Passion Struck with John R. Miles

What if the way you eat has less to do with food than with how you feel about yourself?
For registered dietitian and author Lee Cotton, the path to understanding nutrition began with her own struggles with food and body image. In this conversation, she shares how those experiences shaped her work helping people develop healthier, more compassionate relationships with food—and why nourishment begins with recognizing that we matter.
On Episode 841 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles and Lee explore the emotional stories, childhood messages, cultural pressures, and personal experiences that influence how we eat. They discuss the connection between food and self-worth, the impact of trauma and stress on eating behaviors, and why body image challenges can become especially complicated during perimenopause and menopause.
Lee also explains the importance of mindful eating, realistic nutrition goals, listening to the body's signals, and resisting the idea that one diet or eating pattern works for everyone. Drawing on her work with people experiencing disordered eating and eating disorders, she emphasizes the importance of professional support, individualized guidance, and approaching food without unnecessary fear or shame.
Check out the full show notes.
In This Episode, You'll Discover
Why our relationship with food is often a reflection of our relationship with ourselves.
How childhood food rules and family messages can shape eating behaviors well into adulthood.
The connection between self-worth, body image, and the desire to control food.
How stress, trauma, and difficult life experiences can influence eating patterns.
Why mindful eating starts with pausing, listening, and recognizing your body's signals.
How realistic nutrition goals and small changes can build sustainable momentum.
Why perimenopause and menopause can bring new challenges around body image, nourishment, and control.
Why the most important affirmation may be: You are worthy of nourishment.
At the heart of the conversation is a powerful reminder: nourishment is about more than fueling the body. It expresses care, and everyone deserves it. As Lee puts it: You are worthy of nourishment.
Grab a copy of A Nourishing Perspective.
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Connect with John R. Miles
Website: johnrmiles.com
Speaking and Events: Book John to Speak
Substack: The Ignited Life
Children's Book: You Matter, Luma
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Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and significant. Help make that belief visible. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast. More than 85 million downloads.
Disclaimer
Passion Struck is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. Nothing shared on this podcast should be considered medical, mental health, or psychological advice, or a substitute for consultation with a qualified professional.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if the story you've been telling yourself about who you are was never really yours?
In 1979, a collection of interviews with college students disappeared into the archives. Decades later, Harvard developmental psychologist Alexis Redding helped uncover the recordings—and found young people wrestling with many of the same questions we face today: Who am I? Where do I belong? Am I doing enough?
On Episode 840 of Passion Struck, John R. Miles connects Redding's discovery with insights from author Jon Acuff on procrastination, identity, and the mental soundtracks that keep us stuck. Together, their ideas reveal how family expectations, schools, workplaces, and influential people can shape beliefs we carry long after the original moment has passed.
From the pressure to appear effortlessly successful to the childhood labels that limit our ambitions, this episode explores how we can mistake an old message for an enduring truth.
John introduces The Tape Check, a three-question exercise to help you identify the belief you're replaying, understand where it came from, and test whether it still holds up. Drawing on the Wright brothers' willingness to question accepted data, he shows why small experiments can be more powerful than simply trying to think positively.
Because you may not have chosen every story that shaped you—but you can decide what plays next.
In This Episode, You'll Discover
What decades-old student recordings reveal about the beliefs and pressures that persist across generations.
How family, school, and workplace environments shape the stories we tell ourselves.
Why labels like “not a natural leader” can influence decisions for decades.
How perfectionism and the pressure to look successful can keep people from taking meaningful risks.
Why procrastination can begin with identity beliefs before showing up in our actions.
How to use the three-question Tape Check to challenge an inherited belief.
Why small experiments can help you discover what you're capable of without committing to a lifelong path.
How sharing the messy middle of your own story can help someone else rewrite theirs.
The Big Idea
The beliefs that shape your life may have originated in a room you left years ago. Recognizing where they came from gives you the opportunity to question them, test them, and choose a different way forward.
You can't unhear it once you've heard it. And you get to decide what plays next.
Check the full shownotes here.

Explore "The Mattering Effect"
Get your copy of The Mattering Effect
What happens when you spend so much of your life showing up for everyone else that you start to disappear from yourself? Take the 90-second diagnostic to discover whether you're experiencing the signs of unmattering.
New to Passion Struck?
Explore the Passion Struck Starter Packs
Not sure where to begin? Discover curated episode collections designed to help you explore the ideas, conversations, and questions that matter most.
Connect with John R. Miles
Website: johnrmiles.com
Speaking and Events: Book John to Speak
Substack: The Ignited Life
Children's Book: You Matter, Luma
Support the Mattering Movement
Visit Start Mattering
Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and significant. Help make that belief visible. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast. More than 85 million downloads.
Disclaimer
Passion Struck is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. Nothing shared on this podcast should be considered medical, mental health, or psychological advice, or a substitute for consultation with a qualified professional.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if procrastination isn't a problem with your time, but a problem with what you believe you're capable of doing?
You know what you want to change. You have ideas, ambitions, and goals. Yet somehow, you keep waiting for the right moment, the perfect plan, or the confidence to begin.
On this episode of Passion Struck, I sit down with Jon Acuff, bestselling author of Procrastination Proof, to explore why so many capable people get stuck between intention and action. Drawing on his work helping people overcome procrastination and build more remarkable lives, Jon explains how fear, perfectionism, comparison, and the stories we tell ourselves can quietly limit what we attempt. We also discuss why the desire to do something meaningful often creates the discipline needed to pursue it, rather than the other way around.
In this conversation, you'll discover:
Why procrastination isn't just a time-management problem: Jon defines it as the gap between your intentions and your actions.
How fear disguises itself as preparation: Why overthinking, perfectionism, and waiting for the perfect starting point can keep you stuck.
The power of giving yourself permission: How remarkable people learn to talk themselves into trying instead of talking themselves out of it.
The four permissions: How to dream, plan, do, and review your way toward meaningful goals.
Why identity shapes action: How beliefs such as “I'm not a writer” or “I'm not a natural leader” can become limitations we carry for decades.
How comparison makes you feel behind: Why someone else's success doesn't mean your own opportunities have passed.
The signs you carry through life: How messages from parents, teachers, and coworkers can shape what you believe you're allowed to achieve.
Why believing you matter changes what you attempt: How small wins can restore a sense of agency and help you move beyond the soundtrack of “Why bother?”
How to discover what motivates you: Why Jon recommends auditioning a goal for 15 minutes a day over seven days instead of waiting for a perfect life plan.
Jon also shares the advice that helped him expand his own ambitions, why he believes we often underestimate our potential, and how to build a life that feels rich across career, finances, relationships, health, and fun.
You don't need to have your entire future figured out before you begin. You need to identify the next step you're willing to take, give yourself permission to try, and learn from what happens.
Check out the full show notes.

Explore "The Mattering Effect"
Get your copy of The Mattering Effect
What happens when you spend so much of your life showing up for everyone else that you start to disappear from yourself? Take the 90-second diagnostic to discover whether you're experiencing the signs of unmattering.
New to Passion Struck?
Explore the Passion Struck Starter Packs
Not sure where to begin? Discover curated episode collections designed to help you explore the ideas, conversations, and questions that matter most.
Connect with John R. Miles
Website: johnrmiles.com
Speaking and Events: Book John to Speak
Substack: The Ignited Life
Children's Book: You Matter, Luma
Support the Mattering Movement
Visit Start Mattering
Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and significant. Help make that belief visible. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast. More than 85 million downloads.
Disclaimer
Passion Struck is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. Nothing shared on this podcast should be considered medical, mental health, or psychological advice, or a substitute for consultation with a qualified professional.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if today's young people aren't as different from previous generations as we think?
When Alexis Redding and her colleagues uncovered interviews with college students from the 1970s, they found familiar stories of loneliness, academic pressure, family expectations, and uncertainty about the future.
In this episode of Passion Struck, the Harvard developmental psychologist and editor of Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students explores what has changed across generations, why belonging matters to student well-being and success, and how parents, educators, and institutions can create environments where young adults feel seen, heard, valued, and encouraged.
Together, Miles and Redding examine the pressure to achieve, the myth of effortless perfection, the importance of student voices, and why learning to pivot may be one of the most valuable skills young adults can develop.
In This Episode, You'll Discover
What archival recordings reveal about the similarities between college students across generations.
Why blaming “kids these days” gets in the way of meaningful solutions.
How belonging influences academic performance, help-seeking, persistence, and graduation.
Why colleges need a campus-wide culture of care—not just a crisis-response model.
How parents and educators can share their own failures and uncertainties to help young people feel less alone.
Why perfectionism and achievement pressure make it harder for students to take risks and explore.
How small changes in language can encourage curiosity rather than prescribe a single path.
Why career pivots and reinvention are normal parts of adulthood, not signs of failure.
The Bigger Idea
Young people don't need adults to pretend that life follows a predictable path. They need environments where they can struggle, ask for help, take risks, and learn to find their way. When students feel that they belong, they have more freedom to grow.
Alexis Redding's work reminds us that the question isn't simply what's wrong with young people. It's what we can change about the environments surrounding them.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisredding/
Get the full show notes here.

Explore "The Mattering Effect"
Get your copy of The Mattering Effect
What happens when you spend so much of your life showing up for everyone else that you start to disappear from yourself? Take the 90-second diagnostic to discover whether you're experiencing the signs of unmattering.
New to Passion Struck?
Explore the Passion Struck Starter Packs
Not sure where to begin? Discover curated episode collections designed to help you explore the ideas, conversations, and questions that matter most.
Connect with John R. Miles
Website: johnrmiles.com
Speaking and Events: Book John to Speak
Substack: The Ignited Life
Children's Book: You Matter, Luma
Support the Mattering Movement
Visit Start Mattering
Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and significant. Help make that belief visible. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast. More than 85 million downloads.
Disclaimer
Passion Struck is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. Nothing shared on this podcast should be considered medical, mental health, or psychological advice, or a substitute for consultation with a qualified professional.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when the next achievement matters more than the one you just reached?
Even after The Mattering Effect landed on the USA Today bestseller list, John caught himself immediately checking where it might rank on the NYT bestseller list. That instinct revealed how deeply conditioned even the most intentional leaders are to let external scorecards dictate internal worth.
In this solo series finale, John connects the dots across three essential conversations:
Dr. Nir Halevy (Stanford): How tournament theory and stacked rankings pull teams apart and breed learned helplessness.
Dr. Kristin Neff (UT Austin): How the environment's scorecard moves inside your head as a ruthless inner critic—and why self-compassion provides the safe soil for true agency.
Heather Monahan: What it looks like to recognize you built your own cage, stop shrinking yourself, stand tall, and know when to change your room versus change your mindset.
Drawing on a timeless parable from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, John examines our cultural obsession with "the figures" and delivers The Blueprint Check: a concrete, three-question diagnostic framework to run on your workplace, your social feeds, and your daily life.
Key Takeaways
The Scorecard Trap: Why rankings, quotas, and follower counts tell us where we stand relative to others—but not who we are.
Tournament Theory at Work: How outsized rewards for top performers can fuel destructive competition, while others disengage or begin to experience what Martin Seligman called learned helplessness.
Self-Esteem vs. Self-Compassion: Why constantly evaluating yourself keeps you on the achievement treadmill, while self-compassion helps you respond to setbacks with greater clarity and agency.
The Worcester Academy Realization: How Heather Monahan discovered that the room hadn't changed—her perception of herself had—and why it's equally important to recognize when a genuinely toxic environment needs to change.
The Three-Part Move: How to reclaim agency by changing your response, working to change the environment, or leaving a system that refuses to change.
Your worth was never meant to be a number on someone else's scorecard. The goal isn't to stop measuring your progress. It's to stop confusing your performance with your value as a person.
Click here for the full show notes.

Explore "The Mattering Effect"
Get your copy of The Mattering Effect
What happens when you spend so much of your life showing up for everyone else that you start to disappear from yourself? Take the 90-second diagnostic to discover whether you're experiencing the signs of unmattering.
New to Passion Struck?
Explore the Passion Struck Starter Packs
Not sure where to begin? Discover curated episode collections designed to help you explore the ideas, conversations, and questions that matter most.
Connect with John R. Miles
Website: johnrmiles.com
Speaking and Events: Book John to Speak
Substack: The Ignited Life
Children's Book: You Matter, Luma
Support the Mattering Movement
Visit Start Mattering
Every human deserves to feel seen, valued, and significant. Help make that belief visible. Wear it. Live it. Show it.
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
The #1 Health & Fitness Podcast. More than 85 million downloads.
Disclaimer
Passion Struck is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Passion Struck or its affiliates. Nothing shared on this podcast should be considered medical, mental health, or psychological advice, or a substitute for consultation with a qualified professional.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.