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#1 Mindset Expert: Simple Mindset Shifts That Transform Your Body, Energy, & Life

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Today, you are going to learn scientifically proven ways you can use your mind to upgrade your life, starting with your body, your energy, and your confidence. In this episode, Stanford professor and leading psychology and mindset researcher Dr. Alia Crum reveals the science behind how your thoughts shape your body, your energy, and your health. She’s proven over and over again that your thoughts about exercise, stress, and food are working against you – and how you can change them. She’ll explain that this isn't just about thoughts, but that you have settings in your mind that you need to change. This is not positive thinking. This is repeatable, evidence-based science behind mindset, motivation, and physical change. You’ll learn: -The one mindset shift that makes healthy habits feel easier instead of exhausting -The groundbreaking studies proving your beliefs can change your biology -How to make workouts easier so you get fitter, faster -How the “settings in your mind” influence your metabolism, hunger, stress, and recovery -How to make healthy eating easier so you feel your best every day -How to stop fighting your body and start working with it -How to feel more energized, capable, and consistent without forcing yourself -How to overcome your worst fears so you don’t let anything hold you back If you are tired of criticizing yourself, tired of your fears and anxiety, and tired of never seeing the results you deserve, Dr. Crum is going to teach you, step by step, exactly how to change the settings in your mind to achieve anything you want. Once you hear this, you’ll start noticing shifts in places you never expected. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-353 Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Meet the Guest 04:09 Learn How to Control Your Mindset 09:05 How to Use The Placebo Effect In Your Life 22:24 Trick Your Mind to Work With Your Biology 37:21 How Your Mind Changes How Food Affects You 54:04 Practical Tools to Live a Healthier Life 01:15:39 You Have More Control Than You Think — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Dr. Alia CrumguestMel Robbinshost
Dec 19, 20251h 20mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Stanford Mindset Expert Reveals How Beliefs Reshape Health And Behavior

  1. Mel Robbins interviews Dr. Alia Crum, a Stanford psychologist and head of the Mind & Body Lab, about how core mindsets—our mental “settings”—directly shape perception, emotions, motivation, and even physiology.
  2. Crum explains that mindsets are not objectively true or false, but powerful, oversimplified beliefs (e.g., “stress is harmful,” “healthy food is depriving,” “my body can’t be trusted”) that literally help create our lived reality.
  3. Using research on placebo effects, cancer treatment, weight loss, and her famous Milkshake Study, she shows that what we *believe* about food, medicine, stress, and our bodies can amplify or blunt their real physical effects.
  4. The conversation concludes with practical guidance: identify current settings, deliberately choose more useful ones (e.g., “indulgence” with food, “my body is capable,” “this is manageable”), and recognize that mindsets are changeable, learnable skills.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Mindsets are adjustable 'settings' that shape your reality by design.

They’re not facts but core judgments (e.g., the world is dangerous/ safe; my body is weak/capable) that filter what you notice, how you feel, what you do, and how your body responds. Once you see them as settings, you can consciously change them.

Your beliefs can enhance or diminish the effects of real treatments.

In migraine research, the same drug worked better when people believed it was the real medication, and a placebo labeled as the drug worked almost as well. The overall impact is always *drug plus mindset*, not one or the other.

Adopt 'mind and matter,' not 'mind over matter,' for health.

Crum emphasizes taking the best available medical care *and* cultivating helpful beliefs about your illness, treatment, and body—especially mindsets like “this is manageable” and “my body is capable” in conditions like cancer.

What you believe about food changes how your body metabolizes it.

In the Milkshake Study, people drinking the *same* 350-calorie shake had a threefold greater drop in the hunger hormone ghrelin when they believed it was a rich, indulgent 620-calorie shake versus a 140-calorie 'diet' shake.

Shift from a restraint mindset to an indulgence mindset with eating.

Seeing healthy foods as “disgusting but necessary” keeps your body in a state of deprivation and hunger. Intentionally viewing meals—salads included—as enjoyable, satisfying, and indulgent helps your body register 'enough' and reduces struggle with food.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Mindsets are quite literally settings of the mind.

— Dr. Alia Crum

These mindsets are not true or false. They’re oversimplified, highly evaluative judgments—but they matter in shaping our lives.

— Dr. Alia Crum

The total effect of anything we do is a combined effect of what's actually in it and what you believe to be true about it.

— Dr. Alia Crum

It no longer needs to be, 'Is it mind over matter?' No, it’s mind and matter.

— Dr. Alia Crum

At any given moment, at any given time, you have the power to flip the switch.

— Dr. Alia Crum

Definition of mindsets as mental 'settings' and core beliefsHow mindsets shape attention, emotions, motivation, and physiologyPlacebo effects and the interaction of mind and medication ('mind and matter')The Milkshake Study: beliefs about food altering hunger hormonesHealth mindsets around stress, cancer, and the body’s capabilityPractical reframing of mindsets about food, exercise, and moneyStrategies for recognizing and updating unhelpful mental settings

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