Food addiction

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midpath
midpath Posts: 246 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Do you believe it's real? Why or why not?

I'm talking addiction in the sense that you can't control it and it hinders your life. Like beyond emotional eating.
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  • PumpJockeyy
    PumpJockeyy Posts: 98 Member
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    I suppose someone who is extremely overweight/morbidly obese would have this?
  • midpath
    midpath Posts: 246 Member
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    xaxmisc wrote: »
    I suppose someone who is extremely overweight/morbidly obese would have this?

    I don't know. I imagine skinny people could too if its real.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    I have serious trouble with white breads and pastas. If I have them, I want more. But more isn't enough. I'll want more after that. It will continue until I go to sleep. When I wake up, it's over.

    I have so much trouble with it that I just don't eat those things. Skipping them is a bazillion times easier than having some and going through all that.

    It would only affect my life in that I'd gain weight.

    If staying away from something because you have trouble with craving more of it whenever you have some meets someone's definition of "addiction" then I suppose so. I don't personally consider it a true addiction.

    True addiction, IMO, means quitting has some physical effect, some kind of uncomfortable withdrawal. Even caffeine, with it's painful withdrawal headaches would count as an addiction...a mild one, but it qualifies. My pasta issue doesn't.

    It seems to make more of it than it is, KWIM?

    IMO.
  • PumpJockeyy
    PumpJockeyy Posts: 98 Member
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    True addiction, IMO, means quitting has some physical effect, some kind of uncomfortable withdrawal. Even caffeine, with it's painful withdrawal headaches would count as an addiction...a mild one, but it qualifies. My pasta issue doesn't.

    This.

    Binge eating/lack of self control isn't "addiction".

  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
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    Of course food is addictive, you will die without it. But I assume you are really meaning that overeating is addictive?

    Overeating probably is mentally addictive for some people but not physically addictive. Your body stops desiring food when physical needs are met, any further desire is in your head.
  • distanthorizons
    distanthorizons Posts: 16 Member
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    Food is addictive because it is necessary. You don not eat you die. The descriptive connotation of labeling food as "addictive" puts nutrition in a negative light. In the realm of fitness, health, and performance nutritional intake is the first skill set that sets the path to awesome health and well being. Cultural norms, nutrition education, personal objectives construct our eating habits, patterns and objectives. What we have to do is change our perspectives if we are suffering from negative effects of our eating patterns.
  • jmule24
    jmule24 Posts: 1,404 Member
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    beemerphile1 wrote: »
    Of course food is addictive, you will die without it. But I assume you are really meaning that overeating is addictive?

    Overeating probably is mentally addictive for some people but not physically addictive. Your body stops desiring food when physical needs are met, any further desire is in your head.

    False logic..... Neccessity =/= addiction (Food)
  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,476 Member
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    I think my 470lb coworker has it. It's actually kind of scary how his eyes light up when he sees someone with food that he thinks there might be more of. If he sees free food then any thoughts about his weight loss go out the window instantly. If there's food, he HAS to have it. Honestly I think it's less about the food and more about greed.
  • midpath
    midpath Posts: 246 Member
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    yusaku02 wrote: »
    I think my 470lb coworker has it. It's actually kind of scary how his eyes light up when he sees someone with food that he thinks there might be more of. If he sees free food then any thoughts about his weight loss go out the window instantly. If there's food, he HAS to have it. Honestly I think it's less about the food and more about greed.

    For everyone or just him? Just clarifying.
  • jmule24
    jmule24 Posts: 1,404 Member
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    I personally do not believe food is addictive. I do believe that eating disorders are the main culprit to many weight related issues.....(obesity, underweight/malnurished, etc..)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I think there may be a relatively rare condition that could be called food addiction that is basically the kind of compulsive overeating that super-morbidly-obese people have, where you essentially eat way beyond enjoyment and it takes the place of other things in your life, you basically sacrifice your life to it.

    I suspect that the percentage of people on MFP who have anything like that is a fraction of a percent, so it doesn't seem particularly relevant to the discussions here.

    I also don't think it means you can be addicted to a particular kind of food.

    There are lots of other more common ways to feel uncontrollable about food, though, and it seems lately that lots of people want to call experiencing anything beyond perfectly reasoned and controlled feelings about food--or any desire to eat beyond their maintenance calories--to be addiction. To me that does violence to any reasonable definition of addiction.

    I don't mean the rather joking, lighthearted uses of addiction, as in "I'm addicted to this song, I can't stop playing it!"
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Yea, I don't think it's a thing really. Craving and wanting does not make addiction.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    I don't think it can be classified as physical addiction.

    I think the real issue is compulsive / conditioned behaviour which bears many similar features to addictive behaviour but is not actually the same.

    It's seems undoubtedly true that many people feel a tremendous sense of struggle, helplessness and lack of control however.
  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,476 Member
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    midpath wrote: »
    yusaku02 wrote: »
    I think my 470lb coworker has it. It's actually kind of scary how his eyes light up when he sees someone with food that he thinks there might be more of. If he sees free food then any thoughts about his weight loss go out the window instantly. If there's food, he HAS to have it. Honestly I think it's less about the food and more about greed.

    For everyone or just him? Just clarifying.
    For him.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Overeaters Anonymous

    I'm not part of the group but I believe that their program focuses on the redefining relationship with food
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    True addiction, IMO, means quitting has some physical effect, some kind of uncomfortable withdrawal. Even caffeine, with it's painful withdrawal headaches would count as an addiction...a mild one, but it qualifies. My pasta issue doesn't.

    It seems to make more of it than it is, KWIM?

    IMO.

    I think there are food addictions, but they are mild - similar to a coffe addiction... JMHO

    When I eat sugar (and by sugar I mean more than 1 or 2 grams at a time) I find that I felt badly a few hours hours after eating it and felt better again when I did, but only for a short time. When I say I felt bad, I meant I got tired, jittery, cranky and I started to think about eating more because I felt so hungry. I realize that some some of that is attributed to blood glucose issues; I do have mild insulin resistance so that will affect things.

    Insulin resistance does not explain how I feel after giving up sugar (down to about 5g per day) for a few days. I had a migraine, was very fatigued and my mood was horrible - I couldn't concentrate well and small irritants turned into large irritants. This was not because my BG was low. When I felt like that my BG was between 4.4 and 5.4. This morning my BG was just below a 4 (often considered a tad low) and I feel just fine.

    My physical symptoms of withdrawal were real. They were not psychosomatic symptoms. I went to sleep with the headache, I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, when I moved it made the headache worse. A real thing.

    On the other hand, when I gave up coffee while breastfeeding and pregnant, I had very mild discomfort - it wasn't a big deal for me. No addiction to coffee even though I was drinking a few cups a day prior to stopping.

    I believe that addictions do not hit populations evenly. Some have issues and some don't. Some people have problems with some substances that others will not. Coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes were not an issue for me. I find sugar is. IMO

    Just because someone hasn't experienced something does not mean it does not exist for others.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    IMO it's like gluten intolerance: it exists but almost everyone who claims to have it is mistaken.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    No, I don't believe in food addiction.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
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    Totally Real. Eve
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Yea, I don't think it's a thing really. Craving and wanting does not make addiction.

    Yeah, but - ever try to quit food? After a few days, the withdrawal symptoms are agony ..
  • _incogNEATo_
    _incogNEATo_ Posts: 4,543 Member
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    LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »
    IMO it's like gluten intolerance: it exists but almost everyone who claims to have it is mistaken.

    So eloquently spoken. I agree wholeheartedly.

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