What if your inability to change isn't a failure of willpower, but your heart's way of protecting you from something you're not ready to face?Today I’m sharing a conversation I had with Meghan Telpner for the Courageous Pivot podcast about how my journey from overworking addiction to radical life redesign began with a simple question: "Why does this make sense?"I reveals how addressing my relationship with food became the gateway to confronting deeper questions about worth, identity, and what success actually means—and why healing often requires becoming a beginner all over again. From my journey through cancer, infertility, and postpartum menopause to finally redefining wealth as "freedom over my time," we get into how having the courage to slow down and listen to your body's wisdom can unlock transformations you never imagined possible.Essential listening for anyone measuring busyness instead of impact, struggling to make changes they know they need, or ready to understand why their body might be wiser than their ambition.We discuss:Why only 1 in 7 heart attack survivors actually change their diet and lifestyle—even when they know it could save their livesThe hidden cost of measuring busyness instead of impact and how it perpetuates chronic exhaustionThe developmental reason we spend the first half of life proving we can exert our will on the world—and what the second half requiresWhy food (and overwork) are “almost addictive”—soothing just enough to quiet the alarm but never enough to meet the actual needWhat “immunity to change” reveals about the knowing-doing gap and why willpower will never be the answerHow cultural conditioning around productivity and “earning your worth” gets embedded in our nervous systemsThe question that transforms self-judgment into constructive self-compassionConnect with Meghan:Visit Meghan’s websiteListen to the Courageous Pivot PodcastMentioned in this episode:Culinary Nutrition: How to Cook for Health and Taste with Meghan Telpner – Insatiable Season 12, Episode 2Enneagram: personality typesImmunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey — published by Harvard BusSend me (Ali) a text message.Join me February 10th for my free workshop, Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track. Discover why falling off track makes sense and leave with the paradigm shift needed for lasting change without deprivation. I’ll share the driving force behind food sabotage, and it’s not willpower.Sign up now at trucewithfood.com/consistency. Free Workshop: Untangle Your Food Triggers: Catch Yourself Before You Fall Off Track: February 10, 2026 at 12:00pm (EST) You'll see why falling off track with your food makes complete sense (no, that's not a typo) and leave with the most important paradigm shift you can make if lasting change, without feeling deprived, is what you're after. Register today.