Why we Overeat and What to do about it
Have you ever had a meal that left you feeling physically full, and yet you still felt the "need" to munch on something afterwards?
You likely got up and walked over to the pantry or refrigerator (or holiday dessert table), in search of something more?
We’ve all been there!
There are many reasons why this happens, but here are the most prominent ones I see most often in myself and my clients:
The top 5 reasons why we eat past the point of satiation and what we can do about them:
1) You didn't eat what you wanted but instead you ate what you thought you should eat aka you didn’t listen to your body/eat intuitively
Nourishment is equally about satisfying your hunger, respecting your satiety and honouring your satisfaction.
Variety and balance in what you eat are important, but so is eating the foods you enjoy and that your body wants in that moment.
What to do: Try listening to your cues and giving yourself permission to include something in the meal that may not fit the ideal description of healthy, if that's what your body really wants. Healthy eating is more about what you add in than it is about what you take out.
2) You didn't eat mindfully aka you weren’t present and connected to your food
Mindful eating is essential to tapping into your body's innate wisdom. If you rushed through your meal mindlessly, in front of the TV,while working, or lost in thought due to stress or anxiety, you were disconnected from the eating experience. Your senses weren't engaged and your mind didn't register the pleasure and satisfaction factor, hence sending you a signal to keep eating even if you're physically full.
What to do: Practice presence at meal times. Sit down, and avoid distractions, and if you can, avoid eating in stressful moments. Slow down and chew your food well. Put down the fork between bites if you need to, it will slow you down. Engage your senses, fully - see, smell and taste your food, feel the texture and savour every bite.
3) You ate something you usually restrict or don't have access to often.
When you deprive yourself of something you truly enjoy, for reasons external to you, you give it power over you. Your mind goes on overdrive when you have that taste and tells you to stock up before the possibility is all gone.
This is common at the holidays, on vacation or when we schedule “cheat days”, giving ourselves permission to eat whatever we want and planning to fast, restrict or diet afterwards. We find ourselves binging all the things before it’s too late.
I'd like to acknowledge that this isn't an easy fix because it comes from years of conditioning as a result of following diets, restrictive eating plans and food rules and depriving yourself from the foods you love. It requires a real shift in mindset around food, nourishment and body image.
What to do: At the risk of oversimplifying this, start by telling yourself you can have, whatever it is, again tomorrow or whenever you want it and stop restricting the foods you love and enjoy, unless there's a real need to do so (i.e. allergy or intolerance). The more you tell yourself you can't have something, the more your mind will ask you for it.
4) You want to keep eating for emotional, not physical reasons
Sometimes we eat to celebrate and connect even if we’re not hungry. Think of drinks and appetizers with friends after work, or munching on the buffet at a party. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but you do want to be mindful of it, as there is a fine line between satisfaction and discomfort. You don’t want to eat yourself into a physically painful situation.
If however, you find yourself reaching for food every single time you're stressed or emotional or upset, remember that food is not going to help you process your feelings. Only your thoughts and actions can do that. Again, this isn't a quick fix. It takes time and practice to master any skill and this is no different.
What to do: Find something else to do to bring yourself joy and comfort. Take a bath if you can, doodle or draw, dance it out. If that doesn’t work and you find yourself reaching for food anyways, acknowledge it. Write how it makes you feel in your journal and move on. Awareness in the first step to making a change.
5) You ate something hyperpalatable
Hyper palatable foods are engineered "foods" with the most tempting combinations of sugar, fat, carbohydrates and salt, that appeal to our taste buds, activate our brain's reward system and overpower our satiation cues (aka make us overeat even if we're not hungry). When your "diet" (aka way of eating) is rich in these foods you get stuck in a loop of craving, instant gratification, guilt, restriction, deprivation, and binging. It's a vicious cycle that's hard to break.
What to do: When you choose nutrient dense whole foods over the hyper palatable variety, it gets easier to listen to your body, tune into your hunger and satiation cues and retrain your brain and palate to enjoy and even crave whole foods in their original form. At the same time, you'll be supporting your body's nutrient needs.
The bottom line
There are plenty of other reasons why we may find ourselves eating when we're not hungry or past the point of satiation. Maybe we were forced to lick our plates clean as children and have lost our ability to stop eating when we feel full, maybe we've gotten used to having a snack at a specific time every day and we continue to do so even if we don't feel hungry, out of habit, maybe we eat to distract ourselves or because we're bored, or tired.
The bottom line is, mindful and intuitive eating habits are essential to knowing what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat to both nourish and satisfy your mind and body.
