The 9-Minute Method to Break Food Cravings
About this episode
Dr. Brendan McCarthy discusses the emotional aspects of food cravings and introduces a 9-minute method to help interrupt these cravings.
Most diets fail because they never address what the food was doing for you emotionally. In this episode, Dr. Brendan McCarthy explains the stress-craving loop behind emotional eating, why ultra-processed foods feel impossible to resist, and how shame actually reinforces the cycle. You’ll learn:• Why cravings feel automatic• How stress drives food urges• The “cue → urge → reward” loop• A simple 9-minute method to interrupt cravings This isn’t about perfection or willpower. It’s about understanding the pattern so you can finally begin to change it. Citations: Boswell, Rebecca G., and Hedy Kober. “Food Cue Reactivity and Craving Predict Eating and Weight Gain: A Meta-Analytic Review.” Obesity Reviews, vol. 17, no. 2, 2016, pp. 159–177. doi:10.1111/obr.12354.Use for: Food cues can trigger craving and eating even without true hunger. Berridge, Kent C., and Terry E. Robinson. “Liking, Wanting, and the Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction.” American Psychologist, vol. 71, no. 8, 2016, pp. 670–679. doi:10.1037/amp0000059.Use for: “Wanting” food is not the same as true pleasure. Schultz, Wolfram, Peter Dayan, and P. Read Montague. “A Neural Substrate of Prediction and Reward.”…
More episodes of Dr. Brendan McCarthy
- The Exit Strategy: How to Escape the Ultra-Processed Food Loop
- The Shame Trap of Ultra-Processed Foods
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