I am a food addict

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 wOA is terrific -- I'm a member with successes I have never had anywhere else.

OA defines itself as working for the compulsive overeater rather than the "food addict," a concept that is now stepping into the fore of the neurological literature. Addiction to hyperpalatable foods that layer fat/sugar/salt together and which are proven to increase cravings directly affects the brain. Substance abuse researchers say that the brain adaptions that result are likely to be more difficult to change than those from cocaine or alcohol because they involve many more neural pathways.

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.

OA won't ever address that because it's outside the traditions of sticking to OA and AA written literature. Sometimes you have to go elsewhere for information and additional guidance. I've found a lot of it in Pam Peeke, MD's THE HUNGER FIX, which is the first approach to food addiction that utilizes a holistic strategy of nutrition (and nutrition that amps up those needed dopamine neurotransmitters), physical activity and mind exercises like meditation to regenerate the damage to the brain that our excesses have brought on. Dopamine is responsible for will power, for instance, as well as mood, reward/punishment, cognition and other necessary human tools for personal evolution and claiming our brains again.

To me, being on a food plan but not utilizing a host of other strategies (including the steps and other Program tools) is like being a dry drunk. Working on repairing my brain makes me a happier person in recovery as well as abstinent.

But you know what? CONGRATULATIONS on being 20 lbs from goal weight, for having the courage to go from surgery to the Rooms and for looking beyond OA for yet more help.