Category: Companions
The Snack Replacement
Before replacing snacks, question whether you need them at all. Research by Fung shows constant snacking keeps insulin elevated, preventing fat oxidation. Many people snack because meals don’t satisfy — the fix is better meals, not better snacks. If snacks serve a real function, choose protein-based, low-sugar, portion-controlled options. This companion covers the snacking question, when you genuinely need snacks, snack principles, better options, what to eliminate, and conducting the audit. (3 min read)
The Tasting Menu
A tasting menu is a culinary experience, not a typical meal — many small courses designed to showcase the chef’s best work. Research by Rozin on food pleasure shows not everything needs optimizing; some meals are about culture and experience. Courses are intentionally small, pacing is slow, and fighting it ruins the evening. This companion covers what tasting menus actually are, the special occasion frame, practical navigation tips, the “ruined diet” fear, and presence practice. (4 min read)
Fatty Acid Oxidation
Fatty acid oxidation is the process of breaking down stored fat to produce energy — what “burning fat” actually means. Research by Anton on the metabolic switch shows this becomes primary when glucose is low: during fasting, prolonged exercise, or carbohydrate restriction. Insulin is the key regulator; when elevated, fat stays locked in cells. This companion covers beta-oxidation basics, when fat burning dominates, the insulin switch, ketone production, and building metabolic flexibility. (4 min read)
The Emotional Eating Substitute
Food is remarkably effective at changing emotional states — fast, reliable, pleasurable, socially acceptable. Research by Dallman on stress-induced cortisol shows the drive toward comfort food has physiological roots. To stop using food for emotions, you need alternatives that actually work: physical movement, social connection, relaxation, creative expression, or simply allowing the feeling to pass. This companion covers why food works, the alternatives, building your toolkit, and addressing what lies beneath. (4 min read)
The Protein Powder
Protein powder ranges from minimally processed whole food to heavily engineered industrial product. The best options have short ingredient lists: single-ingredient whey isolate with minimal additives. The worst are filled with artificial sweeteners, thickeners, and fillers. This companion covers the spectrum of powders, what to look for, the sweetener question, whole food alternatives, and conducting your audit. (4 min read)
The Last-Minute Dinner
It’s 7pm, nothing planned, and by evening you take whatever option is already in place rather than deliberating a new one. This is why backup systems exist: a default 10-minute meal from ingredients always on hand. Alternatively, strategic takeout or even skipping dinner entirely. This companion covers why this moment is dangerous, the backup meal solution, inventory assessment, strategic ordering, and fixing the upstream system. (5 min read)
The Cortisol Rhythm
Cortisol follows a natural daily rhythm — rising before dawn, peaking in the morning around waking, declining through the day to a nocturnal low. Chronic stress flattens this pattern, blunting the morning surge and shrinking the difference between peak and trough. Dallman’s model describes a loop rather than a single push: elevated cortisol drives a pull toward comfort food, that eating lays down abdominal fat, and the fat in turn signals back to damp the stress hormones — which is what makes the cycle self-reinforcing. Separately, cortisol has been found to promote visceral fat storage directly, with central fat then…
The Pragmatic Optimist
The pragmatic optimist believes change is possible but knows it comes through consistent small actions, not dramatic transformations. Hope here means the expectation that effort can improve the future — explicitly not wishful thinking. And the patience is earned rather than preached: the median time for a behavior to reach 95% of its automatic ceiling was 66 days across a range of 18 to 254, and missing a single day does not meaningfully affect it. Optimism without pragmatism becomes fantasy; pragmatism without optimism becomes cynicism. The strongest evidence on the list is for its gentlest item — self-criticism after a…
The Fruit Juice Box
Juice boxes kept for kids or guests have a way of being consumed by adults — a glass here, a sip there. Hollands’ Cochrane review found that moving food farther away moderately reduces how much of it gets eaten, on low-certainty evidence — and that applies regardless of who it’s “for.” Fruit juice carries fructose at a concentration close to soda’s, stripped of the fiber that makes whole fruit reasonable. This companion covers the juice illusion, the “for others” problem, ambient consumption, and creating real boundaries or removing the temptation entirely. (3 min read)
The Disciplined One
Discipline isn’t deprivation — it’s freedom from the tyranny of impulse. Self-control is what lets you choose by your values rather than by the urge in front of you. The disciplined person and undisciplined person feel the same craving; the difference is what happens next. Paradoxically, discipline equals freedom. This companion covers the misunderstanding of discipline, the freedom paradox, what discipline actually feels like, and how to build it through practice. (4 min read)