Dread, Overeating, and the Brain: How to Break the Cycle

135- Do you ever catch yourself eating when you’re not hungry—or scrolling endlessly—just to avoid something you’d rather not face? That’s dread, and it quietly fuels anxiety, overeating, and exhaustion.

In today’s episode, I’m breaking down the hidden link between dread, overeating, and procrastination, how the amygdala, limbic system, and prefrontal cortex each play a role, a client’s honest story about dread, eating, and scrolling and what helped her break the loop, and three practical tips to reduce dread and stop buffering with food or your phone.

If dread has been draining your energy or driving your habits, this episode will give you clarity, hope, and the tools to take your power back.

If you’re ready for transformation in your health, personal support and community, join the Feel Light Mind & Body 3-month program. Our next round begins September 22 and takes you right up to the holidays with more freedom, not restriction. You’ll find all the details and a link to connect with me for a free consult here:

https://calendly.com/clarendasempowerment/exclusive-20-mins-session

#ClarendasEmpowermentCoaching #emotionaleating #weightlossjourney

You can always find out more at:

https://www.clarendasempowerment.com/

Transcript

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Today we're talking about feelings of dread and how it influences overeating and your overall health. Welcome to episode 135. I'm Clarenda Price, a certified Life and Weight Loss coach, previous nurse for 21 years and personal trainer. I help high achieving women - who feel stuck in stress cycles, mindless eating, as well as low energy - finally start to feel lighter in their mind and body without restrictive diets or overwhelm. My work combines science-backed strategies, mindset coaching, and building sustainable habits. So today's subject "Dread, Overeating, and the Brain: How to Break the Cycle" totally aligns. Dread is an uneasiness, apprehension, fear or a perception of an underlying or lurking threat. It's an emotion that we often try to push away, which makes sense because our default mode is to avoid things, to not look at it, to just hope it goes away. However, staying in indecision increases dread, which falls under the umbrella of anxiety. The good news is there's freedom in facing the situation. Even though it feels uncomfortable, once you face the situation, you're no longer held hostage by the unknown. Dread lies in the amygdala, the fear-based part of the brain. When we make an empowered decision, we're activating the prefrontal cortex. And the fact is we can't go from the amygdala to the prefrontal cortex, which is the executive thinking, the higher level part of our brain, without going through the limbic system. That's where our emotions and values sit. That's why I spend so much time with my clients, helping them align their emotions and values because when they do that, they no longer just have temporary success. It makes it sustainable. One client realized that her dread eating always happened on Sunday evenings before the beginning of a work week. By clarifying her values, she shifted from snacking on autopilot to creating a Sunday night ritual that really worked for her. It prepared her for the week and because she intentionally gave herself permission to recharge and do the things that are in her values, there was no need to judge and there was no need to emotionally eat. Another client noticed that she procrastinated tough conversations by snacking. Once she connected that conversation to her value of having a connected and honest relationship, then she was able to be courageous and have that conversation instead of numbing out with food. I also have a client who loved the Feel Light Mind and Body program and is back as she wants to take it to the next level of living an optimized life. She's been doing some work on her own exploring, journaling, and she said, Is it possible Clarenda to work on dread? I've been noticing that showing up in my life...it's this underlying emotion that's stopping me and creating a little chaos in her life. So we've started working through those areas and she now understands that this is how we're wired. She's less judgmental about herself and doesn't feel so alone, but we don't just stay there in awareness. Today we completed a values assessment, her true values. It's eye-opening and it's inspiring. Quite simply, when we live in our values, we live an inspired life. When we aren't living in our values, we'll experience more judgment of self and others, resentment, boredom, people pleasing, disconnection, and dread. And here's how she described it. I had emailed her and told her she inspired me to do this podcast on dread and just gave her a few of my notes and said, "Anything you wanna add?" So I'm gonna read directly her words. She said, "Dread drains my energy, so I'm tempted to eat for the quick dopamine

hit: 4:02

foods like chocolate for a sugar rush, chips that I associate with a good time, or alcohol to take the edge off. But of course that can spiral into binge eating. Dread also puts me in that crazy loop of scrolling to make it better, but I only end up finding more negative stuff because that's what I'm looking for in that state. For me, dread has almost become a constant state, and it's impacted my health, both mental and physical, as well as my family relationships. That's why I'm working on reducing it. My morning routine now includes gratitude and five beliefs about how I want to show up for myself and my family. I've even started an urge jar for scrolling...[The urge jar is something that she learned in the Feel Light Mind and Body course...urges to not eat or not to do something, and it's great that she's using it here as well.]...since sometimes the urge comes from fear and sometimes from other feelings. I'm also finding healthier ways to increase my dopamine without raising cortisol. And the values work we're doing is helping because it shows me where my heart truly is." Her honesty captures exactly why this is so important. It's not just about eating and scrolling. It's about energy, health, and relationships. And it shows that while dread feels consuming, there are practical ways to shift out of it. So what's this all got to do with weight loss and gain? So much! Let me give you the Cole's Notes version. Overeating is eating when you're not hungry; usually to distract yourself from a task that you don't really wanna do, procrastinate from getting started, avoid something uncomfortable, celebrate like the majority do, fill a void, try to soothe or feel better temporarily, or reward yourself when you feel depleted or deserving. Last week I found myself eating without being hungry. I had just eaten lunch about an hour prior to that. So I got curious because I knew that's the only way I'd get outta that hummus dish. I asked myself, why? What am I thinking? What am I feeling? What's going on? I knew I was using food to prolong, to not have to begin the task that I was dreading to do. I was using food as a buffer. As long as I was eating, it gave me a reason not to begin. But here's the truth, I wasn't buying time. In fact, it was costing me time. That was a lie from the amygdala. It was not only costing me time, it was also delaying the relief that I would feel when the task was completed. I couldn't delete the task, and since it was time sensitive, I couldn't delegate it either. So this reality check left me with one option: if I wanted to get it done, just do it. Now I could have white-knuckled it, but doing so would've drained my energy. Instead, I took a few minutes to rewire my mind and tied the task to two of my highest values and how it would serve them. Once I made that connection, my dread dissipated. I was able to complete it calmly from my prefrontal cortex, the executive thinking. Maybe for you it's not food. Maybe it's doom scrolling. I get it. I've been there. And the crazy part is scrolling often increases the feeling of dread, especially if what you're looking at is world events which are outside of our control. I have three tips for you today to break the dread to overeating cycle. The first one is use micro check-ins. Set an alarm for about an hour after you've been up and just simply ask, am I doing what I want to be doing right now? Or try a five minute check-in alarm five minutes after you said you were going to start something. It interrupts avoidance patterns before food or scrolling take over. Number two, pause and ask, is this hunger or is this dread? Simply naming dread or any emotion takes its power away and reactivates the thinking brain. And number three, tie tasks to values. Before starting something you're resisting, tie it to something that you value. Things like your family, health, work, or relationships. Your brain stops fighting the task when it sees alignment with what you truly care about. So that gives you something to work with...to begin with at least. If you've been following me for a while, thank you. You're why I show up here every week. I love that you find value in our time together and the content that I share. And if you're new, welcome to the Feel Light Mind and Body community. This is just a taste of the richness that's in the Feel Light Mind and Body three-month program. It's part of the relatableness that comes from within the community in the private group. It's all virtual, so you can join in at any time. You can go at your own pace, and you'll find value in the community because you'll realize that you're not alone. There's other people that have similar struggles, and I always say the weight loss journey can be lonely and no one should have to do this alone. And here's the exciting news. We begin again. We kick off on September 22nd. That takes us all the way up to the week before Christmas. Imagine being able to navigate the holidays in a way that doesn't feel restrictive. That's where the power lies. That's where the joy lies. The support is incredible from both myself and those in the community. We share ideas, a few recipes here and there, and there's some in the course content as well that's healthy. But it's all an individual journey. Now, if you're listening to this later, still reach out so we can have a chat. Know that you get personal coaching, not AI or a bot, 'cause there's nothing like the warmth, the understanding, and the lived knowledge of a human. And I've been told that I'm a personable kind coach who can also lovingly kick your butt as needed. Prior to starting, I take the time to talk to each individual so I can answer your questions, including things about the program and the tuition. So if you feel a little nudge inside, even if the lower brain is offering you all the reasons why you can't or shouldn't do this, I highly encourage you to at least get on the call and make that choice for yourself. I love connecting with everyone, and I promise you'll leave that call feeling better than when you came on the call. And yes, you may have started and stopped so many times...you're not alone. You may feel like you've tried all the programs or read all the books. Most of us have. You have information at your fingertips every day, but that doesn't mean that you have the strategies, tools, simple and doable guidelines, and an invested coach walking you through it. A lot of times people will say, I just don't believe that I can do it. Let me tell you, I believe for you, I believe until you can start to believe for yourself. I know from the results that my clients get, I know from the results I've experienced myself. Just meet me inside and trust the process and you will get to the goal that you want, the goal that you deserve to reach. In my opinion, there's nothing more valuable than feeling light in your mind and body because when you feel that way, when you have that extra energy and health, and vitality, then you're able to pour into your family. You're able to show up at work as your highest self, doing the best that you can, and you may even be impacting the world. And if I sound like I'm trying to convince you, I am. And I unapologetically am doing so. Hearing what my last two clients, just today, said about how this has changed their life, their relationships, the way they think and feel, their sleep, their mobility, the inflammation, all of the things that go way beyond the scale. That's what's topped up my inspirational cup. I hope you're feeling at least a spark of hope within. That's all it takes. That's all it needs to get started. So let's chat and get you set up. You can find the link in the description and if you can't find a time that works for you, reach out and we'll find one. We'll make it happen for you. If you want to get started before the 22nd, there's a free option that I can offer you as well. I bet for a lot of you listening, just having a plan in place will decrease your fear, your concern, your worry about, "What if I continue on the way I have been eating, living, how I've been feeling the last few months? What will my health look like in three, four months from now?" Those inches or pounds that's crept on over the summer, they'll be gone. In fact, you'll end this year feeling healthier and stronger than you began. Not just in body, but in heart and mind as well.