By Jessica Sepel – The Healthy Life
@jshealth

Why do I keep eating even though I am full?

I so get you. You are sitting at your meal, and you can’t help but finish every morsel of food left on your plate – even though you are full or perhaps you weren’t even hungry in the first place.

I have been there.

It almost feels like you can’t control it.

But you can. It takes time and practice, but you will get there.

There are many reasons we overeat or don’t listen to the “full signal.” From my experience, though, it is about this simple concept – we have lost the connection with our bodies.

We simply don’t listen to our bodies needs or we don’t love them enough to listen.

When it comes to overeating at meals or bingeing there is also an emotional and physical reason:

Emotional: you are hungry for something. Not food. Something in your life is missing, so food fills this gap. Or, something is making you feel uncomfortable and food is your distraction/escape.

Physical: you haven’t eat enough during the day. Or, you have unbalanced blood sugar levels from eating irregular meals and sugar filled/processed foods. Or, you are not eating enough satiating macro nutrients (eg: food fats and protein) and you can’t help but eat when you get your hands on food.

I don’t blame you.

What to do?

1. Start to fall back in love with yourself.

When you have enough love and respect for your body – you would never want to overfill it with food until you feel uncomfortable. I have a section of my book, The Healthy Life, dedicated to this.

2. Eat regular meals.

From my nutritional knowledge and personal experience, people thrive off eating 5 small meals per day. The two snacks in between really balance your blood sugar levels and prevent you from overeating. My 5pm snack really helps me from overeating at dinner. Those who overeat at dinner tend to end up bingeing after dinner. That 5pm snack can prevent this.

3. Uncover old pain in your life.

See a good therapist – this saved my life! It is painful and sometimes expensive, but worth it.

4. Eat protein and good fats.

They are the two most satiating macronutrients – eat them with every meal! No better way! And they are so good for hormonal balance. Give up sugar, processed foods and refined carbs to balance blood sugar for life.

5. Remember that food is abundant.

Your next meal is just around the corner. Say this to yourself at each meal. Food is not going anywhere. This reminder really helped me.