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One question I get all the time is, "Jill, at night I can't stop eating crap. I know it's not because I'm hungry because I just ate dinner, but honestly, I don't know how to stop. Please help!"

Perhaps you can relate? At Metabolic Effect, we call this "continuous meal" when you eat straight from dinner until bedtime, grazing through the cabinets and fridge taking bites out of little things here and there, until finally, FINALLY you get enough willpower together to call it a night and go to bed feeling full, shameful and defeated, like, "I did it again."

I can totally relate to that. 

In fact, I used to have this whole nighttime ritual in my early 20s, at the time when I'd work my ass off at the gym all day, teaching 2-3 fitness classes on top of my own workouts, and then come home famished and feeling deserving of a "reward" for getting through such a hard day. I'd have dinner and then after dinner, I'd get out this "reduced fat" pint of ice cream and eat exactly one half of the pint. Then I would put that back, and then grab a bowl and fill it to the top with popcorn and eat that, because you know, you can't have sweet without salty! And then I would eat 2 pieces of dark chocolate (those are healthy, right?). And then at that point, it was game on and whatever I could find I'd eat!

Ugh!

What is going on here? 

I know I'm not hungry. In fact, I'm actually stuffed! And yet I can't stop eating?

Well, the topic of "emotional eating" is so, sooooo far reaching and we could talk about it for days, but for simplicity's sake, consider that there are 2 pieces of the puzzle:

• Physiological implications - Your body is actually craving. e.g. cravings can have to do with not being satisfied enough earlier in the day, maybe you skimped on protein or fiber, maybe you didn't employ your preemptive cheats, maybe your meal plan is too depriving, maybe you're doing too much cardio, maybe you're running on too little sleep or aren't paying attention to your stress levels. These things affect your actual biochemistry to make you crave. Brain chemistry is a consideration too, which is why the ME Cocoa Drink really helps because it increases serotonin and dopamine naturally (mix 1-2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder with hot water, at stevia to sweeten)

• Psychological implications - You want to eat because you want to eat. This is where the "reward" or the "I deserve a treat for being so good/hardworking/disciplined/victimized, etc" comes in. Sometimes, we eat because behaviorally it's time to eat. "Oh, the TV is on, time to eat." or "Oh, it's 8pm, kids are in bed, time to break out the ice cream." or "I'm sitting on the couch, it's a cue I should eat now."  We don't actually think these things consciously, it's just the habit loop we've established. 

Remember, I am not judging it behavior at all, I did it for many years and still do it at times! BUT, I have also started to become aware of WHY I do it when I do it.

So I want to share with you one simple tool that can help: The 5 Why's 

You might have heard of this before. You ask "why?" five times and allow the answers to appear and build on one another to offer insight and actions steps.

Example: You are eating a pint of ice cream in front of the television at 10pm.

1. WHY am I eat this? ----> Because I'm trying to relax.
2. WHY do I need to relax? ----> Because I had a hard day and food helps me zone out.
3. WHY do I need to zone out? ----> Because thinking about my stress makes me anxious.
4. WHY am I anxious? ---> Because I don't feel like I'm getting my needs met at work/at home/in my relationships, etc.
5. WHY am I not getting my needs met? ----> Because I don't do what I need to do for me, and I'm constantly putting other people's needs ahead of mine and I can't seem to carve out time for myself.

BOOM. Action steps abound!

Conclusion: Maybe if I did carve out time for myself to do the things I need to do for me, I wouldn't be as stressed and anxious when I get home and feel the need to eat my feelings. 

This is an example of how to use The 5 Why's to begin to uncover the real reasons behind the emotional eating. People say all the time, "I eat my feelings," so maybe finding a way to instead express those feelings, either through words, actions, boundaries, scheduling changes, speaking your truth, etc, you can alleviate some of the emotion that you're trying to bury with food.