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Oh my gosh, it's so good. I just want a little bit more and just a little bit more. Well, just a little bit more. Has anything ever tasted so good. You couldn't stop eating it. You just want more for me. It's usually the cookies. It's always the cookies. I might intend to just have one. But I keep going back for more. Have you been there? Yes, we've all been there, but probably especially at this time of year. In this episode, I want to give you three super helpful ways to help you stop over eating when food just tastes so good that you don't want to stop. Let's go

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Welcome back to the no nonsense wellness podcast, the place for women who are trying to do all the things and stay healthy, sane and actually enjoy life at the process. Hey, I'm Tara, a trained therapist, a life coach, a nutrition coach and a fitness instructor. And I'm on a mission to help you take back control of your mind, health and life. Each week, I'll be cutting through the nonsense and getting real with you. I'll bring you the insight and information you need to take control of your weight and health. Find food freedom, and finally break free from the thoughts that are sabotaging you and holding you back. You my friend are powerful and the world needs you to start showing up in a bigger way. It's time to get unstuck and start moving forward. So let's pop in those earbuds, tie up those shoes. Let's walk and talk

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Before we get started I want to remind you that if you're worried about getting off track or putting on weight, losing health losing your progress over the holiday season when things are stressful for a million different reasons. And if you want to learn how to eat without guilt and without shame I want to teach you so I made for you a special healthy holidays masterclass, hop on over to tarafaulmann.com/healthy-holidays or just tarafaulmann.com It's right on the front page at the top click the banner get yourself into the master class. You're going to love it. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. 

Oh, it tastes so good that I don't want to stop eating it. For me, it's usually sweets where I fall into this trap. It's hard to stop eating it. But sometimes it's not even the quote unquote bad food that tastes so good that I want to eat too much of it and keep going. Sometimes it's like regular dinner food, not usually dinner food that I have prepared, usually dinner food that's at like a restaurant food. How often can you say that you've been at a restaurant and you overeat at the restaurant because it just tasted so good. Those dang fries were so good. I just kept eating them, right. So it's not just the cake and the cookies. For a lot of us. It can be the chips and the French fries and the burger and the main course even. But the underlying issue is the same for all of those. We think it tastes really good. And we keep eating it. And the story we're telling ourselves is that we're eating it because it tastes really good. But you will see in this episode that that reasoning is so flawed, we're going to really dissect that here and give you some ideas and some tips about how to get through that and past it. So you can stop doing it. 

The first thing that we need to keep in check is always the first thing that we need to keep in check. And that is our thoughts, especially our self talk. Now, you know, when you're eating that ice cream or those chips or those cookies, whatever it is for you, you know, you're gonna have the thought of Ooh, man, this tastes so good. I really like this. I want to keep eating this ice cream is one of those things right? Like, I'll just Oh, it's so good. Just keep eating ice cream, right? Don't fight against that thought. Fighting against that thought is futile. You know it's coming. Food tastes delicious, especially food that's manufactured and is manufactured to tastes delicious. When you try to deny that you're having that urge that you want to keep eating because it tastes so good. When you deny those thoughts when you avoid them. You're really just putting yourself in a position where you're going to emotionally eat or overeat again, or even right then remember, we talked about this a lot on this podcast. You cannot get yourself into a position where you are denying emotions and you're denying thoughts. You're ignoring them, you're avoiding them. That avoidance behavior leads to emotional eating and overeating. So we can't just pretend like it's not going on. What we can do though, is just allow that thought to happen. Allow your brain to say Man, this is so good. I don't want to stop. This is really good. I want to keep putting this in my mouth just to allow that thought to happen. You know what's coming anyway. 

But then here's the key part. Then when you hear Hear that thought when you recognize that thought, then you can acknowledge it. And then you can change it. Right? If I'm ignoring it completely, and trying to pretend like that's not happening, then I can't change it. But if I allow that thought to come in, man, this is so good. I just want to keep eating this, then that is my trigger to say, oh, wait a second, there's that thought, now I can change that thought. And so you're just changing the language in your own brain, right? You're changing your own self talk, you could maybe say something like, oh, Tara, you're really enjoying that, aren't you? You should really plan on eating that again, tomorrow, when you're done with this serving, right? Or maybe, wow, this is so delicious. I can choose to stop now. And if I stop now, then I'll have some for later, I can have more later, I can have more tomorrow. It's really about acknowledging the thought that this is so good, and I don't want to stop. But then by acknowledging it, flipping that, and putting myself back in control, and starting to have thoughts, and controlling those thoughts about this is really good. You're right there. This is freaking delicious. But if I don't eat all of it, now, I can have more later or if I stop at enough, if I stop at a serving, I can save that for tomorrow, I can put it on my plan for tomorrow, I can always have it again, is is not a now or never situation. 

And that's the second tip here is don't restrict the quote unquote bad foods. One of the biggest reasons that we over eat when something is so good is because we have restricted it in the first place. So picture this, you overeat, you're sort of out of control eating the cake. Okay, the cake is so good, you just keep going back and getting more cake and more cake and more cake. And then you decide, well, I can't trust myself around cake. So I'm not going to eat any more cake. And I'm not going to eat any cake like foods, either. I'm not going to have cupcakes, and I'm not going to have cookies, and I'm not going to have doughnuts, right? No cake or cake. Like, I can't have a little I can't even do a little bit because that will turn into a lot bit. Okay. Right? So we make this rule like, oh, I can't I have no control, I can't, I'm not eating that anymore. Inevitably, you will find yourself in a situation where you will have one of those things again, you will have some cake, you will have a cupcake, you will have a cookie, it's gonna happen. And so guess what happens when you do have it? Well, you already decided that those things make you out of control. So what are you going to do, you're going to be out of control, you're going to just keep eating it because it's so good. You've already told yourself that that's what you do. So then when you eat it, that's what you do. Your brain is like a giant self fulfilling prophecy, right? Like, if that's what I tell it, it's gonna happen. It's gonna find all the ways to make that happen. Now, what if instead, you decided that you were in control around all of those foods? What if you decided that you totally could enjoy a little bit and be in total control and not overeat? What if you decided ahead of time, I can do that, I can have a little and be just fine. If you decide that ahead of time, now your brain is going to go into overdrive, figuring out ways for that to be true to right, no matter what I decide, my brain is going to figure out how to make it true. When that simple little thought shift of about my belief about myself, I can now allow for those bad foods. Now I no longer have to restrict now I'm no longer doing the I just ate a crap ton a cake. So no more cake for me ever. Right? That's never going to work, you already know that's not going to work, you've tried that 1000 times. Instead, I can say, hey, I'm totally in control, I can have a little bit of cake and be just fine with that. Now, guess what? I could do that every day if I want to. I could have a little bit of cake every day. I don't recommend cake every day. But if that's what you want to go for it go for it. 

The point is this, I can allow for those quote unquote bad foods, I can include them in my food plan, I can include them in what I'm eating on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. Because I know because I've decided that I can be in control around those foods. You see, it's a very subtle and simple shift. But it's has huge implications because now I no longer have to restrict I can allow all those foods that I feel out of control around a feeling is just a result of a thought that I'm having remember, I've I'm feeling out of control around food because I have decided that I am out of control around food does this make sense? Nothing has to be off limits then if we don't have a psychological need to overeat because I know that I could never have it again. If I decide I'm out of control around cake I can never have cake again. Well, what am I thinking about all the time? How much I really frickin want cake if I don't have to think that thought anymore. If nothing is off limits if I know I want cake and so I'll have cake, then I don't have this psychological need to oh my gosh, I need cake. I need cake because it's bad and I can't have it. We totally do that to ourselves. But if cake is just a thing that I enjoy, and I have it sometimes and it's not a big deal, it takes all the power away from the cake and puts it back in my hands where it should be. 

And this is like a bonus tip to tip number two, the restricting. But along with the restricting is this sort of just finish it mentality. Now I know you've been here when I describe this, you're gonna be like, Oh crap, that's me. Because it's been me too for sure. Now you've been eating the cookies, right? You went in for the box of cookies. And you went back and you went back and you went back. And now there's like three cookies left. And now you're like, well, cheese, I'm just gonna finish the box. I'm just going to eat the last three cookies. And then tomorrow, everything will be cookie free. There will be no cookies in this house, tempting me. I can be cookie free. I can be healthy. I'll eat a salad instead. Have we done that before? Yes. So when you are looking at it now, sort of looking at your own behavior from this outside perspective? Do you see how ridiculous that is? Do you see how that logic makes absolutely no sense? Like, oh, I'll just over eat now. So then I won't have to think about it tomorrow. Because guaranteed you're gonna think about it tomorrow. Do you see how flawed the logic is of like overeat now, so that I can restrict tomorrow and I won't be tempted to over eat tomorrow. That's ridiculous. And that will never work. That is not a strategy. So again, in the moment, when you're looking at the box of cookies, and there's three left and you have the thought I should just finish it, because then there won't be any cookies to tempt me tomorrow, I want you to change that thought, again, you're acknowledging it, you're not denying that thought you're acknowledging that it's there, it's your trigger to say, Oh, wait, I could use a different thought. And your new thought could be something along the lines of, okay, Tara, if I stop now, and I leave those three cookies, in a few minutes, my urge to eat, those cookies will pass and I'll be really happy that I didn't eat them. Or you could think something like, Okay, if I stop now, and I don't eat those three cookies, then I'll have cookies left over to eat tomorrow, and I get to enjoy them tomorrow. Again, it's very small. And it's very subtle, it's pretty simple. But it's a little shift that you have to catch. 

So when you have again, the thought you're acknowledging the thought, This is good, I want to keep eating, or I'll just finish it because then I don't have to deal with it tomorrow. If you're when you hear that thought in your own head, you're just going to flip it and change it real fast to say, but if I stop now, I'll have some left for tomorrow, and I can enjoy them tomorrow. Again, because you're not restricting. You're not saying I just ate 10 cookies, no more cookies for me, ever. This isn't I'm not done with cookies, right? You're not saying that. You're saying, oops, I just ate 10 cookies, I should stop now. And then I could have more cookies tomorrow, if I want to do you see, it's very different way of thinking. But giving yourself the freedom to have that thing actually puts you back in the driver's seat and puts you back in control. It's a very different mindset, instead of telling yourself that you have no control, you're telling yourself that you have total control, I am in charge of me, I am in charge of my thoughts. And I am in charge of my actions. And I can choose something other than that thought I can choose something other than finishing those cookies, I don't have to finish those cookies, I can have some tomorrow, too. 

And the real trick to all of this, again, you have to acknowledge that thought. And the way that you do that is by remaining mindful while you eat, you cannot turn off your brain while you eat. If you want to stay in control, you have to stay conscious while you're eating right. So that means when you are eating food, you are not scrolling through Instagram, you're not watching TV, right? You're thinking about eating and you're paying attention to your body while you're doing it. So that you can catch that full cue, right? That cue from your body is like, Oh, hey, wait, I think you may have had enough, maybe you should pause your body's trying to tell you that. But if you're not paying attention, you're not going to pick up on it. Or when your mind is like oh my gosh, this is so good. I don't want to stop. If you're not paying attention, you're going to miss that thought you're just going to eat right through it. So the trick to all of this is that you have to remain mindful and paying attention and conscious while you're eating. So catch yourself if you are eating unconsciously catch yourself if you're not paying attention. That's really where you have to start. 

And the third tip here is what I call the one serving rule or the three byte rule. So in general, if it wasn't me very long, you know that I don't like food rules. I don't do the good food, bad food rules. I don't do restricting. I don't do making things off limits. But I do think that there's a place for what I call loving guideposts and loving guideposts to me are sort of like if you put the bumpers in the bowling lane so that the ball just bounces off the bumpers and finally makes it down to the end. I'm the ball and my loving guideposts are those bumpers and I can just knock into that bumper and I can still try to stay on the right path going in the right direction. And they just kind of keep me on track a little bit those loving guideposts. 

So for example, here's a few of my guideposts if I'm drinking an alcoholic drink, I trade wandering for eight to 12 ounces of water. So a one to one trade. If I have a drink, I have water, if I have a drink, I have water. That's a rule that I made for myself, because I know that I will feel a whole lot better. If I do that. The next day, I will feel a whole lot better. And that day, I will drink a whole lot less alcohol if I'm doing that. So that's just a rule that I have in place for myself. That is my loving guidepost. Another one is that if there's a lot of desserts, say like at a buffet or some elite, you know, like a lot of things that I want to try. Then I choose my top three, I choose my top three things that I want to try. So I have to make some conscious decisions like oh my gosh, that looks good. That looks good. That looks like all these things look really good. But what's my top three, and I just that's just a rule that I follow for myself. Another loving guideposts that I have for myself is that when I make a plate of food, I have tried to fill it half full with veggies first, or like a salad. And then, you know, put whatever else is is the meal on there. I always try to get all the veggies on there first, that's just a guidepost for myself that I follow. It encourages me to make sure I'm getting enough veggies and fiber to it makes it easier for me. It's just little rules that I've put in place for myself. If we're having pizza night, I will eat salad first, and then I will have some pizza. So you'll you'll notice here, I haven't deprived myself of anything. I haven't restricted myself from anything, everything is on the table. I can have whatever I want. But I'm making conscious decisions. And I've made these guideposts for myself to kind of keep me on the path. Does that make sense? 

So the one serving rule and the three by rule would be loving guideposts, so you could decide if you want to use those as well. So the one serving rule is basically just, if I want to eat something, just eat one serving of it. So I want some popcorn eat one serving, I want some chips, eat one serving, I want some cookies eat one serving. So make sense. Whatever the serving size is usually those are all packaged foods that you need to be worrying about. I'm usually not concerned about only eat one serving of broccoli. That's not really a problem. It's usually like the chips with the cookies. So look at the package. How many servings are in the package, five servings, I want one of those what looks like about 1/5 of that package full. That's how much I eat, right? Like just trying to be aware of how much food you're putting in your mouth. How much a serving size is, right for example, a crumble cookie, I'm gluten free. I don't even know if they have gluten free cookies. I've never actually eaten a crumble cookie. But I do know that crumble cookies are actually four servings in one cookie. So one serving size of a credible cookie is actually one quarter of the cookie. Did you only eat one quarter of cookie? Probably not. So it's just this loving guidepost of, let's just try and stick to one serving of the thing. And if there is no serving, so like say it's a cake or some cupcakes or ice cream or whatever, like some fancy dessert, it's always desserts, isn't it?

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Then I use sort of a three bite rule. So if I try to just stick to three bites, I just enjoy it, I savor it, I relish it, I try to taste all the flavors, I eat it slowly, I do it very mindfully and very consciously. So I'm very aware and I can really, really enjoy being in that moment with that delicious food. And then I just stop at three bites. Because anything more than three bites, it's doesn't taste any better. Right? I can eat three bites or 50 bites of ice cream on bite 50. It doesn't taste any better than it did on bite three, it tastes the same. I just ate a crap ton more. So they're really from the it tastes so good standpoint, it doesn't taste any better the more you eat. So three bites, I find is usually enough to really relish the flavor to really appreciate how delicious it is. But then I don't really need more than that. Because more is just more at that point. 

So having guideposts like these for you. I don't again, I don't like the rule word. I know. And I teach this in the Healthy Mind Healthy Body program. I don't like the word rule. Because rules to me were meant to be broken. I am a rule breaker. I like to prove all the ways that that rule can be broken and shouldn't be a rule. So I always use the words guidelines, or in this case guide posts. Because it's never going to be perfect. I'm never going to perfectly follow any rule like probably literally any rule ever. I will never perfectly follow any rule especially food rules. But I can sort of use the bumpers and use the guidelines and the guideposts to kind of bump against the side and keep going on the right track. Does that make sense? A rule means I have to follow straight down the line of the bowling lane, straight down the middle, a perfect straight line from beginning to end. That's a rule Oh, I don't like that that's not life. That's not how this works. It's not how any of this works, but a guidepost, I can kind of bump into it and kind of go to the other side and bump in and go to the other side and bump in, right. And I can kind of meander my way on, and I still make forward progress both ways. And I would actually argue I will stay making forward progress, using guidelines and guideposts more than I will rule. 

So I hope that kind of opened your mind a little bit like, oh, well, what could my guideposts be? Right, what could the guidelines that I follow want to be? That's one of the things that I teach in that healthy mind Healthy Body Program? is how to figure out your own guideposts. How do you do that? What are the things that you want to put in place that really work for you, I know what mine are, I shared a few of them with you. So all of that to say this, it's really important when you are in that moment, of eating too much, because it tastes so good, and you feel like you can't stop again, what you're trying to do is notice the thoughts. Notice the thoughts of this is so good, I just want to keep eating it. Notice that one. And notice the thought of Oh, dang it, I've already eaten it so much, because it's so good. I might as well just finish it. Those are the two thoughts you're gonna hear the most on your own head. So then you're just gonna flip it and you're gonna decide what the actual helpful thought is going to be. Like, if I stop now, I know I'll be happy. If I stop now. I can have some more later. If I stop now. There'll be some left so I can eat those tomorrow. If I stop now, I know that urge will pass and I'll be okay and I don't need anymore. Recognize the thought and then change the thought and then put in place for yourself some loving guideposts sound good. 

I hope this was really helpful. If it was helpful, please share it with a friend posted in your stories and tag me. If you're on the email lists for this email to a friend for this podcast, do a friend but I really appreciate you guys sharing this podcast with other people so that we can spread the word about how to really do this thing how to really get healthy for good without diets we can do that together. Alright, until we talk again, my friends, be well.

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Friends, thanks so much for being here. If you found value in today's episode, will you do me a favor and head over to iTunes? Find the no nonsense wellness podcast and subscribe and leave me a review. It would mean the world to me and help other people find the show. And I'd love to connect with you more. So find me on Instagram. I'm @tarafaulmann. Take a screenshot of this episode and share it in your stories and tag me. I'll see you over there.