Spoiler...It's Not Because You Have No Self Control!
So how did you get here? Why do you feel addicted to food or out of control around your trigger foods?
Well, first of all, I want you to know that you're not alone. So many women come to me feeling the exact same way.
Second, just because this feeling of being out of control around food is so common, doesn’t mean you HAVE to feel this way.
Third, YOU ARE NOT THE PROBLEM. It’s not because you have no self-control, no will power or that you are weak or lazy. I know you might think that your willpower is the issue. However I will tell you now, no amount of willpower will stop you from feeling addicted, in fact, the more you resist, the more likely you are to give in and feel that addiction. The more willpower you enforce, the bigger the swing the other way when you inevitably overeat.
So if it’s not a self control problem...what is it? Well, there are 3 potential reasons that you might feel addicted to food.
1 - Emotions
2 - The restriction binge cycle
3 - This crazy diet fueled world we live in
First, there is the emotional drive to eat. It could be a happy TREAT YO SELF moment after a workout, special occasion or just for making it through the day without yelling at your child or coworker.
It could also be from a negative place of stress, loneliness or boredom. You turn to food for comfort but then always overdo it and end up binging. You’re probably thinking ‘yea, I emotionally eat alllll the time, it's one of my biggest problems’. Well, what if I told you that emotional eating is a completely normal part of life. To soothe your feelings with food is normal, to celebrate with food is normal. Emotional binge eating, however, is something completely different and although it is very common, it is something you can prevent from happening. And when you do, you'll feel a lot more controlled around food.
Second is the diet-binge cycle or the restriction-binge cycle. If someone tells you not to look left...that is the only thing you are going to want to do! Like ‘don’t look left? I’m not allowed? Why what’s over there?’ even if they tell you it’s something awful, your curiosity and the fact that you’re “not allowed”...makes it even more irresistible to sneak a peek!
Well, this is similar to what you’re doing with food. As soon as you tell yourself you’re not allowed an oreo...that is the only thing you’re going to want to eat! The longer you go telling yourself you can’t have it, the bigger the binge when you DO give in...and eventually you will.
The diet-binge cycle is a called diet-binge because you’re usually in one of the two camps. You're either in the diet camp, 100% in on that flat belly diet, counting your almonds. Or you "messed up" and you're in the 'F it response'/binge camp. The 'F it response' is when you "mess up" and think ‘'well today has gone to hell, so F it, I'm just going to eat everything under the sun and tomorrow I'm going to start again’. The pressure of having to be perfect is setting you up for failure! Try to avoid the black and white of good and bad, you need to live in the grey area!
Finally, the third reason you feel obsessed with food, is this crazy diet fueled world we live in. We’re constantly bombarded with messages of good, bad, you deserve it, you have to earn it, you shouldn't eat this food or you have to eat this. All this messaging keeps diet and restriction on our mind 24/7 and 99% of the time it's conflicting messages. This leaves you confused and conflicted so you try to do it all, all the rules, all the diets, and you're right back in that diet-binge cycle.
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