Food addiction, Over eating is very similar to Alcoholism and other addictions..
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CiciRoscoe
Posts: 38 Member
Okay I thought that sounded totally crazy when my mother mentioned it to me.... like wait, a step program to help alcoholics and drug addicts to help my issues with over eating, emotional eating and binging? What? Until I actually went to a meeting.
Wait reverse, go back. Why did I go? Long story short my mother is a recovering alcoholic and I am so damn proud of her! Finally have my beautiful vibrant mama back. NOW!
I went to her meeting, as part of her graduation from the IOP program she was in. I was reading the steps they had on the wall... and also listening to the sponsor speak and it hit me... I could relate and never had I drank a beer til I was drunk or tried drugs. So how is this possible you ask?
Well he said, it controlled his life. He was really willing to do whatever to get his fix. He thought about it, and the thought alone gave him a high..... then when he had it he felt good, and after he just felt like total crap about himself. It made him feel bad.... gross... caused poor self image. He would hide his addiction. Tell everyone how well he was doing staying clean, not drinking etc.... and it hit me. I do all these things but with food. Now I don't steal from my family members to buy foods I shouldn't eat but I sneak sweets, etc and pretend I didn't just eat them. When someone asked me about my diet I would say "Oh yeah I am doing so well....:" after just indulging on some awesome burgers fries, and a shake. Now food addiction may not be as severe but ... is it? Maybe. Obesity causes heart disease, can cause diabetes.... other medical conditions. We have triggers... emotional and physical that make us crave certain foods at certain times.... We think about how "GOOD" it will taste once we get it.... then we have it and feel satisfied while eating it.... and then after guilty how much we consumed.
This was just a revolution to me... Had to share!
Wait reverse, go back. Why did I go? Long story short my mother is a recovering alcoholic and I am so damn proud of her! Finally have my beautiful vibrant mama back. NOW!
I went to her meeting, as part of her graduation from the IOP program she was in. I was reading the steps they had on the wall... and also listening to the sponsor speak and it hit me... I could relate and never had I drank a beer til I was drunk or tried drugs. So how is this possible you ask?
Well he said, it controlled his life. He was really willing to do whatever to get his fix. He thought about it, and the thought alone gave him a high..... then when he had it he felt good, and after he just felt like total crap about himself. It made him feel bad.... gross... caused poor self image. He would hide his addiction. Tell everyone how well he was doing staying clean, not drinking etc.... and it hit me. I do all these things but with food. Now I don't steal from my family members to buy foods I shouldn't eat but I sneak sweets, etc and pretend I didn't just eat them. When someone asked me about my diet I would say "Oh yeah I am doing so well....:" after just indulging on some awesome burgers fries, and a shake. Now food addiction may not be as severe but ... is it? Maybe. Obesity causes heart disease, can cause diabetes.... other medical conditions. We have triggers... emotional and physical that make us crave certain foods at certain times.... We think about how "GOOD" it will taste once we get it.... then we have it and feel satisfied while eating it.... and then after guilty how much we consumed.
This was just a revolution to me... Had to share!
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Replies
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Maybe its the same, insofar as they both involve consuming to excess and not being in control (or mindful). I also notice both drunks and over eaters come up with BS reasons for why they deserve to, or are entitled to, consume to excess, e.g. hard day, traffic, it's the weekend, etc. I also notice they both rationalize why they did consume to excess, e.g. "daddy didn't hug me enough as a child, so, that's what gives me license to be a drunk, stay fat, etc".
I personally did not find much benefit from psychology, if anything, it just helped me craft excuses to save face about myself.0 -
Eating disorders are real and have profound effects. If you feel that your eating is out of your control, it is wise to get help.
Good luck!0 -
although it's worse - because you have to eat
so you have to make that decision every single day
rather than avoid alcohol / drugs or places with alcohol / drugs
personally I'm lucky - I don't have an addictive personality (or a victim mentality) - but if you do it's easy to not make the right choice because you have to keep making it over and over again
but making the choice isn't easy for anyone - whether you consider an addictive personality or not - it's still a choice and you make it every single day when you get up - everytime you do your grocery shopping or go to the fridge0 -
We all have our own paths. I essentially became addicted to starving myself, and then would binge to an insane level. There was no "high" that came from thinking or from eating itself. Would actually pride myself in how long I'd go between eating. I ruined much of my metabolism with that habit.
Nowadays, I have a different approach to things. Have to make myself eat regularly enough that my body doesn't hide in the starved mode I was in during those days.
Personally, I'm not a fan of 12 step programs for the long term. I think they can be a great starting tool for people to gain control, but I think finding the real remedy to the problem does require taking responsibility for your actions, which most 12 step programs avoid. As long as it helps you attain your personal needs and goals, I'm okay with supporting people who choose to start that way... it's not my life, afterall. I just get tired of people who suggest things like OA to me on the assumption that my weight is due to uncontrollable overeating.0 -
deleted double post.
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Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Extreme oversimplification from someone who has literally zero idea what they are talking about. This is a textbook example of.
People on this site generally aren't living in denial they are fighting to live healthier lives. The ones living in denial generally don't even know what MFP or websites like it even are. Chances are they have never counted a calorie in their lives. Eating disorders are real and though they are not quite the same thing as a chemical addiction to say alcohol or cocaine or nicotine. The symptoms and treatment are almost if not identical.
Honestly it's probably more accurate and understandable to say that we are born naturally addicted to food. After all many people become addicted to caffeine or nicotine and it doesn't become a huge problem in their lives. It would probably be more accurate to say that disordered overeating is where our bodies natural and necessary addiction to food malfunctions. Causing us to supplement all our emotional needs and desire for comfort and pleasure with food. Or becoming obsessed with the highly pleasurable aspects of eating. Eating disorders such as anorexia are the opposite. Where psychological conditions and neurosis overwhelm or remove our necessary addiction or even worse make us repulsed by eating.
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Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Agreed. To compare drug addiction or Alcoholism to over eating, binge eating etc is well minimizing what true addicts actually have to go through to beat it.
When you steal, lose your job, sell your body and basically do whatever you have to do to get that next whopper you let me know...
When you actually get physical ill because you couldn't have that whole pizza let me know
When you become homeless because you spent all your money on KFC let me know
Otherwise no.
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Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Extreme oversimplification from someone who has literally zero idea what they are talking about. This is a textbook example of.
People on this site generally aren't living in denial they are fighting to live healthier lives. The ones living in denial generally don't even know what MFP or websites like it even are. Chances are they have never counted a calorie in their lives. Eating disorders are real and though they are not quite the same thing as a chemical addiction to say alcohol or cocaine or nicotine. The symptoms and treatment are almost if not identical.
Honestly it's probably more accurate and understandable to say that we are born naturally addicted to food. After all many people become addicted to caffeine or nicotine and it doesn't become a huge problem in their lives. It would probably be more accurate to say that disordered overeating is where our bodies natural and necessary addiction to food malfunctions. Causing us to supplement all our emotional needs and desire for comfort and pleasure with food. Or becoming obsessed with the highly pleasurable aspects of eating. Eating disorders such as anorexia are the opposite. Where psychological conditions and neurosis overwhelm or remove our necessary addiction or even worse make us repulsed by eating.
So I have no idea what I am talking about? Alcohol addiction is a condition. Over-eating is just a temporary action. Anyone can overeat, whether obese, healthy weight or not. To classify the two together is just wrong.
If everybody was addicted to food, then 100% of us would be obese, so this is a naive assumption. The point I was making is that every excuse for not being able to lose weight is self-proclaimed - low metabolism, its addictive, its a drug... this is simply in the majority of cases not true. I have even heard that obesity is a disease. If so, then how long is it before 'lack of willpower' is classed as a disease?-3 -
There was an article about this not long ago about research on the topic that agreed with what you are saying. Both binging disorder and compulsive overeating have always seemed to me to have links with addictive behaviors, so I'm not at all surprised some would find 12 step approaches or other addiction related tools helpful. I also think some addiction related ideas help with stuff like emotional eating although I did that and separate it in my mind from my own struggles with addiction. For me it was milder, not the same, although it was a kind of misuse and avoidance.
Anyway, I certainly don't think everyone who gains weight or overeats has such issues, but I do think some do and addressing that is probably an important part of fixing it. Good for you!0 -
Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Extreme oversimplification from someone who has literally zero idea what they are talking about. This is a textbook example of.
People on this site generally aren't living in denial they are fighting to live healthier lives. The ones living in denial generally don't even know what MFP or websites like it even are. Chances are they have never counted a calorie in their lives. Eating disorders are real and though they are not quite the same thing as a chemical addiction to say alcohol or cocaine or nicotine. The symptoms and treatment are almost if not identical.
Honestly it's probably more accurate and understandable to say that we are born naturally addicted to food. After all many people become addicted to caffeine or nicotine and it doesn't become a huge problem in their lives. It would probably be more accurate to say that disordered overeating is where our bodies natural and necessary addiction to food malfunctions. Causing us to supplement all our emotional needs and desire for comfort and pleasure with food. Or becoming obsessed with the highly pleasurable aspects of eating. Eating disorders such as anorexia are the opposite. Where psychological conditions and neurosis overwhelm or remove our necessary addiction or even worse make us repulsed by eating.
So I have no idea what I am talking about? Alcohol addiction is a condition. Over-eating is just a temporary action. Anyone can overeat, whether obese, healthy weight or not. To classify the two together is just wrong.
If everybody was addicted to food, then 100% of us would be obese, so this is a naive assumption. The point I was making is that every excuse for not being able to lose weight is self-proclaimed - low metabolism, its addictive, its a drug... this is simply in the majority of cases not true. I have even heard that obesity is a disease. If so, then how long is it before 'lack of willpower' is classed as a disease?
What about my case then. I lost 9 Stone. And pretty much all it required was re forming my relationship with food into a healthier one. And yes you have no idea what you are talking about. If your relationship with food is healthy the whole way you think about it and incorporate it into your life is fundamentally different than someone with an eating disorder. And yes we are all addicted to food. Naturally and necessarily. If we weren't we would most probably starve or at least under eat. Sure we don't really label it as an "addiction" because most people control it and it's necessary to live. But you need to understand that human beings are by default dependent on food. And that this dependance can become a problem that is essentially identical to any other dependance that gets out of hand. Whether psychological of physical.
Your line of thinking is exactly the same as telling an Anorexic person "Just fugging eat more!" It's arrogant, assumptive and completely ignores the underlying issues. Same with comfort eating. It's like trying to treat an infected wound just by bandaging it up. Sure you might not be bleeding anymore, for a while. But unless you treat the underlying infection the problem is just going to come back. Probably worse.
I'm not saying that disordered eating is exactly the same thing as chemical dependance. But honestly the difference between them is more of a technicality. The symptomology, psychology, treatment and impact on peoples lives is highly similar if not identical. And the degree can be extremely severe. For some this disordered eating is mild and only results in a bit of chubbiness. While others literally never stop eating and get morbidly obese. Remember even fat burns calories. So as you get fatter you need more to get even fatter. In order to reach those truly huge dimensions you have to eat so much it almost makes me sick to think about how much I used to eat. I just can't imagine it now. So yeah I am a recovered comfort eater. And I can tell you if I compare Tobacco and Food. Of the two things I had to control in my life. Controlling food was waaaaaay harder. Giving up the cigarettes was trivial in comparison. And I smoked 20 a day.
So stop trivializing eating disorders because it just makes you look like an idiot especially to people who have gone through it and beaten it.
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I used to be an alcoholic, trust me it is NOT the same. Are you going to overeat and wreck your car, sleep with random people, fall down, pass out, lose your memory, go to jail, etc.? My alcoholism never got as bad as doing all those things but it does for a lot of people. Take responsibility for your overeating.
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Agree^Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Agreed. To compare drug addiction or Alcoholism to over eating, binge eating etc is well minimizing what true addicts actually have to go through to beat it.
When you steal, lose your job, sell your body and basically do whatever you have to do to get that next whopper you let me know...
When you actually get physical ill because you couldn't have that whole pizza let me know
When you become homeless because you spent all your money on KFC let me know
Otherwise no.
Yeah you can't compare food disorders with the kind of addiction brought about by such narcotics. But I wasn't trying to and I don't think the OP was either. Just because it is like an addiction and it can be quite severe doesn't mean it's severity matches that of the substances that cause behaviors like you mention. Very few people would do the stuff you describe for caffeine or tobacco. And yes no one has much trouble in acknowledging the addictive properties of those substances. You don't need to be heroine to be classified as "addictive".
But clearly people need to be actually insane with need before you lot would find it in your heart to be helpful and understanding. Eating disorders are a major problem. Yes it doesn't compare to heroine or crack addiction. But that doesn't trivialize it.
Cos I can tell you i responded to all your scornful arrogant types by trying and trying and trying. And in the end I never had any measurable success. In the end fixing my eating disorder made it easy. Just trying isn't the solution. But I do wonder why people are so resistant to the idea of obesity as a symptom rather than a cause. Personally I think it's because people who aren't obese like to sneer at people who are. They don't want to think that perhaps that person might have a problem. They want t think of their fellow human beings as just greedy pigs. Because it makes them feel superior.
I mean sure greedy self indulgent types exist. But if you really think that every or even most obese people are this type then you are deluded.
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Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Extreme oversimplification from someone who has literally zero idea what they are talking about. This is a textbook example of.
People on this site generally aren't living in denial they are fighting to live healthier lives. The ones living in denial generally don't even know what MFP or websites like it even are. Chances are they have never counted a calorie in their lives. Eating disorders are real and though they are not quite the same thing as a chemical addiction to say alcohol or cocaine or nicotine. The symptoms and treatment are almost if not identical.
Honestly it's probably more accurate and understandable to say that we are born naturally addicted to food. After all many people become addicted to caffeine or nicotine and it doesn't become a huge problem in their lives. It would probably be more accurate to say that disordered overeating is where our bodies natural and necessary addiction to food malfunctions. Causing us to supplement all our emotional needs and desire for comfort and pleasure with food. Or becoming obsessed with the highly pleasurable aspects of eating. Eating disorders such as anorexia are the opposite. Where psychological conditions and neurosis overwhelm or remove our necessary addiction or even worse make us repulsed by eating.
So I have no idea what I am talking about? Alcohol addiction is a condition. Over-eating is just a temporary action. Anyone can overeat, whether obese, healthy weight or not. To classify the two together is just wrong.
If everybody was addicted to food, then 100% of us would be obese, so this is a naive assumption. The point I was making is that every excuse for not being able to lose weight is self-proclaimed - low metabolism, its addictive, its a drug... this is simply in the majority of cases not true. I have even heard that obesity is a disease. If so, then how long is it before 'lack of willpower' is classed as a disease?
What about my case then. I lost 9 Stone. And pretty much all it required was re forming my relationship with food into a healthier one. And yes you have no idea what you are talking about. If your relationship with food is healthy the whole way you think about it and incorporate it into your life is fundamentally different than someone with an eating disorder. And yes we are all addicted to food. Naturally and necessarily. If we weren't we would most probably starve or at least under eat. Sure we don't really label it as an "addiction" because most people control it and it's necessary to live. But you need to understand that human beings are by default dependent on food. And that this dependance can become a problem that is essentially identical to any other dependance that gets out of hand. Whether psychological of physical.
Your line of thinking is exactly the same as telling an Anorexic person "Just fugging eat more!" It's arrogant, assumptive and completely ignores the underlying issues. Same with comfort eating. It's like trying to treat an infected wound just by bandaging it up. Sure you might not be bleeding anymore, for a while. But unless you treat the underlying infection the problem is just going to come back. Probably worse.
I'm not saying that disordered eating is exactly the same thing as chemical dependance. But honestly the difference between them is more of a technicality. The symptomology, psychology, treatment and impact on peoples lives is highly similar if not identical. And the degree can be extremely severe. For some this disordered eating is mild and only results in a bit of chubbiness. While others literally never stop eating and get morbidly obese. Remember even fat burns calories. So as you get fatter you need more to get even fatter. In order to reach those truly huge dimensions you have to eat so much it almost makes me sick to think about how much I used to eat. I just can't imagine it now. So yeah I am a recovered comfort eater. And I can tell you if I compare Tobacco and Food. Of the two things I had to control in my life. Controlling food was waaaaaay harder. Giving up the cigarettes was trivial in comparison. And I smoked 20 a day.
So stop trivializing eating disorders because it just makes you look like an idiot especially to people who have gone through it and beaten it.
I dont trivialise it at all. I just like to be direct. I have been overweight myself but never denied that I was eating too much or was addicted, or that I have low metabolism... or any of the excuses brought up for lack of weight loss.
You have stated that you reformed relationship with food into a healthier one. That is exactly what I did. But the difference between you and me is that as you state in your beautiful bandaged wound analogy, being in denial of overeating is the root cause.
At the end of the day, you are assuming by my comments that I am referring to every single obese person on the planet. I am not, just those who would suggest something out of their control to blame, when in many cases, this is just completely irrelevant. Many people who claim food to be addictive may just do so for the sake of it, without being able to claim emotional eating (subjective claim anyway) as the root cause.-1 -
Thank you for sharing.............CiciRoscoe wrote: »Okay I thought that sounded totally crazy when my mother mentioned it to me.... like wait, a step program to help alcoholics and drug addicts to help my issues with over eating, emotional eating and binging? What? Until I actually went to a meeting.
Wait reverse, go back. Why did I go? Long story short my mother is a recovering alcoholic and I am so damn proud of her! Finally have my beautiful vibrant mama back. NOW!
I went to her meeting, as part of her graduation from the IOP program she was in. I was reading the steps they had on the wall... and also listening to the sponsor speak and it hit me... I could relate and never had I drank a beer til I was drunk or tried drugs. So how is this possible you ask?
Well he said, it controlled his life. He was really willing to do whatever to get his fix. He thought about it, and the thought alone gave him a high..... then when he had it he felt good, and after he just felt like total crap about himself. It made him feel bad.... gross... caused poor self image. He would hide his addiction. Tell everyone how well he was doing staying clean, not drinking etc.... and it hit me. I do all these things but with food. Now I don't steal from my family members to buy foods I shouldn't eat but I sneak sweets, etc and pretend I didn't just eat them. When someone asked me about my diet I would say "Oh yeah I am doing so well....:" after just indulging on some awesome burgers fries, and a shake. Now food addiction may not be as severe but ... is it? Maybe. Obesity causes heart disease, can cause diabetes.... other medical conditions. We have triggers... emotional and physical that make us crave certain foods at certain times.... We think about how "GOOD" it will taste once we get it.... then we have it and feel satisfied while eating it.... and then after guilty how much we consumed.
This was just a revolution to me... Had to share!
0 -
Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Extreme oversimplification from someone who has literally zero idea what they are talking about. This is a textbook example of.
People on this site generally aren't living in denial they are fighting to live healthier lives. The ones living in denial generally don't even know what MFP or websites like it even are. Chances are they have never counted a calorie in their lives. Eating disorders are real and though they are not quite the same thing as a chemical addiction to say alcohol or cocaine or nicotine. The symptoms and treatment are almost if not identical.
Honestly it's probably more accurate and understandable to say that we are born naturally addicted to food. After all many people become addicted to caffeine or nicotine and it doesn't become a huge problem in their lives. It would probably be more accurate to say that disordered overeating is where our bodies natural and necessary addiction to food malfunctions. Causing us to supplement all our emotional needs and desire for comfort and pleasure with food. Or becoming obsessed with the highly pleasurable aspects of eating. Eating disorders such as anorexia are the opposite. Where psychological conditions and neurosis overwhelm or remove our necessary addiction or even worse make us repulsed by eating.
So I have no idea what I am talking about? Alcohol addiction is a condition. Over-eating is just a temporary action. Anyone can overeat, whether obese, healthy weight or not. To classify the two together is just wrong.
If everybody was addicted to food, then 100% of us would be obese, so this is a naive assumption. The point I was making is that every excuse for not being able to lose weight is self-proclaimed - low metabolism, its addictive, its a drug... this is simply in the majority of cases not true. I have even heard that obesity is a disease. If so, then how long is it before 'lack of willpower' is classed as a disease?
What about my case then. I lost 9 Stone. And pretty much all it required was re forming my relationship with food into a healthier one. And yes you have no idea what you are talking about. If your relationship with food is healthy the whole way you think about it and incorporate it into your life is fundamentally different than someone with an eating disorder. And yes we are all addicted to food. Naturally and necessarily. If we weren't we would most probably starve or at least under eat. Sure we don't really label it as an "addiction" because most people control it and it's necessary to live. But you need to understand that human beings are by default dependent on food. And that this dependance can become a problem that is essentially identical to any other dependance that gets out of hand. Whether psychological of physical.
Your line of thinking is exactly the same as telling an Anorexic person "Just fugging eat more!" It's arrogant, assumptive and completely ignores the underlying issues. Same with comfort eating. It's like trying to treat an infected wound just by bandaging it up. Sure you might not be bleeding anymore, for a while. But unless you treat the underlying infection the problem is just going to come back. Probably worse.
I'm not saying that disordered eating is exactly the same thing as chemical dependance. But honestly the difference between them is more of a technicality. The symptomology, psychology, treatment and impact on peoples lives is highly similar if not identical. And the degree can be extremely severe. For some this disordered eating is mild and only results in a bit of chubbiness. While others literally never stop eating and get morbidly obese. Remember even fat burns calories. So as you get fatter you need more to get even fatter. In order to reach those truly huge dimensions you have to eat so much it almost makes me sick to think about how much I used to eat. I just can't imagine it now. So yeah I am a recovered comfort eater. And I can tell you if I compare Tobacco and Food. Of the two things I had to control in my life. Controlling food was waaaaaay harder. Giving up the cigarettes was trivial in comparison. And I smoked 20 a day.
So stop trivializing eating disorders because it just makes you look like an idiot especially to people who have gone through it and beaten it.
I dont trivialise it at all. I just like to be direct. I have been overweight myself but never denied that I was eating too much or was addicted, or that I have low metabolism... or any of the excuses brought up for lack of weight loss.
You have stated that you reformed relationship with food into a healthier one. That is exactly what I did. But the difference between you and me is that as you state in your beautiful bandaged wound analogy, being in denial of overeating is the root cause.
At the end of the day, you are assuming by my comments that I am referring to every single obese person on the planet. I am not, just those who would suggest something out of their control to blame, when in many cases, this is just completely irrelevant. Many people who claim food to be addictive may just do so for the sake of it, without being able to claim emotional eating (subjective claim anyway) as the root cause.
Being in denial of overeating is the root cause.
No actually for me. I lost a close family member very young and in a terrible way so much so that I repressed the memory until two years ago. Coupled with the fact that when I came to this country I faced racism and bigotry to the extent that it shattered my faith in humanity. Food became the only pillar that supported my existence. My next satisfying meal my only real reason for carrying on. I had to rebuild my life before I could remove food as my crutch. Removing all your support mechanisms is quite likely to end in simple suicide.
Don't assume you know anything about me. Or about anyone else who struggles with these issues. I am not a special snowflake. Everyone carries pain. And you trivialize the pain of others without having the first clue what they have gone or are going through. Every story is different and equating everyone's struggles with your own warped perceptions is nothing short of arrogance of the highest order. People are highly complicated. And the reasons we do things. Including overeating are too complex to be simply categorized as "oh they all must be living in denial" I won't deny that there are examples of that. But your blanket statements are just plain ignorant.
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Agree^Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Agreed. To compare drug addiction or Alcoholism to over eating, binge eating etc is well minimizing what true addicts actually have to go through to beat it.
When you steal, lose your job, sell your body and basically do whatever you have to do to get that next whopper you let me know...
When you actually get physical ill because you couldn't have that whole pizza let me know
When you become homeless because you spent all your money on KFC let me know
Otherwise no.
Yeah you can't compare food disorders with the kind of addiction brought about by such narcotics. But I wasn't trying to and I don't think the OP was either. Just because it is like an addiction and it can be quite severe doesn't mean it's severity matches that of the substances that cause behaviors like you mention. Very few people would do the stuff you describe for caffeine or tobacco. And yes no one has much trouble in acknowledging the addictive properties of those substances. You don't need to be heroine to be classified as "addictive".
But clearly people need to be actually insane with need before you lot would find it in your heart to be helpful and understanding. Eating disorders are a major problem. Yes it doesn't compare to heroine or crack addiction. But that doesn't trivialize it.
Cos I can tell you i responded to all your scornful arrogant types by trying and trying and trying. And in the end I never had any measurable success. In the end fixing my eating disorder made it easy. Just trying isn't the solution. But I do wonder why people are so resistant to the idea of obesity as a symptom rather than a cause. Personally I think it's because people who aren't obese like to sneer at people who are. They don't want to think that perhaps that person might have a problem. They want t think of their fellow human beings as just greedy pigs. Because it makes them feel superior.
I mean sure greedy self indulgent types exist. But if you really think that every or even most obese people are this type then you are deluded.
But that is exactly what the OP did...
Calling it an addiction is exactly that comparing it to other real addictions.
We all have issues and often use food to compensate but that doesn't make us "addicted" to food. It means we have found a coping mechanism that we are comfortable with.
Eating disorders are a mental issue not a physically addictive issue. Don't confuse the two.
Once you deal with the underlying mental issue often times the over and/or under eating is done.
As for doing things for coffee or the "smokes" sure I have. I have seen mothers give up buying milk and bread for their babies so they can have smokes. I've seen teenagers not buy lunch (with money from mom and dad) so that they can have their smokes...
I have seen people spend their last 5$ on a half a pack and a coffee...
But because these things are not as expensive as alcohol and drugs it typically doesn't reach the proportions as other addictive items, but for people without lots of money yup it does.
You cannot put food in a category where the actual substance is known to be "addictive" through science.
For me an addictive substance is one where regardless of who you are if you use that substance enough you will become so dependent on it that you have altered brain chemistry, physical cravings where you are actually ill if you don't get that substance...
Food does not fall into that category.
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Agree^Wrong answer.
Alcohol is a drug, so potentially addictive. A Burger King whopper is not a drug so saying it is an addiction is just living in denial.
Agreed. To compare drug addiction or Alcoholism to over eating, binge eating etc is well minimizing what true addicts actually have to go through to beat it.
When you steal, lose your job, sell your body and basically do whatever you have to do to get that next whopper you let me know...
When you actually get physical ill because you couldn't have that whole pizza let me know
When you become homeless because you spent all your money on KFC let me know
Otherwise no.
Yeah you can't compare food disorders with the kind of addiction brought about by such narcotics. But I wasn't trying to and I don't think the OP was either. Just because it is like an addiction and it can be quite severe doesn't mean it's severity matches that of the substances that cause behaviors like you mention. Very few people would do the stuff you describe for caffeine or tobacco. And yes no one has much trouble in acknowledging the addictive properties of those substances. You don't need to be heroine to be classified as "addictive".
But clearly people need to be actually insane with need before you lot would find it in your heart to be helpful and understanding. Eating disorders are a major problem. Yes it doesn't compare to heroine or crack addiction. But that doesn't trivialize it.
Cos I can tell you i responded to all your scornful arrogant types by trying and trying and trying. And in the end I never had any measurable success. In the end fixing my eating disorder made it easy. Just trying isn't the solution. But I do wonder why people are so resistant to the idea of obesity as a symptom rather than a cause. Personally I think it's because people who aren't obese like to sneer at people who are. They don't want to think that perhaps that person might have a problem. They want t think of their fellow human beings as just greedy pigs. Because it makes them feel superior.
I mean sure greedy self indulgent types exist. But if you really think that every or even most obese people are this type then you are deluded.
But that is exactly what the OP did...
Calling it an addiction is exactly that comparing it to other real addictions.
We all have issues and often use food to compensate but that doesn't make us "addicted" to food. It means we have found a coping mechanism that we are comfortable with.
Eating disorders are a mental issue not a physically addictive issue. Don't confuse the two.
Once you deal with the underlying mental issue often times the over and/or under eating is done.
As for doing things for coffee or the "smokes" sure I have. I have seen mothers give up buying milk and bread for their babies so they can have smokes. I've seen teenagers not buy lunch (with money from mom and dad) so that they can have their smokes...
I have seen people spend their last 5$ on a half a pack and a coffee...
But because these things are not as expensive as alcohol and drugs it typically doesn't reach the proportions as other addictive items, but for people without lots of money yup it does.
You cannot put food in a category where the actual substance is known to be "addictive" through science.
For me an addictive substance is one where regardless of who you are if you use that substance enough you will become so dependent on it that you have altered brain chemistry, physical cravings where you are actually ill if you don't get that substance...
Food does not fall into that category.
Your argument is weak.
Do you get ill if you don't get food ... Yes, In fact you die.
If food where too expensive would people do anything to obtain it ... Yes, and often they have. People have demonstrably killed, prostituted themselves and committed any amount of crime in order to get food in a situation where those actions are required. Hell people will very often eat each other before starving to death.
Do people make irrational monetary decision about food. Yes I've seen that quite a few times. A friend of mine gets pizza every night. And often has no money for gas, electricity, rent etc. If he just bought cheap food at the store he wouldn't get in such trouble.
As far as quoting science goes I already did say that they weren't technically the same thing. Or of the same severity as something like crack addiction. But as far as symptoms modality and treatment go it's pretty much the same.
Nor was tobacco or caffeine touted as an addiction beyond abuse. Simply that it is an addiction that is often controlled by many people. Who live with it successfully. As food is. Well it is and it isn't.
Technically it is not an addiction. But when you look at the treatment and symptoms of eating disorders and how it correlates to addictive substances. It really might as well be. All you are really doing is nit picking semantics.
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