We’ve all been there… wishing we didn’t eat all of that! Especially during a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. We fill that plate with all the traditional things that we only have once a year and somehow manage to fit it all into our bellies and then we sometimes go back for more, even after we feel like a swollen tick!
It’s not just the holidays that get us. For some people it is every day! You might be thinking, “That’s not me!” but the reality is…. For MOST people it is every day! And it’s not just an issue for people who are overweight. EVERYBODY does this!
Overeating is eating past when you are satisfied, when you no longer feel hungry but you continue to eat anyway. Food gives you an immediate promise of a reward. The bigger issue is that the reward doesn’t last. As soon as you’ve chewed and swallowed, the reward is over. But it’s over so quick, we want another and another and another.
It’s like when you have a mosquito bite. If you don’t ever touch it, it doesn’t itch. But as soon as you scratch it, you light it up and then when you stop scratching it, it itches again and so you scratch it again. This is just like that! We are so uncomfortable sitting with the desire and not responding. We want to satisfy the urge, to silence the wanting more than we want the food itself. Research tells us this but so does our own behavior… We want to scratch the itch more than we don’t want the itch. We want to satisfy the urge to eat the food more than we want the food itself. The drive is to satisfy the urge. WANTING the chocolate is more satisfying for us than the chocolate itself.
Do you remember Fen-phen? It was a weight loss drug that was banned in the late 90’s because it caused fatal heart-valve problems. Most people believed it helped control appetite, which it did to a certain extent with the release of the neurotransmitter (hormone) serotonin. But when you mess with one hormone, you’ll mess with its counterpart. Most hormones have an “opposite” hormone, much like muscle groups. Contracting your bicep makes your tricep relax so you can bend your arm. Contracting your tricep makes your bicep relax so you can straighten your arm.
Serotonin’s counterpart is dopamine. When you have more of one, you have less of the other. Dopamine is responsible for many things but in this case, it is the primary driver in the body’s pleasure and reward system. In lab rats, high levels of dopamine cause the rats to press the lever for food over and over again. That’s what happens to people, too. Those high levels of dopamine cause us to want to experience that pleasure over and over again, which is why we go back for that second piece of cake! Fen-phen makes our body release higher levels of serotonin which decreases the production of dopamine so the desire for the reward is diminished.
In our natural state with normal amounts of serotonin and dopamine, we STILL have trouble controlling those desires and urges. Think about it… how often do you automatically pick up your phone when it beeps or buzzes with a text message? We can’t stand waiting in line, get frustrated with traffic and tap our fingers waiting for a website to load. We are constantly seeking instant and constant rewards. Anyone with anything to sell is using this knowledge that we want that stimulation and WE WANT IT NOW!
Another issue we should address is the fact that you don’t have to feel like a swollen tick in order to be overeating. If your body does not need fuel, then you are overeating. This happens when we eat when we’re not hungry or keep eating after we are satisfied. Most of the time, we are not in tune with the hunger feeling. We eat because it’s time to eat, because others are eating and when we are bored. We eat because we are triggered to, regardless of hunger.
How do you stop overeating?
First of all, there will be many times that you’ll know exactly what to do and you’ll STILL overeat! I am one of those people! I still eat when I’m not hungry and when I’m already satisfied because what I’m eating is just so damn good! I fall into the trap of my excuses and stories just like everyone else!
The difference might be in the fact that I am honest with myself about what’s happening. I know the triggers and I ignore them. I also know when I’m lying to myself and telling myself that the food was worth it. In order for something to be worth it, I must be able to look beyond the fact that it simply tastes good. Taste alone does not make a food worth it if I feel terrible and it takes me away from my goals. When you can own it like that, you will have far less moments in the overeating camp!
Your first line of defense against overeating is to pay attention.
How often do you finish your dinner and say, “Wow! That was so good! I’m stuffed!” But then they bring around the dessert tray with the chocolate bomb cake and you’re not too stuffed for that!
That is called taste specific satiety. It’s when you are full on one thing and then you want something new. It’s different from what you had been eating and it hits your palate in a new way. You could be eating a bowl of ice cream and be done with that but haven’t done something salty yet so popcorn it is!
When overeating is not triggered by hunger, only hyperpalatable foods will do the trick. When you’re not hungry, you are NOT going to dive into a huge bowl of spinach or baked chicken. It’ll be something salty, fatty and/or sugary. Processed foods fall into this category. Identify what those are for you and limit your exposure to them.
The danger zone is when we add taste specific satiety with hyperpalatable foods.
Warning: Total buzz kill right here!
Have you seen the movie Ratatouille? It’s an animated film with a rat that’s a chef and he explains this so well! Click here to watch what I mean.
Combining flavors and textures together makes things hyperpalatable (taste amazing!) … caramel with salt, wine with cheese, strawberries with chocolate… we are more likely to overeat something when one enhances the other. The reason it’s so enjoyable is because it becomes a “party in your mouth” with all the different flavors. I love charcuterie boards because you have the cheese, meat, olives, crackers, fruit, honey, nuts… and of course, wine! When you get bored with one thing, you can move to another with no effort and the overeating (and drinking!) is rampant!
For me, when I add bacon to anything, I’ll eat more of it! Bacon on a salad, pizza, burger, omelet… I will eat past the point of satisfaction and into the zone of belly ache just because of the bacon. Same with cheese! If I want to eat less, I have to skip the bacon and the cheese. But that’s just me! You need to figure out what those foods are for you and then, again, limit your exposure to them if you tend to overeat often.
If you find yourself overeating often, pay attention to when it happens the most and if you want to stop it… avoid putting hyperpalatable foods together and be aware of when you are falling victim to taste specific satiety.
“Loving Every Moment”
~ Laurie
MindStrong Body Transformation Program (lauriesmithnutrition.com)