Coffee With Dr. Kashey

In today's Coffee With Kashey episode, Dr. Trevor Kashey has a real-life client case study that shows how the ADAPT framework works. The client was pre-diabetic and had issues with her blood pressure and blood sugar. But because biology operates on a continuum of self-correcting feedback loops, within 3 months of starting to ADAPT her bloodwork was back in healthy ranges and she lost 23 pounds! Dr...

You’ve explored thinking problems in the previous two episodes and now you’re ready to tackle a practical problem hindering progress towards your goal. In this episode, Dr. Kashey explains how the ADAPT problem-solving framework, developed by famed cognitive scientist Dr. Nezu, will give you a “plug and play” solution to most of your practical problems or goal-blockers. It’s one more tool in the b...

When life is stressful, we think we need to wait until things calm down, causing us to do nothing and procrastinate forever until life is “perfect” again. This mental roadblock becomes our pass to do nothing about all those problems causing the stress. People who feel overwhelmed and stressed tell themselves they've lost control, so they even give up control over everything causing them stress. In...

It’s time to change your beliefs around food and eating with another episode of Coffee with Kashey! What matters more to you, having the answer to a problem or knowing how to solve the problem? Sometimes you can have the answer to a problem but still fall short. Sometimes you can have all the information you need, and have a plan that seems to make sense, but you still find yourself struggling. Yo...

Dr. Kashey discusses how to break the vicious cycle of creating a problem for every solution. There are two types of problems: practical and thinking. They can reinforce each other and lead us down the slippery slope of self-sabotage. For example: a person thinking they are a failure (thinking problem) because they messed up on their diet (practical problem). We should put aside the rigid demands...

Dr. Kashey addresses the popular saying “No pain, no gain!” While it’s commonly used as a motivating phrase, Dr. Kashey argues that it is a conflicting philosophy that confuses correlation and causation. It assumes that in order for there to be success, pain must be involved, which is a distorted belief. Although progress may require some sacrifice, we should not be conditioned to expect misery ev...

Dr. Kashey relieves us of our perfectionist demands that only create frustration and ultimately end in self-sabotage. People tend to act based on what they believe rather than what they actually want. If a belief system is crooked, then actions aligned with those crooked beliefs will lead to undesirable outcomes. Then, in an effort to make sense of the conflict between what someone does and the re...

Dr. Kashey shows us why experiences of the past have a minority influence on what we choose to think and do now. Learning from the past is one thing, but repeatedly bringing up the past and using it as an excuse for poor choices in the present is detrimental to reaching our goals. Although it can feel like the past is a problem in the present, this is only because we sometimes use the past as a to...

Dr. Kashey knows that hitting goals is a vital aspect for each of our definitions of “success”. This is why Dr. Kashey has studied human tendency when it comes to approaching these goals. Between a dogmatic approach and a scientific approach, Dr. Kashey believes that incorporating more of the latter can have a healthier impact towards our relationship with our goal-setting process and our inevitab...

Dr. Kashey addresses individuals who can’t seem to stop sabotaging themselves no matter how hard they try. Five major flags that set people up to fail include, 1) living in vague-ville, 2) making up for “vague-ry” with grand gestures, 3) a poor track record, 4) they believe there must be pain for there to be gain, and 5) they’re stuck to their guns. After expanding on these five flags, Dr. Kashey...

In this episode, Dr. Kashey briefly reviews the S (stimulus) in SRO before jumping into the outcomes component of SRO. To understand outcomes, you need to understand that your belief system contains two key parts: the desire not to die and the learned behavior to truly live. While those may seem very similar, the desire to truly live is a learned behavior, while the desire to not die is innate. Th...

In this episode, Dr. Kashey discusses the difference between doing things not to die and doing things to live genuinely and fully. Kashey shares the story of Linda, one of his clients who struggled significantly with her negative thoughts. When she became a client, she started working on the SRO model. The S stands for "stimulus," or the things that happen TO you and what YOU make happen. For the...

Dr. Kashey continues his discussion of fault and blame in a practical light. He explains his belief that the far left and the far right are both partly correct but fully stupid - the far left being someone who relinquishes all responsibility for anyone’s fortune or misfortune, and the far right being someone who forces too much responsibility and who assumes complete control. Even if an ugly decis...

Thanks to a previous episode with Dr. Kashey when we learned how to apply helpful negativity, Dr. Kashey now gives a deeper look into the response aspect of the stimulus-response model. We do not have control over everything, but we do have control over our response. Applying helpful negativity helps us efficiently control our emotions, thoughts, and actions rather than being the victim of them. K...

Dr. Kashey offers insight into self-sabotaging eating behaviors. He shares the first step to resolving it, how to discriminate between helpful and harmful negativity, and how to use negativity in a rational and constructive way. Becoming aware of your self-sabotaging behaviors involves understanding the influence of three modifiable internal factors and two modifiable external factors, which Dr. K...

Resuming his mini series about scientific thinking, Dr. Kashey now digs into the characteristics of scientific-mindedness and how to use it to “check yourself before you wreck yourself.” Traits of scientific thinking include observing observations, organizing and modifying the facts of your life, and proving some ideas and opinions to be false. It even gets into skepticism of more abstract concept...

While negativity can be destructive, it can also be relatively constructive even for a self-deprecating pessimist, Dr. Kashey says. There is a difference between preferences and demands; the former creates helpful pressure, the latter creates harmful pressure. Demanding too much of yourself can lead to anxiety and depression, which will in turn push you farther from your goals. It will wear down y...

Dr. Kashey puts on his scientific minded thinking cap and answers the age-old question of “How does what you believe influence the way you process your thoughts, thereby dictating how you act?” He compares rigid versus flexible beliefs, scientific versus dogmatic, rational versus impulsive, and constructive versus destructive outcomes. In order to overcome adversity, solve problems, and reach goal...

After a quick review of a dogmatic system versus a scientific system, Dr. Kashey shows how scientific thinking has a rightful and helpful place in our daily lives. It has an impact in the real world and can aid us in comprehending contradictions in the context of self-respect. Although scientific thinking hinges on facts and logic, this does not equate it to being rigid. Since facts are constantly...

At the start of a mini-series covering the comparison of thinking dogmatically versus thinking scientifically, Dr. Kashey gives us a good overview of the differences between the two, as well as how they can impact our emotions. Dogmatic thinking has a relatively arbitrary and rigid nature. On the other hand, scientific thinking is thorough, accurate, and allows for flexible outcomes. Factors such...

Sometimes our search for answers can reveal more problems instead of answers. Dr. Kashey teaches us how to stop this problematic spiral and redirect our focus so that we can find answers. While finding the root of the problem seems to be widely accepted advice, Dr. Kashey argues that digging into the past may actually hinder us from facing the problem in the present in addition to giving an excuse...

Following a controversial episode about the belief that self-esteem is a potent cognitive poison, Dr. Kashey now reveals the cure: respect. While self-esteem ties a person’s worth to the outcome of their actions, self-respect does not depend on outcomes or expectations set by oneself or others. Taking risks is an essential part of life; therefore, the chance of failure exists. How one responds to...

Dr. Kashey shares his conceivably unpopular opinion that self-esteem is a poison worse than hate. If you disagree, don’t go anywhere just yet, because you must know by now that Dr. Kashey does a thorough job of digging deeper and explaining how he came to this conclusion. Self-esteem can lead us to judge ourselves and our value by our own expectations as well as expectations set forth by other peo...

Following multiple episodes of discussing Dr. Kashey’s Constructive Eater’s Hierarchy, it’s finally time to explore the “tippy top” - Novelty. Dr. Kashey defines food novelty as “the use of food as an instrument to improve your subjective well-being beyond the scope of your nutritional status." In light of the hierarchy, novelty sits atop getting enough food, creating structured feeding, balancing...

Dr. Kashey believes that increasing your food’s variety can help push your food satisfaction and contentment up while keeping your cravings and eating impulses low. More options also improve the likelihood of eating the right things while simultaneously decreasing the risks associated with eating the wrong things. After all, too much of one thing is bad for you. Variety builds on this Balance and...