This cultural norm keeps you eating... and what to do about it.

,Hey there,

If you're an emotional over eater there's a hidden force that can derail your attempts to change. It's the same force that kept people in the 50's thin and most people today overweight and control around food.

It comes up every day when I am coaching clients. It's the force they learn to identify and get past in coaching.

It's hidden in plain sight. I call it 'The Way Things Are' and until we recognise it as destructive and unhealthy, we will struggle with making lasting changes to the way we eat.

'The Way Things Are' includes all of our cultural norms that keep us constantly eating throughout the day and feeling deprived when we try to change.

As a marketing insider I can tell you today's 'Way Things Are' is the creation of over-marketed food culture. We can see how our cultural ideas about food have changed massively in our lifetimes. 

Before the advent of marketing, food was far less compelling. If I think back to my childhood in the 1970's in New Zealand ... 

• Breakfast was a small selection of cereal options alongside toast or porridge that weren't fancy. You might have a cooked breakfast on weekends.
• School lunches were sandwiches made with jam, peanut butter or Marmite
• Dinner was typically what we called 'meat and three veg', I remember my friends being impressed when my mother made spaghetti - pasta wasn't a thing then. 

By contrast, today's food culture is unrecognisable -  it's a totally new Way Things Are. Just think about the vast array of options for food throughout the day  for every meal or snack occasion. For some of us, our takeaway coffee has as twice as many calories as a 1970's breakfast and far more sugar.

The biggest trick of The Way Things Are is that we think that it's natural and normal because it's a complex system of habits, tastes and cultural and emotional behaviours that have developed over time. And it's making us overweight and emotionally dependent on food.

One of the most destructive aspects of marketing culture on food is portion sizes and consumption occasions. Having worked in food and beverage marketing as an industry insider and the sole objective of that work is to sell you more. More food and drink more times a day. That's it. Most portion sizes for burgers, muffins, fries and pizza have more than doubled in the past twenty years! Here's a Business Insider video on some of the massive changes in just the past 20 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMR1QmWavDg

In the industry, we talk about metrics like increasing total 'share of throat or gut' as well as increasing the total number of moments of consumption throughout the day. Here are a few examples ...

• 'Ice cream and an Oreo cookie' was a marketing strategy to get cookies into the dessert occasion and increase total moments of consumption for Oreo.
• Gum sales doubled when they showed two pieces per serve in advertising, increasing the volume of gum consumed per chewing "occasion".

That is how our The Way Things Are is constructed, by companies whose job it is to sell you more. So, what's the answer? 
The first thing is to be willing to not be normal if you want to end the struggle with food and weight forever.

• Create awareness around the quantities of food you are eating and your actual hunger signals. Start to notice when you're feeling uncomfortably full and try stopping before you get there. Remember portion sizes are being decided by marketers, not dietitians. It's in their interest to sell you more. And without awareness we consistently overeat. 
• It sounds counter-intuitive but it's important to actually allow yourself to eat enough. Enough real foods and real meals, that is. One of the biggest problems emotional over eaters have is habitually skimping on or skipping meals to splurge on snacks. Meals are a tried and true way of weight and appetite management that has been proven to work before marketing culture took over. 
• Notice when your eating is purely emotionally driven. Coaching can help you see how your thoughts drive your feelings and in turn your overeating behaviour. This 'think, feel, act' cycle is being driven by the cultural marketing-driven programming that is keeping you overeating. 

If you are finally ready to stop the food obsession and walk away from food that doesn’t serve you and finally, have your mental space back… then we can make that happen with a step by step plan, today!

Book a call and let’s talk. 

We’ll get on the phone for about 45 minutes and we’ll a deep dive into your relationship with food. We’ll get clear on:

• What you’re struggling with most when it comes to food
• What’s working (and not working) with your eating
• And the next steps you should be taking to permanently end binge/overeating

Have a great week!

Lydia