Rita Black (00:00): There are many forces at work when we impulsively pop that sugary treat into our mouth without even thinking. And today's Thin Thinking guest, Charmaine Platon, is an expert in reversing that pop. So join me today where Charmaine walks us through her four-part technique for wrangling our impulses. Put the sugar bowl down and come on in.

Rita Black (00:28): Did you know that our struggle with weight doesn't start with the food on your plate or get fixed in the gym? 80% of our weight struggle is mental. That's right. The key to unlocking long-term weight release and management begins in your mind. Hi there, I'm Rita Black. I'm a clinical hypnotherapist weight loss expert, bestselling author, and the creator of the Shift Weight Mastery Process. And not only have I helped thousands of people over the past 20 years achieve long-term weight mastery, I am also a former weight struggler, carb addict and binge eater.

Rita Black (01:07): And after two decades of failed diets and fad weight loss programs, I lost 40 pounds with the help of hypnosis. Not only did I release all that weight, I have kept it off for 25 years. Enter the Thin Thinking Podcast where you too will learn how to remove the mental roadblocks that keep you struggling. I'll give you the thin thinking tools, skills, and insights to help you develop the mindset you need, not only to achieve your ideal weight, but to stay there long-term and live your best life.

Rita Black (01:43): Hello everyone and welcome to February. I hope you're all staying warm here in the heart of winter. This is a real weekend project time, isn't it? Do you have those projects that are just hanging around and haunting you and you keep promising to get them done and then say, well, maybe next weekend? Well, we have had a few including cleaning out my closet. I'm actually really excited that I'm going to be doing that this weekend. And even more excited that my husband is cleaning out his closet. Because I think I've shared with you, my husband is a bit of a pack rat. Now, if you ever meet my husband, don't tell him I told you that, but he is, he has five times more shoes than I do, and he has some pants in his closet that still have tags on that he bought two years ago. I don't know, he's not a shopaholic, but he just, you know, thinks he doesn't have enough tan khaki pants. And then he has a closet full of them. I don't know men, I still haven't figured them all out, but I have been married for 33 plus years. And when your Valentine's Day fun is you both mutually cleaning out your closets together. Well, there you go.

Rita Black (03:13): Actually, it's kind of sweet because it really is a project that binds us together. But if you step back a couple of steps and look at it, you're like, Hmm, well, okay. But for me, I love cleaning out my closet. I love being organized. That is a way better treat than going out to eat at a crowded restaurant. I think I've shared with you maybe last Valentine's Day, I am a former waitress and I don't think any people who ever waited a table ever, ever go out on New Year's, on Valentine's Day or any 4th of July, any of the major holidays because you just know the kitchen's overworked. The wait staffed is overworked and surly. They don't want you to be like, there's just too many people. So I think I told my daughter, she's had a boyfriend now for three years, I can't believe it. And I said, don't honey, just don't go out on Valentine's Day. You guys just stay home.

Rita Black (04:11): So anyway, speaking of getting rid of things, my guest today is gonna help us get rid of sugar cravings and I can't wait for you to meet her. I thought this was perfectly timed with Valentine's Day coming up. Charmaine Platon is a sugar cravings coach, certified health coach and registered nurse. She is the creator of sugar-free self-care and is an impulsive eating expert. Years ago, Charmaine was an impulsive emotional eater and couldn't imagine living life with less sugar and carbs. During her work as a nurse, eating was the way that she coped with the stress on the job until she was diagnosed with pre-diabetes in 2017. Since then, Charmaine has reversed her pre-diabetes, maintained weight loss, and created sugar-free self-care to empower women to learn how to stop coping with daily life stressors through the use of sugar and carbs. She now empowers dozens of women, especially entrepreneurs, to practice sugar-free self-care so that they can have the body they deserve and feel in control around food.

Rita Black (05:20): Hello and welcome to Thin Thinking. Charmaine, it's really awesome to have you on here today.

Charmaine Platon (05:26): Thank you for having me. So excited.

Rita Black (05:29): Yeah, no, I'm really intrigued about what you do. Tell everybody a little bit about how you help people. It sounds like you help people a lot with impulse control.

Charmaine Platon (05:42): Yeah, yeah. That's my specialty. I love talking about it. So hello everyone. I'm Charmaine. I'm a weight loss coach for women entrepreneurs and I am also an impulsive eating expert. I help women feel in control around sugar and carbs through impulse mastery in just four steps. And yeah, that's what I help with people with

Rita Black (06:04): That's super - And you mentioned entrepreneurs. Are you, how did you get into helping women entrepreneurs? Like what made you decide that was your your tribe that you wanted to speak to?

Charmaine Platon (06:20): Yeah, it's funny. It wasn't, I definitely did not think it would go this route. Like I actually used to be a nurse for eight years. I was a psychiatric nurse. And so I used to be a weight loss coach for nurses, just cause I like nurses, that's who I work with. But then I just realized everything that the nurses had in common with weight loss was they all struggled with sugar and carbs. And then I started, then I became like a sugar cravings coach, and then all the people wanted help with sugar tended to be really ambitious women like, high achieving, like high performing kind women, like lawyers, attorneys, entrepreneurs, nurses that are in like leadership roles. So that was kind of like the people I attracted. So I was like, oh, okay, I'll just work with that.

Rita Black (07:07): Well, how did you get started? I mean, tell us a little bit about your story and how it, how you got into doing what you do in the first place.

Charmaine Platon (07:17): Yeah. I never thought I'd be where I am, which is so crazy. Like I said, I was a registered nurse, like a psychiatric nurse for eight years.

Rita Black (07:25): Wow.

Charmaine Platon (07:26): And, yeah, eight years. And I thought I was gonna be a nurse forever. But eventually, one of the things that happened in nursing, if for those of you who aren't really familiar with the workflow for anyone, any sort of healthcare professional in the hospital, is that it's very high stress. It's a very fast paced work environment. Lots of responsibility, of course, like people's lives that you're handling. And it's very stressful. And so I always, I never knew how to manage stress at the time. So food was my stress management. It was kinda like a stress relief. And I ate so much food, like in the hospital, like staff break rooms in the hospital are full of sugar all the time. And I know it doesn't make sense. It's crazy, but it's filled with sugar. And so I would always eat sweets. And then it got to the point that a few years ago, even though I was in the best shape of my life, I was a personal trainer, I was muscular. In 2017 I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and I was just like, what the heck? And felt like a slap to the face and I was like, I don't want diabetes. I give insulin, like to people four times a day. I treat the holes in their feet. I'm like, I don't wanna get diabetes. So that set me on my journey and yeah, it revealed to me all the things that I use food for, like emotionally, like just revealed all the things.

Rita Black (08:52): Wow. It's so interesting. I do work with a lot of people in the healthcare professions and I have to say, it's shocking how those break rooms for nurses are like booby traps for the worst food in the world. I mean, I, my mouth, I mean, my jaw drops when people tell me what they're eating on their shifts when they're, you know, giving care to other people. It is this incredibly shocking to me. So, anyway, and I do feel so sorry for people because I know it's such a pressure cooker, a high stress job, and we've gotta change the system, man. But that's not what we're here to discuss. We're here to discuss impulse control and sugar. So tell me, I mean, I know you're an expert in impulse control and I think that's really fascinating. So tell us what an impulse is. Like, let's just start with the basics.

Charmaine Platon (09:49): Okay. Yeah. An impulse is basically a strong desire to take action. So when it refers to eating, it's just a strong desire to eat something, like a very powerful urge to eat something. Sometimes though it's not even really noticeable. Like sometimes it could just be from something more subtle, like boredom or anxiety, but if you don't act on it, it will feel uncomfortable. So that's how I like to describe an impulse.

Rita Black (10:17): Hmm. That's a great description. And how do you see impulsive eating habits being formed? Like, tell us about like how the, so we have impulses, but then we get into habits around things like sugar and carbohydrates. So how do, how does that all occur? You know, how does somebody develop a bad habit?

Charmaine Platon (10:39): Right. Right. So the, I always say there's like five ingredients to create a habit, and it could be either a good habit or a not so great habit. So for, before I go into those five steps, so I just wanna say really quickly that your brain is, I like to call it like a pleasure seeking machine.

Rita Black (11:02): Right.

Charmaine Platon (11:02): It's always wanting rewards, it's always wanting to feel good. And the reason why our brain does that is cause it's a survival mechanism like evolutionarily, our brains are wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and save energy. Because it's kept our human species alive for a long time. So we still have this sort of primitive part of our brain. So I just wanna put that out there first so that people know that if you want sugar or something, it's not anything against you. We just have this primal brain that is designed to seek out food when food's not available. And we still have it.

Rita Black (11:37): Yeah.

Charmaine Platon (11:38): Unfortunately, we still have it, but so, so that's operating all the time. So the reason why habits form is because we have this reward seeking brain. And so five things happen. I'll make it a little bit more concise though. Like the, there's actually four main things that need to happen for you to have a habit. So the four things are, you need some sort of trigger or some sort of cue that tells your brain a reward's coming. So that needs to take place first. And then you need a craving. So when a trigger comes, then you get a craving. Like you want to eat something, it's like a thought that comes in your mind of, ooh, this looks good. So that has to be there. And when you have a craving, then you have a response, which is usually like eating the sugar, whatever that is, eating the food. And then that creates a reward. So the reward means feeling good after you eat the cookie or you eat the thing. And, when you do that and the brain gets a reward, it actually starts, that's how the brain learns, like the brain learns when you have a reward. So now the next time you have a cue or a trigger, the brain associates that reward, that pleasurable activity with the trigger. So every, every time you're triggered, your brain will always want to seek out that food and or that, that behavior. And it will keep doing that unless we stop it

Rita Black (13:05): Right. Yes. So that part of the brain, the old part of the brain has gotten really good at oh, this worked, this gave me pleasure. Let's dial that in so that we have that again and again and again. You know? It's so interesting because I work with weight, but I also work with smokers. And I think that part of the trigger response it, you know, a smoker could be sitting there going, why am I doing this? I'm not even enjoying it. But the other part of the brain is like, yes, you are. And I think for so many people, they get into that, you know, the trigger response, that habit. And even though they're eating it, even though a part of their brain is getting pleasure, it is like watching a train wreck. They're like, why am I doing this? I'm not even wanna be doing this a lot of the time. And, and I'm assuming that's yeah. What you're dealing with is breaking that, breaking through that syndrome. I mean you're, that impulse, I mean, I think it's mostly driven by dopamine, right? Like that's the, the reward. Yeah. So I mean, and it, that is so powerful, right? I mean, didn't they have the, they had some sort of study where they had rats and they gave them sugar water and they stimulated the dopamine center and the rats continued to drink it until their stomachs exploded, or something horrible and awful like that.

Charmaine Platon (14:31): So horrible. But yeah yeah. They've done studies like that and it, it's crazy how even though you can know intellectually that it's not serving you, it's not the, the intellect that that is involved in the habit.

Rita Black (14:47): Right. The conscious mind is not involved at all. It's so subconscious mind. Yeah. The deeper brain.

Charmaine Platon (14:53): Right? The brain that's primitive, the brain that wants you to survive. So it's just this survival instinct, which is really hard to override with intellect because if your brain actually thinks you're gonna die, it doesn't care. It's like, no, we're gonna die. You know?

Rita Black (15:08): Yeah. So how, I know you have a methodology for helping somebody break out of that habit. So can you walk us through a little or give us little tidbits of how you start to work with the brain in a different way?

Charmaine Platon (15:25): Yeah, I would love to. So this is what I call my impulse mastery method. It's a four-step method that I have tried and tested myself. It's helped me get off sugar since 2018. It's helped me stop drinking alcohol since 2018. I also don't drink coffee anymore, which I thought would be impossible. I was a coffee addict for so long as a nurse. I mean, come on. But yeah, I haven't drank coffee for two years. So the whole point of the impulse mastery method though, is you don't wanna take action from this primal part of your brain that just wants to eat sugar all the time. Like, you have to, we thankfully as humans, we have a different part of our brain that's more evolved than other animal species. Like, we didn't have this other part of our brain than we'd just be like all the other animals that just eat and sleep all the time.

Charmaine Platon (16:12): So we have this higher part of our brain, the more evolved part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex. And that's the part of our brain that's involved in executive decision making, planning, achieving goals. And we all have this part of our brain. So if you want to achieve a goal, like a weight loss goal and break a addictive habit, you have to take action from this brain. So my method helps you exercise this part of the brain and use this part of your brain. So you strengthen that. So the four-steps of the method, like first one is they all start with a p. So the first is planning. Like you have to be good at planning ahead because the primitive brain, I also call it the impulsive brain, that primitive sort of animal brain thrives on reacting to things in the moment because that's like a survival technique, right? Like, you have to be good at reacting and running and eating and so you survive. But that doesn't serve us in this modern day and age where food is everywhere.

Rita Black (17:16): Right?

Charmaine Platon (17:16): Where pleasure is everywhere, the society is filled with pleasure, it's crazy. Dopamine hits everywhere. So you have to learn how to plan and be somebody who makes decisions ahead of time. So I call it proactive eating, like don't eat actively, but you wanna eat proactively and plan exactly what foods you'll eat. I always recommend like the night before, but, you always want some time ahead to do that.

Rita Black (17:43): Right. Right. Because it, and this is part of your retraining because you, you're own, it's almost like you're practicing ahead of time what you're gonna do or what you're gonna have so that your brain has a path forward that isn't the path of what it, the least resistance, which is the habit, right? So it already has that trajectory forward to the new behavior or the healthier food or the healthier choice

Charmaine Platon (18:13): Right. Right. You wanna make decisions that are in alignment with your goals. Because if you make decisions in the spur of the moment, it tends to be based on instant gratification, right? And we know that that usually leads to results we don't want, right? So you have to make choices that have to do with delayed gratification and making decisions when you're in a place that you're not like reacting. You're not impulsive that because when you're in a non-reactive, non impulsive state, your brain, you access that rational part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex that is more intelligent. It's right in alignment with your higher self. So that's the part of your brain you wanna make decisions from, not the reactive brain.

Rita Black (19:00): Absolutely. Okay. I love it. So we're planning, planning, planning. Number one.

Charmaine Platon (19:05): Yes.

Rita Black (19:05): Okay. I got it. So, so, and this could go for, cause I know a lot of our listeners maybe have that habit of drinking as well. So alcohol, sugar, so that could be the same. Like if you're somebody who's in the habit of pouring a couple of glasses of wine at night and that's getting in the way of your health or your weight loss efforts thinking that through making those decisions about being abstinent or having only one glass, you're making that decision ahead of time. You're planning that ahead of time. Is that correct?

Charmaine Platon (19:43): Right. Yeah, exactly. Which is why I love this method cause it applies to everything where it's, it's anything that has to do with instant gratification that you wanna change. You can apply it to anything like, like -

Rita Black (19:58): I love it. And keep it, keep it simple. I love that it, everything begins with a P.

Charmaine Platon (20:04): Yeah. Right!

Rita Black (20:06): That's great. So what's what's number two? After I've planned, what, what is next?

Charmaine Platon (20:12): So the next one, which is one of the hardest steps is pledge. So that means he has to commit and pledge to your plan. Like, don't just make a plan willy-nilly. You gotta like, have the intention of actually falling through on it. And this part is, is hard for a lot of people cause a lot of people plan things and they don't follow through. So you have to have the skill of following through on what you say you'll do. And to do that part of what I teach is some mindfulness exercises. Cause if you don't want to, if you don't react to your impulses and urges, you can have your plan of, like food, for example. You could plan what you want to eat. And when you notice that you have an urge to eat and you just notice those impulses and you have awareness of it, then you don't have to act on it.

Charmaine Platon (21:01): Like, like I love planning because it gives you awareness of all the urges you have to eat. And when you have awareness of that in your mind, then you can see, then you get to see it and you could be like, oh you, then you have to decide, I'm not gonna act on this today. Like, I made a plan for myself. I'm gonna commit to my plan. But, but the next, but that leads me to the next step, but -

Rita Black (21:25): Okay. Yeah.

Charmaine Platon (21:26): Yeah. So, so yeah. So there's that intention and then allowing yourself to be aware of the impulses. And then the next step is like, okay, how do you like not act on the urge to eat? Like, it's so hard to, to see a donut in the break room and not eat it, you know? So the third step is to process. So you have to know how to process the discomfort you're gonna feel in your body when you don't eat. Because getting, like, not acting on the impulse, it's really similar to like getting off of a drug or getting off of smoking, like, because it feels so uncomfortable. You feel that urge. So you have to know how to allow yourself to feel that urge in your body and process that feeling without acting on it.

Rita Black (22:18): And is that partially that processing how you communicate with yourself internally? Like, oh, I'm feeling this feeling, it's okay, I, I have it, it, I call it like the inner coach versus the critic or the rebel. Like, you're, you, you're like, oh, okay, we're feeling that feeling. It's great, you know, we're, we've made this pledge, we're following through. So you're shifting the focus of your brain from, you know, reactive and that dopamine brain to beings, you know, in charge, you know, focusing on how that feels to be aligned with yourself.

Charmaine Platon (22:55): Right. Right. That's the part where, like, I call it the power pause. Like when you're just in that moment where you have a craving, and you know that you wanna eat off plan but then you just pause and, and that helps you to give yourself time to process and really reflect and be like, okay, I know there's this urge here. I know there's this impulse. And let me remember why I made this plan for myself. Like, let me remember what my goals were and let me think like, what am I feeling right now? Like, am I actually hungry in this moment? Or is it an emotional hunger? Is it physical or emotional? Do I really need to eat this right now or do I not? And, and then you could sit, like, you could sit with that feeling like if you really know it's not a physical, physical sin, a hunger, and it's emotional. And I define emotional hunger, just anytime you eat for any other reason besides feeling your body.

Rita Black (23:52): Right? Yeah.

Charmaine Platon (23:53): Right. So if you know it's emotional, then you, then that's when you process and you could sit with it and be like, okay, let me just sit with this feeling. Let me see how it feels in my body and let me feel this feeling instead of eat my feelings.

Rita Black (24:07): That's awesome. I love that term power pause. That's terrific. That's so cool.

Charmaine Platon (24:15): Thank you.

Rita Black (24:15): Awesome. So, and then, so I've paused, I've planned, I've pledged, I've paused and, and what is the last the last step?

Charmaine Platon (24:30): And then the last one, which is one that most people don't do is persist. So that there's a, there's a few things in there, so persist, of course it means to keep going and never give up. But the piece I also wanna add in there is you have to also be willing to learn from your mistakes. It's kind of like evaluating what happened and then applying what you learned to the future.

Rita Black (24:57): Yeah.

Charmaine Platon (24:58): Most people don't learn from the mistake. It brings up a lot of shame when you look at how you eat. A lot of people don't like to look at that. And then they miss out on why they ate to begin with. And if you miss out on that, you're gonna keep making the same mistake over and over. So you need that evaluation and assessment piece, or else you're gonna keep being in the same loop. You're gonna keep making the same mistake and you're gonna wanna give up. So yeah.

Rita Black (25:30): I love that. Yeah. I have a term, I call it being an apprentice rather than a struggler. And, and to remove the shame, the idea of like, I'm, I'm on a learning path rather than a being good on a diet path. And there's so much shame in that moment of eating something that you had planned not to eat and self shaming. And it does, it creates such a horrible feeling that our brain, like you said, is very good at. Let me escape this feeling by then just promising to start over tomorrow and, you know, be good. And then I'll just see how much ever sugar I want for the rest of the night, you know, making that plan for future action, which delays the pain or it pushes it back. But I love that idea of persisting.

Rita Black (26:22): I mean, it is so true with the weight mastery. So much of what long-term permanent weight mastery is about is resilience and, and really building that persistent muscle. And it really is about being in that moment when you are something, maybe didn't go right and going, well, that didn't work out for me, so let me look at what, what went wrong so I can not do that the next time. We do that in every other part of our life, it seems, except for weight management. I don't know why that is, but it's just like, you know, we, you know, I'm a parent, you know, I've learned a parent not from being a good person, but just from trial and error, my god. And, you know, and you know, with work I don't know any other you know, like with work, if we just got up and left work and started again on Monday, you know, you can't do that. But, you know, and this other, this wacky world.

Rita Black (27:22): So I'm curious about people, you know, cause sugar is one of these things, it's so emotional. We are so viscerally wired, like you said, deep, deep, deep in, and it's, it's not just the primitive brain, but then, you know, it's one of the first things, especially in our American culture, right? I mean, and you could probably speak to this a lot better than me, is that, you know, from a very young age, we are wired from sugar from the people who love us, right? Mommy gives us a treat, granny makes us cookies at the holidays, you know, we have birthday cake, we have all these sugar triggers that are not just, that are really rooted in our very being, our culture, our family culture, our social culture. So when people come to you to work in, you know, these, because I know a lot of these women, it, you know, I, I work with, you know all types of women, but I know that women who are going out like for dinners and lunches and and interacting a lot, how do they manage those situations?

Rita Black (28:37): Like how when somebody's coming to you and they're really struggling with social eating because it's you know, I don't wanna not eat because blah, blah blah, everybody else, you know, like what, do you have any tips for somebody who's like struggling with that? Or social like, like well I have to have that glass of wine cause everybody else is having that. Like, don't you find, cause I find when I'm working with people, social situations are a little harder because we're surrounded. It's not, we're not alone and we can't just pause. But I mean we can, but there's that our brain seems to go into a different overdrive when we're around other human beings.

Charmaine Platon (29:19): Right. Right. And I agree with you a hundred percent. Like social situations are really like much more difficult than when you're by yourself. You know? Like there's so many, it's like what you said that's conditioning of like there's a lot of justification and social conditioning around eating certain foods is like more socially accepted. There's a lot of judgment, even if you say no to food and like people, if you're not doing what the tribe's doing, if you're not doing what everyone else is doing, there's almost a sense of like rejection you don't wanna face. Which is also a primal need. Like we wanna feel loved and accepted by everybody. So we don't want to be the, the different one who eats differently. And it, it might sound ridiculous when we say out loud, but it's true. Like we don't wanna be the -

Rita Black (30:07): No, it's incredibly primitive. I mean it's incredibly, like you said, it's tribal. We don't wanna be ostracized from the tribe. We don't wanna have to face that fear and that pain in that moment. And people are very as you know, cause I'm sure you hear it all the time, other people are very persistent. You know? Mom wants you to eat her birthday cake that she made for you, you know? Oh God. So, and, and so I'm, I'm just wondering if that planning piece is even then more important when somebody's going out to be social.

Charmaine Platon (30:47): Yes, it is very important when you're going out. And, and there's a few tips I have like specifically for social situations, but yeah, you definitely, as much as possible you wanna plan ahead. Like I always tell people if you know you're gonna go to a restaurant, like look up the restaurant ahead of time, look up what food they have. And then I also have people anticipate the obstacles they'll face when they're out socially . Like, like what do you feel like people will say to you that will make you wanna eat off plan? Like if people offer you a drink or if they tell you like, oh, relax a bit, it's okay. Like, like anticipate those obstacles and come up with your plan for that also.

Rita Black (31:30): Right, like your, your reply when they say this, oh, I'm gonna say that. Right.

Charmaine Platon (31:35): Right, right. Yeah. And I have a bunch of responses that, you know, I, I teach clients, like I have like scripts

Rita Black (31:43): I love it. You need them. You absolutely do. Or, or internal like, or mantras, you know, just like one bite and that's or one and done or something like that. Like, so that you can yeah. Really guide yourself through those situations. I'm curious, I mean cause it's just so what kind of, when you work with somebody what kind of resistance do you get when you start? Like when people are starting to do this? Like what is their biggest fears about, you know, like, like, you know, people want to do something, they want to have, breakthrough these habits, but then, then persistence comes up, right? People almost the other part of them fights it, ugh, you know, this is too hard, I can't do this. So you know, what's the, when you work with somebody, are you telling them, I'm just kind of curious that they're trying to manage their sugar.

Rita Black (32:38): They're not, not completely taking it out of their, they're, it's not, they're not taking it off, but they're figuring out like what works for them, what doesn't, breaking those habits. Like are there, you know, like I'm, because you call yourself sugar free or that's part of your thing. And I don't know if that's, but you know, do you find that people do better when they keep a fairly low carb regime going because it keeps the brain in a different state than I mean cause I've certainly seen that in my practice over the years, that some people are more genetically prone to sugar than other people. I see there's a propensity and it runs on a spectrum and so I was just curious what you know about that. Like if somebody, if some people really have a harder time than others, if you have them take it lower or if it, it's, or if it's more just working with these specific impulses.

Charmaine Platon (33:43): Right. That's a great question. Cause impulses, it, it's affected by two things. Like it is working with the brain, like the psychology of the brain and it's the brain's reward system. And the other piece of it is also physiological. It is like you do get physiological cravings. Like you're more prone to having cravings if your hunger hormones aren't balanced. And normally when you eat foods that are higher in sugar or processed foods, or if you have like flour and foods that are packaged like foods that are stripped of their nutrients and they don't really fill you up, those kind of foods will, they could hijack your reward system because they're very pleasurable and they could make you crave more. So impulses definitely are affected by both, like the food and the psychology of it. So, so I do, this is just my personal philosophy. I know people, there are a lot of thoughts about this, but

Rita Black (34:41): Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.

Charmaine Platon (34:43): There are a lot of thoughts I know, but my personal philosophy and just because I was pre-diabetic before is I have seen my own transformation of when I did shift to a lower carb diet where I was not eating like processed, added sugar and I wasn't having flour and things like that where my, when your blood sugar's more stable. Like your blood sugar's not spiking up and down. You and you're fuller longer. Like when your body is full, it will not be as enticed to eat like if, and it makes sense, right? Like if you're just full and satiated, like you don't wanna eat. And so normally the foods that activate those fullness, those fullness hormones in your body are proteins and fats. So I always recommend my clients to eat whole food sources of proteins and fats like the natural ingredient itself, like meat and seafood avocado, things like that.

Charmaine Platon (35:39): Just the food itself. Like and then that regulates your hunger hormone. So, that definitely plays a piece in it. And then when you're, when you do that for certain amount of time I, I recommend two weeks minimum to have no sugar and flour, but four weeks would be the, that's where I've seen the best results when people are off of it for four weeks. Then after that, when your physiological cravings are managed and your blood sugar's stable, then it's so much easier to do the impulsive, the impulse of eating work and the emotional eating. Like not to act on your impulses. So, so it creates more long-term success in my experience when you do it that way.

Rita Black (36:23): Yeah, I mean it's definitely an integration, isn't it? You have to stabilize your body and that part of your brain. I mean, cause I do think that when you do that, that part of your, the dopamine center kind of calms down too, you know? And, and it, it, it makes it easier.

Rita Black (36:45): Well this is really great. This is super fascinating. And is there anything like somebody who's like really, really struggling right now with sugar and carbs and habits, like one, like, like the first step that you would give them to kind of get, you know, get going on, being healthier and breaking that impulse?

Charmaine Platon (37:08): I would say like the first step is just to practice planning. Like, I would just say, just start with that because if you're feeling like you're sort of outta control of you're eating, it's most likely cause there's no structure around what you're eating or you're eating, like what you feel like eating in the moment. Like, I would say just if you just wanna start, like you really want to just, just try to get in the habit of planning ahead of time what you're gonna eat and just being very gentle with yourself, like realistic with yourself in the beginning. Like if it seems like too much of a stretch to not have sugar or flour in this moment, like just plan ahead of time what you realistically will eat and, and then just practice following through on that. Just so you build some self trusts with yourself and you're not like you could prove to your brain that you

Rita Black (37:55): Yes.

Charmaine Platon (37:55): You don't have control over the food,

Rita Black (37:56): Right. When you, when you do what you say you're gonna do, it builds that confidence. Yeah, I agree with you. That's an awesome first step for sure. There was something I was gonna ask you. It will come back to me. It will come back to me. So tell us about, so Charmaine is being generous. She's offering a free offer. So please tell us about your free offer that everybody can go and get in show notes. Sounds amazing.

Charmaine Platon (38:27): Yes. Yes. Thank you. So so yeah, for everybody who is struggling, especially with sugar and carbs, those are the most challenging foods that I've found throughout the years that my clients struggle with. And that's my expertise because yeah, like I was pre-diabetic, like I said, so I learned how to get off the sugar and carbs. So I made a quick start guide to help you stop craving sugar and carbs that you could get for free. And that guide will help you like with just like the baby steps to get started on how to not act on those impulses to eat the sugar and carbs. So those are the quick first steps and if you are wanting more support, like if you're wanting the help of a coach to help you dive deep into how to manage your brain, how to not act on those impulses, I'm also offering a free impulse mastery strategy session to help you see like where you're stuck on your wellness journey and we can make a plan on how to get to where you wanna be.

Rita Black (39:26): Awesome. So, we'll, we're gonna put Charmaine's freebie and information to get in touch with her if you wanna take her up on that session in the show notes. So check out the show notes. Charmaine, I, my brain cannot remember that question. I know. As soon as we say goodbye, I'm gonna, dang, why didn't I ask her that question? But I, is there it if, if there's anything else you, you know, like a what do they call it that a burning desire, the burning desire to share any ideas or any thoughts? Other than all the brilliance that you've already laid upon us.

Charmaine Platon (40:09): Well, thank you. Well I just wanna share with people like no habit is ever permanent. Like our brain has habits, but no habit is ever permanent. We can change any habit and if you have any habit that you feel like it's impossible change, I feel you. And it's also possible to break the habits. So if you are struggling in any place of where you're at now, the first step is really considering the possibility that you can break the habit. Cause it is possible your brain, there's no such thing as a permanent habit, so -

Rita Black (40:42): Right.

Rita Black (40:44): I love that. That's a really wonderful place to end cause that's a lot of hope. Well, thank you so much, Charmaine, for joining us today. This has been really great. Please check out Charmaine's offerings and I look forward to having you back to hear more about how we can work with our impulses and the omnipresent sugar that the sugar companies keep pumping out. I see all those executives in the boardrooms just going, okay, how can we get people more addicted to food?

Charmaine Platon (41:19): So crazy. Oh My God. We have a whole conversation on that.

Rita Black (41:20): I know, I know. And I feel like there's, I know you, you, I know we could, we could definitely dive into hours and hours of talking about the food industry, but we will curb that for another time. But thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much Charmaine.

Charmaine Platon (41:39): Thank ou for having me. It was so much fun

Rita Black (41:40): Isn't she lovely? Make sure to get her free offers in the show notes and while you're at it, leave us a kind review so that others can get some thin thinking, love leaving a review, helps other people find us. And if you take a screenshot of your review and send it to us, you will get a coupon to go shopping in the shift store and get a free download. So write us that review and check out what Charmaine, what lovely sweet treats but free and non sugary treats, Charmaine has left you in the show notes. Have an amazing week and Valentine's Day if you are celebrating. And remember that the key, and probably the only key to unlocking the door are the weight struggle is inside you. So keep listening and find it.

Rita Black (42:30): Do you wanna dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release? Head on over to www shift weight mastery.com. That's www shift weight mastery.com, where you'll find numerous tools and resources to help you unlock your mind for permanent weight release tips, strategies, and more. And be sure to check the show notes to learn more about my book From Fat to Thin Thinking, Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss.