Ep #362: Why You Want to Eat Large Amounts of Food

Hello! I want to let you know that I’m doing a free training next week, on July 16th of 2025 where I’m going to help you to quiet your food noise naturally.

Many people who binge eat say that they think about food and eating all the time. The thoughts are constant and annoying and sometimes, they binge just to shut up the thoughts.

So, I want to help you quiet the thoughts, quiet the noise in your head, in a natural way. You don’t need anything but yourself and I’ll show you how.

So if you obsess about food and eating and you want to calm it down, come join me for this free training.

It’s on Wednesday July 16th at 1pm ET. It will be recorded and there will be a replay available for a limited time but, you must be registered to access it.

So go to coachkir.com/training to register.

This is something that will help you to stop binge eating and quiet your mind so if you want that, come and get it!

Alright, now let’s talk about why you want to eat large amounts of food.

The desire to eat a lot of food might be something that you experience all the time or it might only come up when you’re urging to binge.

I’ve had people tell me, when they’re outside of a binge, that they don’t want to be doing that.

I’ve also had people tell me that they do want to. Eating large amounts of food is appealing to them, they like eating that much, they want to eat that much, but they just wish that they didn’t feel awful afterward.

So they actually have this inner conflict – they want to eat large amounts of food but they don’t want the consequences. So then what?

I mean, it would be nice if we could have both – eat a lot without any consequences. But, that’s just not how it is.

So, if you don’t want the consequences then we have to change that desire to eat a lot.

And we can work on both the impulsive desire and the desire that’s just usually there.

So let’s do it.

Here’s the number one reason I’ve seen for why people want to eat large amounts of food, rather than moderate amounts.

They think more is more.

More food is more pleasure, more good feelings, more happiness, more comfort, more numbing, whatever it is they’re wanting more of, they think more food will provide that for them.

And that way of thinking does make sense, doesn’t it? If something gives you something, them wouldn’t more of it give you more of it?

Well, not necessarily.

As with most things, a lot of a good thing, might not be so good anymore.

Now, I’m not saying that the food isn’t good anymore. Although, sometimes that can be true.

Awhile ago, I did an episode about what I call The Pleasure Cap. It was episode #112 if you want to give it a listen.

In there I talked about how at some point, as you’re eating, there will be a decline in pleasure.

For some foods, it happens sooner than others.

When I’ve done live eating workshops in my program, I’ve actually seen my group members experience it.

For some of them, they realize that their food isn’t as enjoyable as it was in the first few bites after the 4th or 5th bite. It’s so crazy for them to experience that.

For others, they enjoy their food for many bites beyond that.

But, even for the people who are still enjoying it, there will likely come a time when it’s not as enjoyable anymore.

It’s not quite what it was.

And here’s where they might get into trouble. They keep eating, hoping that it will get more enjoyable again, and get back to what it was when they first started eating.

But unfortunately, it’s not going to. The pleasure is on the decline and it’s not going to go back up right now.

And as I said, different foods can cause that at different times for different people but also, when you feel full, it’s likely that the enjoyment will diminish as well.

If you’r eating a large amount of food, it’s likely that you will still be eating once you’re full.

It can be hard to fully enjoy eating a food when you feel full because you now feel physically uncomfortable.

It can be hard to enjoy something when you feel physically uncomfortable while doing it.

You might think that more food means more pleasure, more good feelings, more happiness, or more comfort but really, more food might result in the exact opposite.

The truth is, you’re actually going to find all that in just the moderate amount. The moderate amount is where all the good stuff really is.

Once you venture into the large amount, that’s actually where it can all start to go downhill. What you’re feeling starts to go away, or isn’t as good as it was while you were in the moderate amount.

So really, more than a moderate amount of food isn’t more good feelings. More starts to become less.

Your experience actually becomes worse the more you eat, not better.

And I really mean it when I say that all the good stuff is in the moderate amount.

And, you can actually get more pleasure from a moderate amount than the large amount. You really can.

If, you enjoy the crap out of the food you’re eating, eat it mindfully, without judgement, and appreciate and savor it.

Pleasure doesn’t increase with quantity, it increases with quality.

And here, it’s the quality of your thoughts and your focus that’s going to create the most pleasure.

It’s like with a party. You could be at a party for 10 hours, but not really experience much pleasure because of what you’re thinking and focusing on. If you’re thinking about what you’re going to do next so you’re not really present in the now, or are distracted on your phone, or aren’t appreciating the people or the environment, you might get some pleasure, but not as much as you could.

Meanwhile, you could be at a party for 3 hours and get so much more pleasure because you’re fully engaged with the people, are appreciating the party, and are present.

It’s not the amount of time, it’s what you’re thinking while you’re there.

With the food, it’s not the amount of food, it’s what you’re thinking while you’re eating it.

That’s what will determine how much good stuff you get from it.

So you may think you need a lot of food to get what you want but really, you can get it from less.

And going back to talking about time, you could spend the same amount of time eating less food more slowly and get more good feelings and pleasure.

Because if you’re eating it fast, as can happen for many of you, you’re barely even tasting it so you’re not going to get as much out of it.

So, more food doesn’t mean more pleasure, good feelings, happiness, or comfort.

But what about the numbing? You might think that more food, and more time eating, will result in more numbing.

And honestly, it might. The numbing may exist the entire time, unlike those good feelings I was talking about.

But again, that doesn’t mean it won’t end with consequences that you don’t want.

You’ll likely finish eating all that food and then, no longer feel numb, because now you’re physically uncomfortable and eating all that food might now bring up uncomfortable emotions for you.

You go from numbing to discomfort.

Now, I get it that sometimes, you just don’t want to feel or think and you just want to shut it all off.

But, eating food isn’t the best way to deal with those thoughts and feelings, because it can result in you feeling worse afterward.

You would be so much better off just giving yourself a break, laying down with music or in silence, journaling, watching a movie or tv show, reading a book, talking to someone about your thoughts and feelings, doing something that can help to either take your mind off things or resolve those thoughts and feelings.

Numbing with food isn’t the answer.

Numbing with a lot of food definitely isn’t the answer.

And to add on to that, one of the reasons why people want to eat a large amount is because they’re only thinking about the good feelings, or the numbing. They’re not thinking it through until the end. They’re not telling themselves the whole story, including when they feel worse afterward.

Sometimes we think we want to eat a large amount of food because it sounds so good but, it’s not going to sound so good when we include that part about feeling worse physically afterward.

So make sure you’re telling yourself the whole story, not just the good part. Because, it’s not really all good.

Now, let’s talk about another reason why you might want to eat large amounts of food.

It could be because you like the feeling of being really full.

Some people dislike this feeling while others actually like it, even though it can feel uncomfortable.

Because, they feel safe. They find comfort in it.

Maybe you think you’re taken care of.

Maybe it eases your food scarcity thoughts.

Maybe you’re afraid of being hungry so you feel safe knowing that you won’t have to experience it for a while.

If you’re someone who wants that very full feeling, explore what it is that you like about it.

Because the truth is, you are safe even if you aren’t uncomfortably full.

When you are comfortably full, you are still taken care of.

Food is still abundant and available.

And you will be okay when you feel hungry. It’s just a sensation. Hunger might feel uncomfortable but you can feel it, it’s not an emergency, you don’t need to eat right away, and when you can eat, food will be available to you and you will be okay.

You don’t need to feel extremely full to feel safe and okay.

You just need to talk to yourself differently and change the stories you’re telling yourself about what it means to feel that full.

You are not safer when you are fuller.

You are just as safe when comfortably full.

And the last reason I want to talk about is probably related more to the impulsive desire to eat a large amount of food but, it can also relate to a general desire too.

It’s past or future excessive restriction.

What I mean by past excessive restriction is that you haven’t allowed yourself to eat something you like in a long time and by future excessive restriction I mean you’re telling yourself that you won’t be allowed to eat something you like for a long time.

And those two actually usually go hand in hand.

After not allowing yourself to eat it for a long time, you do allow yourself to eat it but, just this one time because it won’t be allowed again afterward.

And because you only have this one chance, after not being allowed for so long, you want to eat as much as you can. You want a lot of it.

This is simply a reaction to scarcity and restriction.

So if you don’t want to have this desire to eat a large amount of a food, stop being overly restrictive with yourself.

Stop not allowing certain foods. Stop taking foods away.

If you allow yourself to eat them all the time, not just this one time, you won’t have such a strong desire to eat a large amount.

That’s just what happens with not being allowed vs being allowed.

When you’re not allowed, you want a lot.

When you are allowed, you might not…assuming that you’re not also falling into one of the other reasons I talked about before.

Remember, so much of this work to stop binge eating is intertwined, meaning that it’s likely not just one concept that you need to work on and you’re done. There’s likely more than one…which is why I have so many episodes of this podcast and why I work with people on this for more than just one coaching session. There can be a lot to unravel, and that’s okay. You’ll unravel it all and get to the solutions.

Just wanted to remind you of that.

So, you want to eat a large amount of food because you think that more is more of whatever you’re wanting, which isn’t really true, or you’re not considering the consequences and are only thinking about the goodness, but there are consequences, or you think you will feel safe, but you are safe without all that food, or because you’re being overly restrictive, and you don’t have to be.

You can decrease this desire for a lot of food by changing how you think about eating a lot of food, by getting truthful with yourself about what really happens when you eat a lot of food, by not being overly restrictive, and when you do, it can make it easier for you to not binge and not overeat. You’ll have one less obstacle in your way.

So let’s get on board with the idea that moderate is better.

Because when it comes to food, it really is.

Alright, that’s all for today and don’t forget to register for the free Quiet Your Food Noise Naturally training that I’m doing next Wednesday, July 16th at 1pm ET. If you can’t make it live, register anyway so you can watch that limited time recording. Go to coachkir.com/training to register and I’ll see you there!

Bye bye!