Food Addicts Anonymous??

Hi! I'm Robyn and over the past 2 weeks I have come to realize I am a food addict! Well, that is easy to say anyways! Lately I have been under a little extra stress with full time school (I remember why I said I would never go back but I'm not getting any younger) and my night shifts. Which adds a bit of a trick to eating when I am up all day and up all night, and unfortunately my job is very busy meaning run run run all night so not eating is not an option. And when I am stressed, or tired, or frankly bored I eat. Nothing big at once, but I could eat a bag of doritos nacho cheese or salsa verde in a day or two easy by handfuls at a time. I suppose I should admit that I used to eat "handfuls" of foods that never counted in my calories. For example: a handful of chips, a handful of popcorn, a handful of m&ms....etc. And now that I am counting my calories I realize how many handfuls I really used to eat! Major weaknesses include chocolate anything, salted anything, and coffee.....I love love love the flavored coffee creamer. Anyways, I have switched to green or black tea with lemon and splenda which I will say upfront is nothing like coffee. But it has 0 calories, and it is warm. But I do think that this site is great and that by tracking my foods and exercise I realize how I cope with stress (hello cupcake) and now I suppose it is time to tackle those demons and take charge of my life again! This is one uphill battle I intend to win, 1 day at a time, 1 week at a time, and one day I will wake up and think "that wasn't so hard". My new mantra is "food is fuel, not comfort" as seen in this thread. I am definitely a comfort eater, so I figure I will give this a month long trial and try calling a friend or asking for a hug instead of eating. This is do-able!!!

another pretty good day. alittle out of control but kept myself in line and didn't let the food take total control. Keepiing busy seems to help me with the food. I never eat in the car which is a help when I have to go for a ride to get away from the frig. :laugh:

Haha...wow, I just got done telling my wife that food is like an addiction. It's horrible! It's so hard to control myself whenit comes to tasty foods.
At least the food counter on this site helps me know how much I'm eating. Like any addiction, food portion control will have to be treated like any addiction. I'll have to continue to manage what I eat for the rest of my life...

Being a food addict is the hardest thing to overcome. Food is everywhere and someone is always eating. Fighting the urge to over eat and later asking yourself why you did it is something I have yet to figure out.

The potato chips free fall from the bag right into my hands. The salted nuts seem to stick to my palms and I don't know how they get there. Siting and watching others snack has got to be the activity that puts me over the top. Being the observer is so boring, it's like being on the outside and watching all your friends having a good time. Who doesn't want to belong?

The true challange is convincing yourself that you can overcome the addiction and that you're truly worth the effort. How does one do that while feeling overwhelmed and alone?:frown: How do you turn a deaf ear to those lucious foods that know your name and constantly call to you?

Although simply talking about it doesn't rid us of the addiction ,coming here and being totally honest with yourself and others is key. My first post to this board happened just a few days ago. I have reread it several times and that has helped me start to understand things about myself. The support here is truly heartwarming. It does help to know you're not alone, that others actually do know how we feel. I don't think the addiction ever "goes away", I think we learn how to live with it and accept the fact that we're human.

I'm trying to develope a better relationship with the scale;I'm working on not viewing it as the enemy. I have many,many things to work on - one at a time. Later I will learn to share my feelings with my family but for now I am thankful and appreciative for all of you. Have a great Sunday.

Be blessed,
Mary

Yes, sr, it's true. Unfortunately most do not recognize food as an addiction. But we can do this! We can conquer the beast!

Hi everyone,

My name is Jeanne and I am a food addict.

Somedays I don't feel like eating but others I can eat and eat and eat...all the bad things too. I have even bought candy bars and eaten them before I got home because I didn't want my husband to know about it...it is aweful.

It is really hard because my family and my husband's family puts a focus on food. Everytime we get together we have to eat. Something that concerns me is that his parents are starting to really focus on that with our son who is 7 months old. We are working to make sure that we don't overfeed him and give him bad habits. However, anytime we go to his parents his dad wants to feed our son something he shouldn't have like a sucker or candy cane. I know every now and again it is ok to let him suck on one but if his dad does that stuff then we don't get to and he is our first baby so we want to experience those things. But my real concern is that I don't want our son to associate grandpa and grandma with food. I want him to want to see them not go to get candy...

The potato chips free fall from the bag right into my hands. The salted nuts seem to stick to my palms and I don't know how they get there. Siting and watching others snack has got to be the activity that puts me over the top. Being the observer is so boring, it's like being on the outside and watching all your friends having a good time. Who doesn't want to belong?

It's funny you should mention this. I was just reading about a study in which researchers found that when you are out eating with friends and you watch their food choices, the part of your brain responsible for making your own decisions isn't active. Instead, it's the occipital lobe - the visual part. When you watch someone else eat, your brain is processing the visual input and matching it up with remembered sensory input, like the feel of a huge burger in your hand or the taste and crunch of potato chips. Basically, after that point your brain is making food choices like a teenager makes life choices. The takeaway from the article I was reading (this month's Women's Health if you're interested) was that you can work to make independent choices, like if you're at a sit-down restaurant, order first, or if you have a dinner group, offer to cook more often so you can plan healthy meals. Another is to involve your friends in what's going on: let them know you're trying to make better choices about what you eat, and that you need a little grassroots support to make the change stick.

I'm definitely a food addict. I always have been, during my childhood I was rewarded with food, I was scolded with food, food was everything. My grandmother who watched me used to take me out to eat--and let me gorge on whatever I wanted (as young as 4 years old) and then make a game out of it, don't tell mommy or daddy we went to wendy's today! etc.

As I've gotten older, food makes me happy. I look forward to meals, I get excited when I know I'm going out to eat, I think about food way too much. I watch Food Network constantly and I love cooking and baking, and it's caused me so much heartache throughout life.

Food should just give you energy throughout the day, not be your go-to-friend 24/7/365 when you're bored/sad/mad/happy/etc.

Trying to change my thoughts on food and the reasons I'm eating, and to make healthier choices.

You can do it, Richie! The difference will probably only be 2-3 pounds, unless your scale is REALLY old.

Richie - my prayers are with you as you buy the scale! :flowerforyou: Just remember - no matter where you are, there you are. Take it and run with it, my friend! You are doing great!

emoodze - I know exactly how you feel about the comments. I think part of it is his insecurity as to how to "help" you. You just need to sit down with him and tell him exactly what you told us - how it makes you feel, how you don't want to respond rudely but how it tempts you to, etc. I also found with my husband (but this doesn't necessarily mean you have this issue) that it was a control thing. It was his way of controlling something that felt out of control for him. I hated it - it made me eat more out of spite. Don't get to that point - talk to him openly and honestly.

Had dinner at my neighbor's tonight. She told me she really cooked healthy for me. Yay! Everything was great until she pulled out the GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE for dessert. What part of GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE says healthy? LOL I ate a few bites to be nice (plus I planned my cals for it) and left the rest! :happy: