Food addiction--it REALLY DOES EXIST!!!

why do people have a hard time believing that a food addiction is a symptom of a greater problem? treat the problem and the symptom will ease up.. figure out the real issues.. it's not just food addiction.. it's some kind of mental illness that creates a need to medicate with food.. but hey, that's just another opinion...

I don't mean to come down on you here but...

Food addiction is not a symptom, and it is no more a mental illness than heroin addiction is a mental illness. That's minimizing the issue. I've been on both sides of the mental health discussion and the fact that certain foods activate the same pleasure center as HEROIN and other opiod drugs do should tell us all something. Dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, all of these wonderful "feel good" opiod chemicals are released when we eat foods that have the magic ratio of sugar, fat, and salt. Just like with any other drug, you eat the foods, the chemicals are released, you feel good (for a split second), and you want to continue feeling good, so you eat some more. I've been a drug addict. I kicked. I'm a nicotine addict, trying to kick. I don't know if I'm a food addict; but either way, there are a lot of foods that I cannot be around or even think too much about because it feels so good (for that split second) to eat them and I personally like to feel good.

I agree that overeating for some people is a form of addiction and it's an eating disorder. And I see how it harms the person and the loved ones, similiar to other addictions. I completely get that and understand that aspect of it.

And there are ways of making food that can be addictive for some people. Like salt on chips can be that way for some people. MSG is an additive that has the effect.

But, some foods do increase those neurotransmitters, as you mentioned, and that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing (for some people). It's good to have a healthy amount of neurotransmitters to feel good and to not become depressed. Exercise will also increase endorphins. Just important not to demonize neurotransmitters. It can't increase it that much, though. I have been depressed and eating food never helped me with it.

Some people use drugs to self medicate and I can see how that can be a similiar way that people use food. So, I agree that dealing with the underlying issues is really the key to helping find a solution for the problem. And it is very common for a person that has had one kind of addiction to develop another type of addiction. And it's also very common for addictions and eating disorders to have underlying, deep, emotional causes. There are lots of factors and issues here. All are worth being discussed and pondered. How it all plays out, is not the same for all people. It's not just one easy, simple, tidy answer. Honestly the problems will never be solved if people are unwilling to explore all the research on it (not just the one popular book everyone has been bringing 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.

Both these responses summed up both a lack of understanding and a full understanding of addictions. Really cool.

Usually, people that dismiss addictions of various kinds are ignorant of them. They either haven't ever been impacted by them in any way, or they are completely heartless.

Yep. You can never really understand something someone is dealing with until you walk a mile in their shoes. I do believe food addiction exists. You can become addicted to anything that stimulates the pleasure centers in your brain. One of the keys to getting over addiction is to come to the realization that you are NOT completely powerless over your addiction. It is a struggle, it is painful, it is work, but with the proper support and sheer determination and grit you can beat it. I know I'm making it sound easy and I know that it is not. I had spent years on meds such as oxycontin, ambein, xanax, and more and they made my life MISERABLE! I, thankfully, was able to stop taking them without too many withdrawls. I was one of the lucky ones and didn't get severely addicted. My heart goes out to those dealing with any type of addiction.

Let me sum it up to people who don't understand

Does it feel good?
Does your body build a tolerance to it?
You can get addicted to it.

People can and do get addicted to exercise. Try seeing some of those people on a day they don't exercise. They are a freaking wreck(I am slowly turning into one of those people, on the days I dont workout I go back into my depressive paterns, have trouble controlling my eating and just feel like **** all around. However that was my normal state before starting exercise so......)

people that use heroin do it because of a greater problem as well.. do you think one day someone decides "hey! i'm going to do heroin?" and that's it? they are addicted? no.. it's their lives and the way they perceive it that determines weather they fall down the hellhole of drug addiction. mental illness + drugs = addiction....

Sorry if this comes across as argumentative, but are you a psychologist? Have you treated addiction? Have you been an addict? (I can say yes to all three). I don't disagree that the majority of addicts begin using as a way to compensate for something else, but there are, in fact, people who do decide to try drugs like heroin, meth, crack, whathaveyou, not out of a need to compensate, but out of curiosity. Perfectly normal, mentally healthy people. And yes, I do know people like this. Mental illness + drugs can = addiction, but not always. Drugs + predisposed brain chemistry = addiction.

people that use heroin do it because of a greater problem as well.. do you think one day someone decides "hey! i'm going to do heroin?" and that's it? they are addicted? no.. it's their lives and the way they perceive it that determines weather they fall down the hellhole of drug addiction. mental illness + drugs = addiction....

Sorry if this comes across as argumentative, but are you a psychologist? Have you treated addiction? Have you been an addict? (I can say yes to all three). I don't disagree that the majority of addicts begin using as a way to compensate for something else, but there are, in fact, people who do decide to try drugs like heroin, meth, crack, whathaveyou, not out of a need to compensate, but out of curiosity. Perfectly normal, mentally healthy people. And yes, I do know people like this. Mental illness + drugs can = addiction, but not always. Drugs + predisposed brain chemistry = addiction.

been seeing a psychiatrist for addiction for 11 years.. i have bipolar and have been addicted to many many things.. i have to fight every day to stay balanced. we can become addicted to anything, from the internet to a chemically addicting drug. it's in our heads... and it's our problem.. it's not something in the food... yes, the drugs have addictive things in them, but thats not necessarily what draws us to them. food addicts are addicted to life supporting substance.. it's like being addicted to water or air.. it's a shame.. but it's what brings them comfort so they overeat. some do it with drugs, and some do it with games or chatting or alcohol or whatever.. but the problem isn't the chemicals. it's the person.. what is causing the need .. the hole in your life that is causing you to seek out this self medication...

bump

And yes, I would MUCH rather have freshly fried buttermilk pancakes from scratch with sweetened condensed milk all over them instead of my fat free Greek yogurt with nuts.

Or hot fresh fries smothered with good bacon bits, ranch dressing, real melted cheese and pickled jalapenos with BBQ ribs instead of a skinless chicken breast with a side of salad. I DO remember what it tastes like, smells like, feels like when I put in in my mouth. The combination of flavors and textures, sourness and sweetness, etc... is very very tempting and I really want it. I think about it often.

Does it mean I have a disease?

No it does not mean YOU have a disease; however you are not me. Please do not judge everyone by your abilities or willpower, for not everyone is YOU.

Asking someone not to judge based on their ability or willpower implies that it is a matter of willpower.

I found this and thought it appropriate

So they should either criminalize bacon or legalize heroin?

Which one seems more reasonable to you?

I have found that a jar of candy would be gone within 24hrs while other can have that jar of candy there for weeks...Same for cookies, cupcakes, or anything else..needs not be sweet just there then gone....yes it is real!

More liberal scientists are trying to declare sugar a drug. Not weighing in on either side, but just saying, "bad" foods do seem to have the potential of being criminalized in the future.

Pleeeaase... They won't even stop SUBSIDIZING those bad foods to the tune of billions of dollars a year.

More liberal scientists are trying to declare sugar a drug. Not weighing in on either side, but just saying, "bad" foods do seem to have the potential of being criminalized in the future.

Pleeeaase... They won't even stop SUBSIDIZING those bad foods to the tune of billions of dollars a year.

I am fairly sure that regulating how many grams of sugar should legally be in foods (and past said threshold sugary foods would be considered a "substance" not a food) would limit the capability of said subsidies. But the legislature will never go through anyway because regulating the free market is communism or something.

I am surprised at some of the comments on here denying that someone can get addicted to food.

In a former version of me I was a proper paid up junkie.
I still smoke cigarettes and I'm tackling the booze issue as we speak and will be forever more...

I am also a food addict.
I am secretive about what I eat, often taking the times when I am on my own to eat what I really want to instead of what is acceptable in front others. I'll eat in the car and hide the wrappers, going to the point of parking up in a street to throw the rubbish in a public bin. No one I live with or know will see the evidence then.
I crave and get sullen and moody when I feel deprived. I will pick fights and manipulate those I live with in order to get what I want (high fat take out food). The financial implications of what I'm doing is actually really scary. I go on shame benders where I become thoroughly disgusted at myself and might manage a 'very' short while without my favourite love (food).
I break and gorge and I'm back there again.
It's ruining my health, my social life, my ability to live my life as I want to, my family relationships, my bank balance and, well, pretty much everything.

Sound familiar? Well it does to me because I've been there before. It may not be illegal and I may not have to mix with dangerous people to get what I want but, the effect upon my life is excruciatingly familiar.

I am a food addict, pure and simple.

You are so right. I read somewhere that you need to treat food like fuel and not a treat. You need to use other things as a treat e.g. going out, clothes, ringing people etc. I think I am far off that still but am definitely noticing how much food dominated my life.

I just wanted to comment on the poignant and profound topic the OP has presented here. I do believe that food addiction exists, and the way that it has been expressed, goes to the heart of the matter. For those of you who have this, I wish you strength in your battle, peace in your hearts and success in conquering the constant issues that you face bravely every moment of every day. :flowerforyou:

Thank you for a beautiful post.

You are most welcome !