What Happened Right Before You Reached for the Food

Have you ever found yourself standing in the kitchen looking for something to eat when you weren’t really hungry? Maybe dinner was perfectly satisfying. Maybe you had been doing just fine all day. Then suddenly the chips sound good, the chocolate is calling your name, or you are picking at something while wondering why you are doing it.

We tend to focus on the food because that is the part we can see, but sometimes the more interesting question is what happened right before you reached for it. Maybe your husband said something that irritated you. Maybe an email arrived that made your stomach drop. Maybe you walked into the house after a long day and realized everyone still needed something from you. Maybe you felt lonely, tired, frustrated, or overwhelmed. The food can look like the problem when it may simply be the next thing that happened.

That is what made me think about Body Bella while reading Dr. Nina Josefowitz’s article, 3 Steps to Identify What Triggers You. A trigger can start a reaction so quickly that we often notice where we ended up without recognizing what started it. Thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and old patterns can begin moving before we have even had time to name what is happening.

This matters because changing our relationship with food is not only about knowing which foods nourish us. Most women already know that an apple and a handful of almonds are different from eating half a sleeve of cookies while standing at the counter. Knowledge is not always the missing piece. Sometimes awareness is.

There is enormous value in beginning to notice the few minutes before an old pattern begins. Instead of immediately criticizing yourself for wanting the food, you can become curious about what just happened. You may begin to notice that certain patterns have very little to do with hunger at all. Food may show up when you feel unappreciated, overwhelmed, bored, rejected, rushed, angry, or simply exhausted from carrying too much for too long.

That discovery gives you information, and information gives you options. You can begin recognizing, “This is the moment when I usually do that.” That small bit of awareness can change the entire experience because now you are not simply being carried along by a familiar reaction. You can see it happening.

This is not about becoming perfect or never reaching for something you had not planned to eat. It is about understanding yourself better. The more often you notice what happens before the behavior, the less mysterious the behavior becomes and the easier it can be to make a different choice when you want one.

So the next time you find yourself wondering why you keep doing something that does not match what you want for yourself, look a little earlier in the story. Ask yourself what happened right before the urge showed up. The answer may teach you far more than the food ever could.

Keep going,
Dr. Brookh Lyons
Founder, Body Bella

You don’t need to be fixed. You need to be supported.
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To read the article that inspired this Body Bella observation: 3 Steps to Identify What Triggers You - Psychology Today

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