While this week in our community we were talking about 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐬 (like, homeo- & allostasis and hustle & flow switching), there are also many cycles that it might be better to BREAK! 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰, 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬, where certain patterns are passed on from generation to generation and you might not even be aware of it. This actually came up for me quite intensely this week as I had a call with @Lesley Christine inside her lovely community “Playing the Game of Life” here on skool. I connected to Lesley after I had an intuitive download for myself that I shared here in the Thrive Community, in which I for the first time linked my emotional eating to my grandfather: As kids we were told the story that when he finally was released from Russian war captivity after WWII in 1947, he ate a huge pot of split pea soup my grandma had just made. And that’s why was always a “rounder” person (only later did I learn that it actually made him quite sick and he almost died form it 🤯). Wanting to tune into this and possible other subconscious reasons for my pattern of emotional eating which Lesley does with muscle testing, she discovered that this pattern emerged at least 4 generations back from my mothers/grandfather’s side 🤯! Wow. Will need some effort to clear THAT energy 😅 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 – 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 (𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 😏): 𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔! In a nutshell, epigenetics are a sort of tags that can be added to your DNA and activate or inactivate the tagged genes (“one level above”, so to say, hence epi – genetic). These tags are one reason, for example, why identical twins (especially when growing up under different circumstances) are never fully identical even thought they share the exact same DNA.

Do you have a favorite season? Mine is spring. I love the slowly rising temperatures, the noticably longer days, and just the overall awakening and increase in colours after a long white winter here in the Canadian prairies. Only that this year... spring just doesn't seem to happen! Last week we've still had overnight frost with -2C, single digits daytime temps... and then this coming week... boom! Up in the +30Cs!!! Trees exploded into green literally overnight (ok, that's exaggerated - it was over 2 or 3 nights 😏)! Well, bottomline, it's not the easy transition that I love, but a steep jump. And my body and emotions really struggle to keep up. I'm literally in a grieving state - and as an emotional eater this obviously reflects in my tendency to overeat at the moment. As a marine biologist having worked with global change and it's effect on aquatic animals performance, I gotta say that all these changes in weather scare me. And it doesn't help that it'll be a Super El Nino year! But all those changes in these external cycles also make me realize how important our internal cycles are. Like, hormonal and nutritional cycles, allostatic capacities, nervous system rests, to name only a few. It's about staying balanced, or knowing how to return to our homeostatic state quickly, when our external environment just doesn't "play along". For me that means finding these pockets of joy, the moments that light me up, in the here and now - no matter how long or short spring is this year. To focus on what DOES work, rather than what doesn't. How do you honor your cycles, and return to center if something external throws you off?

A quote I LOVE the sound of… and still need reminding to actually live 😅 “Ask yourself, ‘What if it were easy?’ Then go ahead and do that.” Tim Ferriss So naturally… I made an acronym 👀 💚 E.A.S.Y. ✨ ENJOYABLE Sometimes we accidentally make healthy habits feel harder by focusing on everything we won’t enjoy. “What if this was easy?” might look like: 🥔 keeping meals simple 🌮 repeating favourite recipes 🎧 listening to a podcast while food prepping ☀️ walking outside instead of forcing yourself onto cardio machines you hate Healthy doesn’t need to feel miserable to “count.” ⚡ AUTOMATIC You know what makes things feel REALLY hard? Overthinking them for three hours before doing nothing 😅 “What if this was easy?” might look like: 👉 immediately chopping vegetables after groceries 👉 setting a pot of lentils on to cook while making breakfast 👉 putting workout clothes on before motivation arrives 👉 scheduling the thing instead of mentally wrestling it daily Tiny automatic actions save enormous mental energy. 🌱 SUSTAINABLE Setting the bar too high can secretly become procrastination and perfectionism. “What if this was easy?” might look like: 💪 a 15-minute workout 🥗 one EASY tray-bake meal to have on repeat this week 📹 one imperfect video instead of waiting to become confident first 🚶‍♀️ consistency over intensity The best routine is rarely the most impressive one. It’s the one you’ll actually keep doing. 🫶 YOUR BEST INTERESTS Some things feel easy now… yet become heavy later. Future-you matters too. “What if this was easy long-term?” might look like: 🌈 keeping healthy food visible and ready 😴 protecting sleep 💚 choosing habits that support your energy instead of draining it 🥙 learning a few EASY healthy meals that make eating food that loves your body back feel realistic instead of overwhelming The older I get, the more I think “easy” is underrated. Not because life should be effortless. Because unnecessary struggle is exhausting 😅 I'd love to know: Where could you make life 1% easier this week?

What are you doing today, or this weekend, to relax and focus on self care? Share it in the comments below. For bonus points, add a picture, so we can share the experience with you. I'll share some peaceful videos of our animals later in the day. Spending time with animals is often relaxing for me. Except for when the drakes or male guineas are fighting. But, I digress. Below is a guided relaxation I created a few months back. I've posted the video in here before, but we have lots of new members, so I wanted to give it to you again. Special welcome to our new members, like @Katja Nasr , @Nancy Wicks , @Matt Burge , @Andrea Lecos , @Brigitte Mars , @Karisa Bitner , @Steven Bornstein , @Sarah Emami , @Lisa David Olson . Welcome all!! If you know someone who can use some relaxation, and/or a reminder that it's ok to feel good, please share this video with them! https://youtu.be/yRI41vlEteE

EDIT: I had a powerful experience while on a walk after I posted this and it lead me to identifying 2 new types of hunger that have played a powerful impact on my life and I had been confusing it with Emotional Hunger. The reason I wanted to identify each of these is because they 1) each present differently and 2) have different needs that they meet. Some of the solutions may be the same as others but there are distinct differences that I feel are important. DM me if you are interested and I can email you the newest version as I keep making updates as I am learning. Original Post: Wow. This community sure has grown!!! I believe I was the first or second member and I haven't checked in for a while. I spoke with Vasi about a program that I have been working on and she encouraged me to share some information here. I created this brief introduction page to my program. I call it Metabolic Rehab; The Feasting/Fasting Method. I believe that a lot of the problems that people have with food and weight stem back to not recognizing hunger. I started developing a theory years ago that seems to have proven true through my experience and work. I am an addiction counselor and I see similarities with my clients to what I experienced trying to heal my metabolism. Then Dr. Jason Fung published his book The Hunger Code which I read as soon as it came out in March 2026 to see if it validated my experience. He shared his idea that there are 3 types of hunger. My experience identified 6; his first three types seem insufficient to what else I see going on so I started to create my program. This is the briefest introduction to what I plan to cover in my program. I plan to introduce each type, provide strategies to help people identify each type and eliminate some so that they don't have to fight hunger and cravings. After all, if we aren't hungry... it's easy to say no.