365 Changes

Author: Craig Constantine

  • Fridge Reality

    Eye level is eat level. Whatever sits at your natural line of sight when you open the door is what you’ll reach for first—especially when tired, hungry, or not thinking carefully. The crisper drawers are where good intentions go to rot. Right now, your fridge is arranged in a way that recommends certain foods over others. Is it recommending what you actually want to eat? This companion explores the eye-level advantage, what the drawers hide, the without-thinking grab, a five-point fridge audit, and how to redesign for reality. (3 min read)

  • The Brain Stem

    Your brain stem is the traffic control center for satiety signals. It receives real-time information from your gut—how much you’ve eaten, what you’ve eaten, how stretched your stomach is—and integrates all of this into the feeling of fullness that tells you to stop eating. This happens below conscious awareness. You don’t calculate when to stop; you feel full. That feeling is the brain stem’s output. This companion explores the two systems regulating eating, the gut-brain highway via the vagus nerve, why meal termination isn’t conscious, and what generates strong satiety signals. (4 min read)

  • The Guilt Spiral

    Recognize it for what it is: a trap. Guilt after eating triggers emotional distress, which triggers more eating for comfort, which triggers more guilt. The interrupt isn’t more guilt—it’s less. Acknowledge what happened, refuse to catastrophize, and move on immediately. One eating event, no matter how “bad,” is just one event. The spiral happens when you let guilt drive the next choice. This companion explores how the spiral works, why guilt backfires, the self-compassion research, how to interrupt at step two, and the immediate practice for breaking free. (4 min read)

  • The Impulse Barrier

    Barriers slow down impulse. Every step between urge and action creates space for the impulse to fade. If chips require walking to another room, opening a cabinet, and unsealing a container, you’ll eat fewer chips than if they’re open on the counter. The question isn’t about willpower—it’s about how many barriers exist between you and less-desired eating. This companion explores how barriers work, a current barrier audit, types of friction to add, strategic placement, high-impulse times when barriers matter most, and using barriers in reverse for foods you want to eat more of. (4 min read)

  • The Tolerant One

    Tolerance doesn’t mean ignoring hunger—it means creating a gap between stimulus and response where choice lives. Research on distress tolerance shows low tolerance correlates with emotional eating. A 2021 study found tolerance buffers against how emotions translate into eating. The tolerant one notices sensation without obeying it, recognizes urgency as manufactured. This companion covers why tolerance matters, what it feels like, building it through interoceptive awareness, and its limits. (4 min read)

  • The Self-Deception

    Almost everyone underestimates. Research by Lichtman using doubly labeled water (a type of water containing two isotopes for tracking purposes) found people report eating 30-50% fewer calories than they actually consume. The deception isn’t conscious—it’s selective attention, motivated forgetting, portion distortion. The bites while cooking, the handful, the healthy-labeled foods. Until you honestly inventory these blind spots, you’re working with corrupted data. This companion covers the research on underreporting, common blind spots, why we deceive ourselves, and finding the truth. (3 min read)

  • The Future Self

    Your future self is a construction project—every action today is a brick. James Clear’s “voting” concept applies: each time you eat within your window or choose whole foods, you’re casting a vote for who you’re becoming. Small daily choices compound dramatically over five years. This companion explores the construction metaphor, envisioning your future self’s relationship with food, the gap analysis between that vision and today, and why inaction is also a choice that builds someone—just not the person you want to become. (4 min read)

  • The Confident Eater

    Confident eating isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about having internalized a few core principles deeply enough that decisions feel obvious rather than agonizing. The confident eater doesn’t deliberate over every choice because most choices have already been made—not in the moment, but in who they’ve decided to be. This companion explores the research on identity and eating behavior, what confident eating looks like in practice, and how confidence develops through repeated action rather than waiting until you feel ready. (3 min read)

  • Exercise and Appetite

    Regular exercise improves the body’s appetite regulation systems rather than simply burning calories. Over time, consistent exercisers develop better sensitivity to hunger and satiety signals, meaning they eat more appropriately to their actual energy needs. The effect isn’t immediate, but chronic exercise recalibrates the system toward better homeostatic control. This companion explores the compensation problem, how exercise improves leptin sensitivity and gut hormone response, the time course of these changes, and why exercise is a metabolic recalibration tool rather than a calorie-burning one. (4 min read)

  • The Granola Bar Stash

    Most “healthy” snack bars contain as much sugar as candy bars—often 12-20+ grams, sometimes more. The healthy packaging, the inclusion of oats or nuts, the words “natural” and “protein” obscure what you’re actually eating: a processed, shelf-stable product designed to taste good enough to keep buying. Check your stash. Read the labels. Many emergency “health” bars are candy bars with better marketing. This companion explores the health halo effect, how to decode sugar on nutrition labels, the “emergency” rationalization, better portable options, and a four-question audit for your stash. (5 min read)