What happens after you've tried everything? The plans, protocols, cleanses, and tracking apps. The running, the restriction, the attempt to outrun the fork. At some point, the effort becomes its own kind of exhaustion. You're no longer chasing health, you're chasing relief.

In this episode of Insatiable, I sit down with Dee, a graduate of the Truce with Food: Consistency program, to talk about what actually creates lasting change when food has become comfort, numbness, and self-punishment all at once. Dee shares what it was like to move from binging and rigid thinking into something quieter and more powerful: just showing up.

3:51 – Why Dee felt stuck before joining Truce With Food: Consistency

7:47 – Why Dee had no hesitation about signing up, even after having tried so many things before

11:04 – What changed for Dee when success was defined as simply showing up

13:47 – Having a safe space and the role of compassionate witnesses in ending her isolation

21:13 – The unexpected power of language in reshaping Dee’s thinking and behavior

27:23 – Where things shifted for Dee and where she is now compared to when she started

30:50 – How Dee’s rigid thinking and perspective on movement and motivation have changed

34:40 – The biggest shift for Dee in her relationship with food and why intensity and duration matter more than perfection

37:19 – The shift from measuring thinness to measuring aliveness

40:32 – What else surprised Dee about the work within the program and her words for anyone considering joining

Mentioned In How Just Showing Up Ended Years of Binging

Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis

Find Your Food Stage Quiz

Send me (Ali) a text message.

⏰ TIME IS TICKING. Save $100 on my Truce with Food: Consistency Group Program (savings expire on February 17th at midnight, EST)

We start on February 25th.
This 12-week live group program will help you quiet your food noise, build lasting habits, and end emotional eating—without white knuckling your way through another plan. Dive into program details and grab your spot before the $100 off offer disappears. Visit: trucewithfood.com/programs/consistency

You tell yourself you're too busy and too tired to focus on yourself. You'll do it when things calm down, when work eases up, when the kids need less, when you finally get a good night's sleep. But food still calls your name at all the wrong times. You've tried to fix it, but the cycle keeps repeating.

You're not lazy. You're not broken. You're trying to solve exhaustion without understanding where it actually comes from.

In this episode of Insatiable, I break down why "too busy and too tired" is often protective resistance in disguise and why waiting for life to calm down costs you more than you think. I walk through how midlife physiology, perfectionism, lack of agency, and how we're conditioned as women all fuel the tired trigger. Plus, why turning to food makes complete sense as a solution, not a character flaw.

1:48 - Why “too busy and too tired” can be protective resistance disguised as practicality

4:48 – Example of how investing in your health earlier creates dividends you can’t see until later

6:33 - Biological shifts in midlife that quietly change hunger, satiety, and energy

9:16 - How perfectionism and over-functioning impact your energy

9:50 - Why sugar and “I deserve this” thinking are solutions before they’re problems

12:03 - Example of the surprising role of agency in chronic exhaustion

15:25 – How investing in the right support for yourself and self-compassion can energize you

19:25 - Final takeaways for this episode and an invitation to you

Mentioned In Why Being Too Tired Is Exactly Why You Need Support

Oura Ring

FREE Workshop on February 10th - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track

Find Your Food Stage Quiz

Send me (Ali) a text message.

⏰ TIME IS TICKING. Save $100 on my Truce with Food: Consistency Group Program (savings expire on February 17th at midnight, EST)

We start on February 25th.
This 12-week live group program will help you quiet your food noise, build lasting habits, and end emotional eating—without white knuckling your way through another plan. Dive into program details and grab your spot before the $100 off offer disappears. Visit: trucewithfood.com/programs/consistency

You've followed the plans. Upped the discipline. Doubled down on getting back on track. And still, food and taking care of yourself feel harder than they used to.

You're not the problem. The problem is trying to apply the same strategies you relied on in your twenties and thirties to a body and life that have fundamentally changed.

In this episode of Insatiable, I share the five shifts that finally make consistency possible when perfectionism stops working. You'll learn why your resistance to showing up imperfectly is protective, not personal, and how to stay in the game even when it feels like you're barely moving forward.

3:28 - Why old strategies no longer working for you isn’t a sign of your failure

11:06 - Why C-plus effort triggers disgust and why that disgust has nothing to do with laziness

19:52 - How certainty becomes a shield against vulnerability and keeps you repeating the same all-or-nothing loop

24:51 - Why “momentum” sounds like a soft metric but becomes the only measure that compounds into lasting change

28:52 - The protective resistance that shows up the moment you try to break the cycle and why planning for it is non-negotiable

34:25 – Quick recap of the five shifts that redefine what success actually looks like in midlife with food struggles

Mentioned In Five Shifts to Finally Stay Consistent With Food

FREE Workshop on February 10th - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track

Find Your Food Stage Quiz

Send me (Ali) a text message.

⏰ TIME IS TICKING. Save $100 on my Truce with Food: Consistency Group Program (savings expire on February 17th at midnight, EST)

We start on February 25th.
This 12-week live group program will help you quiet your food noise, build lasting habits, and end emotional eating—without white knuckling your way through another plan. Dive into program details and grab your spot before the $100 off offer disappears. Visit: trucewithfood.com/programs/consistency