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Food Addiction - A Different Perspective
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions
Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
Many people who claim an addiction have a certain mindset. They feel powerless. Sometimes what the person needs to do is realize that this is not the case; they do have power over what goes into their mouth. But they have to be willing to put in the effort to regain that control. It's not true for everyone, but sometimes taking that initial ownership can be a step in the right direction.
Responses like this sound more like addiction than anything else I read in these type of threads. Because what you are describing is exactly the process most addicts take for recovery.
Right, but realizing they aren't actually addicted could help them take control. They aren't powerless, they aren't addicted. Most people starting posts about being addicted to whatever are using it as an excuse. Helping them understand it's not actually an addiction can be a step in learning control.1 -
Great post. Thank you.0
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I really like the emphasis you put on the fact the food itself is not addictive, and I think that's what many people who comment on threads like this don't understand. Simply, food is acting on the same neural pathways as drugs, sex, and all other pleasurable things in our lives, because of habits formed in life. thanks for this post!
Yes.
Really good and interesting post that makes a lot of sense to me.0 -
You hkshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
You had support. Some people aren't that lucky to have people to call out you aren't powerless.0 -
I worded that bad. Sorryjoaniee2003 wrote: »You hkshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
You had support. Some people aren't that lucky to have people to call out you aren't powerless.
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vivmom2014 wrote: »You're not naughty when you have sweets or cheese or anything like that, okay?
This is so empowering, and so many of my friends (women over 50) refuse to separate from this flawed thinking.
Thanks for the post; lots of good information.
Thank you! You don't know how long it took me to get my mother's voice out of my head every time I ate cheese or a cookie I'm over 50 myself, so yes! I know how it is.
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
Many people who claim an addiction have a certain mindset. They feel powerless. Sometimes what the person needs to do is realize that this is not the case; they do have power over what goes into their mouth. But they have to be willing to put in the effort to regain that control. It's not true for everyone, but sometimes taking that initial ownership can be a step in the right direction.
Responses like this sound more like addiction than anything else I read in these type of threads. Because what you are describing is exactly the process most addicts take for recovery.
Right, but realizing they aren't actually addicted could help them take control. They aren't powerless, they aren't addicted. Most people starting posts about being addicted to whatever are using it as an excuse. Helping them understand it's not actually an addiction can be a step in learning control.
It could help them take control, or it could simply anger them enough that go eat another box of Twinkies. You are correct that they aren't powerless, but addicts aren't powerless either.
And I don't believe most people are making an excuse. I think only about half even really think it's an addiction and I think most are simply looking advice from others who felt the same way and got out from under the feeling.0 -
Well said, OP.0
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joaniee2003 wrote: »You hkshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
You had support. Some people aren't that lucky to have people to call out you aren't powerless.
I don't understand
It isn't about support
It's about self-realisation.
And the people who helped me turn myself around were MFP posters who constantly addressed comments and questions with rational, hard-hitting responses and science.
How have I had more support than others?0 -
@PeachyCarol
Exactly. Giving the food that kind of power is just silly. And yet, overcoming all that old useless conditioning is tough. My mom used to hide the Toll House cookies and to this day, I gotta wonder about that. What kind of message did that send? I'll tell you: find the cookies when she's not looking and shovel in as many as possible!!0 -
PeachyCarol wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Great post. So many people seem to jump from I'm addicted to x, so I must cut x completely from my diet. So much of weight loss is mental, and understanding cravings, where they come from, and how to include moderation as a tool is such a huge step.
My understanding of the OP's last paragraph is that she did cut x completely from her diet for a period. Is that not what "time away from the foods" meant?
Yes, but I am ultimately saying that it was part of undoing bad thinking on my part. If I had moderated in the first place, I would not have been caught in the cycle of overindulging on "naughty" food then feeling shame, then restricting.
I moderate now, and it's possible to get past what one considers to be addictive behavior with healthier behavior.
Okay, thanks. That's how I understood it.1 -
Great post and thank you, Carol.
Not surprised by some of the comments.
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kshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
Sure, if someone said "I'm never going to lose weight because of my sugar addiction" that would be one thing. But more often what they are looking for is help with what they see as an addiction. So for that, the info in the OP would be useful, but a confrontation not so much.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Great post. So many people seem to jump from I'm addicted to x, so I must cut x completely from my diet. So much of weight loss is mental, and understanding cravings, where they come from, and how to include moderation as a tool is such a huge step.
My understanding of the OP's last paragraph is that she did cut x completely from her diet for a period. Is that not what "time away from the foods" meant?
I think she's talking about the people that say "oh, i'm addicted to sugar and will never have sweets ever again!". If you identify a trigger food that you have trouble stopping eating, it is helpful for some people to avoid that food until they can reestablish good eating habits and a better relationship with food. But just saying you'll never eat cake again because it makes you eat more isn't the best route to take. That doesn't actually fix anything because if you just accept that you can never learn to control how much you eat, you'll never stay at your goal. But saying "i know if i start eating this i'll keep going, so i'm going wait a few months before having any" is a much healthier mindset. You give yourself time to retrain your brain and body to what proper portions are, and then you can add foods back in later.
Yes, this.
For example, I'm someone who will suggest taking time away from trigger foods as something that can help. It was something I thought would help me (sweets in general, not trigger foods), because I knew I had some bad habits built around those foods--specifically, misusing them for emotional purposes, but also eating when bored, eating throughout the day, and cutting them out made it easier to break those habits. I reintroduced them after only a few weeks (although I did it again later, when I thought I was falling back into old habits), but this time I kept two main restrictions: no unplanned snacking, and no eating to self-comfort.
I have specific reasons based on my particular struggles that explain why I thought cutting them out would help, and that explain two rules above.
One thing I try to do when the addiction thing comes up (not always successfully) is point out that the reasons for feeling out of control tend to be specific to the person and her habits, and that to successfully change that and break the habits one needs to be somewhat thoughtful about what's actually going on, what role is the food serving in your life, how are you eating in general (i.e., some foods might be causing an unhelpful physical response if eaten in a way that will cause blood sugar spikes, especially if one is prone to that), do you have a nutritious, calorie-appropriate diet (eating too little may cause cravings and binges), do you get enough sleep (being tired tends to make me feel out of control around some foods), etc.
If you just blame the food or claim it has power over you, you avoid focusing on what actually will help in many cases.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
Sure, if someone said "I'm never going to lose weight because of my sugar addiction" that would be one thing. But more often what they are looking for is help with what they see as an addiction. So for that, the info in the OP would be useful, but a confrontation not so much.
Again I disagree
Confronting your own failings makes you stronger1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
Sure, if someone said "I'm never going to lose weight because of my sugar addiction" that would be one thing. But more often what they are looking for is help with what they see as an addiction. So for that, the info in the OP would be useful, but a confrontation not so much.
Okay, since there's no confrontation happening here, please stop bringing up what happens in other threads of this nature.
Thank you.
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Great post. So many people seem to jump from I'm addicted to x, so I must cut x completely from my diet. So much of weight loss is mental, and understanding cravings, where they come from, and how to include moderation as a tool is such a huge step.
My understanding of the OP's last paragraph is that she did cut x completely from her diet for a period. Is that not what "time away from the foods" meant?
I think she's talking about the people that say "oh, i'm addicted to sugar and will never have sweets ever again!". If you identify a trigger food that you have trouble stopping eating, it is helpful for some people to avoid that food until they can reestablish good eating habits and a better relationship with food. But just saying you'll never eat cake again because it makes you eat more isn't the best route to take. That doesn't actually fix anything because if you just accept that you can never learn to control how much you eat, you'll never stay at your goal. But saying "i know if i start eating this i'll keep going, so i'm going wait a few months before having any" is a much healthier mindset. You give yourself time to retrain your brain and body to what proper portions are, and then you can add foods back in later.
Yes, this.
For example, I'm someone who will suggest taking time away from trigger foods as something that can help. It was something I thought would help me (sweets in general, not trigger foods), because I knew I had some bad habits built around those foods--specifically, misusing them for emotional purposes, but also eating when bored, eating throughout the day, and cutting them out made it easier to break those habits. I reintroduced them after only a few weeks (although I did it again later, when I thought I was falling back into old habits), but this time I kept two main restrictions: no unplanned snacking, and no eating to self-comfort.
I have specific reasons based on my particular struggles that explain why I thought cutting them out would help, and that explain two rules above.
One thing I try to do when the addiction thing comes up (not always successfully) is point out that the reasons for feeling out of control tend to be specific to the person and her habits, and that to successfully change that and break the habits one needs to be somewhat thoughtful about what's actually going on, what role is the food serving in your life, how are you eating in general (i.e., some foods might be causing an unhelpful physical response if eaten in a way that will cause blood sugar spikes, especially if one is prone to that), do you have a nutritious, calorie-appropriate diet (eating too little may cause cravings and binges), do you get enough sleep (being tired tends to make me feel out of control around some foods), etc.
If you just blame the food or claim it has power over you, you avoid focusing on what actually will help in many cases.
Exactly. I think blaming the food rather than the behavior is the root of the problem, and the purpose of my post was to show that the research is actually backing this up in that the issue is a behavioral one, not one related to the substance.
The arguments over whether the foods are or aren't addictive obscure any help from being had around here and it's gotten silly. Whether it's addiction or simply just a problem doesn't ultimately matter for the purposes of what I'm trying to do with this post.
I'm hoping to show that there's hope with behavior modification strategies for people who feel they struggle with this type of thing.
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kshama2001 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »My position is that whether or not a person is actually addicted is not especially relevant. What's important is how are they going to manage their relationship with that food. If they feel that they are addicted, something's not working, and something needs to change. That change may take different forms depending on the person and where they are in their journey. There were several good examples in the OP:The second thing to do might be to look a little further to see if there's a reason the cycle of behavior became entrenched in the first place. Were you eating in response to emotional/mood triggers and then feeling remorse after indulging? Did you find yourself eating because you were stressed or mildly depressed (serious depression should be handled professionally), or bored?
Well, if you keep digging for answers, that's the first step to finding solutions Exercise is a great stress reliever and good for a case of feeling down. Some people like meditative hobbies like coloring or knitting helpful or woodworking... or actual meditation. Pampering activities like long showers or luxurious baths are good for both stress and mild cases of the blues. Replace the bad habit you've formed with food with a new habit in response to your emotional catalyst.
I'll share my personal experience. What worked for me might not work for you. If you have an extreme case, you might need something like cognitive behavioral therapy.
Personally, I just needed time. Time away from the foods I had trouble with and time to reframe my thinking. Once my head was on straight, and I stopped feeling guilt surrounding my consumption of food, I was ready to eat what used to be problematic food (ice cream, brownies, cheese) again. I no longer consider myself "addicted" and I can eat these things in moderation. I also incorporated exercise into my life and find it's an excellent stress reliever!
When a person posts that they are addicted and need help, giving information like in the OP is useful, while saying "No you're not" is not.
I disagree with this actually...I think when someone has the guts to confront a person laden down with excuses they help to fix them. When a number of people do, then that person may well stop and re-evaluate whether their reasons for being overweight are actually excuses.
I firmly believe that when people hide behind excuses they choose not to do something about it, because their weight problem is external, something they have no control over. A victim mentality is no basis to fix your life from...to me it's an emotional difference..
People are fat because they CHOOSE to eat too much and move too little
I was fat because I chose to eat too much and move too little
So are you and everybody on this website whose objective is to lose weight
I had a myriad of valid reasons...they turned out to be excuses, I turned out to have been too unmotivated or weak to deal with them...until I wasn't , until I took control ...part of taking control was people pointing out to me that I was in control...every valid reason was actually an excuse...and the only person those excuses affected was me.
Sure, if someone said "I'm never going to lose weight because of my sugar addiction" that would be one thing. But more often what they are looking for is help with what they see as an addiction. So for that, the info in the OP would be useful, but a confrontation not so much.
Again I disagree
Confronting your own failings makes you stronger
It's also part of the truth-telling to yourself you need to do to modify your behavior.
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Great post. So many people seem to jump from I'm addicted to x, so I must cut x completely from my diet. So much of weight loss is mental, and understanding cravings, where they come from, and how to include moderation as a tool is such a huge step.
My understanding of the OP's last paragraph is that she did cut x completely from her diet for a period. Is that not what "time away from the foods" meant?
I think she's talking about the people that say "oh, i'm addicted to sugar and will never have sweets ever again!". If you identify a trigger food that you have trouble stopping eating, it is helpful for some people to avoid that food until they can reestablish good eating habits and a better relationship with food. But just saying you'll never eat cake again because it makes you eat more isn't the best route to take. That doesn't actually fix anything because if you just accept that you can never learn to control how much you eat, you'll never stay at your goal. But saying "i know if i start eating this i'll keep going, so i'm going wait a few months before having any" is a much healthier mindset. You give yourself time to retrain your brain and body to what proper portions are, and then you can add foods back in later.
Yes, this.
For example, I'm someone who will suggest taking time away from trigger foods as something that can help. It was something I thought would help me (sweets in general, not trigger foods), because I knew I had some bad habits built around those foods--specifically, misusing them for emotional purposes, but also eating when bored, eating throughout the day, and cutting them out made it easier to break those habits. I reintroduced them after only a few weeks (although I did it again later, when I thought I was falling back into old habits), but this time I kept two main restrictions: no unplanned snacking, and no eating to self-comfort.
I have specific reasons based on my particular struggles that explain why I thought cutting them out would help, and that explain two rules above.
One thing I try to do when the addiction thing comes up (not always successfully) is point out that the reasons for feeling out of control tend to be specific to the person and her habits, and that to successfully change that and break the habits one needs to be somewhat thoughtful about what's actually going on, what role is the food serving in your life, how are you eating in general (i.e., some foods might be causing an unhelpful physical response if eaten in a way that will cause blood sugar spikes, especially if one is prone to that), do you have a nutritious, calorie-appropriate diet (eating too little may cause cravings and binges), do you get enough sleep (being tired tends to make me feel out of control around some foods), etc.
If you just blame the food or claim it has power over you, you avoid focusing on what actually will help in many cases.
Thing is, there are some people that have to remove trigger foods completely for a while, sometimes for a long while. But not everyone has too. I never believed I was addicted to any foods, but I knew that when it came to snacking, I would eat junk food out of habit. As in, start with a bag and realize I've finished off four servings an hour later and didn't realize it! But I didn't have to remove foods except for not having them in the house. My inherent laziness doesn't like getting back out at night, so cravings for chips or cookies were easier to ignore since they weren't in the house at all and I didn't feel like driving to the gas station to get a small pack. I still eat those foods, but I still don't keep them in the house! For me, just having them out of immediate reach was enough, but I realize there are some people that won't work for. Habit can be a hell of thing to break out off, especially if it's a habit with an emotional prompt, and if removing a trigger food from the scene entirely until new habits are formed will help, then that's what needs to be done for someone.2 -
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