Matthew Morand, psychologist, on last bite guilt: “Food is numbing and definitely can release endorphins”

Matthew Morand, a psychologist who studies eating behaviors, has a blunt explanation for why so many people push past fullness to finish what’s on their plate. “Food is numbing and definitely can release endorphins,” he told HuffPost, framing “last bite guilt” as far more than a simple bad habit.

Why do we keep eating when we’re full?

The phenomenon feels familiar, right? You are already full, yet leaving food behind triggers discomfort, annoyance or even shame. According to Morand, that reflex has less to do with hunger and more to do with conditioning. Modern abundance has collided with a deeply rooted scarcity mindset, one shaped by decades of cultural messaging that equated finishing food with gratitude and virtue. I can still hear the echoes of my father reminding me of “all the starving children in the world” when I dared leave some morsels behind.

Morand explains that people who always clean their plates are often responding to these emotional cues rather than physical ones. Finishing becomes soothing. It offers closure, control and a brief chemical reward. In that sense, the last bite functions like a coping mechanism, even when the body is clearly signaling it has had enough.

“Waste not, want not”

There is also a cognitive trap at work. The sunk cost fallacy tells us that leaving food behind wastes money, time or effort, even though eating beyond fullness only adds discomfort. “People who finish everything on the plate are doing more than filling their bellies,” Morand noted. “They also may be filling emotional voids.”

Interestingly, he points out that the opposite habit, intentionally leaving a single bite behind, can stem from the same psychological roots. “Leaving that ‘last bite’ could result from feeling restraint or trying to maintain control subconsciously over things in life,” Morand said, adding that it can sometimes reflect guilt or body image concerns rather than mindfulness.

The takeaway is not to police yourself at the table, but to notice the story driving the behavior. Whether you clear the plate or leave food behind, awareness of what you’re doing matters more. Reframing waste, pausing mid-meal and practicing self-compassion can loosen the grip of last bite guilt. As I tell my kids at the dinner table, slow down, enjoy, and give the brain some time to decide when you’re done.

For more on the psychology behind this, read the full piece by Melissa A. Kay on HuffPost.

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