The Body Remembers: Why You Eat When You’re Not Hungry // Psychology of Food and Nervous System Healing

 Have you ever found yourself eating when you weren’t actually hungry? Not in a “mindless snacking” way, but in a deeper, almost involuntary way — like your body was insisting on something you couldn’t reason with?

That’s not random. That’s your body remembering.

This blog post is not a review of the book The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, but it’s about that idea: that our nervous systems hold on to the past, especially when it comes to safety, nourishment, and survival. Sometimes those old experiences resurface in the way we eat, move, or react, long after the original circumstances are gone.

The body keeps the (field hockey) score

A few weeks ago, I went for a jog. I don’t usually run anymore (my meniscus prefers walking these days because #midlife) but I was pain free and had energy to use.

When I came home, I noticed that I was immediately pulled toward food, but I wasn’t hungry. This felt like an automatic, compelling PULL -- not something as powerful as a binge, but an instinct.

And I knew exactly what it was. It was my body remembering something.

At sixteen years old, I spent a year running laps at field hockey practice on hardly any fuel, burning myself at both ends, dizzy all the time. I was an adolescent in the beginning of an ED, and I just wanted to control my size and didn't care about my health. My body was trying to grow, trying to find its way to adulthood, trying to keep up with the decreased energy and increased exercise that had come so suddenly.

During that time, my body learned that exercise equaled famine. It never forgot. It coded it as a physical emergency stop sign, and planted that flag so deeply that here I was, thirty years later, still feeling the echo of it. 

The nervous system doesn’t care about time

Our minds evolve, but our nervous systems repeat. They are mechanisms of sensation, not logic. You can heal, recover, grow, and still find yourself acting out a decades-old code because the body doesn’t measure time, it measures threat.

That’s why so many people feel the “back to school buzz” every September or feel heavier emotions when they visit their childhood home. It’s not just nostalgia. It’s your body recognizing familiar sensory cues and slipping into old associations.

Why is restriction coded, but not binges?

The body is wired to protect against scarcity, not abundance. The greater evolutionary threat has always been not enough.That’s why even small amounts of restriction can set off a deep biological alarm. 

When that code is written early, especially during adolescence or trauma, it doesn’t just disappear once you start eating “normally.” The nervous system can keep running those old commands for years, even after the crisis has ended.

Respecting the original code

One of the biggest shifts in recovery is moving from control to respect. Instead of fighting the body’s reactions or trying to “outsmart” them, it helps to see them for what they are: protection. The code isn’t bad, it’s loyal. Albeit inconvenient!

You can’t override it by willpower, but you can gradually re-train it through consistent safety like feeding yourself regularly, responding to needs without compensation or resentment, letting your body trust that safety isn't going anywhere.

For me, that post-run urge to eat is still there. But it doesn’t run the show because I have been providing my body with safety for years now. It still speaks up, but it doesn't dominate me anymore. I can recognize it, feed it a little, and move on. 

Somatic work and the language of safety

When an old pattern gets triggered, logic won’t help much. The nervous system doesn’t speak cognitive language — it speaks sensation.

That’s where somatic tools come in. When you notice an old urge or reaction rising up, pause for a moment before doing anything. Feel your body. Where is it tensing, clenching, buzzing? Place a hand there. Take a slow breath. Acknowledge what’s happening without needing it to stop.

These small moments of somatic connection can help the body feel safe, even without words. the way we communicate and slow down with our body gets registered; it's like a parent taking the time to make eye contact with the child, not just mechanically being present just because they have to. It's intentional connecting.

So...

Our bodies are historians. They record not just trauma, but also adaptation, and every way we tried to survive what was too much at the time. And while those adaptations might not make sense anymore, they still deserve respect.

The body keeps the score, yes. But it also keeps trying to keep you safe. The job isn’t to delete the code — it’s to respect the stories that make us who we are AND to teach your body that you’re safe now.

If you are interested in working on this together, consider applying for 1:1 coaching. To learn more about this topic specifically, visit the Full But Not Finished podcast, episode 2.