Dr. Adi Jaffe

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on, Drew. And I think sugar is a great example, actually, to start with, which you used, because I think of sugar as almost one of the first drugs that we have, purified sugar, if you will. And here's the point, right? We all have access to purified sugar in society at large.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on, Drew. And I think sugar is a great example, actually, to start with, which you used, because I think of sugar as almost one of the first drugs that we have, purified sugar, if you will. And here's the point, right? We all have access to purified sugar in society at large.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on, Drew. And I think sugar is a great example, actually, to start with, which you used, because I think of sugar as almost one of the first drugs that we have, purified sugar, if you will. And here's the point, right? We all have access to purified sugar in society at large.

And yet a subset of people find themselves having a hard time controlling their intake. And the question becomes, and people might come to me, the reason I call the book Unhooked is people come and say, I'm hooked on sugar. I'm hooked on alcohol. I'm hooked on porn. I'm hooked on the show, whatever. They use the thing that they're hooked on as the explanation for the behavior.

And yet a subset of people find themselves having a hard time controlling their intake. And the question becomes, and people might come to me, the reason I call the book Unhooked is people come and say, I'm hooked on sugar. I'm hooked on alcohol. I'm hooked on porn. I'm hooked on the show, whatever. They use the thing that they're hooked on as the explanation for the behavior.

And yet a subset of people find themselves having a hard time controlling their intake. And the question becomes, and people might come to me, the reason I call the book Unhooked is people come and say, I'm hooked on sugar. I'm hooked on alcohol. I'm hooked on porn. I'm hooked on the show, whatever. They use the thing that they're hooked on as the explanation for the behavior.

And when I said, hold on, that is the symptom. The reality is that the reason you are using the sugar, the reason you're stuck people pleasing, the reason you're drinking too much when you get home at night is because those things were used to mask underlying behaviors, struggles, early life experiences, traumas that you've had probably for a long time, like 10, 15 years at the least.

And when I said, hold on, that is the symptom. The reality is that the reason you are using the sugar, the reason you're stuck people pleasing, the reason you're drinking too much when you get home at night is because those things were used to mask underlying behaviors, struggles, early life experiences, traumas that you've had probably for a long time, like 10, 15 years at the least.

And when I said, hold on, that is the symptom. The reality is that the reason you are using the sugar, the reason you're stuck people pleasing, the reason you're drinking too much when you get home at night is because those things were used to mask underlying behaviors, struggles, early life experiences, traumas that you've had probably for a long time, like 10, 15 years at the least.

That's kind of the average we get. And what happens to a lot of people is that finally explains to them why stopping the behavior has been so tough. Because everybody's tried, right? If you feel like you're hooked on sugar and you've tried to cut down your sugar intake, and you've been unsuccessful, you end up beating yourself up. You go, well, what's wrong with me?

That's kind of the average we get. And what happens to a lot of people is that finally explains to them why stopping the behavior has been so tough. Because everybody's tried, right? If you feel like you're hooked on sugar and you've tried to cut down your sugar intake, and you've been unsuccessful, you end up beating yourself up. You go, well, what's wrong with me?

That's kind of the average we get. And what happens to a lot of people is that finally explains to them why stopping the behavior has been so tough. Because everybody's tried, right? If you feel like you're hooked on sugar and you've tried to cut down your sugar intake, and you've been unsuccessful, you end up beating yourself up. You go, well, what's wrong with me?

Why can't I control my behavior? And for a lot of people, once they understand that there's actually a whole sea of underlying issues, it gives them a different frame and something else to start attacking in order to actually change their behavior.

Why can't I control my behavior? And for a lot of people, once they understand that there's actually a whole sea of underlying issues, it gives them a different frame and something else to start attacking in order to actually change their behavior.

Why can't I control my behavior? And for a lot of people, once they understand that there's actually a whole sea of underlying issues, it gives them a different frame and something else to start attacking in order to actually change their behavior.

Yeah. So I kind of named them quickly, but let's just break them down. Number one is actually early developmental modeling and behavioral development. So the environment you were born into taught you a lot about the world. A lot. but you were zero to eight, nine, 10 years old. Most of it you don't remember in terms of an explicit memory.

Yeah. So I kind of named them quickly, but let's just break them down. Number one is actually early developmental modeling and behavioral development. So the environment you were born into taught you a lot about the world. A lot. but you were zero to eight, nine, 10 years old. Most of it you don't remember in terms of an explicit memory.

Yeah. So I kind of named them quickly, but let's just break them down. Number one is actually early developmental modeling and behavioral development. So the environment you were born into taught you a lot about the world. A lot. but you were zero to eight, nine, 10 years old. Most of it you don't remember in terms of an explicit memory.

And the vast majority of it, you would never actually understand the depths to which it predicts your future behavior. But your brain is conditioned to do the most of its learning definitely before you hit age 12. And after that kind of just become more and more efficient in repeating that same model.

And the vast majority of it, you would never actually understand the depths to which it predicts your future behavior. But your brain is conditioned to do the most of its learning definitely before you hit age 12. And after that kind of just become more and more efficient in repeating that same model.