Dietitian Lucy Carey explains why an abundance mindset around food protects against overeating, and how to create one

“I’ll just have two cookies,” you tell yourself. But two quickly turns into four. You give the packet of cookies the side-eye, your stomach rumbling for more. “I might as well just eat them all,” you think. “That way they’ll be gone. It’s okay because I won’t ever have them again. This will be the last time. The diet starts tomorrow.”

But a few weeks later you’re right back where you started, with that dratted pack of cookies calling your name.

This is the Last Supper Mentality. It’s a phenomenon rooted in biology and activated by the fear of deprivation that diet culture creates. Let’s explore why it’s so common, how it sabotages your health, and how to leave it behind for good.

The Last Supper Mentality is deeply rooted in the fear of restriction. When you anticipate cutting out certain foods, your brain reacts by increasing your cravings for those very same foods. Let me stress that this isn’t a lack of willpower – it’s biology. Our survival instincts associate restriction with scarcity. Our bodies think that a famine is about to occur, which triggers a ‘feast before famine’ response. Neuropeptide Y (NPY), a neurotransmitter that increases appetite, floods the brain.

Combine this biological phenomenon with diet culture, and you’re really in trouble. Diet culture tells us that certain foods are ‘bad’ and ‘off-limits’ – elevating these foods to an almost mythical status in our minds. Add in a loaded emotional response to eating them (feeling guilty and ashamed and promising yourself you won’t ever have them again) and you have the perfect storm for overeating.

And when you’re in this Last Supper mode, you can’t eat mindfully either. Instead of really enjoying your slice of cake, you’re already thinking about how ‘bad’ it is, that you shouldn’t be eating it, and when you’ll have to cut it out again.

So, how can you escape the Last Supper mentality?

Stop labelling food

We all know that some foods are better for our physical health than others. But true health encompasses more than just the physical. We need to think about how we enjoy foods with loved ones, savour flavours that remind us of our childhoods, etc. So while some foods nourish the body, remember that other foods nourish the soul.

On top of that, it’s important to remember that food has no moral value. You’re not a good or bad person because of what you eat.

If you allow yourself to eat all foods, without labeling them as healthy or unhealthy, and you stop telling yourself that you’re a good or bad person because of what you ate, food begins to lose it’s power over you.

This helps you to make more intuitive choices about what truly satisfies you, instead of sticking to a script of what you’re ‘allowed’.

Stock up on your forbidden foods

To create an abundance mindset around the foods that you tend to overeat, you need to hammer home to yourself that you’re always allowed them and they are always available.

So go out and buy the chocolate. More than you could ever possibly eat. And if you do finish it all, buy some more. It may take some time, but you are teaching yourself that there is no scarcity, there is no upcoming famine. “I can have this later if I want to,” is a good line to say to yourself to remind you that there is no urgency. There is no “now or never”. There is no “I’m only allowed one”. This food is available in abundance and you can have it whenever you want.

Eat regularly

So far I’ve addressed your mindset around the foods that you tend to overeat, but it’s important that you also address your physical hunger. It’s all too common to eat very little in the day, which sets you up for overeating at night.

Or, during the holidays especially, intentionally depriving yourself of food before a get-together so that you feel better about eating a lot. But this is actually putting you in a place of immense physical hunger, which makes it more likely that you’ll overeat.

So try to consistently eat a hearty breakfast and lunch (and snacks if you need them) instead. This reduces the urge to “stock up” on food because of a perceived famine.

The Last Supper Mentality often rears its head in the last days of the year, when you might be promising yourself that next year will be different. But I want to challenge you to make your 2025 a year where you embrace learning to leave the Last Supper Mentality behind instead.

And to help you on your way, I recommend downloading the free No-Diet Holiday Survival Guide. This workbook is packed with practical ways you can get through the holidays with your relationship with food and your body intact. Click here to download it.

The Last Supper Mentality might feel like a psychological safety net, but in reality it traps you in a cycle that makes overeating the norm. By understanding its roots and creating an abundance mindset around food, you can start to let it go.