Food Addiction

glynda66

What is it? What can be done about it? Is there a support group?

Sugar consumption (particularly the fructose portion of sucrose) has been implicated as a major part of the problem of food addiction. Researchers have noted that fructose seems to have an "anti-satiety" factor that leads directly to overeating. Here's a link to the proceedings of a scientific conference on the subject from a couple of years ago: http://www.foodaddictionsummit.org/index.htm

Thanks for the reference...Ill check it out!

SanteMulberry

If an eight year old boy weighs over 300 pounds, and the parents insist he needs to have access to 5000+ calories per day, removing the child from the home becomes necessary. I am strongly against the foster care system as it exists today, but this is a matter of saving the child's life.

Educating the child's parents would certainly be in order.

weird_me2

Wow, there's been some pretty good posts on this thread today. I usually stay away from the food addict topics, but I wanted to chime in on this thread.

First off, Ed, what a wonderful story and what great progress you've made!

In some ways, I agree with Ed, and in others, I have to agree with the posters who said that food addiction is not a real addiction. I have struggled greatly with my eating and binge eating over the years and never have really been able to maintain a healthy relationship with food. At times, I would feel completely out of control and like I had to eat and eat and eat and there was no other choice. At times, I felt like I was in control and could restrict and lose decent amounts of weight, but then one little setback would set me on a spiral and I felt like I had no control. Through it all, I never felt the need to say I was addicted, because to me saying I was addicted meant that I really did have no control. I managed to get myself classified as "super-morbidly obese" and still wouldn't call myself an addict. Maybe I'm just in denial.

My father's family were all addicts - alcohol and drugs. He and his three siblings and both parents and even his step mother. Several of my cousins, too. I always worried about my potential to become an addict, and I feel very blessed because I was very self-aware of this potential from a young age, so I made decisions to not put myself in a situation where I had to deal with drug and alcohol addictions. Gambling could become a problem for me, and I have felt the loss of control, but my self awareness has helped me with this. I have made the choice to not gamble for this reason.

I think that some people are more prone to addictive behaviors than others, and I realize that I've used food as my "drug" of choice. I still won't call it an addiction, though, because that implies that it's something that I can never get past. Instead, I view my problems as a mental disorder and have treated myself as such. I've found cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help me be more self aware and deal with mental issues that lead to my abuse of food. I have a healthier relationship with food than I've had since before puberty. Thoughts of food and the act of consuming food don't control hours of my day anymore. I don't wake up thinking "what can I eat now" and plotting out my day around food like I have during low periods in the past. I know I will probably always have some issues with food, but I also know that I now have tools that I can use to deal with those issues and that I DO have control.

In the end, if a person wants to believe they are a food addict or just a binge eater or that they just over eat, that's a very individual thing. The truth is, if a person believes their food problems are an addiction, then that's their perception. Our perception is our reality.

It doesn't matter what a person wants to label their problems as, what matters is what they do with that label. Using the term food addict as an excuse is just that - an excuse. If a person wants to call themselves and addict and put in the work to change, all the more power to them.

Erica_theRedhead

Addiction by definition is a biological and psychological condition that compels a person to satisfy a stimulus regardless of the negative consequences. Dependence is a purely physical condition that occurs when lack of a substance causes the body to have a reaction. A person cannot really be dependent on food. It's not the food that causes the desired bodily response. Overconsuming usually leads to a state of euphoria or fullness to overcome whatever reason, stress, depression, anxiety, etc. A person is craves the indirect results of the food, which makes it an addiction.

In the beginning, addiction is a choice. You chose to put something in your body over and over, and eventually your body craves more to get the desired result. In the end, it's no different than an addiction to alcohol or drugs. And the consequences are obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, elevated cholesterol.

I know that I have have an addiction, and that I will always be tempted to overindulge in what I eat. I make the choice to eat healthy foods or smaller portions, even though I'm always craving a burger, nachos, etc. I won't die or get sick if I do not consume these foods, I just get grumpy lol. Some people can do it on their own, others need a little help. Using Weight Watchers meetings, overwaters annymous, or a psychologist to overcome your addiction is completely acceptable. Whatever helps you make the right choices.

SanteMulberry

Wow, there's been some pretty good posts on this thread today. I usually stay away from the food addict topics, but I wanted to chime in on this thread.

First off, Ed, what a wonderful story and what great progress you've made!

In some ways, I agree with Ed, and in others, I have to agree with the posters who said that food addiction is not a real addiction. I have struggled greatly with my eating and binge eating over the years and never have really been able to maintain a healthy relationship with food. At times, I would feel completely out of control and like I had to eat and eat and eat and there was no other choice. At times, I felt like I was in control and could restrict and lose decent amounts of weight, but then one little setback would set me on a spiral and I felt like I had no control. Through it all, I never felt the need to say I was addicted, because to me saying I was addicted meant that I really did have no control. I managed to get myself classified as "super-morbidly obese" and still wouldn't call myself an addict. Maybe I'm just in denial.

My father's family were all addicts - alcohol and drugs. He and his three siblings and both parents and even his step mother. Several of my cousins, too. I always worried about my potential to become an addict, and I feel very blessed because I was very self-aware of this potential from a young age, so I made decisions to not put myself in a situation where I had to deal with drug and alcohol addictions. Gambling could become a problem for me, and I have felt the loss of control, but my self awareness has helped me with this. I have made the choice to not gamble for this reason.

I think that some people are more prone to addictive behaviors than others, and I realize that I've used food as my "drug" of choice. I still won't call it an addiction, though, because that implies that it's something that I can never get past. Instead, I view my problems as a mental disorder and have treated myself as such. I've found cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help me be more self aware and deal with mental issues that lead to my abuse of food. I have a healthier relationship with food than I've had since before puberty. Thoughts of food and the act of consuming food don't control hours of my day anymore. I don't wake up thinking "what can I eat now" and plotting out my day around food like I have during low periods in the past. I know I will probably always have some issues with food, but I also know that I now have tools that I can use to deal with those issues and that I DO have control.

In the end, if a person wants to believe they are a food addict or just a binge eater or that they just over eat, that's a very individual thing. The truth is, if a person believes their food problems are an addiction, then that's their perception. Our perception is our reality.

It doesn't matter what a person wants to label their problems as, what matters is what they do with that label. Using the term food addict as an excuse is just that - an excuse. If a person wants to call themselves and addict and put in the work to change, all the more power to them.

I don't call myself an addict--that is where I would depart from various 12-step programs where you stand up and say, "Hi, I'm _____ and I'm a _____ addict." I think I was one "addicted" to sugar and wheat but now I just avoid both of them and it's all good. I have been off sugar for about three years and been off wheat off and on since then but completely off for about a year. Now, I feel so much better I don't even WANT them anymore but I know that I would likely become, let's call it "habituated" again, were I to go back to eating them in "moderation". It really doesn't matter what you call it--it is still a slavery of sorts. I have observed that most people have a lot of that kind of thing going---compulsive behavior of one sort or another. The way to stop it is to STOP it. But that takes understanding that you are in the grip of something and that you don't want to be there. There are physical elements to all "addictions" whether it is living for the gambler's rush when he is winning, or the sensation of pleasure when a sugar-holic gets a "sugar-rush" or the shop-a-holic just having to buy one more thing to get the pleasure derived from getting new things. I'm glad I'm free of it---that's all I know.

CynthiasChoice

It seems we keep misunderstanding each other because we each have our own histories we bring with us when we read the term "food addiction." It seems that some read it as "hopelessly doomed to uncontrollable eating forever," and some read it as "temporary feeling of powerlessness over eating behaviors until strength is found to overcome the problem." I view it as the latter.

I've battled what I call food addiction all my life. Until I learned that sugar and empty carbs affected me differently that normal eaters, I thought I had a moral problem. I thought I was weak, stupid, lazy, feeble, imprudent, careless, and on and on. I was not resigned to having these awful characteristics, though - I always had hope that I could change. I would go on diets and have some success for a while, but I had to fight the impulse to eat all. the. time. and eventually the struggle would become overwhelming and I would give up. I always thought I was just going to give up "just for this moment" and then get right back to my diet. Ha!

In the past, when I dieted, I would always include one small sweet treat, as most diets recommend. After all, you don't want to feel deprived when you're dieting, right? If you feel deprived it might lead to a binge, the experts say.

When I first heard about the concept of sugar addiction, it gave me a glimmer of hope, and I made a decision to stop eating sugar, no matter how difficult. I wanted to see if the promises were true: that without sugar in my system my brain would actually function differently. The first four days without sugar were brutal. I had to keep telling myself that the intense hunger sensations I was having were a lie. I decided to view the withdrawal symptoms as if they were symptoms of an illness, like the flu. Just as one has to put up with the symptoms of the flu until they pass, so would I put up with my body's reaction to not receiving it's sugar fix.
The symptoms weren't just physical. I felt frightened and even panicky - emotions that I had a very hard time reckoning with.

It got easier after four days, and even easier after a few weeks. I was amazed by how liberated I felt and how at peace I was without sugar's catastrophic effect on my brain chemistry. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was on an even playing field with all other eaters in the world. Yes, the brownies looked enticing, but I could walk away without feeling tortured. In other words, I had a much greater capacity to make the right *choice.*

So the diet "experts" don't have it all figured out. Some people, me included, cannot succeed on a diet (or on maintenance) if the diet includes sugar. For some people, it is a dangerous toxin that debilitates self control.

I still slip up on occasion, and think that I can "have just one." After all, I know how to kick this sugar addiction thing now, right? Somehow, I always forget how bad life can be when I'm under the influence, and how difficult it is to put the breaks on once again.

As I said in my previous post, we are all so different. Most people won't be able to relate to my story, but maybe there is someone who will. If you're curious, try a sugar free diet for a while, just to see if it changes your thinking patterns and behaviors.

SanteMulberry

It seems we keep misunderstanding each other because we each have our own histories we bring with us when we read the term "food addiction." It seems that some read it as "hopelessly doomed to uncontrollable eating forever," and some read it as "temporary feeling of powerlessness over eating behaviors until strength is found to overcome the problem." I view it as the latter.

I've battled what I call food addiction all my life. Until I learned that sugar and empty carbs affected me differently that normal eaters, I thought I had a moral problem. I thought I was weak, stupid, lazy, feeble, imprudent, careless, and on and on. I was not resigned to having these awful characteristics, though - I always had hope that I could change. I would go on diets and have some success for a while, but I had to fight the impulse to eat all. the. time. and eventually the struggle would become overwhelming and I would give up. I always thought I was just going to give up "just for this moment" and then get right back to my diet. Ha!

In the past, when I dieted, I would always include one small sweet treat, as most diets recommend. After all, you don't want to feel deprived when you're dieting, right? If you feel deprived it might lead to a binge, the experts say.

When I first heard about the concept of sugar addiction, it gave me a glimmer of hope, and I made a decision to stop eating sugar, no matter how difficult. I wanted to see if the promises were true: that without sugar in my system my brain would actually function differently. The first four days without sugar were brutal. I had to keep telling myself that the intense hunger sensations I was having were a lie. I decided to view the withdrawal symptoms as if they were symptoms of an illness, like the flu. Just as one has to put up with the symptoms of the flu until they pass, so would I put up with my body's reaction to not receiving it's sugar fix.
The symptoms weren't just physical. I felt frightened and even panicky - emotions that I had a very hard time reckoning with.

It got easier after four days, and even easier after a few weeks. I was amazed by how liberated I felt and how at peace I was without sugar's catastrophic effect on my brain chemistry. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was on an even playing field with all other eaters in the world. Yes, the brownies looked enticing, but I could walk away without feeling tortured. In other words, I had a much greater capacity to make the right *choice.*

So the diet "experts" don't have it all figured out. Some people, me included, cannot succeed on a diet (or on maintenance) if the diet includes sugar. For some people, it is a dangerous toxin that debilitates self control.

I still slip up on occasion, and think that I can "have just one." After all, I know how to kick this sugar addiction thing now, right? Somehow, I always forget how bad life can be when I'm under the influence, and how difficult it is to put the breaks on once again.

As I said in my previous post, we are all so different. Most people won't be able to relate to my story, but maybe there is someone who will. If you're curious, try a sugar free diet for a while, just to see if it changes your thinking patterns and behaviors.

Yes---I totally understand. I believe that sugar is a metabolic poison--at least in my case and probably yours as well. Maybe it slowly poisons everyone but other people's bodies have a higher tolerance level.

I grew up eating a lot of sugar. And the more I ate, the more I wanted. From sugar-sweetened cereal to sweet rolls, cookies, doughnuts, soda pop, candy, etc. it was sugar-sugar-sugar all day long. It is amazing that I wasn't anymore overweight than I was. I know that my genetic inheritance was not to be overweight---both of my parents were quite slender as children. But then, my mother said that they only had sweet treats on rare occasions--a cake on a birthday, a chocolate bar for Christmas. You'd think someone would have gotten a clue that sugar makes children fat and causes them to overeat all foods--perhaps that fact was masking the underlying problem of sugar addiction. What is totally amazing to me is then when I stopped the sugar (and, in my case, wheat as well) my appetite shrank to the point that I just started shedding pounds, in spite of eating all that I wanted. I had never experienced this before in my life. I was a yo-yo dieter from the time I entered university. I would lose 20 pounds and gain back 30. Then I would go on another crash diet and lose 30 and gain it all back in a short time.

I thought it odd, that the only time that weight-gain was not a problem was when I was pregnant. But then, because of gestational diabetes, my doctor told me to eliminate sugar and wheat (then he scolded me because I wasn't gaining enough weight!). You would think that I would have gotten a clue from that--but I just shrugged and said, "...must have been the pregnant hormones or something". When I returned to "normal" eating, I put on a lot of weight. I shrugged and said, "...post-partum depression." I was diagnosed as being hypothyroid soon after and after thyroid supplementation, I did lose some weight and felt much better. But my weight slowly crept up over the subsequent years, see-sawing up and down---crash dieting, binging, etc. And then I started having medical problems. I thought it was my weight that was causing me to have medical problems when, in reality, it is quite likely that my weight was just one more symptom of the central problem of sugar addiction. My blood pressure started to climb, digestive problems, arthritis... I now enjoy normal blood pressure without medication (and that happened right at the beginning of going sugar-free).

There is a book that you might be interested in, called, "The Fat Switch" by Richard J. Johnson, M.D. Johnson is head of the renal division of the medical center at the University of Colorado. In his research, he has been investigating the role of sugar (and specifically the fructose portion of it) as a causative agent in a cascade of diseases, obesity, Type II diabetes, gouty arthritis, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, renal disease and failure. He has recently been awarded an NIH grant to study the problem of renal failure among sugar cane workers in Central America. He expects to find that it is related to their habit of drinking soda pop and sugar-sweetened fruit juice while experiencing the severe dehydration that comes with working in the extremely hot sugar cane fields. The metabolizing of fructose (and our biggest exposure is through eating sugar) leads to a sharp increase in uric acid, and it is that high uric acid level that causes a number of problems. Dr. Johnson says that the uric acid levels that are considered "normal" today would have been thought to be elevated in the past. He believes that it is due to our sugar consumption. National figures went from less than 5 pounds per year, per capita in 1900 to about 150 pounds per year, per capita now. That is an enormous difference and most of the gain has occurred since WWII and accelerated in the last three decades. That tracks perfectly with the rise of obesity and Type II diabetes.

glynda66

I don't know, but from someone (me) who's been through an addiction / withdrawal / recovery I find this laughable either way. I'm not trying to be a prick, just being honest. I think the American notion of addiction as a disease is wrong and provides an easy excuse for those who fail to overcome their dependence. It's a notion created by the healthcare-industrial complex to bilk more money out of health insurance companies.

I agree. Addiction is a choice, and the cure is personal responsibility.

Have you had an addiction?

Ascolti_la_musica

I don't know, but from someone (me) who's been through an addiction / withdrawal / recovery I find this laughable either way. I'm not trying to be a prick, just being honest. I think the American notion of addiction as a disease is wrong and provides an easy excuse for those who fail to overcome their dependence. It's a notion created by the healthcare-industrial complex to bilk more money out of health insurance companies.

I agree. Addiction is a choice, and the cure is personal responsibility.

Have you had an addiction?

I grew up with every addiction under the sun. My birth mother was a drug addicted alcoholic prostitute. She'd go get stoned, do something stupid and claim that the cocaine made her do it.

When I got into the foster care system, I was surrounded by kids who were addicted to one thing or another. I had to go to weekly NA and AA meetings, and say I was an addict without ever having gotten drunk or stoned. If you're in the system, you are treated like a criminal, an addict, and a *kitten*, no matter how you landed there. I had a foster father teach me how to be bulimic, and lived in several places were anorexia was a given. I've been homeless, and again, surrounded by addicts. I made a different choice.

I could say I am addicted to food. Once I open a bag or box of chocolates, I have a hard time putting it down. It is extremely difficult for me to leave food on my plate. I don't ever want to be thin, because part of me knows just how easy it is to lose everything and not know when your next meal will come. I could say I have an unhealthy "relationship" with food.

But I don't. I chose to get fat, because I LOVE having more food available to me than I need. I LOVE eating food that isn't stale or rotting. I FEAR being hungry, and refuse to suffer that pain by choice. Now that I am happily married in a house that is fully paid off, I feel safe enough to choose to eat less- as long as I am never *hungry*.

It's a choice. I choose every bite that goes into my mouth, and I choose every minute that I either sit or sweat.

Calling it an addiction is an excuse. You make a bad choice, and you say, "Oh, but I'm an addict. I can't help it." Or "but it's soooo hard for me to stop, because I'm an addict. It's all I know." It's no better than the idiots who do horrible things, "find god," and expect everyone else to forgive them because "jesus" did. It's a load of crap that people feed themselves.

TL;DR: No, I am not an "addict." That doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about so called "addictions."

twinketta

Wonders if she's serious.

There are people on here who are anorexic and posting, so it is quite likely that there are people that are addicted to eating also...just saying

openskybeach

Wonders if she's serious.

I don't know, but from someone (me) who's been through an addiction / withdrawal / recovery I find this laughable either way. I'm not trying to be a prick, just being honest. I think the American notion of addiction as a disease is wrong and provides an easy excuse for those who fail to overcome their dependence. It's a notion created by the healthcare-industrial complex to bilk more money out of health insurance companies.

Well your opinion is definitely just that but I will tell you or anyone else that food addiction is no different than an drug addiction or an alcoholic addiction the only difference is my drug of choice was food. I ate til I was so full I would have to throw up, then would come the guilt and remorse but that only lasted til the hunger pangs start and then I would dive right back in for more. I was consuming 8 to 10,000 calories a day and not blinking an eye at that amount of food. I order 21 inch pizza 3 or 4 times a week and put the pizza in tupperware and hide it around the house so when my family went to bed or left the house I had some food to eat between my meals with my family.. I ate myself until I was homebound for over 2 years and 560 lbs.and finally to the point that I hit rock bottom and sat in my recliner with a loaded hand gun for 3 days trying to figure out how to blow my brains out without leaving a mess for my family to come home too. On the 3 rd day my wife walked in on me holding the gun and I told her (she knew something was terribly wrong though) that I could not live another day like this so she took a week off work and started the process of getting me help. The very first stop was to see a psychiatrist to start dealing with my food addictions... I have spent the last 3 and a half years in therapy going through the 12 step program (yes the same one all drug and alcoholics go through) to get control over my addiction. It wasn't sugary items or any one particular thing. I self medicated with food plan and simple... And now 2 months shy of my 4 year anniversary I have completed my 12 step program and have begun the final process of the 12th step which is Paying it forward.... So I have to humbly disagree with you on this particular issue. If it wasn't for my wife insurance being willing to pay for my therapy visits I have no idea where I would be today.. No I take that back I actually think I would have figured out a way to pull the trigger had I not had the help I need..... Best of Luck Op.....

what he said!

GamerLady

I don't know, but from someone (me) who's been through an addiction / withdrawal / recovery I find this laughable either way. I'm not trying to be a prick, just being honest. I think the American notion of addiction as a disease is wrong and provides an easy excuse for those who fail to overcome their dependence. It's a notion created by the healthcare-industrial complex to bilk more money out of health insurance companies.

I'm an American and I agree with you about addiction being a disease being an easy excuse. It's rediculous, and pathetic. I use to drink heavily, and it wasn't a disease, it was just me wasting money, getting wasted . I just woke up one day and said "ok, I'm sick of feeling like %$#@ ". LoL. I'm not talking about the original poster, just saw your post and wanted to say I agree. People like to have an excuse so they're not accountable for their actions.

StheK

I'm glad you've come as far as you have Ed, and trying to help others who are dealing with the same issues is honorable. However, there is a difference between a physical dependency on a cellular level and an emotional attachment. I'm not discounting what you or the OP is going though, but voicing my opinion on addiction/attachments in general. And FTR I did not complete a twelve step program. It was more like a three step....detox, feel like sh#t for three months, don't do opiates anymore.

Congrats on your progress though.

You are quite lucky not to have an addictive personality. Some of us are like that. We can get physically addicted, but we usually don't get mentally/behaviorally addicted, and our addictions are usually situational, acute, and are relatively easily overcome. However, there are an awful lot of people who DO have addictive personalities- and for these people, addiction is a life-long battle. It very much is a chronic condition for them.

Not everyone is like you. It would be nice if they were (at least with regard to the addictive personality thing) but they're not, and dismissing their disease as invalid is simply misinformed. It's like saying that because you got stung by a bee once and barely felt it, the medical community is wrong to treat people with bee allergies. After all, bee stings don't bother you much, why should anyone else need EpiPens?

StheK

And I'll clarify- I think 12 step programs are crap too, but not because these people don't have a valid disease and legitimately need help.