In this episode of The Healthy & Whole Podcast Colton and Matt explore a number of questions related to mental health and in particular the behavior of emotional eating. We explore the connection found between depression and anxiety and addiction, why we emotionally eat, why it is so hard to stop emotional eating, and ultimately how to break the cycle of emotional eating or using any other substance to cope with emotions and life. If you struggle with emotional eating, mental health, and addiction this is a must watch episode for you.

Quarantine Q+A With Coach Matt

Today's question comes from Connie:

"What are the best snacks when you "think" you need one?"

What the video for my answers!

Quarantine Q+A With Coach Matt

Today's questions come from Rene + Kelsey:

"How do I keep from snacking when I am home 24/7?"

Day to day fluctuations in bodyweight are something that tends to really drive people crazy.  In fact, this one thing alone is something that can bother some people so much that it can completely derail them from their plan causing them to give up entirely.

Well in today's video blog post I am here to assure you that those day to day fluctuations aren't as bad as you think they are. 

Not only are they not really fat gain, but they are part of your body's normal rhythms depending on what you have eaten, your hydration status, the regularity of your bowel movements, gut health and more.

Watch the video to get the full run down.   

I hope you fail today.  

Truth be told...I hope you fail every day of your life.  

For most of my life I lived in constant fear of failure.  In some rare instances I can honestly say that my fear of failure pushed me forward.

But, most of my life the fear of failure has kept me from becoming the person I want to be.  

The person I need to be.

The truth I learned after many many years of AVOIDING failure is that failure is the only way in which we grow. 

Success...as they say is a poor teacher and as I sit here today I could not agree more.  

So I hope I fail today, and every day.  

Because only through failure will I get better.  Only through failure will I learn what doesn't work.  Only through failure will I become a a stronger, wiser, more capable person than I was yesterday.  

And that my friends is the real message I want to convey to you all today.  

I want to help you adopt a...

In my last post I talked about how our emotions often derail us completely from our habits and routines because they are so powerful.  I also talked about how a lot of those emotions are present due to unfulfilled emotional and existential needs and how by asking ourselves some important questions we can get to the root of those unfulfilled needs and lessen the grip negative emotions can have on our life and our behaviors.  If you missed that post here is a link so you can catch up.  

Today, I am going to talk about a strategy I use to help regain a little bit of control over my emotions, which is what I call flipping the switch on my emotions.  It's so simple to do that you might even laugh it off and label me a quack.  But it is a method I use not just with regard to my fitness and nutrition decisions, but in all kinds of situations in my career, my businesses, even sometimes in my personal life and relationships.  

So, what is ...

Today's post is a topic I am very passionate about.

Why is it so hard? Why is it that being disciplined is so difficult especially when it comes to our food?

Why is it that some people make being disciplined look easy when for others it is a constant struggle?

The easy answer and probably the most over used answer you will get is that it all comes down to practice and habit. Right? Its all about breaking bad habits and replacing them with good ones and if you just stick with it long enough then you will cross the finish line and all the sudden you will be a disciplined person and everything will come easily for you.

Honestly, I used to buy into that, but that didn't explain why so many people who seemed to be disciplined could crash and burn so easily sliding back into old habits. There had to be more to the story and so I made it my mission to dig deeper to try to get to the root cause of why being disciplined especially over long periods of time or even a lifetime seems so...

Hey everyone, Coach Matt here.

How many of you out there have tried to do something in the past to improve your health, lose weight, etc?  

Lord knows there are an infinite number of 'solutions' out there from calorie counting, dieting, super secretive supplements and workout programs that only the stars should know about, miracle shakes, super foods, you name it.  Chances are you have tried most if not all of these, and for some reason you never saw the success you were looking for.

Why is that?  

Well there are a lot of factors that probably contributed to the lack of success with some of the above mentioned 'solutions', but chances the biggest factor was mindset.  

See that is the problem with almost every product or program out there on the market today.  They give you rules to follow, tasks to do, lists of foods to eat, and exercises to do, but they don't equip you with the behaviors, habits, and most importantly the mindset to be successful.  

...

I was speaking with a client just the other day about their new nutrition plan. They responded back saying “Sounds great I am planning on starting that on Monday”. To which I responded, “Wait, today is Wednesday. Why Monday?!” They looked at me with a look of confusion. The fact is they didn’t really know why. It’s just the way their brain works. They think everything has to start on a Monday for a “fresh start”. The interesting thing is that when Monday rolls around and something pops up that prevents them from making their scheduled gym time or hitting their meal plan 100% then they put it off another full week. “I’ll try again on Monday! Fresh start!

For some of us in this world the devil is in the details. It’s there in everything we do, and many times we let the details dictate our lives. If we can’t check off every little box on the checklist in our brain in just the right way we can’t move on to the...