"What's wrong with me?" You've probably asked yourself this after another night of eating when you weren't hungry, scrolling when you meant to go to bed, or saying yes to something you had no energy for. The late-night sugar, the people-pleasing, the crashing after weeks of overdoing everything. You're not lazy and you're not broken, but you are asking the wrong question.
The real question is what's happening in your body because so much of what we chalk up to bad habits or weak willpower is actually driven by biology. Your nervous system is keeping you in familiar patterns because familiar feels safe, even when it's not working. Your cortisol is spiking your hunger and blunting your fullness signals, and if you're in perimenopause, all of it hits harder because the hormonal buffer you used to have is disappearing.
In this episode of Truce with Food, I sit down with Amber Romaniuk, an expert in emotional eating, digestive health, and hormonal balance with over 12 years of clinical and lived experience, to discuss the biology behind the behaviors we call self-sabotage. We get into how chronic stress and cortisol reshape your hunger and cravings, why everything from sugar to people-pleasing hits differently in perimenopause, and what it actually looks like to stop fighting your body and start understanding what it's telling you.
7:16 – Why mindset work fails when you ignore your body's role in behavior
9:27 – Why your nervous system keeps you stuck in familiar patterns even when you want to change
15:22 – How cortisol changes your hunger, cravings, and capacity to handle stress
21:55 – Why everything from sugar to stress hits differently in perimenopause and menopause
28:34 – How low progesterone drives people-pleasing, overworking, and chasing the next accomplishment
34:19 – Getting off the addiction to intensity and what to do instead of chasing cheap dopamine
41:17 – Amber's cortisol test recommendations and what to actually do with the results
48:19 – What guilt does to your amygdala and why it keeps you from prioritizing yourself
Mentioned In Your Sugar Cravings Make Sense When You Understand Your Hormones with Amber Romaniuk
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