How Does Our 'Animal Brain' Help Us? with Leanne Ellington (Outweigh)

She's a self image scientist and cookie lover. I love her bio. She's been on the podcast before, so you may recall she was on Outweigh and Four Things Yeah Done both and she's going to be a part of the Four Things Live that's going down here in Nashville. And I love your knowledge of the brain and why

we behave the way we behave. You give us the why, and I feel like it's really important for us to understand the why because then we realize, oh, I'm not crazy for thinking this way about myself or behaving this way. My brain is simply just trying to take care of me. And so that's what we're going to talk about today

is our brains. What our brains are doing for us, especially like for me in particularly in whenever I was starting my recovery journey from binge eating, I read a book called Brain over Binge, and that's the first time I was introduced to the animal brain. And that was

her way of the simple way of putting it. That part of my brain that was helping me survive because I had starved myself for so long I had would restrict and so then that led to my body not trusting me and my brain not knowing when I was ever going to give it food again. So therefore it would eat eat, eat, eat eat because it's like, oh, I don't know when this person is going to feed me again. And then that that created that pattern, and so every time I would go to the pantry, my

animal brain was in charge. But the cool part is once I realized that I was able to take control and be like, oh no, no, no, animal brain not today. And that is what you're going to talk about today, is like the meat of that Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And I think you said it so well. It's like we judge what we don't understand, and in that area that

we don't understand about ourselves. That's where usually the shame lives, and we make meaning that I'm crazy or there's something wrong with me, or I'm air quotes broken or whatever we say. And that's why I get so passionate about sharing the why behind the what, because, as you know you've shared before, my struggle ran so deep and until I understood why I do, why I did what I did, I just put myself in those categories that had shame

stories around it. So I think it's so important. But also the cool thing is once we understand it and we see that it's really just like a mechanism, it's almost like a system that's kind of been running our life for us. We can look at it and then understand how to take back the power from it and learn how to have it be our best friend and be our superpower when we know how to manage it and influence it rather than having it control us. And so when you say best friend, what do you mean

by that? Yeah? So you know, people often ask me like, what do you mean when you say rewire the brain? Because one of the things I always say is and it just came from my own experiences, like It wasn't a food thing, it wasn't a motivation or willpower thing. My brain was doing the doing for me. And it didn't matter how many diets I went on or failed, And it didn't matter, you know, all of the positive

motivation I told myself. My brain still was doing its own thing and its own pattern making and meaning making and acting. And so, you know, the best description of

it was doctor Stephen Peters in the Chimp paradox. You know, like in basically our brains share a very milar structure with that of the chimpanzee brain, but specifically when it comes to that impulse control, and so a lot of times that is the part of our brain that's associated with us thinking that we're weak willed, thinking that we're not motivated enough, thinking that we're a failure, and that

becomes ingrained in our self image. So first and foremost, just acknowledging, Wow, I have this chimp brain up there, and she's untamed, she's uncontrolled, she's running around, she's probably a little mischievous, and she is what is, you know,

doing the doing, eating, the eating, binging, the binging. Right, So acknowledging that and that we can actually train her, and we can tame her, and we can show her the ropes, these new ropes, you know, so to speak, and really just take back power from that now obviously it's beyond the scope of this chat right now, but that that is even possible, that in itself, to me, it is power and knowing that it doesn't just have to be this way for the rest of our lives

and we're not death to stay stuck in these patterns. Just knowing that. And then the other side of that is obviously that it's kind of like the cousin of it, or that really seals the deal. Is is the self image, you know, because you can have all of the impulse control and self control that you could possibly have, but if your self image is spinning stories of you know, the ones we talked about like this is who you are, this is who you'll always be, or labeling your things

like unlovable, unworthy, fat, whatever we say to ourselves. Right, it doesn't matter how you know self disciplined you are, it's going to become a self fulfilling prophecy. You'll always step into your self image and unfortunately you'll never outsmart or out diet or outstrategize your self image. So when I say rewire the brain, it's got to be both, right, So you definitely need to tame that chimp. And really

that's befriending it. Yeah, knowing like this is this funny part of me come yet and it's not that it's going to magically go away and stop. So what if we just acknowledge, like, this is the part of me that's happening, and I'm going to radically commit to learning how to tame it, so to speak, and become this conscious, mindful decision maker rather than having these feeling like these decisions are being made for me or choices being taken

away from me. Right, So really, just like again, knowing that it's not going away, but how can I become friends with it rather than thinking it's my worst enemy or that I'm a self sabotager. Right. I like the idea of becoming friends with it. I had not thought of it that way before. I sort of was annoyed by it and hated it and it was frustrated. I was like, oh, I think befriending it gives you more

compassion for yourself because it is part of you. But at the same time, if you picture it is that and you become friends with it and you're like, hey, buddy, I know you're trying to do your best to take care of me right now, but we're spinning a little out of control, and there's another way, so come on join me over here, and then that part can sort of calm down instead of having such anger towards it.

Frustration exactly because the resent conversation of like, man, this is this part of my brain that I have no control over, or we you know, we label it as bad or whatever. It's arguing with reality. You know. In Buying, Katie says, when you argue with reality, you suffer. So you're literally just like creating suffering around something that is right. But when we look at it, acknowledge it and be like, hey, I don't have to like this part of my brain

is doing its thing without me. But if I can just accept that it is, like, this is what's happening. So what if I looked at it like, Okay, I'm I'm gonna take it on and I'm gonna befriended and make peace with it and accept first and foremost, just accept that this is what's happening. It completely changes the tone and reframes it because yeah, it's no longer this enemy that you have to you know, defeat, because that

puts you in that fight mentality. Now it's just something like, Okay, now I know the reality of it, and I can actually act accordingly and take power from it and empower myself to influence it, rather than feel like it's an enemy that I have to avoid or you know, stuff down or be mad at. You mentioned acknowledging it being the first step. What's another step that we can take to tame it? Or what are some examples of taming it?

Because that's great? Should I hear that? And someone listening might be like, Okay, great, now I know that there's hope I can do this. She's telling me I can. It is possible, and I'm aware of it. So I'm acknowledging it. But what's the one thing maybe I can try to start doing today, Yeah, to tame her? Yeah, And it's it's such a such a little question, and there's so many different things. Yeah, whichever the case, Maybe chimp exactly exactly, however, you're chimp identifying right exactly. We

are all we love all chimps around here. So you know, the first step would be I call it an awareness awareness, right, which is just having the awareness that you have the

ability to have an awareness of something. So for example, people listening today might not realize they have this chimp that is in charge of their impulse control or a lot of times it feels like lack thereof right, And so having this awareness that you have the ability to even influence a chimp in your brain and befriend it is a step, right, the awareness to have the awareness,

you know. And then you know the first thing that like the pause, right, the mindfulness, the taking a breath even and again I know some of these things that we hear it's like, okay, that's easier said than done, right, but everybody can just taken an inhalation and an exhalation, one breath, you know, and even you know, one of the things I teach is this idea of kind of

future pacing and reverse engineering. And again this might go beyond the scope of today, but this idea of like you know, drawing that line in the sand first and foremost, and even just saying you know what, like I'm not going to fight this anymore. I'm not gonna make myself wrong.

I'm just going to acknowledge that this is the part of me, So, you know, the acceptance of what is It might sound like such a small step, but just being able to accept that this is what's happening and that I want to influence it that has to be the first step before you go transform anything, in my opinion, you know, so that like radical acceptance of this is what is in acknowledging. Hey, I don't have to like it.

It might outright stink right now, but just knowing like this is what's happening and accepting it, and then even just one breath, one inhalation, one exhalation is enough to put you in the parasympathetic branch of your nervous system, and that's what's going to give you a gateway to even be able to make a conscious decision next. I love the pause, and we'll talk more later about parasympathetic.

I feel like it's something that has come up on the podcast in previous episodes, but you could also just google it too, and you can learn the two different types, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic, and what's happening in your brain and how you can actually put yourself in it, like you said, with the breathwork, with meditation, with journaling. We were just talking about this. We were at Restore.

We were I do cryotherapy. Lean and I were both there and this football player like walked in and he's like, oh man, I love cryotherapy. A big tough guy, and he's talking about how in the morning he does his meditation, his journaling to get his mind right because he knows that's going to set him up for a successful day. So even as a pro athlete, he knows what's up because he knows he's got to get his head right.

And so wherever you are, which most of us are not pro athletes, but what we got to set ourselves up for the day, Like we're on a mission. We have a mission. And if you're listening to this right now, you're either on a mission to help someone that you know and love that potentially has a needing disorder and disordered eating, or you're curious and you're listening for yourself, or you know what's going on with yourself and you are trying to gather all the tools and all the things.

But just know that that pause, that breath. I love that you said that, and that's a simple thing to take away because it is so much more complex than just this. There's a bajillion different steps, but that's a great place to start, is the breath. And for me, every time I would go to that pantry, I was rewiring my brain. I would she would encourage me. Okay, that's your animal brain wanting to go to the pantry to binge. So go look at the door, turn around,

walk away. You might have to look at the door, turn around, and walk away five hundred times. But every time you turn around and don't give in, you are training the brain. Absolutely, So we're training our chimp. Every time you take that pause, you take that breath, and you don't give in to whatever the behavior is set for mine. It could be for you, could be that. You know, maybe you're turning to a glass of wine

every night. Can we pause and not give in to that or binging on you know, Netflix or shopping or whatever it is. So I know there's so much more to it. So thank you for giving us a simple step to begin with there, lean and it's it's very helpful. And just know, I think the big takeaway here is and what we're all about here at always that there's

hope and you're not alone. Absolutely yeah, And even just these conversations, the studies show that awareness of a problem is enough to create a pattern interrupt in your brain to take that next step. So even just awareness and having these heightened levels and these conversations that you're even having here is helping. It might not see like these big dramatic steps, but it counts. It matters. It's a

step forward. You're weekly dose aboutweigh or what other things you're the books you're reading, the other podcasts you're listening to, the conversations you're having with friends, with your therapist. All those things are disrupting. And so that's why even without Way it's a quick Saturday episode, I keep them ten to fifteen minutes. I want it to be digestible. I

don't want it to be something that overwhelms you. I want it to be that weekly pick me up of encouragement or hope or someone just coming alongside you and knowing that hey, we're all trying to figure this out and then bringing experts on that can help help guide us. So thank you Leanne for coming on today for those for the weekly outwagh pick me up. Yes, I love it. I would be a part of it. Which lean Where can people find you? Yeah? Absolutely, you can just go

to Stressless Eating dot com. There's a ton of coal resources for you to just get more awareness and really help set yourself free. Awesome and I am at radio Amy on Instagram. You can find links there for everything. Also Amy dot com. I m hm