Food Addiction
Options
Replies
-
Food addiction sounds more like disordered eating to me, IMO...
Perhaps you're correct. It's not uncommon when studying new diseases/mental disorders to misclassify them. That's why scientific studies always need to continue. There is always more to be learned.
I think most people here would agree that actual food addiction does exist. I think of it as being like sex addiction; when the urge hits, the person needs a fix, and while they may have their preferences, pretty much anyone will do. Sex addicts often report engaging in acts with people they would not consider desirable or attracted to under normal circumstances. I believe actual food addiction presents in the same way, in which the person may have certain foods they like but in the midst of an urge they will pretty much go for anything they can get their hands on.
The problem I have with food addiction as most people use the term on MFP, and in the articles you posted, is that they use the term to describe a compulsive behavior in which they eat specific foods. Those foods generally have sugar, fat, and are hyper-palatable, which leads to the "I'm addicted to sugar" claims. I do not think that is food addiction. A habit or learned behavior from watching a parent eat for comfort or being given snacks for comfort or reward as a child? Yes. A compulsive behavior related to anxiety, stress, or OCD tendencies? Sure. But a person with a true food addiction wouldn't be able to just not be around the specific food and be ok. They would be engaging in the behaviors Ed described above. They would not be on here saying "oh, I'm addicted to cookies, once I open a package I can't stop, so I just don't buy them anymore." That's not food addiction. I'm not saying that someone who is having trouble with compulsive behaviors doesn't deserve compassion, support, and help to rectify the issue, but it's not the same as being addicted.0 -
Short definition of addiction.
Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death.
http://www.asam.org/for-the-public/definition-of-addiction
The bolded part is where my husband is at. After the cycles of relapse and remission, then comes guilt to not be able to control the cravings.
It is severely affecting his health and well being. He keeps trying but fails.
My husband has had sugar poisoning on a couple of occasions from having to have sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar........he used to eat it straight from the sugar bowl from a spoon.
Fruit triggers.............certain vegetables triggers.
What treatments has he sought? Why keep sugars (table sugar, honey, syrup, etc.) or candy or sweets, etc. in your house? Will he really binge eat vegetables to get the sugar? Would it be harmful if he did?
This seems like a pretty rare condition, does he see a medical and psychiatric specialist?0 -
People don't get addicted to whole natural food, they get addicted to food that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain beyond what was found in our natural environment.
Here is a simple chart from "The Pleasure Trap" by Dr. Alan Goldhamer and psychologist Dr. Doug Lisle that helps to show the relationship of un-naturally concentrated foods to a pleasure response. The same curve works for drug addicts, gambling addicts, etc.
0 -
Anyone who denies that food can be an addiction is very misinformed and obviously knows nothing about addictions (which would not be shocking, considering most people are addicted to something and have no clue) You can also check the DSM-5 and notice that the 7 categories that would need to be answered "yes" can be applied to food. (Including withdrawals, preoccupation, failed attempts to control, guilt, etc.)
Woah! You better slow down there. On this board we don't use DSM-5's definition of addiction. We prefer to define addiction based off of what we learned from watching bad after school specials about drugs.0 -
People don't get addicted to whole natural food, they get addicted to food that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain beyond what was found in our natural environment.
Here is a simple chart from "The Pleasure Trap" by Dr. Alan Goldhamer and psychologist Dr. Doug Lisle that helps to show the relationship of un-naturally concentrated foods to a pleasure response. The same curve works for drug addicts, gambling addicts, etc.
What would happen if someone ate a bunch of evil glutamate heavy whole natural foods?0 -
Oh brother. Typical response from you.
^^^^For kicks and giggles I began reading the first link.
I'm still giggling....
If you want to have a serious conversation, fine. If you're just going to be condescending, just leave and don't come back.
+1. There are peer-reviewed articles with excellent research showing the effects of eating/overeating on the brain. Those with food addiction have the same change in dopamine receptors as those addicted to alcohol, cocaine, gambling and sex.
Now I'm giggling - at you rushbabe!
http://foodaddictioninstitute.org/scientific-research/physical-craving-and-food-addiction-a-scientific-review/
Peer-reviewed articles (you DO know what a peer-reviewed article is, right RushBabe? :huh: )
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0074832
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11280926
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12055324
Food addiction is very real. Those who tell you otherwise are:
1) Ignorant
2) In denial
3) Selling something
If people want to start comparing eating to drug addiction and start ranting about dopamine release, you know what else increases dopamine?
Thrill seeking activities
Setting goals and achieving them
Thyrosin
Sleep
Exercise
Why is it people don't take one of those routes but instead choose cake, cookies, McDonalds etc.....
No alcoholic blackout. Have you ever suffered from alcoholism? Have you ever been addicted to drugs? People love to compare them without ever having first hand knowledge.
No, but I'm a nurse and I work with alcoholics and drug addicts literally every working day.No [food] blackout. Have you ever suffered from [food]holism? Have you ever been addicted to [food]? People love to compare them without ever having first hand knowledge.
Actually, thrill-seeking personalities do have a kind of addiction to the adrenaline rush of thrill-seeking activities. People with depression tend to sleep - a lot - and chronic depression is known to be an imbalance of brain chemistry. I've known people who will exercise to the point of exhaustion or injury . . . hmmmmmmmmmm
As an addiction counselor - food can absolutely be an addiction. ANYTHING that causes a dopamine release and feelings of pleasure can become addictive. This can include
Any drug
Alcohol
Food
Sex
Internet Use
Gaming
Shopping
Pornography
Exercise
Gambling
Bodybuilding
Shoplifting
Coffee
TV
ETA - Tanning!
And the list grows on...
Anyone who denies that food can be an addiction is very misinformed and obviously knows nothing about addictions (which would not be shocking, considering most people are addicted to something and have no clue) You can also check the DSM-5 and notice that the 7 categories that would need to be answered "yes" can be applied to food. (Including withdrawals, preoccupation, failed attempts to control, guilt, etc.)
The DSM-5 labels them as disorders, which is not a medical condition, but a psychological one.
http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Substance Use Disorder Fact Sheet.pdf
Since when are addictions only physical? There are psychological addictions as well.
addiction ad·dic·tion (ə-dĭk'shən) noun.
Habitual psychological and physiological dependence on a substance or practice beyond one's voluntary control." (The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary)
Maybe it's a better idea to call it a disorder, because really, it is a form of disordered eating when someone cannot control their compulsions to overeat foods that they find pleasurable. Still though, according to the DSM-5 these can still be classified as addictions technically.
Just my two cents.0 -
Dude you put a bucket of peaches and plums in front of me and I will eat the whole damn bucketPeople don't get addicted to whole natural food, they get addicted to food that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain beyond what was found in our natural environment.
This problems is this. The foods people get "addicted" to are low volume and of high caloric density combined with those foods being "easy" to eat. For example, a glazed donut can be eaten very quickly and not satisfy hunger, therefore eat more because not satisfied. An equal sized steak takes a while to chew and will satisfy most peoples hunger. If brocolli tasted like birthday cake, you could "binge" on it and not do much damage calorically, but it would still be hard to eat a large quantity of it since it takes time and lots of chewing to eat. Two heads of raw broccoli actually take me about 15-25 minutes to eat. I can devour birthday cake in mere seconds.........long before the signal is sent that I am full.0 -
I think my favorite posts are the ones where people claim they were addicted to sugar but then when they decided to quit eating sugars, they suddenly no longer had cravings."I know this is a very controversial topic, so please look at these links, and let's incite another debate on this topic that nobody wins".
:yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn: :yawn:
Or lets break the mould and actually have some intelligent debate on both sides. You have the choice to perpetuate old patterns or enact some change here.
be my guest. there are a few threads per day on this topic. I'm sure we need quite a few more. Why don't you go start a some?0 -
Peaches are the best. And i actually agree with the second paragraph, too.
Dude you put a bucket of peaches and plums in front of me and I will eat the whole damn bucketPeople don't get addicted to whole natural food, they get addicted to food that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain beyond what was found in our natural environment.
This problems is this. The foods people get "addicted" to are low volume and of high caloric density combined with those foods being "easy" to eat. For example, a glazed donut can be eaten very quickly and not satisfy hunger, therefore eat more because not satisfied. An equal sized steak takes a while to chew and will satisfy most peoples hunger. If brocolli tasted like birthday cake, you could "binge" on it and not do much damage calorically, but it would still be hard to eat a large quantity of it since it takes time and lots of chewing to eat. Two heads of raw broccoli actually take me about 15-25 minutes to eat. I can devour birthday cake in mere seconds.........long before the signal is sent that I am full.0 -
Short definition of addiction.
Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death.
http://www.asam.org/for-the-public/definition-of-addiction
The bolded part is where my husband is at. After the cycles of relapse and remission, then comes guilt to not be able to control the cravings.
It is severely affecting his health and well being. He keeps trying but fails.
My husband has had sugar poisoning on a couple of occasions from having to have sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar........he used to eat it straight from the sugar bowl from a spoon.
Fruit triggers.............certain vegetables triggers.
According to Doc ACG eggs should trigger it too - do they?
No eggs do not trigger the uncontrollable cravings.0 -
Short definition of addiction.
Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death.
http://www.asam.org/for-the-public/definition-of-addiction
The bolded part is where my husband is at. After the cycles of relapse and remission, then comes guilt to not be able to control the cravings.
It is severely affecting his health and well being. He keeps trying but fails.
My husband has had sugar poisoning on a couple of occasions from having to have sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar........he used to eat it straight from the sugar bowl from a spoon.
Fruit triggers.............certain vegetables triggers.
What treatments has he sought? Why keep sugars (table sugar, honey, syrup, etc.) or candy or sweets, etc. in your house? Will he really binge eat vegetables to get the sugar? Would it be harmful if he did?
This seems like a pretty rare condition, does he see a medical and psychiatric specialist?
He has been seeking treatment off and on since he was diagnosed as a child. We don't keep it in the house. We don't even keep artificial sweeteners in the house because they are a trigger for him.
He sneaks and eats while at work..............going and coming (have found empty wrappers in his truck) that he tried to hide.
Certain vegetables trigger the sugar cravings, which then leads to binge eating fruit, which leads to endless cakes, cookies, doughnuts, etc.
He has had several episodes of sugar poisoning that he had to go to the hospital for.
Yes, he sees both medical and psychiatrist. The psychiatrist has stated that food addictions are much harder to break due to food being a necessity to life and it doesn't take much to trigger the uncontrollable cravings.
Here lately he has been doing well and is telling me when he eats stuff that the Dr has told him he shouldn't have.
As I mentioned earlier...............this has been going on since he was a child. His mom used to catch him sitting on the table eating sugar out of the sugar bowl by the spoonful. YUCK.0 -
ETA: Nevermind.0
-
I'm not going to get involved with all the definitions and scientific studies that I'm sure are in this thread. I do not personally believe that food is a physical addiction the way drugs and/or alcohol are, that's just my opinion.
However, if you claim to have a food addiction, then seek treatment for it, the same way any other addict would. I refuse to give sympathy or support to someone who is not actively trying to help themselves. You want to call it a real addiction? Get treatment. Stop saying "I'm addicted to food, that's why I can't lose weight" and get help. And no, I'm not directing this to anyone in particular.0 -
Do I think food addiction is real? No.
Do I think Eating Disorders are real? Yes.
What are these articles talking about? The answer would be an eating disorder.
Binge eating is a disorder. Not an addiction.
And it is a disorder that stems from chronic extreme restriction. Your body is only looking for homeostasis. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Again, IMO...
Really? Chronic extreme restriction - bit of a leap!0 -
You know, I can not and will not ever put food in the same category with alcohol or narcotics. Our bodies are designed to consume food, but not alcohol or narcotics. Our bodies require food to survive, but not alcohol or narcotics.
Psychology might cause someone to develop a similar reaction on the brain when eating that they might experience by consuming alcohol or narcotics, but the biochemical reactions are completely different.
What really worries me is people embracing the theory of food addiction, and subsequently, enabling anorexics. I mean, think about it. Addiction is all the justification that an anorexic needs to avoid food completely.0 -
People don't get addicted to whole natural food, they get addicted to food that stimulates the pleasure centers of the brain beyond what was found in our natural environment.
Here is a simple chart from "The Pleasure Trap" by Dr. Alan Goldhamer and psychologist Dr. Doug Lisle that helps to show the relationship of un-naturally concentrated foods to a pleasure response. The same curve works for drug addicts, gambling addicts, etc.
If a person could be "addicted" to food, than it stands to reason that whole foods would be included in that scenario. Since food is a necessity for life, and so can't be an addiction, the house of cards just falls down.
ANY food can stimulate pleasure. Don't be silly.
Honestly, I have even told co-workers that I love green bell peppers. When asked why, I said, "They make me happy." Am I addicted? NO! I can go for a LONG time without eating one and have no withdrawal. (though i think about them, from time to time) But still, eating them makes me happy. I derive pleasure from it, especially when they are raw, straight from the garden.0 -
You know, I can not and will not ever put food in the same category with alcohol or narcotics. Our bodies are designed to consume food, but not alcohol or narcotics. Our bodies require food to survive, but not alcohol or narcotics.
Psychology might cause someone to develop a similar reaction on the brain when eating that they might experience by consuming alcohol or narcotics, but the biochemical reactions are completely different.
What really worries me is people embracing the theory of food addiction, and subsequently, enabling anorexics. I mean, think about it. Addiction is all the justification that an anorexic needs to avoid food completely.
Your statement about our bodies being designed to consume food is only correct to a point. Many foods today are not natural and the body was not designed to consume those.0 -
Something else I want to throw out there is Casein. The full name of casein is casomorphin. It is an opiate found in dairy products. It is designed to have baby mammals enjoy nursing and come back to it. Human milk has 2.7 grams of casein per liter of milk. Cow's milk has 26. It takes roughly 10 pounds of milk to make 1 pound of cheese or ice cream. The process of making cheese or ice cream does not diminish casein. It concentrates it.0
-
I think most people here would agree that actual food addiction does exist. I think of it as being like sex addiction; when the urge hits, the person needs a fix, and while they may have their preferences, pretty much anyone will do. Sex addicts often report engaging in acts with people they would not consider desirable or attracted to under normal circumstances. I believe actual food addiction presents in the same way, in which the person may have certain foods they like but in the midst of an urge they will pretty much go for anything they can get their hands on.
The problem I have with food addiction as most people use the term on MFP, and in the articles you posted, is that they use the term to describe a compulsive behavior in which they eat specific foods. Those foods generally have sugar, fat, and are hyper-palatable, which leads to the "I'm addicted to sugar" claims. I do not think that is food addiction. A habit or learned behavior from watching a parent eat for comfort or being given snacks for comfort or reward as a child? Yes. A compulsive behavior related to anxiety, stress, or OCD tendencies? Sure. But a person with a true food addiction wouldn't be able to just not be around the specific food and be ok. They would be engaging in the behaviors Ed described above. They would not be on here saying "oh, I'm addicted to cookies, once I open a package I can't stop, so I just don't buy them anymore." That's not food addiction. I'm not saying that someone who is having trouble with compulsive behaviors doesn't deserve compassion, support, and help to rectify the issue, but it's not the same as being addicted.
I think there's two things here. I have certainly experienced 'food addiction' that you talk about in the sense of HAVING to eat when I had severe bulima in my late teens and literally anything would do... I remember being at boarding school one night and eating dry pasta out of the packet as it was the only food I had access to and I just had to eat, I felt like I had no control whatsoever. And other similar times, plus getting into debt, stealing food and money to buy food, raiding bins... I was suicidal, I desperately wanted to stop but I just couldn't, it was truly awful. (And having subsequently experienced drug addiction, my experience was far more traumatic relating to food.)
But I do also think that you can have addiction-related issues with palatable foods too, which I agree is somewhat separate but I don't think that it makes it entirely different. It's like one person being addicted to one substance over another, as opposed to just anything. That's my opinion, anyway. Hyper-palatable foods in general in my opinion have an addiction potential due to how they affect certain neural pathways etc etc. And a lot of people do exhibit those behaviours regarding them... yes overeating is different to food addiction and people overeat without it being an addiction, but some people do also definitely display addictive behaviours towards hyper-palatable foods - as I think Ed was actually describing. I also have experience of this (and for me it was very food-specific, like literally one specific food that caused me huge huge problems, from the age of 11 for over 10 years; and I did exhibit the kind of behaviours you would often associate with hardcore drug addiction). It's not nice. But no it is not the same as just saying that you have a tendency to overeat or find it hard to moderate/avoid certain foods.
So I do think it exists but I also agree that can be applied too widely. I suspect there is also a range of severities. And a lot of it is probably just semantics/definition too.0 -
You know, I can not and will not ever put food in the same category with alcohol or narcotics. Our bodies are designed to consume food, but not alcohol or narcotics. Our bodies require food to survive, but not alcohol or narcotics.
Psychology might cause someone to develop a similar reaction on the brain when eating that they might experience by consuming alcohol or narcotics, but the biochemical reactions are completely different.
What really worries me is people embracing the theory of food addiction, and subsequently, enabling anorexics. I mean, think about it. Addiction is all the justification that an anorexic needs to avoid food completely.
Your statement about our bodies being designed to consume food is only correct to a point. Many foods today are not natural and the body was not designed to consume those.
So then you think it is possible to be addicted to "additives", not food.
Unfortunately, that doesn't really fly with me either. I'm pretty sure if an "additive" were addicting it would come with a surgeon general's warning.
OH... and I noticed that you didn't touch my other two arguments.
You cherry-pick what you want to discuss, just like those studies that you are referring to.
Personally, I am cautious about reading things on the internet that end with .com because I know that the purpose and source of that website is to make money, and therefore, completely biased.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 401 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 992 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions