Retrain Your Brain
The Root Cause of your Weight Gain
We know that the root cause of your weight gain is not a lack of self-control, nor are you just being “too lazy.” Many root causes of becoming overweight come from chronic stress and trauma, both in adulthood and unresolved from childhood.
What is Chronic Stress?
Chronic Stress is prolonged activation of the stress response. It results in a constant feeling of being pressured and overwhelmed, and impacts cortisol levels, hormones, and metabolism. It can cause changes in mood, sleeping patterns, and weight, and even cause physical pain like headaches and/or digestive problems. Chronic stress can also cause changes in appetite and lead the sufferer to turn to food for temporary relief and perceived sense of control with overeating or emotional eating.
Chronic stress in adulthood can occur due to a variety of circumstances:
- Parenthood
- Financial pressures
- Relational issues
- Career/household role/responsibilities
- Severe illness in the family and/or caregiving
- Crisis (like a global pandemic!)
What is Toxic Stress?
Childhood traumas, known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) cause episodes of chronic emotional and physical stress, which can become harbored in the body as toxic stress. This deep-rooted stress starting in childhood wreaks havoc on the body, both physiologically and psychologically, when left unresolved.
In adulthood, toxic stress can make you vulnerable to chronic health problems, high-risk behaviors and mental illness as you seek ways to cope. Around 61% of adults surveyed across 25 states reported that they had experienced at least one type of ACE, and nearly 1 in 6 reported they had experienced four or more types of ACEs. ACEs are major risk factors for the leading causes of illness, disability and death as well as poor quality of life in the U.S.¹
What is trauma?
Trauma is the response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms your ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes your sense of self, and inhibits your ability to feel a full range of emotions and experiences. It is extremely common.
The National Council for Behavioral Health states that 70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives. When these traumas go unresolved, people may consciously or unconsciously seek comfort through food and develop unhealthy eating behaviors. For many, this leads to unwanted weight gain.
There are many different types of trauma, many that can occur at any stage of life:
- Acute Trauma: Results from exposure to a single overwhelming event/experiences. This could be an accident, natural disaster, single event of abuse or assault, or sudden loss.
- Repetitive Trauma: Occurs because of exposure to multiple, chronic and/or prolonged overwhelming traumatic events, like receiving regular treatment for an illness.
- Complex Trauma: Results from multiple, chronic and prolonged overwhelming and compromising traumatic events/experiences, oftentimes within the context of an interpersonal relationship, like family violence.
- Developmental Trauma: Impacts healthy development and results from early onset exposure to ongoing or repetitive trauma as an infant, child, or adolescent and includes neglect, abandonment, physical abuse or assault, sexual abuse or assault, emotional abuse, witnessing violence or death, and/or coercion or betrayal.
- Vicarious Trauma: Can occur with empathetic service providers who absorb and integrate a patient’s trauma into their own functioning.
- Historical Trauma: The cumulative emotional and psychological wounding from massive group trauma (genocide, colonialism, slavery, war).
- Intergenerational Trauma: Coping and adaptation patterns developed in response to trauma can be passed from one generation to the next.
Results like these have led Relish to offer a unique combination of brain science and psychology to support the identification and healing of chronic stress, toxic stress, and trauma that led to weight gain and an unhealthy relationship with food.
Our Approach
There is no physical health without mental health.
That’s why our unique approach to weight loss combines safe prescription medication with psychological techniques and lifestyle intervention to help you understand the root causes of your weight gain and create sustainable habits. Even more importantly, we continue to support you even after the weight is gone. Losing weight can be the easiest part – keeping it off is the challenge and we provide the tools, techniques, and support so you can finally lose weight and keep it off.
Medical Treatment
&
Lifestyle Intervention
12 %
The average long-term loss of body weight achieved using our medication ²
Medicine
We will treat your struggle with weight loss as a medical condition. Our health care practitioners will prescribe bupropion, or bupropion in combination with naltrexone* to help you regain control of your relationship with food and ease feelings of anxiety and depression. This medication will give you the mental bandwidth to focus on healing the underlying emotional causes of your impulses and cravings. In some circumstances, your Relish practitioner will prescribe Contrave®. Clinical studies have proven that Contrave®, an FDA-approved** medication, results in an average long-term loss of 12% bodyweight ². For some of you, a glucagon-like peptide 1(GLP-1) hormone will be prescribed that will help you manage your appetite and metabolize sugars more effectively. At Relish; however, our primary treatment protocol, both medically and psychologically, is to deal with the emotional aspects that drive impulsive eating.
* depending upon your diagnosis and existing medications and at no extra charge.
**Contrave® is a branded combination of bupropion and naltrexone that is FDA approved for weight loss. Contrave is not FDA approved for the treatment of depression and may be prescribed for an extra charge.
40 %
The increase in efficacy when people enlist in a group program ³
Virtual Groups
78 %
The average increase in exercise thanks to gentle nudges from our team ⁴
One on One Support
60 %
Of women with ACE score of 4 or above have chronic depression
Weight Loss Resources
You will gain access to a plethora of online resources that have been curated by our team of weight loss experts. These resources are designed to help you understand your impulses, addictions, motivations, and goals. Online courses and videos are offered in mindfulness, stress management, habit change, and eating behavior. We believe in the importance of understanding WHY we make the choices that we do. Studies have shown that 60% of women with an ACE score of 4 or more have chronic life-long depression, without even knowing it. We will NOT leave you in the dark.
1. Felitti VJ. The Relation Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Health: Turning Gold into Lead. Perm J. 2002;6(1):44-47.
2. Fujioka K. Sustained-release Naltrexone/Bupropion—A Novel Pharmacologic Approach to Obesity and Food Craving. US Endocrinology.
3. Ezhumalai S, Muralidhar D, Dhanasekarapandian R, Nikketha BS. Group interventions. Indian J Psychiatry. 2018;60(Suppl 4):S514-S521.
4. Marcus BH, Napolitano MA, King AC, Lewis BA, Whiteley JA, Albrecht A, Parisi A, Bock B, Pinto B, Sciamanna C, Jakicic J, Papandonatos GD.
Relish Stands Out
One of our greatest sources of pride here at Relish is the comprehensive weight loss treatment we are able to offer our customers. No one else in the industry offers both medical treatment, behavior therapy, and a 1:1 support team at such an intimate and high level. Every step of the Relish Journey is an integral part of making change for the long-term.
We’ve got the Science, you get the Solution
To learn more and get a personalized plan, book a free consultation with one of our licensed health coaches.
Our Scientific Advisors
Dr. Karen Zuckerberg
Karen Zuckerberg, M.D. is a psychiatrist with an interest in eating disorders and addictions. She is also an investor, advisor, and philanthropist working with companies and institutions in the healthcare, technology, and live events space. Dr. Zuckerberg graduated from New York Medical College in 1984 and pursued her training in Psychiatry at Westchester County Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York. Her mission is to support start-ups and she has consulted for and invested in companies such as Rhinogram, RecoveryOne, AngelMD, Oral Cancer Cause, and Broadway Beta Ventures. Dr. Zuckerberg has also supported projects and organizations such as Project Heal, Alzheimer’s Association, and Doctors Without Borders.
Dr. Vincent Felitti
Dr. Felitti, a Relish Founding Advisor, is recognized globally as one of the world’s most experienced obesity treatment specialists. He is the Founder of Kaiser’s Positive Choice Weight Loss Clinics and the California Institute of Preventive Medicine. Early in his career Dr. Felitti often observed patients who had lost weight successfully return to the clinic repeatedly because they had gained it all back. Thus started his quest to understand the root causes of weight gain and his instigation of the now world famous Kaiser/CDC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study. The ACE study of 17,000 people explored the profound relationship of ten categories of adverse life experiences in childhood to health, well-being, disease, and death decades later. Dr Felitti has also held the position of Clinical Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Diego, is a Fellow of The American College of Physicians, and is licensed to practice medicine in Maryland, California, and Arizona.
Dr. Julia Levy
Dr. Levy brings to Relish her extensive leadership experience in the biotechnology industry and in drug development. She is a distinguished scientist and founder of QLT Inc., a leading Canadian pharmaceutical company. In addition to being founder, she led QLT in developing drug therapies for age-related diseases. Dr. Levy successfully guided Visudyne, the light activated treatment for macular degeneration, through the rigorous FDA drug approval process. Under her leadership as CEO, the company experienced its strongest period of growth in company history. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and former President of the Canadian Federation of Biological Sciences, Dr. Levy has earned numerous awards and honors, including one of Canada's highest appointments as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Dr. Brian Alman
Dr. Brian Alman, Relish Co-founder and advisor, is a world renowned Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and author of multiple critically acclaimed books on weight management. At Kaiser’s Positive Choice Weight loss Clinics, he collaborated alongside its founder, Dr. Vincent Felitti, in exploring the impact of stress and trauma on people and their relationship with food. He began his passionate pursuit of the healing arts under the professorship of Dr. Milton Erickson, the globally influential psychiatrist and psychologist who significantly advanced the practice of medical hypnosis. Under Dr. Erickson’s guidance he achieved his Doctorate of Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Alman’s expertise in techniques for mindfulness has made him an in-demand speaker invited to lecture all over the world, appear often on major network television and radio programs, and serve as a consultant to major corporations, including Procter & Gamble, Apple, Best Buy, and the National Football League.
Have more questions? Chat with a Relish Life licensed health coach
Get connected to a health coach now by messaging Elisa, our chatbot in the bottom right corner of the page, or schedule a free consult.
