Maybe you can’t keep cookies in the house because you’ll eat the entire box within a day or 2.

Maybe when you do allow dessert into your house you intentionally eat the whole thing just to get rid of it so you don’t have to deal with that nagging voice in the back of your head that’s constantly pushing you to go back for more.

Maybe you only eat certain foods in the car or when no one is home because you know the amount you eat “isn’t normal” but you don’t feel like you can stop yourself.

If this resonates I feel for you. Truly I do. This was my story for a very long time and it’s something I help a lot of clients through.

In fact, I decided to write this episode because a client is struggling with this right now and I wanted to give her some extra support outside of our coaching calls.

And as per usual, with any challenge we may face I think the most important thing is to dig down and get to the root of what is driving our behavior.

So with that here are 5 habits you probably don’t realize are exacerbating your drive to overeat:

1. You try to restrict them or tell yourself you “shouldn’t have them.”

Studies on overeating tend to focus on the pleasure response carby/sugary foods induce. But there’s a negative feedback loop at play too.

When we tell ourselves not to eat certain foods it activates the brain’s stress response and can generate anxiety and withdrawal-like symptoms that cause us to overeat when we cave and allow those foods back into our diet.

According to the National Institute of Health, there was a study that showed rats who were given intermittent access to sugary food ate less of their normal food when the sweets were taken away, and over-ate the sweet food when it was reintroduced.

It also showed that a stress-related chemical increased when the sweet food was taken away.

Interestingly, when the rats were given a stress-blocking drug, these diet-cycled rats ate more of the regular food, less of the sweet food, and demonstrated less anxiety when the sweet food was withdrawn.

What does this mean for you? Stop sending your body into a physiological cycle of anxiety, stress, and withdrawal by demonizing foods or convincing yourself you just need to have more control and not eat them. It doesn’t work. Like, scientifically does not work.

It may feel scary to reintroduce foods that you historically feel out of control around. You probably don’t trust yourself very much and maybe have even tried in the past to allow these foods back in only to find yourself deep in a binge.

If that’s the case I don’t recommend you do this alone. Inside The Club (my membership program), I’ve posted a whole lesson on how to start incorporating these treat-type foods into your diet without feeling the need to go overboard.

Fair warning, that lesson is posted within our fall challenge which will be coming down mid-November, so I suggest joining sooner than later.

2. You’re eating treats on an empty stomach.

Of course you’re going to overdo treats when you’re hungry.

There’s no protein, no fiber, no fat, no nutrients in your body telling you to slow down. You’re just pumping fast-absorbing sugar and carbs into your bloodstream that don’t readily signal that eating off switch.

If you’re going to have a treat, have it directly after a full meal. I like to say eat what you need first, and then add what you want.

3. You’re eating overly processed versions.

I know so many people have the mindset “If I’m already ‘being bad’ and eating ‘off plan’ I might as well go full fuck it and have whatever crap I want.”

This is not the way.

When you reach for the ultra-processed snacks and desserts that have 20-ingredient nutrition labels and not an ounce of nutrition, you’re ingesting something that is designed to bypass any fullness cues your body might want to send so that you’ll not only over eat them, but become addicted to them.

On the other hand if you have treats that are homemade or at the very least made with more whole food ingredients, you’re usually going to get some fat, fiber, and/or protein that can help slow you down.

For example, if I get pumpkin muffins at the store I could easily plow through 3 or 4 without batting an eye. But when I make my homemade pumpkin muffins with almond flour, eggs, coconut oil, dates, pumpkin puree, and pecans (which honestly tastes 10x better than what I’d ever find at the store), I’m satisfied after just one because there’s actually some nutritional value the my body can latch onto and say “ok, that was good, thanks.”

(If you want the recipe for this and literally every other recipe in my arsenal, you can find it all inside my membership program The Club)

4. You’re using them to fill a void, not just to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Think about the difference between someone who drinks socially out of pure enjoyment vs someone who drinks to make it through their day. Wildly different relationship with the substance in question.

Sure the latter may enjoy the flavor, but they’re using it for so much more than that.

If you’re using food to cope with a high stress job, a rocky relationship, or 5 hours of sleep, that food now has way too much power, way too much meaning, and way too much importance to just eat a little bit and then walk away.

5. You’re stuck in an automatic habit loop.

Whether you realize it or not, you probably have a trigger that signals to your brain ‘it’s time for (fill in the blank carby/sweet snack)’.

Maybe it’s a certain time of day like at that 3 o’clock slump, or maybe it’s a certain activity like watching tv at night. Whatever it is, every time that trigger pops up and you immediately go for your favorite treat, you’re reinforcing that neural pathway that says x = y, thereby reinforcing that habit.

If nothing else, put space between that trigger and the habit of eating. If you’re going to eat a bag of chips at 3 o’clock, go on a walk first. This starts to build a new neural pathway that says “it’s 3 o’clock, time for the walk” instead of “it’s 3 o’clock, time for a snack.”

Hopefully this gave you a few light bulb moments about why you struggle to eat in moderation and maybe even validated your experience making you realize this isn’t just a matter of you needing to be more disciplined.

If it did and you’re really committed to changing your relationship with food in a way that removes the stress, anxiety, and tension around your diet (especially with the holidays coming up where you’re going to run into this issue again and again), I really do encourage you to at least look at The Club. It’s an entirely affordable way to work with me and to get the support and step-by-step plan you need to be successful with this. Because believe me, I know this is not easy work, and it's made much less easy when you try to do it alone.

Click here for more info and to sign up or email me at [email protected] with any questions you have.

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