I used to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now I eat whatever I want, whenever I want. "That's the same thing Phil!" Yes, but *what* I want to eat and *when* I want to eat is 100% different.

When you eat highly processed food (like the fair food I was caught eating in that photo on the left), your satiety signals go haywire. The feeling of hunger is designed to tell you when you *need* to eat. But that fair food told me I was hungry even just after I ate.

It's not just palpably unhealthy fried sugary bread that does this. It's *all* processed food. Added sugar? Screws with your satiety signals. Added flavors? Screws with your satiety signals. Even added colors can mess with your system.

You weren't built to function in a world with Lucky Charms or Coca-Cola. You were built to function in a world of animals you could eat, fruit you could pick from trees, and tubers you could dig out of the ground.

That 2014 photo is the end result of years of eating according to cravings. It took me years of careful eating to rewire my brain to not even want the sugary cereal or the bag of chips. I didn't get to be the guy on the right by depriving myself, and you won't either.

I got to be the guy on the right by eating less often. The only way to eat less often (without hating yourself) is to eat foods that work in harmony with your natural satiety signals. For me that's a mostly carnivore diet.

Yes some people eat a mostly vegan diet and it works for them. I applaud anyone and everyone who takes control of their health! The trouble with a vegan diet is you have to be eating frequently.

It's not enough for me to not crave carbs all day. I want the freedom to eat however often I want during the day- including not at all.

I do heart surgery in multiple states and speak at conferences nationwide. You know there is almost no real food in airports. It feels great knowing I won't feel deprived if I don't eat.

Because I eat mostly meat, the hunger signals that led me to look like the guy on the left are in balance. Ever said "I'm starving!" and meant it? Your hunger signals are broken my friend. And I was there with you, obviously, in 2014.

People hear I lost 100 pounds and they want to do the same thing. They know getting to a healthier weight is a great way to stay off my operating table. Here's what I think you should do first:

Have some compassion for yourself. Stop the blame. You grew up in an environment that was not conducive to healthy eating. How many of us ate sugary cereal for breakfast every day as children?

Now give yourself a pat on the back- because you recognize there is a problem. There's no way to fix a problem if you won't acknowledge it. You are now on the path to health. You might today look like I did on the left- but that means you can look like me today too.

Now you need to take action. You need to make one small change to what you eat each week to put you on the path to eating less often. Here's 3 first steps I recommend:

1. Drink one less soda a week. You can do that, right? If you are a 5 sodas a day person, 1 less a week is easy. If you only drink soda once a week anyways, you clearly don't need it. Just 1 less a week.

2. Stop eating 30 minutes earlier before bed. If you like to snack just before bed (like I used to), cool, keep doing that, just stop eating half an hour before lights out. I'm not saying stop snacking, I'm not telling you what to snack on. Just stop a bit earlier.

3. Eat meat once more per week. I don't mean McDonald's. I mean high quality meat like a ribeye or wild salmon or pastured chicken. "It's expensive!" you say. Let me tell you, heart surgery costs way more. I'd choose the steak if I were you.

Many people don't eat more meat because they don't have the cooking skills. That's okay- I didn't either. If I can transition from the 2014 me to today me, you can learn to cook a steak.

So here are your 3 assignments: 1. One less soda a week 2. Stop evening snacking 30 minutes earlier 3. Eat meat once more per week If you do all these 3 things, you'll be telling yourself a powerful story.

You'll be telling yourself that you are the kind of person that can make a change. Do you know how often I doubted myself on my health journey? How many times I just *knew* I couldn't do it? I was wrong then, and if you feel doubt, you are wrong too. You can change.

When you take these daily actions, small as they may be, you tell yourself every day that you can change. Building that trust in yourself is critical to long term health. No outside force can change you. Not even heart surgery!

Do you know how many repeat clients I've seen on my operating table? It's shocking and sad- for me and my patients.

You were sold a lie that medicine will fix you. No, only you can fix you. All I can do as a heart surgeon is *buy you more time* to fix yourself.

When you do these 3 small steps you will be on the path to eating less often. Eating less often will help you move from overweight to healthy. It's just the first step. But it's a step. And it's yours.

One more thing. There's some people who shouldn't start with baby steps. There's some people who should be on the phone with me yesterday so you aren't on my operating table tomorrow.