Cait Donovan is back with a #straightfromcait episode that gets real about something most of us wrestle with quietly, how we soothe ourselves when things get hard, and what that looks like after burnout.
This time, Cait’s digging into her long-standing sugar habit. Not the occasional treat, but the reflex to reach for something sweet when emotions start to build. She thought she’d done the work. And in many ways, she had. But what happens when one old pattern refuses to budge? What if the thing you’re avoiding isn’t the habit itself but the discomfort underneath it?
With support from dietitian Sydney Green, Cait starts looking at her sugar story with a new kind of honesty, one that doesn’t involve shame or harsh rules. Instead of overhauling everything, she chooses one small shift: no more sugar in her coffee. That simple move starts a ripple effect, including tracking her blood sugar with a CGM and learning what her body’s been trying to say all along.
This episode is an invitation to ask yourself the hard questions with compassion. What have you been unwilling to change? What would it feel like to start small and let that be enough?
Episode Breakdown:
00:00 Sugar, Self-Neglect, and Burnout Recovery
02:16 How We Trick Ourselves Into Thinking We’ve Done the Work
03:10 Unpacking Lifelong Food Patterns with Sydney Green
04:26 Why Starting Small Actually Works
06:13 Using a CGM to Understand Sugar’s Impact
07:26 Real Healing Begins with Small, Honest Steps
Links
Connect with Cait:
Cait Donovan is a keynote speaker, author, and host of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast, specializing in burnout, mis/match, and sustainable performance at work. She partners with corporate leaders, teams, and professional associations through keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions that treat burnout as data, not failure, to help organizations reduce burnout without blame or shame and build healthier, high performing cultures.
To bring Cait to your organization or event, book an inquiry call here: https://bit.ly/bookcait
Learn more about Cait’s speaking work: https://www.caitdonovan.com/speaking
Short on time? Watch this 3-min video: https://bit.ly/caitdreel2025