Breaking Free: The Hidden Addictions

Socially acceptable addictions like alcohol and food hide in plain sight while society celebrates escaping emotions and mocks those trying to break free.

• Most addicts don't look like stereotypical "addicts" but are regular people numbing themselves with wine and food
• Food and alcohol work on the same neurotransmitters, creating powerful dopamine loops
• Childhood conditioning often links food with both comfort and celebration
• Addictions hide behind identities like "foodie culture" and "wine mom culture" 
• Common triggers for using food and alcohol include shame, loneliness, rejection, and boredom
• Willpower alone cannot overcome addiction without addressing underlying emotional issues
• Regulation habits like breathwork, prayer, and cold exposure can replace numbing habits
• Sobriety isn't just about abstaining but about being emotionally present in your life
• Building a community of like-minded people provides crucial support for recovery
• The goal is to build a life you don't need to escape from through numbing

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Transcript

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast

Corey Berrier 0:00

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast . I'm your host , Corey Berrier , and today's podcast is going to be Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast . Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast . Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast . I'm your host , Corey Berrier , and today , folks , we're going to talk about how comfort kills and the addictions that are hiding in plain sight . The addictions that are hiding in plain sight .

Corey Berrier 0:46

So alcohol and food are the two most culturally accepted addictions . Most addicts don't look like addicts . They're your neighbors , your co-workers , pta parents numbing themselves with wine and waffles . You know it's normal to drink alcohol because it's seen as a celebration , food as a comfort , but both are painkillers . Why does society not see this as a real addiction or these as real addictions ? You know we cheer people on for escaping their emotions and we mock them when they try to break free

Addictions Hiding in Plain Sight

Corey Berrier 1:45

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Corey Berrier 1:47

So how food , and how I justified food and alcohol , how it became part of my identity , daily patterns of happy hour , binge eating or emotional snacking . It's interesting to watch . You know films where you see the girl who just broke up with her boyfriend . Where do they ? Where do you see her on the couch with a bucket of ice cream ? Or the guy who just got broken up with . He's at a bar getting smashed and the mental gymnastics of that . Uh , this is going to solve my problem , this is going to make me hurt less . Or , if you're celebrating , I earned this . That could be earned a cupcake , it could be an earned drink .

Corey Berrier 2:43

And the famous line of all , I'll start tomorrow , I'll quit drinking tomorrow . I'll stop eating cookies tomorrow . You know , alcohol wasn't about getting drunk and food is not about getting full . It's about not feeling . And the lie is moderation . I thought control meant I wasn't addicted . I can control this . I can control and not eat 14 cookies . I can control and not drink 14 beers or 14 of whatever it is you drink . But you know there's a dopamine loop that gets fed . And look , neuroscience talks about this dopamine 101 , how food and alcohol hijack the brain . They both work on the same neurotransmitters together . I mean , heaven forbid you get drunk and then eat pizza or food or ice cream or whatever it is . Right now You're just flooding yourself with dopamine , flooding yourself with dopamine and you're just chasing that same fleeting feeling .

Corey Berrier 4:15

You know it's usually some link to childhood conditioning .

The Dopamine Loop and Childhood Conditioning

Corey Berrier 4:24

For me it was oh , you've done good in school , let's celebrate , let's have a cake , let's have a whatever . If you're upset , you get comfort food or clean your plate and then you get a piece of cake . How crazy does that sound ? Stuff yourself , eat everything that we put on your plate , so then you can stuff your face with more cake . You know , just like alcohol , food is engineered to make you addicted . That's why food companies are so big .

Corey Berrier 5:00

This is not this shouldn't be a surprise . This is not , this shouldn't be a surprise . It's really chemical warfare and most people are fighting blindfolded . You know , but the real world consequences of these things are they invisible ? The addiction of these things are invisible . For example , you may or may not have experienced this , but probably brain fog , energy crashes , weight gain , inflammation , mood swings , crappy sleep , anxious mornings , sugar hangovers I know that's affected me for sure .

Corey Berrier 5:50

And then you've got to look at you know , food doesn't usually affect relationships unless you get fat . Usually doesn't affect your finances , unless you're ridiculously out of hand , but your self-respect , it steals it . You start to get fatter , you start to look in the mirror and you start to doubt yourself and the self-respect goes out the window .

Real-World Consequences of Hidden Addictions

Corey Berrier 6:35

As a drinker , you have these elated or false images of yourself , this grandiose picture of yourself when you're drinking . But you can be sober and still be sick . You can eat clean and still be numb . And that's just the truth .

Corey Berrier 6:55

And look , this is how the culture actively resists your recovery . Alcohol as during sports , Fast food on every single corner . Drinking is sophisticated , restraint is judged or family pressure . Even you can just have one . You're no fun anymore , corey . Why do people want to keep you addicted ? Because you challenge their comfort .

Corey Berrier 7:24

You know , it's interesting when I have a conversation with someone who is a non-drinker or somebody even that is a drinker , but not a heavy drinker . They're just a drinker , they're just a regular , normal drinker . And I say you know , I don't drink no big deal , they just keep on moving . But what I noticed when certain people get just fired up , that's because inside of them you've stung something that they know deep down is a problem . And you know food and alcohol become your identity . It becomes a coping mechanism . It really becomes your personality . Wine culture , wine , mom culture , mommy , wine culture , whatever you want to call it . Foodie culture , beer brothers you know you're my brother , let's drink some beer , right .

Corey Berrier 8:23

How addiction hides behind identity . Think about it . I'm just a foodie , I'm fat . It's really what you're trying to say . I'm just a fatty is what you should say . I like to entertain . Yep , you like to get drunk ? Well , it's a tradition . No , it's not .

Corey Berrier 8:38

You just use that as an excuse to do the thing that you shouldn't be doing . Or how about this ? The death of your ego ? Who am I without this alcohol ? Who am I without this food ? Well , you probably don't know , because you've never gone and tried to quit these things . And listen , if you can't not drink for 30 days , you got a problem Like , straight up , most normal people that drink can go 30 days without drinking and have no problem . But if you're not that person , you're probably an alcoholic . So willpower alone fails , it fails . White knuckling won't save you , I promise you .

Corey Berrier 9:36

I've tried it , trying to out-discipline addiction without some sort of inner work not going to happen . You've got to re-regulate your nervous system , especially if you're pounding a bunch of sugar and drinking alcohol . You know triggers are not cravings there . It's about what you believe in that moment . It's about what that moment believe . You know there's what you believe in that moment , it's what they maybe that situation means to that thing . And if you're starving emotionally , no amount of discipline will fill that void . And what are you actually avoiding

How Culture Resists Your Recovery

Corey Berrier 10:36

Emotions most commonly are suppressed . There's shame , loneliness , rejection , boredom , like .

Corey Berrier 10:50

Think about what are the top three moments you reach for alcohol or food . It's one of those three , if not all four Boredom , rejection , loneliness , shame . I've done it . Look , I've 100% caught myself going yeah , I probably should eat something . Oh , that's right . I'm doing nothing and therefore I'm bored , and so I'm going to grab some food . Right , because it keeps me busy , it keeps my mind working . I tell myself I need to eat . But I'll tell you something . I'll tell you how I broke that cycle , and it wasn't all at once , it was a thousand small choices , and I replaced numbing habits with regulation habits .

Corey Berrier 11:45

Breathwork , prayer , cold exposure , cold plunge for me , movement these are daily non-negotiables that I use for clarity and for power . There's nothing harder than getting into a 40-degree ice bath , but there's nothing that feels better when you get out because you have accomplished something that 95% of the other world has never even done . You know it's sobriety is not even and sobriety is not an identity . I got caught up in that too . It's not just being free of alcohol , it's being emotionally present present with your girlfriend , your boyfriend , your husband , your wife , your kids , your employer . It's not just about not drinking . That's just a small part of it . It's the rest of it that keeps you grounded and you want to rebuild your relationship with food and with your body . Your relationship with food and with your body , because when you start eating for energy and clarity and alignment and not comfort , it changes the game .

Corey Berrier 13:10

I've been on carnivore for a little over two months now . It's clean , I'm satiated , I feel great , I'm the leanest that I've been in 10 years , and I don't have emotional hunger , like I don't crave a bunch of crap anymore , and so food stopped becoming a reward and it became fuel . I only eat when I'm actually hungry . And you're going to face resistance with this and you know the world's going to respond with you changing , especially if you're a drinker . Your friends are going to disappear , parties get awkward , people accuse you of being obsessed .

Corey Berrier 14:05

If you're going on a carnivore diet , then you start doubting yourself internally . Why can't I be normal ? Why do I have to be on this carnivore diet ? Why can't I drink ? Listen , there's a lot more power in not doing those things than there is caving to that peer pressure . Get around a community of people that are like-minded . Get an accountability partner . Remember the reason why you're doing this , and look at this like spiritual strength opposed to social discomfort .

Corey Berrier 14:45

Your old self was just coping with the food , the addiction , the alcohol . Your new self is creating a new life . You want to build a life that you don't have to numb out from . It's amazing . So look at your own relationship with food , look at your own relationship with alcohol , and I'll tell you something fascinating . This is just my opinion , so take it for what it's worth .

Corey Berrier 15:18

You know , since I've been

Breaking the Cycle with Regulation Habits

Corey Berrier 15:19

, you know , when I first got sober , they said eat sugar . And I did . Boy , I ate more Reese cups than you can count . I mean a glutton . The reason for that is because alcohol has so much sugar in it and so offsetting it with 400 Reese cups every day I could feel that void that alcohol would feel without being intoxicated , I guess , is the right answer . And so what did that do ? I just wanted more sugar , more sugar , and it was okay , and there's probably a place for that . But I can tell you right now , it also numbs you out , it helps you to get through that rough patch . But I can tell you , now that I've been eating carnivore , I have more energy , I I'm clearer , I'm happier , I feel better , I look better . And I don't say that like I've arrived because I haven't . I'm a work in progress .

Corey Berrier 16:29

Do you think I still don't sometimes ? Look , I had to go pick up donuts to drop off at customers today . Do you think I didn't want to have one of those donuts ? Of course , when I drove an hour and a half in my car with them . Do you think I had one ? Absolutely not . And did they smell good ? Of course they smelled good . Of course sometimes a beer smells good .

Corey Berrier 16:54

But the aftermath of that I play the tape all the way through . And the tape all the way through means I'm going to wind up in jail , dui , I'm going to do something stupid , say something stupid , probably going to lose my job , like . All of those things are the direct result of me picking up a drink today , and not to mention , I lose my presence , I lose my sanity , I lose everything that I've worked for and I don't want to lose that . So that's why I do the things I do . And it may think well , god , dude , how do you have enough time in the day to work out every day , or do the cold plunge , do the sauna and all those things and go to a meeting at night and work and have a relationship ? Yeah , because me being sober gives me all the opportunity in the world to do those things . Otherwise , I'd just be drinking that whole time . Or if you're sitting on the couch watching television which you're probably not , if you're listening to this , not by now . Anyway , get off your ass and do the work . Nobody's going to do it for you . You're not going to wake up one day and go . I'm ready . No , just do it today . You don't have to wait until tomorrow . In fact , I challenge you to get up and start moving today .

Corey Berrier 18:15

If you're an alcoholic , go to a meeting , call somebody , and it's going to seem like a complete uphill battle , but I can assure you on the other side of that hill , it's not a battle . You know , stopping drinking is one thing . Getting into recovery and being sober is an entirely different experience and it'll give you a life like you can't even imagine . And I can't expect you if you are a drinker . I can't expect you to imagine , because you don't know what it's like and until you experience it , like I have

Building a Life Without Numbing

Corey Berrier 18:55

, you'll have no idea that it exists . You can't imagine not eating the donut . You can't imagine not eating the candy or drinking the sugary soda , because your body is addicted to it exactly what the companies want .

Corey Berrier 19:17

Take control of your life . Take , you know , take control of your life Just a little bit of discipline . A little bit , you know . Just take one step in the right direction today . I guarantee you it'll lead you to a better life . You're never going to have the life that you could have if you're getting drunk every night or you're smoking weed and getting high every night , or if you're fat and when you look in the mirror you go yeah God , I really need to lose that gut . You're only hurting yourself yourself . And then you can play the tape all the way through and get on medications that help all that stuff , or get on semi-glutide and eat your bones and muscles away . You might lose weight , but guess what ? You're also losing bone and muscle and I can tell you I've seen somebody wither away from it and , quite frankly , I think it killed them . I can't guarantee that , but I certainly believe that it played a massive part in my mother's death .

Corey Berrier 20:26

So don't take the shortcut , dude , Like go see your doctor , get your blood work done . I'm not telling you necessarily . Got to listen to the doctor , get your blood work done . Put it in chat GPT . Listen to the doctor . Get your blood work done . Put it in chat GPT . Ask it to explain it to you . Like whoever it is you're trying to do whether it be a carnivore diet or keto diet or whatever it is but there's a way for you to get out of this slump that you're in . But you got to take a step in the right direction . I want to thank you all . Please subscribe to the podcast . That'd be the greatest thing that you could do for me . The biggest favor I could ask is that you subscribe to the podcast . Leave us a review if you feel inclined , but , most importantly , pick your ass up and do something different today . We'll see you next Friday .