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Which Type of Overeater Are You?

A trigger food is food that sets off overeating. Trigger foods are specific to each person. Chocolate candy might be your trigger food while pizza might be the food that prompts your best friend to lose all sense of moderation.

According to psychologist Stephen Gullo, the best defense against trigger foods is to not even take one bite. These foods are so enticing and tempting to you that you cannot allow yourself even a small portion because you just can’t control yourself. As Gullo says, “If you don’t begin, you don’t have a problem”.

Trigger behaviors, meanwhile, are eating patterns that are “habitual and often almost unconscious behavioral patterns that lead to the repeated abuse of the trigger foods that make you fat”.

In his book, “Thin Tastes Better”, Gullo lists five types of trigger behaviors and what you can do about it.

Picker
If you are a Picker, you are not alone. Gullo claims that 99 percent of his clients love finger foods of any kind and can consume thousands of calories without realizing it. He says more people have gained weight with their fingers than with their mouths. “More people have gained weight from what they eat before, after, and in between meals than from what they consume in the meal itself”.

Pickers need to control their fingers to control their weight, Gullo explains. Here are some of his tips:

Don’t eat while standing up because it means you are not paying attention to what you are eating, which in turn leads to loss of control.
Don’t eat while cooking. There is a big difference between tasting the food and eating half of what you cook. Stay in the kitchen only for cooking. Don’t hang out there if you are a Picker.
No eating while on the phone. Not only is it rude, it also means you are not conscious of what and how much you are eating.
Eat only food that requires the use of utensils. If finger food is your problem area, it’s a threat to your control.
Use your non-dominant hand to pick up finger food in a cocktail party. Gullo recommends keeping a drink in your dominant hand so you will be forced to use your other hand. This little trick is quite effective for Pickers, he claims.
In restaurants, beware the bread basket. Pickers are can unconsciously consume excess calories while waiting for the main meal. He suggests asking to have the basket removed or asking your companions to keep it on their side of the table.

Prowler
Pickers and Prowlers have a lot in common except that Prowlers never sit down for a meal. They graze their way throughout the day claiming that they don’t have time to eat or they feel they are eating less by prowling for their food.

Gullo says the tips for Prowlers work also for Pickers:

Don’t skip meals. Eat real food, not snack food all day long.
Sit down while eating. Gullo says, “A meal isn’t a meal if it’s eaten on the run, or at a counter, or in the car on the way to work”.
Focus on your meals. Don’t eat while doing something else like watching television or trying to finish your work.
Beware the ten-minute problem. Gullo warns that Prowlers are most weak the first ten minutes when they arrive home, at a party, or at a restaurant. It is the time before the main meal is served that many calories are consumed unknowingly.

Finisher
Finishers, Gullo says, belong to the “clean plate” club. He describes Finishers as people who can still hear their mother’s words: “It’s sinful to waste food”, “Think of the starving children in China”, and “Always get what you pay for”.

Gullo says that these childhood attitudes need to be addressed and challenged for Finishers to change their behavior but two practical tips can also help.

Don’t overload your plate. If it’s on your plate, you will feel obligated to eat it.
Eat more slowly. You will be satisfied with less and still feel like you were a “good” girl or boy for finishing your food.

Hoarder
Hoarders are the opposite of Pickers and Prowlers, according to Gullo. They eat as if they were on an installment plan. They hardly eat during the day skipping meals and ignoring the hunger signals from their body but come nighttime, they eat all the calories and more because they are so ravenous.

Gullo recommends that Hoarders stick to a fixed meal schedule to spread their calories around.

Food Therapist
Food Therapists are emotional eaters. They eat in response to their emotions, positive or negative. When they are happy, they eat. When they are sad, they eat. When they are bored, they eat. Gullo puts it this way: “When the going gets tough, they stuff”.

The problem with Food Therapists is that food is the only substance of comfort they use to deal with their emotions. They need to find non-food ways to comfort themselves. Things like a massage, talking to a friend, taking up a craft or hobby, or listening to music. Food Therapists may also need a real therapist to help them deal with their emotional needs.

Gullo writes, “Calories cannot make you happy. Food cannot resolve stressful situations. Food will not teach you new skills to deal with stress. It will not repair your relationships. Instead, it will block your development and make you dependent on an external substance to cope”.

He further explains, “As long as your eating is tied to your emotions, you will never achieve a stable weight. Your weight will change as often as your emotions do. And any diet – no matter how sound – will be as futile as trying to build a castle in the sand. It will be swept away with the next wave of emotion.

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