OUTWEIGH: Ready to understand Binge Eating from the perspective of the female brain specifically? Part 3 of Binge-Free Brain dives into the fascinating science of the female brain. Did you know the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) plays a crucial role in our desire for connection, and when that need isn't met, it can lead to bingeing? We'll explore the key brain regions that differ between men and women, explaining why women are actually MORE susceptible to emotional eating. This episode will empower you to see binge eating as a response to unmet needs -- NOT a personal failing -- paving the way for a more compassionate and effective approach to healing.
HOSTS:
Amy Brown // RadioAmy.com // @RadioAmy
Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington
To learn more about re-wiring your brain to heal from the all-or-nothing diet mentality for good....but WITHOUT restricting yourself, punishing your body, (and definitely WITHOUT ever having to use words like macros, low-carb, or calorie burn) check out Leanne's FREE Stressless Eating Webinar @ www.StresslessEating.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I won't let my body. I'll be outwait everything that
I'm made done. Won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Am, agil strong, I feel.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Free, I know every part of me It's beautiful and
then will always out way if you feel it. But
your here, She'll some love to the why get there?
Take you one day and.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Did you and die out way?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Happy Saturday, outweigh Amy here and I'm with Leanne Ellington. Hello,
and this is Park three of b F B Binge
Free brain got it down by the third week. I've
been calling it brain free binge, but that works too.
That works too, b FB.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Okay, so today we're talking about what women want.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Why we do what we do, and just to kind
of give you a scope, this is a very female
centric problem and not because you know binging, yeah, binging
in general, even any mental emotional disorder. So for example,
John Hopkins did a study where they found that women
are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression as
men are, and twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety.
(01:14):
So these are typically, you know, mental emotional disorders. And
when I say disorder, I really want you to understand,
it's just a disease or a disorder. There's something in
your brain that's that's kind of misfiring, and it's fixable,
it's healable.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It's not like this is who you are, but it's.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Just it's not in the order of operations that feels good.
You know, you're not broken, right, You're not stuck that way.
So I just wanted to give that clarity. Same with
disordered eating, right, but we are more prone to it
females than men, and that's what we're going to get
into today as well. But then also on this disordered
eating and eating disorder side of it, binge eating disorder
was twice as high among females as it was in males.
(01:50):
This is according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Bolimia was five times as high in women as it
was in men, or five times higher.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, and I know you don't have the answer, probably
because it's just a little thought here about men versus women.
Do you think we're diagnosed but there's more because we'll
actually admit it.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, So that is part of it.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
And these studies did mention that that women are more
prompt to raise their hand and say I have a struggle.
So this is just what's been diagnosed, and so that
variable is definitely a big variable that sways it. These
studies are between three to six years old, so it's
a lot different. You know, the John Hopkins one was
I think, yeah, like a six year old study, so
it's probably a lot higher. I know, COVID changed the
(02:30):
game for a lot of this. But then with inorexia,
it was three times higher among women than men. But yeah,
a big variable in that was their ability to just
even say, hey, I have a problem, ask for help,
which comes into play of what we're going to talk
about today.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So part of it is I used to.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Think that I was over emotional, or I thought I
was weak, or I thought you know, and I grew
up with three older brothers, so I had a lot
of comparison in that sense too. And what I really
want you all to get is that the female brain
is just wired differently. And so when I understood, you know,
what women want and why we do what we do,
and why we feel the way that we feel and
why we feel over emotional. But really we're just like
(03:04):
being emotional. It's not that we're crazy or weak willed
or inferior or superior. It's just that we're wired a
bit differently. And so my favorite female brain scientist, Lumbresendine.
She was somebody who was in ivy leagues back in
the seventies and eighties and was studying neuroscience and literally
raised her hand and was like, where's all the studies
(03:25):
on the females, And they were like, we don't have any.
So she dedicated her life to studying the female brain.
And one of the things that she says I quoted
all the time, but she said, more than ninety nine
percent of male and female genetic coding is exactly the same.
So just that one percent, right, it's ninety nine percent
the same. But out of the thirty thousand genes in
the human genome, that less than one percent variation between
(03:46):
the sexes is small, but it really accounts for everything.
So we are one percent different, and that seems like
not a lot, but it's everything. So for example, and
I'll just kind of start and we'll go high level overview,
and then I want to go a little bit nitty
gritty into one specific part of the brain where a
lot of this lives. But you hear me talk about
the anterior singular cortex A lot the ACC it's what
really helped me understand why I do what I do,
(04:08):
and we're going to talk about that in depth this week,
next week the following week. It's it's really a big
central figure in this binge free brain side of things BFB.
But it is more active and bigger in women than
it is in men, so we literally have a bigger
social brain.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So we're going to come back to that.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
The prefrontal cortex, A lot of people have heard about that,
the kind of human part of our brain, the CEO,
the queen that rules the emotions but also keeps us
from going wild, kind of reins us in and focuses
on these right now, matter of fact, happening, right now
types of things, and it's the pay attention to this
right now part of the brain. It also inhibits impulses
(04:47):
as well, but it's larger in women, and it matures
faster in females than in males by one to two years,
so it's larger and we mature faster.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
The insula.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
This is where if you're one of those people that
you have a gut feeling of something, this is the
part of your brain that processes those gut feelings.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's larger and more active in women as well.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
So that's why women's intuition, Yes, it's a thing.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
It's because we literally that part of our brain is
bigger and more active. So the next part that we're
going to talk about is interesting because it's the one
part that we're going to talk about that's actually bigger
in men. But this might help people have a better understanding.
So the amygdala is kind of like the human alarm system.
It lets us know when we're in danger, when there's threat,
but it also is the thing that's tamed by the
(05:30):
prefrontal cortex.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Now the amigdala is larger in men.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
One of the number one things when I'm talking to
a client, I ask them like, does your husband or
your partner know what a deep emotional struggle this is
for you? Or do they think it's just a matter
of needing more willpower or eating less and moving more?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And nine times out of ten.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
They'll say, well, he knows I struggle, but he doesn't
get it. Because he doesn't get it. He's anytime he's
tried to lose weight, he's lost weight. He doesn't understand
that this takes up so much emotional space for me.
But part of it is because they're thinking more logically
about the problem. They don't because of all the different
parts of the brain, the emotional pain center, the I
feel what you feel, which we haven't even gotten to
that yet, the insula, the gut, the gut processing where
(06:10):
we got you know, our gut instincts process things.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It's just we we process things.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Differently, and so that's why the logic and reason side
of the mail brain might not necessarily be able to
They can, they can empathize, but maybe not necessarily have
full compassion for what we're going through because they've never
felt that kind of pain because they're not processing even
if they have the same experiences with food and they're
driving through and binging at the drive through, their brain
(06:35):
isn't processing it as emotionally and as socially, which we're
going to talk about. We're going to come back to
the social brain at the way that we do. So
it's just a completely different processing. So I just wanted
to point out that that's where the one part of
the brain that we're talking about that's bigger in men
why it is so impactful. Moving over to the hippocampus,
which is the elephant that never forgets. So if you
(06:56):
know exactly what you wore in you know, nineteen ninety
three at a dinner, and you know that you were
wearing a purple dress and that you ordered chicken at dinner,
it's because your hippocampus, the elephant that never forgets, that
longer term memory part of the brain.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's larger and more active in women.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Which is interesting because men are like, how do you
remember that detail? I feel like that is a common
men versus seven thing, at least in my marriage.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
YEP, it would often come up.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
He'd be like, how do.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
You remember that?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
And it may not even be you know what I
wore and what I a but maybe an argument we
had eight and a half years ago about something so stupid,
but I remember every detail of it absolutely.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
And Louise Resendine, that female brain doctor that I was
telling you about, she talks about how the elephant that
never forgets a fight, a romantic encounter, or a tender
moment and won't let you forget it either.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's just really what it is, you know.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
And I think all the women that are listening are
nodding their heads and any man listening to this, you're
nodding your heads as well. So the last thing that
we'll talk about before we come back to that social
brain is the mirror neuron system. So this is that
I feel what you feel, emotional empathy system in our brain,
and it gets in sync with other people's emotions. So
if you ever walk into a room and you kind
(08:06):
of feel the vibe and you kind of regulate based
on that, that is your mirror neuron system that's getting
in sync and reading facial expressions, it's reading body language,
maybe it's interpreting tone, right, and that's why a lot
of women are more sensitive to body language and tone,
you know, and texting if it has oh my gosh,
there's five capital letters and an exclamation point, are they
mad at me? This is our miror neuron system that
(08:29):
interprets other nonverbal emotional cues. And it is also larger
and more active in the female brain. So maybe some
dots are already starting to connect for you, ladies. But
then really, when coming back to the part of the
brain that we started with, which is that anterior singular cortex,
and we're going to get into it specifically in the
next couple weeks as well. But this is that social brain.
This is the part of the brain that has third
(08:50):
party awareness of do they accept me, do they care
for me? Are they connecting with me? Or are they
rejecting me? Are they judging me? Are they thinking that
I'm that I've gained weight like all of these things?
Are they noticing that I ordered a salad when I
think I've gained weight like all these things. I can't
even tell you how many of my clients are, Like,
I feel like people are judging me whether I'm eating
a salad or a piece of chocolate cake based on
(09:10):
what I think I weigh that day, and they're so
in their heads about it. That is that antier singulate
cortex which has those third party goggle awareness where they're
judging themselves. So it's like self perception, but it's also
perception of other people's perception as well, and that is bigger,
more active, and matures.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Earlier in women than it does in men.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
So that's why that social brain for a thirteen year
old girl going through puberty is hyperactive like that. These
girls are noticing other people's opinions of them more actively
and earlier than the male brain.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's interesting. I could see how teenage girls are definitely different.
I have a teenage girl and a teenage boy and
they're very different.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
So coming back full circle about this, you know, this
specific why we're talking about this today. You know, when
it comes to a binge free brain, it's like part
of it is understanding you are not crazy, you are
not over you're emotional, you are not sad or pathetic
because you care what other people think about you. All
of these things that we think or you know, and
we're going to get into, you know, filling voids with food.
(10:09):
When it comes to that social brain as well. You
are wired the way that you are and the female
brain in the male brain, neither one is good, bad, right, wrong,
better than the other. It's just we are wired differently
and understanding, Oh no, wonder I reacted that certain way
versus my brother or my husband reacted a different way,
or the random guy on social media reacted a separate way.
(10:30):
It doesn't mean anything about you, just understanding why we
do what we do, what women want, how we you know,
feed our emotions. And then of course coming into what
we were talking about at the top of this episode
about why things like binge eating disorder, anxiety depression is
so much more rampant in women. It's because our brains
are wired to be more emotional. And part of that,
in my opinion, is just taking ownership of it so
(10:53):
that we can feed our brain what it actually needs
in those moments, because, as you're learning, it's.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Not food, okay.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
So that's why it's important for us to understand, like,
we want to know this about our brains and what's
happening so that we can then take the next right step.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Yeah, because it's like a data versus drama thing, right,
Like the data is, Oh, my brain is emotionally processing
this in a more emotional fashion than the guy right
next to me, and it doesn't mean that I'm weak
or stupid or wrong or anything.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And that's why. Also, stressless eating.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Has been my life for you know, ten years, and
my husband understands it to the extent that he gets it,
but he's never experienced the struggles of living in a
food and body prison, so he's never going to be
able to fully understand a problem that he's never had.
So part of it too, is like, yes, it's an
awareness that your brain is wired a certain way. And
to give yourself more compassion and love and understanding and
(11:42):
help yourself solve the right problem, but then also not
necessarily feel so alienated or alone or isolated when you
might feel like somebody doesn't understand you.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It is a very.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Specific type of problem that obviously women are experiencing very
differently because of the physiological component and composition of our brains.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, I think it's just empowering to have this information
because then if the narrative becomes that you're crazier exactly, then, right,
that just perpetuates the problem.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
Yeah, And as we learn, beliefs shape our behavior. So
if that becomes a belief, good luck with the behavior,
because it's going to keep coming back. It'll meet you
where you are in your beliefs and.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
The pattern continues.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
It's like this cute little ecosystem and everything it takes,
like everything to feed off of each other, and when
you get stuck in that flow, you go round and
round and round. And as we've discussed before, it could
be something fairly new for people if they're experiencing it,
or it could be this could be a thirty forty
year pattern.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Yeah, a lot of times it is a lifelong pattern
until you address it.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Well, I know, when it comes to the ACC. That's
what we're going to focus on more for week four, right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say that.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Any one part of the brain is responsible for the
binge eating and the overeating, but really that ACC is
a very fundamental piece of this puzzle. So the next
couple weeks we're going to be going into it specifically
and to help you understand even deeper why you do
what you do.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Specifically next week.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
If you are somebody that has experienced either injury or
physiological pain, but then also emotional pain, anxiety, depression, those
things can kind of become a little bit cloggy or
foggy in your brain because the ACC is where you
process emotional and physiological pain. So we're going to talk
about that next week, especially as it relates to filling
those voids with food.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Awesome, Okay, We will see y'all next Saturday for a
part four.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Bye bye,
I won't let my body. I'll be outwait everything that
I'm made done. Won't spend my life trying to change.
I'm learning love who I.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Am, agil strong, I feel.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Free, I know every part of me It's beautiful and
then will always out way if you feel it. But
your here, She'll some love to the why get there?
Take you one day and.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Did you and die out way?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Happy Saturday, outweigh Amy here and I'm with Leanne Ellington. Hello,
and this is Park three of b F B Binge
Free brain got it down by the third week. I've
been calling it brain free binge, but that works too.
That works too, b FB.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
Okay, so today we're talking about what women want.
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Why we do what we do, and just to kind
of give you a scope, this is a very female
centric problem and not because you know binging, yeah, binging
in general, even any mental emotional disorder. So for example,
John Hopkins did a study where they found that women
are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression as
men are, and twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety.
(01:14):
So these are typically, you know, mental emotional disorders. And
when I say disorder, I really want you to understand,
it's just a disease or a disorder. There's something in
your brain that's that's kind of misfiring, and it's fixable,
it's healable.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
It's not like this is who you are, but it's.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Just it's not in the order of operations that feels good.
You know, you're not broken, right, You're not stuck that way.
So I just wanted to give that clarity. Same with
disordered eating, right, but we are more prone to it
females than men, and that's what we're going to get
into today as well. But then also on this disordered
eating and eating disorder side of it, binge eating disorder
was twice as high among females as it was in males.
(01:50):
This is according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Bolimia was five times as high in women as it
was in men, or five times higher.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, and I know you don't have the answer, probably
because it's just a little thought here about men versus women.
Do you think we're diagnosed but there's more because we'll
actually admit it.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yeah, So that is part of it.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
And these studies did mention that that women are more
prompt to raise their hand and say I have a struggle.
So this is just what's been diagnosed, and so that
variable is definitely a big variable that sways it. These
studies are between three to six years old, so it's
a lot different. You know, the John Hopkins one was
I think, yeah, like a six year old study, so
it's probably a lot higher. I know, COVID changed the
(02:30):
game for a lot of this. But then with inorexia,
it was three times higher among women than men. But yeah,
a big variable in that was their ability to just
even say, hey, I have a problem, ask for help,
which comes into play of what we're going to talk
about today.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So part of it is I used to.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
Think that I was over emotional, or I thought I
was weak, or I thought you know, and I grew
up with three older brothers, so I had a lot
of comparison in that sense too. And what I really
want you all to get is that the female brain
is just wired differently. And so when I understood, you know,
what women want and why we do what we do,
and why we feel the way that we feel and
why we feel over emotional. But really we're just like
(03:04):
being emotional. It's not that we're crazy or weak willed
or inferior or superior. It's just that we're wired a
bit differently. And so my favorite female brain scientist, Lumbresendine.
She was somebody who was in ivy leagues back in
the seventies and eighties and was studying neuroscience and literally
raised her hand and was like, where's all the studies
(03:25):
on the females, And they were like, we don't have any.
So she dedicated her life to studying the female brain.
And one of the things that she says I quoted
all the time, but she said, more than ninety nine
percent of male and female genetic coding is exactly the same.
So just that one percent, right, it's ninety nine percent
the same. But out of the thirty thousand genes in
the human genome, that less than one percent variation between
(03:46):
the sexes is small, but it really accounts for everything.
So we are one percent different, and that seems like
not a lot, but it's everything. So for example, and
I'll just kind of start and we'll go high level overview,
and then I want to go a little bit nitty
gritty into one specific part of the brain where a
lot of this lives. But you hear me talk about
the anterior singular cortex A lot the ACC it's what
really helped me understand why I do what I do,
(04:08):
and we're going to talk about that in depth this week,
next week the following week. It's it's really a big
central figure in this binge free brain side of things BFB.
But it is more active and bigger in women than
it is in men, so we literally have a bigger
social brain.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
So we're going to come back to that.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
The prefrontal cortex, A lot of people have heard about that,
the kind of human part of our brain, the CEO,
the queen that rules the emotions but also keeps us
from going wild, kind of reins us in and focuses
on these right now, matter of fact, happening, right now
types of things, and it's the pay attention to this
right now part of the brain. It also inhibits impulses
(04:47):
as well, but it's larger in women, and it matures
faster in females than in males by one to two years,
so it's larger and we mature faster.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
The insula.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
This is where if you're one of those people that
you have a gut feeling of something, this is the
part of your brain that processes those gut feelings.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It's larger and more active in women as well.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
So that's why women's intuition, Yes, it's a thing.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
It's because we literally that part of our brain is
bigger and more active. So the next part that we're
going to talk about is interesting because it's the one
part that we're going to talk about that's actually bigger
in men. But this might help people have a better understanding.
So the amygdala is kind of like the human alarm system.
It lets us know when we're in danger, when there's threat,
but it also is the thing that's tamed by the
(05:30):
prefrontal cortex.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Now the amigdala is larger in men.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
One of the number one things when I'm talking to
a client, I ask them like, does your husband or
your partner know what a deep emotional struggle this is
for you? Or do they think it's just a matter
of needing more willpower or eating less and moving more?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And nine times out of ten.
Speaker 5 (05:47):
They'll say, well, he knows I struggle, but he doesn't
get it. Because he doesn't get it. He's anytime he's
tried to lose weight, he's lost weight. He doesn't understand
that this takes up so much emotional space for me.
But part of it is because they're thinking more logically
about the problem. They don't because of all the different
parts of the brain, the emotional pain center, the I
feel what you feel, which we haven't even gotten to
that yet, the insula, the gut, the gut processing where
(06:10):
we got you know, our gut instincts process things.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It's just we we process things.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
Differently, and so that's why the logic and reason side
of the mail brain might not necessarily be able to
They can, they can empathize, but maybe not necessarily have
full compassion for what we're going through because they've never
felt that kind of pain because they're not processing even
if they have the same experiences with food and they're
driving through and binging at the drive through, their brain
(06:35):
isn't processing it as emotionally and as socially, which we're
going to talk about. We're going to come back to
the social brain at the way that we do. So
it's just a completely different processing. So I just wanted
to point out that that's where the one part of
the brain that we're talking about that's bigger in men
why it is so impactful. Moving over to the hippocampus,
which is the elephant that never forgets. So if you
(06:56):
know exactly what you wore in you know, nineteen ninety
three at a dinner, and you know that you were
wearing a purple dress and that you ordered chicken at dinner,
it's because your hippocampus, the elephant that never forgets, that
longer term memory part of the brain.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's larger and more active in women.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Which is interesting because men are like, how do you
remember that detail? I feel like that is a common
men versus seven thing, at least in my marriage.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
YEP, it would often come up.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
He'd be like, how do.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
You remember that?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
And it may not even be you know what I
wore and what I a but maybe an argument we
had eight and a half years ago about something so stupid,
but I remember every detail of it absolutely.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
And Louise Resendine, that female brain doctor that I was
telling you about, she talks about how the elephant that
never forgets a fight, a romantic encounter, or a tender
moment and won't let you forget it either.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's just really what it is, you know.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
And I think all the women that are listening are
nodding their heads and any man listening to this, you're
nodding your heads as well. So the last thing that
we'll talk about before we come back to that social
brain is the mirror neuron system. So this is that
I feel what you feel, emotional empathy system in our brain,
and it gets in sync with other people's emotions. So
if you ever walk into a room and you kind
(08:06):
of feel the vibe and you kind of regulate based
on that, that is your mirror neuron system that's getting
in sync and reading facial expressions, it's reading body language,
maybe it's interpreting tone, right, and that's why a lot
of women are more sensitive to body language and tone,
you know, and texting if it has oh my gosh,
there's five capital letters and an exclamation point, are they
mad at me? This is our miror neuron system that
(08:29):
interprets other nonverbal emotional cues. And it is also larger
and more active in the female brain. So maybe some
dots are already starting to connect for you, ladies. But
then really, when coming back to the part of the
brain that we started with, which is that anterior singular cortex,
and we're going to get into it specifically in the
next couple weeks as well. But this is that social brain.
This is the part of the brain that has third
(08:50):
party awareness of do they accept me, do they care
for me? Are they connecting with me? Or are they
rejecting me? Are they judging me? Are they thinking that
I'm that I've gained weight like all of these things?
Are they noticing that I ordered a salad when I
think I've gained weight like all these things. I can't
even tell you how many of my clients are, Like,
I feel like people are judging me whether I'm eating
a salad or a piece of chocolate cake based on
(09:10):
what I think I weigh that day, and they're so
in their heads about it. That is that antier singulate
cortex which has those third party goggle awareness where they're
judging themselves. So it's like self perception, but it's also
perception of other people's perception as well, and that is bigger,
more active, and matures.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Earlier in women than it does in men.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
So that's why that social brain for a thirteen year
old girl going through puberty is hyperactive like that. These
girls are noticing other people's opinions of them more actively
and earlier than the male brain.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's interesting. I could see how teenage girls are definitely different.
I have a teenage girl and a teenage boy and
they're very different.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
So coming back full circle about this, you know, this
specific why we're talking about this today. You know, when
it comes to a binge free brain, it's like part
of it is understanding you are not crazy, you are
not over you're emotional, you are not sad or pathetic
because you care what other people think about you. All
of these things that we think or you know, and
we're going to get into, you know, filling voids with food.
(10:09):
When it comes to that social brain as well. You
are wired the way that you are and the female
brain in the male brain, neither one is good, bad, right, wrong,
better than the other. It's just we are wired differently
and understanding, Oh no, wonder I reacted that certain way
versus my brother or my husband reacted a different way,
or the random guy on social media reacted a separate way.
(10:30):
It doesn't mean anything about you, just understanding why we
do what we do, what women want, how we you know,
feed our emotions. And then of course coming into what
we were talking about at the top of this episode
about why things like binge eating disorder, anxiety depression is
so much more rampant in women. It's because our brains
are wired to be more emotional. And part of that,
in my opinion, is just taking ownership of it so
(10:53):
that we can feed our brain what it actually needs
in those moments, because, as you're learning, it's.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Not food, okay.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
So that's why it's important for us to understand, like,
we want to know this about our brains and what's
happening so that we can then take the next right step.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Yeah, because it's like a data versus drama thing, right,
Like the data is, Oh, my brain is emotionally processing
this in a more emotional fashion than the guy right
next to me, and it doesn't mean that I'm weak
or stupid or wrong or anything.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And that's why. Also, stressless eating.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Has been my life for you know, ten years, and
my husband understands it to the extent that he gets it,
but he's never experienced the struggles of living in a
food and body prison, so he's never going to be
able to fully understand a problem that he's never had.
So part of it too, is like, yes, it's an
awareness that your brain is wired a certain way. And
to give yourself more compassion and love and understanding and
(11:42):
help yourself solve the right problem, but then also not
necessarily feel so alienated or alone or isolated when you
might feel like somebody doesn't understand you.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It is a very.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Specific type of problem that obviously women are experiencing very
differently because of the physiological component and composition of our brains.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Yeah, I think it's just empowering to have this information
because then if the narrative becomes that you're crazier exactly, then, right,
that just perpetuates the problem.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
Yeah, And as we learn, beliefs shape our behavior. So
if that becomes a belief, good luck with the behavior,
because it's going to keep coming back. It'll meet you
where you are in your beliefs and.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
The pattern continues.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
It's like this cute little ecosystem and everything it takes,
like everything to feed off of each other, and when
you get stuck in that flow, you go round and
round and round. And as we've discussed before, it could
be something fairly new for people if they're experiencing it,
or it could be this could be a thirty forty
year pattern.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
Yeah, a lot of times it is a lifelong pattern
until you address it.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
Well, I know, when it comes to the ACC. That's
what we're going to focus on more for week four, right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say that.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Any one part of the brain is responsible for the
binge eating and the overeating, but really that ACC is
a very fundamental piece of this puzzle. So the next
couple weeks we're going to be going into it specifically
and to help you understand even deeper why you do
what you do.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Specifically next week.
Speaker 5 (13:04):
If you are somebody that has experienced either injury or
physiological pain, but then also emotional pain, anxiety, depression, those
things can kind of become a little bit cloggy or
foggy in your brain because the ACC is where you
process emotional and physiological pain. So we're going to talk
about that next week, especially as it relates to filling
those voids with food.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Awesome, Okay, We will see y'all next Saturday for a
part four.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Bye bye,
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