• 31 • Overdesire As if overhunger wasn't enough, we also have to contend with our overdesire for food. We overdesire food for three reasons. First, our neurotransmitters are programmed to desire anything that gives a subtle, let alone a huge, dopamine response. Second, we are being marketed food by experts all day every day. And third, we don't know how to manage our emotions, so we desire food as a way to escape and not feel. As with anything we coach at The Life Coach School, we have to start with the cause and define the terms. What exactly is desire? Desire is a feeling. Desire is an emotion. And as with all emotions, desire starts with a thought in the brain. Most of the thoughts that cause desire are unconscious due to repetition, so we aren't even aware we are thinking them. Because of this, desire seems to be something intrinsic. It seems to be an innate response to a stimulus that we can't control. This is not the case. Desire is learned and desire can be unlearned. We learn to desire something by exposure, reward, and conditioning. If