The nutrition industry has a bit of a dirty secret.

If they actually solved your ‘diet-related’ problems, a LOT of people would go out of business.

The workers on the front lines – our registered dietitians – are equipped with conflicted guidelines, a laughable food pyramid and industry ‘studies’ that are better described as pseudoscience.

It’s a recipe for failure.

These professionals are doing their best, but patients still end up with meal plans that don’t work for their bodies, calorie counting that drives them insane, “good” and “bad” food lists that don’t make sense and shame spirals (of course).

Then when they inevitably “fail” to get healthy, we blame their lack of willpower and start the cycle over again.

Leslie Urbas, a registered dietitian, broke the pattern.

She left her position at the hospital and stopped playing the game that keeps people dependent and instead started teaching something revolutionary:

How to trust your own body.

Throughout our conversation Leslie shares many stores. She recounts the time her kids tried the Spanish version of Cheetos.

“They spit them out immediately”

Why? Because Spanish Cheetos taste like cardboard compared to American ones.

Different ingredients. No additives. No synthetic dyes or chemicals engineered to make you crave more.

She then tells me a story of how her son got blue ice cream all over his white shirt in Spain.

Anyone who’s tried to remove American food dye knows it’s impossible without the use of harsh chemicals – but this dye washed out easily with water from the hose.

Water.

Meanwhile, American food companies have been coloring your cereal with dyes made from petroleum (yes THAT petroleum, the same stuff that powers your car) – for decades.

The FDA finally made a move to change this in April 2025, announcing they’re phasing out synthetic dyes by 2026.

Avoiding these chemicals is unquestionably in line with good common sense (and rule of law in most of the rest of the Western world)

And whether you agree with the FDA’s role in regulation of food additives or not – the implication of this is hard to miss:

We’ve been knowingly poisoned with chemicals for profit for decades

It begs the question: If food wasn’t packed with substances designed to disrupt our bodies’ natural responses, and we learned to trust our bodies’ responses instead of ‘trusting the experts’

Would we even need meal plans (or an abundance of pharmaceuticals)?

Maybe. Maybe not.

So they put chemicals in the food. Teach you to ignore your hunger. Count calories instead of paying attention to energy levels. Follow the food pyramid instead of your body’s intelligence.

Leslie figured this out after watching client after client fail on traditional approaches.

The Permission Method That Actually Works

I’m a huge fan of keto, because that’s the eating pattern that makes me feel good, but Leslie says she doesn’t recommend that we restrict foods at all.

Instead, she teaches awareness.

Here’s her secret weapon: Take whatever food you “can’t stop eating.” Rate the first bite 1-10. The moment a bite drops below that rating, stop eating.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

That’s it.

Most people who try this approach discover they only enjoyed the first few bites and then moved to unconscious consumption – mindless eating because you stopped paying attention.

Leslie is not promoting the use of willpower, but of awareness.

And awareness is the enemy of every system trying to control you.

Your body knows when it’s hungry. When it’s satisfied. When something makes you feel good or terrible.

The result of ignoring this is a nation of people who can’t manage their own appetite and a booming market of patients begging for Ozempic.

If every diet you’ve tried has failed, it’s not because you lack willpower.

It’s because the system is designed to make you fail and you haven’t figured that out yet.

The solution might not be another meal plan. It might be choosing carefully and learning to trust yourself again.

Leslie’s clients eat chocolate cake. They drink wine. They enjoy meals with friends.

But they do it consciously. They eat chemical-free food and pay attention to how food makes them feel. They own their choices completely.

No guilt. No shame. No “falling off the wagon.”

Just personal responsibility and conscious decisions made by adults who trust their own bodies.

Because this isn’t just about food. It’s about who gets to make decisions about your body.

The same system that profits from your repeated diet failures is the same system that wants to manage your healthcare, your medical decisions, and take away your personal autonomy.

Food is just the entry point.

When you learn to trust your body’s signals around hunger and satisfaction, you start questioning other areas where you’ve handed over control to “experts.”

Maybe you don’t need their meal plans. Maybe you don’t need their one-size-fits-all medical protocols either.

Maybe you’re more capable of making informed decisions about your own body than they want you to believe.

The full conversation goes much deeper into European vs American food systems, the psychology of eating and practical strategies for trusting your body again.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I’m curious to hear what you think in the comments.

Ready to experience healthcare differently? CrowdHealth puts YOU in control of your healthcare decisions and spending. Visit joincrowdhealth.com and use code “Liberty Lab” for $99/month for the first 3 months. Tequila not included.

Until next week,

Tiffany

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thehealthcarelibertylab.substack.com