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5 Common Triggers for Overeating — and How to Avoid Them
September 16, 2024
Ever find yourself elbow-deep in a bag of chips only to realize you weren’t even hungry?
If you want to change that, the first step is understanding how you got there.
See if any of these common triggers for overeating apply to you — and what you can try instead.
1. Emotional triggers
Three of the biggest culprits all relate back to your emotions:
“When you eat as a response to an emotion, your brain is looking for a short-term distraction and relief,” says Danielle Friedman, MD, a bariatric and minimally invasive surgeon with the Hartford HealthCare Digestive Health Institute.
What to do instead: Explore other coping mechanisms. Can you create a new habit that doesn’t include food? Maybe you take a walk when you’re feeling stressed, or cue up a virtual yoga class when you’re restless.
> Related: What to Do When Diet and Exercise Aren’t Helping You Lose Weight
2. Environmental cues
The human brain loves a pattern. And once it thinks it’s detected one, it primes you to keep it up. That includes environmental cues like time of day and certain activities.
“When you sit down on the couch after dinner and automatically reach for a snack, that’s an environmental cue,” says Dr. Friedman.
What to do instead: Pay attention to when and where you needlessly eat. Then change something about that routine, like choosing a different part of the home to wind down in, or a cup of tea instead of beer.
> Related: 3 Tricks for Better Portion Control
3. Portion sizes
When the restaurant brings over the lumberjack special, or your grandma portions out a heaping bowl of her favorite spaghetti and sauce, who are you to question them?
With our deepest apologies to grandma, you should.
“Our focus on a clean plate can confuse us from paying attention to our body’s fullness signals,” says Dr. Friedman.
What to do instead: At home, use smaller plates and other dishware, which helps your eyes and brain accept healthier smaller portions as normal and filling. In restaurants, ask for a to-go box at the beginning of the meal, and immediately pack away half. (If you’re still hungry when you finish your plate, serve yourself more!)
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4. Social pressures
Whether you’re hovering by the cheeseboard or being passed plate after plate of appetizers, social gatherings tend to revolve around food — and the pressure to eat.
Plus we’re distracted by conversations, social cues and, often, alcohol, which makes it harder notice fullness cues.
What to do instead: “Eat a small, healthy snack before attending a social event,” suggests Dr. Friedman. “Practice polite refusal — come up with a short polite phrase like ‘No thanks, I’m perfectly full,’ and rehearse it in the mirror so it feels natural.”
5. Keeping unhealthy food around
Ever notice how it’s easy to overeat a plate of cookies, but not so much carrot sticks?
Our brains still have a soft spot for the kind of food that helped our ancestors run away from predators: high-calorie, sugary and fatty.
These foods, which have a short-term payoff in energy (followed by a crash), are usually low on nutrients. And because they make ancient parts of our brain light up, they can be particularly addictive.
What to do instead: Stock your home with healthy options instead. “If you have to drive to the grocery store for a pint of ice cream versus just reaching into your freezer, you’re likely to make a different choice,” says Dr. Friedman. This sets up some barriers between you and unhealthy food. Since you don’t need to run from any tigers today, you’re good to go.