Why Willpower Can Fail: The Brain as Predictive Organ

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This week on the Less Stressed Life, Eliza Kingsford joins me to talk about how your nervous system drives behavior and why lasting change only happens when your body feels safe.

We dive into the three main nervous system states (safe and connected, activated, and shutdown) and how they show up in your relationship with food, stress, and self-control. Eliza explains why willpower isn’t the problem and how to build capacity with daily “deposits” like rest, nourishment, and connection so your body can finally support change instead of resist it.

I was fired up about this one because it connects everything—physiology, behavior, and peace. You’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of why you feel stuck and how to shift it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• Your nervous system drives every thought, feeling, and action
• Change feels unsafe to the brain—safety cues make new habits possible
• Food behaviors mirror nervous system states (frantic in activation, numbing in shutdown)
• Build capacity by balancing “deposits” like rest, nourishment, and connection with “withdrawals” like stress and overwork
• Flexibility and resilience in your nervous system create real, lasting change 

ABOUT GUEST:
Best-selling author, licensed therapist and former Corporate CEO, Eliza Kingsford is a nervous system expert and behavior change specialist. She is widely known for helping clients regain control and rewire their process so they can finally lose weight peacefully and keep it off permanently. She developed The Shift framework where clients learn a step-by-step blueprint for changing their lives.

Eliza is turning the weight loss industry on its head by combining neuroscience, behavior science and psychology to create lasting results for her clients.

WHERE TO FIND GUEST:
Website: https://www.elizakingsford.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizakingsford/

WHERE TO FIND CHRISTA:
Website: https://www.christabiegler.com/
Instagram: @anti.inflammatory.nutritionist
Podcast Instagram: @lessstressedlife
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lessstressedlife
Leave a review, submit a questions for the podcast or take one of my quizzes here: ****https://www.christabiegler.com/links

NUTRITION PHILOSOPHY OF LESS STRESSED LIFE:
🍽️ Over restriction is dead
🥑 Whole food is soul food and fed is best
🔄 Sustainable, synergistic nutrition is in (the opposite of whack-a-mole supplementation & supplement graveyards)
🤝 You don’t have to figure it out alone
❤️ Do your best and leave the rest

SPONSOR:
Thank you to our friends at Jigsaw Health for being such an incredible sponsor and partner. 😎 If you’

Jigsaw Health bumped our regular 10% off coupon code lessstressed10 to 15% with lessstressed15 through November (and hopefully longer). Restock your favorite potassium cocktail, magnesium, cod liver oil and more! 

I released a free training that shares the 4 steps I use to help clients reduce eczema, inflammation, and food-reaction symptoms by 50%+ in a few months — without restriction or overwhelm. The feedback has been incredible, and I answer every question inside the training. Watch here: christabiegler.com/blueprint