Can you be addicted to food??

mightymaiden

Good evening. I am wondering if you can be addicted to food. The 1st thing I think about in the morning is what food Im going to have that day. There is barely a second goes by without thinking about it. I can eat till im full then an hour later im eating again. I can have a fast food meal as a snack. Im eating myself into my grave and im at a loss on what I can do.

Is there anyone else like this??

Cheers

Martin

microwoman999

Yes its all mind over matter but I know I am addicted to food especially sweets!

LassoOfTruth

It can be an addiction. But, mostly I think it's a habit. Thinking about food like you do is how I feel about smoking (cigarettes). Smoking is my addiction/habit, so food can be yours. But, just like anyone can quit smoking, you can quit being addicted to it. Try stuffing yourself with fruits/vegetables instead of the fast food you talked about.

MaraDiaz

Good evening. I am wondering if you can be addicted to food. The 1st thing I think about in the morning is what food Im going to have that day. There is barely a second goes by without thinking about it. I can eat till im full then an hour later im eating again. I can have a fast food meal as a snack. Im eating myself into my grave and im at a loss on what I can do.

Is there anyone else like this??

Cheers

Martin

I was like that. Even during the first few months of losing weight just counting calories and exercising food still nagged at me constantly. What could I eat that day what would I eat that day. So irritating!

Here is what worked for me and there is no guarantee it will work for anyone else:

I cut out carbs to the point of always being in ketosis. That gradually put an end to most cravings and excess hunger. I also severely limited my food variety (a recent study shows this can help people lose weight, out of simple boredom!).

The best thing though is this: Now when I'm upset or moody I crave a workout. It took over a year for my brain to finally throw that switch, though.

gurlygirlrcr80

food is absolutely an addiction. And what's worse...you can't avoid it. You can quit smoking, you can quit drinking alcohol, you can quit drugs...but you can never quit food. I'm a food addict and have been working on my problems for a while now and what I found helps me, is keeping my proteins between 70-120 g's a day, focus on little to no sugar in the foods you eat (lots of lean meats and veggies, very EASY on fruits). That will focus your food obsession on something healthy. This is what I work on with my nutritionist. It's also behavior modification. I take the long way home from work so I don't stop at the fast food places along the way.
I hope this helps

WinWinGo

I don't think you can be addicted to food. Because you need to eat to live. I do think you can become dependent on certain unhealthy foods if you're not careful. And if you're not careful about portion sizes, food in general can become an issue. The trick is to minimize the bad stuff, and really focus in on the good stuff.

geekyjock76

Is it an addiction, habit, or even a sense that you can eat a lot of calories yet your brain isn't getting the appropriate signal to stop eating? Often times persons who are overweight have an imbalance in serum leptin levels which results in a false report that you have not yet met energy needs and need to keep eating. If leptin levels are chronically too low or high, a person may even became leptin resistant which means the brain more or less no longer senses changes in leptin values and believes the body is in a constant state of semi-starvation.

mazzasweet

Total Addiction!

symonspatrick

Yes a person can be addicted to certain foods. For myself, I cut out the foods that I had a difficult time eating in moderation. Most of those foods were not full of nutrition anyway. I do miss eating and drinking them and maybe one day I will eat them in moderation but right now staying away from them seems to work pretty well. Your diary is closed so it is difficult to know if there is a trend to your eating habits but for me cutting back on processed foods and sugar and starches has helped me to control my appetite. Just know that you are not alone in this struggle.

mightymaiden

Thanks for the comments. I know what I should be eating, but I still cant stop eating good and bad stuff. I even lost about 70lbs in the last 18 months but have put it all back on. I need to get rid of my taste buds lol, that way if I didnt taste the food I wouldnt bother eating it lol.

siblita

I think it's not so much addicted to food in general, as addicted to CERTAIN foods or combos. If I do not eat Low Carb/ High Fat (like MaraDiaz to the point of being in ketosis) then I am acting exactly like an addict - hiding food, only thinking about the next "fix", having a true sedated feeling after indulging, and just generally obsessed with eating and food.

Low carb has been the only way I have a "normal" life. I can walk by old trigger foods, and they do not tempt me anymore. I'm just not hungry for HOURS at a time (could never say that before!) I highly recommend it.

Getting to the point where you are in ketosis is the hard part- I had to hit my own personal rock bottom before I committed to it. It only took me 5 days to get to a more sane mindset.

Let me know if you choose to go this route, I'd be happy to help.

MaraDiaz

Thanks for the comments. I know what I should be eating, but I still cant stop eating good and bad stuff. I even lost about 70lbs in the last 18 months but have put it all back on. I need to get rid of my taste buds lol, that way if I didnt taste the food I wouldnt bother eating it lol.

Kind of scary how tempting the thought of just finding a way to get rid of taste buds is, but of course it would be incredibly dangerous. Talk about risk of food poisoning!

ldrosophila

It is very much so an addiction. Any item that cause that hormonal rush of endorphins and we begin to use it over and over again to get that same hit of pleasure to the point of abuse i.e weight gain is an addiction.

The problem with food as an addictive substance is unlike some other addictive things like gambling, alcohol, and drugs, you cant stop eating. So the abstaining part of fighting an addiction is not possible.

You have to find out what triggers you into an addictive cyle, and abstain from that. So if sitting at home eating in front of the TV puts you into an addictive food binge tailspin you need to find an alternative.

Also, many dont see the problem with food addiction often times they say get some self control. Well if you are in the addictive cycle you dont realize you are an addict and you cant get help.

I still go through periods when I cry because I cant get my fix anymore. Fridays are the worst because that was my huge binge night and frankly it was fun I got flooded with endorphins watched TV played on the internet chat rooms and binged. I sometimes miss those night.

The excuses to binge and continue with your addiction are also hard to notice. It's very subtle like today I ate my lunch and the thought popped in my head oh I didnt really get a carb for lunch hmmmmm if I get dessert that will be my carb. It was an excuse and the old addictive process. You have to be constatnly vigilant. Every day, every minute, and every meal is a battle.

I will say though you just made the biggest step. You realized something is wrong. The next step is to find ways to break the cycle.

ldrosophila

Thanks for the comments. I know what I should be eating, but I still cant stop eating good and bad stuff. I even lost about 70lbs in the last 18 months but have put it all back on. I need to get rid of my taste buds lol, that way if I didnt taste the food I wouldnt bother eating it lol.

Kind of scary how tempting the thought of just finding a way to get rid of taste buds is, but of course it would be incredibly dangerous. Talk about risk of food poisoning!

I used to read about ways to kill my sense of smell because when I had a cold I wouldnt want to eat since I had no smell. I think unless you are dealing with the addiction you look for alternatives out of your obsession with food.

ldrosophila

I don't think you can be addicted to food. Because you need to eat to live. I do think you can become dependent on certain unhealthy foods if you're not careful. And if you're not careful about portion sizes, food in general can become an issue. The trick is to minimize the bad stuff, and really focus in on the good stuff.

I whole heartedly and strongly disagree ANYTHING can become an addiction. ANYTHING from shopping, gambling, sex, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, food, facebood, myspace, ect ect ect. Anything that harms your life or is abused to excess and you are always looking for that perfect hit or perfect bite as in the case of food is an addiction. Food in all its forms can be abused.

This is why food is one of the most difficult addictions and why the failure rate is so high for one it's not recognized as an addiction so how can you get help if you dont know your and addict and two because unlike smoking and drinking where you can tell someone just quit. You cant with food so those offering advice become frustrated when the diet fails and blame the addict instead of fighting this at the source. Or they think it's some loss of will power.

When the addict realizes they have a problem and embrace the battle every day and realize they are powerless this will be for the rest of their life thats when you see healing i.e weight loss.

Mandylynne1979

Yes you can be addicted in a sense because all junk food, fast food, unhealthy food, etc. all have chemicals in them that will actually make you crave them...once you cut out the unhealthy food in your life, you may have withdrawals, but after that you will only crave things that are good for you!

foochick

Absolutely, though I never thought of it as such until I discovered low carb eating and had to break my attiction to sugar and carbohydrates. Once I did, I was free from that obsessive constant craving....and each time I go back to eating carbohydrates and sugar, my appetite and cravings are completely out of control.
Hmmm....maybe it's not 'food' that's addictive, because it's not like I'm craving cheese and steak.....it's those foods that my body turns into glucose easily that put me completely out of control. Low carb eating is the ONLY way I've found to be in control of my eating, and my thoughts about food.

trud72

same as everyone really it's a super addiction!
but try changing things in your diet slowly add in fruit and veggis try to fill up on them more and slowly cut out the cruddy stuff!
x

TheNewBlake

yeah its a addiction! first couple days i was going through sugar withdrawal and every second of everyday i wanna grab some fast food/chips and etc and pig out but for some reason im able to control myself. i use to eat so much like 6 times and i ate to get full! i ate mostly kuzz of boredom but now i eat 3 meals a day and im surprised how much i use to eat it makes me sick..

microwoman999

Thanks for the comments. I know what I should be eating, but I still cant stop eating good and bad stuff. I even lost about 70lbs in the last 18 months but have put it all back on. I need to get rid of my taste buds lol, that way if I didnt taste the food I wouldnt bother eating it lol.

You are not alone! I lost 60lbs and now that I had surgery in December its like I don't care about my weight so I am starting to get back on a routine and its extremely hard to do! Its redicuolus how many times I say oh I don't need to worry about that. I hate that I let myself go in a time where I can not fix it through exercise. Just hang in there and you will get it done. You have to get the will power! Today I have stuck to it all day and its really hard! I am gonna friend request you.

ahviendha

hahaha i love food. i think about it during foreplay, when driving, when eating a meal!

but it does sustain me, give me life, energy, ability to do everything i want to in life.

*chomps on sandwich*

Llorraine11

anything sweet!! thats my addiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

weird_me2

I really don't know what I think on this topic. I know so many people say they are and I've certainly seen many compelling stories to make me think that you can be addicted, but a part of me thinks that it's so much more than that. Plus, what does the label addict do for you when it comes to food? Not a whole lot since you can't avoid your trigger.

From your posts, I would say that you need to focus on learning why you are doing what you are doing and work on changing your thinking habits and maybe success will follow. I recommend the book "The Beck Diet Solution". It isn't a diet of any sorts, but instead a cognative behavioral therapy approach to weight loss. For over a year now I've been periodically working through the lessons in the book and for over a year now I've been either losing or maintaining...a feat I've never accomplished in the past. In the past, it was always either losing or gaining. I've also noticed that my constant obsession with food is almost never around any more. I think that this is mostly due to the exercises in the book. It helped me to learn to accept that hunger is not an emergency and it has helped me to really focus on eating when I'm hungry and not when I'm not. Some days I still struggle, but most days I don't, and even when I struggle I find myself feeling better much more quickly than I ever did in the past.