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The Secret and Subconscious Fears Trigger Binge Eating (And How To Stop Them)

What if I told you that you might have a few secret fears that keep you stuck with binge eating?

I know that sounds a little bit crazy. Why would anyone be afraid to stop a behavior like binge eating?

But believe it or not, there are fears, emotions, and ideas that might be triggering you to binge–and without your even knowing it!

What fears lead to self-sabotage and continued binge and emotional eating? Find out right here!

 

 

Before we get into this one, I want you to know one thing.

Contrary to popular belief, clearing up your fears is just one part of breaking free from binging. There is more to freedom from binging than just tackling then emotional work.

There are brain patterns, habits, and physiological factors. There is also dieting itself, which is responsible for a lot of these binge triggers in the first place.

They are the undercover agents of binge eating, and they can be quite sneaky in keeping you stuck in the cycle.

I discovered over the years that there were specific fears that kept me reaching for food. I also saw those same fears in the women we have worked with at Beating Binge Eating, and I realized we were on to something.

I’m going to share those fears with you now. As you read, see if any of them resonate with you.

1- The fear of not looking a certain way. This has been a thing for women for ages. The belief that your worth in the world depends on your size has been passed down for generations.

Not only is this belief generational, but it’s also found in all kinds of societal messaging.

I believed that I needed to be a certain size to have what I wanted in life, and I believed it like crazy.

I believed that having a thin and fit body would give me opportunities in life. Everything from finding love to the getting perfect job to having friends depended on how I looked.

My entire belief system revolved around my looks and my size. I even thought I needed to “look good” to have even my basic human needs met. Things like recognition, significance, and belonging depended on my size.

Long story short, I believed that a thin and fit body was the only way to have a good life.

In our society, I admit that I would be lying if I denied that a thin and fit body doesn’t come with certain “privileges”, shall we say.

But, here’s the thing. Just because someone doesn’t meet the standard of a “thin and fit body” (whatever that even means) doesn’t mean they are unworthy. Everyone is worthy of all the love, connection, and success they desire.

You are 100% worthy right NOW, regardless of your size.

Still, there was a time that no amount of convincing would’ve made me believe this! I even went to some pretty crazy extremes to be the size I thought I needed to be.

One was that I took diet pills. Another was that I went on every crazy restrictive diet there was.

Even when my diets weren’t that restrictive, I was still thinking like a dieter. My dieter mentality was running the show behind the scenes, and I was still stuck in the binging cycle.

So why was this happening, even when I wasn’t technically on a diet?

The thing is, both physical dieting and mental dieting do the same thing to your brain. They both put you into what we call “survival mode.”

This means that your body and brain drive you to believe that food is scarce. The result is that you’re driven to think about food more, eat more food, and lose control with food.

So the bottom line?

The fear that I wouldn’t have the life I wanted if I wasn’t the right size led me to dieting. Dieting led me to binge eating. This cycle went on and on for years.

2- Fear of abandonment. Another big fear for me was abandonment. In my relationships, I had this inexplicable fear of being left.

For whatever reason, I believed that I was unworthy and unlovable. There was a sense of impending doom in my relationships, though I couldn’t tell you why.

I was in a few toxic relationship scenarios when I was in my early 20s. In each different relationship, I’d always end up getting hurt. This would inevitably trigger a series of binge and emotional eating, which lead to the next fear I’ll talk about.

3- The fear of being hurt and of being seen. For the longest time, I thought that turning to food was normal after painful breakups.

You know, that moment when you grab a pint of ice cream after a breakup, just like a scene from your favorite rom-com movie?

But the more I looked at it, I started to see a pattern.

The post-relationship binging led to extra weight on my body. And the extra weight was a subconscious way of protecting myself from future heartbreak.

After all, when I was heavier, I used it as an excuse to hide. I didn’t put myself out there. I didn’t get on dating sites. I hid from the world. I avoided the pain that might come from yet another breakup with a literal physical barrier.

The thing is, this kind of physical barrier can also be an excuse to play small in ALL areas of your life. It can turn into a reason to NOT step into the person you were meant to be.

For example, I wanted to be a coach. I wanted to be on camera, and be out in the world, doing what I was meant to do.

But binge eating and keeping on extra weight came from the fear of being seen.

So fear of being seen and getting attention is another emotion that might set off the binge alarms.

4- The fear of fear itself. Finally, there is a universal fear that so many of us have but might not recognize. The fear of emotions themselves.

That is, not knowing how to simply be with yourself.

For years I didn’t know how to handle myself at the end of the day. When the day calmed down, the world got quiet, and there was nothing but ME–that was terrifying.

So I got past that fear by heading for the refrigerator or raiding the cabinet. Which, in turn, kept the patterns in place and the binging going.

These are a few of the fears, emotions, and limiting beliefs that helped drive the binge machine in my life. I’ve seen them in countless other women, too.

But here’s the good news about fears, limiting beliefs, and binge eating…

You don’t have to eliminate ALL your unwanted beliefs and emotions to stop binging. All you have to do first is simply acknowledge them.

Be honest about your feelings, and let them arise without judgment. (This is actually a lot more doable than it sounds!)

The truth is that there are a LOT of contributing factors to binge eating. There’s dieting. There are physiological factors. There are brain patterns. And of course, there are the fears and beliefs.

Everyone has a little bit of all these factors going on, all of which create a sort of “binge eating cocktail,” if you will.

But my goal today was to share some of the lesser-known but powerful fears that can keep you stuck in the binge cycle.

The physiological factors can be more obvious. But some of the deeper stuff, like subconscious emotions, are a little trickier to spot.

But when you do catch those crafty emotions, you can shift them! That’s the best part–and a big step on the pathway to Food Freedom Forever!

If you need any support in this area, we are here for you!

Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!

If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up… 

Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!

Click the image above and let me know where to send them!

You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!

With our Craving Cards and Demo Series… 

You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast! 

Love,
Brittany

PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?

In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!

Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!

It’s our signature program, and up until recently, it was $3000 or more to join.

For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!

There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!

I don’t need to remind you that times are crazy right now. But I do want to do my best to contribute towards supporting you and our community through this chaos!

We’re spending a lot more time confined at home right now, and the side effects can be anything from cabin fever to just outright fear.

If you are someone that struggles with binge or emotional eating (like I used to), the current situation can bring on an especially unique nightmare.

And I think you know what I’m talking about…

You might have prepared for this situation by stocking your cabinets. But then you suddenly find yourself on lockdown with a house full of food.

Then again, you might be stressed because you’re not sure if your local grocery store will be able to restock its shelves from all the panic buying frenzies.

Either of these situations can make your brain set off the alarm buttons, all with the same type of message: there’s not enough food.

Things certainly are turbulent right now. But when you add a layer of food struggles on top of isolation and fear, it’s the exact recipe for a binge eating disaster. I truly don’t want that to happen to you!

Today I’ve got 3 important steps to help you overcome binge and emotional eating while you’re stuck at home.

Watch the video below, where you’ll learn how to methodically work with your brain and body to stop food triggers in the days of quarantines and social distancing.

 

 

Step 1: Get out of survival mode (because the truth is you WILL survive). If you’ve been here for a while, you know what I mean by “survival mode,” but just in case I’ll recap it for you.

Survival mode: the headspace you get into when you’ve been restricting your food (i.e. dieting) for a long time. Your brain begins to believe food is scarce, and it sounds the alarm bells that trigger you to eat now while you still can.

There are two main factors that drive survival responses. Number 1 – Restrictive and Repetitive food behaviors, like serial dieting. We all know this one pretty well.

Number 2 – this is what I call situational survival mode. It’s based on a perceived threat that food is genuinely scarce. (Like the current undercurrent of fear that grocery stores will run out of food, for example.)

So if binge and emotional eating are already struggles for you, there’s a one to two punch of scarcity hitting you hard right now. Relatable?

Here’s how that affects you at a physiological level.

Your brain gets the message (real or imagined) that food is in short supply. So it pushes the panic button and forces you to eat.

What happens next? You start thinking more and more about food. Cravings hit you hard. You 100% get susceptible to emotional eating. This is true even under normal circumstances.

Now, what if the current circumstances make you feel like your safety is at stake?

Sure, we’re in self quarantine for the best right now. What could be safer, right? But even if you feel safe at home most of the time, you’re dealing with a long list of unknowns right now (how long will this last, what happens next, etc.) That can make you uneasy about the future!

Then, there’s the whole isolation thing. As humans, we need connection, love, and belonging. But with social distancing and home-based quarantines, it’s easy to feel like those needs are under attack.

So the end result? You’re panicked because there might not be enough food. You’re not even sure if you’re safe anymore in your own home, and you don’t know how long you’ll be playing the lock down game.

All of our needs seem to be under attack. Talk about perfect conditions for stress eating! If the food struggle is real with you to start with, it can make you reach for a candy bar or a bag of chips even more often than usual.

So let’s take care of first things first!

Here are some simple steps to get out of survival mode:

-Take care of your physiological needs first. Make sure you’re eating enough food to take care of your body before you do anything else.

-Know that it’s OK to be afraid, but remember that you’re not alone. Reach out to your communities online, call and check in with someone, and get the support you need (even if it’s not IRL right now!).

-Give yourself some grace. You’re only human. It’s OK to feel how you feel. Take this time to love up and practice self-care as much as you can right now, and don’t forget to be gentle with yourself.

So take care of your basic needs, get as grounded as you can, and move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Manage the scarcity and abundance (of food). Two things are happening right now that aren’t normal. First, you’ve got the food scarcity mentality there won’t be enough, the grocery stores will run out of essentials, etc.

But the flip-side is (believe it or not!), food abundance.

Let’s say you’ve prepared for a long-term stay in the house. If that’s the case, you might actually have more food on hand than ever. (Maybe even certain foods that you don’t allow yourself very often.)

The result? You’re stuck inside with well-stocked cabinets, nothing to do, and no way of knowing how long you’ll be there. So what do you do? Grab a snack, of course! (Or two or ten…)

And this is not your fault.

How do you manage this one?

Be aware of these two extremes. Know that they both end the same way which is your brain triggering you to eat right now. So keep using the tips in Step 1, then keep an eye out for them.

This sets you up for Step 3!

Step 3: Cultivate the ability to self-regulate. You might be wondering what this even means. It’s only a fancy way to describe managing your emotions, and not letting them make you reach for comfort food at every turn.

There’s a lot of fear, overwhelm, and uncertainty right now. If you haven’t cultivated the skills to manage tough emotions without reaching for food, the extra stress can push you over the edge.

So instead of heading for the fridge in a fearful moment, try this:

-Make a list of things that help you keep calm. Maybe it’s yoga, meditation, a short walk inside the house, listening to your favorite song. Then use them when the stress hits instead of relying on comfort food.

(P.S. This strategy also has a bonus. The more you break the stress eating pattern and replace it with a more supportive alternative, the more it becomes your new pattern!)

—

So use these 3 steps, and use them well! They will help you stay grounded, focused, and in your power. And believe it or not, the benefits don’t stop there!

They’ll work wonders for your self esteem, which is a reflection of how you feel about yourself. They’ll also help lead you to self-actualization–that is, becoming the best version of you and leave you feeling empowered.

Here’s why this is more important now than ever…

The more grounded you are, the more easily you’ll handle any difficult situations. The more grounded people we have in our communities, the more empowered we will all be together. I call it community actualization, and this makes navigating tough times easier for everyone and the world!

Now, let’s get back to you for a minute.

If you’re stuck in a fear-based food frenzy, how can you fully show up for yourself, your family, and your community in times of chaos? I think you know the answer. You really can’t.

But, if you can ground yourself, take care of your needs, and rise to a higher state, you can be that true beacon of light. Not only for yourself, but for others as well! What more does this world even need!

Now more than ever, we need women like you in their power, feeling as good as possible, and being their best selves. But I don’t mean to pressure you! It’s not about being perfect, it’s just about taking one baby step at a time.

Because believe me, I know these steps are confusing and challenging, even in good times.

If you need any support in this area, we are here for you!

Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!

If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up… 

Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!

Click the image above and let me know where to send them!

You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!

With our Craving Cards and Demo Series… 

You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast! 

Love,
Brittany

PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?

In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!

Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!

It’s our signature program, and up until recently, it was $3000 or more to join.

For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!

There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!

Have you ever tried to quit your diet and then lost control on food? Here’s Why (And What To About It!)

Or even more frustrating…ended up gaining more weight? :/

I remember going through this vicious cycle over and over again and being so clueless about how to stop it. If you’re like most of us in the 21st century, problems mean one thing: get to Google and hit “search” anddddd that sometimes leaves you more confused than you were before.

In today’s world, you’ll find health coaches and fitness influencers everywhere telling you to STOP dieting. Then they replace diets with strategies “intuitive eating” and “listening to your body.”

This fundamentally is a GOOD thing (because we all know diets don’t for lasting change!). But there is a flip side to this “anti-diet” culture that just might blow your mind (and lead to disaster)…

I myself am a HUGE fan of dropping the diet, but unfortunately, quitting a diet cold turkey for “intuitive eating” can backfire big-time.

It can ultimately make you pack on the pounds, feel defeated, and go right back to what you know best…Dieting. (Only to have the entire cycle repeat itself again…UGH)

I don’t want this to happen to YOU because it only leaves you feeling demotivated about all the efforts you’ve taken previously that were actually setting you out on a new path.

Now that’s the bad news, but the good news is…

There IS a way to break the diet cycle for good without the side effects. You can let go of dieting and upgrade your relationship with food WITHOUT losing control on it and gaining a bunch of weight, and I’m about to share how-to’s in this week’s blog…

 

 

Let’s back up for a second and talk about why breaking out of the diet cycle is so important.

Restricting your food (i.e. a diet) causes some funky changes in your brain. It wires your brain into what we call “survival mode.” Your brain thinks that food is scarce. So it triggers you to think about food, have more cravings, and feel compulsive urges to eat.

Then you eat more, slow down your metabolism, stress your body out, gain more weight. All the things that you don’t want! This is why diets from Keto to Atkins and back again just don’t work.

You see, if you’ve been in the diet world for a long time, dieting is all you know. So when you try to stop cold, you’re left in unfamiliar territory. Which can lead you down a scary path if you’re not careful.

After years of food rules and restrictions, what happens when just like that, anything goes?

You realize that you don’t know what to do without the diet rules. Then you get scared. Then you realize that you still have those compulsive urges to eat. And lo and behold, all those forbidden foods are now allowed…

There are three main phases to our step-by-step process.

Phase 1: Take care of your needs FIRST. Your body’s needs come first. So make sure that you’re eating enough food to support it! This means eating meals that leave you feeling warm-bellied, grounded, and ready to go about your day.

Let’s be real. Those “little meals” you read about in Cosmopolitan magazine that supposedly speed up your metabolism actually don’t. A meal should always leave you satisfied, and, an apple and six almonds aren’t gonna do it.

Now, the end goal is to go from restriction to inclusion with food. But it doesn’t happen in one day! Here’s how to re-balance your meals in a gradual, healthy way.

Let’s say you’ve been doing a Keto-like diet and seriously cutting carbs. Quitting the diet and immediately gorging on pizza and french fries (just because you can) is not the way to go! Here’s what to do instead.

Look at the meals you’ve been eating, notice what you’ve cut out, and gradually add in those foods. If your low-carb diet is leaving you cold, choose a food that would make you feel that warm-bellied satisfaction. Then add it in, a little bit at a time.

The idea is to round out your meals in a balanced way. We’re not talking “all or nothing” with any kind of food. Go for reaching a satisfying balance instead, and do it one step at a time.

Phase 2: Break the cycle (it’s all in your head!) Now, I’m not implying that you’re crazy. I’m saying that urges to binge really are all in your head. Your brain, that is!

Say that you’ve gotten through Phase 1 and you’re feeling pretty good about food. Your body’s needs are being met, and you’re feeling satiated and grounded. You even feel confident enough to allow yourself a little bit of the foods that used to trigger you.

Now you need to get to the source of those binge urges, which are the habitual patterns in your brain. The ones that cause you to reach for food when you probably need something else.

Where did those patterns come from?

You see, what you do regularly eventually becomes automatic. You brush your teeth and drive to work every day without thinking about it. If you walked the same path across a grassy field enough, you’d eventually beat down a path. The same principle goes for food-based behavior.

If you’ve been dieting, survival mode and binge urges are all your brain knows. Sure, you can stop physically dieting. But if your mental patterns don’t change, you’ll still be thinking (and eventually behaving) like a serial dieter all over again.

So what do you do about it?

The key is breaking the patterns in your brain that trigger you to binge, and replace them with healthy and supportive patterns. When you break old patterns and shift the way you relate to food, magic happens.

No more waking up and “will powering” your way through the day. Your natural hunger-fullness cues return. You make supportive food choices without even trying. You can even allow yourself to enjoy special food occasions without worry!

Best of all, your body starts to trust you again. It knows you will feed and care for it properly, and doesn’t have to use fear-based survival tactics like cravings and binge urges anymore.

Phase 3: Connecting To And Honoring Your Body. Your natural hunger-fullness cues have returned. You’re rebuilding trust with your body. Now you’re able to connect to and honor your body, and make supportive food choices for life!

This means knowing when the supportive choice is a salad and knowing when it’s a dinner out with friends. You can allow yourself a little freedom without fear. You can support yourself physically with food, and also mentally and emotionally. That’s what we call Food Freedom Forever!

Now, let’s get into the bonus phase that could truly take your healing journey to new heights…

Phase 4: The Deep Stuff. Last but not least, this step can really put you over the top: the deep work. I’m talking about recognizing and healing emotional patterns and triggers that keep you stuck (sometimes without your knowledge).

Not everyone is willing to go there. But let me tell you, if you do, your results will be so much more empowering.

Now, a quick disclaimer: you don’t have to heal every emotional trauma before you start healing your relationship with food. I can tell you that I was a total mess when I started my journey. I had no money, lived on my friend’s couch, just got out of a horrendously toxic relationship–you get the picture. But still, I was able to stop binging and start healing.

However, the deep work made my journey so much more fulfilling and rewarding!

I learned a lot when I took the time to go deeper. I realized that I’d been putting my worth in my appearance. I tried everything to my body size, and to someone else’s idea of beauty.

I also learned to simply be with emotional triggers when they came up, and without turning to food. I learned to let go of my limiting beliefs, the ones that made my entire life all about what I ate and how I looked.

Now, I repeat–you don’t have to have your emotions and beliefs totally sorted out before you start the phases. But including this work will truly empower you to become the best version of yourself.

So these are the phases to take you from diet-obsessed to food freedom! Eating adequately, ending survival mode, and breaking old patterns is 90% of it. Healing emotions and limiting beliefs is a beautiful addition to take you the rest of the way!

The path to food freedom forever can be scary, especially if dieting has been your M.O. all your life. After all, if you quit the diet and don’t know what to do next, the default is going back to what you know–the diet.

But I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to do this alone!

Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!

If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up… 

Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!

Click the image above and let me know where to send them!

You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!

With our Craving Cards and Demo Series… 

You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast! 

Love,
Brittany

PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?

In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!

Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!

It’s our signature program, and up until recently, it was $3000 or more to join.

For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!

There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!

Just like there are a million diets out there, there are countless strategies that claim they can cure binge and emotional eating.

And just like diets, I’ve been there and done that with all of those things. I’m guessing you’ve probably tried a fair share of them yourself.

One of the more popular overeating cures out there is called “intuitive eating.”

When I was stuck on the diet-overeat-repeat rollercoaster, I was desperate for change. I knew that dieting only made things worse, and I needed another plan.

Intuitive eating seemed to be the anti-diet I’d been looking for, so I went all-in. I listened to my body like you were supposed to, hoping it would “tell” me what it needed.

Funny thing, but when I “listened to my body,” it told me to eat macaroni and cheese, Doritos, and pizza.

Where did I go wrong with intuitive eating? Was this “listen to your body” thing a joke, or just something that worked for everyone but me?

Turns out that I honestly didn’t know what intuitive eating meant.

Intuitive eating can be a useful tool. But there’s more to it than sitting back, listening to your body and hoping it tells you to eat kale salad instead of donuts.

Ready to learn the missing piece in the intuitive eating puzzle, and fine-tune your body’s natural hunger-fullness cues, and finally be free with food?

Stay with me and find out what intuitive eating really means, and how to truly listen to your body and actually get the answers you need!

 

 

One thing I love about intuitive eating is that it does encourage you to stop dieting. If you’ve hung out here before, you know that nothing sets you up for failure faster than a traditional restrictive eating plan.

But here’s the crazy part. If you’ve been dieting for most of your life, your body and brain are used to it. Abruptly stopping the diet for total food freedom can throw you into complete chaos.

Here’s how it frequently goes…

You stop dieting cold-turkey and try to “listen to your body.” But because you’ve been on the diet treadmill for so long, when you suddenly throw out all the rules, it triggers an overeating frenzy.

Then you get freaked out because you’re eating everything in sight. You’re terrified you’re going to gain weight, so you quit this intuitive eating thing and go right back to dieting.

I tried to shift from total restriction to total freedom. Turns out that instead, it lead to a food free-for-all.

Before I knew it, I was back to what I knew best: diet, overeat, guilt, repeat.

There are a few steps you need to take between full-on dieting and food freedom. Unfortunately, the usual intuitive eating methods pretty much skip them all.

The truth is that you have to get your body and brain out of survival mode before listening to your body will work. You can’t hear what your body is saying when its natural cues have been dulled by excessive dieting and fear-induced eating.

In other words, you’ve got to get out of stress eating mode before your body will actually start talking to you.

The transition starts in phases. I’ll show you what those phases are, and how to work through them one step at a time.

Phase One: Eat adequately. This might sound like a counter-intuitive eating question, but are you eating enough? I’m not talking about going on a food frenzy. I mean eating enough to take care of your body’s needs.

Start by eating balanced meals that have a variety of foods, including carbs (#sorrynotsorry, Keto army!). Meals that care for your body’s needs and leave you satisfied for at least a few hours.

Not those “mini-meals” like half an apple and four almonds, like Cosmopolitan magazine might tell you. It should leave you feeling slightly full but not stuffed, and not thinking about food for three to four hours.

Forget what diet culture says about feeling a little bit hungry. Make sure you’re satisfied.

Phase Two: Recognize your personal hunger-fullness cues. How do you know to “eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full?” If only it were that easy, right?

It honestly can be that simple, but it doesn’t just happen the minute you stop dieting.

Your body needs a chance to get out of the survival response that years of dieting brought on. That needs to end before your body actually speaks to you again.

So the more you ease yourself out of the diet-scarcity-survival response, the more your body will tell you when it needs to eat, and when it’s satisfied.

We all have slightly different hunger cues, hints that show up way before your stomach starts growling. (That’s more of a demand to eat than a signal!)

My hunger cues usually show up around my midsection, near the solar plexus. I also know I need to refuel when I start feeling just a little spacey and start losing concentration. That’s how I know it’s time for a nourishing and satisfying snack.

Now, remember that there’s a difference between your body asking or nourishment and wanting to eat something just because it’s there. This is the difference between listening to your body and listening to your mind triggers.

It might take time for your natural cues to return, especially if you’ve been dieting for a long time. So take it easy on yourself, and practice checking in with yourself, and start recognizing the difference between cravings and genuine hunger.

Phase Three: What is your body really asking for? Intuitive eating tells you to listen to your body, but it doesn’t really tell you how to interpret what it says.

You might get the idea that your body will “say” it wants a carrot or a salad in clear terms. But that’s not quite how it happens. (At least not in the beginning!)

These days I get pretty clear signals from my body, and navigating food choices is easy. But when I first started listening to my body, all I heard was a lot of chaotic screams.

So the more I got to know my body’s natural cues, the clearer its messages became. But it took time, and I didn’t start with direct questions (or immediate answers).

I started by asking myself how I wanted to feel, then decided what foods would support me in that.

Some foods help you feel grounded and calm. Others help you feel more energized. Still, others give you that check-out, celebrate with special treats, food-coma kind of vibe.

The key is knowing how you want to feel and choose a meal that will make you feel that way. It’s an essential step in connecting with your body, learning its cues, and interpreting what it has to tell you.

Here are a few examples of how this works…

Let’s say one day, I have a video shoot, and I need a meal that will get through four hours of camera time. I’d want something that would energize and sustain me for a long day in the studio.

My food choices would be very different if I needed to decompress after a stressful day. In that case, I’d be looking for a meal that was grounding and peaceful.

So let your body tell you what it needs based on how you want to feel, and you’re well on track to making intuitive eating work for you.

Phase Four: Build trust with yourself and your body. Now that you’re taking care of your body’s needs and you’re eating adequately, you’ll notice that something amazing starts to happen.

You begin building trust with your body.

Over time, you’ll eliminate those triggers that send your body into panic mode. You won’t be nearly as likely to give in to cravings, because your brain and body knows that food is not scarce, and you’re going to feed it properly.

This is one of the most significant advantages of getting out of survival mode and connecting with your body. It takes some time and patience, but the results are totally worth it.

So that’s the real deal with intuitive eating!

It can take time and patience to restore your body’s natural. But if you take your time and follow these tips, you’ll soon regain the connection to your body. That is what makes listening to your body and intuitive eating possible!

This can be a bumpy transition at times, though. Like we said before, intuitive eating is a useful tool, but it doesn’t magically work overnight. It’s pretty tough to go from strict dieting to “listening to your body” without taking the necessary steps.

That’s where my team and I can help!

Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!

If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up… 

Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!

Click the image above and let me know where to send them!

You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!

With our Craving Cards and Demo Series… 

You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast! 

Love,
Brittany

PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?

In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!

Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!

It’s our signature program, and up until recently it was $3000 or more to join.

For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!

There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!

I struggled with binge and emotional eating for years. And let me tell you, during those agonizing times, there were few things quite as painful as the morning after…

The morning after a night of binging or overeating that this…

I would wake up feeling gross, bloated, and shameful. And I’d almost always default to one of two actions.

I’d either decide that I’d already blown it, so I might as well keep eating and “start over tomorrow.” OR, I’d go crazy with a rebound diet, thinking I’d “make up” for the binge by eating clean and undoing the damage.

So it was either keep binging or barely eat.. Both were painful options. Neither of them worked.

No fun. And I know with this time of year, overeating can easily happen even for people who don’t struggle with food.

But what if there was a better way to bounce back when you’ve overdone it at the table? The good news is that there IS, and I’m going to share it with you here!

Overeating doesn’t make you weak, undisciplined, or broken. It’s just a thing that happened, and you can recover from it quickly, if you know how.

In the video below, I’ll show you how to release the guilt and take care of yourself when overeating strikes, and without making it mean anything about the person you really are.

 

 

Step 1: Recognize that overeating incidents happen. The first step is to treat any overeating session like what it is: an isolated incident. It’s just something that happened, and it doesn’t mean a thing about you.

Everyone overeats from time to time. It’s Thanksgiving dinner. You went to a party. You’re on vacation. Even on some random day, you might have an overeating moment.

So if you indulged at the table, know that you’re NOT a bad person. You don’t have a willpower problem. It doesn’t mean that you’re broken, flawed, or undisciplined.

Don’t make a big thing of it. Simply acknowledge it, and don’t punish yourself for it. Be honest about what happened, be kind, then take the steps to take care of yourself.

Which brings me to Step 2!

Step 2: Take care of yourself. Instead of punishing yourself for what you think you did, give yourself a little love and compassion. Listen to your body and honor its needs.

If you feel sluggish, ask yourself what you need to feel more energized. Maybe that’s eating nourishing food. It could be going for a walk or a run. It could be a yoga class, some meditation time, or a bit of rest.

But here’s the most important part: take action in the name of self-care, not self-punishment.

Don’t try to make up for what happened the night before, just give yourself what you need in this moment. Take your power back from food and do something for YOU.

Go for a walk, or sit in nature. Call a friend. Do some yoga, or have a dance break. Whatever sounds fun and supportive!

Just remember to take action from a place of loving care, not a place of punishment and hate.

Step 3: Stop the all-or-nothing (i.e. diet) mindset. This is a more proactive step, but it’s worth mentioning (since it might be one of the reasons why you overeat in the first place).

The more you diet, the worse your eventual food rebounds will be.

The stricter you are with food in your day-to-day life, the more likely you’ll lose control with food if you’re given a chance.

Here’s how that works…

Let’s say you’re on a super-strict, low-carb, low-fat, or low-whatever diet, and you’ve been on it for a while. What happens when you go to a party, a big dinner with friends, or at the Thanksgiving table?

Of course. You go all-out and raid the buffet table. You probably gorge on everything you can find. Because it’s now or never with the “cheat” food, right?

That’s what I call the “all or nothing” mentality. It’s the mindset that you’ve got to eat all of that forbidden food NOW before it’s gone.

Bottom line: the more you diet, the more likely you’ll overeat when you get the chance. That “now or never” attitude will take over, and you’ll eat everything in sight.

But if you live a more balanced lifestyle every day, you’re less likely to lose control, even on special occasions.

So allow yourself a little more freedom on the regular. Connect to your body every day and honor its needs. The more you use these two powerful practices, the less overeating will be an issue in the first place.

So remember this: overeating happens to everyone. It’s a normal thing, and it’s totally OK.

There is a natural ebb and flow to life, and food is a part of it. Embrace it instead of fighting it.

So, be as proactive as you can. Break out of the diet cycle and the “on-track, off-track” eating madness. Listen to your body and take care of yourself.

And if you have a binge or emotional eating moment, treat it as an isolated incident. Then take care of yourself in the aftermath.

I know this is easier said than done. But one thing is for sure–punishing yourself for overeating incidents just ISN’T worth it. Not only is it painful, but it also doesn’t work in the long run.

When I decided to stop punishing myself for overeating moments and put these practices to use, amazing changes happened. I recovered more quickly. I found more freedom with food. Eventually, I let go of binge and emotional eating for good.

This is not to say that I never overeat at all. I’m just like anyone else, and I have moments where I eat more than I planned! But when it does happen, I know how to handle it without shame or restriction.

This is the kind of freedom that I want for you, too!

If you need any support in this area, we are here for you!

Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!

If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up… 

Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!

Click the image above and let me know where to send them!

You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!

With our Craving Cards and Demo Series… 

You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast! 

Love,
Brittany

PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?

In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!

Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!

It’s our signature program, and up until recently, it was $3000 or more to join.

For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!

There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!

If you’ve ever struggled with binge or emotional eating, I bet you’ve spent a lot of time desperately seeking solutions.

Back in the day, I used to scour the internet looking for something–anything–that would help me stop my body-food struggles. I’ve been there, and I get it.

More than likely, the solutions you’ve found have been temporary solutions at best–and have backfired at worst.

So why doesn’t all that expert binge eating advice actually work? Does it mean that there are no real solutions, and you’re doomed to struggle with binge eating forever?

The answer is NO. You don’t have to stay stuck in the binge eating struggle for the rest of your life. No matter what you’ve read online or been told by a therapist, there IS a way out.

I had full-blown, massive, daily binges back in the day. Now I am completely free, and will never binge again. And it wasn’t because I found the perfect diet or went through 10 years of therapy.

Not only have I freed myself, but I’ve also helped thousands of women find their way to food freedom.

You DON’T have to struggle with binge eating for the rest of your life. You don’t have to rely on diets, willpower, or therapy. You can set yourself free once and for all without pain, shame, or struggle.

Sound too good to be true? Then you’re going to LOVE what I have to say! Read on (and check out the video below) and find out why you don’t have to struggle with binge eating forever!

 

 

First of all, what’s up with the conventional binge eating wisdom, and why does it usually fail so badly? That’s because it’s based on faulty logic and outdated ideas.

From my own experience and in working with clients, I’ve noticed two different trends based on two different schools of thought.

The first one is all about willpower and motivation. That means, of course, dieting.

You have to eat “healthy,” eat clean, stay on track with food to keep binging under control. It sets you up for a life of dieting, restriction, and control.

The second camp is geared toward those with more severe eating issues. It’s based on the idea that binge eating is a serious disorder, and you’ll just have to live with it.

That means that you’re going to need constant therapy and treatment, probably for the rest of your life.

Sure, you might “tame the beast” or learn emotional coping mechanisms. Maybe you’ll succeed at healing some of your past trauma or learn to keep triggers at bay. But it’ll always be a struggle.

(Interestingly enough, this is a common philosophy at many binge eating treatment centers…)

So there are two schools of thought. Both of them are based on faulty assumptions. Neither of them work, and I’ll tell you why.

They don’t address the real root causes of binge eating, so they can’t provide lasting solutions.

But here’s the good news. You don’t have to go with either of these schools of thought. There IS a better way. And it starts with understanding the real triggers behind binge eating.

After all, if you know where binge triggers really come from, you can deal with them in a way that actually works!

Now, let’s get down to the good stuff. I’m going to share the top 3 root causes of binging, and what you can do to stop them from triggering you.

You don’t have to struggle forever. You just need to know what you’re dealing with!

Let’s go ALL in and set the record straight about root causes of binge eating–and what to do to shut them down, once and for all.

Binge Eating Trigger #1: Dieting. Most of our clients at Beating Binge Eating have spent their lives dieting like crazy. Everything from Keto to Paleo to Atkins and back again.

But the unfortunate truth is that it doesn’t matter what diet you choose. In the end they all lead you to the same place.

That’s because dieting itself is, quite frankly, one of the biggest binge triggers there is.

Diets mean control. They thrive on a scarcity mentality, too. Here’s what I mean by that…

Restricting your food actually makes your brain believe that food is scarce. And when your brain perceives scarcity, it goes into overdrive to correct the situation.

This means you think about food all the time. You eventually get triggered to overeat. Both of these things make you a lot more vulnerable to binging.

Crazy as it sounds, the one thing that you think will prevent binging is the thing that actually triggers binging. So step #1 to dropping the struggle is letting go of the diet.

Binge Eating Trigger #2: Managing stress and overwhelm with food. Here’s a question for you. How comfortable are you with your emotions? If you said “not very,” you’re not alone. Difficulty in managing stress and emotions often leads to a warped relationship with food.

It’s a lot more tempting to push down emotions rather than let them out, and food is one of the most common emotion-squelchers out there.

Emotional triggers make you reach for food. If you’re not careful, food becomes a habitual go-to when life gets too stressful.

But if you take your time, and learn to simply BE with your emotions, your relationship with food can radically shift, too.

Binge Eating Trigger #3: Patterns turning into habit. Triggers create responses. The more that you respond in the same way (like binging and emotional eating), the more you create behavior patterns.

That means that if you default to binge triggers often enough, binging becomes a regular thing.
Your brain becomes what we call “wired to binge.” Behaviors start repeating on autopilot, sometimes before you know what happened.

Here’s a quick analogy. Say that you were on one side of a grassy field, and you wanted to walk to the other side. What would happen if you walked the same path from one end to the other 100 times?

You’d eventually create a well-beaten path across the field. This path becomes the path of least resistance.

This is what happens when your brain becomes “wired to binge.” You default to binge triggers often enough that binging becomes your new normal.

Now, let’s go back to the grassy field example. Suppose that a roadblock suddenly showed up in the middle of that path you created. What happens next? You’d need to create a new way to get to the same place.

If you repeated the new path often enough, it would eventually become the new path of least resistance. So what does this mean?

You might have one default pattern set now, but you’re not stuck with it forever. You can start creating a new pattern any time you wish.

What if you could create a new path that led you to food freedom instead of binging?

Believe it or not, you can create a new pattern of freedom and ease with food. A pattern that supports you in being happy, confident, and free from cravings.

That might sound impossible, especially if you’ve been struggling with binge and emotional eating for a long time.

I’ve been where you are, and here’s what I want you to know…

You don’t have to spend your life dieting, fighting cravings, controlling your food.. You don’t have to be in therapy forever. You’re not addicted to food and you’re not beyond help.

All you need is the right tools to help you break free.

Click the image below where I’ve got a special gift for you! We call them, “Craving Cards”, and they’re one of our most popular tools!

If you ever feel night time cravings, sugar cravings, the urge to just say “screw it I’m going to start my diet over tomorrow”, or like you need a little body confidence pick me up… 

Just grab a card, go through the prompts, and shift it instantly!

Click the image above and let me know where to send them!

You’ll also get mini demo video training sessions for each card where I share how to use the cards and some of my best tips for food freedom forever!

With our Craving Cards and Demo Series… 

You’ll learn how to stop cravings in their tracks, feel confident, and get back your power, fast! 

Love,
Brittany

PS: Want the exact freedom and ease with our foods that myself and thousands of our clients get to experience?

In our Beating Binge Eating Blueprint (BBEB), I show you how to make this happen in just 8 weeks!

Many of our students have seen a DRASTIC difference in as little as a few days!

It’s our signature program, and up until recently, it was $3000 or more to join.

For now, you can get it as a part of our Food Freedom Collection for practically free by clicking the image below!

There is no catch…every resource I’ve created for food freedom and body confidence will land straight in your if you just click that image below and let me know where to send it!