Overdesire

Not only do we have to contend with overhunger, we also have to contend with overdesire. Overdesire is the desire for food not used to fuel our body, or the desire to eat when our body does not need any fuel.

Desire is a feeling or an emotion. All emotions begin with a thought. Most of these thoughts are unconscious due to repetition and neuropathways created by our lower brain.

Let’s talk about why we overdesire food.

We experience overdesire for three reasons. Today is reason #1.

Reason #1 –It’s a learned behavior.

Desire is something that is learned. The good news is that since we learned it, we can unlearn it. When you’re use to eating at certain times, thanks to ghrelin, you will continue to want to eat at these times whether or not you’re actually hungry. Think lunchtime, dinnertime, after-school snack time, popcorn during a movie, etc. They all have become a learned habit. Luckily, habits can be unlearned and broken.

I’m sure you’re familiar with Pavlov and his dogs. Pavlov would ring a bell and once his dogs heard it, they would salivate and expect food. We do the same thing with various triggers throughout the day. For instance, you might desire to eat every time you exercise, during naptime, when you’re around certain people, or at night while you’re watching TV. For me, I noticed I always wanted a snack as soon as I walked in the door from picking up my kids from school. However, if we stop answering these triggers with food, just like Pavlov’s dogs, we can retrain ourselves to no longer desire the food even though the triggers are still present.

For now,  just be aware. Pay attention during the day and make a note of times you feel “hungry” and what your possible triggers are.