Alcohol Minimalist: Mindful Drinking & Behavior Change

This week on the podcast I'm talking to Ramon David, founder of  BrainFirst Training Institute and BrainFirst Nutrition.  Frustrated by the lack of practical neuroscience available for helping professionals, Ramon spent years analyzing the scientific literature, conducting research, and drawing on two decades of training and coaching experience and a master’s degree in neuroscience, to establish t...

  This week on the podcast I'm talking with Nicole Hough, from AFter Magazine, the magazine for non-drinkers, sober-curious or anyone who is evaluating their relationship with alcohol.  Resources Mentioned:  AFter Magazine Buy  Breaking the Bottle Legacy: How to Change Your Drinking Habits and Create A Peaceful Relationship with Alcohol  on Amazon or most online retailers.  US Kindle US Paperback...

This week I'm talking  about nreasonable reasons that people choose to drink alcohol.  Resources Mentioned:  Step One Episode #04 How much Alcohol is SAFE? Episode #07 5 Benefits of Taking a 30 Day Break from Alcohol Episode #18 Alcohol and Sleep Episode #31 Using Science to Guide Your Alcohol Decisions Buy  Breaking the Bottle Legacy: How to Change Your Drinking Habits and Create A Peaceful Relat...

This week on the podcast I'm talking about creating a peaceful relationship with alcohol and enjoying it.  Four things you need to do:  1) Quit telling yourself alcohol is different than other things you enjoy consuming 2) Make Your Drinks Worth It 3) Tell the Whole Story 4) Savor the Experience Resources Mentioned:  Step One Drink: The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health Buy  Breaking the Bott...

This week on the podcast I'm back! And talking all about "Steps" and why counting them isn't the answer to creating a peaceful relationship with alcohol. Resources Mentioned: Step One  Buy  Breaking the Bottle Legacy: How to Change Your Drinking Habits and Create A Peaceful Relationship with Alcohol  on Amazon or most online retailers.  US Kindle US Paperback UK Kindle UK Paperback Apple Books Bar...

This week on the podcast, I'm continuing with my Summer Content Series with some great content from Loretta Breuning, PhD of the Inner Mammal Institute. Loretta is an author, podcaster and professor who helps people understand their inner mammal brains with Inner Mammal Method.  From the website www.innermammalinstitute.org : "The chemicals that make us feel good are inherited from earlier mammals...

This week on the podcast, another in the "Summer Content Series"--this week from Dr. Adi Jaffe.  Adi Jaffe, Ph. D. is a #1 best-selling author ( The Abstinence Myth ) and a nationally recognized expert on mental health, addiction, relationships and shame. He lectured in the UCLA Psychology department for the better part of a decade and was the Executive-Director and Co-Founder of one of the most p...

This is the second episode in my "Summer Content Series". The message this week is from Katie Lain from Thrive Alcohol Recovery.  Katie's message shares a perspective from The Sinclair Method and it's a resource that I want you to consider especially if you are struggling with gaining control of binge drinking.  In this message, Katie shares her take on three important steps you should take to sto...

This week on the podcast, I'm beginning my "Summer Content Series" with guest content from some of my favorite mentors, podcasters, and authors.   This episode of the Primal Potential podcast is shared with the permission of Elizabeth Benton.   Elizabeth, and her book Chasing Cupcakes  were instrumental in my journey to change my relationship with alcohol. The Primal Potential podcast is one of my...

This week on the podcast, another in the Alcohol & series...an important topic, Alcohol & Trauma.  Joining me is Beej Christie Karpen, an intuitive mindfulness-based certified coach, clinical hypnotist & alternative therapist who works to heal trauma for clients as well as help people change their drinking.  We're talking about the strong connection between trauma and alcohol abuse as...

In this week's episode I'm sharing different perspectives on what having a peaceful relationship with alcohol means. Listen in to different thoughts from listeners, group members and people who are working on their relationship with alcohol and where they struggle, where they succeed and how they work towards peace. I also share my own thoughts about what a peaceful relationship with alcohol means...

This week on the podcast, I'm adding to the Alcohol & Series with this episode, Alcohol & Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). There are some important reasons that anyone who drinks alcohol needs to understand BAC--not only what it is, but how dynamic it is.  Listen in to learn all the factors that can impact how your body and brain are processing alcohol! Resources Mentioned:  BAC Calculat...

This week on the podcast, I'm tackling the story that many people hold on to (and I did too) that our heritage, our culture and our family traditions are responsible for our drinking habits.  This isn't really a genetics conversation but in the resources mentioned you can find more on the science of alcohol and genetics.  This episode is for you if you've ever said something like: "I come from a l...

This week on the podcast, it's a special episode with shared content from The Change Academy Podcast. Guests Brock Armstrong and Monica Reinagel are dropping in to share their thoughts on Consuming Content vs Creating Change which aligns exactly with what I see as the biggest obstacle to changing your relationship with alcohol: Falling into the learning trap. Information is not the same as transfo...

This week on the podcast we're revisiting an episode I originally published in June 2021, Six Keys to Changing Your Relationship with Alcohol.  These six keys are the ideas that underscored my success in changing my own relationship with alcohol. Embrace these keys to help you change your drinking habits.  Change is simple but it's not easy. Change is Incremental. Change is Slow. Change Comes with...

This week on the podcast I'm defining what I mean when I say "low-risk drinking". I'm sharing where the recommendation comes from and the importance of understanding the limitations for these recommendations.  I'm comparing and contrasting the ideas of mindful drinking, moderate drinking and "low-risk" drinking to help you determine how best to create your own peaceful relationship with alcohol. ...

This week on the podcast, I'm catching up with  Ian Andersen, co-founder and CGO for Sunnyside, formerly Cutback Coach. We're talking about the vision for Sunnyside and how people are using the app to support mindful drinking.  From the website: "Some people think that cutting back on drinking is all about having less. But at Sunnyside, we’re all about having more. More rested mornings, more days...

This week on the podcast I'm speaking to Debbie Hampton.  Debbie recovered from a suicide attempt and resulting brain injury to become an inspirational and educational writer. She is the author of  Beat Depression And Anxiety By Changing Your Brain  and a memoir,  Sex, Suicide and Serotonin: Taking Myself Apart and Putting Myself Back Together  Debbie writes for The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen,...

In this week's episode I'm sharing my experience with alcohol. From my life as a child of an alcoholic parent, to creating my own disordered alcohol use, I'm talking about all of it. My transformation from a 25+ year daily drinker to creating a peaceful relationship with alcohol and sticking to low-risk limits included a lot of support, education and work over a two-year period. It's also possible...

  This week on the podcast, I'm speaking to Dr. Carl Erik Fisher.  Carl Erik Fisher, M.D., is an addiction psychiatrist, bioethics scholar, and author. He is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, where he studies and teaches law, ethics, and policy relating to psychiatry and neuroscience, especially issues related to substance use disorders and other addictive behav...

This week on the podcast I'm talking about believing that you can CHANGE your drinking. We get stuck in past patterns because we don't believe change is possible for us. Our evidence seems to prove to us that we can't change. What does it take to believe new things? I'm sharing three things I did to help myself believe that change was possible for me, as well as some inspiration from other people...

Did you know that April is Alcohol Awareness Month?  That's ok...most people don't know either. The initiative, started in 1987, is not widely promoted and illustrates how far we have to go as a sociey to increase our alcohol awareness.  In this episode, I want us to ask how we can build awareness ourselves to help incease alcohol awareness for the people around us.  Two questions are pivotal to h...

This week on  the podcast I'm diving into the Triune Brain Model and why I'm changing  how I talk about the "lower" brain.  Learn why the Triune Model isn't accurate with regards to evolutionary process, but why it still holds value to descibe the functional hierachy of the brain. It's still a valuable tool to understand human behavior especially the interactions between cognitive and emotional pa...

This week on the podcast I'm talking with author, designer and personal development coach Karen Salmansohn. Hear about her own journey to overcome anxiety, emotional eating and use her extraordinary creative talents to make the world a better place.  Her website says it all: Supersize your courage, abilities and mindset.  We talk about how she has incorporated research and science, with humor, sas...

This week on the podcast, a new addition to the "Alcohol &" series. I'm talking about Alcohol & Relationships.  How does your relationship with alcohol impact your other relationships?  Do you feel like your significant other isn't supportive of you changing your drinking habits?  What about your friends?  How does drinking alcohol affect your friendships? And are you someone who can't ima...