The eight types of eating
A diagnostic model that explains why dieting keeps failing even when you're trying hard.
Definition
Most women have been taught there are only two ways to eat: dieting or overeating.
The Eight Types of Eating is a diagnostic model that breaks the binary and shows the real patterns driving weight gain and weight regain; including hidden eating and eating under pressure.
Why this matters
If you only see 'good' eating and 'bad' eating, your only solution is more dieting. When you can name your eating types, you gain range, options, and leverage.
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Because change doesn't come from dumbing eating down.
It comes from understanding it in detail.
The eight types
Functional Eating
Baseline meals:breakfast, lunch, dinner. Food for fuel, shaped by cultural and family norms.
Secondary Eating
The invisible bites that often never get counted: cooking tastes, finishing plates, nibbles, and leftovers.
Dieting
Formal dieting rules with a start date and an end date. Often externally driven.
Constrained Eating
The quieter, constant internal rulebook: monitoring, restricting, negotiating, compensating.
Social Eating
Eating shaped by being watched: judgement, comparison, performance, restraint in public, compensation later.
Comfort Eating
Eating used to soothe the emotional ache. Food as safety, warmth, or used for self-soothing.
Relief Eating
Eating driven by overload. Not comfort. Relief. Often urgent, trance-like, and shame-filled afterwards.
Conscious Eating
The goal: deliberate choice, not autopilot. Awareness of what drives eating before you eat.
What women usually discover
👉They are not 'out of control' - they are running predictable patterns
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👉 Weight regain is often driven by 1 - 2 eating types, not all eating
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👉 relief eating is commonly labelled as 'no willpower'
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👉 The real leverage is identifying when and why eating types activate​​
Ready to understand your eating types?
FAQ
What does the Eight Types of Eating Model do?
A diagnostic model that identifies eight distinct patterns, including hidden eating and eating under pressure, that can drive weight regain.
Is this a diet plan?
No. The model is diagnostic. It explains why eating happens, so you can change it without relying on willpower.
Which eating type causes weight regain?
Often it's not functional eating. Weight regain is commonly driven by secondary, constrained, social, comfort and especially relief eating.
What is the difference between comfort eating and relief eating?
Comfort eating soothes emotional ache. Relief eating resolves overload. The goal isn't comfort, it's relief.