Rita Black: Did you know that discovering which chakras are out of balance can help you provide a window into wellness and weight balance? Today in episode 20 of Thin Thinking, I am interviewing transformational wellness coach Cat Dillon. We are going to get inside the fascinating world of chakras. How to tell when your chakras are off? What are the benefits of chakra balancing for weight? And so much more. So stay tuned.

Rita Black: 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, best-selling 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. 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: Hello and welcome to episode 20 of Thin Thinking. Wow. I feel like number 20 is a milestone. I started this podcast in the spring of 2021 not long ago, and it has been so fun to go deep on the subjects that I think are helpful for people to hear about managing your mindset around weight mastery. So I just wanted to stop and pause and give a big thin thinking hug to all of you who have been supporting the podcast with downloads. We've had over 4,000 downloads so far and thousands of listeners from all over the world. I mean, my mind is blown China, India, Slovenia, Oman, Australia, Chile, and Canada, along with all of the 50 of the United States. And that is just, wow. Cool. So, keep passing along that Thin Thinking to those you love and my gratitude and love to all of you who, like I said, have become a part of what I consider the new growing Thin Thinking community. I have a slogan or a saying with the shift weight mastery community. I say, "Alone we diet, together we shift." And alone we diet and together we all are a powerful community of thin thinkers. So, thank you for being here with me. And if you haven't tried my free hypnosis session, Curb Your Sugar Cravings, please grab it. The link is always in the show notes below as is the opportunity to subscribe or to, you know, get on my newsletter list. So, it's all there in the show notes.

Rita Black: So today, my podcast, we are talking with Cat Dillon, and I am so excited about this interview. I know you're going to love it. Cat Dillon is a registered holistic nutritionist, a professional chef, a certified transformational wellness coach. And she has so much more. She assists wellness seekers through the co-mingling of food as medicine, holistic life principles and transformational coaching. Through tangible teachings, Cat transforms her clients, unsuccessful attempts at improving and maintaining their health using her empowering nutrition and self-care programs. She focuses on empowering everyone with the ability to source their own energy focus and wellbeing for life. Cat helps motivate and educate clients at any level of change. She encourages everyone to learn, to listen to their body's innate wisdom so that they can facilitate their own healing and achieve their desired results. Her areas of expertise include anxiety and depression, insomnia, sugar and carb cravings, allergies, immune system, digestive difficulties, metabolic disorders, weight loss resistance, and many others. She's been a keynote speaker and director of nutrition at the award-winning wellness retreat VeraVia, as well as a regular contributor to Access Elite, Modern Bride Magazine, Demand Media and Chowhound. Cat practices in Encinitas, California, and lives with her husband and two rescue dogs, Mochi and Minnie. When she's not consulting or teaching, you'll find her on her Peloton lifting heavy objects or hiking with her dogs.

Rita Black: Well, I am so excited that you're here with me, Cat. I really am excited to have you talk to our listeners because what you do is so fascinating. And so like out of the scope of what I think a lot of people are used to, and I think people really excited to learn. I know that you're both like a holistic nutritionist and a transformational wellness coach, and so much more. So can you just hello and tell us, you know, a little bit about how you got into what you do?

Cat Dillon: Absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on. I feel like I've just an honor and I feel so blessed to know you and to be on your show Rita. Thank you.

Rita Black: Oh, well thank you. Feeling is mutual.

Cat Dillon: So yeah, I got into nutrition via food via, you know, loving, culinary, loving cooking, grew up for the family of big cooks. And, you know, I originally went to culinary school and I just wasn't excited about what I was doing. Right. I was just not in alignment with my life. I really wanted to celebrate food, but I also wanted to explore teaching other people how to eat right, how to eat, you know, according to their rhythms. How to, you know, eat delicious food yet completely unprocessed and to celebrate food but, also really not to have it rule that because I, you know, I come from a disordered eating background also. And that's why I love that I do attract those, those clients as well.

Rita Black: So yeah. I'd love to hear a little more about that. So you struggled with disordered eating. Is that how you got into eating healthy?

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I really realized through, you know, going to study nutrition leader that it was more than the food, that it was if we're not, if we're not addressing the mindset, the beliefs and all the belief patterns, we're not going to get anywhere with food, right?

Rita Black: Yeah.

Cat Dillon: You know, and then when we learn at the university level, like years and years ago when I was first studying nutrition in the university level, I learned, you know, it was just the calories in calories out motto. Right? It was very driven by industrial or industries and really about like, you know, who's funding what, and it just, you know, it wasn't my cup of tea. So later, I got into holistic nutrition and that is where I really, really found my niche when we were starting to deal with not only eating, but what is your lifestyle like? What is your, what are your beliefs? You know, what are your, what are your lifestyle habits? All. Everything - mind, body, and spirit .

Rita Black: Fascinating! And when, so that is what you would say, holistic nutrition embodies all of those things.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Complete embodiment!

Rita Black: Right. You take in the whole person within that. That is so cool. And how did that pivot into being a transformational wellness coach?

Cat Dillon: Yeah! So that's a great question because, when I first started my nutrition business, after I got out of school, I was also a personal trainer and I loved doing those things. I was kind of spreading myself so fast, you know, I'd either have, I never had people that wanted to do both, you know, you just wanted to eat poorly and just exercise it off. It was the people that, you know, just wanting to eat really well, and they just, they weren't so interested in the movement part. So I just decided, you know what, I'll just commit, kind of just go for it. I'm going to quit personal training because really what I wanted to teach is nutrition. And when I got out there and I was realizing Rita that people were not struggling because, you know, they were eating the wrong foods only. It was really their mindset.

Rita Black: Yes! Absolutely! So your transformational wellness really is dealing with the mind first?

Cat Dillon: Well, I can't really say, say that. I would say, you know, I mean, look, our body's physiology is going to run our mind, right? We know that, got brain connection, our physiology is off and our blood sugar is crazy off the scale. We're not sleeping and that's going to affect our decision-making.

Rita Black: Absolutely!

Cat Dillon: We're going to be ruled by that sympathetic portion of the nervous system. We're not going to be, our moods not going to be happy, our relationships aren't going to work. We're going to eat the wrong foods for one or eat for the wrong reasons. We've just want to not feel the feelings. Right. And that's what really interests me in my field is, is really like how our thoughts control our actions. And then also ultimately how our actions over and over, feed back into that belief about ourselves and therefore what we keep doing.

Rita Black: And, with regards to that, cause I know we were going to talk about chakras. How is the chakra - I'm going to say, I keep saying chakras. I'm so sorry. I'm not cool. So within that, within what you, so when you're caring for somebody, when you're, somebody comes to you and it says, "Cat, you know, help me get back on track." Like, I, you know, like I'm all over the place, I'm eating all over the place. I want to lose some weight. I want to feel better. Where, would you start with the chakras first? Or how would you, you, you know, start with that person?

Cat Dillon: Yeah. I find that really, really funny Rita because I once as well, because I didn't know what the chakras, but they sound so mystical and so outfitter and so woo. And I'm like chakra as well. I don't get it. So, you know, I'm just, I'm just going to do my thing and then learn about them later. But I found that they can really be used interchangeably with something that I learned from one of my greatest teachers, Deanna Minich. She coined the Seven Systems of Health. Truly, that's what they are. All they are, are a series of endocrine, organs, tissues, and glands that run from the base of her spine to the crown of her head. And basically what they do is they're basically they're energetic systems, right? They eat energy from the outside and bring it in and it also takes energy from the inside of the body out.

Rita Black: Oh, okay.

Cat Dillon: Right. So any kind of energy where we might be off in an organ or an area of our body will show up in certain health complaints. So, let me give you an example. So, a lot of people, you know, during the pandemic that we've been going through and some of them still are going through this. They've been feeling quite off in their first chakra and what that is is there is their root chakra. Maybe they feel as if they're just surrounded with so much, so much to do. So much, you know, so many people, they feel like they're just overwhelmed and they just really feel ungrounded, even though they have a home, right. They have a roof over their head. They still feel destabilized because they don't know what's happening. Right. We're unsure of what the future holds for us. That really destabilizes our, our stress, our adrenal glands, right. Our adrenal hormones, epinephrin and cortisol. Right? And so what happens is that vibration permeates and we end up with certain energetic imbalances in that area. So it could be feeling quite insecure. And we want to, let's bring some food in with us and, you know, sometimes people feel like, you know, you can't leave the house without a snack in your bag.

Rita Black: Right!

Cat Dillon: Right? Or maybe it's feeling the need to eat or eat more than you need to eat just to stabilize your emotions to kind of feel more grounded because well, eat not only to eat, to have delicious food, but also because it gives them an emotional response and maybe feeling more connected or grounded.

Rita Black: Right!

Cat Dillon: And I see a lot of that. And then people that want to always have this habit of eating more than they need at a meal. And that feeling of like being slightly bloated and filled up because it grounds them.

Rita Black: That's very true. I see that. And, that we like to, I often have clients who say, you know, I just like to feel full. And I certainly know from my own struggles with weight, that like you get sort of addicted to that feeling full, even though, you know, consciously, "Ah! This isn't good for me. I shouldn't feel so full." There's this drive to feel full. And I could see that feeling grounded. Now is the, is the root chakra. Where is that in the body?

Cat Dillon: And so the root chakra as is, it's interesting. It's the base of the spine, but it's also your feet. It also envelops our whole being, it's our structure, it's our joints on our bones and our tissues. Right all you know, our hard tissue as well. And it's also our DNA. Anything that roots us to our being is what the root is. There's so much metaphorical brilliance in these chakras. It's crazy. And so what's really kind of interesting too, is that they, the chakras all correlate with certain specific colors, the root is red. Interestingly enough, what feeds these adrenal glands, things that are red. Things that are rich in vitamin C. Things that also like proteins that break down into amino acid, right. So that would be, you know, protein-rich foods. Legumes. It would be our animal proteins, things like that. Fiber is also because they are very rich in structure. Right? And so it's really cool. Like each one of these chakras has their physiological components and also has our anatomical components. It has lifestyle issues, like feeling, support feeling, a sense of grounded-ness. Right? So it's just truly amazing.

Rita Black: I love that. And I could see how, when you sort of understand all seven of the chakras, that you would have such a deeper sense of connection to yourself by an end. I see what you're saying by being a, you were saying to me earlier, and maybe you can speak to this a little bit about like, having it be your GPS guide to yourself.

Cat Dillon: Exactly. Exactly. Because here's the thing is, you know, so many of my clients, Rita, they're not connected with themselves, nor are they connected with their food. People are running around, eating on the run, eating with their cellphone, eating with the TV on, eating while they're doing something other than eating, eating while in TV. Right?

Rita Black: Yes.

Cat Dillon: What do we do with, at the movie theater? Where we've got a huge bucket of popcorns, and what I say to people, you know, people would say, "Oh, is popcorn good for me?" And I think, you know, it's fine, but here's the thing. You totally switch off your brain. And you know, you can't be still hungry after you, you know, you eat a certain amount yet you keep eating it's that the texture, the flavor, the salt and the crunch and the butter, you know, it's these, these foods, these processed foods, and this is another topic already I won't get into. But, these are specifically designed to make you continue to eat highly palatable foods, that switching on response in your brain from left than to stop eating.

Rita Black: Yeah. I just, I was reviewing actually, cause I think in a future episode reviewing a book that gets into that as well, which is super fascinating how the food industry has sort of produced, created, invented these foods that sort of trip wire or overcome our national satiety and engage the dopamine center in our brain to overdrive or override those natural stopping, oh, I'm full now and keep eating even though we're full.

Cat Dillon: Exactly! And you know what you're saying that I was talking about the inner GPS is that, we truly do need a sort of system to tune in because half of the time we're needing, we're not hungry. We're really needing something else. By knowing these chakras, one can assess what it really is it may be missing.

Rita Black: Right. So, how can you tell if a specific chakra is off? Like, so we're talking about the GPS guide, so if I'm going along, how do I know one is off?

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Great question. Okay. Well, let me give you a super simple one because so many people, at least so many of my clients are dealing with poor digestion. I mean, most common issues it's related to basically any system, right? If we're not properly processing, you know, breaking down our foods and absorbing the nutrients from those foods, there's no way you can be healthy. There's just no way. Right? And then also want to look at all right, what about our bad bacteria and our microbiome and how that's affecting our mood and our energy and our memory and all of that. So, the system that I see, that's really pretty simple to diagnose, just kind of self-diagnosed and kind of figure it out if you're out of balance is your third chakra, your, I call it the fire. It's your blood sugar and your metabolism. Yeah. It's, you know, there's so many limiting thought patterns around that. You know, when people eat with stress, I, you know, one of the big ones, I just got an email from someone just about 20 minutes before I talked to you that they were just, they couldn't stop eating. And they said, you know, when I'm stressed, I can't stop eating. I don't know what to do about it. It's just the stress. Right. So this system is really interesting Rita, cause it's representative of your energy and it's also your power. If your digestion is off, like you don't feel motivated, you just don't feel like you have the power to finish some projects or even the capacity to just be who you want to be. It's the center in the middle of your body that is the transformation, right? The fire in your belly. It's your stomach, your gallbladder, your liver, pancreas, your small intestines, those things that are processing. Right? And then it's basically what gives you energy and what takes it away. And you know, we're talking not only with food, but emotionally,

Rita Black: That is so cool. So you, if you were feeling unproductive or feeling down, then you would, you would say, "Oh, maybe something's going on with my digestion." What am I -

Cat Dillon: It could be. And you know, it's also maybe, all right, well, I've been eating at restaurants, I've been eating processed foods. I've just feeling like my chit, my digestion is just kind of off right now. That's interesting how I just don't feel motivated. I just don't feel like, you know, I want to finish that project that I was doing. I just don't have that kind of fire in me or it's the ability to burn, you know that feeling when you just sort of burning the candle at both ends?

Rita Black: Yes.

Cat Dillon: Right. It's the same thing that your body is doing when it's trying to break down foods. If it doesn't have that energy to break down the foods, it is just not going to give you the mental energy.

Rita Black: I can totally see that.

Cat Dillon: Physical and the psychological energy to get things done.

Rita Black: Right. And then what, so if you were going to work with somebody, you know, for like, let's say health or weight management, you know, what are the benefits of the chakra balancing? You know, when you work with somebody, are you balancing all the chakras? Are you working at it one at a time? Or, you know, like, well, I'm asking you too many questions, so maybe you can just walk us through, like, what are the benefits of chakra balancing?

Cat Dillon: Yeah, yeah. Honestly, Rita, you know, the chakras are a toolkit, that's what they are, they are toolkit. Sometimes they don't even come up, but I know what I'm looking for. I know where these imbalances are. I know where I need to speak into. I know the patterns that I'm recognizing, you know, that I've see this physical response to someone is a, you know, is being determined by how they're thinking and vice versa. Or maybe it's a hormone imbalance. Ah, now I see, why there may be some sort of psychological pattern that I'm seeing with that person that has that symptom. And I see the correlation. You know, there are certain clients that are really interested in, in the chakras and I will express, you know, I'll talk about them, but not everybody, you know, is open as others. You know, this is not, you know, this is not, woo anymore. It's actually pretty mainstream. And sometimes people just, you know, I won't even talk chakras, I'll just talk about their systems. In fact, if I'm talking to, let's say a physician, about imbalances, I won't even talk about chakras. We'll just talk about the systems. Right?

Rita Black: Right. Right. So when you're balancing the systems for weight, do you start at a particular chakra or do you just listen to that person? And you're looking, so not your, as a practitioner, you're not necessarily talking chakras with them, but you're listening to them and then making assessments, and obviously it's kind of an alchemy, right? You've got like their, maybe their fire system is off, but also their root system needs a little tweak, but it's like different people are going to have different needs in different areas.

Cat Dillon: Pretty much. Although, I will say, Rita that the root, the sake role and the fire are always going to be the ones where I start. Right? If we just bypass the root and we don't talk about, you know, setting the foundation for any kind of program that I have, or a service that I have, it's not gonna work. If we don't address patterns and address the why of why people do what they do. Right? And getting grounded and rooted setting, you know, setting people up for success is not going to happen unless we deal with the ground from the ground up. You can't like, just go right into, let's say, there are a level of compassion, which is definitely part of it. And you know, one of the things that's really interesting is that these, these chakras kind of unify and work in little groups as well. We'll see, like, we'll see the root and the flow kind of coincide and do this happy dance with the, with the heart chakra. Right. Because when you feel grounded as, when you can feel like you can even give and receive love, which is part of the heart chakra. Example, and then you can also see like chakra is being imbalanced up the line and they affect the chakra either above it or below it. Right.

Rita Black: So like that one, like if they're blocked in one chakra, then they're the chakra is above. It will be impacted as well.

Cat Dillon: Absolutely. Absolutely. Another one that I see a lot, especially in, you know, the pre kind of peri and post-menopausal-

Rita Black: Oh yeah! I was going to ask you about that.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Big one is the truth, the truth, the throat chakra. Chakra is because, you know, so many people don't, you know, they've been living for their kids and for their, their mates and not, you know, yeah. Maybe you have a great job, but you're doing so much. You'd just rather not disturb the peace and just kind of like putting up with a lot and that right there, that holding in your truth right? Can really inhibit the flow around that region and really promote imbalance in the thyroid.

Rita Black: Oh, interesting.

Cat Dillon: Right. So, you know, and then this is an interesting one too, is it like, when we talk about eating food, food, what does food do? It passes, it passes through this region of the throat. It has to go there to be consumed. So that's a big one involved in eating, the throat chakra. So we're talking about authenticity as well with this throat chakra, and you know, to be your authentic self, you know. If your thyroid's off there is going to usually be a little bit of like, you know, these organs dance together, the thyroid and the adrenals. Once off, you, you see symptoms in the other as well.

Rita Black: Can I ask you if like, for instance, you're talking about like adrenals and being off at the, the throat chakra is off and you were talking earlier about like foods correlating with different chakras. So would part of your, your healing process, like, do you find that when somebody is like imbalanced in their throat chakra, that they then are usually not eating the foods that are right for that particular chakra or is your part of your healing process to make sure they're getting those foods in their body?

Cat Dillon: Absolutely. But a little bit about, but, what I would do just as a, as a kind of an example of what you're, you're asking and kind of what I'm talking about is that for the throat chakra, the things that nourish it are things that are rich in minerals and iodine. And interestingly enough, the thyroid needs iodine. Right? So what I would say is, you know, eat more sea vegetables that are rich in minerals, that nourish the thyroid. Other than that, I'd say, foods that are moist, that helps lubricate and open the channels of expression. Right we're talking now is psychology instead of the physiology, but things that are moist, like teas and soups and juices and.

New Speaker: Interesting!

Cat Dillon: Yeah. And even the color as well. We're talking about this throat chakra that correlates with this, the color aquamarine.

Rita Black: Oh wow.

Cat Dillon: When we think of the sea, the ocean, the plankton, and the things that are swimming naturally in the ocean.

Rita Black: Well, and so now I, which brings me to another question, like we're moving up the chakras and I'm not quite sure what brain health is, but I'm assuming it's one of the top chakras.

Cat Dillon: Oh my God. It is like, it's completely my favorite chakra. It really is. And I think, you know what, even before I go into it, I wanna, I just want to ask you just a quick question and that is, what color is your favorite color?

Rita Black: Well, I have to say red and blue are my favorite colors and, and, yeah. Those are my favorite colors.

Cat Dillon: Okay. That's so interesting. Because nine times out of 10, it goes to it, the color that we really, really like is the color that has the most meaning to us with our system. Now red for you as root. So feeling grounded for you is probably a really important thing.

Rita Black: Yes.

Cat Dillon: And then the blues and the purples is like insight. You're very inquisitive. I mean, you have to be as a hypnotherapist. So, and those are actually my mine as well, mostly, but I would say my second would be red, but definitely the purples and the blues and the purples are associated with insight.

Rita Black: Interesting. What is purple? Is purple the brain? The head?

Cat Dillon: Yeah. So it's that blue purple. Sometimes people say lavender, but I say, it's, it's more like purple and blue, third eye chakra, or, you know, anything about creativity here. And we think about sleep as well, insight. Right? And it's kind of interesting when we look at this chakra is, as it relates to food, you know, not understanding or having the insight as to truly what your body needs. It may be just like, oh, it's there and you just eat it. Right? Or not knowing that, you know, you eat it, but you just keep forgetting that every time you eat this way, it just gives you the worst indigestion or bloating or, you know, allergies or, you know, sinus stuff.

Rita Black: Right.

Cat Dillon: And it's interesting as each one of these chakras, has these limiting patterns, you know. One that I come across a lot in my practice is those that if they're trying to lose weight or be healthy, you know, they could be both or either. But someone might be thinking and believing that I can't imagine myself in a, in a thinner body. It may be someone that is having trouble viewing a larger perspective on what a healthier lifestyle would be.

Rita Black: Yeah. I mean, I absolutely couldn't agree with you more that, there's, creativity is such a huge part of transformation of any sort. And I think a lot of times when we think about losing weight, we think about taking away rather than creating something new and you know, like a new lifestyle, a new idea of yourself, shifting identity, you know, and, I can see how that purple, the head chakra, what do you call it? The third eye chakra? I love that.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Interestingly enough, it, you know, and there's so much research. I mean, you could look at PubMed right now and find thousands upon thousands about studies done on the beautiful value of wild blueberries and purple foods in general. Purple kale, purple cauliflower, Asahi, right. Purple grapes. All of those, anything that's green that has purple pigments on it, like purple kale, you know, on a very it tips needs. And so it said that, these purple pigments, these phytochemicals are, they're associated with better hippocampus function. So memory, memory storage also mood. There's tons and tons of studies on neuro-transmitters and the purple phytochemicals. Anthocyanidins! I was thinking-

Rita Black: Wow. I'm Impressed that you said that all in one go.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny though, too, because for one person, certain foods would actually nourish this chakra and for another, the same foods will kind of imbalance it. And so we look at the insight, this chakra right here. So, what, what it is nourished with, not only the purple goods, but also a balance of, you know, things that are, that actually affect our, our brain, even stimulants, but natural, you know, like when I'm talking about is like green tea and, you know, chocolate, anything caffeine-associated substances. The thing is that genetically we are all unique. For instance, as myself, I'll bring up. I love coffee. I love the mouthfeel. I mean, I'm not talking like, just mean talking like, you know, a nice cortado or a cappuccino with the finest espresso, you know? I just love it, but I can't drink it. I can't drink it. I'm just, you know, I probably have, you know, I'll, I'll have one, you know, every, every so often, but because I am deficient in a specific gene that helps to metabolize it, I actually am a very slow metabolizer, so I don't excrete it fast enough. Right. So it stays in my bloodstream. There's many people like us. Right. So with me, I'm already type-a personality, to green tea. And even that has a little bit of caffeine. But what we don't want to do is, you know, consume the things that are not right for our individual physiology.

Rita Black: Wow. How would you find that out? Like how would you find out your genetic code?

Cat Dillon: Well, you can find it out with genetic testing. I do a little bit of genetic testing, but, you know what, if you know, I mean, you, you just kinda know. If you don't do well with caffeine, you probably get headaches or heart palpitations, or you're just way too talkative or you can't sleep or you just, you get moody, irritable, or really hungry.

Rita Black: And then you, then you're cued, you're cued into it. And if somebody's coming to you with an issue like that, you might look at their caffeine consumption.

Cat Dillon: Absolutely!

Rita Black: Oh, so fascinating. Yeah, no, it's so funny for me. I, you know, I know I had told you when we were talking before we turned on record and I, you know, was catering, you know, in New York city. And I remember days where I would like drink espresso and then go to sleep at night. So I think I'm the opposite of you Cat.

Cat Dillon: I am so envious because to me it's, it's not, I mean, the buzz is nice a little bit just for like the first five, 10 minutes. Yeah. For me, it's the flavor, I'm a super taster. And I mean, I'm telling you that just the texture of it, the mouthfeel, the aroma.

Rita Black: Yeah. I can tell you have a very, powerful palette, you know, especially like food is a way that you, if you're a former chef, like can express yourself, but I can tell you really love the textures and the what food does. It's so cool that you have this insight and that food is so much more than just eating food, but that it has all these different layers to it within the body.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Yeah. It's funny. I was, you know, thinking about that awhile back and I, and I thought, you know, it's like the differences is, you know, when we talk to our clients about eating, it's about eating, you know, as a pleasure, but not eating for pleasure. You know what I mean.

Rita Black: Yes. I love that distinction.

Cat Dillon: Enjoy it and celebrate it. But if that's all we do, then it's, it's not balanced.

Rita Black: Right. I love that. That is a powerful, powerful distinction. Eating as pleasure, but not for pleasure. Is that, did I get it? Okay, good. I know that your, what is anything else you think that would be like within while we're talking about that? For my audience, what do you think that they might like to know? Like, you know, like as a final sort of insight, you know, like bringing together all that we've talked about today.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. I love that. And I think, this is why, I kind of explore this area so much in my practice and in my own, in my own life is that, it's so interesting Rita to ask why. And also what I love about this too, is that I can, is we ask why we look at our food story. It's interesting. I do this exercise with groups a lot and it's called, it's called the laddering technique. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe, you know it.

Rita Black: I don't. Oh, oh, I might, I, if it's mean, it's might be like a chain technique, but please tell them.

Cat Dillon: So you'll pick a food. Like, usually it's like chocolate or ice cream or pizza or whatever. Like people just really, really love. Okay? You say it in a group and you say that the word 20 times slowly, and everybody is to write down the first word that comes to their mind when they hear that. And so they write that down. And then after it's usually about, you know, a good couple minutes, we'll go through and we'll, in order, make a story up about all of those foods and find like, sometimes there's like one word that keeps coming up over and over again. Or sometimes it's a collection of words that you just haven't even thought of. And it's usually the reason why you, you desire or even over desire a certain food. And so just knowing that pattern or that story can really just give you a lot more power, right? It's to understand your why as to why you are so sensitive and why you were so drawn to that. Right? It's almost like you can have a little bit more self self-compassion. This is a really good one for my overeaters, right? Or people who are really, you know, just, you know, how strong food addictions, understand, you know, that it's, there's a reason for this pattern and it, and it's, it's okay to have some self-compassion and be more curious. That's the bottom line is when we get away from being judgemental, this is where we can start to have the results. Right? This is when we can really just settle into authentic living for ourselves versus, you know, there's no growth in judgment.

Rita Black: Right. I love that. And yeah, we talk about the inner critic a lot and how, when we don't have compassion for ourselves and when we judge ourselves. Yeah. All those limiting beliefs get in our way and the road to, you know, break through that resistance is by owning it and loving yourself and complete compassion. I love, I love that exercise. So I want to get this straight. So you would like say pizza 20 times, and then you would write down like what, what came to your mind? And then you would then say a different food and say that 20 times.

Cat Dillon: No. You say the same foods.

Rita Black: Oh, you just think, so this one food, and then you're saying it 20 times, and then you're writing different words that come to your mind when you're saying those. Okay. That is really cool. And then, and then you create a story. Yeah. Because so often we don't get, and I, I think the word is curious that we don't just own those, like, oh, I love pizza. It's like, oh, it shouldn't, I shouldn't like pizza. It's bad for me as well, blah. We have all these opinions and ideas, but we go, oh, well, what's the, I love that it creating a story and going in and having a different perspective. That's so creative. You work very creatively with your clients. That's so cool.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Well, this is not, I, this is not something that I created. I actually, I found out about it through one of my teachers.

Rita Black: Oh, I love it. That's a great, well, whatever I love that you work with your clients in that way. That's fantastic. So if people are curious about working with you, Cat, I know I'm putting in the show notes, your information, how people can get in touch with you, but you also have if, a gift that you're giving everybody, which is very generous of you. Can you tell us a little bit about this gift? That you're -

Cat Dillon: Yeah. Yeah. I love this because it's so user-friendly, it's actually a chakra grocery guide. So on one side it explains the chakras very simply. On the other side, it shows some imbalances and what you'd want to eat more of to cover and to balance that specific chakra.

Rita Black: That's so great. I love that. And I love the fact cause we didn't get to cover all the chakras today that you're giving that gift so that if somebody is curious, like what are the seven chakras that have access and be able to look at what the imbalances are. So cool.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. And it's super colorful. What you can do is laminate it. I actually also have it as a pad and I'm trying to market it. But I'm not, I haven't, I don't have it ready yet.

Rita Black: Okay. Well, we'll look around the holiday season for that. I love it. Well thank you so much for your time. And like I said, if you want to get in touch with Cat, you can find her information, we'll have her website. Is there any other, your website and then also your email address? Is there any other place that people should look for?

Cat Dillon: You know, a fun thing to do is go to Healthy Hacks That Last and that's my Facebook group and I do tons and tons of resources and tips on a daily basis there.

Rita Black: Love that. Okay, great. Yeah. That's an easy in to getting more from Cat Dillon. I love that. And you do tell everybody quickly about your summit or you do these groups with experts as well, which is so -

Cat Dillon: Oh yeah. And I had Rita twice.

Rita Black: Which was, which was so honored.

Cat Dillon: Yeah. And we'll probably be doing one in the next couple of months. They're always related to the physical and the physiology, the physical and the mental basically. I like to, I, you can't do one without the other, so whatever it is, it will definitely be mind, body, spirit, mind, body, soul, and it's always a good time.

Rita Black: So yeah, look out for those because I will always be advertising her summits because they should get some amazing guests on. So, fantastic. Well, thanks again so much, Cat. We really appreciate your time and wow. I found, I learned so much today, so great. Thank you.

Cat Dillon: Thanks so much.

Rita Black: Thank you again, Cat Dillon. That was amazing. And remember, this episode was brought to you all by my free Shift Out of Sugar Cravings Hypnosis session. Just find that link in the show notes and grab your free copy or head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.com and find the offer there. All right, everybody. I hope you have an amazing week coming up. Thanks again for sharing my 20th episode of Thin Thinking with me. This is so great. I feel like it is a celebration. And remember that the key and probably the only key to unlocking the door of the weight struggle is inside you. So keep listening and find it.

Rita Black: Do you want to dive deeper into the mindset of long-term weight release? Head on over to www.shiftweightmastery.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.