Have you ever reached for food and only realized what you were doing after the fact — as if the decision had already been made without you? You're not imagining it. In this episode of The Original Self Podcast, psychology-informed life coach Evet DeCota explains why that experience is neurologically real, and why willpower is often the wrong explanation for what's happening.

Drawing on her graduate research on stress, impulsivity, and hyper-palatable food consumption, Evet breaks down the brain systems that drive eating behavior — and why they so often override our best intentions.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the decision to eat often happens before conscious awareness catches up — and what that tells us about how the brain actually works

• The difference between the Wanting System and  ...