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How to keep eating when full


How to Stop Overeating: A Dietitian's 10 Tips

TIPS TO LIVE BY Jan. 26, 2022 - Katie McCallum

Sometimes eating too much is simply an instance of your eyeballs growing bigger than your stomach at a buffet, potluck, party or holiday meal.

Other times, overeating is a pattern rather than the exception.

How much is truly too much? And if you are indeed at that point, how do you cut back?

"Overeating is eating beyond what's needed to fuel your body," says Kylie Arrindell, a wellness dietitian at Houston Methodist. "Whether intentional or not, we all do it at some point. The short-term symptoms of overeating are often just related to stomach discomfort, but there are long-term consequences of overeating which, over time, can negatively impact your health."

This means it's important to recognize whether you're overeating and, if you're doing so frequently, take steps to reduce the behavior.

What are the signs of overeating?

Am I overeating?

That seems like it should be something fairly easy to answer. Perhaps by counting calories?

But Arrindell points out it's not that easy.

"The amount of calories you should be eating per meal is a very individualized number," says Arrindell. "People have different health goals, needs and conditions, so it can be difficult for you to determine your optimal calorie intake on your own. Additionally, counting calories might not resonate with you in a positive way."

Plus, calories aren't a great measure of whether you're eating mindfully and whether you're stopping when you're satisfied, two of the most important components of properly nourishing your body that can also help you understand if you're overeating.

With that in mind, the actual signs of overeating may include:

  • Eating beyond the point of being full
  • Finding yourself mindlessly eating because you're bored or distracted
  • Experiencing physical symptoms after eating, including nausea, abdominal discomfort, gas, bloating or heartburn
  • Eating for reasons other than to fuel your body

"Those are the short-term signs and symptoms of overeating, but there are long-term indications, too, including unwanted weight gain, difficulty losing weight and prolonged digestive discomfort," Arrindell adds.

Fortunately, these particularly noticeable signs can be powerful reminders that it's time to take action. But Arrindell points out that there are also detrimental health impacts you may not notice yourself — although they will likely show up in your blood work.

"Over the course of weeks to months to years, overeating can affect your cholesterol and could potentially impact your blood sugar management, which can put you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease," warns Arrindell.

How to stop overeating: A dietitian's top 10 tips

If you recognize the signs and are ready to take action, here's what Arrindell recommends to help you avoid overeating:

1. Familiarize yourself with recommended portion sizes

Portion size is critical.

To keep your eyeballs in check, take advantage of nutrition food labels and reputable sources' recommended amounts of foods. These guidelines aren't perfect, but they can help set the baseline for what a realistic serving size looks like — usually hard to guess on your own. Knowing the recommended amount also helps you stay accountable for how much you should be eating.

And — speaking of accountability — you might also try eating off of a smaller plate.

"The plates we serve our food on are usually pretty large, so even just something as simple as decreasing your plate size can really help you stick to more appropriate portion sizes and avoid overeating, especially for those who have been taught to finish everything on their plate," says Arrindell. (She notes you don't actually have to eat everything on your plate.)

2. Include a fiber source with meals and snacks

"Fiber is helpful for satiety, the feeling of fullness after eating," says Arrindell.

For instance, let's compare a plate of roasted vegetables versus several pieces of cheese. Both may contain the same amount of calories, but the roasted veggies are more likely to fill you up because they contain fiber — whose feeling of fullness can help reduce overeating tendencies.

Since cheese is less filling, you may have to eat more than your body actually needs before you physically feel full and your brain realizes you're not hungry anymore.

3. Avoid skipping meals

Intermittent fasting — the foundation of which is skipping meals — is a trendy diet right now, but for some people, it may lead to a feast-or-famine mentality that inadvertently leads to overeating.

"Skipping meals can cause intense hunger, which, for many people, tends to result in episodes of overeating once you do finally eat," warns Arrindell. "Instead, I recommend eating healthy snacks between meals or eating smaller meals more regularly throughout the day."

4. Know and limit the foods that are easiest to overeat

We've all wondered if there are foods we should write off completely. Just give us the list!

But here again, Arrindell says it's not that simple.

"Everyone has their own individual preference on the foods and drinks they enjoy most, so advice on which foods to keep your eye on will vary from person to person," says Arrindell. "Keeping a food journal can provide you with insight into your own eating habits, a helpful tool for identifying which foods you struggle with the most."

That said, Arrindell says that most people tend to overeat calorie-dense foods or processed foods they view as treats, including those high in:

  • Salt
  • Added sugar
  • Saturated and trans fats
  • Empty calories

And while Arrindell says there's no food you should overeat — since even too much of something healthy, like fiber-rich veggies, may cause unwanted digestive distress — she adds that she doesn't often hear of someone who regularly overeats broccoli or asparagus. Wink, wink.

5. Stay hydrated

"Cues for thirst can often be mistaken as hunger cues," says Arrindell.

Especially when you're feeling hungry or craving a snack at a time you shouldn't, just taking a few sips of water can help you determine whether you're actually hungry or just thirsty. And keeping up with your water intake throughout the day may help you completely sidestep those tricky hunger pangs that aren't actually due to hunger after all.

6. Be mindful about why you're eating and pay attention to hunger cues

There are a lot of reasons you might want to eat, but there's only one you need to: nourishing and energizing your body.

From "I think I need a snack" to "It's dinner time," be sure you're not falling into the trap of eating mindlessly just to eat.

"If you aren't paying attention to the actual snack or meal you're eating and why you're eating it, chances are you're not really paying attention to your body's cues for appetite and hunger either," says Arrindell.

When you're not in tune with when it's time to stop eating, you're more likely to overeat.

"Being mindful about your meals and what you're eating is important since paying attention to your body's cues can help you connect to the process of enjoying food as a way of nourishing your body," explains Arrindell.

7. Slow down

Crucially, not overeating also means actually stopping when you're approaching feeling full. Portion sizing can help, but, ultimately, slowing down your meal and paying attention to how you actually feel is one of the best ways to avoid overeating.

The goal is to give your food-filled stomach and hungry brain time to re-sync with one another. In fact, it can take as long as 20 minutes for your stomach to let you brain know it's full.

"A lot of us scarf down meals in half that time or less!" says Arrindell. "If you find yourself overeating at meals, try to find ways to slow down the process. For instance, you might try eating with your non-dominant hand or putting your fork down between bites."

8. Rethink that second serving

Speaking of slowing down ... it can also help you decide whether you truly need to be refilling your plate or not.

"Maybe you really are hungry and need that second helping, which is okay," says Arrindell. "But my advice is to wait 5 to 10 minutes before you get another serving and to make sure your additional serving is mostly the good stuff — more vegetables, for instance. "

9. Turn off your TV

A great way to help encourage paying attention to how you feel after eating is to make snack time and mealtime a distraction-free experience.

"Turning off your TV and sitting down at the table is a great place to start," says Arrindell. "Eating without distractions brings us back to the concept of connecting to the process of nourishing your body, which is what your food is actually meant to do."

10. Give yourself some grace

Whether you hit a roadblock as you're getting started or when the holidays come around, know that fighting back against overeating takes patience and compromise.

"Allowing yourself to have foods that you really enjoy in moderation is helpful because then you're not tempted to overindulge on them later," says Arrindell. "Giving yourself grace not only provides a little bit of wiggle room in your diet, it's also sometimes the missing piece for people when it comes to maintaining healthy eating patterns that can help reduce the chances of overeating. "

Why am I overeating?

Sometimes overeating just happens on occasion. This is especially common on occasions where you have access to more food than usual (*cough* Thanksgiving).

Other times, it becomes a pleasurable yet unhealthy habit that reinforces itself over and over — as habits do. The steps above, given time, might be all it takes to break the habit.

In some cases, however, there could be a more complicated reason you're overeating.

"When it's happening habitually, that's when it's time to take a look into why you're overindulging more often than usual," explains Arrindell. "There could be some underlying reasoning behind why it's become a habit."

For instance, you could be using a food solution to fight an emotional issue — sometimes referred to as emotional eating. Recognizing this behavior and better processing your emotions are important steps in your journey to reduce overeating.

Lastly, in the most extreme cases, overeating might also be a sign of something more complicated: binge eating disorder.

"If you find yourself overeating often, talk to your dietitian or doctor," recommends Arrindell. "Overeating can be closely associated with binge eating tendencies, which is not something you have to navigate on your own and it is treatable with the right help."

How to Stop Eating When Full & Find Comfortable Fullness

If you frequently find yourself being uncomfortably full after meals, you are not alone. Here are my top tips to help you stop eating when full, so you can find comfortable fullness and naturally feel “done” eating – no control or force needed.

“My problem is that I just can’t stop eating when I’m full.” – I hear this from people all the time.

Oftentimes, when people hear about intuitive eating, they immediately focus on the “honor your hunger” and “feel your fullness” part of it. Which makes a lot of sense, given that the diet culture we live in regularly teaches us that we cannot trust our own bodies and that – if left to our own devices – we will just keep eating and eating and eating.

Diet culture teaches us that we can’t trust ourselves and that we must follow external rules to stay “in control,” so it makes sense if your brain attempts to do the same with hunger and fullness. If you are still in a part of your journey where you do not trust your body, it’s common to latch onto rules like “only eat when hungry” and “stop when you feel full.”

So it’s no wonder people zero in on the “feel your fullness” part of intuitive eating.

But in reality, the reason you may eat past the point of “comfortable” fullness has pretty much nothing to do with noticing and feeling your fullness. Yes, some people are out of touch with what “comfortable” fullness feels like, but just being able to tell what various types of fullness cues feel like is usually not what actually makes people stop eating when full.

How to Stop Eating When Full

An important point: it’s totally normal to eat past “comfortable fullness” from time to time. This is where the flexibility of intuitive eating comes in, versus the rigidity of dieting and diet culture (part of the reason why diets don’t work). The other night I had the most delicious multi-course dinner at a restaurant and definitely left there feeling uncomfortably full. It’s fine. Our bodies can handle it. And also, it doesn’t feel great to be uncomfortably full after every meal. 

If you find yourself regularly eating past the point of “comfortable” fullness (we’ll get to what that means in a minute), most likely this has nothing to do with the ability – or inability – to “feel” your fullness. While yes, some people are out of touch with what “comfortable” fullness feels like, just being able to understand various types of fullness cues is usually not what actually makes people stop eating.

Feeling Your Fullness and Feeling “Done” Eating Are Not the Same

Trying to force yourself to “stop eating when full” never works long-term. It will almost always end up backfiring because it causes a sense of scarcity in the body and can bring up restrictive thoughts or feelings.

I find that most people will get to a point where they naturally feel “done” eating—not because they are forcing themselves to stop, but because their body stops wanting food.

To get to a point when you can stop eating when full, practice a few things:

  1. Be aware of your hunger cues*
  2. Eat every time you feel hungry*
  3. Allow yourself permission to eat whatever you want
  4. Eat satisfying foods that taste good to you

*Some people may not be able to feel their hunger cues, and that is ok — the important thing here is that you are eating consistently (every 3-4 hours or so) and eating enough throughout the day.

If you aren’t eating consistently and honoring each and every hunger cue, then it is really hard to stop eating once you feel full. Your body doesn’t trust that you’ll eat the next time you’re hungry.

As a result, you’ll likely feel the urge to continue eating even once you notice a “comfortable” fullness feeling.

Not to mention, diet culture and chronic dieting can make us feel like we “have” to eat at mealtimes—when it’s allowed. This means that leaving food behind can be difficult.

Instead of trying to “fix” by forcing yourself to stop eating when full, focus on building back body trust by honoring your hunger cues, eating consistently throughout the day, and giving yourself unconditional permission to eat (I discuss this in much more detail in my book, Unapologetic Eating).

Then you can get to a place where you just feel “done” eating – no force or control needed.

Feeling “Full” vs. “Not Hungry”

Fullness is not just the absence of hunger. Many people confuse feeling “full” with just feeling “not hungry” – but these are two different things.

This confusion occurs often, especially in chronic dieters or people who’ve been restricting their food intake. They end up stopping at “not hungry” (~5-6 on the hunger-fullness scale, which is really “neutral” – see below) instead of eating until full.

You may be stopping at “neutral” and not eating enough if you:

  • Never feel fully satisfied
  • Often get hungry soon—within one to two hours—after eating
  • End up grazing throughout much of the day and evening

Needing to eat every few hours doesn’t necessarily mean you aren’t eating until fullness. However, this could be a sign that you’re stopping closer to “neutral.” Notice where you may have sneaky diet mentality rules popping up.

For example, one client said, “I should have a lunch that keeps me full enough to not want to eat all afternoon.” That should is a red flag of some sneaky diet mentality.

There’s nothing wrong with you if you want to eat between meals. If your meals are more than several hours apart, then it might feel most supportive to have some snacks. However, if you’re unable to go over a couple of hours without thinking about food, you may not be eating enough.

(Remember: thinking about food can be a sign of actual physical hunger.)

How to Feel Your Fullness

Here’s a little secret: When you are tuned in to your hunger signals, eating satisfying and filling foods whenever you feel hungry, letting go of physical restriction, and reframing restrictive thoughts, then you don’t really need to pay much attention to fullness.

You may be thinking something to the effect of, “Yeahhhh…no way.” But trust me; when you’re doing all of these things, what you’re really doing is building back body trust. Your body begins to trust that you’ll allow it whatever it wants the next time it sends a hunger cue.

When you build back that trust, you’ll start to naturally notice that you’ll hit a point when you feel “done” eating.

Now fullness can feel different for everyone, but often it may feel like: ⁠

  • A slight feeling of heaviness
  • Feeling of weight in the belly⁠
  • A somewhat bloated or rounded belly⁠
  • A feeling of “nope, I don’t want any more food I’m done”
Finding “Comfortable” Fullness

For most people, when they eat to the point of “comfortable” fullness they are generally are able to go 3-4 hours before thoughts of food pop up again and before they get hungry.⁠

This is a great place to experiment: What happens if you push a bit past what you think “comfortable” fullness is?

  • How does that feel?
  • Do you feel more satiated?
  • Are you able to go several hours before thinking about food?
  • When do you start to get hungry again?

An example from one of my clients: she realized that when she ate to her “comfortable fullness” she was able to go 3-4 hours at work without thinking of food, she could concentrate better, and she had more energy during the day.

Again, there is no right or wrong and no “messing up.” Experiment, get curious, and notice what you feel in your body.

Stay Flexible

Although it can help to play around with your feelings of fullness and examine what those sensations feel like in your body, try not to force the “stop eating when comfortably full” thing. As I mentioned above, this tends to backfire because it causes a feeling of scarcity and can trigger the rebellious part of you to say, “Eff it. I’m going to do what I want,” and keep eating.

When you feel ready to practice noticing different levels of fullness, the hunger-fullness scale can be a helpful tool. The sensation of fullness varies from person to person. Play around with what “comfortable” versus “slightly overfull” versus “really uncomfortable” feel like to you.

Remember: you can be tuned in to your body’s hunger and fullness cues and still eat past the point of comfortable fullness, which is okay (and completely normal!).

Try to notice any rigid pattern of thinking and call it out as diet mentality. Use self-compassion and remind yourself that there is no such thing as “perfect” eating. You’re involved in a learning process with the goal of exploring your body’s sensations and cues.

Exploration, experimenting, and curiosity are the goals—not perfection.

How to Build a Filling Meal

In general, a filling meal will include several things:

  1. All three macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat.
  2. Foods that taste good and are satisfying to you.

Certain foods will fill you up for a longer period, and others will keep you full for a shorter time. Neither one is “good” or “bad”; it’s just information. You can file that information away and use it—as part of your brain knowledge—along with your body knowledge to help make food decisions down the road.

For example, a client of mine used to crave dessert all of the time and would beat herself up when she wouldn’t stop eating when she felt full.

Here’s what was going on: she had relegated sweets to the “bad” category, so she was only “allowing” herself to have dessert a certain number of times each week. She was also doing more grazing during the first half of the day, not ever sitting down to a full meal until dinner.

When we started working together, one of the first things we did was remove the dessert restriction. She also made an effort to notice her hunger cues and eat more consistently throughout the day whenever she felt hungry.

After several weeks of doing this, my client shared:

“Before, my favorite thing to eat would be dessert. I would crave it all the time, especially when I got home from work and after dinner. Now that I’m allowing myself to have dessert whenever I want. I’ve realized that the meals that are most filling and satisfying are those that are full meals that are more substantial. I’ve been craving meals that have some type of meat or protein, a starchy carb, and vegetables. I still want dessert, but I feel so much more full and satiated during the day when I eat a ‘full’ meal.”

Fullness is not the same as satisfaction.

You can only eat so many broccoli florets or high-fiber crackers before you feel full. But while these foods may take care of the physical part of satiety, what about the mental aspect?

So you feel full after eating a huge bowl of veggies, but are you satisfied? Chances are, the answer is no. And when you don’t feel satisfied, you’ll continue to search for foods to give you that satisfied feeling, regardless of how full your stomach is.

Next time you pick something to eat consider both what will fill you up AND be satisfying to you. 

Some Bloating is Normal

If you’re not used to eating enough, then “comfortable” fullness may feel a bit uncomfortable. However, that doesn’t mean you’ve eaten “too much.” It means that your body may legitimately need much more food than your feeling of “comfortable” (or “acceptable”) fullness suggests.

You may need to get used to what fullness actually feels like. For example, occasional bloating and gas is totally normal and is not necessarily a sign that you’ve eaten “too much.” Feeling bloated occasionally is no different than getting a headache occasionally – it just happens. This is your body just doing its thing. Unless it’s happening on a regular basis or becomes painful, it’s probably not something to worry about (though when in doubt, check with your doctor).

For people who’ve been restricting or engaging in other disordered eating behaviors, some level of delayed stomach emptying is very common. This means that you may feel heartburn, bloating, or gas, or you may notice that you get full quickly.

Most of the time, this is a normal and expected part of the process. Over time, as you eat more, have a larger variety of food, and work on reducing anxiety or stress (which can cause gastrointestinal issues), these symptoms do typically resolve.

Looking for more support?

My team and I offer virtual one-on-one coaching and can help you get out of the all-or-nothing mindset, find the gray area, and make peace with food and your body – check out our nutrition coaching packages to learn more.

You can also check out my Unapologetic Eating 101 Course, an online, self-paced intuitive eating and body image program to liberate yourself from dieting and make peace with food and your body.

How to keep eating when full?


How to change your eating habits?

  1. Don't skip meals. You must be hungry when you eat. …
  2. Take breaks before eating. …
  3. Get rid of distractions. …
  4. Chew more bites. …
  5. Follow. …
  6. Eliminate stress. …
  7. Eat at home. …
  8. Choose healthy foods.

Then how can I expand my stomach for a smorgasbord?

What to Eat Before You Go: Easily digestible foods like yogurt, apples and cereal 2-3 hours before will help your stomach expand and you'll be hungry again by the time you get to the buffet.

In the same way, how can I train my stomach to eat more?


16 ways to increase your appetite

  1. Eat small meals more often. Share on Pinterest. …
  2. Eat foods rich in nutrients. …
  3. Add more calories to your food. …
  4. Turn eating into a pleasant social activity. …
  5. Trick your brain with plates of different sizes. …
  6. Schedule your meal times. …
  7. Don't skip breakfast. …
  8. Eat less fiber.

Related to this Why do I overeat even when I am full? A new study from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center suggests that ghrelin, a hormone your body releases when you're hungry, may also affect the brain, influencing the hedonistic aspects of eating behavior. As a result, we continue eat "pleasant" food even when we are full.

How do you overeat?


16 ways to overeat

  1. Emotional eating. …
  2. Often eats on the run. …
  3. Random food. …
  4. Eating foods that are high in calories or fat. …
  5. Eating a lot of unhealthy food. …
  6. Overeating at every meal. …
  7. Food fast. …
  8. Constantly snacking.

Can you be kicked out of the buffet for eating too much? Yes, You may be banned from buffet for eating too much.

Contents

Is it possible to constantly stretch the stomach?

The only way to physically and permanently reduce the size of the abdomen is to undergo surgery . Over time, you can lose total fat by making healthy food choices, but this will not affect your stomach size.

Do buffets add something to food to fill you up?

We don't have much room in our stomachs, and buffets are counting on to quickly fill that space . They can also do this with inexpensive, high-carb foods. … In some places they even give big spoons for such dishes. Plate size is also an important factor in buffets.

Is it possible to increase the volume of the stomach?

The only way to physically and permanently reduce the size of the abdomen is do operation . Over time, you can lose total fat by making healthy food choices, but this will not affect your stomach size.

How can I gain weight if I'm not hungry?

Start with 3 meals a day and 2-3 snacks a day . Set an alarm to remind you to eat if you don't experience regular hunger signals or find it hard to remember to eat. Try to include more nutritious and high-calorie foods in your diet, such as nuts and nut butters, dried fruits, cheese, muesli bars and avocados.

How do I get ECT?
  1. Reduce portions. You don't have to cut out the foods you like from your diet. …
  2. Eat slowly. Set your fork aside while eating while you chew. …
  3. Make healthy snacks. If you need to snack, eat low-calorie foods such as fruits or vegetables. …
  4. Reduce your fat intake. …
  5. Don't eat after dinner. …
  6. To drink a lot of water. …
  7. Eat at the table.

Why can't I control my diet?

Some people who overeat suffer from a clinical condition called binge eating disorder (BED) . People with BED compulsively eat large amounts of food in a short amount of time and experience guilt or shame afterwards. And they do it often: at least once a week for at least 3 months. Not everyone who overeats is a drunkard.

How can I stop eating if I'm not hungry?


What if you are always hungry?

  1. Eat more low-calorie foods like vegetables so you can fill up without taking in more calories than you need.
  2. Focus on fiber and protein, which fill you up with nutrients that keep you hungry longer. …
  3. Limit foods high in refined sugar and starch, as they can lead to hunger sooner.

How to stop food cravings?


Here are 11 easy ways to prevent or stop junk food and sugar cravings.

  1. Drink water. Thirst is often confused with hunger or food cravings. …
  2. Eat more protein. …
  3. Stay away from craving. …
  4. Plan your meals. …
  5. Avoid excessive hunger. …
  6. Fight stress. …
  7. Take spinach extract. …
  8. Get enough sleep.

Should I vomit if I eat too much?

Too much food or alcohol can cause vomiting. This is usually not a cause for concern . Vomiting by itself is not a condition. This is a symptom of other diseases.

How can I not eat all day?


23 easy ways to stop overeating

  1. Eating too much in one sitting or consuming too many calories throughout the day are common habits that can be hard to break. …
  2. Get rid of distractions. …
  3. Know your trigger foods. …
  4. Don't ban all your favorite foods. …
  5. Try volumetry. …
  6. Don't eat from containers. …
  7. Reduce stress.

Why am I always hungry?

You may feel hungry often if your diet lacks protein, fiber or fat, which promote satiety and reduce appetite. Extreme hunger is also a sign of poor sleep and chronic stress. In addition, some medicines and diseases are known to cause frequent hunger.

How to win a buffet table?


Here are the best ways to get closer to all you can eat at a restaurant buffet so you can spend less and eat more:

  1. Find buffets with the best deals. …
  2. Choose the buffet that suits your tastes. …
  3. Aim for restaurants with a variety of cuisines. …
  4. Eat buffet for lunch, not dinner. …
  5. Have breakfast before heading to the buffet.

What should I eat first at the buffet?

Start with soups or salad as the "higher water content" makes it easier for your body to process (and settle in your stomach) much faster than a bowl of pasta or a large piece of beef. He says that keeping up with the times is a better idea than stuffing it down your throat as quickly as possible.

Do buffets lose money?

Even if a person - let's call him Frank - comes and eats three times as much as a normal person, the buffet still does not lose money because they put their food costs, their overhead and their profits into that what they charge.

Stomach size with a fist?

The empty stomach is the size of a fist but can expand to hold up to 4 liters of food and liquid, or more than 75 times its empty volume, and then return to its original size when empty.

Can your stomach explode?

According to pathologist reports, 's stomach is able to process up to three liters of normally, but most cases of rupture occur when a person tries to fill the stomach with about five liters of food or liquid.

How to get a flat stomach overnight?


5 tips to get a flat stomach overnight

  1. #1 Cut out sugar.
  2. #2 Take a warm shower before bed.
  3. #3 Drink ginger or chamomile tea.
  4. #4 Dinner early.
  5. #5 Add a probiotic at night.

Editors. 14 - Last update. 19 days ago - Authors. 6

how to stop eating without feeling hungry - She - tsn.ua

Surely this has happened to you more than once: it seems that you don’t feel hunger, and you don’t have much appetite, but all the time you chew something - that cookie, then candy, and sometimes something more substantial - cheesecakes freshly fried by mom (they smell all over the apartment, how can you not be tempted here!), then a sandwich with sausage (it’s so tasty!) And in addition just a piece of a loaf (when you brought it from the store, it was still hot). Some time later, having assessed the scale of the food disaster, you are horrified and think: "Why am I eating like crazy - what's wrong with me ?!"

Why do we eat when we're not hungry

Humans, unlike animals who only eat when they're hungry, often don't mind eating something—sometimes quite a lot—between meals. Such stable expressions as “appetite comes with eating”, “eat for company”, “eat so that goodness does not disappear”, “seize the problem”, are known to everyone and they talk about this particular problem. And the fact that irrational nutrition in our time has become a global problem, no one has any doubts or objections.

Also read

The reasons for overeating in each person are purely individual. For some, the process of eating is associated with parental love, for others - with a cure for sadness and longing, for others - with gatherings in a friendly company, for others - with solving serious issues in business negotiations - more precisely, during the accompanying buffet table, and this list can go on for quite some time.

The problem of overeating comes from childhood
Weight loss and healthy eating

But the roots of this problem, like many other psychological problems, in any case, go back to childhood. Excessive parental anxiety about the "malnutrition" of a beloved child and ignoring the feeling of satiety develops a persistent habit of overeating in a child. And parental manipulations "a spoon for mom, a spoon for dad" or the fear of becoming bad for mom because of refusal is - "mom tried - she cooked!" - teach to absorb food, regardless of the feeling of hunger and satiety.

From childhood, we also associate food with a feeling of warmth, comfort and tranquility: if you are full, it means that someone who loves has taken care of you. Growing up, we adopt the habit of expressing our love in a "culinary" way, and with it the fear of losing this very love. So, a young husband chokes, but praises what he - very clumsily - has prepared for his young wife, who, in turn, visiting her mother-in-law is forced, smiling wryly, to eat salads generously seasoned with mayonnaise, which she has long excluded from her diet.

By the way, "trouble eating" also came to us from childhood - to reduce stress and anxiety, you need to feel loved and protected from troubles, and for this, again, you need to eat. However, in addition to this, a person who is nervous, in the process of eating, displaces the feeling of anxiety, replacing it with action - chewing.

How to deal with the constant desire to eat

It is quite difficult to figure out where exactly your tendency to overeat comes from - it is better to turn to a psychologist with this question. But you can get rid of the desire to constantly snack without outside help - it’s not so difficult, but you still have to show perseverance and willpower.

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Wait until you feel hungry. First of all, make a rule for yourself: eat only when you feel hungry - from one meal to another, this averages four hours. Do not confuse physiological hunger, when food is needed to maintain strength, with psychological hunger - the desire to curb your emotions, no matter positive or negative, with the help of food. If you understand that your hunger is psychological, try to refrain from snacking. It may be difficult at first, but over time, the ability to overdo yourself will turn into a habit that you can be proud of.

Learn to eat properly. Remember that the ability to eat correctly is a real science, and perhaps an art. Take your time and do not swallow food, chew thoroughly to feel the taste of each bite. Since satiety occurs at the level of the stomach before the signal reaches the brain, take breaks during meals - this will ensure that you do not eat more than you need. And, most importantly, know how to stop on the verge of undereating and overeating, because this is exactly the case when it is better to undereat a little than even a little bit, but overeat.

Learn substitution. Whatever the reasons for overeating, for some reason your body needs them. Learn to replace them with other activities. If you need warmth and affection, ask your loved ones for them. Are you sad? Go to the theater or watch a good movie. Are you worried? Dance or play sports. There are a lot of options, the main thing is that they are not related to food.

Alexandra Voloshin

We would like to thank the psychologist Marina Eliseeva for help in revealing the topic.

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