Food addiction

putotherpeoplefirst

I am a food addict and am very ashamed of my addiction. My mother had to lock up food in a locked safe in her bedroom so I would not steal food like biscuits and chocolate. This was many years ago but just recently I have thought about this and what effect my addiction has had on other people like my mother and other family members. Food addiction is a real addiction and extremely challenging and has ruined my life.

sollyn23l2

There's no reason to be ashamed. It's not a moral failing. Furthermore, you're human. Take it one day at a time. What you eat doesn't define you. It sounds like your mom may have resorted to some highly problematic tactics rather than taking the effort to really help you. But you are not that little girl anymore.

neanderthin

Yeah, for some people certain foods effect brain chemistry more than others that goes well beyond will power and has more to do with biochemical reactions.

It's not too late, tomorrow is a new beginning for all intense and purpose. A whole food strategy will generally eliminate a lot of the trigger foods. Sugar and refined carbs were problematic for me personally and have been on an animal based whole food lower to low carb diet for a dozen years without too many incident of cravings for sugar and those incidents where I did were always when I consumed them for various reasons, social events mostly, but where easily managed mostly by understanding I just can't go there.

This isn't easy, but because it's not about willpower and more about brain chemistry, once I removed sugar and most refined carbs my brain chemistry for lack of a better analogy got back on track and was effortless in resisting going fwd, which is shared almost universally among the low carb community and why people with our situations search that dietary strategy, or they, by default, end up there and not to be confused with people just trying low carb because it's popular and then failing miserably because they feel deprived, so you may want to research that aspect going fwd. Cheers.

Sinisterbarbie1

Are you receiving any help now for this problem from someone who is a qualified mental health/addiction specialist? Perhaps seek out a knowledgable weight loss center with the help of your primary care physician where you can get comprehensive, competent care from a team of people that can help you with what sounds like traumatic experiences. With no disrespect meant for neanderthin’s experiences and suggestions — everyone is different and what works for one person’s brain chemistry or eating disorder might not work for another’s. It may be where you end up, but I would not personally jump to the conclusion that the solution will be a particular style of eating without further consultation with experts and a full medical assessment.

It seems like there is more being learned in this area every day and while there are not full answers and explanations yet, neither are people who believe they are experiencing food addictions being dismissed outright as overly dramatic or exaggerating for effect. At least not by doctors and health practitioners of good will. As long as you have the willingness and motivation to find solutions, there are likely people who are willing to work with you. Sadly, it can be costly and not always covered by insurance. I hope that too will change as awareness grows. But congratulations on taking the first and difficult step of admitting the challenging nature of the problem.

bathsheba_c

Definitely not something to be ashamed of.
Are you getting any sort of therapy? I’m concerned that, if you try to lose weight without sorting out your personal relationship with food, you’ll make yourself a miserable wreck without even making progress on losing weight.

kshama2001

Another vote for therapy. Because of your shame, I'd suggest regular therapy, in addition to some sort of skilled-based work like Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT.)

Back in the 90's, I stopped self-medicating with alcohol after just one meeting each of Smart Recovery and Rational Recovery, which are essentially CBT-based. Unfortunately, RR is now defunct. I really liked its Addictive Voice Recognition Technique. While AVRT is similar to CBT's "Catch it, Check it, Change it," I found AVRT more powerful.

A free offshoot of RR, SR has online meetings, looks like every day https://meetings.smartrecovery.org/meetings/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Recovery

SMART Recovery is an international non-profit organization that provides assistance to individuals seeking abstinence from addiction. SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. The SMART approach is secular and research-based, using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and non-confrontational motivational methods.[1]

SMART Recovery is an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other twelve-step programs. SMART differs from AA in that addiction is viewed by the organization as a dysfunctional habit, rather than a disease as it is framed in AA, while allowing that it is possible that certain people have a predisposition toward addictive behavior.[2] SMART Recovery does not focus on spiritual growth as a key component of behavior modification and thus does not encourage individuals to admit powerlessness over addictions, nor use the concept of a "Higher Power".

vanmep

I wonder if it would feel less shameful for you if you thought of it as a survival strategy gone wonky. In ages past, humans had to search for every calorie and consume it because food could be hard to get. Nowadays food is around every corner, so our strategies for survival (hoarding every calorie) are no longer relevant, but our instincts haven’t always caught up to that reality. You’re body is going overboard to help you survive!

Best of luck to you!