http://www.NeverBingeAgain.com   Willpower  http://learntruehealth.com/willpower-stop-bingeing/ Willpower to stop bingeing is something a lot of people struggle with.  Whether you plan to eat healthily or currently maintaining your weight, having the willpower to stay on track is a continuous effort. I’m thrilled that my guest, Dr. Glenn Livingston, is back on the show to teach us how to make sure we maintain the willpower to stop overeating. Former Binge Eater Dr. Glenn Livingston talked extensively about how to stop bingeing on episode 56 of the Learn True Health.  He gave a lot of tips in that episode, so I suggest everyone check it out. For those who have not heard the initial guesting of Dr. Glenn Livingston on my show, you’d be surprised that he was a former binge eater himself. He struggled throughout his younger years when he went to graduate school until he got married. He found it had to exercise to career demands and so his metabolism went down.  Having the willpower to stop eating just didn’t seem possible. Family Of Psychologists Dr. Glenn Livingston comes from a family of psychologists, so he felt it was essential to follow the same path. Seventeen family therapists to be exact! When he got divorced years ago, Dr. Glenn Livingston was admittedly unhappy about that. He sought advice from his mother who was also a psychotherapist. That’s when he was able to trace his bingeing, particularly his love for chocolate. Apparently, because of Dr. Glenn Livingston’s family situation when he was young, he was drawn to chocolate early on and was never really strictly regulated from eating it. That, according to Dr. Glenn Livingston, was the match that lit the fire. Finding The Connection Now that he knew the probable cause of his lack of willpower to stop bingeing, Dr. Glenn Livingston went to psychologists, psychiatrists, and even Overeaters Anonymous to research more about bingeing. He also funded a 40,000-person study between the late 90s and early 2000s. “I got all of these people to take a survey about the food they were bingeing on, their lifestyle, personalities, and digging what the connection was. Then I realized that maybe it was because there was no self-love,” said Dr. Glenn Livingston. In that study, Dr. Glenn Livingston found out that people who overeat on chocolate tend to be lonely. People who had trouble with crunchy, salty things were usually stressed at work. And people who were drawn to eating soft, chewy stuff like bagels and pasta, tend to be stressed at home. “The emotional conversation with my mom led me to believe that I would be cured. I was able to forgive myself,” said Dr. Glenn Livingston. “I forgave my mom, and we became closer. And I feel I became a more soulful person.”  Justifying Emotional Discomfort Dr. Glenn Livingston was able to come to terms that his bingeing originated from a time in his life where his mother did not regulate him from overeating. But his bingeing still didn’t stop. In fact, he found it as a justification to eat even more. “If you have a fire that’s out of control, there are two strategies that you can use. You can try to put out the fire, or you can build a fireplace,” Dr. Glenn Livingston said. “A lot of people won’t have that emotional discomfort in order not to binge. I find that it helps a little, but it doesn’t work that well.”  He adds, “What works better is intervening at the level of that crazy food demon. Learn how to have clarity about how you want food to play in your life and make decisions about food ahead of time.” Understanding Willpower Dr. Glenn Livingston says willpower is a fatigable muscle. And there are only so many right decisions we can make on any given day. This fact has been proven in so many medical studies. “If you tax people mentally with math problems, they have more trouble resisting a marshmallow before and after the math problem,” explains Dr. Glenn Livingston. “Every decision you’re making is taxing the willpower. And that’s why peo