Rewiring Your Morning: 12 Neuroscience-Based Statements for Healing Your Relationship with Food

Note: I have always struggled.. assuming my "morning" and "evening" routines weren't right - not even close.  Let's see what we can do to shift that for you, gentl

Understanding the Deeper Issues Behind Food Dysfunction

As women healing from food dysfunction, we often focus on the surface-level food thoughts, but these thoughts are merely symptoms of deeper underlying issues. Before diving into Dr. Andrew Huberman's morning statements, let's acknowledge what's really happening beneath those food preoccupations:

• Deep worry and catastrophizing about our health, appearance, and worth
• Perfectionism that leaves us feeling perpetually inadequate
• Comparing ourselves to unrealistic standards
• Feeling like we don't belong and using food to fit in
• The gap between what we "should" be doing and our reality
• Unconscious limiting beliefs create roadblocks to healing
• Harsh self-judgment that undermines our efforts
• Control issues manifesting through food rules and restrictions
• Manager parts keeping us "in line" and indulger parts offering food as comfort

With these more profound issues in mind, here are the 12 neuroscience-based morning statements, reordered and reframed to address these underlying challenges:

The 12 Morning Statements Reimagined for Food Healing

1. "Small actions compound" (formerly #11)

For women struggling with perfectionism and all-or-nothing thinking around food, this foundational principle provides immediate relief. Healing doesn't require dramatic transformations or perfect days.

Addressing the deeper issue: Perfectionism and the belief that change requires heroic efforts cause many women to abandon healing when they can't maintain unsustainable standards.

Simple implementation: Choose one tiny change to make this week—perhaps using a hunger scale once a day or adding five minutes of morning reflection. Place a jar on your counter and add a paperclip each time you practice this small action, visually watching your progress compound.

2. "Today is a training session" (formerly #12)

Viewing each day as practice rather than a performance removes the pressure of getting it "right" and allows for learning through experience.

Addressing the deeper issue: Harsh self-judgment and black-and-white thinking that labels days as "good" or "bad" based on food choices.

Simple implementation: When you wake up, visualize putting on a student's mindset for just 30 seconds. Say to yourself, "Today I'm learning, not performing." When challenging food moments arise, ask, "What can I learn here?" instead of "How did I fail?"

3. "My brain and body are adaptable"

This statement directly counters the hopelessness many feel after years of food struggles, reminding us that change is biologically possible regardless of how long we've struggled.

Addressing the deeper issue: The limiting belief that you're permanently broken or that your patterns are fixed.

Simple implementation: Set a recurring morning phone alarm with this phrase as the label. When it goes off, take just one deep breath while reminding yourself that today's neural connections can be different from yesterday's.

4. "I will direct my focus deliberately"

Our attention determines our experience, and food thoughts can hijack enormous amounts of mental energy that could be directed elsewhere.

Addressing the deeper issue: The unconscious habit of allowing worry, comparisons, and food rules to dominate your mental landscape.

Simple implementation: Use your morning bathroom routine as a trigger. While brushing teeth or washing your face, decide on three specific things that deserve your focus today. Make them meaningful to your values, not just tasks. Add a mirror sticky note to cement the process so it becomes automatic. 

5. "I am responsible for my internal state"

This empowering reminder helps women recognize that while they can't control everything (SWCC), they can influence their response to life's challenges.

Addressing the deeper issue: Using food to manage emotions or believing emotions just "happen to us."

Simple implementation: Create a simple two-column list in your notes app: "Things I Cannot Control" and "Things I Can Influence." Review it briefly each morning while waiting for your coffee to brew. Add the "How We Feel" app to your phone's home screen as a visible reminder.

6. "Stress is not my enemy"

Reframing stress as information rather than a problem to eliminate helps interrupt the stress-food-guilt cycle many women experience.

Addressing the deeper issue: The tendency to catastrophize normal stress and seek food comfort or restriction as an escape valve.

Simple implementation: When feeling stressed, place your hand on your heart and say, "This feeling is signaling something important. What does it need?" This redirects from automatic food responses to intentional stress management.

7. "Sleep is my foundation"

For women who prioritize everyone else, this statement validates that self-care isn't selfish—it's essential infrastructure.

Addressing the deeper issue: The belief that taking care of your own needs is indulgent or unnecessary.

Simple implementation: Instead of viewing sleep as negotiable, create a simple bedtime ritual that signals to yourself that your restoration matters. Set a consistent bedtime alarm that's as non-negotiable as morning meetings. Note: deep sleep happens at the beginning of your "normal" circadian rhythm. You lose it if you stay up past your bedtime.

8. "Movement drives my mental state"

This reframes physical activity away from weight and appearance toward its powerful mental health benefits.

Addressing the deeper issue: The association of movement with punishment, compensation, or appearance management.

Simple implementation: Before checking email or social media, do 60 seconds of gentle movement beside your bed—stretching arms, rotating shoulders, or simple side bends—focusing exclusively on how it affects your mood. Note: Put a sticky note on your phone before you go to bed, to remind you, in the morning. 

9. "Gratitude shifts my neurochemistry"

Practicing gratitude activates pleasure and reward centers in the brain that are often disrupted in food dysfunction, offering an alternative pathway to feeling good.

Addressing the deeper issue: The tendency to focus on perceived flaws or what's "wrong" with our bodies and eating.

Simple implementation: Before meals, take one breath and name one thing your body enables you to do that brings meaning to your life—holding a child, creating art, connecting with friends, or contributing your talents.

10. "Nutrition is information"

This statement helps reframe food not as "good" or "bad" but as information your body receives. This more neutral, scientific perspective supports healing from black-and-white thinking about eating.

Addressing the deeper issue: Moralistic, good/bad thinking about food that drives shame and restriction/binge cycles.

Simple implementation: Each morning, take a moment to notice how your body feels after yesterday's choices—not with judgment but curiosity. Ask, "What information is my body giving me about what supported my energy, sleep, mood, and wellbeing?" Use this awareness to inform today's choices from a place of self-care rather than rules. Note: also inflammation, belly bloat... creating a direct neural pathway between the effect ultra-processed garbage has on our bodies. 

11. "Sunlight and nature are not optional"

Connection to the natural world provides perspective beyond food concerns and regulates hormones that influence hunger and mood.

Addressing the deeper issue: Disconnection from our bodies as natural organisms with biological needs beyond food rules.

Simple implementation: Stand by a window for 60 seconds while drinking your morning beverage. Feel the natural light on your face. Notice the sky, trees, or any natural elements visible. No scenic view needed—simply acknowledging the natural world resets perspective.

12. "My goals require repetition and friction"

Healing your relationship with food is rarely linear. Recognizing that discomfort and repetition are part of the process helps maintain momentum through inevitable setbacks.

Addressing the deeper issue: The expectation that healing should feel comfortable and progress steadily upward.

Simple implementation: Keep a "persistence journal" by your bed where you write just one sentence each night or morning about something you learned or shifted that day, however small. On hard days, write "Today was hard, and I'm still here." Reading these entries periodically reminds you of your ongoing growth through both smooth and challenging periods.

Making Implementation Sustainable for Busy Women

1. Start with just the first two reordered principles - "Small actions compound" and "Today is a training session." Master these fundamental mindset shifts before adding others.
2. Link these practices to existing daily touchpoints - Your morning coffee, brushing teeth, starting your car, or the first red light of your commute can serve as consistent triggers.
3. Use one dedicated container - Whether it's a small notebook, the Notes app, or a single jar on your counter, having one place for this practice prevents it from becoming another scattered responsibility.
4. Create a supportive "we" environment - Share these practices with a friend who's also on a healing journey. A weekly 5-minute check-in text can provide accountability without overwhelm.
5. Aim for integration, not addition - These statements should weave into what you're already doing, not add more to your overflowing plate. They are mindset shifts, not time-consuming practices.

Remember, these statements aren't about becoming a different person or adding more self-improvement tasks to your list. They're about creating small shifts in how you start each day—shifts that can gradually transform your relationship with food by addressing the deeper issues that drive dysfunction in the first place.