Insatiable with Ali Shapiro, MSOD, CHHC

316. Why Being Too Tired Is Exactly Why You Need Support

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 practicality4:48 – Example of how investing in your health earlier creates dividends you can’t see until later6:33 - Biological shifts in midlife that quietly change hunger, satiety, and energy9:16 - How perfectionism and over-functioning impact your energy9:50 - Why sugar and “I deserve this” thinking are solutions before they’re problems12:03 - Example of the surprising role of agency in chronic exhaustion15:25 – How investing in the right support for yourself and self-compassion can energize you19:25 - Final takeaways for this episode and an invitation to youMentioned In Why Being Too Tired Is Exactly Why You Need SupportOura RingFREE Workshop on February 10th - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off TrackFind Your Food Stage QuizSend me (Ali) a text message.🧭 If you're tired of knowing what works but not being able to make it stick, try my free food stage finder. There are four distinct stages in how we relate to food, and a few questions will reveal yours along with next steps. Visit: trucewithfood.com/find-your-food-stage

315. Five Shifts to Finally Stay Consistent With Food

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 failure11:06 - Why C-plus effort triggers disgust and why that disgust has nothing to do with laziness19:52 - How certainty becomes a shield against vulnerability and keeps you repeating the same all-or-nothing loop24:51 - Why “momentum” sounds like a soft metric but becomes the only measure that compounds into lasting change28:52 - The protective resistance that shows up the moment you try to break the cycle and why planning for it is non-negotiable34:25 – Quick recap of the five shifts that redefine what success actually looks like in midlife with food strugglesMentioned In Five Shifts to Finally Stay Consistent With FoodFREE Workshop on February 10th - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off TrackFind Your Food Stage QuizSend me (Ali) a text message.🧭 If you're tired of knowing what works but not being able to make it stick, try my free food stage finder. There are four distinct stages in how we relate to food, and a few questions will reveal yours along with next steps. Visit: trucewithfood.com/find-your-food-stage

314. Why Food Plans Fail After 40 and What Works Instead

You've done the work. Tried the protocols, followed the plans. And yet food still takes up way too much mental space. You're not the problem. Those one-size-fits-all protocols you've been handed were never going to work for where you actually are.After nearly two decades working with clients, I've watched the wellness space get louder and louder with protocols and plans telling you what to do without knowing who you are or what stage you're in. Frameworks meet you where you actually are and help you figure out why you keep turning to food in the first place. That distinction is everything when it comes to lasting change.In this episode of Insatiable, I explain why frameworks work when protocols don't, walk you through the four developmental stages most women move through in their relationship with food, and share details about my free Untangle Your Food Triggers workshop coming up in February for those ready to move beyond protocols. 5:52 - How last year’s “composting phase” reshaped my body of work9:46 - Why midlife women need frameworks instead of protocols13:19 - An appetizer for the Truce with Food Consistency program to kickstart your year15:16 - Stages in the developmental process to a truce with food17:16 - Why stage two is both the most confusing and the most hopeful place to land (and how to leverage it)Mentioned In Why Food Plans Fail After 40 and What Works InsteadFREE Workshop on February 10th (not 11th, misspoke in episode) - ​​Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off TrackBraid Creative and ConsultingHow to Better Understand Stress with Andrea NakayamaFind Your Food Stage QuizSend me (Ali) a text message.🧭 If you're tired of knowing what works but not being able to make it stick, try my free food stage finder. There are four distinct stages in how we relate to food, and a few questions will reveal yours along with next steps. Visit: trucewithfood.com/find-your-food-stage

313. What’s Still Missing From the “Emotional Eating” Conversation with Dr. Deborah MacNamara [Best Of]

Happy New Year, Insatiable listeners! Welcome to 2026.Today I’m resharing my conversation with parenting expert Dr. Deborah MacNamara, where we explore how food connects to our deep need for belonging, how feeling significant plays into belonging and food choices, as well as the many ways we can heal our relationships with food, fullness, and needing other people.If you want to make real changes with your or your loved ones eating, this episode just might help you make life-changing connections that have been elusive for years and be focused in the right direction for 2026.Tune in, then make sure to check out my new website trucewithfood.com. We discuss:The difference between attachment and belongingWhat Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is missingHow to focus on receptivity in relationships with our kidsWhy food is often the place our relationship dynamics play outThe surprising connection between food, fullness, and vulnerabilitySelf-soothing vs satiationWhy feelings are different than emotionsThe problematic invasiveness of “work mode”Experimenting with being “needy” so we can learn to depend on othersMore about our guest: Dr. Deborah MacNamara is the author of two books, Nourished: Connection, food and caring for our kids (and everyone else we love), and Rest, Play, Grow: Making sense of preschoolers (or anyone who acts like one). She is on Faculty at the Neufeld Institute and the Director of Kid’s Best Bet counselling.Connect with Dr. Deborah MacNamara:WebsiteBooksFacebookInstagramMentioned in this episode:Dr. Gordon Neufeld & Dr. Gabor MatéThe Religion of Wellness Culture with Anne Helen Petersen (Episode 252)Send me (Ali) a text message.🧭 If you're tired of knowing what works but not being able to make it stick, try my free food stage finder. There are four distinct stages in how we relate to food, and a few questions will reveal yours along with next steps. Visit: trucewithfood.com/find-your-food-stage

312. Why Willpower Isn’t the Problem: The Truth About the Knowing–Doing Gap [Courageous Pivot Podcast]

What if your inability to change isn't a failure of willpower, but your heart's way of protecting you from something you're not ready to face?Today I’m sharing a conversation I had with Meghan Telpner for the Courageous Pivot podcast about how my journey from overworking addiction to radical life redesign began with a simple question: "Why does this make sense?"I reveals how addressing my relationship with food became the gateway to confronting deeper questions about worth, identity, and what success actually means—and why healing often requires becoming a beginner all over again. From my journey through cancer, infertility, and postpartum menopause to finally redefining wealth as "freedom over my time," we get into how having the courage to slow down and listen to your body's wisdom can unlock transformations you never imagined possible.Essential listening for anyone measuring busyness instead of impact, struggling to make changes they know they need, or ready to understand why their body might be wiser than their ambition.We discuss:Why only 1 in 7 heart attack survivors actually change their diet and lifestyle—even when they know it could save their livesThe hidden cost of measuring busyness instead of impact and how it perpetuates chronic exhaustionThe developmental reason we spend the first half of life proving we can exert our will on the world—and what the second half requiresWhy food (and overwork) are “almost addictive”—soothing just enough to quiet the alarm but never enough to meet the actual needWhat “immunity to change” reveals about the knowing-doing gap and why willpower will never be the answerHow cultural conditioning around productivity and “earning your worth” gets embedded in our nervous systemsThe question that transforms self-judgment into constructive self-compassionConnect with Meghan:Visit Meghan’s websiteListen to the Courageous Pivot PodcastMentioned in this episode:Culinary Nutrition: How to Cook for Health and Taste with Meghan Telpner – Insatiable Season 12, Episode 2Enneagram: personality typesImmunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey — published by Harvard Business Review PressRest, Play, Grow by Dr. Deborah MacNamaraNourished by Dr. Deborah MacNamara — available through her foundation websiteLaura McKowen — writer on sobriety whose rule "it's not your fault, but it is your responsibility"Dr. Stacy Sims — exercise physiologist, Ali references regarding protein recommendationsSend me (Ali) a text message.Make sure to check out Ali’s new website trucewithfood.com, and take the new Find Your Food Stage assessment!