Have you ever met your inner instant gratification gremlin? It’s that young voice inside of you that is known to throw a tantrum because it wants what it wants when it wants it – especially when it comes to food.

Whether it’s a piece of chocolate or a $7 coffee drink, or something else that we really want, our inner instant gratification gremlin will fixate on it and demand it. And if it doesn’t get what it wants, it becomes angry, demanding, pouty, impatient, and irritated.

All of a sudden, that thing that your instant gratification gremlin is fixated on is the only important thing in the world, and the need to have it is urgent and immediate.

The instant gratification gremlin doesn’t care about future consequences or goals or weight loss or health. It just wants what it wants when it wants it. It doesn’t matter how old you are, once your inner instant gratification gremlin has been switched on, you are now a child, or a teenager at best.

Suddenly, you’ve become less mature, less wise, and less experienced than you normally are. A different eating archetype has taken control, and you are now at the mercy of what it wants – even if the older, wiser part of you knows it’s not a healthy choice for you.

Believe it or not, there is an actual biological and physiological explanation for this. It all comes down to emotional regulation.

Learning to regulate our emotions is something that we humans have to learn how to do. Some emotions are big and feel all consuming. None of us were given an instruction book on how to regulate our feelings, and it’s not an easy thing to do.

The human experience is filled with different emotions – many of which are pleasing, but also many that are outright distressing. From a very young age we must find a way to deal with these unwanted emotions.

Starting in infancy when we are unable to communicate our needs, we cry and hopefully an adult around us will respond. What’s the #1 way to soothe an infant? Mama and a bottle or breast.

The child relaxes immediately and is at peace. It’s being held, touched, loved, soothed and fed all at the same time. This gets hardwired into the infant’s nervous system memory and psyche – feel bad, eat food, feel better.

There is a reason why, even when we’re adults, food can feel like safety and home for us. Because from a very young age, it was a reliable source of comfort that helps us regulate our emotions and feel better.

So, here is the challenge for us adults: Our instant gratification gremlins love to be in control. Because it feels good to have our desires instantly fulfilled – especially when it comes to eating and food – even if what we’re getting isn’t good for us!

There is a part of us that demands instant gratification when it comes to food. Why else would hundreds of fast food chains do so well in the US? The food isn’t actually that great, but you get it fast, and you get it cheap – it’s an instant gratification gold mine!

And eating to make yourself feel better (a.k.a. emotional eating) is the ultimate reward for the instant gratification gremlin – future consequences be damned!

*That pint of ice cream is going to make you feel better and so you’re going to have that pint of ice cream. Where’s the spoon?!?*

Everyone has an inner instant gratification gremlin that takes over from time to time.

But as adults, we are here to learn to delay gratification.

Instead of making choices from the young mindset of the instant gratification gremlin, we are here to put our adult minds in the driver’s seat when we make choices and decisions around food.

Our job is to oust the instant gratification gremlin so that it’s no longer the one making all the decisions around food and eating for us.

Our assignment is to call upon the adult inside of us when making choices and decisions around food.

Our task is to learn to retrain our brains and nervous systems to be able to withstand degrees of discomfort instead of needing to self-soothe all the time.

When we can do this, we will inevitably make better, wiser, more mature choices that hold our health and our long-term happiness as supreme.

When we can do this, we will emotionally eat far less often, and make health-promoting, life-affirming choices instead.

So, this holiday season I invite you to get to know your instant gratification gremlin. Notice how it shows up for you at mealtime or holiday parties, or at the end of a long day. Watch how it doesn’t want to wait, it just wants what it wants when it wants it.

And then notice what it is like to call forth your more mature and wise self into the decision making process. Notice the back and forth conversation that happens between the part of you that wants to make better choices for yourself, and the part of you that couldn’t care less.

Therein lies a key to you reclaiming your vitality, releasing weight, and healing the chronic health issues you might be facing.

Therein lies a door to your freedom.