Why do smart people keep making choices they already know are going to hurt them?

Raw Minds Season 2 Episode 104 welcomes Matt White, author of The Snack Monkey: How to Stop Eating the Whole Packet.

Matt has lived with CRPS and chronic pain for more than 30 years. He spent roughly 25 years taking prescribed codeine, competed with the Great Britain para-climbing team, and has spent much of his life learning what happens when pain, habits, instant gratification and resilience collide.

But this conversation goes much deeper than chronic pain.

Matt breaks down the idea behind The Snack Monkey, the voice in your head that says:

"Just one won't hurt."

One more episode.

One more snack.

Skip one workout.

Start again Monday.

Take the easy option.

Matt explains the battle between what he calls The Captain, the part of you thinking about your long-term goals, and The Snack Monkey, the part that wants comfort and relief right now.

We get into:

The Snack Monkey

The Captain vs instant gratification

Why smart people make irrational decisions

Breaking bad habits

The "Fuck It Button"

Why one mistake can turn into giving up completely

Conscious choice and personal responsibility

Work, family and health balance

Living with CRPS and chronic pain

25 years of prescribed codeine

Walking away from painkillers

Resilience vs self-destruction

What happens after life knocks you down

The moment between getting hit and getting back up

Reframing failure

Why words and identity matter

"What if it works?"

Wim Hof and the foreword to The Snack Monkey

This isn't a polished resilience story.

It's a conversation about pain, behaviour, addiction, habits, awareness, choice and what it actually takes to keep moving when life hits you hard.

MATT WHITE

Book: The Snack Monkey: How to Stop Eating the Whole Packet

Website: therealsnackmonkey.com

LinkedIn: Search Matt White + The Snack Monkey

CHAPTERS

0:00 Living With Pain for 30+ Years

1:46 Meet Matt White

3:34 Would Matt Remove His CRPS?

7:36 Powered By Pain

10:49 The Reality of CRPS

15:22 How The Snack Monkey Started

19:23 Behaviour Change, Not Dieting

20:15 The Two Voices In Your Head

21:40 The Captain vs The Snack Monkey

23:26 The Snack Monkey's Greatest Trick

25:57 Work, Family and Health

28:33 When You Actually Decide To Change

32:35 The "Fuck It Button"

35:47 25 Years of Prescribed Codeine

40:31 The Danger of Automatic Choices

42:49 Changing Your Default

45:42 What Balance Actually Means

49:19 The Side of Resilience Nobody Talks About

50:38 Get Off The X

52:21 The Limbo Between Pain and Action

54:06 Failure vs Learning

55:38 Reframing Your Story

56:35 What If It Works?

59:35 Final Thoughts

60:16 The Snack Monkey and Wim Hof

RAW MINDS

Real conversations about mental health, trauma, addiction, grief, fatherhood, resilience and what it actually takes to keep moving forward.

https://rawminds.ca

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For the ones we'll never meet.

Healing Out Loud.

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