A all forms of overeating is caused buy an urge, an uncontrollable desire to eat, as much as possible and right away. Without the urge, there won’t be the need for overeating or a binge in some cases.

The hypothalamus, sometimes called the “lizard brain” or “animal brain” or “lower brain”. My clients have lovingly started referring to this brain as the food zombie!!

The hypothalamus controls hunger body temperature, thirst, fatigue, and sleep. This is the primal selfish part of the brain that wants you to overeat, it wants you to binge eat, because it’s main job is to keep you alive and it hates discipline!!

Your food zombie will rationalise, It will tell you things like: “oh well, you’ve eaten one cookie, you might as well buy more binge food” , “I just need to get over this day, a binge will make me feel better”, “Your day is already ruined, you may as well finish the Oreo sleeve so you won’t be tempted tomorrow”. “nuts are healthy, one more handful won’t hurt”. This is called an urge.

Here’s the thing about the hypothalamus, it can’t control motor movements on its own, it must convince the rest of your brain to do things for it. The food zombie can’t make you pick up food and it can’t make you put food in your mouth, it has to convince the rest of your brain to do those things. Because the food zombie can’t physically make you eat, it becomes very skilled at manipulating you into eating.

We need to take back our thoughts and power from the food zombie and beat the urge.
ACTIVITY:
Now that you know what causes a binge in the first place it’s time to face some of your old blowouts and ask yourself some real hard questions.
• What happened right before you overate?
(How was I feeling? Hungry, emotional, tired? )
• How was my day? (Relaxing/stressful/stuck at my desk all day?
• Did I feel hungry at any point during the day?
• What was the food zombie telling me before the binge?
• What pattern with food keeps repeating itself?

I run a Facebook group where I share about my recovery, It’s all about overcoming overeating, emotional eating and getting into a better mind space to exercise and eat better.

Join me there for weekly trainings on overeating, free challenges and special offers.