Fast Food Addiction - Can Anyone Else Relate?

stevencloser

janejellyroll wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

try2again wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

kimny72 wrote: »

So... ummm... I had Taco Bell for lunch yesterday. Still not addicted. Of course OP clarified that neither is she. But some folks are still gonna stake their claim of the "It's not our fault! They made us fat!" argument, whether it's sugar or fast food or processed food or diet food or carbs or dairy or grains or whatever, so... carry on.

P.S. The Nacho Fries are good, but not really worth the hype in my opinion. But they did allow me to tell my friend she couldn't try one because "These are Nacho Fries, get your own!" (Not Your = Nacho, get it?) So, that was fun.

Do you agree most addicts will tell others they not addicts for some unknown reason?

Are you suggesting @kimny72 needs an intervention? *raised eyebrow*

This makes me realize what this thread is missing... a good, comprehensive definition of what "fast food addiction" is. I have fast food cravings sometimes (KFC commercials drive me *insane*), but since we live in a rural area and it would be a decent drive to get it, I shrug my shoulders & go "oh well". If I were an addict, would I get in the car and go? If the car was broken down, would I walk?

Great point. At 2am when I realized I was thinking about driving 10 miles in one direct to a drink machine for a Royal Crown cola yet there was no way to get a Moon Pie to go with it I realized I was a carb addict. I guess I thought if something was legal then it should not be addictive.

Shortly after that (Oct 2014) I cut out foods with added sugars and/or any form of grains on a hunch that it might help me dodge the Enbrel that I was to start in 30 days. It worked for the pain management then month by month I was able to start walking death backwards.

So at this point when you were wanting to drive to get some, you had absolutely no carbohydrates in your home? Not even anything like beans or vegetables or flour?

I get your point that the addiction is to sugar not carbs in general. Perhaps you are correct.

"Perhaps"? Do you think that addicts typically leave their home in the middle of the night to get more of the substance they're addicted to if they have some in the cabinets of their house? Anyone who wants to convince me that people are addicted to carbohydrates is going to have to account for the fact that so called carbohydrate addicts are constantly bypassing and ignoring reliable sources of carbohydrates (including some very high carbohydrate foods like flour) in favor of foods that are typically considered super-palatable. You weren't thinking about driving 10 miles to get some beets, spelt flour, or even oranges (which would be suitable for a sugar addict).

He also didn't take the spoon to the bag of straight sugar either.

paperpudding

People didnt say the problem is not real - behavioural disorders are certainly real.

But they are not physical addictions.

Packerjohn

craygslyst1 wrote: »

Katherine,

I agree that fast food can be a true, debilitating substance. Not chemically maybe, but psychologically.

The type of dependence you have doesn’t matter, just that it exists, and you seek help for it.

I don’t care for people telling you that your addiction isn’t real, or that you lack willpower, or are making excuses, etc. That is highly judgemental, as no one is in your shoes but you.

My response is to actively seek treatment and support. If you don’t do that, then yes, it falls back on you. Otherwise, continue your fight.

I wish you the best.

This is from Psychology Today:

Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences. Addiction may involve the use of substances such as alcohol, inhalants, opioids, cocaine, nicotine, and others, or behaviors such as gambling; there is scientific evidence that the addictive substances and behaviors share a key neurobiological feature—they intensely activate brain pathways of reward and reinforcement, many of which involve the neurotransmitter dopamine.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/addiction

Given this description, food could be addictive (agree not physically) but psychologically. We speak of gambling addiction and obviously that is not the same as heroin. Psychology Today seems to be okay using the word addiction for something that is not physically addictive.

Maybe this has been covered on one of these pages.

lemurcat12

craygslyst1 wrote: »

Katherine,

I agree that fast food can be a true, debilitating substance. Not chemically maybe, but psychologically.

The type of dependence you have doesn’t matter, just that it exists, and you seek help for it.

I don’t care for people telling you that your addiction isn’t real, or that you lack willpower, or are making excuses, etc. That is highly judgemental, as no one is in your shoes but you.

My response is to actively seek treatment and support. If you don’t do that, then yes, it falls back on you. Otherwise, continue your fight.

I wish you the best.

Seems like you didn't actually read most of the thread where OP elaborated on what was going on and what she is currently doing to lose weight.

WinoGelato

craygslyst1 wrote: »

Geez.

Sorry I didn’t read all 13 pages of responses.

Y’all have a good day.

You read enough to chastise others for their response, but you didn’t read where the OP came back and clarified that she’s on an extremely restrictive diet which is likely contributing to her feelings about food of all types, not just fast food...

Lounmoun

If you were really addicted to a food I would think you are willing to eat food you find on the ground or in the trash to get your fix, willing to eat the food even if an animal has gnawed on it, empty your bank account buying that particular food, stealing money or food or a car to get your fix, breaking open a vending machine or breaking into a building, manipulating others into buying food for you, blaming others, lying about eating the food, neglecting other parts of your life like your job, partner, kids because you have to have that thing. You would consume the food even if you didn't like the taste because you were addicted to the ingredient.

Everyone I have heard say they are addicted to a food may have a disordered emotional relationship with food but not a real addict like compulsion toward one food or ingredient. The person drooling over the thought of fresh hot fast food french fries probably wouldn't feel a compulsion to eat a giant sack of 10 day old cold hard fries that they found in the park.

try2again

Lounmoun wrote: »

The person drooling over the thought of fresh hot fast food french fries probably wouldn't feel a compulsion to eat a giant sack of 10 day old cold hard fries that they found in the park.

I think that image is pretty much going to put me off fries for good

paperpudding

craygslyst1 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

People didnt say the problem is not real - behavioural disorders are certainly real.

But they are not physical addictions.

Yes. A couple people said she needed more willpower and was making excuses. IMO, that’s saying her addiction isn’t real.

So you read enough to focus on what a couple of people said and not the many people who said it was not a physical addiction but did give useful advice in coping with behaviural problems of various degrees (ie from simple cravings to pshychological disorders) and specific advice to OP's situation ??

Fyreside

craygslyst1 wrote: »

I gave an opinion.

I don’t chastise anyone. I try to be polite. Any ‘chastising’ is read into it by others.

If I was wrong, I apologize. I wasn’t out to tick anyone off.

Don't stress about it man, these people are seasoned keyboard warriors and this part of the forum is like their fighting pit.

Having said that, I don't actually agree with you either. My opinion is that the word addiction gets thrown around a bit and having worked with people battling crippling addiction, I personally don't think it's fair to compare the desire (no matter how strong it may be) to eat a type of food. habitual behavior happens because humans like patterns and gravitate towards them. Defending them and pursuing them even to their detriment. Obviously it depends where you draw the line, and which chemicals or hormones you want to include.. But all that is irrelevant.

Because whether breaking a habit or fighting with addiction, it's going to take willpower. And all the excuses in the world won't get you where you want to be. You say seek treatment and support. What do you think they are going to tell a fast food addict?

Fyreside

@craygslyst1 Life would be pretty boring if we all agreed all the time. But I think we agree that with willpower and good support, one can beat just about anything.

Sometimes I worry that people are actually starting to speak to each other in person as if it were the internet. But there will always be some of us who enjoy and value a civil debate

kimny72

One could also say that people take any criticism or push back on their opinion as meanness or an attack. When it really is just someone disagreeing with you. And as others mentioned, OP came back to the thread, clarified that she had misused the word addiction, and was perfectly fine with the responses. If you're gonna drop in on page 13 and criticize the thread in general, you might end up criticizing posters you didn't realize.

In general, and especially in a long thread like this, it's a good idea to avoid responding to posts from the beginning of the thread if you haven't at least skimmed the rest. These conversations tend to be far ranging and go off on tangents, and there could be clarifications or changes of position that actually make YOUR post seem like the mean one in the perspective of the whole thread.

I am a quiet and polite person who tends to avoid confrontation, and I have never found the mfp boards to be rude or coarse at all. It can be difficult to say something and be met with disagreement, but I think sometimes people read tone into posts that simply isn't there.

On thread topic, there is a difference between an addiction and a habit that is desperately hard to break. I think sometimes posters think if we say "it's not an addiction" that means we're saying this is easy, just stop doing it. Some habits, cravings, and emotional responses are incredibly difficult to move past, and can take multiple strategies, including sometimes therapy, and a long time to break. But that's still different than an addiction. That word sometimes gives people subconscious permission to throw up their hands and think they have no power over the behavior, which can hold them back. Which is a bad thing that we want them to avoid

lemurcat12

Fyreside wrote: »

You say seek treatment and support. What do you think they are going to tell a fast food addict?

I think eating disorders (and compulsive eating certainly can be one) or dysfunctional reliance on food to cope with emotions or all kinds of related things absolutely can be addressed through treatment and support. There is OA, but I'm thinking more like therapy or maybe especially CBT.

I also think OP may be helped by that (without presuming to know) and I hope that's part of her plan, in addition to relying on a really strict diet to lose weight initially.

I wouldn't use the word addiction for most who simply have trouble moderating their eating or who have bad habits where they eat fast food really often and end up overeating, but I do think eating addiction is a thing. I, and various others, said this upthread even -- that was my problem with the poster who jumped in to accuse us all of being mean to OP without seeming to be aware of the scope of the discussion. At this point, the thread hasn't been about OP for ages (not since it was moved to Debate), and also OP explained long ago that her actual issue is that she's been eating a super restrictive diet (as part of a weight loss program) and likely would have had the same reaction to something homemade and tasty.

lemurcat12

For what it's worth, I almost added something saying I didn't think you intended anything negative.

I know it's really long, but at this point the thread isn't about OP, and I doubt she's reading -- it was about her question, I think we covered that and her issue in depth, and then it got moved to Debate to debate, I dunno, the concept of fast food addiction.

Fyreside

@lemurcat12 The context of that snippet was tied to the previous sentence. My angle being that willpower and commitment will be a part of the solution regardless of how we label the problem. And at some point, if help is sought a professional is going to have to help the client find that inner strength.

So I think we're on the same page and I sure hope you are right, as I've just embarked on a career change and entered a field of study which I hope will position me to be able to help others with their eating problems. As I struggled to find anyone to help me in my part of the world.

lemurcat12

Yeah, we probably largely agree.