Food addiction--it REALLY DOES EXIST!!!
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I find it fascinating that some people seem to want validation that what they are going through is addiction and that you are irritated by being excluded. My takeaway is that I should avoid caring what other people think at all.I think this post irritates me because it implies that it is not as hard for the rest of us!0 -
I think this post irritates me because it implies that it is not as hard for the rest of us!
SERIOUSLY?????? That is what you have taken away from this post. That I believe that YOU have not worked as hard. I do not know you, I do not care about YOU and I would not imply or make assumptions about your body. I was referring to the people who are in [/u]MY LIFE!!!!![/u]
Things like "you can have a bowl of candy just sitting there" is not evidence at all.
I did not say this and if you want to quote me, then do it correctly. My posts states that "Whenever I walked into someone else’s office there was a bowl of candy or they were eating at their desk." Which is a TEMPTATION to me, it does not mean that I think you can resist it or that you have not worked hard enough that you do not deserve it. In fact, it has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!!! It is just another temptation and reminder to ME!!!! NOT YOU!!!!!
"And I feel this viewpoint somehow takes away the credit for the willpower, constant work, education and motivation, and re-working the whole approach to life and eating that the rest of us go through to get to a healthier state."
I feel that your viewpoint is cold, negative, full of contempt, and closed minded. For you have REFUSED to open your mind and actually read these posts for what they say. You cannot or will not see that people such as myself are opening up (or trying to until we got attacked) and the best you can do is slam the door in their face while saying "It is really hard for most people. Period. You are not a minority, or the exception, or have less control or a disease."
I never said it is not hard for you or the others on this board, I ONLY SAID IT is NOT AS HARD FOR THOSE IN MY LIFE!!!!
"I think this post irritates me"
Good, because for years I have been irritated by people such as yourself that immediately judge me. Those that refuse to listen to me, while trying to cram their thoughts and beliefs down my throat. They are the "I KNOW IT ALL's" and no one can possibly be better, different or think unlike them.
If you are so darned irritated then why do you keep coming back? Because you aren't getting your way? Because you are going to shove your knowledge or lack thereof down our throats instead of food? Because you are sadistic?0 -
If anybody has chosen their next fix for a cheeseburger over their children and basic needs for survival feel free to correct me.
I don't have children - but I have chosen food over family and friends. I have chosen food over fuel for my car. I have chosen food over medication. I have driven far away to go to a supermarket where I run no risk of running into someone I know for food.
Food addiction and binge eating disorder are very real things.
They're not as obviously debilitating perhaps as drug addiction or alcoholism - but they do rule your life.
I struggle every day. Food and where I'm going to get my next 'fix' (whatever that fix may be) is ALWAYS on my mind.
Yes, anyone who is/has been overweight has obviously overindulged on food and probably spent a good portion of there time thinking about food. But, there is a difference between overindulging and needing to eat everything in sight because it's the only way you'll feel better/right/numb/something.
The sooner it's accepted as being an addiction the sooner we can move on and get better. I'm too scared to talk to a doctor or a psychologist or anyone because when I've tried in the past it's been dismissed as nothing. But it controls every second of my life. Don't tell me it isn't real.0 -
Reminds me of tobacco addiction. If it came down to groceries or cigarettes, cigarettes won. I finally kicked that addiction and got fat. Go figure.... I have chosen food over family and friends. I have chosen food over fuel for my car. I have chosen food over medication. I have driven far away to go to a supermarket where I run no risk of running into someone I know for food.
Food addiction and binge eating disorder are very real things.0 -
I've been wanting to see a therapist for some time in order to help get my compulsive eating disorder under control. I've dealt with gambling addiction, which I was able to kick years ago, and the compulsions were very similar, mechanically, so I imagine that it translates across the concept of addiction regardless of the substance. We all struggle with different things, be they mental, emotional, or physical. Trying to say that one is worse than another or that one has it hard than someone else is ridiculous. The concept that because something is hard for one person or easy for one person and so it MUST be easy or hard for another person is completely ignorant. We are all different individuals with different ways of working through our issues, and what some people perceive as shortcomings or excuses can easily be inexperience or simply an individualistic pace that is actually working toward positive change.
I had my first binge-eating relapse a few days before my birthday, this week—the first in the four months that I've been losing my weight. I don't need someone else to tell me that it's real. I experienced it. I feel what I feel and I struggle with what I struggle with, and someone telling me that my issues aren't real isn't going to change that. It's nice to be able to connect with others who understand and can relate, though. Even silent empathy between two people in a similar situation (or different situations, even) can be meaningful support and influence that person positively.
I've lost 67 pounds. I have another 80 to go at least. I recently came below 300 pounds for the first time in almost 7 years, and my binge may have pushed me back above it, despite my promise to NEVER be over 300 again. Sure, in a few days i'll reason that out and I'll be okay with it. In the end, I'm going to move forward. Does that mean I can't express myself now, when I'm struggling, though? Absolutely not. It's okay to struggle. It's okay to hurt. It doesn't matter if it's addiction or an injury or anything else that affects our emotional morale. I'm not perfect and neither are any of you, and that's not an insult. It should be an expectancy. And I'm not going to put enough power in the words of a complete stranger (OR a loved one, for that matter) to completely dismiss how much I want this because of how my individual choices do not match up to someone else's personal criteria for what qualifies as dedication, desire, willpower, or anything else.
Have some pride in who you are and what you're doing. I know how shameful it can feel to even broach subjects like this, but I'm tired of being made to feel lesser because of it, and I won't any more. I hope that no one else does, either, regardless of what your personal addiction or other struggle might actually be.0 -
I suffer from this and agree with this post. Sadly, people who don't suffer from it don't understand it and I just frustrated trying to explain it to them so I give up altogether. Sometimes I wished I had a drug/alcohol addiction (*I am not belittling the consequences or severity of these addictions and understand that they have drastic repercussions and is mentally agonizing too, but sometimes it is frustrating when people don't acknowledge food addiction) instead because then I could be forced to rehab and go cold turkey. You cannot go cold turkey on food (or so I did, aka anorexia). Thanks for posting OP.0
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Eating disorders are real. Bad habits are real. Each of us had to decide how we got overweight, what we have and how we will deal with it. There is no end to the amount of money spent inticing all people of all ages to eat food that we don't need.
I had a bad habit of eating emotionally, and not planning what i was going to eat. Logging my calories and getting on a plan to eat for fitness, not necessarily "fun" got me to my new goal weight and it is going to keep me there. I will log my calories the rest of my life. I don't trust any other method. ---for me ---0 -
There is no food addiction. But go on, you'll help the attorneys get more $, along with big pharmacy.
LMAO. That is totally hilarious.
Attorneys are totally making billions upon billions of dollars by people being addicted to food. /sarcasm Tinfoil hats for everyone! LOL
An addiction to food is every bit as "real" as an addiction to any other drug.0 -
I have never really had to worry about my weight. I was one of those guys who could eat as much as I wanted without having to suffer the consequences. I’m now 42 and this is not the case anymore. I’m approximately 40 lbs overweight and it is a difficult thing to navigate. I suffer from shortness of breath, back pain, lack of physical motivation, not to mention the health risks. I am an addict in recovery 5 years clean and sober. I have spent a large portion of my life chasing one thing or another that would help me to disassociate. Food seems to be next on the list. This is difficult because I can’t abstain from eating. Think about it what if A pot luck was…… Any way here I am I’m going to give it a try. I like the peer support aspect as well as the accountability that is worked into this program. Ill approach this one meal at a time. The exercise will truly be a challenge. But I’m up for it. That’s my story, Im eager to see what the next chapter will be.0
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No, it's not physically addictive in the same way as heroin. I'm not minimizing food addiction. But, the physical addiction is different (especially after decades of physical drug addiction and everything else that it involves and leads to).
I'm not saying that it is not physically or mentally or emotionally addictive (and again that is not something I understand personally), but the physical addiction is just a different type of physical addiction. And the outcomes are just different.
Again, please do research prior to making your assumptions. If you do not have this addiction, then there is absolutely no way you will understand what it does to your body.
I'm sorry if you took offense to what I said. But, perhaps you are misunderstanding me. I said that I have not experienced food addiction, but I have eaten food and sugar. So, that is why I know it is not physically addictive in the exact same way as drugs. Because all people do not become physically addicted in a destructive way to it. I did not say it is not an addiction or destructive or harmful or painful (for the people that are emotionally addicted to it, and in that way also in a physical way addicted since it is a physical experience). I said that it is physically different. And this is based on my own experience with science and watching addiction first hand (as well as educating myself on it). If you stop eating sugar, you will not have seizures. I ate sugar yesterday and I am not going to wake up a few months from now, weighing 80 pounds, being sex trafficked by my "fiance", almost dead, not recognizing my family. There is not even remotely a risk of that due to me eating a 500 calorie breakfast of only candy.
I'm not trying to be unsupportive. Just that not everyone that struggles with weight has the exact same issue and reason for it. And I was only responding to the stuff you were saying about a drug addiction being better than a food addiction. I'm sorry if I can not communicate this in a clear and good way. I'm trying, but it's challenging.
Perhaps comparing it to tobacco or caffeine would be a better comparison. Sugar is not a mind altering drug. So, there are differences.
And I am not even saying one is better or worse than the other. That is actually what I am not saying. I was just responding to you implying that drug addiction is better than food addiction because of the support. There is not so much support out there as you think there is. It's not an easy road.
And, as I said. I am here to listen and learn. But, that does not mean I will throw away some things I already know about science.
I completely agree and support that people can have disordered eating. Binge eating is probably the most common form of eating disorder.
Actually, you're wrong there. There is a plethora of research about the mind altering properties of refined sugars. They alter both the dopamine and serotonin pathways in the brain in animal and human studies. You simply need to do a Pubmed search.0 -
You crave it because you're "dieting".
\Dieting and food craving. A descriptive, quasi-prospective study
Anna Massey, Andrew J. Hill,
Academic Unit of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, Institute of Health Research, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, 101 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9LJ, UK
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2012.01.020, How to Cite or Link Using DOI
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Abstract
Evidence linking food restriction and food craving is equivocal. This study investigated whether dieting was associated with a greater frequency of food craving. Dieting to lose weight was distinguished from watching so as not to gain weight. Participants were 129 women (mean age = 41 yrs): 52 were currently dieting to lose weight, 40 were watching their weight, and 37 were non-dieters. They completed a food craving record after every food craving, a food diary, and a daily mood assessment over 7-days. Of the 393 craving incidents recorded, dieters experienced significantly more food cravings than non-dieters, with watchers intermediate. Chocolate was the most craved food (37% of cravings) but neither the types of food, the proportion of cravings leading to eating (∼70%), the situations in which cravings occurred, nor the time since the last eating episode differed between groups. Compared with non-dieters, dieters experienced stronger cravings that were more difficult to resist, and for foods they were restricting eating. Watchers showed similarities in experience both to dieters (low hunger) and non-dieters (lower craving intensity). These results support an association between dieting and food craving, the usefulness of distinguishing dieting to lose weight and watching, and suggest a need for further experimental investigation of actual food restriction on food craving experiences.
Highlights
► Women dieting to lose weight reported more food craving episodes than non-dieters. ► Women currently watching their weight were intermediate in food craving frequency. ► Mood state around craving did not distinguish dieters and non-dieters. ► Dieter’s food cravings were more likely for foods they reported restricting eating.Craving is not addiction.
Food Craving and Food “Addiction”: A Critical Review of the Evidence From a Biopsychosocial Perspective
Peter J Rogersa, , Hendrik J Smita
a Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1TN, UK
Although certain commonalities exist between eating and drug use (mood effects, external cue-control of appetites, reinforcement, etc.), it is argued that the vast majority of cases of (self-reported) food craving and food “addiction” should not be viewed as addictive behavior. An explanation is proposed that instead gives a prominent role to the psychological processes of ambivalence and attribution, operating together with normal mechanisms of appetite control, the hedonic effects of certain foods, and socially and culturally determined perceptions of appropriate intakes and uses of those foods. Ambivalence (e.g., “nice but naughty”) about foods such as chocolate arises from the attitude that it is highly palatable but should be eaten with restraint. Attempts to restrict intake, however, cause the desire for chocolate to become more salient, an experience that is then labelled as a craving. This, together with a need to provide a reason for why resisting eating chocolate is difficult and sometimes fails, can, in turn, lead the individual to an explanation in terms of addiction (e.g., “chocoholism”). Moreishness (“causing a desire for more”) occurs during, rather than preceding, an eating episode, and is experienced when the eater attempts to limit consumption before appetite for the food has been sated.
Neither article provides evidence that food addiction is not real. The first simply provides some evidence that people tend to crave when they're deprived. From my understanding, food addicts crave regardless of whether they are deprived or not.
The second article was simply a review article proposing that craving is not addiction.
I would agree that not all people who crave certain foods are necessarily food addicts, but I suspect that all food addicts are cravers. There is an important distinction there.
I'm not a food addict, but I'm almost certain my sister is. She has struggled with her weight most of her life.0 -
It's not the food, it's you.0
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Do they shake and vomit like heroin addicts? Do they get psychically ill if they do not eat those donuts or cupcakes? Do they steal money out of their dying mothers purse for another cheeseburger fixe? I DON'T THINK SO. Its psychological. ALL in the head.It's bad but it could be worse. Drug addicts go to jail.
What an insensitive comment, not surprising though. And food addicts put themselves in an early grave with morbid obesity if they keep feeding their addiction.
ETA: I luckily...by the grace of god...am not a food addict, but that doesn't give me the right to be insensitive or callous about those who suffer from it.0 -
I don't think that just because a food is processed, it automatically becomes an addictive food. People have different reactions to different tastes. The fact that palatable, high calorie food is available widely doesn't mean a person's healthy relationship with food (if it exists, which with a lot of people it doesn't) needs to suddenly fly out the window. There are people out there that can eat just one candy bar, you know.Anyone questioning that food can be addictive should check out the documentary Hungry for Change. America is a country of convenience. We want quick easy meals and have created companies that cater to that. How can food seriously stay on shelves for months - even years - without going bad? It's all chemically engineered - nothing "natural" about it. We then have marketing and advertising companies that make us think something "low fat" is healthier yet the first few ingredients are sugar based with essentially no nutritional value - empty calories that pile up. I WANT to stop over eating and rid myself of a sugar addiction but it's hard. I think of the minutes, hours and days that I have wasted obsessing about food and get so angry with myself because there are so many other things I could or should have done with that time. People don’t get it. My family doesn’t get it. They don’t understand the internal struggle. It’s so much easier for those that don’t get it to laugh about it and say it’s a matter of will power or we’re just weak. I wish it were that easy. Really.
I am definitely Hungry for Change and hope that the support and understanding of some fellow MFP friends I can finally beat this demon because I have so much more to do with my life (and my amazing family) than obsess about food.
Also, perhaps the reason you obsess over food so much is because you're going about the struggle while relying on "willpower" & being "good"(not eating sugar) or "bad"(eating it). Maybe it's your mindset, thought processes, & conditioning (learning/unlearning certain behaviors in reaction to certain stimuli) that you need to work on.0 -
So smoking a bowl of weed turns you into someone who needs to snort and shoot up?Uhm . . . aren't we all food addicts??
I peg addiction as any repetitive action that gets in the way of daily living. This is why lots of people can have a beer or smoke a bowl on the weekend while, for me, it sends me straight to powder and needles. No one yet fully understands what makes an addict and what doesn't.
For some people, the act of eating does get in the way of daily living. Many of us have dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors towards food (our weight often proves it). But there are degrees of severity and some people have a much much severe dysfunction than others.
I am not a food addict. But I understand that it is possible.0 -
Agreed.
Do they shake and vomit like heroin addicts? Do they get psychically ill if they do not eat those donuts or cupcakes? Do they steal money out of their dying mothers purse for another cheeseburger fixe? I DON'T THINK SO. Its psychological. ALL in the head.It's bad but it could be worse. Drug addicts go to jail.
What an insensitive comment, not surprising though. And food addicts put themselves in an early grave with morbid obesity if they keep feeding their addiction.
ETA: I luckily...by the grace of god...am not a food addict, but that doesn't give me the right to be insensitive or callous about those who suffer from it.0 -
Its not the food. For me its obsessive compulsiveness. I think about food, and when I get stuck on something I have to eat it. I had to train my brain to deflect when I have a craving. Give yourself 15 min and it goes away.
I don't think that just because a food is processed, it automatically becomes an addictive food. People have different reactions to different tastes.Anyone questioning that food can be addictive should check out the documentary Hungry for Change. America is a country of convenience. We want quick easy meals and have created companies that cater to that. How can food seriously stay on shelves for months - even years - without going bad? It's all chemically engineered - nothing "natural" about it. We then have marketing and advertising companies that make us think something "low fat" is healthier yet the first few ingredients are sugar based with essentially no nutritional value - empty calories that pile up. I WANT to stop over eating and rid myself of a sugar addiction but it's hard. I think of the minutes, hours and days that I have wasted obsessing about food and get so angry with myself because there are so many other things I could or should have done with that time. People don’t get it. My family doesn’t get it. They don’t understand the internal struggle. It’s so much easier for those that don’t get it to laugh about it and say it’s a matter of will power or we’re just weak. I wish it were that easy. Really.
I am definitely Hungry for Change and hope that the support and understanding of some fellow MFP friends I can finally beat this demon because I have so much more to do with my life (and my amazing family) than obsess about food.
Also, perhaps the reason you obsess over food so much is because you're going about the struggle while relying on "willpower" & being "good"(not eating sugar) or "bad"(eating it). Maybe it's your mindset, thought processes, & conditioning (learning/unlearning certain behaviors in reaction to certain stimuli) that you need to work on.0 -
It's not the food, it's you.
In the face of food designers who make money by specifically designing foods that have the right combination to bring your brain's reward center right to the bliss point, thus creating a cue-crave-reward cycle IDENTICAL to the brain's response to illicit drugs, you have the balls to say it's not the food, it's you? I'll grant you that some people are much more susceptible than others to this, but making a blanket statement like that just comes off as ignorance toward the subject matter.
I'm thrilled for you that you don't have to deal with this, but others do. Please don't minimize the issue.0 -
Let's look at addiction from two views, one approved by the American Psychiatric Association, and the other a result of numerous and continuing neurological studies.
The American Psychiatric Association established three diagnostic criteria for addiction. The first is binging, where an escalated intake of a substance results in: 1) sensitization – responsiveness to a repeatedly presented substance is amplified; and 2) tolerance – more is needed to provide the same effect. The second criterion is withdrawal, where discomfort or distress occurs because the substance is stopped or unavailable. The third criterion is craving, where abstinence enhances motivation to retrieve the substance (Avena et al., 2008).
These are true of food addicts, as so many people here have testified. It's one reason the APA has created a new addiction, Binge Eating Disorder, which will be included in the DSM-5 which will be published in a month.
Further, substance abuse researchers say that the brain adaptions that result from regularly eating so-called hyperpalatable foods – foods that layer salt, fat, and sweet flavors, proven to increase consumption – are likely to be more difficult to change than those from cocaine or alcohol because they involve many more neural pathways. Almost 90 percent of the dopamine receptors in the vental tegmental area (VTA) of the brain are activated in response to food cues.
Brand-new research also shows direct evidence of lasting and fundamental injuries to a part of the brain that helps us regulate our food intake, the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Within three days of being placed on a high-fat diet, a rat’s hypothalamus (the area of the brain that responds to the hormones that signal hunger and satiety, pair and maternal bonding and certain social behavior) shows increased inflammation; within a week, researchers see evidence of permanent scarring and neuron injury in an area of the brain crucial for weight control. Brain scans of obese men and women show this exact pattern as well.
Hyperpalatable foods affect and scar EXACTLY the same areas of the brain that cocaine and alcohol do. It's legal and cheap and, yes, different in important ways as manifested in behavior, but that doesn't make it less dangerous to the sufferer. We have to stop treating people like science fair projects when it comes to food and "dieting". The new pioneering research is also helping us to appreciate a holistic and integrative approach to addiction. I was first senior research fellow in the NIH Office of Complementary Medicine. Using food addiction as template, THE HUNGER FIX addiction plan integrates personal empowerment, spirituality, along with whole food nutrition and restorative physical activity. Shame, blame and guilt must be neutralized with compassion, empathy and then the tools of self-empowerment.0 -
For those of you who think it doesn't exist and that it's all about willpower (you know who you are)...The American Psychiatric Association established three diagnostic criteria for addiction. The first is binging, where an escalated intake of a substance results in: 1) sensitization – responsiveness to a repeatedly presented substance is amplified; and 2) tolerance – more is needed to provide the same effect. The second criterion is withdrawal, where discomfort or distress occurs because the substance is stopped or unavailable. The third criterion is craving, where abstinence enhances motivation to retrieve the substance (Avena et al., 2008).
These are true of food addicts, as so many people here have testified. It's one reason the APA has created a new addiction, Binge Eating Disorder, which will be included in the DSM-5 which will be published in a month.
Further, substance abuse researchers say that the brain adaptions that result from regularly eating so-called hyperpalatable foods – foods that layer salt, fat, and sweet flavors, proven to increase consumption – are likely to be more difficult to change than those from cocaine or alcohol because they involve many more neural pathways. Almost 90 percent of the dopamine receptors in the vental tegmental area (VTA) of the brain are activated in response to food cues.
Brand-new research also shows direct evidence of lasting and fundamental injuries to a part of the brain that helps us regulate our food intake, the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Within three days of being placed on a high-fat diet, a rat’s hypothalamus (the area of the brain that responds to the hormones that signal hunger and satiety, pair and maternal bonding and certain social behavior) shows increased inflammation; within a week, researchers see evidence of permanent scarring and neuron injury in an area of the brain crucial for weight control. Brain scans of obese men and women show this exact pattern as well.
Hyperpalatable foods affect and scar EXACTLY the same areas of the brain that cocaine and alcohol do. It's legal and cheap and, yes, different in important ways as manifested in behavior, but that doesn't make it less dangerous to the sufferer. We have to stop treating people like science fair projects when it comes to food and "dieting". The new pioneering research is also helping us to appreciate a holistic and integrative approach to addiction. I was first senior research fellow in the NIH Office of Complementary Medicine. Using food addiction as template, THE HUNGER FIX addiction plan integrates personal empowerment, spirituality, along with whole food nutrition and restorative physical activity. Shame, blame and guilt must be neutralized with compassion, empathy and then the tools of self-empowerment.
From an actual researcher who has worked on the issue. Myriad thank-you's for adding to the conversation!!!0 -
Actually, you're wrong there. There is a plethora of research about the mind altering properties of refined sugars. They alter both the dopamine and serotonin pathways in the brain in animal and human studies. You simply need to do a Pubmed search.
I really don't want to get into this again. Really it doesn't matter. I am not saying that food addiction (otherwise known as an eating disorder called Binge Eating Disorder) is not real, and I am not saying that it does not have a profound impact on a person's life or their loved ones. But, it is a scientific fact that food does not have the exact same addictive quality as addictive drugs (especially when you actually take into account that everyone must eat to survive and for pleasure and not everyone develops a life altering addiction from exposure to certain foods). There is nothing awful and horrendous about getting a small boost of serotonin or dopamine due to a nutritional pathway. In same cases it can even be a healthy thing. We need food to survive and keep us happy and also give us some pleasure in moderation. We also need neurotransmitters, and it would never be a good thing to eliminate the production and uptake of those. Of course some people have addictive personalities, or have had life experiences that have led them to a food addiction and for them something that is normal and natural becomes problematic (often in a serious and severe way with very real physical and emotional consequences).0 -
I read through this thread yesterday. I started to post then, but changed my mind. Today, this thread won’t leave me alone. I feel I need to comment. Those that say admitting to an addiction is a crutch to maintain said addictive behaviors obviously don’t understand recovery. Admitting there is a problem with the way we relate to alcohol, drugs, or food is where we can begin our healing. Denial is the crutch that allows us to continue you our unhealthy behaviors.
I am a recovering alcoholic and drug user. I quit drinking and doing drugs almost 27 years ago and have been battling food “issues” ever since. My particular issues are more of the compulsive overeating/binge eating type, as opposed to an addiction to a particular substance (sugar, or carbs). My behaviors regarding food are very similar to those when I was an alcoholic. I have stolen food and money. I lied about what I have eaten. I have felt guilt and shame for my behaviors, but continued doing them. My relationship to food is unhealthy. I have to admit my relationship to food is unhealthy (admit I have an addiction) and modify my behavior or I will die in this disease.
Having a food addiction does make “dieting” and losing weight harder. That is not to say that those who do not have an addiction have it easy. Making lifestyle changes is hard, regardless of what those changes are!
Maybe I can explain why I believe it is harder for us addicts. A non-alcoholic person can go to a business lunch, have a single martini, and go back to work. It is very different if an alcoholic goes to the same lunch meeting. If they do not drink at lunch, they are unable to conduct business because they cannot concentrate on anything but how they are depriving themselves of alcohol. If they do drink, they will not stop at one drink and probably won’t make it back to the office. Drinking and alcohol consume the thinking of the alcoholic person. A non-alcoholic person gives no thought to it. They may even encourage the other person to drink. In time the obsessive thinking lessens, but will be reactivated if the alcoholic drinks again. A food addict has similar obsessive thinking and will have comparable struggles with a lunch meeting. That obsessive thinking makes changing very hard.
I have struggled and achieved recovery from my food addiction several times over the past 27 years. Each time I have achieved this I admitted I had an addiction and modified my behaviors. Each time I have relapsed, it was because I became complacent and decided I could eat like a “normal” person.
My food addiction is like a wild lion kept in a cage. I am safe as long as the lion is in his cage. The lion must be fed. If I am cautious, I can safely feed the lion; however if I am careless and turn my back on him, he may attack me. If I let him out of the cage, it will be very difficult to get him back in the cage and there will probably be significant damage. I let the lion out of the cage about 18 months ago (after a major health crisis), and I am 50 pounds heavier and suffering numerous health issues because of it. With the help of MFP, accountability, and support, I think I have finally gotten him back in the cage.
Thanks for listening,
Shari0 -
Let's look at addiction from two views, one approved by the American Psychiatric Association, and the other a result of numerous and continuing neurological studies.
The American Psychiatric Association established three diagnostic criteria for addiction. The first is binging, where an escalated intake of a substance results in: 1) sensitization – responsiveness to a repeatedly presented substance is amplified; and 2) tolerance – more is needed to provide the same effect. The second criterion is withdrawal, where discomfort or distress occurs because the substance is stopped or unavailable. The third criterion is craving, where abstinence enhances motivation to retrieve the substance (Avena et al., 2008).
These are true of food addicts, as so many people here have testified. It's one reason the APA has created a new addiction, Binge Eating Disorder, which will be included in the DSM-5 which will be published in a month.
Further, substance abuse researchers say that the brain adaptions that result from regularly eating so-called hyperpalatable foods – foods that layer salt, fat, and sweet flavors, proven to increase consumption – are likely to be more difficult to change than those from cocaine or alcohol because they involve many more neural pathways. Almost 90 percent of the dopamine receptors in the vental tegmental area (VTA) of the brain are activated in response to food cues.
Brand-new research also shows direct evidence of lasting and fundamental injuries to a part of the brain that helps us regulate our food intake, the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Within three days of being placed on a high-fat diet, a rat’s hypothalamus (the area of the brain that responds to the hormones that signal hunger and satiety, pair and maternal bonding and certain social behavior) shows increased inflammation; within a week, researchers see evidence of permanent scarring and neuron injury in an area of the brain crucial for weight control. Brain scans of obese men and women show this exact pattern as well.
Hyperpalatable foods affect and scar EXACTLY the same areas of the brain that cocaine and alcohol do. It's legal and cheap and, yes, different in important ways as manifested in behavior, but that doesn't make it less dangerous to the sufferer. We have to stop treating people like science fair projects when it comes to food and "dieting". The new pioneering research is also helping us to appreciate a holistic and integrative approach to addiction. I was first senior research fellow in the NIH Office of Complementary Medicine. Using food addiction as template, THE HUNGER FIX addiction plan integrates personal empowerment, spirituality, along with whole food nutrition and restorative physical activity. Shame, blame and guilt must be neutralized with compassion, empathy and then the tools of self-empowerment.
Just finished reading this book and got a lot from it. Thank you for posting! I've also read a few other books that touch on this information. It is very real and very hard to break because my drug is available everywhere I go, sometimes for free, and if I say no, people will hound me about why I won't eat it.0 -
That's how I know I'm addicted to food-- because I feel like I have to taste something repetitively, for hours on end, to feel satisfied. It's not until I'm 3/4ths of the way done with a huge bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms and my stomach feels like it's going to pop that I realize that I should've stopped 8 handfuls ago... but I just wanted to keep the taste in my mouth. It's sick, but like any other addiction, the psychological aspect is often much stronger than the physical.
This! This is how I feel exactly. It's the whole sensation of having a big bite of something in my mouth. The sheer awesomeness of the tastes and textures. The feeling of swallowing, and then the next bite to keep that flavor/sensation going. I used to make 2 cups of white rice, dump in 3/4 of a stick of butter, and a can of Dennison's Hot Chili and mix it up and eat it. The whole thing. And I would feel so full and icky after I was done, but I STILL wanted to keep having those spoonsful coming into my mouth because the food itself was amazing.
I still have this problem. When I eat, I want to go back for more and more and more. It's really dangerous. On the days I do decide to "splurge", I feel so sick afterward. And I know I will, but I do it anyway because damnit, my brain is demanding that sensation again.
If only they could develop sugarless gum that tastes and feels like food. Like Willy Wonka! I'd be SO thin.
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Plus now the truth is finally emerging (as it did some decades ago about tobacco) that processed foods are truly physically addictive, in the same way as chemical stimulants like cocaine, for example. The latest research indicates that the way some processed foods are formulated, they stimulate the same part of the brain that cocaine, tobacco and other drugs.
I find this latest research amazing, as I think many of us blame ourselves as addicts, like in Overeaters Anonymous saying we are powerless over food and yet ironically the food has been designed in labs to be addictive. I wonder at times if some of us are just more sensitive to some of the food formulations, but when one looks at the epidemic of obesity, it looks quite prevalent.
No, it's not physically addictive in the same way as heroin. I'm not minimizing food addiction. But, the physical addiction is different (especially after decades of physical drug addiction and everything else that it involves and leads to).
I'm not saying that it is not physically or mentally or emotionally addictive (and again that is not something I understand personally), but the physical addiction is just a different type of physical addiction. And the outcomes are just different.
Research on this shows that the wheat we currently use builds the same craving/addiction paths in our brains as heroin does. Now, it may not affect the body the same, but it attacks the mind in the same manner. Cravings, mood swings, etc are still relative and while the after effects are different, it doesn't mean that its not similar in how it works mentally.0 -
I don't know if I have a food addiction or not. But I do know that I've struggled with food for my entire 27 years of living. I remember stealing small chocolates from the local store where I grew up, and running to their bathroom and devouring them like mad. Guilt was constantly in my backpocket. Growing up, I would be be embarassed to order food because #1.) I knew I shouldn't be eating it and #2.) because once I got it, I inhaled it like it was the last thing I was going to eat. I would park in dark alleys, parks, on the side of the road, somewhere where no one would see me and recognize me.
I've gotten control of my binge eating for the most part. I still struggle daily to not indulge in some bread or some sugar. And it is a very, VERY slippery slope for me. I can also tell you that the withdrawal systems between sugar and other drugs, are very similar. In how it effects your mind and your body. True, it won't cause me to lose my job. But it has the high possibilty of ruining relationships with family, friends and significiant others. I'm lucky that my boyfriend is supportive. The majoriy of my family doesn't understand, and will joke and tease about it. And that hurts.
I have to face food EVERY DAY. It's not something I can avoid. It's not something that I can quit cold turkey. It's not something that people often think of using 'peer pressure' on, but it's often the generous offer of "you want some? Come on have a slice. It won't hurt. Come on. Come on." that's the tipping block. That's me personally, but it's still rough.
Is it my fault? Partially. I've had to completely re-teach myself about food and nutrition, because its nothing something that I was taught or really even aware of. That's been a complete mind-blowing journey all of its own. Now that I have the knowledge, I take full responsibility for my actions moving forwards.
Am I in control? Sometimes. Sometimes I feel as if I'm not, and that my mind/mouth have taken control and abducted my body. The cravings and mood swings (from withdrawls after bingeing) are insane and a constant battle.
Am I working on it? Always. Constantly.
I believe that food addiction exists and that it's real. Just as real as addiction to anything else. It's just as destructive as other addictions, whether people wants to accept that or not.
To the OP, more power to you and the best of luck. You're not alone in what you face, but we do have the ability and the power to overcome it. Just like any other thing (addiction or not) in life. LET'S DO IT!!!
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There are lots of things that we do that effect "the same parts" of our brains. Our brains are multi-taskers like that, it's part of what is so amazing about our brains, and we use every single part of our brain (contrary to the popular myth that we only use a small percentage of our brain). If we experience brain damage in a part of our brain, our brain can rewire and share other parts of the brain to take over re-learning what we lost. It's incredibly amazing actually. Some people even have parts of their brain that cross and cause similiar reactions to things that are generally unrelated for most people (foot fetishes can be an example of this, sneezing because of sunlight is another). And just because something acts on the same parts of our brain, it does not mean it acts on it in the same pathological way. Some things are good for us (and even essential) in moderation. And perhaps if a person has something dysfunctional going on (a chemical imbalance) they could crave and develop an addiction to something that "treats" it in some way (but also has other major drawbacks to health), that is what is self-medicating.0
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I wasnt a foof addict until my dad left andni comfort ate to feel better, now food is on my braim all the time, all I wamt is to eat everything thats bad for me. I have little will power as it is amd now Im trying to quit smokig and loose weight im 7 weeks without a cig not even a day without eatimg something bad I need help I habe the whole summer aborad in a life guarding role dont wanna be the fat girl asking for the biggest uniform... AGAIN
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I grew up in an addicted family. Both parents were abused as young children and were obese using food and junk food to medicate hurt emotions. Dad had diabetes and still had hidden stashes of candy, which my mother would detect on his breath like alcohol, My mother had stashes of candy and would hide in her room reading fiction and pounding back the candy. This went on until she died. Dad dies years later of heart attack related to diabetes.
We kids all learned that food should be a source of guilty hidden pleasure. That we should hide it and hoard it! Hide/Hoard/Binge...
When ever we got spare money it was food we wanted to buy. Outwardly we were taught not to eat junk food. We were the kids whose parents wrote notes to the teachers at school to give us nuts instead of candy for oing wellin class. We ate carob instead of chocolate and were not allowed to trick or treat most years (of course that was partly my dad's paranoia regarding needles in the snickers). Snakcs were generally fruit, and veggies, etc... It was all outward facing and hyper controlling, in the hiddne reality it was JUNK, JUNK and MORE JUNK!
for over 17 years as an adult I mistook thirst for a sweet tooth and fed my sugar addiction with candy instead of drinking water. Sugar causes uric acid, and dehydration hurts the kidneys and prevents them from adequately flushing the uric acid out of your blood. Can you say "Gout?"
Finally, I became aware that I needed to drink more water and eat less candy and that when I had a sweet tooth I was really dehydrated. Anyway those years of self abuse took their toll and I topped out at nearly 380 pounds.
I've been working on losing weight for going on ten years. Every attempt failed in a gout attack from high protein low carb diets or as a result of exercise that caused inflammation of the feet. (Plus tearing down and rebuilding muscle causes uric acid to be released) Or the artificial sweeteners in diet foods would cause my gout to flare up by taking kidney function away to deal with the foreign molecules. Or in my "All Or Nothing" way of thinking I would overdue the exercise and get injured and lose my work out habit while healing from overdoing it. No attempt had ever lasted over 4-6 weeks, and all ended in me crashing and burning and giving up.
My wife and I are terrible enablers of one another's food addiction. She mentions wanting a treat and I am back from the store handing it to her before she can say, "I didn't mean for you to..." And she is so sympathetic that I get away with any excuse.
Finally over the years I became a passionate student of true health and nutrition, an expert on gout, and controlling it with natural means, and a student of the common threads that allow all diets to work. I was slowly piecing together the puzzle so that I could at long last tackle this weight issue and reclaim my health, without it all ending in a blaze of glory. But really my life was on auto pilot in that area because focus wa on money in this down economy I have struggled since 2008.
in 2010 while out of work I decided to finally watch an episode of the Biggest Loser. All I knew about it was it had a rude title! I was not a big TV person and did not subscribe to any TV service nor have a TV antenna so I just always heard radio blurbs and news stories anout it and just thought it sounded like the worst show ever. "Reality TV, ehwww!"
So I find Hulu.com and check out episode 1 os season 1. Hmmn... Interesting! Episode 2... Hmmmm.... Episode 3, And so on. I was so inspired and moved by the stories of real people losing weight, I kept watching. Hulu had season 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and I watched all those seasons over the fall of 2010. When 2011 came along I watched season 11 one episode at a time, and couldn't hardly stand to wait a week between episodes because I was accustomed to seeing them on demand. I was moved by the story of Moses Kinikini a Tongan Family Man who was on there with his daughter. He set the record for the fastest time to lose 100 pounds, and did it in six weeks. As of Season 14 he still holds that record. I was inspired even more because he did it while ordered to bed rest for three of those six weeks. I was inspired because he lost so much weight shadow boxing in bed! I related to his love of family and his determination. I related to him because. he lived in Idaho and I lived in Idaho. Anyway, for whatever reason he struck a cord with me. So much so that I actually wrote him a four page letter asking if I could be his workout partner between when he left the ranch, and the finale. Promising to keep him motivated if he would keep me motivated.
I never mailed it. I didn't want to be some stalker type that sees a guy on TV and then injects himself into that guy's life. So the passion died and I got wrapped up in professional pursuits and left my health on the back burner.
January 1st 2013 I weighed 363#, and I began a journey. The catalyst for this new beginning was a Biggest Loser inspired weight loss contest on a forum I participate in, on another website. I joined the contest as an excuse to begin that long desired journey. I realized that I was part of a team on the online forum and that they were counting on me to make my weekly weigh ins and pull my fair share.
I also realized that I needed even more outside help, I needed a personal Trainer that could help me learn to work out safely, and keep working out even when my gout, was acting up and someone who could really help me learn to work out around existing ankle, knee and shoulder injuries and tendon and muscle tears. A tall order right?
Well, I went trainer shopping... I end up at Apple Athletic Club in Idaho Falls Idaho, and who do I discover is a trainer there? Yep, Moses Kinikini. As serendipity would have it, the guy I knew could help me work safely around injuries was on staff now working as a Personal Trainer! I joined immediately, and prepaid 30 months of membership plus 38 sessions with Moses. Thousands of dollars invested in my health, because I needed there to be NO ESCAPE!
I began with Moses on January 9th 2013, and we took a baseline full health workup. I worked out with Moses three days a week and did my best to get three other workouts in on my own. I learned for the first time in my life to log calories. He got me to start using MFP. The accountability to make appointments, and weigh ins, and the pressure to use my prepaid appointments and not waste them got me through a lot of rough patches where I would have otherwise quit in years gone by. Such as working out even when I was sick, because I didn't want to lose my money. (I have not had a pay check in 8 months! The money we invested can't be replaced, it was a hard decision, made with my wife in careful counsel.) After seven weeks on this program, we did another assesment of my fitness. I had burned 20% of my 105 pounds of body fat, while gaining muscle and water weight! I had burned 24% of my excess body fat, if I wish to achieve "athletic" and even more if I am willing to stop at "fit." Even though at the time the scale showed only a 17 pound loss during that window, I had gone from 46% water weight to 50% (Healthy is 50% to 60%), and gained 2.5 pounds of muscle. So to learn that I was a quarter of the way to athletic in seven weeks time was mind blowing and ohh sooo encouraging!
To have this data was very encouraging and made up for the seeming small loss on the scale. I have continued plugging away. Last week I concluded my last of 38 sessions and 36 workouts with Moses as my one on one trainer. In two weeks we do another full assessment. I have lost so many inches it's sick! I have shirts that used to have the "screamin' buttons syndrome" that are now loose, with room to spare; my pants fall down all the time, I am using the 4th belt hole and will need smaller belts in one more hole, or a leather punch! I swim in my once snug white shirts and ties! and am now down 42 pounds on the scale but am sure that the fat burned well exceeds that number.
And today, before I ever saw this thread, I was marveling that I don't give into cravings any more, and even though I have them, I do not obsess over them and I do not have to FIGHT them anymore. Sometimes I still eat crappy food or make less than optimum choices, but I just log it and move on.
I have had challenges and one week when I fell back into candy binging, even though I ate far less than I used to and even though I ran a deficit that week and should have lost two pounds I gained two instead! So I know I am not free yet. But the progress is incredible and it feels like I have a new lease on my life.
My message is two fold, 1. your progress is likely more than you know, because what shows on the scale may not be the whole story, and 2. making accountability a true part of your life for months on end will change the battle; it will make it easier as new habits replace the old. I am a sugar addict! I t may well be that, that will never change, but if I don't binge on it, day after day, it will get easier. It already has!
My trainer, and MyFitnessPal working together, with my pent up passion for this journey, built over the years, coupled with faith fed by seeing scores of real people make their own changes on the Biggest Loser, has enabled me to change my life. I have never, lost over 20 pounds on any prior attempt. I have never gone more than 4-6 weeks. Today, is day 11 of month 4 in my journey, and I am down over 40 pounds!!!
Failure has been my ever faithful enemy for many years, but failure has been relegated to the history books! I have managed in these 101 days to learn new habits, keep accountable to myself and others via MFP and to get back up when I fall. Just getting back up, after a fall is a priceless lesson! I no longer seek the perfect journey, just the successful one, that daily brings me closer to the goal.0 -
Let's look at addiction from two views, one approved by the American Psychiatric Association, and the other a result of numerous and continuing neurological studies.
The American Psychiatric Association established three diagnostic criteria for addiction. The first is binging, where an escalated intake of a substance results in: 1) sensitization – responsiveness to a repeatedly presented substance is amplified; and 2) tolerance – more is needed to provide the same effect. The second criterion is withdrawal, where discomfort or distress occurs because the substance is stopped or unavailable. The third criterion is craving, where abstinence enhances motivation to retrieve the substance (Avena et al., 2008).
These are true of food addicts, as so many people here have testified. It's one reason the APA has created a new addiction, Binge Eating Disorder, which will be included in the DSM-5 which will be published in a month.
Further, substance abuse researchers say that the brain adaptions that result from regularly eating so-called hyperpalatable foods – foods that layer salt, fat, and sweet flavors, proven to increase consumption – are likely to be more difficult to change than those from cocaine or alcohol because they involve many more neural pathways. Almost 90 percent of the dopamine receptors in the vental tegmental area (VTA) of the brain are activated in response to food cues.
Brand-new research also shows direct evidence of lasting and fundamental injuries to a part of the brain that helps us regulate our food intake, the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Within three days of being placed on a high-fat diet, a rat’s hypothalamus (the area of the brain that responds to the hormones that signal hunger and satiety, pair and maternal bonding and certain social behavior) shows increased inflammation; within a week, researchers see evidence of permanent scarring and neuron injury in an area of the brain crucial for weight control. Brain scans of obese men and women show this exact pattern as well.
Hyperpalatable foods affect and scar EXACTLY the same areas of the brain that cocaine and alcohol do. It's legal and cheap and, yes, different in important ways as manifested in behavior, but that doesn't make it less dangerous to the sufferer. We have to stop treating people like science fair projects when it comes to food and "dieting". The new pioneering research is also helping us to appreciate a holistic and integrative approach to addiction. I was first senior research fellow in the NIH Office of Complementary Medicine. Using food addiction as template, THE HUNGER FIX addiction plan integrates personal empowerment, spirituality, along with whole food nutrition and restorative physical activity. Shame, blame and guilt must be neutralized with compassion, empathy and then the tools of self-empowerment.
EXCELLENT POST!!! Thank you0
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