Q&A 7 – I know it’s my thinking, so why can’t I stop overeating?

When it comes to breaking unwanted habits we’re up to our eyeballs in understanding. Why then do we struggle to change?In this Q&A episode, Alexandra answers Carmen’s question about her habit, what she knows and understands, and what else there is to see.You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the transcript below.Transcript of episodeHello, explorers, and welcome to a Q&A episode of Unbroken. I’m your host, Alexandra Amor. And I’m super excited today because I have my very first question from someone other than myself. So I’ll get to that in just a second. If you would like to submit a question about resolving unwanted habits, you can do that just like this person did today at alexandraamor.com/question, and I would love to hear from you. Today’s question is from Carmen. And here’s what she says: After 7 to 10 days of eating reasonably and being conscious, I always have three to four days of falling back into my old behavior. Even though I’m aware that it is just my thinking, and that I am thinking, I still prefer to eat all the sugary foods and overeat. Why is this? I am completely conscious, and still put eating too much and the wrong things over losing weight and eating healthy. I know that this is not bad. And I try not to judge myself. But I just think it would be better and much easier to stick to good eating instead of de motivating myself over and over again. After all, I want to eat healthier because of an insight. So how can I forget about that every so often.And then she sent a couple of little points of clarification about her eating. So she said: I don’t restrict myself, I try to eat less than before, by only eating sugar every second day. But I still eat enough. I don’t skip meals, and I eat bread, pasta, etc, whatever I feel like. And she also says: Even when I am completely at peace, and at my home base and connected to myself, it can still happen that I go and buy chocolate or cookies, and then eat until they are all gone. Thank you so much Carmen for your question. I really, really appreciate it. I want to address a couple of really, really juicy topics that are here in your question. This is such a great question. And I love it so much. So let’s jump in. The first thing I want to address is in the early part of your email here actually, in the first paragraph, one of the really interesting things you say is, “…even though I am aware that it is just my thinking.” This brings us to a really important point about the difference between understanding and insight. You do mention that you have had an insight later in the email. But I want to start here with this clarification.We would say you’ve got under some understanding, which is fantastic. And I really feel like you’re really headed in the right direction. That you’re experiencing your thinking. So that’s really great. And I’m thrilled. What you need now is more insight. You said you’ve had at least one insight about food or about your eating habits. But what that question that you put forward points to is that you need more insights. I want to talk about that and about the difference between understanding and insight. The example that I thought of is learning to drive. I remember that when I was learning to drive what they had us do first of all, before we even got in the car, was I had to read kind of a an education book about driving. I also had to go to a class, it might have been more than one day. And I had to take a written test at the Department of Motor Vehicles, or whatever it was called at the time I was in Alberta, and do that written test. And if I passed that, then I could have my learner’s permit, and I could start to actually get behind the wheel of a ...