If you’ve ever accidentally finished a whole bag of chocolates when you only meant to have one or two, you’re probably quite familiar with overeating. Lack of sleep. Stress. Crazy-demanding family members, hormones. All of these factors can add up to one big bucket of ice cream or takeout box of pizza.  Chances are, however, there are deeper underlying issues that may be causing you to binge eat that have absolutely nothing to do with your lack of will power.

1) You are filling yourself up with junk food.

Many of us are literally eating food that is chemically-engineered to trick your brain into thinking you’re still hungry. Our brains are tricked into thinking foods with sugar and fat can give us a bigger “reward” than eating veggies. We may begin to focus on the fact that eating those foods gave us a moment of pleasure, which drives us to reward ourselves again, this results in a habit of healthy eating.

It gets easier though, the more we eat junk food the more we crave it. That’s why when we stop eating junk food, after a while it becomes easier to resist.

2) You are buying into marketing tactics.

The way food is marketed to us is almost a science of its own! Generally, the most indulgent foods are full of bad fats, salt and sugar. These additives are cheap to produce, leaving more money to use on marketing.

All those fancy marketing words are often there just to appeal to our emotions,making us believe we deserve a treat because of our stressful lives. Most indulgent foods are filled with cheap additives, which allow for more money to spend on marketing.

Learn to reward your efforts with healthy food because your long term health is a far greater reward then the short lived ‘happy feeling’ that comes with eating an unhealthy treat.

3) Slow down, you are eating to fast.

It takes time for the signal from your stomach to get to your brain that you’ve just eaten. Without that signal, we’re inclined to keep eating until we are full and then end up over full and feeling ‘yucky’.

Instead, slow down, put your fork down between bites, try to stretch your meal to be a full 20 minutes, and stop eating when you’re medium-full. If you are eating foods filled with sugar try and eat a healthy high fiber meal before hand, this will ensure that you are filling yourself up with the nutrient rich foods your body needs before you consider over indulging in the unhealthy stuff.

Reference taken from: http://www.eatthis.com/how-to-stop-overeating