Overeating Isn’t Really About Food

Overeating is like the last domino in a domino chain. It's an effect and a symptom of a deeper underlying cause.

When you tend towards overeating, it's a common thing to get very caught up in the details about eating and food.

We think about calories, macros, where we might encounter "tempting" food, who is bringing it into our home, what ingredients are in the food, and how we think the issue is just a lack of willpower.

This worry can become nearly an obsession, where we constantly turn over in our heads every detail of our diet and scenario in our life that we believe is a problem.

But overeating really isn't an issue of food or eating. It's an issue of emotions.

The better thing is to step back from the worry, the constant turning things over in our heads, and pull back to see a bird's eye view of the issue.

The bird's eye view, and the truth of it, is that your overeating is the end domino in a chain of events that is really all about your relationship to emotions.

Why would you rather eat than feel? What do you believe about feeling emotions? What emotions are you judging? What emotions are you afraid of and why?

To heal overeating, don't worry about the food, the temptations, the scenarios in your life.

Rather than worrying about the donuts your sister is going to bring to the house tomorrow, redirect your attention and focus to why you want to eat too many donuts in a way that will harm your health.

What is the bigger picture that's been playing out in your compulsive eating for this last year? These last 10 years? Maybe your whole life?

Figure out what started the domino chain for you, because overeating is just the very last domino in the chain.

Photo by Katie Sue Photography