Me, Food & Body Brain Alliance

For nearly four decades, I was a sheep–blindly following diet culture’s herd mentality. I counted points, logged calories in apps, and readied my restaurant menu order before even walking through the door. I clung to the hope that the next diet would finally unlock lasting health and happiness. Each promise of control through restricting “trigger foods” only fueled the same exhausting cycle of fluctuating weight and emotions.

I might have stayed on that uncertain and emotional yo-yo rollercoaster indefinitely, but six years ago, everything changed. Within a single year, I lost my mom–my confidant, cheerleader, and best friend–underwent a hip replacement that sidelined me from working for five months, lived through a global pandemic, and enrolled in school for five years to earn a psychology degree at age 50 while working full-time. Throughout it all, I carried an additional 40 extra pounds on a body already heavy and weary.

Amid those challenges, school became more than an academic pursuit; it became a mirror reflecting to me that dieting was not the answer. As I worked through my program, a clear pattern emerged: nearly every paper I researched and wrote circled back to how food influenced my brain, body, and mood. I learned how certain foods can sharpen or cloud memory, and how they directly influence hormones that drive motivation, endurance, and even joy. That’s when it hit me: for decades, I had fueled myself with foods that were actually working against me. I had never truly stopped to consider the profound connection between the brain and body.