Can’t Stop Eating?

Have you started a new diet and feel like you’re constantly thinking about food? Do you keep going back to the kitchen to pick a little more, even though you just ate a full meal? It’s actually quite common for people who are dieting or working through changing their thoughts around food, to struggle with knowing when to stop or how to stop. There are times when it’s impossible to stop eating and you feel completely overtaken by the need to consume.

“I’m afraid to eat. If I start, I can’t stop.” This. This fear and constant panic that you have zero willpower, that if you allow yourself even a little room, you’ll completely lose control; this is the bodies response to fear. Take a moment and sit here for a second. I’m so afraid to start eating, because. . .

When your body has been deprived of food, either because you were restricting, or because you were on a diet, your physical response to food is being triggered by your lizard brain. This is the part of your brain that controls fight or flight. It’s the response that comes when you’ve lost connection between your higher (thinking) brain and your lower (reactive) brain. The way to bring yourself back into your power, is to realize that you are reacting to the physical fear of not having enough and the emotional fear of gaining weight. Teaching yourself to eat out of conscious thought requires recognizing that if you don’t fuel your body, your brain will take over and do it for you, probably not the way you would like, either.

As you learn to build trust in your body and your mind, this response to food will calm down. Which means that if you’re overeating every time you get food, you need to change the way you approach food. I know that if you’re not happy with your body right now, your best idea is to fix it by restricting calories or food for a couple days to get yourself to a better starting point. Unfortunately this often creates a restrictive/binge cycle. Let’s stop that, shall we?

So, here’s what to do. First, recognize that you need to create safety between your brain and your body with food. This means eating enough protein, carbs, and fat at your meals to satisfy the hunger response. Second, accept (and this is the hardest part) that if you keep eating, it may take a little while to train your brain that you’re trustworthy. I recommend planning a five meal day to get started. Three main meals and two snacks. This reminds you that you’re going to have another meal in just a little bit. It teaches your body that you aren’t going to keep it from food, but that it can eat as often as it needs to in order to fuel itself. This can be especially hard if you’ve struggled with disordered eating or thoughts around food. Reaching out to a health coach or a therapist is an excellent way to navigate shifting your relationship with food. It’s time for you to gain control, not only of your diet, but of your life. This often looks like upsetting the story and changing your beliefs.

You can do this, I believe in you. You need to eat.