016: It's Not Willpower. It's Biology. The Truth About Food Addiction and Emotional Eating | Michelle Petties

What if the reason you can't stop eating has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to do with a belief system that was never built to protect you?In this episode of Eat the F*cking Food, Kristin Collins sits down with Michelle Petties, author of Leaving Large: The Stories of a Food Addict and founder of the Brand New transformation framework, for one of the most honest, grounded conversations about food addiction, emotional eating, and what it actually takes to change your relationship with food for good.Michelle spent four decades in the cycle, gaining and losing over 700 pounds, trying every plan, every powder, every protocol, before she discovered that the problem was never behavior. It was belief. And until you change what you believe about yourself, about food, and about why you're worth the work, no diet in the world will stick.This conversation goes deep on processed food addiction, food stories, emotional triggers, and why joy must be homegrown and not found at the bottom of a bag of chips.Because you were never broken. You were just running on the wrong operating system.In this episode, you’ll discover:Why food addiction is a real, biological response and not a failure of willpower or self-controlThe difference between food and processed food, and why your body treats one as nourishment and the other as a drugWhy behavior modification alone will always fail and what belief modification actually looks likeWhat food stories are, how they form, and how to rewrite themWhy food is not a joy delivery system and where joy actually comes fromHow to disarm emotional triggers instead of avoiding themWhy cravings are signals, not weaknesses, and what they're really trying to tell youThe BRAND NEW framework for transformation: the step-by-step belief shift that changes everythingWhy women of color carry a unique weight in this conversation, and why you are worth the workWe talk about:00:00 Introduction to Michelle Petties 02:00 Leaving Large and why the subtitle would be different today 06:00 Michelle's personal story: 700 pounds gained and lost over four decades 09:00 Belief vs. behavior and why behavior change alone will always fail 11:00 What food stories are and how they shape what you eat 14:00 How your brain has been hijacked to trust what is not food 17:00 Food neutrality vs. food addiction: where these two frameworks meet 20:00 The Boston hotel story: grief, cravings, and what you really need 25:00 Joy must be homegrown: why food can never deliver it 27:00 Triggers are thoughts, not things. Here is how to disarm them 30:00 The BRAND NEW framework for transformation 32:00 Sleep, water, and prescriptive writing as nourishment 35:00 The one belief shift that makes processed food lose its power 39:00 What Michelle eats now 41:00 Where to find Michelle and get a signed copy of Leaving LargeConnect with MichelleInstagram: ​​https://www.instagram.com/iambrandnewnow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Iambrandnewnow LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-petties/ Website: https://michellepetties.com/ Connect with meInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinrcollins/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kristin.collins Website: https://kristincollinshealthcoaching.com/