Willpower isn't real, it's just a myth. What's real is creating a healthy environment where habits can thrive.

Ethan Schiff is an Integrative Health Coach and the founder of Optimized Health. He has a passion for helping everyday people unlearn the harms caused by diet culture, achieve their health goals, and sustain results for life!

Ethan shares that, for the majority of his life, he has been on a diet. He shares that dieting began in his adolescence in a family where dieting was a regular part of life. He recalls a harmful cycle of yo-yo dieting that eventually resulted in him reaching a peak weight of 312 pounds. This precipitated a quest to unlearn everything he had been taught about nutrition, weight loss, and health, in order to create a new approach. Experimenting first on himself, he lost 130lbs, which transformed his entire life.

The key to achieving a healthy weight is building healthy habits gradually and focusing on your emotional well-being, including understanding stress eating, body image issues, and how mental health impacts our relationship with food and fitness. The hardest part isn't starting; it's staying consistent and not letting one off-day derail everything. Self-compassion is the key to consistency—no one is a failure because willpower didn’t show up today. It is essential to understand, deeply, that one moment doesn’t define you.

Show notes:
🏃‍♂️ Ethan helps people achieve their health goals: practical wellness for your real life. 02:31
😇 Ethan’s personal journey: the process of unlearning. 06:06
✌️ A two-pronged approach: habit development and understanding emotional health. 08:46
⭕ Diet culture feels like a battle with ourselves, but Ethan chose to reconnect with himself. 13:32
⚠️ When your self-worth is dependent on external factors, it attacks your identity and leads to a deep spiral. 16:23
🍀 Approaching it with intention: focus on developing one habit a month while making adjustments. 20:03
🔑 Willpower and consistency: Inspiring yourself instead of comparing yourself to external standards. 25:31
🦹‍♀️ Unrealistic expectation of waking up and feeling like a superhero every day. 30:07
🎯 The key to connecting with ourselves: I will check in with myself, not with others. 34:26
🤓 We need practical advice that fits into real life. 36:32
🤩 Ethan offers free consultations. 39:37

Links:

Website: www.optimizedhealthcoaching.com

Connect with Dr. Bonnie Wims:www.linkedin.com/in/drbonniewims

Book a free call with Dr. Bonnie Wims:calendly.com/bonnie-96

Mental health is rooted in emotional health.

Douglas Robbins is an authentic and creative person, a bestseller author of six books, and a podcast host. Douglas explores diverse genres—sci-fi, romance, and contemporary literature while focusing on characters undergoing personal growth, navigating life’s complexities, and embracing introspective narratives. In today’s deep exploration of childhood experiences, emotional intelligence and all the shortcomings in the educational system, Douglas and Bonnie address all things that affect our well-being.

Childhood upbringing leaves marks on us but society's mark is also strong, as Douglas shares his experience with his father’s father's stoicism and the societal pressure for men to suppress emotions that make it hard for them to cope leaving them in quiet desperation, while women can be socially and emotionally more adaptive it is not easy for them either.

It is very important to use all the tools we can -like journaling, meditation, and questioning negative beliefs - to help us in our emotional health journey. Healing childhood wounds is essential for us so that we can be healthy grown-up individuals. Self-reflection, connection to others, and therapy are likewise essential for overcoming emotional struggles and living a more fulfilling life.

Show Notes:
🧠 Having emotional intelligence: you have an intellect that's developing, but emotions need to develop in parallel. 02:41
⏪ You come out into the world as an adult, but you're undeveloped: much of your personality is probably still stuck in the past. 06:29
🧒 A child has no boundaries; problems with the education system. 09:46
👦 Douglas's experience with his parents and teachers.12:41
😇 We need tools to handle all this: forgiveness, awareness, and the truthfulness of our beliefs. 16:10
⚠️ Boys have even more problems; girls are more socially inclined. 19:48
🍀 Looking at life through the filter of a past event: the importance of interconnection. 24:26
💙 Intimate relationships: Bonnie's experiences in the past with love and relationships. 27:55
👉 Emotional beliefs are hurdles that get in the way of a better life. 33:06

Links:

Meet Douglas: www.douglasrobbinsauthor.com

Books: www.amazon.com/stores/author/B009CD4K3E

Connect with Dr. Bonnie Wims:www.linkedin.com/in/drbonniewims

Book a free call with Dr. Bonnie Wims:calendly.com/bonnie-96

Women are conditioned to turn compliments into self-criticism, even in casual settings. The societal pressure to look a certain way often overshadows self-appreciation, and that causes so many women to focus on perceived flaws.

Nicole Christina is a psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience, specializing in anxiety, depression, grief, food and body issues, and positive aging. Today Dr. Bonnie and Nicole discuss the beauty industry and miracle products that simply don’t work, and how body-shaming is deeply intertwined throughout generations of women.

Practical advice: Instead of aiming for “body love,” women can start with the goal of body neutrality. This shift can be more accessible and realistic, allowing the movement away from shame and toward a more constructive relationship with our bodies.

Diet culture traps us in cycles of guilt and self-criticism. Nicole suggests focusing on experiences that bring joy and meaning rather than food-related anxieties. She recommends resources and tips on how to foster a gentler and more understanding approach to ourselves.

Show notes:
🤷‍♀️ Through her practice, Nicole discovered how many talented and accomplished women have problematic relationships with food. 3:21
🤔 Food-related problems usually appear around midlife and menopause. 6:16
🫥 The different reasons why women start to feel invisible. 8:54
⚠️ Looking at our body and our exercise can help us feel safe and in control: living in a world hyper-focused on looks, our weight has dire consequences. 12:59
❓ What is the purpose you're fulfilling by focusing on food and exercise? 16:42
🤯 Today, it's a radical not to hate your body. 18:02
👀 A wake-up call: who benefits from you hating your body? 19:26
🔥 Scientific research on different moisturizers. 23:01
🩱 How thin you are doesn't equal how healthy you are. 25:31
👉 If you're hanging out with chronic dieters, you're just going to stay in that indoctrination. 28:39
🥺 When we're attacking ourselves, we're both the attacker and the victim. 31:16
🌸 Try your best to stay away from junk food, and if you're physically able, get out, walk, and enjoy the beauty of life! 34:05

Links:

Website: www.nicolechristina.com

Podcast: www.zestfulaging.com

Recommended Resources:

Body Kindness by Rebecca Scritchfield

Dr. Kristen Neff’s self-compassion materials, including her workbook and YouTube videos

Connect with Dr. Bonnie Wims:www.linkedin.com/in/drbonniewims

Book a free call with Dr. Bonnie Wims:calendly.com/bonnie-96