How I stopped eating chocolate at night. What are you REALLY hungry for?

Chocolate at night can feel like a switch flips and suddenly you are “out of control.”

I don’t buy that story anymore.

What’s really happening is your brain and body are trying to meet a need the fastest way they know how, and sugar just happens to be the most available tool.

We walk through a simple coaching framework grounded in psychology research. I share my own history of overeating sweets, the shame and exhaustion that came with it, and what finally made the cravings fade without constant willpower.

You’ll leave with one practical question to use in real time to meet your real need in ways that nourish instead of numb, helping you feel and look your best.

If you want to stop overeating at night and build a healthier relationship with food, listen now, then share it with one person who needs it.

Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and tell me what you discover when you ask the question.

Transcript

A New Way To Start

SPEAKER_00 0:09

So let's dive in. Guys, I'm thinking about starting my podcasts in some new ways. If you have any ideas, feel free to get in touch. Info at your bestculture.com or on Instagram, Angela Brainbody Coach, Angela Brainbody Coach. And hey guys, welcome to another episode of Change Wiring, where we do our best to learn about and then apply this knowledge into our lives to figure out how to unlock more of our potential, how to grow consistently and expand our life experience as we live it with more positive impact in the world and just more joy every

My Decade Of Emotional Eating

SPEAKER_00 0:57

day. Today, guys, you're gonna learn how to eat chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Well, actually, how to eat less chocolate at night.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

You know, for quite some time, for a decade of my life, and it was more than a decade ago, I used to struggle with emotional eating, probably somewhere from my teenage years till my mid-20s. And I learned how to not do that. And since I got the skills, which one of the key skills you're gonna learn about today, just one question, so stay tuned. So I learned the skills, and after that, all overeating stopped completely. Even on holidays and birthdays and special celebrations, or when I'm in this amazing restaurant or all-you-can-eat buffet in Turkey with all these sweets and things like staring at you, some of the best creations of some great chefs. I just don't overeat and I completely lost all of my sweet cravings. Even though I was the person who used to joke that I inherited my huge sweet tooth from my dad, who can still drink a whole can of sweetened condensed milk in one sitting. Like I was the same person. I remember there was one birthday when I was about 18 years old when I asked my friends and family to buy me chocolate, like really good chocolate for my birthday. And I got like, I don't know, almost two kilos of that. And I ate more than a kilo in one day.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

One day with like no tea in between, no food, just ate chocolate the whole day. And I didn't even feel that sit the next day. I was in a pretty good place.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

All that to say that, you know, eating sweets, uh having cravings, emotional eating, overeating, that's been a struggle for me for good decades. Like so much energy went into that. And then the same energy, you know, I would have guilt trips, and I would not feel good about my body and about myself, and I almost felt like betrayed myself, and then also, you know, all the other stuff that I was supposed to do with my life that didn't disappear. And so there was like a whole thing, and then it would be much harder to it was much harder for me to maintain my ideal weight and my fitness and my health. Uh, you know, thanks God I was young back then, so I did not have a lot of side effects, and I was also very active, but I did not get the results that I wanted, and plus all the shame and the guilt and not having great sleep after eating all the chocolate, and the next day feeling like I needed to ask over out exercise that, and somehow then I needed to be really strict with my diet, like you know, all this like dynamics that I didn't need to have and couldn't could instead invest it into working on my life. But anyhow, by the end of this podcast, again, guys, you're gonna get a glimpse, maybe a much needed insight and a very practical psychology research-based tool. Simple question that will help you to start dealing with your cravings, whether that's cravings for chocolates or cookies or ice cream, over eating that at night. You're gonna learn how to start dealing with that in a way that will transform your life and your personality and your skills of self-regulation, emotional regulation, stress and nervous system regulation that all of us need, not just with food. Food is just you know one playground. We need the skills to deal with all other more important areas of our lives, like our relationships, like fulfillment, like purpose, like our work, career, our calling. So this skill will upgrade you and your life in so many ways when you decide to truly start practicing it, putting that into your daily routines and habits and practice, and with the purpose to improve, not to get it perfect from day one. It took a while for me to learn the skill and apply it and change my cravings and overeating habits. So let's dive in.

The Coaching Question That Changed It

SPEAKER_00 5:34

First, let's die, let's start with a story, a real story from a real conversation that happened not that long ago with a friend of mine. He asked, you know, there is one thing I wanted to ask you. It's about food. I've dialed in all the macros and stuff, but I still eat chocolate at night. And I'd like to stop. And I don't know how, it's been a while. What would you recommend as a coach? And I asked him, is it the chocolate you actually need? What do you think? You see, guys, in coaching, we work with a simple framework grounded in psychology research.

Every Habit Serves A Need

SPEAKER_00 6:18

A simple understanding that every behavior, every habit serves a need, a need that you truly have. The behavior that you choose, like eating chocolate, it not it might not serve you the best. Chocolate at night usually comes with side effects. You'd rather skip like weight gain or sleep or metabolic health, guilt trips, stomach ache sometimes, stomach you'd rather not have. But it gives you something you want in the moment as well. And I want you to understand this, to really think about that. And it's not hunger. Let's be honest. Most of us walk around with more food in us than we'll ever need. Most of us are not, especially if you are listening to this podcast, you're probably not starving of malnutrition or insufficient nutrition, but overnutrition. So, what's the need underneath the chocolate craving if it's not hunger? And hey, let's be honest, nobody's chocolate addicted. You might have, like your body might use to a certain amount of sugar or dynamics, but nobody's addicted to chocolate. So start with this question: what's the need underneath the chocolate craving? What do you actually need? Start with this question with genuine curiosity. That's where I started back then. Not with discipline, not with willpowering your way past the pantry. Curiosity. What is it that you need?

Cookies As Comfort When Life Hurts

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I used to have again emotional eating episodes for like a decade. Bags of cookies at night, eating until my stomach hurt. I would literally eat till it hurts. I was going through a lot at that point, and I didn't realize that, but it was a lot. And I didn't know how to think through that, communicate that. I didn't have much support, like I didn't know how to handle stress, intense emotions, or my complex and certain life. I was lonely, scared, traveling the world without a clear direction, without support, without any idea what's gonna come next. So I ate cookies. Hey, for a moment they gave me the comfort, the relief, something to hold on to, something to smile about, something to enjoy. Hey, for a moment they gave me all that. But was it the cookies that I actually needed? Guys, was it the cookies? Never but they were the best option that I had that I knew about that solved the need, that solved the problem, that made things better. And for a few hours, they helped me, they helped me to keep going. And then I did the work with coaching certifications and my life experiences. I was lucky. Good books, reading a lot of good books helped. Like self-awareness, self-growth, emotional, nervous system regulation skills, my thinking habits, my mindset, body, mind, and soul. I build good relationships, real nourishing support. And now it's been over a decade since I've needed quote unquote food therapy. Isn't that what it is, guys? Food therapy. The cheapest we can get, the fastest we can get any time of the day or the night. I learned back then to meet my actual needs in ways that nourish instead of numbing, in ways in ways that allowed me to serve their real problems, not the fast, quick emotional uplift. No side effects, no

Give Yourself What You Actually Crave

SPEAKER_00 10:16

extra calories, no willpower, no belly fat. I learned to solve my actual needs in the way that they needed to be solved. So, how do you stop eating that chocolate at night? Back to that question. You learn to give yourself what you are actually craving. And yeah, let's be honest here. It won't be as fast, as easy, as simple as opening a box of chocolate. I wish it will take time, it will take work and effort, but also it will give you a lot more than a few minutes of comfort. It will change you, it will grow you, it will expand your life. Can a cookie promise that? Can a bark chocolate, even if it's the best chocolate in the world, can that promise you? Can it promise you that? So, what is it you actually need? And that is the question. What is it, guys? What is it you actually need? And what needs to get done in order for you to start fulfilling that need, that desire, that craving. Okay, so what's underneath that chocolate craving? And that is where I'd start working on your eating chocolate at night or cookies or that glass of wine or binge watching Netflix or scrolling. Like what it is you need. Go get that.

Share The Episode And Keep Growing

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Please share this podcast episode with at least one other person who you think, hey, that might be really, really useful. That might help them. Even if that person is you, send this podcast episode to you on WhatsApp. But also rate review on different platforms, platforms where you get your podcast, because it helps to spread this podcast, to deliver this podcast to more ears around the world. We are a global podcast in more than 11,000 cities around the world and almost all continents except maybe Antarctica. So please help to spread good stuff around so we all could thrive and live with more joy and true fulfillment. Thank you guys for tuning in, for learning, for trying to get better. And till next time, keep growing. And don't forget to ask this question, honestly ask it. What it is that you actually need besides that chocolate.