What Made Me Eat That?

What made me eat that?!

Self sabotage is one of the most frustrating challenges - especially when it feels like something took over your brain and made you eat a forbidden food.

Have you ever had this scenario.....

One minute you have so much motivation to stick to your healthy eating plan. You're officially done with the cookies and never looking back!

Then, all of the sudden, it's like you go tunnel vision...

You start hearing thoughts like, "Well, what's one cookie going to do? I'm sure it will be fine... "

All of the sudden you're 10 cookies in. The box is empty. You're feeling stuffed, guilty, and wondering, "What the hell just happened?! I was so motivated less than 10 minutes ago. Why would I do this to myself?"

If these moments have happened to you and it feels like something took control over your brain and you went full zombie mode, well, it did.

There's a scientific reason why it feels like something took control over your brain.

It all comes down to what area of your brain is active.

Meet your prefrontal cortex in your brain. It is active when your body feels safe and calm. It gives you good willpower and rational thinking.

You might notice that on a day when it's sunny outside, you have a good song on, and you're in a good mood, you also have great willpower and desire to go exercise or eat a salad.

That's because your brain feels that you're safe enough to make some changes and physically take on challenges.

Now, meet your amygdala.

It has an opposite job of the prefrontal cortex. Its job is to keep you SAFE, and safety ALWAYS takes priority over any other function in the body - including your desire to lose weight or get healthy.

You might think that getting healthy or healing your body is a priority but safety is actually always number one.

It's extremely difficult to lose weight in a safety response.

This is because weight loss is not a good survival mechanism, unless body fat absolutely needs to be used for energy, but the body's mechanisms will also shift to try to retain body fat and increase food intake for survival.

This part of your brain works by constantly scanning your environment as well as inside of your body for any signs of stress or danger. This could be an actual immediate threat, or any stress or discomfort, such as uncomfortable emotions.

When this area of the brain becomes active, it takes control! This is why you feel like something is controlling you.

It shuts off activity in the prefrontal cortex, so willpower immediately stops and rational thinking goes away. Its job is to get you to eat food for "survival."

So, all of the sudden, your body is driven to find food, especially sweets and carbs because it's a quick fuel source for energy, and you experience an almost animalistic like response.

You go tunnel vision and can't stop eating the foods that you swore you were done with.

Trying to overcome food cravings in this state can feel near impossible. You're going head to head with PRIMAL survival instincts that your body was built with.

And once you give in and eat the forbidden foods, your brain gets the signal that excess calories were provided for safety, and the prefrontal cortex comes back online. And once the prefrontal cortex is active again, you have your rational thinking back and wonder, "Why would I eat that?!"

Taking Back Your Power.

Here's what is SO important.....

extreme diet rules and restrictions can further trigger your safety response! 😱

This is why it's easy to do an extreme diet and lose self trust around food.

The good news is, taking back your power from this hypnosis is not as hard as it seems. It all comes down to regulating your nervous system, so that your prefrontal cortex is active and your body feels safe. In this state, you might enjoy the taste of good food, but it won't feel like a willpower battle. It feels pretty easy to say yes or no to foods.

If you want to break the hypnosis and feel in charge of your food decisions, without a willpower food fight.. here's what to do:

1. Create safety in your body and nervous system to get your prefrontal cortex working. This will make change SO much easier. This is how I help my clients change their eating habits, without needing willpower or a food war. When your body is in a safe state, cravings are kept in check and you feel in control over your food choices.

   Some techniques include, meditation, breathing, or healthy ways to support emotions. If you'd like to learn the specific technique I use for myself and teach to all of my clients, I'll be sharing it in the upcoming Conquering Cravings Course.

2. When changing your eating habits, do it SLOWLY! Extreme dieting can trigger the amygdala's safety mechanism and cause a takeover and binge. I find that slow and steady changes is where the magic really is. What is considered slow? Notice if you're making changes at a pace that you think you can sustain long term. I usually have my clients only make 1 small micro change per week, at the most.

The Power of Nervous System Regulation.

When you create safety in your body - it's POWERFUL.

Here is one of the many real life stories of one of my students who used these methods to calm her nervous system and create safety in her body:

It wasn't until her body felt safe that her appetite decreased and her body was able to lose weight.

Does that make sense or give you more compassion around why you might not have had control over your food?

I LOVE teaching others how to trust their body again! If you'd like to come learn along side me, the live Conquering Cravings class is coming up soon! I'd love to have you join me live and come get all the support you need.

I teach the exact steps that I used to make peace with my food and trust myself again. I'd love to show you how too! No matter how many times you've self sabotaged, lost control, or have failed at diets. Anyone can learn it. This is a fail - proof class!

So, if you're feeling like this might be the next step on your journey, check it out here: Conquering Cravings Masterclass

And, as a thank you for being a loyal reading and making it all the way to the bottom here, you can use this code for a special discount on the class: BLOG50

Cheering you on, wherever you are on your own journey -

~ gina