The human body is one of the most complex systems on the planet, and not all bodies are the same. Anyone who has struggled on a diet knows that what works for someone else may not work for you. We all have a unique body chemistry that needs to be addressed differently, and, without considering the hidden factors that may be affecting our ability to lose weight, we will continue to struggle. This is what Functional Medicine is all about: looking beyond the basics to determine what is right for each individual. On today’s Broken Brain Podcast, our host, Dhru, talks to Dana James, a triple certified nutritionist, Functional Medicine practitioner, and cognitive behavioral therapist. She takes a rare approach to women’s weight loss by putting self-worth at the center of the conversation. She is the author of the best selling book, The Archetype Diet, which has helped thousands of women improve their self-worth, release childhood shame and find equilibrium in their physical body. She has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Forbes, Vogue, Elle and Goop and offers a unique perspective on physical body and mind integration. In this episode, Dhru and Dana talk about how you can alter your diet to help feed your unique body chemistry while simultaneously examining how your sense of self-worth shapes your behaviors—including what you eat—in ways that may be working against your goals. They also talk about how the weight loss equation of “calories in, calories out” is inadequate, and how other factors, such as hormones, sleep, inflammation, the gut microbiome, unexpressed emotions, and genes all influence your ability to lose weight and keep it off. In this episode, we dive into:-The connection between unexpressed emotions and weight loss (2:43)-How subconscious beliefs inform our eating and our weight (7:53)-The social stigma around weight gain and obesity (11:47)-The Nurturer Archetype (18:26)-The Wonder Woman Archetype (22:56)-The Femme Fatale Archetype (34:51)-The 3-R reprogramming process (41:51) -The Ethereal Archetype (42:24)-The importance of personalization when it comes to diet (50:17) -Body acceptance (54:45)-Stress reduction techniques (56:18)-Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) (1:01:48)-Societal pressure around weight loss and body image (1:05:12)-Visceral fat and chronic disease (1:11:40)-Learn more about Dana and her work (1:13:20)For more on Dana James, be sure to follow her on Instagram @danajames and check out her website https://danajames.com and https://foodcoachnyc.com. You also can find her book, The Archetype Diet, right here.