Margy and Jess are excited to be exhibiting for the second year in a row at FinCon in Dallas! On today’s episode, we feature an interview with longtime client, Dr. Glenn Livingston.

1. What was life like when you were obese, personally and professionally?

   1. Glenn grew up in a family of psychotherapists, and always wanted to be a psychologist on the radio (like his dad)

   2. Glenn started as a couples and family therapist

   3. His work required a lot of presence, but he couldn’t say present because he was so preoccupied by food

   4. In addition to his concerning mental obsession with food, he was also experiencing serious health risks

2. What role did shame play in your life when you were binge eating?

   1. Shame played a big role

   2. Glenn has realized that bingeing is only possible when you are also self shaming

   3. This led Glenn to think about the survival role that guilt and shame play in keeping us alive

   4. Like physical pain, shame can draw your attention to mistakes and prevent you from doing destructive things again

   5. Glenn calls his inner destructive self his “pig”

   6. Removing shame and guilt made it possible for Glenn to recover

3. What can we do as individuals and as a community to help people struggling with shame and disordered eating?

   1. As a community, we need to recognize the economic, sociological and physiological forces aligned in the culture to create binge eating

   2. It’s amazing that anyone is able to eat normally

   3. Billions of dollars go into engineering super concentrated starches, sugars and other unhealthy food chemicals designed to short circuit the pleasure centers of the brains

   4. When rats can directly activate the pleasure center of the brain, they will do nothing else (sacrificing things they need to survive like food in favor of pleasure)

   5. The mammalian brain will engage in serious self neglect in pursuit of pleasure

   6. The advertising industry also helps convince us that we can’t live without unhealthy foods

   7. The addiction treatment industry gives the message of “you are powerless to resist”

   8. As a society, to remove shame we can look at what’s happening in the society as a whole and have compassion for how it’s creating binge eaters

   9. Glenn presents the idea that people whose drug of choice is food are more selfless, because unlike drugs addicts they don’t affect the people around them with their addiction

4. Who have your biggest critics been over the years?

   1. Glenn is a compassionate person and is also highly educated on these topics

   2. Ultimately, Glenn figured out that he couldn’t “love himself thin”

   3. Glenn has developed a paradigm where you distance yourself from the lizard brain (which he calls his “inner pig”)

   4. He draws clear boundaries (no chocolate on weekdays)

   5. Some people believe Glenn’s philosophy and use of the word “pig” is fat shaming, but Glenn’s theory is that this lizard brain (or “pig”) is NOT you

   6. This relates to the Buddhist practice of realizing that your thoughts are not you

   7. What we think of as our identity is a subset of thoughts driven by our neurology

   8. You can make a statement of character like “I’m not the kind of person who eats chocolate during the week,” forming an identity around that statement of will

5. What’s the balance between loving yourself and also wanting to be thinner and healthier?

   1. Glenn doesn’t know if a happy fat person exists

   2. From what he’s seen, there are a lot of health consequences to being overweight

   3. Plus sized people should be loved and accepted, and because of the perfect storm, it’s not easy to get control over eating

   4. Hopelessness can cause people to give up on getting thinner and healthier

   5. If you can be a happy, healthy fat person, Glenn is ok with that

   6. He hates to see people give up on being a thin person without really understanding what’s going on psychologically and how they can leverage that to get thin

   7. Glenn is not very supportive of the notion of just “accepting your weight.” He feels people should strive for a medically healthy weight

6. How has being interviewed on podcasts so frequently impacted you?

   1. Glenn’s goal is to help a million people a year stop overeating

   2. He’s had almost 300k downloads of his kindle book

   3. He is consistently in the top 5 Amazon books for eating disorders

   4. He sees a spike in book sales every time a podcast goes out

   5. Podcasting has also helped with Glenn getting more personal coaching clients

   6. Another benefit is that podcasts are a “safe” type of publicity to hone his message before going on more mainstream media outlets

7. At what point in your journey as a guest did you start to see the effects of podcast interviews?

   1. Glenn averages an extra 100 downloads every podcast, 10-15 opt ins and about one paid client per podcast

   2. It took a couple of months for the podcasts to start coming out and then it became a very steady bump in Amazon stats

   3. In retrospect, he wishes he had bought a word of mouth domain for his call to action

8. Are there certain types of shows that are more effective for you?

   1. Glenn is against the 12 Step programs, which makes him unpopular with some mainstream addiction recovery shows

   2. The best are any type of health podcasts, particularly the fitness shows because his approach is very disciplined

9. What is the connection with religious shows?

   1. Glenn isn’t religious, but the structure of his philosophy is very compatible with religion (like separating the angel and the devil on your shoulder

   2. His average review on Amazon is higher among people who buy religious books

10. What role does isolation play in addiction?

    1. Addiction is an isolating behavior

    2. “Narcissus didn’t die of self love, he died of self neglect”

    3. You can fight addiction with connection, and it’s part of the process

    4. What Glenn objects to in the 12 Step process is not the community, but the concept that it’s a disease and people can’t help themselves which leads to fear and the feeling of powerlessness

Resources Mentioned:

FinCon2017

Health at Every Size

Milner and Olds Studies

Jack Trimpy Rational Recovery

Jean Paul Sartre

Rat Park

NeverBingeAgain.com

Margy and Jess are excited about their new podcast, Womensplaining! This episode features an interview and strategy session with our client, Aaron Hendon.

Why did you start getting interviewed on podcasts?

• Aaron was planning on writing a book and wanted to do interviews to promote credibility and practice telling his story

How have you grown through this process?

• Aaron is a residential RE agent, and he was looking to build credibility online
• He puts all interviews on his press page
• Aaron has become a better speaker from doing interviews
• He wasn’t aware of what his audience wanted, and found his content wasn’t as interesting to others as he thought
• Through feedback, Aaron has become a better guest and better at speaking to people in his professional life
• Often when an interview doesn’t go well, you learn the most from it

What are the biggest victories you’ve celebrated this year?

• Aaron did his first 3 million dollar month!
• The work in Aaron’s business is finding people and talking to them
• Podcasts have helped him improve in his career talking to people
• Aaron has been able to finish his book because of inspiration from podcasts and hosts
• He has been booked on 40 shows, and will email all those hosts when his book is out
• A conversation with a podcast host is what developed one of the key pieces of the book
• Podcasting as a guest can be a big part of your creative process

Tell us more about the book

• It’s a look at the psychology people use to approach buying their home (which is the same as how they pick a restaurant for dinner!)
• To do it more rationally, you have to do different things
• This book is for people in the US buying or selling who are information seekers
• Many listeners of podcasters are information seekers, which is a good match for Aaron’s target market

Resources Mentioned:

@womensplaining

Joe Fairless

Aaron Hendon

Jess and Margy are recording live from LA Podfest. We feature an interview with Paul Gilmartin of The Mental Illness Happy Hour. This episode contains discussions about mental illness and child abuse. Listener discretion advised.

1. The Mental Illness Happy Hour
2. 1. Paul started the show in 2011 because he felt it was needed
   2. He didn’t know he would someday make a living off the show
   3. People get so wrapped up in not laughing about this subject matter, but a little humor can be healing
   1. You either have that skill or you don’t
   2. It’s important to be respectful
   3. Paul tells all guests that nothing is too dark or off limits, and that he will delete the episode afterwards if the guest asks
   4. The things that you are most nervous to talk about are the things that are most healing to other people
   5. Empathy is everything, so it’s good to stay in the moment and not prepare too much
3. How do you make a space to have such vulnerable conversations?
   1. Paul gets emails from people all over the world who were thinking about suicide before they heard the podcast
   2. The show helps people deal with shame, especially around sexual trauma
   3. Paul has personally dealt  with incest as a child and the podcast has helped him open up and find support
   4. Paul has always felt a deep need to be told that he’s ok and to be seen as he really is- the podcast has been the perfect platform to let that out
   5. Paul feels his show is less about his courage and more about a desperate need to feel heard
4. What differences have you seen the podcast make in the lives of your listeners?
   1. It’s a personal decision for everyone how much you want to share
   2. Share what you’re comfortable with and keep in mind what you are trying to achieve
   3. Is your sharing of service to the listener?
   4. Paul always beats himself up after sharing, and then opens up about that too
   5. Nothing bad can get worse if you keep a light on it
   6. Share the stuff that’s difficult to share, as long as it feels appropriate for the circumstance
   7. It’s important to know when to share, and when to listen to others who are sharing (and not making it all about you) - support groups are helpful for this
5. What advice do you have for people who may feel vulnerability hangovers after sharing “too much” ?
   1. Paul keeps the comedy to a respectful level on the podcast, and doesn’t make jokes at the expense of a victim
   2. Paul started comedy in 1987 and quit standup and TV hosting in 2011
   3. He never felt safe enough to discuss these issues in his standup, and he found that the podcast was the best medium for this
   4. Paul started his satirical political character because he was sick of just complaining and sounding like everyone else
   5. His comedy satire is his form of protest
6. Tell us about your comedy
   1. DON’T TRY TO BE ANYTHING YOU’RE NOT
   2. The most valuable commodity in podcasting is authenticity
   3. People are drawn to the things that are the most authentic and the most compelling
   4. Every good podcast has a host who is passionate and curious
   5. You don’t have to be funny
   6. People deep down think they aren’t enough
   7. Most people need to let go of something deep down; shame, pride, etc.
   8. Paul used to think he needed to be revered and stand out, but the more he did that the lonelier he got
   9. Strive for excellence but also stay connected and be “one of many” in your daily life
7. How do you feel that your background in comedy helps the show, and what are your tips for people without a comedy background?
   1. Being featured on iTunes
   2. Going on other people’s shows
   3. Having high profile guests
   4. Things being written about the show
   5. There is no better way to grow an audience than putting out a consistent, quality podcast
   6. One bad episode can lose your audience
   7. When you are doing podcasting for a living, you have to make certain decisions
   8. If Paul’s podcast wasn’t his livelihood, he wouldn’t be so conscious of having high profile guests and curating episodes to break up the heavy ones
   9. Paul works to balance growing the show with serving the needs of listeners and those struggling with mental illness
8. Over the six years that you’ve been podcasting, what are the top things that have grown your audience?

Resources Mentioned:

The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast

Mentalpod.com

PaulGilmartin.com

LA Podcast Festival