Why can’t I stop eating?
You have just eaten, and you feel full, only to find yourself grazing on food a few hours after. Sometimes this turns into a binge experience. You beat yourself up and wonder why it has happened, seen as you had eaten “enough” and therefore you “should” have been satisfied and able to stop.
Does this sound like you?
Despite what you might have been told or believe, this is NOT because of your lack of control or willpower. There are very specific reasons why this happens and they don’t occur randomly.
Here are four common reasons why you can’t stop eating;
You didn’t have enough energy dense foods - voluminous foods (fruits & vegetables) can cause you to initially feel full, but when you over focus on these as a way to “fill you up” it doesn’t last. You cannot trick your body into making it think it has had enough food.
You didn’t satisfy your wanting brain - not feeling satisfied after your meals, is often the root of continuinal eating. We have two regions of our brain that regulate fullness. The region of the brain that requires nutrients, and the region of the brain that requires pleasure and the things you desire. Both need to be satisfied to experience fullness.
You haven’t eaten enough throughout the day - leaving large gaps between meals will result in feeling fuller when you do eat. This can cause you to think “I shouldn’t need to eat anything else” but if your bodies energy needs have not been met during the day, it will do everything in its power to get those needs met.
You are restricting your food intake physically and/or mentally - mental thoughts like “I should have less” a well as physically restricting food is threatening to your brain and body and causes it to go into starvation mode. When your body doesn’t know when food is going to be available again, it will drive you to keep eating “as much as possible”
IT IS POSSIBLE to get to a place of peace with food and eating,
BUT
RESTRICTION (both mental and physical) IS NOT THE ANSWER
Continual exposure, unconditional permission and a whole heal of self compassion is what you need.
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LOOKING FOR MORE SUPPORT?
If you are looking for more support in changing your behaviours around calories, get in touch to find out more about my one-on-one coaching and how I can help you to find food freedom and embrace living a rich and meaningful life.
Love Harriett