process of making this yogurt. But honestly, overall, it’s no more time-consuming than doing a load of laundry. It’s just a load of laundry spread over three days. Enjoy! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/oqSUrm Episode: How to Make High-Protein Plant-Based Greek Soy Yogurt | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 7, 2023

If I had the opportunity to talk to someone who was just starting Bright Line Eating, and I could give them just one piece of advice to guide their entire journey, it would be this: resolve to become a maintenance maestro. We have an entire body of work, a full curriculum if you will, available for our Bright Lifers Membership community around how to do maintenance and do it well, how to get into the right mindset and take it seriously. The weight loss phase is great, but the magic of Bright Line Eating lies in transitioning carefully and intentionally to a maintenance plan, and then maintaining that weight loss with the support of our loving community who has walked that path before you. It’s a set of skills, and there’s a lot to it. People return to Bright Line Eating again and again because staying the course in maintenance requires more than just a food plan. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/jP9gaZ Episode: Advice for Someone Starting Bright Line Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 31, 2023

Our mission at Bright Line Eating is 1 million Bright Transformations by 2030. We’re on a quest to transform people’s lives. When people open up their worlds by letting go of sugar and flour, bounding their quantities, and releasing their excess weight, they’re set free. It’s incredible. Part of our vision is to change the global narrative around food, to help global obesity trend down. That’s less tangible, but here are some examples: kids' birthday parties won’t just be pizza and ice cream; children’s menus won’t be just processed foods; baked goods won’t be used as gifts. Just like cigarettes, processed food will still be sold and be legal, but might be regulated more, with limits on advertisements to protect the most vulnerable among us. But the assumption will be that people will want to eat whole, real food. Conveying science is a big part of this mission and this vision. The majority of people who come into the Bright Line Eating movement say they came to us because of the science. People need to understand, from a cerebral level, WHY the Bright Transformation works. For a lot of people, understanding the science behind why certain foods hijack their brains and block them from losing weight takes away the shame of not having been able to get a handle on their food and shed their excess weight before. In the Weekly Vlog, I’ve been sharing this science and this info for fun and for free every week for eight years. I also created a video series called Food Freedom in 2015. I’ve never fully rerecorded this series until now. So today, I’m announcing the release of a BRAND NEW, completely re-recorded and updated, built-from-scratch Food Freedom video series. And Video #1 is available today: “The Two Foods that Block Weight Loss.” **As of June 11, 2023, the Food Freedom Video Series is no longer available. It will be released again in October of 2023.** FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/d1LTn4 Episode: The Importance of Knowing Why | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 24, 2023

May 24, 2023 - The topic of this week’s vlog is an abbreviation we use all the time in our community: JFTFP. It stands for Just Follow The F___ Plan (f***ing, fabulous, friggin’—fill in your F-word of choice)! This abbreviation has become a fixture in the BLE movement, like our logo and the word “UnstoppaBLE.” People even get it tattooed or made into jewelry! JFTFP is an identity, and it has to do with not just owning the identity but also developing the identity. Because when you decide to Just Follow The Fabulous Plan, you can do it on a day-by-day basis or a meal-by-meal basis. You can use it to ease into Bright Line Eating with baby steps. But then, as you watch yourself JFTFP, it works—and it starts to build your identity as someone who does JFTFP and who prefers to JFTFP. It’s true that you can’t build an identity overnight. But with JFTFP, you can decide you have that identity, and as you follow it you build it little by little. My friend Tosca suggested this topic. She was sharing a story of hiking a mountain with friends, and they noticed the long, broad, gently sloped paths called switchbacks snaking up the mountain. They thought, “That’s dumb. What a waste of effort. Let’s just go straight up the mountainside instead.” So they did, and it wrecked them. It was hard, there were no clear paths, it was treacherous. And the old folks they left walking the switchbacks ended up beating them up the mountain. It’s like Bright Line Eating. This program is a well-worn path that you can follow—comfortably and easily—that will get you up the mountain to your destination. All you have to do is follow it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/SyX4xo Episode: JFPFP | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 17, 2023

It’s been a while since I gave you a big-picture update on what’s been going on behind the scenes at Bright Line Eating. So, let’s dive in. Initially, entry into Bright Line Eating consisted of the Boot Camp course, which was incredibly transformative. Then people would go into Bright Lifers, which didn’t have more content but had a lot of additional coaching and connection opportunities. Additionally, there were a la carte courses available to purchase. Then in November 2021, we decided to fold it all into one membership and dramatically reduce the price. We were thinking of scale. We wanted to reduce the barrier to entry, improve access, and thereby increase the number of people who would experience the Bright Line Eating transformation. We brought in a couple of executives to help us in this endeavor. It turns out there was a significant misalignment of values, though, and one of those executives tried to change our values dramatically and commoditize BLE. Through this experience, we realized that we really value the high-touch, boutique way we provide service to our community members. It matters to us that we know our community members. We also realized that the new lower price was not working out. People did not flood in the way we expected them to. It turns out cost was not the barrier to entry—the barrier was giving up sugar and flour. More important, it wasn’t supporting the success of our members. With the low economic investment, people signed up without getting invested in their journey. They came in mentally unprepared. Also, the new membership experience was too much for people to take in all at once. It was too overwhelming when they came in and had access to everything. We realized that having the Boot Camp course as the initial experience served people better. They’d go through it with a cohort of people and get sequestered in their own little world focused on doing the Boot Camp. So, after much soul-searching, we’ve decided to bring back the Boot Camp. But this is not the old Boot Camp; we’ve completely rebuilt it—for the first time ever. It’s the all-new Boot Camp 2.0. And we’re bringing back the name Boot Camp. No, it’s not a bunch of extreme exercising, and I won’t be yelling and screaming at you—it’s not a Boot Camp in that way. But, like the military sense of Boot Camp, it is a short experience at the beginning of your journey that takes you from the civilian world and introduces you to a new way of living in a very intensive, rigorous, transformative experience. When you graduate from the Boot Camp, you’ll have the option to join the Membership then and become a Bright Lifer, which will still have the complete Bright Roadmap folded in. Plus, we’re introducing a new scholarship program to accompany this course. For the first time ever, we’ll have ten full scholarships available on a need basis. Anyone who truly wants to achieve their Bright Transformation and doesn’t have the financial means can apply for one of these scholarships. The scholarship application for the June 2023 Boot Camp 2.0 course is open May 17–May 24, 2023. So, what does this mean for the big-picture vision of BLE? For a moment, we were ambitiously aiming for 1 million Bright Transformations by 2025. That’s not our goal. But we’ll still aim for 1 million Bright Transformations, and we’re just pushing that goal back to 2030 as we originally had it. Right now, our bigger focus is serving our community in the high-touch way we do and helping those community members successfully realize their Bright Transformations. And Boot Camp 2.0 is going to be incredible! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/28DOqy Episode: The All-New BLE Boot Camp 2.0 | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 10, 2023

I was coaching one of our community members recently, and they told me they’d been using cranberry juice to help treat recurring urinary tract infections. They didn’t think it was triggering because it was pure, unsweetened cranberry juice, which is pretty unappealing to drink. But they know juice isn’t technically BLE-compliant, so they wanted to ask me about it. This reminded me of the giant jug of sugary drink that my doctor wanted me to drink when I was pregnant to test for gestational diabetes. Another similar situation is colonoscopy prep. There are these borderline treatments: cranberry juice, colonoscopy prep drink, sugar-free cough drops. My friend Ari Whitten’s Energenesis supplement falls into this category as well. It has clear health benefits, especially for someone who struggles with fatigue, but it is sweetened. I’ve been suffering from a lot of joint pain lately, and my healthcare provider has me using this cleanse product to help deal with it. Of course, I read the label—and it includes apple juice powder. If these were foods, they would definitely not be considered BLE-compliant. But because they are remedies or treatments, they are questionable. There are four principles I recommend applying if you find yourself needing or considering a remedy or treatment that falls into this “questionable” category: Principle #1: Try to find an alternative. Throat coat tea instead of cough drops. Cranberry capsules instead of juice. Principle #2: Tread cautiously. What’s the status of your BLE program? If my Bright Lines are wobbly, a questionable remedy might throw me completely off-course. So, it might not be worth it. Principle #3: Motives matter. How the substance triggers or doesn’t trigger the addictive centers in the brain can depend on why you’re using it. It’s as if the nucleus accumbens knows whether you are taking an opiate for pain from a recent surgery or because you are a dope fiend looking to get a hit. Principle #4: You are responsible. There’s no BLE police, no judge and jury. You have to weigh your options and consider all the factors in play. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/VG5PtB Episode: Questionable Remedies | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 3, 2023

I just returned from the 35 th reunion of my 8 th grade graduating class. I know that might sound a little silly, but I bounced around to several high schools and then dropped out, so this is the only reunion I have. Even so, I wasn’t close to the other students at this school. I did great academically, but I wasn’t popular and I didn’t fit in. It was painful, but that makes this story even more poignant. This was a very exclusive, all-girls, private school. I attended on a scholarship because we were living at the poverty level at the time. They told my mom that I was bright and tested well, but that they were concerned about my social prospects because I was so different from the other girls at the school. My mom warned me, but I really wanted to go to this school. So I went. And I wasn’t popular, nor did I have any solid, sustained friendships. I was so different from the other girls. Then ten years ago, I got an invitation to the 25 th reunion. And I hesitated. I wasn’t close with any of these people. But I listened to my recovery voice inside that told me to go, to be open and curious, and to learn about the other people there. I was nervous, but I went… and I had a blast. The other girls had grown up into gracious, kind, lovely women. And I finally felt like I belonged. The conversations with those women gave me perspective. I told them I had felt like an outsider and a loner. Then one woman offered that those years had been hard for all of us. She said she had envied my athletic ability. Another remembered me as being smart. Some assumed I had myself together and just didn’t really need them as friends. So, I went again this year for the 35 th reunion. Afterward, four of us went to dinner. We stayed and talked for nearly five hours. And again, these weren’t people I was friends with back then. But we all belonged that night because we showed up. We became the “in crowd,” simply because we showed up and participated. This got me thinking about how most adult spaces are places in which anyone who wants to belong can belong. It’s the people who show up and participate who become the “in crowd.” And people are welcoming to anyone who wants to be there. In Bright Line Eating, the notion of belonging is so critical. We thrive when we belong. Social connectedness matters so much to our well-being. And that’s what we see in BLE. It’s the people who belong who do better, those who stick and stay and thrive. Belonging matters, and it’s a matter of choice. You choose to belong … and you belong. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Z5xXFl Episode: Choose to Belong | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 26, 2023

I had the opportunity to meet with some Bright Lifers this week, members of our Bright Line Eating community. Among them was Dr. Betty Rabinowitz, a retired physician from the University of Rochester. As we chatted over lunch, she shared a concept with me. In Bright Line Eating, we talk about food chatter: what have you eaten or not eaten, are you on your plan or off, whether you’ve eaten too many calories or not enough, can I eat my next meal yet…or how about now…or how about now….and on, and on, and on. And Betty said that the chatter is not just food chatter; there’s also scale chatter. I countered that it was weight chatter. Then I thought about it more and realized she was right—it most definitely is scale chatter. Measuring my waist has a different effect than obsessing about the number on the scale. That number does something in our heads and creates chatter. And it’s corrosive. The whole purpose of Bright Line Eating is to eliminate the chatter. This is the freedom that we talk about. Scale chatter robs us of the ultimate feeling of success in Bright Line Eating. To succeed, you need to land, to arrive, to solve the food and weight problem. Scale chatter causes us to overly fixate on that last little bit of weight. And we forget, temporarily, all the weight we have lost so far and magnify those last few pounds. I’ve coached folks who’ve lost more than 100 pounds but then do themselves a disservice by not framing that as successful. And the scale chatter keeps us from feeling successful. We need to find a way to let go, to get out of it. Part of the identity we need to adopt in Bright Line Eating is that of someone who has arrived, someone who has solved the food and the weight problem. Someone who has let go of all that chatter. I want to hear what your experience has been. How is food chatter different from scale chatter? How have they both impacted you? In your journey, how have you learned to stop fixating on the numbers on the scale? FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Z9YZng Episode: Scale Chatter | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 19, 2023

A recent study examined what physicians say to patients who present with chronic obesity. Physicians usually don’t address the issue at all because of time constraints. They have very short appointments and specific things they have to cover, plus perhaps they fear being offensive or have ambivalence because they don’t know what would actually be helpful for the patient to hear. This new study looked at what physicians say when they’re aiming to address a patient’s clinical obesity and give advice. As it turns out, even when they had to give guidance, they gave almost none at all. In 80% of cases, they gave general advice along the lines of “you might want to eat less and exercise more.” Only 6% of the time did they recommend a specific protocol or program to follow. So they were giving basically no actionable information. Why? Perhaps they don’t know what to say that will be helpful and that won’t offend. I have a small ray of hope to share, though. This past week, I gave a talk to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Lifestyle medicine is a sub-specialty in which physicians can get board certified. My friend Dr. Mark Goetting is a physician who is board certified in obesity medicine, sleep medicine, and lifestyle medicine. And he did the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp back in 2015. He also ran a bunch of hospital-based weight-loss programs for the State of Michigan. Mark reached out to the leaders in the member interest groups in lifestyle medicine to ask them to support me giving a talk. So I did. I went and I gave a talk about helping your patients overcome overeating. What do you do when your patient presents with obesity? What do you say? I gave them some new tools. I talked about the science of food addiction and gave them assessment tools they can use, including the Susceptibility Quiz. I talked about the benefits of patients adopting a structured approach to eating, like the Bright Lines in Bright Line Eating. I talked about these behavioral interventions and how they compare to modern weight loss drugs. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/JgrN4y Episode: Helping Doctors Talk to Their Patients with Obesity | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 12, 2023

Last week marked my 5-year anniversary of quitting smoking. I haven’t talked about it in the vlog before because I felt a lot of shame around it. But now, I’m ready to talk about it. I smoked on and off my whole life. After getting married and having kids, I stopped teaching college courses and was working at home, getting the Bright Line Eating business started. I was spending my days alone and missing social interaction. At a 12-step meeting, I found myself wanting to join the social circle of folks outside the meeting doors who were chatting and smoking. One night, I found myself chain-smoking in secret in the wee hours outside of my house in the bitter Rochester winter weather. My husband knew (and hated it), but I was hiding it from the kids. Every time I finished my nightly smoking binge, I would come inside, shower, brush my teeth, and put my clothes straight into the washing machine. It was insanity. And I realized it is so similar to food addiction. It’s the same mental process. There are specific biases—insanity, really. Not clinical insanity, but the lack of ability to think straight and effectively weigh the cause and effect. First is the exaggeration by the mind of how good it will feel to indulge, along with dismissing the impact of the consequences. Second, the brain convinces you that you can have “just one” or “just a little.” Then the third insanity is convincing yourself that after you’ve had “just one,” you’ll be operating with the same brain you have before indulging—a brain that can effectively consider the cause and effect. But once you’ve picked it up, you don’t have the same brain anymore. You are now experiencing physiological cravings. And what “just one” does is trigger the desire for another. And we forget that. We have amnesia about it the next time we go through it. We forget the struggle and go through the madness all over again. I finally hit rock bottom, smoking outside in the snow on the eve of my husband’s birthday. And I decided, as a gift to him and to myself, to quit then and there. And that commitment stuck—and now it’s been five years. A book that really helped me a lot was Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking. There were so many nuggets from this book that really spoke to me and I made a lot of notes as I read it that I kept in my phone. So it’s been five years since I quit, and I didn’t feel equipped to talk about it until now. I talked about my food and times that I wasn’t Bright during that span of years, but cigarettes are just another issue. Even during that time, as I was smoking, I considered myself a non-smoker. Addiction is such a head trip, isn’t it? FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/UXfYRX Episode: The Insanity of Cigarettes | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 5, 2023

In 2009, Brazilian researchers came up with the NOVA classification system to determine the level of processing of any food. Level 1 is whole, real food, minimally altered. Level 2 is culinary ingredients. Level 3 contains combinations of level 1 and 2 foods; this includes things like baked goods, multi-ingredient homemade dishes, etc. Level 4 is reserved for ultra-processed, packaged foods made of factory ingredients. On its surface, this system is really helpful. But a study just came out that examined the inter-rater reliability of NOVA category assignments. In the study, they asked food and nutrition experts to assign foods to the categories. Alas, they found that, even with a food as simple as plain yogurt, arguments could be made to classify it as level 1, level 3, or level 4. And foods as different as canned green beans and grape jelly are both categorized as level 3 foods, though their nutritional value and amount of processing of the ingredients couldn’t be more different. My hope is that someone develops a better, more effective, more reliable rating system. But the NOVA system is already widely accepted, and there’s so much ignorance and confusion about food in general these days that I doubt it will happen any time soon. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/0I4qge Episode: Limitations of the NOVA Processed Foods Classification System | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 29, 2023

I’ve been experiencing a lot of issues with pain in my shoulder lately, and I just got diagnosed with frozen shoulder. As I’ve been looking at various ways to address the pain, one of the things I’ve considered is fasting. This made me think of all the suggestions we get for ways to optimize our health when it comes to what we eat—whether it’s water fasting, kombucha, cacao, sourdough bread… the list goes on! But before I consider any potential changes, I have to remember my food addiction. It’s crucial to consider the potential ramifications to my recovery. My peace and automaticity must reign supreme. So how do we optimize our food plan for health without compromising our food addiction recovery journey? Watch this week’s vlog to find out. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qkhvoh Episode: Staying Bright is the Topy Health Priority | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 22, 2023

Years ago, I was teaching a college course called The Psychology of Eating and Body Image, and I ended up becoming dear friends with one of my students, a woman named Anna. She introduced me to the obesity paradox. It claims that obesity is not always bad for your health and, in some cases, can actually protect your health. My friend herself seemed to be evidence of this paradox: she was living with extreme obesity but had no markers of ill health. Is there a nugget of truth in this paradox? Or is it always bad for your health to be obese? Turns out the so-called “obesity paradox” is an artifact of three methodological research flaws, and when those biases are accounted for, the obesity paradox vanishes entirely. When you account for the misdiagnoses inherent in using BMI as the measure of obesity when you fail to account for weight loss due to illness, and when you bake in something called collider stratification bias, the “obesity paradox” results. But it’s just a mirage. Alas, yes, it really is extremely unhealthy to be overweight or obese. In fact, a recent Rand study showed that obesity is worse for chronic health conditions and healthcare spending than poverty, smoking, or heavy drinking. And obesity confers a 91% increased risk of death. Every bit of excess weight we carry makes our health worse. The data are clear—there is no paradox. It’s unhealthy to be overweight. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Yymlzu Episode: Is There an Obesity Paradox? | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 15, 2023

Semaglutide drugs have taken the weight-loss world by storm. Our community has been clamoring for my take on these medications. You would think, as the leader of Bright Line Eating, that I would be against a pharmaceutical approach to weight loss. But am I? This week, I reveal my thoughts on drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and tirzepatide (sold as Mounjaro) when it comes to weight loss. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/rDuqhb Episode: Pros and Cons of Semaglutide Drugs for Weight Loss | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 8, 2023

I’ve been experiencing some joint pain recently, and this led me to take a closer look at the fats I’m using in my food plan. In this week’s vlog, I talk about the ways we use oil as part of a Bright Line Eating food plan. I also offer some other fat choices you can make if you want to cut out oil, plus one surprising thing that happened when I eliminated oil for a few days. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Bb0tNr Episode: Some Thoughts on Oil | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 1, 2023

A Bright Lifer recently sent me some articles about newly published research on willpower. At first glance, I was distressed. This research seems to fly in the face of everything I teach our community about willpower. So, I examined it closer and reflected on it. In this week’s vlog, I’ll tell you what this new research means for your BLE journey. Plus, I’ll tell you the one thing that’s even more important than willpower when it comes to successfully having a Bright day. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/P5seuP Episode: Willpower Depletion Revisited | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 22, 2023

I was on a vacation recently and had a chance encounter with a Bright Line Eater. We had the opportunity to have a long conversation about her experience in the program. This week, I share with you her story and the turning points that most impacted her journey—lessons that we see over and over again in our community. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ITUzHF Episode: A Chance Encounter with a Bright Line Eater | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 15, 2023

February 15, 2023 - Gut health and the microbiome have been hot topics in recent years. And with good reason! The microbiome is important to overall health, wellness, and longevity, and this week’s vlog is all about sugar in the gut. Recently, scientists discovered an important link between sugar, obesity, and diabetes—watch to learn more about the breakthrough—plus a rare and fascinating syndrome that you might overlook if you don’t know it exists. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ZWHSov Episode: Two Effects of Sugar in the Gut | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 8, 2023

In this week’s vlog, I give you a window into a current situation in my food journey that feels “off” to me … but I’m not yet willing to change it. Sometimes an issue comes up in our lives and we consider addressing it, but ultimately we don’t. Or we don’t yet. Why? It’s a state of not being willing. Using my own situation as an example, I describe a couple of ways to honor this incubation period and dig deeper into what might be going on so that we can stay curious and open to potential change. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/5RZCEd Episode: Not Yet Willing to Change | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 1, 2023

Honestly, I don’t know what made me do it. Why? Truly, why? But I did. I set up a TikTok account and challenged myself to post a video every day for 30 days. And … it’s going well! Enlightening, fun, interesting, and definitely a little uncomfortable. I’ve learned three concrete lessons from the experience, and they very much relate to those just starting Bright Line Eating. I think being on TikTok is good so far; I do believe I’ll continue! You can find me on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@susanpeircethompson FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/jgDlQ3 Episode: My 30-Day TikTok Challenge | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 25, 2023

I live in Rochester, NY, where winters tend to be pretty dark and gloomy. Seasonal depression is not uncommon in the Northeast, and I have had bouts of it in the past. But I am NOT experiencing depression this winter, which has been wonderful! In this week’s vlog, I share a couple of stories plus the two things I’m doing differently this winter, in hopes that it will help others navigate winter depression or depression in general. And of course, it all relates back to your Bright Line journey. * This is not intended to be medical advice. We recommend consulting with your medical care provider regarding adding light therapy and/or supplements to your diet. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/8AWJ5N Episode: Lower Your Expectations | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 18, 2023

Can you crave specific foods if you’re low in a particular nutrient? For example, if you’re deficient in magnesium, can that make you crave chocolate? And why will it make you SO HUNGRY to not eat enough protein? These questions and more are answered when you learn about the five appetites that every human has. I recently read the book Eat Like the Animals and learned all about it, and in this week’s vlog I share the insights I gleaned and the implications for your Bright Line Eating journey. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/f0x7MK Episode: The Five Appetites | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 11, 2023

In this vlog, I share findings from a fascinating experiment conducted by an esteemed New York University neuroscientist. It gives insight into how the brain works and helps to answer the crucial question: why do we keep eating sugar and flour when we so badly want to stay Bright? If you have a food-addicted brain hijacked by modern processed foods, you’ll want to check it out! FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/s6WFPt Episode: We Did Not Choose to Eat | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 4, 2023

Welcome to the first vlog of 2023! A friend of mine recently shared one of her daily habits with me, and it has to do with self-appreciation. It’s a practice that she adopted after realizing how self-critical she was. In this vlog, I share science about self-affirmation and important tips on how to do it effectively. It’s a powerful technique that can have a ripple effect not only on you, but on your relationships with others as well. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/W4u43l Episode: Self-Appreciation | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 28, 2022

At this time of year many of us will make resolutions to change, yet many of us will not keep those resolutions. Let’s face it, sustained change is hard. In this week’s vlog, I explain why parts of us are so resistant to long-term change. I also give you a scientifically tested strategy for getting your whole self on board so you can finally experience your Bright Transformation in 2023. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Ijf0Hr Episode: Getting Your Whole Self on Board With Change | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 21, 2022

I’m not feeling well this week, so I’m prioritizing rest and recuperation. This prompted me to recall a recent conversation with my friend Everett Considine about renunciation. In this week’s vlog, I talk about the deep peace that can come with doing less. During this season of hustle and bustle, I welcome you to find your “no.” FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/w5SiCx Episode: Renunciation | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 14, 2022

In a vlog a few months ago, I shared a revelation about my habits when it came to eating in restaurants. I had come to the conscious realization that I was using restaurants as an excuse to be lax with my Bright Line for quantities. As a result, I shored up this Bright Line. But on a trip to New York City last week, my program and support system were put to the test as I ate in restaurants for five straight days. Listen to this week’s vlog to see how I held up and what I learned. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/4W6S3u Episode: Bright Restaurant Meals | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 7, 2022

December 7, 2022 - The other day, my sweet husband sent me an article from Current Biology that stopped me in my tracks. A group of scientists published their research showing how eating behavior—specifically binge-eating sugar—was impacted when the gut microbiome was wiped out by antibiotics. Then, I thought about some of our tried-and-true Bright Line foods, and it really made a lot of sense. Listen to this week’s vlog to learn about how this could potentially impact your Bright Line Eating program. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/J9BkA0 Episode: How to Leverage Your Gut Biome to Microbiota to Suppress Sugar Binges | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 30, 2022

November 30, 2022 - Obesity rates around the world continue to climb, and the economic deck seems stacked against us. The “Big Food” industry keeps us dependent on its processed food, even as it makes us sicker and sicker. But one industry has a vested interest in our wellness: medical insurance. The poorer our health, the greater its costs. And since obesity has correlations to nearly every type of illness, we’ve been digging into medical insurance as a way to help pay for your weight management. Listen to this week’s vlog to learn how this information can benefit you. Click HERE for medical insurance benefits FAQs and an example letter of medical necessity. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/1ddiRP Episode: Using Your Benefits for Your Health | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 23, 2022

November 23, 2022 - Addictive brains, by nature, are dopamine-driven and always seeking that next hit. When we recover from active addiction (desire dopamine) we tend to gravitate toward the dopamine we get from planning, preparation, and checklists (control dopamine). To move away from these nonstop pursuits, we can learn to orient ourselves to the present–the here and now. In this vlog, I offer a quote that sank deep into my soul this week and I share tips for how to activate the serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin systems so that you’re not being driven by a never-ending pursuit of dopamine. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/tz79iz Episode: How to be Happy | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 16, 2022

November 16, 2022 - As we head into the holiday season, there are bound to be festivities and activities that will drain your willpower reserves. This time of year, triggers and stressors abound. The good news is that willpower is replenishable! Science shows that there are five actions you can take to replenish your strength when temptations come calling. And as an added bonus, these five things will also bring a new level of meaning and enjoyment to the holidays so you can be fully present and experience them with joy and intention. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Wy8tfl Episode: Five Actions that Replenish Willpower | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 9, 2022

Long-time Bright Lifers talk about the peace that they have around food. What does it mean to have that peace? How do you establish it, and what does it feel like? Is that peace ever disrupted? A member of our Bright Line Eating community posed a question about this recently, which prompted me to explore the topic of peace as it pertains to food in this week’s vlog. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/TkaCA1 Episode: Peace | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 2, 2022

In the final installment of this three-part series, I talk about reasons 5, 6, and 7 why food is the toughest addiction to quit. It all has to do with the environment in which we live and the societal acceptability of eating addictively. Listen to this week’s episode to discover the final three reasons and to learn what they mean for you as you strive to have (and maintain!) your Bright Transformation. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/OeamoV Episode: Why is Food the Hardest Addiction to Kick? Part 3: The Environment | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 26, 2022

This is the second installment of a multi-part vlog in which I talk about the seven unique reasons that food addiction is the hardest to kick. Listen to today’s vlog to find out reasons 2, 3, and 4—and they all have to do with specific ways the brain responds to the addictive qualities of food. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/jam4bS Episode: Why is Food the Hardest Addiction to Kick? Part 2: The Brain | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 19, 2022

I don’t usually do multi-part vlogs, but I feel compelled to dive deep into this complex and nuanced topic. There are seven reasons why food is the hardest addiction to kick. Listen to today’s vlog to find out reason #1. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Iqrq79 Episode: Why is Food the Hardest Addiction to Kick? Part 1: You Can't Just Stop Eating | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 12, 2022

When I first launched Bright Line Eating, I created the Food Freedom video series. Countless people found their way into our community after viewing these videos. More than seven years later, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve created a new, updated video series. In this week’s vlog, I tell you about the cool new features in this series and the important reason why you should check it out. Check out this week’s vlog, then check out our NEW “Why It Works” video series in the app or on our website: https://ble.life/rNQ6l6

Oct 5, 2022

It’s been an exciting year for Bright Line Eating. We did a lot of listening to our community and responded in a big way. We’ve made things so much simpler and more streamlined for our Members. This week, I talk about the changes that we’ve made. And that includes the most exciting development… we have an app! Yes, finally! Listen to this week’s podcast to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/u9KtBd Episode: Introducing the SIMPLER BLE with all App! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 28, 2022

Sometimes rest is not only necessary but is actually the best thing that you can do for your own productivity and success. How does ignoring your to-do list help you to get more done? It’s all about knowing your own cycles and how to implement harm reduction. In this week’s vlog, I talk about how to simply HOLD. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/XftBLN Episode: HOLD | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 21, 2022

There's a shift that happens when one is fully invested in their Bright Line Eating identity. It’s the difference between “I can’t eat that” and “I don’t eat that.” But there’s another identity shift that takes place. It’s a crucial one. In this week’s vlog, you’ll get a special sneak peek into one of the lessons from our course, Maintenance I: The Psychology of Maintenance, in which I explain this identity shift and why it’s so important. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/YYsbpG Episode: The Second Identity Shift | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 14, 2022

This week, I discuss a pattern that a lot of us fall into here in Bright Line Eating. It's common enough experience that we've recently coined a term for it. Listen to the episode to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/J9Jr9m Episode: Maintenance by Exception | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Sep 7, 2022

I read a blog article recently that really stuck with me because it covered a topic that has been coming up a lot in Bright Line Eating. Listen to this week's episode to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: Episode: Tinkering | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 31, 2022

Life can be very difficult. Sometimes it can feel like we're getting hit with one thing after another. In this week's episode, I discuss an important perspective shift that serves me well on my Bright Line Eating journey. I think you might find it helpful, too. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ri5oNS Episode: Choose Your Hard | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Aug 24, 2022

Aug 17, 2022

Aug 3, 2022

I'm in the San Francisco area right now to be with my family as my aunt passes. I heard a couple of days ago that she had taken a turn for the worse, so I decided to drop everything to fly across the country and be with them. Listen to this week's episode to hear how this experience relates to recovery and the Bright Line Eating journey. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/nCg4EO (https://ble.life/nCg4EO) Episode: Showing Up for Family When It Matters | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 27, 2022

In this week's very special episode, I'm joined by Esther Helga from Iceland. I was recently introduced to Esther and a community of people around the world who are doing really interesting things in the world of food addiction research and treatment. Listen to hear all about their work. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/xGzwuU (https://ble.life/xGzwuU) Episode: An Interview with Esther Helga | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 20, 2022

I was on the phone with a close friend recently, and she was talking about why we do what we do when we follow Bright Line Eating. Something she said really struck me, and when I realized I hadn't recorded an episode about it yet, I knew I had to rectify that immediately. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ctgIV4 (https://ble.life/ctgIV4) Episode: Addiction is a Disease (Yes, an ACTUAL Disease) | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 12, 2022

A little while ago, I recorded an episode about Ari Whitten's amazing new book, Eat For Energy. As part of the release festivities, I interviewed Ari for about an hour and we put out a link to the interview for anyone who bought the book. I asked him a question during our interview that is incredibly important for the BLE community, and his answer was so helpful that I knew I'd eventually discuss it in a podcast episode. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/K9hxvZ Episode: Flux | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jul 5, 2022

This week, I want to talk to you about an overlooked factor in fat-loss maintenance, mood, and overall health. It's a super fun acronym called "NEAT," and you can find out what it stands for when you listen to the episode. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/MP0Ci6 (https://ble.life/MP0Ci6) Episode: NEAT | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 29, 2022

Today is my birthday, and I thought since June 29th happened to fall on a Wednesday this year, I would record a podcast on eight reflections I've collected over my 48 years on this Earth. Listen to hear them. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/wGgG25 (https://ble.life/wGgG25) Episode: Eight Reflections on 48 Years of Life | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 22, 2022

I've had quite an intense week, and as things started to settle down, I was thinking about the things I do to take care of myself, in particular, my meditation practice. Listen to this week's episode to hear my thoughts and how they might relate to your Bright Line Eating program. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ZcImZi Episode: Sanctity | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 8, 2022

I recently attended the first international conference on food addiction, and the first speaker was especially noteworthy. In this week's episode, I wanted to share some takeaways from his talk. Listen to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Bho2VW Episode: Three Things Change as Addiction Takes Root | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jun 1, 2022

I have to confess something: I am so addicted to quantities. I experience tremendous freedom around sugar and flour, which I'm very grateful for, but I'm struggling with my quantities right now. Listen to this week's episode to hear what has happened to me over the last few weeks. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qlPwyl Episode: Addicted to Quantities | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 25, 2022

I just had the privilege of doing something really exciting—I traveled to England to attend the first-ever international conference on food addiction. How cool is that? Listen to this week's episode to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/8V9kYA Episode: Relapse Prevention | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 18, 2022

I was on the Bright Lifers Accountability Call recently, and someone asked a very interesting question. She wanted to know how to reconcile the difference between how she handles fats at home versus when she eats out at restaurants. Listen to the episode to hear my response to this common experience. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Rn9TcP Episode: Measuring Fats | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 11, 2022

I'm so excited to announce that my dear friend, Ari Whitten, has published an amazing new book. It's called Eat for Energy: How to Beat Fatigue, Supercharge Your Mitochondria, and Unlock All-Day Energy. In this week's episode, I'm going to share with you what he discusses in chapter 2, which is all about the science of how the food you eat (and WHEN you eat it) affects your circadian rhythm. ------------------ PLEASE NOTE: To gain exclusive access to a special interview between Susan and Ari, send proof of your purchase of Eat for Energy to eatforenergy@brightlineeating.com. It can be a copy of a receipt, a picture of the book, or anything else that shows you own a copy. ------------------ FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/EwMUQ9 Episode: Meal Times and Your Circadian Rhythm | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

May 4, 2022

A new round of the Gideon Games starts this week. These games are fun, 90-day contests available to all members that promote accountability, support, and connection. During the first-ever round, I was a participant. This time, I've decided to be a Team Leader, and I'm already learning so much. Listen to this episode to hear my thoughts. JOIN THE CORE MEMBERSHIP: https://ble.life/wz044a FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qFaNaZ Episode: Four Lessons from the Gideon Games | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 27, 2022

I was on a coaching call a few days ago and spoke with one of our incredible Bright Lifers who drew my attention to an interesting Maintenance topic that I hadn't covered at all before in an episode. Since we've spent the last couple of weeks in BLE Land talking about all things Maintenance, it seemed like the perfect time to discuss it. Listen to this episode to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/1wRiyX Episode: Transitioning to Maintenance Without the Bathroom Scale | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 20, 2022

A few weeks ago, while I was battling COVID, our refrigerator ended up breaking. Due to my extreme fatigue and the reality of our unfortunate appliance situation, I ended up ordering takeout for dinner nearly a month straight. Over time, this started to mess with my head. Listen to week's episode to hear what I did about it and how it relates to our Art of Maintenance extravaganza that's happening right now. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/pSUOk1 Episode: The Art of Maintenance | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 13, 2022

I was coaching a Bright Lifer recently on the daily Accountability Call, and she shared an experience with her food that she'd just had at a party. I strongly related to the internal struggle she described, so I decided to record an episode all about it. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/9vfaEj Episode: The Negotiator and the Mediator | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Apr 6, 2022

The concept of the "10++" on the Susceptibility Scale has come up twice in my life recently, so I took that as a sign it was time to record an episode on it. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/aTG807 Episode: 10++ | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 30, 2022

Recently, I was scrolling on social media while I rest and recover from COVID, and I saw someone posting pictures of their BLE food where just about every picture had a waffle in it. Now, I don't know what the waffles were made of, but it got me thinking about an important topic for this week's episode. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/A5T8Fl Episode: Borderline Foods | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 23, 2022

This episode was supposed to be all about a new livestream I'm presenting and an exciting 2-week event that we were going to hold…but I caught Covid a little over a week ago, and I'm just not recovering fast enough. I thought I'd be able to push through, but I realized this morning that I simply can't. Listen to this episode to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/cOCOEP Episode: COVID Vlog | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 16, 2022

In last week's episode, I talked about the process of letting go of our favorite binge foods, and in the comment section below that video, a viewer offered a brilliant analogy that I want to share with you today. He suggested that we should think of our cravings from the perspective of an outsider so that we're a witness to them instead of being a victim of them. Listen to hear my response to his astute observations. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/svnCEh Episode: Navigating Intense Cravings | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 9, 2022

Sugar and flour encapsulate the vast majority of what we abstain from in Bright Line Eating in order to heal our brains and our bodies as we lose all our excess weight. In today's episode, I talk about one of the foods that we include under the "sugar and flour" umbrella: potato chips. Listen to hear the science behind why they're just as dangerous. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/IEvnG6 Episode: Divorcing Potato Chips | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 2, 2022

Last week, I didn't release an episode, and I believe that's only the third time in seven years that I've missed a week. All three of those times have been for pretty much the same reason: life got so intense that the only sane thing to do was to give myself a break. I wanted to check in this week to explain a bit about what happened and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating journey. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/b8ZBO1 Episode: Execute-Program-Lunch | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 16, 2022

We have a lot of support structures in our Bright Line Eating community. There's buddies, Mastermind Groups, and, up until now, something called sponsorship. Listen to this week's episode to hear why we've decided to change our terminology from "sponsor" to "Guide." FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/UXn04I Episode: From Sponsor to Guide | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 9, 2022

One of the Bright Line Eating coaches recently suggested that I shoot an episode on marijuana because there are members of our community who are struggling with their use of it. I initially didn't know what I'd say, but the more I thought about it, I realized I had some interesting points to discuss. Listen to hear them. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/IlSNbT Episode: Marijuana | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Feb 2, 2022

I've been a regular at a local Thai restaurant for over 20 years now, and, more than once, a waitress who knows me by name has remarked that I've gained weight. I decided to record a Vlog about it because as we progress along our weight-loss journeys, we will all likely get comments about our changing appearances. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/3Smsxz Episode: Comments on Our Weight | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 26, 2022

The other day, I was out to dinner with one of my kiddos, and after we ordered, a bunch of NMF (Not My Food) was brought to the table while we waited for our meals. I decided to have a small taste of the parmesan cheese sitting in front of me, and the experience that followed is probably one you can relate to. Listen to this week's episode to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/vUln9d Episode: None Is Easier Than Some | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 19, 2022

As 2022 began, I saw a prompt online from the New York Times asking me if I wanted to see the most-read articles of 2021. And I did. It turns out the most popular article was an op-ed called "There's a Name for the Blah You're Feeling: It's Called Languishing." Listen to this week's episode to hear my thoughts on the topic and why it resonated with me so deeply. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/2tFyyZ Episode: Languishing | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 12, 2022

When people do Bright Line Eating, we aim for them to lock into a rhythm of eating that helps them lose their excess weight, stabilize at maintenance, and create such automaticity with their food that they unlock the human potential buried under all the weight. But then…what's next? What do you do with the huge amount of space that's freed up when the food and weight problem isn't there anymore? Listen to this week's episode to hear my thoughts. ACCESS THE FREE ARCHIVE! https://optimize.me/ble FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/EYIKvj Episode: Optimize Your Purpose | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Jan 5, 2022

Welcome to the first episode of 2022! This year, I'm committed to being more publicly vocal about topics like food addiction and the types of programs that will be successful in treating it. I've been on TV a few times a week for the last couple weeks, I have a ton of podcast interviews scheduled, and…I just published my first op-ed piece! Listen to this week's episode to hear all about it. READ THE OP-ED: https://ble.life/7WHwju FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/076jjA Episode: Food Policy and BLE's First Op-Ed | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 28, 2021

The episode is early this week because today is a very special occasion. Today is the publication day of BLE's third book!!! Rezoom: The Powerful Reframe to End the Crash-and-Burn Cycle of Food Addiction is finally available in bookstores everywhere. If you pre-ordered, has it arrived yet? If you haven't, there's a convenient link to order below the episode. This book has a huge job to do in the world right now, both in our BLE community and beyond. Listen to the episode to hear all about it. GET YOUR COPY OF REZOOM: https://ble.life/FNoz0e FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/MSeWLS Episode: REZOOM IS HERE!!! | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 22, 2021

It's been a long year, and we're in the midst of the holiday season right now in many parts of the world. In this week's episode, some participants from our Bright Line Holiday course make surprise guest appearances to share their best tips for how to say "no, thank you" to any food you might be offered. During this time when so many festivities revolve around eating, having a few quick and polite responses at the tip of your tongue may be just the thing you need. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/2PxGT1 Episode: Creative "No, Thank Yous" | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 15, 2021

In this week's episode, I share a really sweet story along with a very important addition to the BLE scientific framework around food, addiction, eating, and sustained weight loss. Listen now to hear it all. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/YfxhCy Episode: Substance and Process Addiction | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 8, 2021

In this week's episode, I wanted to cover a topic brought up on a recent Bright Lifers' Daily Accountability Call because it coincides with a theme we've had going on here at Bright Line Eating lately: fresh starts and Bright Beginnings. Listen now to hear all about it. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/6RkDc8 Episode: Effective Surrender | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Dec 1, 2021

This is an episode that I've been waiting to record for a long time, and it relates to the questions that I get asked the most when I talk to my friends in the BLE community. They want to know the outcomes of various fundraisers that we've held over the years, and I'm so happy to finally share the results. Listen now to hear all about them. DONATE TO CHARITY: WATER https://cwtr.org/3qbfSzP FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/ikQHuX Episode: The Legacy of BLE Giving | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 24, 2021

It's that time of year again! We're heading into the holiday season, and in this week's episode, I want to share a helpful perspective, not just for people aiming to live Bright and stick to their Lines through all the festivities, but for everyone. Listen to hear my thoughts. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/tWCE6c Episode: Bright Holiday Toolkit | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 19, 2021

A couple of weeks ago, my beloved husband, David, got a vision. (Normally, I’m the one in the family who gets the visions, but this time, the Download from the Universe came to him.) He could see it in his mind’s eye and hear it so clearly. He was really impassioned when he shared it with me and I took it seriously. We shared his vision with the BLE videographer, Daniel, and this episode is the result. GO TO THE CONCIERGE PAGE: https://ble.life/9vF95G FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/hWWHJt Episode: Bright Line Eating: Origins | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 17, 2021

I felt pressure to come up with an extra interesting topic today because it's the one and only episode that comes out during Bright Ticket Week. Luckily, during the first Livestream yesterday, something happened that so captivated me, I knew I had to talk about it. Listen to hear what happened and why it's relevant to your Bright Line Eating journey. GO TO THE CONCIERGE PAGE: https://ble.life/9vF95G FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/VqfyEj Episode: The Urgent Need for a Bright Beginning | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 10, 2021

This is it: the fourth and final installment of our series on the new Bright Line Eating. Listen to the episode to hear all about the transformation that's truly on offer as we transition into our new membership model. Bright Ticket Week is right around the corner. I want you to be ready. GO TO THE CONCIERGE PAGE: https://ble.life/9vF95G FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/WvAd54 Episode: The New Bright Line Eating - Part 4 - THE TRANSFORMATION | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Nov 3, 2021

We've been building up to this week for a long time, and this is the episode where I share all the details about how Bright Line Eating is changing its structure to a very simple membership model. Listen to hear everything. TAKE ME TO THE CONCIERGE PAGE! https://ble.life/nAeNjA FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/qQQTJ3 Episode: The New Bright Line Eating - Part 3 - THE MEMBERSHIP | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 27, 2021

This is the second part of an important series of episodes all about the new Bright Line Eating. Last week, I talked about our new mission, and now it's time to share the stages of growth that lie ahead of us. Listen to hear the news. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/Tmpnw8 (https://ble.life/Tmpnw8) Episode: The New Bright Line Eating - Part 2 - THE PHASES | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 20, 2021

The time has come. In this episode (and in every episode over the next few weeks), I'm going to reveal in stages what's changing at Bright Line Eating. The first stage is big-picture level—I'll share how the mission of BLE has become clearer and different than what it used to be. Listen to hear everything I can tell you so far. FOR THIS EPISODE and MORE: https://ble.life/s8c9 Episode: The New Bright Line Eating - Part 1 - THE MISSION | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Oct 13, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Conformity October 13, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. In 1951, a study was published that has become incredibly famous to the point of being cited in every Psych 101 textbook. It was all about conformity. Watch this week’s Vlog to learn how the study was conducted and how it relates to your BLE journey. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/10/research-update-how-to-lose-weight-after-menopause/ (PrevPreviousRESEARCH UPDATE – How to Lose Weight After Menopause) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. is a New York Times bestselling author and an expert in the psychology and neuroscience of eating. Susan is the Founder and CEO of Bright Line Eating®, a scientifically grounded program that teaches you a simple process for getting your brain on board so you can finally find freedom from food. https://brightlineeating.com/about-susan/ (Read Susan’s Full Story)

Oct 6, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! RESEARCH UPDATE – How to Lose Weight After Menopause October 6, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. It’s time for another research update! In this week’s Vlog, I present more findings from our Research Program and share a study that we recently published in Current Developments in Nutrition addressing weight loss success as we age. Watch to hear all about it. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/how-bright-line-eating-supports-cognitive-function/ (PrevPreviousHow Bright Line Eating Supports Cognitive Function) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/10/conformity/ (NextConformityNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Sep 29, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! How Bright Line Eating Supports Cognitive Function September 29, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. The members of the Bright Line Eating Team hold a book club meeting once a month, and the book we’re currently reading is called The Distracted Mind. I gleaned an insight from it that blew my mind, and I want to share it with you in this week’s Vlog because it relates to your BLE journey and clearly illustrates what differentiates BLE from other weight-loss solutions. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/the-acne-analogy/ (PrevPreviousThe Acne Analogy) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/10/research-update-how-to-lose-weight-after-menopause/ (NextRESEARCH UPDATE – How to Lose Weight After MenopauseNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Sep 22, 2021

My third book, Rezoom , is going to be published this year on December 28th, and in the third chapter, I talk about the unique reasons why food addiction is, in my professional opinion, the hardest addiction to kick. In this week’s Vlog, I talk about one of those reasons and present it to you with an analogy. Listen to hear it.

Sep 15, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! RESEARCH UPDATE – Hunger and Cravings September 15, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. I owe you an apology. I’ve been slacking on my obligations to regularly present findings from the Bright Line Eating Research Program in the Vlog. Starting this week, I’m going to consistently update you with the data we collect and what we’re learning from it. Watch to hear about one of our publications from 2020 and how it relates to your BLE journey. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/plant-based-eating-inflammation-and-covid-severity/ (PrevPreviousPlant-Based Eating, Inflammation, and COVID Severity) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/the-acne-analogy/ (NextThe Acne AnalogyNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Sep 8, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Plant-Based Eating, Inflammation, and COVID Severity September 8, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. Recently, I started having some severe pain in my hip that came out of nowhere—I didn’t injure myself. After seeing my doctor and going to physical therapy, I realized something about the food I’d eaten the day the pain started. Watch the Vlog to hear what I discovered and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating journey. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/doing-bright-line-eating-with-adhd/ (PrevPreviousDoing Bright Line Eating with ADHD) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/research-update-hunger-and-cravings/ (NextRESEARCH UPDATE – Hunger and CravingsNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Sep 1, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Doing Bright Line Eating with ADHD September 1, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. Our Social Media Team regularly receives requests for advice on how to be successful in Bright Line Eating when you have ADD or ADHD. Now, I don’t have any personal experience with either condition and thus was hesitant to offer guidance, so I decided to poll our community for their wisdom. Watch to hear the responses I received, as well as my take on the subject. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/perfectionism-vs-optimalism/ (PrevPreviousPerfectionism vs. Optimalism) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/plant-based-eating-inflammation-and-covid-severity/ (NextPlant-Based Eating, Inflammation, and COVID SeverityNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Aug 25, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Perfectionism vs. Optimalism August 25, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. A few days ago, I was on the Bright Lifers’ Accountability Call, and I coached a woman I hadn’t heard from in years whom I’d helped many times in the past. The last time I’d talked with her, she was really struggling, so I was delighted to hear that she was in her Bright Body now and maintaining her weight pretty effortlessly. But then she shared that she is still profoundly confused about her food and about what to eat. Watch the Vlog to hear how I walked her through her challenge. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/harsh-criticisms-of-bright-line-eating-and-how-theyre-scientifically-unfounded/ (PrevPreviousHarsh Criticisms of Bright Line Eating (and How They’re Scientifically Unfounded)) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/09/doing-bright-line-eating-with-adhd/ (NextDoing Bright Line Eating with ADHDNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Aug 18, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Harsh Criticisms of Bright Line Eating (and How They’re Scientifically Unfounded) August 18, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. I had a lot swirling around in my head while shooting this week’s Vlog. I never use a teleprompter or have any kind of script, which can be a bit daunting at times when I’m discussing important and nuanced topics like the ones covered today: harsh criticisms of BLE and response inhibition. Watch to hear the fascinating way that they intersect. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/anniversary-week/ (PrevPreviousAnniversary Week) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/perfectionism-vs-optimalism/ (NextPerfectionism vs. OptimalismNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Aug 11, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Anniversary Week August 11, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. This week, we celebrated two very special anniversaries here at Bright Line Eating: the birth of this movement and my own sobriety date. Usually, around this time of year, I offer a Vlog on lessons learned or a similar topic, but I decided to do something different this time. Watch to hear my thoughts. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/everett-does-a-witnessed-parts-work-session-on-susan/ (PrevPreviousEverett Does a “Witnessed Parts Work Session” on Susan) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/harsh-criticisms-of-bright-line-eating-and-how-theyre-scientifically-unfounded/ (NextHarsh Criticisms of Bright Line Eating (and How They’re Scientifically Unfounded)Next) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Aug 4, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Everett Does a “Witnessed Parts Work Session” on Susan August 4, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. Last night, I co-hosted a workshop with Everett Considine on Parts Work (Internal Family Systems). I explained what Parts Work is, we talked about it in the context of BLE, and Everett discussed the various forms of resistance that people can have. We also demonstrated the process as Everett guided me through a Witnessed Parts Work Session. It was pretty vulnerable for me, and I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the experience. Watch this week’s Vlog to hear all about it. WATCH THE WORKSHOP REPLAY Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/07/you-can-eat-two-meals-a-day-on-bright-line-eating/ (PrevPreviousYou Can Eat Two Meals a Day on Bright Line Eating) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/anniversary-week/ (NextAnniversary WeekNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Jul 28, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! You Can Eat Two Meals a Day on Bright Line Eating July 28, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. I recently had a coworker staying with me while we did some big-picture Bright Line Eating thinking. She follows the BLE food plan and finds that it works best for her to only eat two meals a day, so I had the opportunity to experience eating twice a day with her. Watch this week’s Vlog to hear how it went. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/07/mental-emotional-and-spiritual-recovery/ (PrevPreviousMental, Emotional, and Spiritual Recovery) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/08/everett-does-a-witnessed-parts-work-session-on-susan/ (NextEverett Does a “Witnessed Parts Work Session” on SusanNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Jul 21, 2021

Have you struggled with weight, dieting, or body image in the past? If so… Your Brain May Be Blocking You From Losing Weight. How susceptible are you? Take the Food Freedom Quiz Now! Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Recovery July 21, 2021 by Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D. Most people come into Bright Line Eating for physical recovery—in other words, weight loss and everything that goes along with it. But in this week’s Vlog, I talk about the other realms of recovery that exist for us to pursue along our journeys. Podcast Audio https://brightlineeating.com/2021/07/can-food-actually-be-addictive/ (PrevPreviousCan Food Actually Be Addictive?) https://brightlineeating.com/2021/07/you-can-eat-two-meals-a-day-on-bright-line-eating/ (NextYou Can Eat Two Meals a Day on Bright Line EatingNext) Follow Bright Line Eating® Facebook Page @brightlineeating Facebook Group @brightlineeatingOFFICIAL YouTube @brightlineeating TikTok @brightlineeating Instagram @brightlineeating Pinterest @brightlineeating

Jul 14, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. People often have questions or feel resistance when the topic of food addiction comes up, and in this week’s Vlog, I address those concerns. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating/ (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating/) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating/) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson/ (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson/) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson/ (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson/) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/07/can-food-actually-be-addictive/ (Can Food Actually Be Addictive?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 7, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve covered the topic of refined sugar extensively over the years, but what I haven’t talked about is the idea of “natural flavors” and how they might affect you. Believe it or not, companies can sneak refined sugar into products without having to disclose it on their labels. Watch this week’s Vlog to learn more. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating/ (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating/) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating/) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson/ (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson/) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson/ (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson/) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/07/natural-flavors/ (Natural Flavors) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 30, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I was in New York City with one of my kids this past weekend, and the trip reminded me of a piece of science that I learned recently but haven’t shared with you yet. Watch this week’s Vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating/ (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating/) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating/) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson/ (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson/) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson/ (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson/) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/06/how-sunlight-suppresses-appetite/ (How Sunlight Suppresses Appetite) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 23, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Here at Bright Line Eating, we just wrapped up the Food Freedom launch and welcomed a whole new cohort of Boot Campers into the fold. During the festivities, someone asked me an excellent question on a Facebook Live session, and I saved it for this week’s Vlog. Watch to hear my answer. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/06/does-bright-line-eating-get-easier/ (Does Bright Line Eating Get Easier?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 16, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On a recent Facebook Live session, I was asked a question that I thought would be a fantastic topic for this week’s Vlog because over 30,000 people new to Bright Line Eating have joined the fold during our current Food Freedom launch. That makes this the perfect opportunity to share some science that I’ve never presented before. Watch to hear all about it. https://info.brightlineeating.com/ff21-lfsp/ (I WANT TO JOIN THE BOOT CAMP!) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/06/the-science-of-eating-what-you-committed/ (The Science of Eating What You Committed) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 9, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Right now, at the time of shooting this video, we’re in the middle of the Food Freedom Masterclass Series launch. During Facebook Lives I’ve done as part of the festivities, I’ve been asked a particular question multiple times, so I decided to answer it in this week’s Vlog for everyone to hear. https://info.brightlineeating.com/ff21-video2-opt-in/ (TAKE ME TO FOOD FREEDOM!) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/06/can-you-eat-fruit-on-bright-line-eating/ (Can You Eat Fruit on Bright Line Eating?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 2, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project, among many other fantastic books, wrote in her blog about the concept of how some people are abstainers and some people are moderators by nature. I think it’s pretty interesting to look at Bright Line Eating through this lens, so watch this week’s Vlog to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/06/moderators-vs-abstainers/ (Moderators vs. Abstainers) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 26, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. What do famous writer/director Judd Apatow and your Bright Line Eating journey have in common? Watch this week’s Vlog to find out and hear my thoughts on a phenomenal book I just read that deeply relates to what we do here at BLE. Get your copy now! https://amzn.to/2Rz0ke9 (AMAZON) Don’t forget to send your receipt for Decoding Greatness to DG@BrightLineEating.com to unlock the special interview between Ron and Susan. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/05/reverse-engineering-ble/ (Reverse Engineering BLE) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 19, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s Vlog, I tackle a complicated question: is it possible to have too much support in Bright Line Eating? You might think you know what I would say, but my answer will probably surprise you… FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/05/too-much-support/ (Too Much Support) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 12, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s Vlog, I talk about a concept that every single one of us will likely experience at some point in our Bright Line Eating journeys, particularly as we transition to maintenance. Watch to hear my thoughts about interpreting data as you adjust your food plan and how often to weigh yourself as you go through that process. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/05/tampering/ (Tampering) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 5, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s Vlog, I talk about something many of us might take for granted: chewing. I discuss its impact on our skulls, our teeth, our brains, and, of course, our waistlines. Watch to hear my thoughts on the fascinating science behind the process. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/05/what-chewing-does-for-you/ (What Chewing Does for You) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 28, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I just learned something and I’m so excited to share it with you, because I think it relates to our Bright Line Eating journeys in a couple of very significant ways. Watch this week’s Vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/04/food-waste/ (Food Waste) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 21, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The topic of this week’s Vlog is long overdue. We receive questions all the time from women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and wondering how to do Bright Line Eating successfully. Watch to hear my thorough response. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/04/doing-ble-when-youre-pregnant-or-breastfeeding/ (Doing BLE When You’re Pregnant or Breastfeeding) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 14, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Here at Bright Line Eating, our amazing Social Media Team combs through our various feeds to gain an understanding of what our community is thinking and wondering about. They suggested this week’s Vlog topic based on a question they were asked about how to deal with the messaging everywhere telling us that life is hard right now because we’re in a pandemic, so we should treat ourselves. Watch to hear my thoughts. https://info.brightlineeating.com/grit21-lfsp/ (I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT BRIGHT LINE GRIT) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/04/indulgence-culture-in-a-pandemic/ (Indulgence Culture in a Pandemic) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 7, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. You’ll notice right away that I look a little different…because I chopped all my hair off again! The topic of this week’s Vlog actually relates to me cutting my hair off, and I’m going to share some research on how it applies to you and your Bright Line Eating journey. I realize it’s not anywhere near January 1st, but, this research applies just about equally all year long. Watch to hear all about it. Click below to learn about the 4-hour LIVE workshop I’m doing this week. https://info.brightlineeating.com/grit21-concierge/ (I WANT TO KNOW MORE) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/04/should-you-start-a-new-diet-on-january-1st/ (Should You Start a New Diet on January 1st?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 31, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’m so excited for what I get to share with you this week, because I’ve been sitting on it for the last couple of months. There is a book that I’ve experienced (yes, experienced) that has changed my life, and yesterday, it was finally published. Watch the Vlog to hear all about it and why I think it could be life-changing for you, too. Get your copy now! https://amzn.to/3djcuyj (AMAZON) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/risk-forward-victoria-labalme/1138122640 (BARNES & NOBLE) Don’t forget to send your receipt for Risk Forward to rf@brightlineeating.com to unlock the special interview between Victoria and Susan. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/03/risk-forward/ (Risk Forward) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 24, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week is the final installment in the 3-part Vlog series all about what Bright Liners eat for their meals. Watch to hear what Susan and several of our beloved community members eat for their dinners. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/03/what-bright-liners-eat-for-dinner/ (What Bright Liners Eat for Dinner) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 17, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. We are back this week with the second installment of the 3-part Vlog series all about what Bright Liners eat for their meals. Watch to learn some delicious BLE meal ideas for lunch. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/03/what-bright-liners-eat-for-lunch/ (What Bright Liners Eat for Lunch) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 10, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Today is very exciting because it’s the start of a 3-part Vlog series all about what members of Bright Line Eating actually eat for their meals every day. (Funnily enough, we don’t often talk about this in the weekly Vlog.) First up this week is breakfast, and I can’t wait for you to see it! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/03/what-bright-liners-eat-for-breakfast/ (What Bright Liners Eat for Breakfast) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 3, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve released a Vlog nearly every week (with only a couple exceptions) for the last several years, and believe it or not, I’ve never specifically covered the topic of alcohol. Watch this week’s Vlog to hear the reason for that along with a detailed discussion around alcohol and Bright Line Eating. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/03/alcohol/ (Alcohol) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 24, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Bright Line Eating is radically different in its approach to health and weight loss because it recommends explicitly that you do not exercise when you first begin the program. In this week’s Vlog, I explain the reasons for that recommendation and discuss when it’s safe to incorporate exercise into your routine. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/02/when-to-start-exercising/ (When to Start Exercising) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 17, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Bright Lifers have been asking me for a long time to talk about a particular subject, and because it’s very much on my mind right now, I decided to address it in this week’s Vlog. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/02/weight-creep-in-maintenance/ (Weight Creep in Maintenance) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 10, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I recently got to spend some time on Zoom with someone whose work I’ve loved and benefitted from for years. His name is Tal Ben-Shahar, and he’s a Positive Psychology professor and author who I was lucky enough to take a class with more than a decade ago. During our hour together on Zoom, he shared a Spanish proverb with me that completely blew my mind, and I knew I had to pass the message to you. Watch the Vlog to hear it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/02/a-spanish-proverb/ (A Spanish Proverb) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 3, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Every five years, the United States reviews and updates its dietary guidelines, which are important because they influence crucial standards like school lunch programs, among many other things. The committee that revises the guidelines has an advisory committee of 20 scientists and doctors who make recommendations based on all the current available science. Those advisors made some very interesting suggestions when the review process happened again this past December. Watch the Vlog to hear what they recommended, what was actually implemented, and what my thoughts are on the topic. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/02/new-us-dietary-guidelines/ (New U.S. Dietary Guidelines) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 27, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Sometimes I find myself wondering why people develop addictions to certain things and not others. There’s so much we could be addicted to, including behaviors like gambling or shopping or gaming. So why are there people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol but are unaffected by food? Why do some food addicts have difficulty with caffeine and others don’t? It’s such an interesting topic, and you can hear my thoughts in this week’s Vlog. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/01/developing-an-addiction/ (Developing an Addiction) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 20, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Right now, I’m in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York on a writer’s retreat where I’m putting the finishing touches on the manuscript for the third Bright Line Eating book, Rezoom. While I’ve been secluded here, settling into different sleeping patterns and letting go of my usual morning routine, I’ve noticed the changes in habits are starting to wear on me. Watch the Vlog to hear my thoughts about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/01/automaticity-and-self-care/ (Automaticity and Self-Care) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 13, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week’s Vlog is special because we’re celebrating the first Bright Line Eating book being published in paperback. To commemorate the occasion, I decided to share with you some interesting tidbits that you might not know about how the book came to be, how I felt as I was writing it, and much more. Watch to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/01/4-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-book/ (4 Things You Might Not Know About the Book) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 6, 2021

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I know that we have a lot of people starting or Rezooming Bright Line Eating right now, because that’s how this time of year usually goes—everyone is kicking off their resolutions. So for the first Vlog of 2021, I decided to talk about cravings and an incredibly important mindset shift that will help you be successful in managing them. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () https://instagram.com/brightlineeating/ (https://instagram.com/brightlineeating) On Facebook: https://facebook.com/brightlineeating (https://facebook.com/brightlineeating) On Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (Follow on Pinterest) https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating (https://pinterest.com/brightlineeating) On YouTube: https://youtube.com/brightlineeating (https://youtube.com/brightlineeating) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson (https://facebook.com/SusanPeirceThompson) On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson) The post https://brightlineeating.com/2021/01/handling-food-cravings-successfully/ (Handling Food Cravings Successfully) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 30, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s the last Vlog of 2020. How does one encapsulate such a year? Sometimes when I’m about to record a Vlog like this, I feel so underprepared for the task. Luckily, a quote from Walt Disney gave me the inspiration I needed. Watch the Vlog to hear it along with my reflections as we move into the new year. https://foodfreedom.brightlineeating.com/rbrz21-event-page/ (LEARN MORE ABOUT REBOOT REZOOM) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/12/2020-into-2021/ (2020 Into 2021) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 23, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I was doing a Facebook Live session recently, and someone asked me a very interesting question. They wanted to know if they should be concerned that they take a lot of pleasure in their Bright Line meals—is that still considered being “free?” I thought it was such a great and timely topic that I decided to shoot a whole Vlog on it. Watch to hear my response. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/12/enjoying-our-food/ (Enjoying Our Food) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 9, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I just got my laptop out and searched all the Bright Line Eating Vlogs that I’ve shot, and I was shocked to discover that there is not a single one on acceptance. And there should be. So today’s the day. Watch to hear my thoughts on how acceptance relates to the question of identifying as a food addict, personal relationships, and anything else in your life that you may find troubling. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/12/acceptance/ (Acceptance) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 2, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A short while ago, I was talking to a Bright Liner and she shared a really powerful awareness that she’d recently had. I made a note to include it in a weekly Vlog because I thought it was so relevant to our collective Bright Line Eating journeys, especially during the holidays. Watch to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/12/pick-your-sad/ (Pick Your Sad) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 25, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In America, it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and for this week’s Vlog, I want to talk about a topic that is relevant regardless of what part of the world you live in or which holidays you celebrate (if any). I want to talk about “thanks” and “giving,” because in my opinion, the most important perspective for long-term recovery from any addiction is one of gratitude and service. Watch the Vlog to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/11/thanks-and-giving/ (Thanks and Giving) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 18, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, I’m bringing the Vlog to you from a special location, but you won’t be hearing much from me. We asked our beloved Bright Lifers to send in videos and tell us how they handle talking to friends and family about Bright Line Eating during the holidays. (We’ve only done a Vlog like this once before, and it was such a hit that we knew we had to do it again.) So if you’ve been thinking about how you’re going to say “no, thank you” when you’re offered NMF (Not My Food), this Vlog is for YOU. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/11/languaging-our-no-thank-you/ (Languaging Our “No, Thank You”) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 11, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Thanksgiving is fast approaching here in America, and this year is probably going to look a little (or a lot) different than most years because of the pandemic. Even so, if you celebrate the holiday, you might be starting to think about how to handle it. Around this time every year, I usually release a Vlog addressing those holiday eating concerns, but I’m not going to do that this year. Instead, I’m going to change things up a bit and discuss an edgy topic that relates to the holidays. 2015 THANKSGIVING VLOG 2016 THANKSGIVING VLOG 2017 THANKSGIVING VLOG 2018 THANKSGIVING VLOG FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/11/addiction-deceit-and-denial/ (Addiction, Deceit, and Denial) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 4, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s the day after Election Day here in the United States, and during a moment in our country when tensions are at such a high, I wanted to offer a message that a dear friend shared with me recently. It really resonated and I think it might hit home with you, too. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/11/little-bit-of-good/ (Little Bit of Good) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 28, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I was recently made aware of something really exciting that one of our Bright Line Eating employees did, and I thought it would make an excellent Vlog topic. So this week, I’m joined by JP, one of our incredible Customer Support Associates, to share some pearls of wisdom that you might find helpful along your BLE journey. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/10/eight-lessons-in-eight-months/ (Eight Lessons in Eight Months) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 21, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s October 2020 and Halloween is just around the corner. You may be questioning how to handle this candy-centric holiday, especially if you’re new to Bright Line Eating. In this week’s Vlog, I talk about how you can keep your lines bright through the end of the month, along with how I handle the candy overload with my kids. Even if you don’t partake in Halloween, for whatever reason, these tips translate to any food-related holiday. Tune in to hear more. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/10/halloween/ (Halloween) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 14, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. There are many useful tools in my Bright Line Eating toolbox and in this week’s Vlog, I talk about the one that I turn to when I’m in an impossibly difficult situation. I call it a God box or a God jar, but you may choose to call it something different (in BLE, we take care to be faith-neutral). Curious? Watch to hear the details. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/10/the-god-box/ (The God Box) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 7, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. For this week’s Vlog, I revisit a topic that I’ve covered in the Bright Line Eating book and in the Boot Camp, among other places: how often you should weigh yourself. My memory of what I’ve said in the past is, essentially, “It’s up to you.” But my perspective has changed a little bit now, and I want to share it with you. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/10/how-often-to-weigh-yourself/ (How Often to Weigh Yourself) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 30, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The other day, I was talking to someone who is relatively new to working a strong Bright Line Eating program. I asked her how she was doing, and she said that she woke up that morning bright and alert at 5:30 a.m. after 7 hours of sleep, which was unusual for her. Watch the vlog to hear what I told her about how her brain is changing as a result of doing BLE. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/09/meal-timing-and-circadian-rhythms/ (Meal Timing and Circadian Rhythms) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 23, 2020

Some time ago, I was doing a coaching call with a bunch of Bright Liners, and I ended up talking about this thing called intermittent reinforcement. Several people responded and asked if I would do a Vlog about it, so here it is! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram On Facebook On YouTube FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/09/intermittent-reinforcement/ (Intermittent Reinforcement) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 16, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This Monday, I celebrated one year of consecutive Bright Line days where I ate exactly according to my food plan. There have been times during my recovery when I’ve struggled to string together Bright Line days, which, ironically, happened to be while I was trying to grow this Bright Line Eating movement. I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to tell you that I have a year Bright, and in this week’s vlog, I share the four core lessons that I learned during my journey over the past year. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/09/one-year-bright/ (One Year Bright) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 9, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s an intense time right now, and we’re coming into a season where there’s likely to be even more stressors on top of a year that has already been draining and difficult for so many of us. This week’s vlog is all about how to navigate this time with our Bright Lines and sanity intact. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/09/easy-does-it/ (Easy Does It) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 26, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Earlier this year, for the first time ever, I interviewed a Bright Liner for the weekly Vlog. His name is James Hefke, and his story is a testament to the magic that is BLE. The last time we checked in with James, it was before COVID. So I thought it was time to catch up. In this week’s Vlog, James and I discuss his journey so far, how he’s been handling the pandemic, and all of the incredible rewards he has experienced as a result of his program. I highly recommend you take the time to watch—this one is a must-see. WATCH THE FIRST INTERVIEW WITH JAMES WATCH THE SECOND INTERVIEW WITH JAMES FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/08/catching-up-with-james-part-2/ (Catching Up With James – Part 2) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 12, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I haven’t been sleeping well lately. And after several nights of limited rest, I finally figured out why. This realization led me to think deeply about Bright Line Eating’s approach towards acknowledging and supporting mental illness. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/08/giving-voice-to-mental-illness/ (Giving Voice to Mental Illness) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 5, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On a Bright Lifers Coaching Call recently, someone asked for support around dealing with her partner who has shown her in various ways that he’s not happy with her Bright Line Eating program. It can be quite an adjustment for those closest to us when we start doing BLE, and growing pains are typical. Watch this week’s vlog for my thoughts on how to navigate this very common hurdle in our BLE journeys. https://ble.life/cjkb (DOWNLOAD THE FAILSAFE FEEDBACK FRAMEWORK) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/08/talking-with-your-partner-about-ble/ (Talking with Your Partner About BLE) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 29, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve been reading a book recently called Untamed by Glennon Doyle, which I cannot recommend highly enough. There’s a lot of synergy between what she talks about and the concepts we focus on here in Bright Line Eating. In this week’s vlog, I talk about one of those topics and how it relates to your BLE journey. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/07/deep-knowing/ (Deep Knowing) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 22, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The Bright Line Freedom course kicked off yesterday, and because we were launching, Everett Considine and I have been on Facebook Lives talking about Parts Work a lot. During these Q&A sessions, a topic came up several times that prompted a discussion about the key difference between Parts Work and other modalities of inner work. I think it’s quite fascinating, and you can watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/07/trailheads/ (Trailheads) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 15, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I have some news to report in this week’s vlog. According to the Czarnikow Group, a reputable research and finance firm in the sugar industry, sugar consumption went down, year to year, for the first time in FORTY years. This brought up a very interesting point about the effects of living in this time of COVID and the changes happening in our collective mindsets right now. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/07/sugar-caring-about-others-health-and-consent/ (Sugar, Caring About Others’ Health, and Consent) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 8, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about a really helpful tool that I just returned to using in my own Bright Line Eating program. I’m shocked that I’ve never shot a vlog on this before, but better late than never! Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/07/committing-food/ (Committing Food) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 1, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I just celebrated my birthday a few days ago, so I thought it would be the perfect time to talk more about doing Bright Line Eating during special occasions. Watch the vlog to hear my thoughts. https://happybirthday.susanpeircethompson.com (WISH SUSAN A HAPPY BIRTHDAY) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/07/my-18th-bright-birthday/ (My 18th Bright Birthday) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 24, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On a Zoom call recently, I was asked a very compelling ice-breaker question about my habits during this time of COVID. It made me think of a question I want to ask YOU. For the first time ever, I want to invite you to start a conversation in the comments below the vlog because I know we can learn from each other. Watch to hear the question and join the discussion. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/06/habits-when-traveling-and-hosting-houseguests/ (Habits When Traveling and Hosting Houseguests) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 17, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. These days, I have a buddy that I check in with every night. We have similar goals around our bodies and our health, and we hold each other accountable for sticking to routines like exercise. We use some language that I really want to share with you, because it’s so illustrative of the way we orient to life each day when we’re strong in our BLE program. Watch this week’s vlog to hear more. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/06/wash-rinse-repeat/ (Wash. Rinse. Repeat.) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 10, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. 2020 has been quite the year so far. There are certainly lessons amidst the struggles, but regardless, difficult circumstances take a toll on our systems. In this week’s vlog, I discuss how stressors like the ones we’re living through right now affect the body and what you can do to minimize the negative impact. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/06/cortisol-and-weight-gain-during-stressful-times/ (Cortisol and Weight Gain During Stressful Times) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 3, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. There’s a lot of pain in the world right now. Society, hearts, and souls are inflamed, and for good reason. The topics on everyone’s minds right now affect us all, both individually and collectively. I have been thinking deeply about my role in promoting equity and inclusion as I’ve watched events unfold. There is much work to be done, on a personal level and also within the Bright Line Eating movement. Hear my thoughts in this week’s vlog. http://bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES (ANTIRACISM RESOURCES) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/06/solidarity/ (SOLIDARITY) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 27, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Here at Bright Line Eating, we value honesty and showing up exactly as we are, which also happens to be one of my character strengths. In this week’s vlog, I talk about character strengths, how to figure out what yours are, and how to utilize them in the best way possible. https://ble.life/k9yi (REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR NOW) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/05/discover-and-use-your-signature-strengths/ (Discover and Use Your Signature Strengths) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 20, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’m so excited for this week’s vlog, because I get to talk about some important changes that have been in the works here at Bright Line Eating. You see, there are a few terms that are used all the time in the Bright Line Eating community, and they’ve been due for an update for quite a while. Watch the vlog to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/05/introducing-three-new-terms/ (Introducing Three New Terms) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 13, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Not long ago, I was on a Facebook Live session and I was asked a question that I instantly knew I wanted to shoot a vlog on: why are some people successful in Bright Line Eating while others are just unable to stick to the program? Watch the vlog to hear my answer. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/05/why-some-stay-bright-and-others-dont/ (Why Some Stay Bright and Others Don’t) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 6, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I recently received a question from a Bright Liner asking for clarification on something I talk about often: our levels of stress versus support. In this week’s vlog, I delve deeper into this topic because it’s so important during these COVID-19 days. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/05/raising-the-support-bar/ (Raising the Support Bar) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 29, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A little while ago, a post in the Bright Line Eating OFFICIAL Facebook group caught my eye and really got my wheels turning because it brought up such an important topic: the fundamental difference between BLE and traditional weight-loss plans. So I decided to record a vlog on it. Watch to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/04/using-willpower-not-to-break/ (Using Willpower Not to Break) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 22, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. My morning yesterday started off with an incredibly frustrating ordeal. The situation could have completely ruined my day, but thankfully, I was able to recall a key ninja skill to turn things around. It’s such a central tool in my kit that I can’t believe I haven’t shot a vlog on it before today. I hope you’ll tune in, because this tool is not only important, it’s so timely for so many of us right now. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/04/bunny-slippers/ (Bunny Slippers) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 15, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A couple weeks ago, we asked our Bright Lifers to share what they’re doing to stay sane and grounded during this time of uncertainty and upheaval. We received so many wonderful responses that we couldn’t possibly fit them all into one vlog, so our team selected a diverse array of suggestions for you to watch. Hope you enjoy! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/04/quarantips/ (QuaranTips) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 8, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve been meaning to shoot this vlog for you for a while. It’s a follow-up to a crucial vlog from last July called “Invited vs. Included” that resulted from a life-altering incident at the 2019 Family Reunion. I’ve spent the past several months on an incredibly important journey, and I’m going to tell you all about it in this week’s vlog. It has everything to do with the new course, too. We’re changing the name from Bright Line Sisu to Bright Line Grit, and if you want to know why, this is the vlog to watch. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/04/an-update-on-inclusivity-sisu-tribe-and-swearing/ (An Update on Inclusivity: Sisu, Tribe, and Swearing) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 1, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been spending hours and hours answering questions and hanging out with our community in near-daily Facebook Live sessions. They’ve been priceless. And one message I’m getting loud and clear is that people want to stay in-the-know. And I hear ya. So, today’s vlog is entirely dedicated to explaining some potentially enormous changes that are coming down the pike in Bright Line Eating Land. It’s likely to be the first of several vlogs over the next few weeks (and perhaps months) where I take extra care to keep you informed. https://foodfreedom.brightlineeating.com/sisu2020-webinars/ (REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR NOW) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/04/whats-coming-in-ble-land/ (What’s Coming in BLE-Land) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 26, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The last couple of weeks have been an absolute rollercoaster. If you’re feeling like you don’t even know what to feel, I’m right there with you. So, for this week’s vlog, I wanted to share a few cognitive strategies that I’ve been using to rein in my racing thoughts. I hope you find them helpful. CHECK OUT THE RESOURCES PAGE! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/03/three-helpful-mental-strategies/ (Three Helpful Mental Strategies) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 19, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Since I started putting out a video blog every Wednesday over five years ago, it’s never happened that world events changed so rapidly that seven days felt like an inappropriately long stretch of time between vlogs. Until now. But it’s finally Wednesday, and of course I have thoughts to share. Please know that this installment of the weekly vlog arrives in your inbox with a universe of love and care for you and yours. Monique Rhodes is offering a free, 10-minute meditation to soothe us during these stressful times. https://mailchi.mp/moniquerhodes/stressmeditation (GET THE FREE TRACK NOW!) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/03/connection-in-the-coronavirus-chaos/ (Connection in the Coronavirus Chaos) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 11, 2020

It’s not uncommon to feel your world starting to narrow in when you first start Bright Line Eating. Suddenly, you have food limits and may feel isolated in social situations. It can feel very confining and restrictive. But I’m happy to tell you it doesn’t last. In fact, recovery is shaped like an hourglass, and your horizons will soon expand. In this vlog, I share what that may look like. The Weekly Vlog: The Hourglass Shape of Recovery | Bright Line Living | The Official Bright Line Eating Podcast

Mar 4, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report this week showing that obesity rates are still rising. At this rate, by 2030, 50% of American adults will be classified as obese. Unfortunately, there is still widespread confusion and contradictory information about how to address the problem (even on the CDC website). Despite the disheartening statistics, there is good news. Watch this week’s vlog to hear more. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/03/obesity-rates-climb-again/ (Obesity Rates Climb Again) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 26, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A few years ago, I shot a vlog about a super effective tool in Bright Line Eating called stickk contracts. I’ve recently been using them a lot and found them very helpful, and I realized there’s probably a lot of people in our community who haven’t heard about them yet or might need a refresher. Watch this week’s vlog to learn more. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/02/stickk-contracts/ (StickK Contracts) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 20, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A few weeks ago, we did something new with the vlog and featured a wonderful Bright Line Eater named James. I’m very invested in his journey, and, based on the comments below the vlog, so is the BLE community! If you’d like to see how he’s doing, watch this week’s vlog. Watch the beginning of James’s journey. Catch up with James’s journey – Part 2. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/02/catching-up-with-james/ (Catching Up with James) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 12, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A short while ago, a Bright Lifer told me about a strange discovery she had made, and I was so fascinated that I decided to shoot an entire vlog on the topic. Watch to hear what happened and what I think about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/02/why-dont-i-bite-my-nails-anymore/ (Why Don’t I Bite My Nails Anymore?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 5, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A few weeks ago, I shot a vlog that really deserves a follow up. It was called “Let’s Make History Together,” and in it, I shared a momentous opportunity for the Bright Line Eating community. Watch this week’s vlog to hear what happened. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/02/lifestyle-medicine-follow-up/ (Lifestyle Medicine Follow-Up) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 15, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. For the first time ever, this week’s vlog features a very special guest. Overweight for as long as he can remember, James Hefke was 372 pounds at his heaviest. He was waking up 82 times every hour and on the brink of suicide when he found Bright Line Eating. James is now on Day 23 and has released 25 pounds. Tune in to this week’s vlog to hear James’s incredible story and help cheer him on as begins his transformational BLE journey. WATCH THE SECOND INTERVIEW WITH JAMES WATCH THE THIRD INTERVIEW WITH JAMES FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/01/meet-james/ (Meet James) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 8, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I heard a saying for the first time recently, and ever since then, I’ve been thinking about it all the time. In this week’s vlog, I tell you the story about how I heard this saying and explain how it relates to your Bright Line Eating journey. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/01/the-situation-is-the-boss/ (The Situation is the Boss) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 2, 2020

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Happy New Year!!! I just shot the vlog this afternoon because I wanted to give you a timely message as you take your first steps into the new decade. Watch now to hear it. https://foodfreedom.brightlineeating.com/rbrz20-myc/ (I’M READY TO START MY JOURNEY) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2020/01/three-things-that-matter-more-than-your-goals/ (Three Things that Matter More than Your Goals) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 25, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s the last vlog of the month, the year, and the decade. Before deciding what to shoot, I did a lot of reflecting and looking back over the last ten years. In pondering everything that’s happened, I noticed a quirk in how I frame things when I look at my past. And that became the subject of this week’s vlog. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/12/opportunity/ (Opportunity) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 19, 2019

THE NEW VLOG PREMIERS IN: [ujicountdown id="BLE" expire="2019/12/18 22:00" hide="true" url="https://brightlineeating.com/2019/12/lets-make-history-together/" subscr="" recurring="" rectype="second" repeats=""] --> Having issues watching this video? Click here. This is, without a doubt, the most important vlog I’ve ever put out into the world. The global Bright Line Eating community has the opportunity, this moment, today, to make history. You probably already know that doctors do not receive significant education about nutrition and lifestyle in medical school. Crazy, right? Well, what may be even crazier is that there is something we can do RIGHT NOW to change that. It’s an unbelievable opportunity. There’s a lot to it, and I share it all in this video. I know this vlog is long, but please watch to the end, because if you miss this message, you will literally be missing your opportunity to help make history. Let’s revolutionize the field of medicine. Together. Today. UPDATE: IT’S DONE!!! WE DID IT!!! The Bright Line Eating community raised all the money in LESS THAN THREE DAYS’ time. Amazing!!! Thank you. Wow. We love you. The $250,000 donation campaign to fund the creation of a test bank of questions is complete. If you still want to make a tax-deductible donation to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, additional funds will help further the Lifestyle Medicine mission, including creating CURRICULUM materials to help TEACH health care practitioners the science and medicine of treating and preventing disease through healthy nutrition and lifestyle. https://lmquestionbank.org/donate (CLICK HERE TO DONATE) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/12/lets-make-history-together/ (Let’s Make History…TOGETHER) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 12, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Once in a while, I get really up close and personal with a vlog. This is one of those weeks. So if you’re looking for straight-up weight-loss tips, this week’s vlog isn’t it. If you love the personal stuff, the stuff that gets deep and gritty and super-revealing, then this one’s for you. And of course, this vlog has lessons for your Bright Line Eating journey (and they’re not insignificant ones). It isn’t just about food around here. Often, we eat because of how we’re living our lives. This week’s vlog is an inside look at my life right now, and the take-home lesson is valuable for most anyone who has struggled with food. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/12/rezooming-a-marriage/ (Rezooming A Marriage) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 4, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a question that pretty much everyone asks at some point along their Bright Line Eating™ journeys. I bet you’ll be able to relate, so watch now to hear what the question is and my thoughts about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/12/disease-management/ (Disease Management) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 27, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s the day before Thanksgiving, so you may be expecting a vlog all about getting through the holiday. That’s what I’ve done in the past, because the holidays can be challenging, and it’s important information. This year, though, I felt compelled to do something different. I decided to shift focus and share with you one small piece of advice that’s been on my mind all week—a tip so small that it’s actually huge. Watch this week’s vlog to hear more. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/11/micro-gratitudes/ (Micro-Gratitudes) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 20, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Non-Scale Victories, Rezoom, NMF, NMD… If you’ve been doing Bright Line Eating™, you know what those words and acronyms mean. They’re Bright Line Eating™ neologisms. Phrases the BLE community made up, part of a shared vocabulary. Now, over the past couple of weeks, a new term has surfaced. Watch this week’s vlog to find out what I’ve been saying and why I think the newest BLE-ism may be the most important one, especially as we head into the (wonderful, albeit challenging) holiday season. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/11/boo-crew/ (Boo Crew) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 13, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In May of 2017, I shot a vlog called “Letting Go of the Number.” In that vlog, I talked about how I had decided to abandon my forever-and-ever, perfect goal weight after a long plateau at a higher number. But now, two and a half years later, I’m at that first goal weight, while eating MORE food. What shifted? The answer: I started to sauna. Sauna use is a miracle practice that effortlessly moved me past my weight-loss plateau. In this week’s vlog, I’ll explain in detail the myriad benefits of sauna use (and we’ll even take a field trip in my house, to my sauna). Trust me, this extra-long, science-packed vlog is one you won’t want to miss. https://ble.life/3xhn (Ari Whitten’s Sauna Benefits Article) https://ble.life/0frq (Find Out More About Sunlighten Saunas) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/11/why-i-sauna/ (Why I Sauna) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 6, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. What do relapse and holiday mindset have in common? Everything, it turns out. Now that it’s November, I’m thinking about how to keep my lines bright over the holidays. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts on what it’s like to wake up out of the trance of addictive thinking (and eating) and, of course, how to discover real warmth, connection, and cheer with Bright Line Eating™ this holiday season. ORDER THE COOKBOOK NOW! Give-a-Gift Template Want to gift the Official BLE Cookbook? Fill out this beautiful template to give your loved one a personalized copy! https://ble-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/give-a-gift-cookbook-template.pdf (DOWNLOAD THE PDF) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/11/your-holiday-mindset-guide/ (I’ve Been in Relapse (Your Holiday Mindset Guide)) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 31, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, for the first time ever, I shot the weekly vlog LIVE so we could find out together, in real time, if The Official Bright Line Eating™ Cookbook: Weight Loss Made Simple made the NYT bestseller list. So did we do it?? And, of course, there’s a Bright Line Eating™ message woven in. How do we best handle news, whether good or bad, and why does it matter so much for our mental health that we get good at receiving BIG news? This VLOG is worth watching for SO many reasons. ORDER THE COOKBOOK NOW! Give-a-Gift Template Want to gift the Official BLE Cookbook? Fill out this beautiful template to give your loved one a personalized copy! https://ble-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/give-a-gift-cookbook-template.pdf (DOWNLOAD THE PDF) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/10/receiving-news-both-good-and-bad/ (Receiving News (Both Good and Bad)) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 20, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Did you know?!?! Today is a very special day!!! I have just released a surprise vlog (VLOGs always come out on Wednesdays…but not this one!) about something SUPER exciting that’s happening TODAY (Sunday, October 20th, 2019) related to the release of The Official Bright Line Eating™ Cookbook. This vlog is about something mega time-sensitive, so be sure to watch before 5 p.m. Eastern (2 p.m. Pacific). I don’t want you to miss out on what’s about to go down. PREORDER THE COOKBOOK NOW! Give-a-Gift Template Want to gift the Official BLE Cookbook? Fill out this beautiful template to give your loved one a personalized copy! https://ble-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/give-a-gift-cookbook-template.pdf (DOWNLOAD THE PDF) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .topic-sections { max-width: 800px; margin: 30px auto; text-align: center; } .topic-sections .topic-title { margin-bottom: 20px; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined { border-bottom: 15px solid #fbe8db; display: inline-block; } .topic-sections .topic-title .underlined h2 { color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: -30px; } .topic-sections p { color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 18px !important; line-height: 1.3em; margin-bottom: 25px; } .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/10/special-sunday-vlog/ (SURPRISE VLOG!!! [TIME-SENSITIVE!]) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 17, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about a very important reframe of the concept of food addiction and share a tiny slice of science that could have a real impact on several aspects of your BLE journey, including how you think about the recipes in the Official Bright Line Eating™ Cookbook. PREORDER THE COOKBOOK NOW! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/10/umami-food-addiction-and-recipes/ (Umami, Food Addiction, and Recipes) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 9, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On October 22nd, the Official Bright Line Eating™ Cookbook: Weight Loss Made Simple will be published, but you don’t have to wait until then. You can preorder the cookbook now, and…I have gifts for you! I explain everything in this week’s vlog, and I also share the one and only way you can order the Science Bundle that I was talking about last month. PREORDER THE COOKBOOK NOW! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/10/the-official-ble-cookbook-is-here/ (THE OFFICIAL BLE COOKBOOK IS HERE!!!) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 2, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about what is possibly the most foundational concept in Bright Line Eating™. I honestly can’t believe I’ve never addressed it before, but better late than never! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/10/one-day-at-a-time/ (One Day at a Time) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 25, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This past weekend, I was in California for a wedding, and the night I flew home, I ended up meeting a Bright Lifer who has lost over 100 pounds on Bright Line Eating™. He’s in our Follow-Up Research Program, and his story got me thinking about some of the latest data that’s come out of that program. We’re about to submit a paper with 2-year Boot Camp follow-up data to the Journal of Nutrition and Weight Loss, but if you want a sneak preview, watch this week’s vlog. https://ble.life/00zq (REGISTER NOW!) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/09/updates-from-the-follow-up-research-program/ (Updates from the Follow-Up Research Program) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 19, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about a big scientific advancement that happened recently and how it’s such an important step forward for the obesity epidemic. Funny enough, it’s something the Bright Line Eating™ community has been well aware of for years. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. CHECK OUT OUR PUBLICATIONS! FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/09/ble-and-ultra-processed-foods/ (BLE and Ultra-Processed Foods) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 11, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Here at Bright Line Eating™, there’s a saying we love: “Come for the vanity; stay for the sanity.” There are so many benefits to this program besides weight loss, and in this week’s vlog, I share a bunch of NSVs, or “non-scale victories” experienced by members of our community. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/09/non-scale-victories-nsvs/ (Non-Scale Victories (NSVs)) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 5, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve been going through a lot lately. I think many people in the community have sensed that. Fundamentally, I’m okay, but I can’t pretend it’s been easy. Huge shifts are happening, and I had two major experiences recently that taught me an important lesson. Watch the vlog to hear all about it and how it relates to your BLE journey. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/09/indiscriminate-vs-nuanced/ (Indiscriminate vs. Nuanced) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 28, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I have some incredibly exciting news for this week’s vlog. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m beyond thrilled to share it with you. Watch now to hear all about it! https://www.facebook.com/groups/brightlineeatingofficial/ (JOIN BRIGHT LINE EATING™ OFFICIAL!) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/08/announcing-the-official-ble-online-community/ (Announcing the OFFICIAL BLE Online Community) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 21, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. For this week’s vlog, I’m coming to you from Norway! It’s the second anniversary celebration of the publication of Spis Deg Fri, the Norwegian version of the Bright Line Eating™ book. And I couldn’t resist pulling in a native Norwegian to join me and share her thoughts on BLE in Europe. CLICK TO ACCESS THE RESEARCH FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/08/bright-line-eating-in-europe/ (Bright Line Eating in Europe) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 14, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I recently received a special vlog topic request from a Bright Lifer, and I thought it was fantastic because it’s a subject I haven’t really covered before. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/08/dating-while-doing-bright-line-eating/ (Dating While Doing Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 7, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Last month, a series of events cracked me open like never before. A radical perspective shift resulted, making me suddenly willing to surrender to exactly what I needed. On the 5th anniversary of Bright Line Eating™, I talk about how the movement has evolved and the critical role of perspective, willingness, and self-care. Watch to find out what I have to say (from a special surprise location!). FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brightlineeating/ (Follow on Pinterest) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/08/suddenly-willing/ (Suddenly Willing) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 24, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I discuss a topic that comes up all the time in Bright Line Eating™. I discuss it a lot in our courses, but it’s so important that I thought it merited a vlog. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/07/but-wait-i-dont-feel-free/ (But Wait—I DON’T Feel Free) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 18, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The 4th Annual Bright Line Eating™ Family Reunion just wrapped up, and without a doubt, I had one main takeaway from the event. It was humbling, sobering, and life-altering. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/07/invited-vs-included/ (“Invited” vs. “Included”) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 10, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I share an incredible new tool I just discovered that is completely changing my recovery journey. I think it could change yours, too. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightlineeating/ () On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) .ig-b- { display: inline-block; } .ig-b- img { margin: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 200px; } .ig-b-v-24 { width: 100%; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/07/a-visualization-to-dissolve-fear/ (A Visualization to Dissolve Fear) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 3, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a fantastic viewer question about doing Bright Line Eating™ with children. This topic hits really close to home, because I’ve often worried about how my food habits and choices affect my daughters. Watch to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/07/weighing-food-in-front-of-young-girls/ (Weighing Food in Front of Young Girls) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 26, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I give you an update on my experience in Bright Line Freedom, and I illustrate how powerful and transformative it can be when you meet your Food Indulger and Food Controller and listen to what they’re trying to say. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/06/meeting-the-food-indulger-and-food-controller/ (Meeting the Food Indulger and Food Controller) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 19, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I just watched an incredible video about marriage, and I was struck by a powerful analogy for your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. https://youtu.be/AKTyPgwfPgg (MAKING MARRIAGE WORK W/ DR. JOHN GOTTMAN) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/06/20-years-of-marriage/ (20 Years of Marriage) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 12, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve recently received a ton of questions about cacao and whether it’s Bright Line Eating™ friendly. My answer is nuanced and has everything to do with how the brain works. It’s all in this week’s vlog! FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/06/to-cacao-or-not-to-cacao/ (To Cacao or Not to Cacao) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 5, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Last week, I recorded the vlog about my thoughts following an important conversation I’d just had with a good friend of mine. In this week’s vlog, I continue the discussion on the topic that conversation raised: the role curiosity plays in understanding the various parts of ourselves that are at work in our Bright Line Eating™ journeys. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/06/curiosity-part-2/ (Curiosity – Part 2) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 29, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A dear friend came over to catch up today, and she shared some things that have given me a lot to think about—so much so that I couldn’t fit it all in one vlog! Watch to hear all about it and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/05/curiosity-part-1/ (Curiosity – Part 1) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 23, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Lots of people in Bright Line Eating™ Land have been having surgery lately, and this morning, I found myself under the drill, which is its own little story, so this week I thought I would shoot the vlog on how to navigate surgery with BLE. Whether you have a surgery coming up or not, this vlog will provide some helpful tips. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/05/navigating-surgery-with-bright-line-eating/ (Navigating Surgery with Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 16, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The Bright Line Eating™ community is famous for its particularly loving and compassionate form of support. But what does that look like in practical terms? In particular, how do you support someone who is struggling to stick to their Bright Lines? In this week’s vlog, I provide a cheat sheet—the basic do’s and don’ts of truly loving and helpful support. And the good news is this applies not just within BLE, but in every relationship we experience. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/05/how-to-provide-loving-support/ (How to Provide Loving Support) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 8, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I was doing some writing and reflecting on my own Bright Line Eating™ journey recently, and I realized that, in my personal experience, there are three distinct stages that tend to precede a break in my Bright Lines. With this awareness, I was able to add a new tool to my arsenal that’s really helping me, and in this week’s vlog, I share it with you. Want your own copy of Susan’s Risk Rating Tracking Sheet? https://ble-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/Susan%27s%20Risk%20Rating%20Tracking%20Sheet.pdf (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PDF) https://ble-downloads.s3.amazonaws.com/Susan%27s%20Risk%20Rating%20Tracking%20Sheet.xls (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD SPREADSHEET) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/05/the-three-stages-of-a-break/ (The Three Stages of a Break) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 1, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I recently had a spiritual experience that could very well shift my future in a pretty drastic way. Watch the vlog to hear about it and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/05/the-tap-on-the-shoulder/ (The Tap on the Shoulder) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 24, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I share about a fascinating topic that came up during a recent Bright Lifers coaching call. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/04/what-ive-always-wanted/ (What I’ve Always Wanted) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 17, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a viewer’s question about whether doing the Boot Camp is necessary if you’ve read the book. My answer might surprise you. Watch the vlog to hear it. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOOT CAMP FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/04/reading-the-book-and-then-doing-the-boot-camp/ (Reading the Book and Then Doing the Boot Camp) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 11, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Recently, a friend of mine sent me a text that resonated deeply with me, and I want to share my thoughts. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/04/ive-never-met-a-strong-person-with-an-easy-past/ (I’ve Never Met a Strong Person with an Easy Past) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 3, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Recently, I got curious about the topic of counting days, so I posted a poll in the Bright Lifers group. Watch this week’s vlog to hear the fascinating results. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/04/how-bright-lifers-feel-about-counting-days/ (How Bright Lifers Feel About Counting Days) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 27, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’m excited for this week’s vlog because I’ve wanted to cover the topic for a while. If you’re a fan of when I talk science, you’ll definitely want to tune in for this one. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/03/happiness-anxiety-and-control/ (Happiness, Anxiety, and Control) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 20, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I offer a couple of insights for you on your Bright Line Eating™ journey and announce some SUPER exciting news I just received. Watch to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/03/books-and-more-books/ (Books and More Books) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 13, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A Bright Line Eater recently raised a concern about how many food-related decisions she still has to make every day, even after writing her food down the night before. I don’t think she realized that her question actually raises one of the deepest philosophical debates in the addiction/recovery world. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/03/not-an-option/ (Not an Option) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 6, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve recently noticed comments beneath some of my videos that have pointed out a habit of mine, and in this week’s vlog, I address them. If you like to geek out on science with me, you don’t want to miss it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/03/the-purpose-of-um/ (The Purpose of “Um”) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 27, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about the most important time of the day to focus on if you do Bright Line Eating™. Watch to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/02/what-you-do-before-breakfast/ (What You Do Before Breakfast) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 20, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, I decided to give up drinking coffee. Again. Does this mean I think everyone doing Bright Line Eating™ should give it up, too? My answer to that question has been shifting lately. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/02/can-you-drink-coffee-on-bright-line-eating/ (Can You Drink Coffee on Bright Line Eating?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 13, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about a common phenomenon experienced by people in recovery from food addiction (and other addictions, too). I can’t believe I’ve never covered this topic because it affects so many of us, but it’s better late than never. Watch the vlog to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/02/eating-dreams/ (Eating Dreams) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 6, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On a Bright Lifers’ coaching call last weekend, I was asked a question by someone preparing to take a trip to Japan. She wanted to know how she could enjoy herself without trying all the new cultural delicacies. It made me reflect on my own journey in a way I never had before. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/02/youre-not-missing-out/ (You’re Not Missing Out) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 30, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Over the past year, I’ve had several conversations with people who are 6s and 7s on The Susceptibility Scale™. They wanted to know what I thought the most important lessons would be for them to get “Happy, Thin, and Free™.” I shared my thoughts and, to my delight, they agreed that I had nailed it. I actually think that there are nuggets here that apply to all of us, no matter where we are on The Susceptibility Scale™. Watch the vlog to hear my thoughts. https://foodfreedomquiz.com (TAKE THE QUIZ) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/01/what-if-youre-lower-on-the-susceptibility-scale/ (What if You’re Lower on the Susceptibility Scale?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 23, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A couple of weeks ago, a rogue comment was posted under one of our videos, and the opening sentence read, “Susan, you should be ashamed of yourself.” The substance of her critique was about finances, business integrity, and weight loss recidivism. The comment was posted in a place where almost no one would have ever seen it, but I decided to raise it as the subject of this week’s vlog. Watch to hear the critique and find out what I had to say. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/01/weight-loss-recidivism/ (Weight Loss Recidivism) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 16, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, I’m coming to you from Maui during a writer’s retreat to tell you all about the new book I’m working on—the Official Bright Line Eating™ Cookbook. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/01/ble-cookbook-announcement/ (BLE Cookbook Announcement) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 9, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The Reboot Rezoom course is well underway, and to my surprise, my husband David decided to sign up for it. He’s a 3 on The Susceptibility Scale™, which is obviously a pretty different experience than the majority of people who sign up for Bright Line Eating™ courses. He recently posted in Rezoom House about what it’s like for him as a 3 on The Susceptibility Scale™ and how his experience with food and weight is different from people who are higher on the scale. He also talked about what it’s like to live with a 10++ (namely, yours truly). This week’s vlog tells the story. https://foodfreedomquiz.com (TAKE THE QUIZ) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/01/message-from-a-3/ (Message from a 3) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 3, 2019

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Yesterday was January 1st, a day that might be dubbed “International Diet Day.” But what’s the relationship between setting intentions for our food and weight on January 1st and actually achieving those intentions? What steps can we take now to dramatically increase our odds of success? I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and have noted with peculiar interest that my desire to set intentions for the new year has waned. I think I’ve figured out why. Curious? Watch the vlog to hear my thoughts. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2019/01/diet-day/ (Diet Day) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 26, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. New Year’s Day is fast approaching, and registration for BLE’s new course “Reboot Rezoom” opens in two days. A lot of folks in BLE Land are noticing that their Saboteurs are trying to convince them to eat a ton of food NOW because they’ll be restarting LATER. Perhaps we should call this the “What the Hell Effect in Advance,” and this VLOG is all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/12/the-what-the-hell-effect-in-advance/ (The What the Hell Effect in Advance) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 19, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This past week, I traveled to London, Washington, D.C., and Dallas, and in today’s vlog, I give you the details on how I’ve been navigating my food during the whirlwind. I feel Happy, Thin, and Free™ to the max, and this vlog is a testimony to the fact that living large and living free with Bright Line Eating™ is absolutely possible. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/12/have-food-will-travel/ (Have Food, Will Travel) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 12, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. As I’ve grown older, I’ve found myself more and more willing to sit with contradictory perspectives, and it’s definitely had an impact on my Bright Line Eating™ journey. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/12/paradox/ (Paradox) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 5, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Note: the term “goal body” comes from the book AC: The Power of Appetite Control by Bert Herring, MD. Here at Bright Line Eating™, we often talk about achieving “goal weight,” but in this week’s vlog, I talk about the concept of living in a “goal body.” They’re super different, and even, at times, in conflict. I believe this notion of “goal body” will be a long-term addition to our BLE vernacular. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/12/goal-body/ (Goal Body) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 29, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This is one of the most important vlogs I’ve ever recorded because I have some crazy exciting news to share with you about what’s coming next in Bright Line Eating™ Land. Watch now to hear all about it! https://www.facebook.com/groups/rebootrezoom2019/ (JOIN THE “REBOOT REZOOM IN 2019” FACEBOOK GROUP NOW!) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/11/rezoom/ (Rezoom) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 22, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Last year, the Bright Line Eating™ tribe came together in a big way to be of service and accomplished something no community has ever done before. Quite simply: we rock. And this year, we’ll carry that momentum forward. Watch the vlog to hear all about it. http://cwtr.org/2xvlQB6 (I WANT TO JOIN THE SPRING!) FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/11/charity-water/ (Charity Water) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 15, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. We’re about a week away from Thanksgiving, and in this week’s vlog, I give you a step-by-step roadmap for navigating the holiday (or any special occasion!) with your Bright Lines as bright as ever. You’ll want to bookmark this VLOG to refer to again and again. Enjoy! FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/11/your-thanksgiving-plan/ (Your Thanksgiving Plan) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 7, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The morning before I recorded this week’s vlog was a nightmare, and my response to the stress made me think about a book I’m currently reading. Watch to hear what happened and how it relates to your BLE journey. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/11/brain-over-binge/ (Brain Over Binge) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 31, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Sometimes we can see a break in our Bright Lines coming a mile away because we’ve been agonizing over the choice to eat off our plan, and sometimes a break catches us by surprise. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts on this perplexing topic. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/10/the-strange-mental-blank-spot/ (The Strange Mental Blank Spot) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 24, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I reflect on an experience I had a few weeks ago and the important lesson it taught me that feels especially relevant as we head into the holiday season. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/10/make-clean-requests/ (Make Clean Requests) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 16, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Surprise! The vlog is a day early this week! And there’s a REASON for that… Watch now to find out why the vlog is being released on Tuesday… https://amzn.to/2NIR0fx (I WANT TO BUY THE BOOK!) Don’t forget to send your receipt for Atomic Habits to AtomicHabits@BrightLineEating.com. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/10/atomic-habits/ (Atomic Habits) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 11, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. If you have concerns about keeping your Bright Lines bright as we head into the holiday season, this week’s vlog is for you. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/10/susans-6-challenges/ (Susan’s 6 Challenges) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 3, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Bright Line Eating™ isn’t just a way to lose your excess pounds—that’s not really the point. The ultimate goal is to learn how to live life without going back to the food. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts on this complicated topic. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/10/a-long-time-to-go-without-sugar-or-flour/ (A Long Time to Go Without Sugar or Flour) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 26, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A few days ago, I received a Facebook message from a new Boot Camper, and we ended up having a series of conversations that really stuck with me. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/09/connect-with-people-who-meet-you-on-a-lot-of-levels/ (Connect with People Who Meet You On A Lot of Levels) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 20, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. If you’ve been following Bright Line Eating™ for a while, you’re probably aware that the brain blocks weight loss, in part due to leptin resistance. In this week’s vlog, I talk about some exciting new research on leptin, and what it means for you. FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/09/new-research-on-leptin-resistance/ (New Research on Leptin Resistance) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 13, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, as the Food Freedom videos are being shared around the world and more people are joining Bright Line Eating™ than during any other week of the year, I want to offer my best advice for the attitude and strategies that are most helpful for someone just starting BLE. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts. For more stories of amazing BLE transformations... http://ble.life/tont (JOIN THE FOOD FREEDOM FEST 2018 FB GROUP) --> FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/09/the-feeling-of-surrender/ (The Feeling of Surrender) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 4, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Here at Bright Line Eating™ we talk about living happy, thin, and free. In this week’s vlog, I explain what the “free” part really means to us. For more stories of amazing BLE transformations... http://ble.life/tont (CLICK HERE) --> FOLLOW SUSAN On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSPThompson (Follow @DrSPThompson) FOLLOW BRIGHT LINE EATING™ On Facebook: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/brightlinelife (Follow @BrightLineLife) On YouTube: The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/09/freedom-to-live-our-right-lives/ (Freedom to Live Our Right Lives) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 29, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, I got asked a question about willpower that I’ve never been asked before. It made me consider—and articulate—an answer that I think you’ll find interesting. Watch this week’s VLOG to hear the question and what I had to say about it. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/08/willpower-depletion/ (Willpower Depletion) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 22, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A few days ago, I got a text from a friend who asked me a very powerful question. It was so compelling that I decided to record a vlog addressing it. Watch to hear all about it. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/08/if-a-former-diabetic-is-no-longer-diabetic-why-isnt-a-former-addict-no-longer-an-addict/ (If a Former Diabetic is No Longer Diabetic Why Isn’t a Former Addict No Longer an Addict?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 15, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A couple of months ago, I was in San Francisco and I connected with an old friend. The experience led to a realization and an awareness that I want to share with you today. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/08/you-never-know-what-your-last-will-be/ (You Never Know What Your Last Will Be) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 9, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s a big vlog this week. I just spent ten days in an intentional community in Oregon, and I’ve come back profoundly changed. In addition, I’m celebrating two huge anniversaries this week. Watch the vlog to hear the details. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/08/your-love-transforms-people/ (Your Love Transforms People) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 2, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Recently, my team made me aware of a show on Netflix called Explained, because one of its episodes lumped Bright Line Eating™ in among numerous other diet plans that we know don’t work. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my response. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/08/review-of-netflix-explained-why-diets-fail/ (Review of Netflix’s <em>Explained</em> – “Why Diets Fail”) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 25, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve spent the past few weeks in quite a funk, and I’m happy to report that I’m finally coming out of it. In this week’s vlog, I share the one sweet, totally unexpected lesson I learned during this tumultuous time. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/07/the-value-of-suffering/ (The Value of Suffering) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 19, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The seasons of life cast different perspectives on the Bright Lines, and in this week’s VLOG, I share a key lesson I learned this past week as I traversed my own Bright Line Eating™ journey. It’s made all the difference. http://foodfreedom.brightlineeating.com/july-2018-blf-webinars/ (I WANT TO REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR!) --> Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/07/lean-into-the-bright-lines/ (Lean Into the Bright Lines) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 12, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On a recent coaching call, I was asked a question by someone who had gastric bypass surgery and felt like they might not belong in BLE. In this week’s vlog, I explain how this couldn’t be further from the truth. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/07/gastric-bypass-and-bright-line-eating/ (Gastric Bypass and Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 5, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this Independence Day vlog, I share recent findings from the European Congress on Obesity, discuss how they relate to the 4th of July, and outline what I think it will take to turn the tide on the global obesity pandemic. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/07/the-european-congress-on-obesity/ (The European Congress on Obesity) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 28, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I recently celebrated 19 years of marriage, and in this week’s vlog, I reflect on the wisdom that comes with the passage of time and how this relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/06/time-takes-time/ (Time Takes Time) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 20, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Many of us can identify a part within us that likes to take comfort in excess food, especially in times of stress. I’ve been preparing my presentations for the Third Annual Bright Line Eating™ Family Reunion, which starts in just a week, and in this VLOG, I give you a sneak preview of what I’ve been learning about my inner “Food Indulger.” http://ble.life/rv0w (I WANT TO JOIN THE LIVESTREAM!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/06/the-food-indulger/ (The Food Indulger) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 14, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. As an addict in recovery, I usually don’t think it’s a very good thing when I find myself using one of my vices…but in this week’s vlog, I talk about an exception I’ve discovered to that general rule. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/06/harm-reduction/ (Harm Reduction) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 6, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this day and age, raising children to be healthy eaters is incredibly difficult. As they get older, we have less and less control over their food environments, and I know I’m not the only parent who is distressed by this. But this week, I had a huge breakthrough with one of my daughters. Watch this week’s vlog to hear the story. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/06/raising-healthy-eaters/ (Raising Healthy Eaters) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 31, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In Part 2 of my “15 Years of Bright Lines” Celebration, I talk about keeping versus breaking the Bright Lines. I address questions like, how rigorous do we need to be in sticking with our Bright Lines? Is it a good idea to count days, or is that counterproductive? What’s the qualitative difference between stretches of time where we’ve kept our Bright Lines versus broken them occasionally? Why do we break our Bright Lines? (There are two reasons.) And finally, why do Bright Line Eating™ in the first place? Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/05/lessons-from-15-years-of-bright-lines-part-2/ (Lessons from 15 Years of Bright Lines, Part 2) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 24, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week marks the 15-year anniversary of the day I started abstaining from sugar and flour and eating three weighed and measured meals each day. This morning, I turned on the video camera and recorded the key lessons I’ve learned. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/05/lessons-from-15-years-of-bright-lines-part-1/ (Lessons from 15 Years of Bright Lines, Part 1) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 17, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a question from a Bright Lifer who attended the Food Revolution Summit and was inspired to take her Bright Line Eating™ lifestyle to the next level. https://www.foodrevolutionsummit.org/?orid=423575&opid=287 (Join the 2018 Food Revolution Summit) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/05/the-scope-and-purpose-of-bright-line-eating/ (The Scope and Purpose of Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 9, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. When making lasting behavior change, accountability is an immensely helpful tool. In this week’s vlog, I discuss six different strategies for implementing this during your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/05/six-ways-to-stay-accountable-in-bright-line-eating/ (Six Ways to Stay Accountable in Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 2, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, for the first time ever, I’m coming to you live from my kitchen. Watch to see why! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/05/measuring-instead-of-weighing-food/ (Measuring Instead of Weighing Food) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 25, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week’s vlog is going to be a heavy one. I almost didn’t even record it, but I’m glad I did. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/04/faith-and-adult-development/ (Faith and Adult Development) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 18, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Could Bright Line Eating™ trigger someone with binge eating disorder? In this week’s vlog, I share my thoughts on this important topic. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/04/binge-eating-disorder-and-bright-line-eating/ (Binge Eating Disorder and Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 5, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, I’m coming to you live from Williamsburg, Virginia, with my three beautiful daughters to give you some helpful tips about how to practice Bright Line Eating™ while traveling. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/04/bright-line-eating-on-vacation/ (Bright Line Eating on Vacation) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 28, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve been reading a lot of books this year, and in this week’s vlog, I talk about the book I’m currently consuming because one of the chapters completely blew my mind. I think it’s going to blow yours, too. This has become THE hot new topic in our Bright Lifers community, and I’m in the midst of designing a research study to study the impact on a deeper level. The potential ramifications for the obesity pandemic are MASSIVE. You won’t want to miss this one! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/03/the-adiposity-set-point/ (The Adiposity Set Point) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 21, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I address a viewer’s question about a comment I made a little while back: “Becoming an addict is a process of starting off as a cucumber and then turning into a pickle, and once you’re pickled, you can never go back.” Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/03/once-a-pickle-always-a-pickle/ (Once A Pickle, Always A Pickle) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 14, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I talk about my most cherished possession and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. (Hint: it’s probably the last thing you’d expect!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/03/the-bear-and-the-crystal-vase/ (The Teddy Bear and the Crystal Vase) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 7, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. On August 3rd, 2016, I shot a vlog as I was packing up my college office called “Every Ending Is A New Beginning.” It was incredibly emotional because it was my last day as a professor, and from that day until now, I didn’t have an office. This feels like the start of a new season. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it and learn how this relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Watch the “Every Ending Is A New Beginning” vlog now. WATCH NOW! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/03/for-everything-there-is-a-season/ (For Everything There Is A Season) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 28, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Our community has expressed overwhelming interest in a Bright Line Eating™ cookbook and official BLE recipes for a while now. I address the topic in this week’s vlog, so you definitely don’t want to miss this one! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/02/recipes-in-bright-line-eating/ (Recipes in Bright Line Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 21, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Sometimes in our Bright Line Eating™ journeys, we experience resistance to letting go of certain foods. Whether you’re just starting or have been doing BLE for a while, there is a beauty in surrendering. Watch this week’s vlog to learn all about it. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/02/self-perception-theory-and-food/ (Self-Perception Theory and Food) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 15, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. When we watch ourselves repeatedly fail at something, it starts to become part of our identity. In order to grow, we have to watch ourselves succeed, and that can be challenging in its own right. Watch the vlog to hear my thoughts. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/02/fear-of-success/ (Fear of Success) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 7, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. When we walk a path of recovery, that often means drastic changes in our habits and interests. In this week’s vlog, I answer a viewer question about the painful topic of losing relationships as we grow and seek our truth. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/02/letting-go-of-relationships-as-we-grow-on-our-recovery-journey/ (Letting Go of Relationships as We Grow on Our Recovery Journey) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 31, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The process of doing inner work is truly a lifelong pursuit, and there are many different avenues to explore along the journey. In this week’s vlog, I talk about the inner work I’ve done most recently. http://ble.life/ft9i (I WANT TO ATTEND THE WEBINAR!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/01/the-journey-never-ends/ (The journey never ends…) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 25, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I provide some advice to a viewer struggling to help her children develop a healthy relationship with food. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/01/how-can-you-help-your-teenage-daughter-if-you-think-shes-a-food-addict/ (How can you help your teenage daughter if you think she’s a food addict?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 17, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, I’m coming to you from Los Angeles with a very special vlog. If you want to see firsthand how I handle my food when I’m traveling, you don’t want to miss this one! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/01/bright-line-eating-on-the-road/ (Bright Line Eating on the Road) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 11, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a viewer question about the difference between how we used to respond to flour back “in the good old days” and how we respond to it now. I bet my answer will surprise you. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/01/what-happened-to-flour/ (What happened to flour?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 4, 2018

Having issues watching this video? Click here. As we begin the New Year, I share gratitude for the incredible success we achieved in the Charity: Water movement and reveal some astounding results from our Bright Line Eating™ Research Department. If your goal is to get to goal weight in 2018, this is a VLOG you definitely don’t want to miss. http://ble.life/5zqv (Click here to read our exciting research!) http://ble.life/5j3l (I WANT TO JOIN THE BOOT CAMP!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2018/01/reflections-and-research/ (Reflections and Research) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 28, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Last night, I sat down to go through my journal and look back at 2017. What did I find? Watch this week’s vlog to find out. http://cwtr.org/2xvlQB6 (Learn more about the BLE charity:water movement here!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } .teal-button-centered-long { max-width: 600px; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/12/wrapping-up-2017/ (Wrapping Up 2017) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 21, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Two months ago, I met a man who literally changed my life…and it’s not just my life he’s changed. This vlog is different than every single one before it, and it would mean a lot to me if you watched it with an open heart. Step 1: Click the button below to donate now. http://cwtr.org/2xvlQB6 (I WANT TO CONTRIBUTE!) Step 2: After you’ve made your donation, click the button below to sign Scott’s card. http://ble.life/c5il (I’M READY TO SIGN THE CARD) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/12/we-need-your-help/ (We need your help…) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 14, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. What’s the point of doing Bright Line Eating™? The goal? The aim? And is it different if you’re high vs. medium vs. low on The Susceptibility Scale™? In the wake of last week’s vlog on surrender, I have some different thoughts about this. Watch this week’s vlog to find out. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/12/food-neutrality/ (Food Neutrality) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 6, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The past couple of weeks have marked a turning point for me. If you enjoy the long, emotional VLOGs where I get really personal, this one’s for you. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/12/sweet-surrender/ (Sweet Surrender) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 29, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. There are some popular diets that aim to establish automaticity just like Bright Line Eating™, but in the long run, they don’t work. Watch this week’s vlog to learn why. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/11/bright-line-eating-vs-nutrisystem-vs-optifast/ (Bright Line Eating vs. Nutrisystem vs. Optifast) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 22, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In the spirit of giving that accompanies the holidays, this week’s vlog is a little different. The topic is very near and dear to me, so I hope you’ll watch with an open heart. Step 1: Click the button below to donate now. https://igg.me/at/eJd3IUkRlRc (I WANT TO CONTRIBUTE!) Step 2: After you’ve made your donation, click the button below to sign Linden’s card. http://ble.life/4alp (I’M READY TO SIGN THE CARD) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/11/out-on-a-limb/ (Out on a Limb) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 15, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. We’re heading into the 4th American Thanksgiving since Bright Line Eating™ was launched, and the 15th American Thanksgiving since I, personally, started this way of life. In this week’s VLOG I share what’s on my mind leading into the holiday, and what I think and hope will be on YOUR mind leading into the holiday. Even if you’re not American and Thanksgiving isn’t really what you’re thinking about these days, I think this VLOG will be timely. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/11/the-break-rezoom-merry-go-round/ (The Break-Rezoom Merry-Go-Round) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 8, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a fantastic and complicated viewer question about my thoughts on borderline-acceptable products that I like to call “Copycat Foods.” Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/11/nmf-copycat-foods/ (NMF Copycat Foods) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 1, 2017

Sometimes life doesn’t allow us to predict where we’re going to find our next meal, so we can’t write down exactly what we’re going to eat the night before. In this week’s vlog, I answer a viewer question about how to make sane food choices while dealing with the unpredictability life brings.

Oct 25, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The holidays are upon us. Is your saboteur kicking into high gear? If so, you’re not alone. In this week’s vlog, I offer four key tips to help you make it through the first holiday of the season. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/10/four-tips-for-navigating-halloween/ (Four Tips for Navigating Halloween) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 19, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Sometimes you have to hit a bottom to be truly willing to make a change in your life. The question is, once you’ve decided to change, how do you make it stick? Watch this week’s vlog to find out. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/10/slowing-down/ (Slowing Down) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 11, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Once we fall into a pattern of breaking our Bright Lines periodically, it can be remarkably hard to stop. How do we break this cycle? Watch this week’s vlog to find out. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/10/granting-authority/ (Granting Authority) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 4, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. We just wrapped up Food Freedom 2017, and in this week’s vlog, I reflect on our ultimate mission here at Bright Line Eating™. Watch the vlog to find out what that mission is and what’s coming down the pike as 2017 comes to a close. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/10/1-million-at-goal-weight/ (1 Million At Goal Weight) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 27, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Over the weekend, I had an experience that reminded me of how important social support and our Online Support Community is here at Bright Line Eating™. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. http://ble.life/g7qj (I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BOOT CAMP!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/09/the-online-support-community/ (The Online Support Community) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 14, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a question from a former Boot Camper about body dysmorphia and explain how it relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/09/body-dysmorphia/ (Body Dysmorphia) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 7, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I just got back from three weeks of hard traveling, and I was pretty wrecked. There was one thing I really needed in order to feel better, and I had a hard time giving it to myself. I have the feeling I’m not alone in this, so I recorded this week’s vlog about it. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/09/isolation/ (Isolation) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 30, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week’s vlog is going to be pretty controversial. It’s not a call to action. I’m just sharing my experience. I never, ever would have tried this several years ago, but I’ve been doing something for the past couple of days and I wanted to share it with you. Watch this week’s vlog to learn more. http://siimland.com/3-day-fast-benefits/ (Article 1) Article 2 Article 3 http://m.jn.nutrition.org/content/early/2017/07/12/jn.116.244749 (Article 4) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/08/water-fasting/ (Water Fasting) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 23, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This week, the VLOG comes to you from the gorgeous Opera House in Oslo, Norway. I’m joined by six Bright Lifers from Norway, England, and Romania… I asked them whether working the Bright Line Eating™ program is different in a country other than the USA. Join us to hear their response, as well as an update on the Norwegian book launch (go Irina!!!) and the state of the BLE movement around the world. P.S. – True story: at the end of the video, when the camera had just been turned off, two of them said, “Wait, was I just in a video that’s going to be seen by thousands of people? Was the camera not just on you?” A mild panic/laughing attack ensued. Had they known they were in the shot the whole time, they might not have had the guts to follow through. Sometimes what we don’t know can’t hurt us. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/08/live-from-oslo-the-international-ble-movement/ (LIVE from Oslo – The International BLE Movement) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 16, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In honor of the one year anniversary of the biggest turning point in my marriage, I share the nightly routine that David and I practice in order to stay connected to each other. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. https://brightlineeating.com/2016/09/the-jumping-off-point/ (Click here to watch “The Jumping Off Point” vlog.) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/08/nightly-connection-ritual/ (Nightly Connection Ritual) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 9, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I try not to date my vlogs very often so that they can be watched at any time and still have a universal message, but sometimes I do state the date. Today is one of those days. Today is the most important day on the calendar in my world. August 9th is THE DAY for me. It’s not my birthday, it’s not my wedding anniversary, it’s not the birthdays of any of my kids, it’s not my mother’s birthday, it’s not my father’s birthday…but it is the most important day for me. August 9th happens to fall on vlog Wednesday this year, so this is my chance to reflect. http://ble.life/jrw7 (Watch the Webinar Replay Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/08/the-most-important-day-in-my-world/ (The Most Important Day in My World) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Aug 3, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I make some off-the-cuff comments that might seem harsh or offend some people in the community, so in case you’re incredibly sensitive to that sort of thing, I wanted you to know in advance. P.S. – Make sure you watch the entire vlog through to the end—I recorded a quick follow-up in the Chicago airport that I don’t want you to miss. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/08/going-to-any-lengths/ (Going to Any Lengths) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 26, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A viewer recently reached out to me to ask for advice on how to help a family member who is struggling with food addiction and implementing Bright Line Eating™ in her life. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/07/how-to-help-loved-ones-struggling-with-food/ (How to Help Loved Ones Struggling with Food) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 20, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. If you’re highly susceptible to food addiction, does that make you more likely to get addicted to other things? What if you’ve been exposed to other substances, like cigarettes or alcohol, but never got addicted? Why would that be? Science has good answers to these questions. Cross-addiction is an interesting phenomenon. Learn all about it in this week’s VLOG. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/07/cross-addiction/ (Cross-Addiction) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 12, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. We’ve all heard of PTSD—the notion that trauma or intense suffering can result in later psychological consequences. But it turns out research shows that’s not always the outcome of a traumatic experience. Watch this week’s vlog to learn more. http://ble.life/k2qw (Register for the Webinar Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/07/post-traumatic-growth/ (Post-Traumatic Growth) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jul 5, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I had a poignant and extremely emotional experience recently that has prompted me to make some shifts in my life. It also prompted the topic of this week’s vlog. Watch to hear all about it. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/07/the-priority/ (The Priority) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 28, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Just recently, I’ve tried something that has helped my body to take off those few extra pounds I’ve been carrying, and I wanted to share the secret with you. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. http://ble.life/d4fu (Register for the Webinar Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/06/the-secret-to-jumpstarting-slow-weight-loss/ (The Secret to Jumpstarting Slow Weight Loss) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 21, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. One of my team members, Chris, recently directed me to an NPR feature with Tom Colicchio, a celebrity chef, restauranteur, and head judge on the TV series Top Chef. During the interview, he made a statement that Chris knew I would want to talk about. Watch this week’s vlog to hear his statement and my thoughts about it. P.S. — Someone else on my team has just informed me that I pronounced his name wrong. Goes to show how much TV I watch. *wink* Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/06/claims-of-a-celebrity-chef-debunked/ (Claims of a Celebrity Chef: Debunked?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 14, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I’ve recently fallen prey to setting goals and working towards behavior change within brittle frameworks. Watch this week’s vlog to learn how brittle frameworks are likely sabotaging you—and what the solution is. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/06/flexible-vs-brittle-frameworks/ (Flexible vs. Brittle Frameworks) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jun 8, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. For this week’s vlog, I’m coming to you LIVE from San Diego, surrounded by a crowd of smiling Bright Line Eaters, and I talk about the importance of connection and support. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/06/live-from-the-2nd-annual-family-reunion/ (Live from the 2nd Annual Family Reunion) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 31, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a fantastic viewer question about the roots of emotional eating and discuss the benefits and detractors of mindful eating. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/05/intuitive-eating/ (Intuitive Eating) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 25, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I had an interesting experience during dinner last night that compelled me to scrap the VLOG topic I had planned and instead talk about my thoughts surrounding that meal. Watch this week’s VLOG to hear all about it. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/05/mindful-eating-challenge/ (Mindful Eating Challenge) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 23, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This past week, for the first time ever, I pulled down the Wednesday VLOG shortly after it aired. It was off, way off. So I yanked it. And I’ve redone it. In this first ever VLOG do-over, I explain my mistake, and go deep, waaaay deep, into the whys and wherefores of it all. You won’t want to miss this. Watch this Week's Original Vlog Video Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/05/first-ever-vlog-do-over/ (FIRST EVER: VLOG DO-OVER) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 17, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Can plastic surgery fix a negative self-image? Or might it take years of therapy? In this week’s vlog, I answer a heartfelt viewer request for a solution to the self-loathing that accompanies negative body image while losing weight. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post http://brightlineeating.com/2017/05/first-ever-vlog-do-over/ (Plastic Surgery and Self-Esteem) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 10, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I had a big epiphany about how I approach my own Bright Line Eating™ journey this week. The title of today’s vlog, “Letting Go of the Number,” gives you a hint as to what it was about. Watch this week’s vlog to hear the whole story. http://ble.life/2017reunion (Register for the Reunion Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3#customerReviews (Review the BLE Book Now!) Good news, everyone! The $1.99 eBook special for Bright Line Eating™ has expanded from https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MUA6QAX/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01MUA6QAX&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=cc164481f87ec30d65c9c7ab0e1571a9 (Kindle) to http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bright-line-eating-susan-peirce-thompson/1125356346?ean=9781401952549 (Nook) and https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/bright-line-eating/id1197027810 (iBooks), and will be available until June 5, 2017. Spread the word! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/05/letting-go-of-the-number/ (Letting Go of the Number) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

May 4, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This past weekend I experienced something that marked a huge turning point for me. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. http://ble.life/2017reunion (Register for the Reunion Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3#customerReviews (Review the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/05/moment-of-clarity/ (Moment of Clarity) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 26, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer a fantastic viewer question about the ways Bright Line Eating™ can affect sleep patterns. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3#customerReviews (Review the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/04/why-bright-line-eating-improves-your-sleep/ (Why Bright Line Eating Improves Your Sleep) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 19, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I often talk about the fact that exercise doesn’t help you lose weight, and I recently received an email from someone who said my claim could use some more clarification. Watch this week’s vlog to learn more. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3#customerReviews (Review the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/04/why-exercise-wont-make-you-thin/ (Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 13, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Over the past few months, I’ve been challenging myself with commitment contracts to keep my Bright Lines as bright and shiny as possible, and I just started a new 30-day challenge. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it and how commitment contracts can be helpful in your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/04/commitment-contracts-and-challenges/ (Commitment Contracts and Challenges) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Apr 6, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. As you might know, Bright Line Eating™: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free™ hit the New York Times Best Seller List, and I have a lot of emotions about it. Watch this week’s vlog to learn about the science of happiness and how it relates to your BLE journey. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/04/what-makes-us-happier/ (What Makes Us Happier) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 29, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Later today, we’re going to find out whether Bright Line Eating™: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free™ hit the New York Times Best Seller list. I have all sorts of thoughts and feelings leading up to the announcement, and a lot of them relate to our BLE journeys in ways you might not expect. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. *The free book offer is no longer available with the purchase of the 14-Day Challenge. http://ble.life/14days (Take the 14-Day Challenge Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3 (Order the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/03/new-york-times-best-seller/ (New York Times Best Seller) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 22, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. It’s the morning after the launch of the book Bright Line Eating™: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free™. We already have over 200 reviews of the book on Amazon, and this morning it’s the #1 selling book on Barnes & Noble in the Diet, Health, & Fitness category! Thank you for your amazing support these past couple of months…and these past couple of years. Yesterday was very literally a dream come true. In this week’s VLOG I reflect a bit on one of the key lessons that’s been coming up for me surrounding this book launch—receiving help. It’s a crucial Bright Line Eating™ skill. Watch now to hear my thoughts. *The free book offer is no longer available with the purchase of the 14-Day Challenge. http://ble.life/14days (Take the 14-Day Challenge Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3 (Order the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/03/receiving-help/ (Receiving Help) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 15, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. For this week’s VLOG, just prior to the launch of the book, Bright Line Eating™: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free™, I get vulnerable about my relationship with God, my doubts and uncertainties, and the major turning points that have brought me to this day. Watch the vlog to hear all about my journey. *The free book offer is no longer available with the purchase of the 14-Day Challenge. http://ble.life/a3dv (Register for the NYC Book Launch Livestream Now!) http://ble.life/14days (Take the 14-Day Challenge Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3 (Order the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/03/my-soul-journey/ (My Soul Journey) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 8, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. We’re so close to the release of my book, and I’ve planned a series of contests to make the next two weeks as exciting and action-packed as possible. In fact, during the vlog, I announce the winner of the first contest! Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. *The free book offer is no longer available with the purchase of the 14-Day Challenge. http://ble.life/a3dv (Register for the NYC Book Launch Livestream Now!) http://ble.life/14days (Take the 14-Day Challenge Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3 (Order the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/03/its-time-to-get-excited/ (It’s Time to Get Excited!!!) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Mar 1, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. I just returned from a week-long cruise with my family, during which I experienced some intense lessons and incredible moments of growth. I talk about it all in this week’s vlog. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/03/lessons-from-a-cruise/ (Lessons From a Cruise) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 22, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. When we lose weight, it can take some time for our self-concept to catch up with our new bodies. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts on this perplexing topic. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/02/body-image-and-weight-loss/ (Body Image and Weight Loss) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 15, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Can living in a warm or cold climate influence how fast or slow you lose weight? Watch this week’s vlog to hear my answer to this fantastic viewer question. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/02/how-heat-and-cold-affect-weight-loss/ (How Heat and Cold Affect Weight Loss) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 8, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The saboteur can wreak havoc on you when you’re feeling like you’ve been dragged through the mud and nothing is going right. Stress is mounting and your saboteur is telling you that you deserve to relax your Bright Lines and treat yourself a little. How can you rise above and not succumb to the pressure? Watch this week’s vlog to find out. *The free book offer is no longer available with the purchase of the 14-Day Challenge. http://ble.life/14days (Take the 14-Day Challenge Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3 (Order the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/02/bright-line-eating-when-life-gets-hard/ (Bright Line Eating When Life Gets Hard) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Feb 1, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. *The free book and free month of the app offer is no longer available with the purchase of the 14-Day Challenge. The Bright Line Eating™ book launch hoopla has officially begun, and with that comes a bunch of exciting news! Watch this week's vlog to hear how you can get a free copy of the book, in hardcover, including free shipping, AND help us catapult this book onto bestseller lists at the same time. --> The Bright Line Eating book launch hoopla has officially begun! While the release date is less than two months away, Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free has been years in the making. Watch this week’s vlog to hear the story behind the birth of the book, and my big hopes and dreams for getting the Bright Line Eating message out into the world. *Special offers mentioned in this vlog are no longer available. http://ble.life/14days (Take the 14-Day Challenge Now!) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401952534/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401952534&linkCode=as2&tag=briglineeatis-20&linkId=7b04229542493bdc38f01eddd69bf6c3 (Order the BLE Book Now!) Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan's Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan's YouTube Channel! --> table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/02/the-14-day-challenge/ (The 14-Day Challenge) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 25, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Here at Bright Line Eating™, we don’t have a strictly-enforced method of counting days. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts on the different ways to count your days. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/01/counting-days/ (Counting Days) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 18, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Last year, I found myself in a predicament. Thankfully, the answers I was seeking came to me during meditation. In this week’s vlog, I talk about one of the many benefits of meditation: gaining valuable life guidance. Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/01/meditation-as-a-tool-for-life-guidance/ (Meditation as a Tool for Life Guidance) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 11, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. At first glance, it may seem like the Bright Line Eating™ Boot Camp wouldn’t work for someone who shies away from social connections, but the tools for the introvert are definitely there. Watch this week’s vlog to learn how BLE works for the extreme introvert. http://ble.life/795s (Food Freedom Video Series) Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/01/bright-line-eating-for-the-extreme-introvert/ (Bright Line Eating for the Extreme Introvert) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Jan 4, 2017

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Happy New Year! In the first vlog of 2017, I talk about how I reshaped my New Year’s resolutions to set myself up for success. Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2017/01/small-daily-behaviors/ (Small Daily Behaviors) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 28, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In the last vlog of 2016, I talk about what I’ve learned along my Bright Line Eating™ journey during this eventful year. Like Susan’s Facebook Page! Follow Susan on Twitter! Follow @DrSPThompson Subscribe to Susan’s YouTube Channel! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/12/lessons-from-2016/ (Lessons from 2016) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 21, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. This time of year, it can get especially difficult to handle the pesky, nagging voice that’s attempting to derail your Highest Self. In this week’s vlog, I share a tool to help you deal with your tricky Saboteur during the holidays. Like Susan’s Facebook Page! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/12/silencing-the-saboteur/ (Silencing the Saboteur) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 14, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Recently, I’ve been weighing and measuring my food without exception. Watch this week’s vlog to learn why it’s such an important tool to have in your Bright Line Eating™ toolbox. Like Susan’s Facebook Page! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/12/one-tool-thats-been-super-helpful-for-me-lately/ (One Tool That’s Been Super Helpful For Me Lately…) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Dec 7, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. A couple of months ago, I recorded an emotional vlog about the state of my marriage. Watch this week’s vlog for an update on what’s happened since the jumping off point, and how it relates to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. Like Susan’s Facebook Page! table { margin-top: 30px; } table, td { padding: 0; border: none; display: inline-table; text-align: center; } The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/12/commitment-is-an-exclusionary-process/ (Commitment is an Exclusionary Process) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 30, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Given the confusing landscape of the vast and varied dietary information available to us these days, how can we feasibly maintain a healthy lifestyle? Watch this week’s vlog to hear my response. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/11/how-to-be-health-conscious-without-getting-overwhelmed/ (How to Be Health-Conscious Without Getting Overwhelmed) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 23, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. The holidays are upon us and it feels like the perfect time to talk about gratitude. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts about it. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/11/the-science-of-gratitude/ (The Science of Gratitude) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 16, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, many people are wondering how they can possibly stick to their Bright Lines through the festivities. Hear my advice in this week’s vlog. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/11/how-to-have-a-bright-line-thanksgiving/ (How to Have A Bright Line Thanksgiving) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 10, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Last night was a pretty intense night. Watch this week’s vlog to hear all about it. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/11/the-morning-after-a-binge/ (The Morning After A Binge) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Nov 2, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Today is International Stress Awareness Day and in this week’s vlog, I talk about the role stress can play in our lives and BLE journeys. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/11/international-stress-awareness-day/ (International Stress Awareness Day) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 26, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I answer an impassioned viewer question about the safety of microwaves. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/10/are-microwaves-safe/ (Are Microwaves Safe?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 19, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Recently, I’ve been getting a steady stream of requests for me to talk about the ketogenic diet. Watch this week’s vlog to hear my thoughts. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/10/bright-line-eating-vs-the-ketogenic-diet/ (Bright Line Eating vs. The Ketogenic Diet) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 12, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. What is “Food Porn”? Could it be affecting your relationship with food more than you realize? Learn all about it in this week’s vlog. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/10/visual-cues-and-food-addiction/ (Visual Cues and Food Addiction) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Oct 5, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Over the past month, people from all 7 continents (yes, including Antarctica) and nearly every country on Earth joined together in watching the Food Freedom video series. Wowza! In this week’s vlog, I talk about where we go from here. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/10/bright-line-eating-is-officially-a-global-movement/ (Bright Line Eating is Officially a Global Movement) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 28, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I get super personal about some recent struggles in my life and explain how they relate to your Bright Line Eating™ journey. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/09/the-jumping-off-point/ (The Jumping Off Point) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 21, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. In this week’s vlog, I’m joined by my dear friend Ocean Robbins to discuss what’s new on the cutting-edge frontiers of the Food Revolution. It’s a conversation that’s full of surprises, and I can’t wait to share it with you. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/09/our-role-in-the-food-revolution/ (Our Role in the Food Revolution) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).

Sep 14, 2016

Having issues watching this video? Click here. Are gluten free products Bright Line Eating™-friendly? Hear the answer in this week’s vlog. The post https://brightlineeating.com/2016/09/what-does-gluten-free-really-mean/ (What Does “Gluten Free” Really Mean?) appeared first on https://brightlineeating.com (Bright Line Eating®).