Why We Overeat - Part 2: Making Change
In my last blog post, I was explaining how emotional eating gets hardwired in your brain.
If you remember, I described emotional eating as forging a path while you’re hiking. The more you reward yourself with food, the more that path becomes easier to travel. But let’s say you’re ready to try a new path (the kind that aligns with who you are now), what’s the best way to go about that?
-
Don’t do a complete overhaul! Yes, you can manage radical change for a bit, but ultimately it becomes overwhelming for most of us. And it typically creates all or nothing action. Meaning you are either doing the new program or you are eating exactly how you ate before. Neither creates peace with food nor “normal” eating habits.
-
Move forward with tiny changes. Most of us make a bunch of tiny choices that, together, end up causing big problems. Some of us have just 1 logjam that needs clearing. Regardless of which category you fall in, work at changing them incrementally over time.
-
Make it easy to make change. Visual cues are the greatest catalyst for our behavior - sight makes up 90% of all our sensory receptors!! What does this mean? If you’re trying to exercise, leave your sneakers or workout bag where you can see them! If you’re trying to make better eating choices, keep junk food where it’s hard to see. Grab my Kitchen Reboot Guide for a quick tutorial on how to organize your kitchen to support better eating.
Never underestimate the power of small changes. It’s the little things we do every day that add up to big changes. If you want to read more on little changes and their impact, check out Atomic Habits by James Clear.