Food Addiction??

Ooooh, I know where you're coming from! I am a true foodie. And I married a foodie, which makes it double bad! We always try to outdo each other for deliciousness...

I torture myself sometimes... thinking of all the good stuff I want. And someday, I know I will be able to eat it in moderation. Once in a while.

And I tell myself that I'll be happy with that too... Someday, I might believe it....

I can relate to you. I'm not sure but I would assume that is quite common among women. We feed ourselves, our children, or boyfriends, husbands etc... It's something some of us enjoy doing but get bored of the same ol, same ol. Sounds kinda like it's taken over for you. I know for me it's always in the back of mind...but that's kinda normal. Being concious and aware of what you will eat is a good thing. Right? Maybe make sure your taking care of yourself in other ways. Reading, shopping, spa whatever it is that makes you feels spoiled. Be easy on yourself. oxox

Oops, I posted the same thing twice, so now I am just going to write nonsense here! LOL

Hi Wolfena,

I can totally relate to your post, I've gone through, and continue to go through, the food addiction spiral. Actually, the food network is on my TV right now !!

I believe this "mental & physical" addiction to food is the missing link to many peoples weight loss success. By missing link, I mean that it needs to be recognized and discussed.

I don't have an answer to the issue, but heres what I did with my "never ending voice". First, I wrote down my overwhelmingly favorite foods. The ones I felt addicted to. On my first list I wasn't honest with myself. On the about the 3rd list, I got it closer to reality.

Then I made a note of when I ate or drank these foods most often. Afternoon ? Evening? with friends? When I was alone because no one knew about them? When I felt lonely ? The exercise was my attempt at trying to make my self aware of what I was doing.

Anyway, at first, I tried all the market substitutes for my favor cravings. Months later I realized that they did not work. I was still craving favorites and the "phonies" lead to the REAL thing more often than not.

Plan B - i eliminated the top item from my list. No substitutes, no small bites, none. This high sugar item was not easy to quit ... headaches, cramps, huge desire .. but my husband help me preserve through it. Ten days later I was over it and have never gone back.

Yah !! me .... I felt so free. All those self destructive, constant words in my head were less loud. Mark one up for me. During this time I had other foods that I liked lots but never over did anything. This allowed me to focus on quitting one thing at a time.

The best part .... with the one high sugar item gone, all the others became less appealing, at least not so overwhelming. That one item that I had daily, was keeping the spiral moving down the drain.

I watch the food network and search new recipes all the time. I'm turing my negative passion for food into a positive thing by cooking all kinds of different TASTY things. The real, fresh taste and the loving preparation time that I devote to my food is very therapeutic for me.

I know i am rambling on but ... maybe with our fast lives and the fast food thrown in the oven from the freezer ... that is why we don't know how to cultivate a proper relationship with food.

Shopping at a fresh food market ... washing the produce..... peeling ..... chopping ..... cooking ..... seasoning, .... serving it on a pretty plate .... and the TV off .... and sitting down at the dining table ..... with people ..... is all part of the eating experience.

If we simply drive thru or microwave conveince foods and eat, which only takes minutes, then we are not experiencing the full effect of a meal. Perhaps thats why we need to eat more and more to feel satisfied.

I'm in the same boat as you. I'll be thinking of my next meal while I'm still eating breakfast. FOOD!!
Even at the Gym someone always has the food channel on! A big pet peeve of mine.

I am the same way, a foodie and I HATE IT! I can think about food all of the time. My brother is an revcovering alcoholic and the things he goes through are so similar to what I go through when I am dieting. It sucks

I agree. I fully believe that I' m a food addict. The fact that I've managed over the last year, at least most of the time, to control the binging, emotional and over eating doesn't change that. I've just substituted another form of compulsion. I'm on this site all the time, I think about what I'm going to eat and when I can next eat, I talk about my diet and exercise routine to anyone who will listen. (thank goodness for this site or I'd have no friends left :laugh: ) I watch the Food Network while I'm on the treadmill--can't tell you how funny people at the gym find that :ohwell:

I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to wean myself away from the constant focus on food. However, if I have to choose between overeating and binging and what I'm doing now, I'll take now. It's still not 100% healthy but at least these habits won't kill me.

Addiction or Obsession .. either way I've got it.

I've had more success in my weight loss efforts when I FOCUS on food and pay attention to what I am going to cook, eat, take to work for lunch and so on ... then when I have tried to fight it and ignore it. when I fight it, I get too hungry & then over eat. Food is not the same as alcohol addiction so don't treat it that way ... you can completely quit the alcohol, but you must continue to feed yourself.

I am totally the same way! I think about food constantly! I mean ALL day. I think about what I'm going to eat, what I'm going to buy at the grocery store, I watch all the food-shows. I obsessively search recipes online. I can be on Epicureous.com for hours. I know the calorie content of basically every single food on the planet. I look forward to eating like someone would look forward to a vacation. I get disspointed when its over. It really takes a lot of energy to think about food all the time and I wish I could be normal- this is exhausting. My husband thinks I'm weird- he never craves certain foods and barely thinks about food at all. He just eats when he is hungry and stops when he is full. The problem with food addiction is that there is no possible way to practice "abstinence". You need food to survive. An alchoholic can put down the liquor and never touch it again and wouldn't die. We have to eat everyday otherwise we will die. We are constantly giving ourselves the thing that we are addicted to- over and over again each day. Imagine if a herion addict had to do that? Imagine trying to have "a healthy relationship with heroin and having to use a bit of it every day??!!"

you're preachin' to the choir, girlfriend.

It's not an addiction - it's an obsession. There's a difference.

The remedy: find a new obsession to replace it, or at least to drown it out in your mind. Hopefully, it will be something productive, perhaps conducive to weight loss (e.g. exercise), perhaps helpful in some other way.

One thing you might think about: being on MFP all the time probably doesn't help you to stop thinking about food. Just a thought.

sorry, but this is awful advice.

for people who suffer from ANY form of addiction, whether it be food, drugs, alcohol etc. the worst thing you can possibly to is transfer your addiction. one of the first things they teach on the way to recovery is to find a way to cope that is non- addictive and non- habit forming.

if you transfer your addiction to exercise, it can also have adverse effects and cause you tobe come bulimic, anorexic and/ or severely underweight.

the best solution (that i have found) is to seek out a safe, non-threatening way to cope with everyday stresses. if a walk is a good way for you, then fantastic, so long as it doesn't become a way for you to exercsie that element of self-destruction and control that comes with the food addiction.

it's hard for people who don't suffer from it to fully understand, but there are plenty of us that do.... i'm so glad you had the courage to ask. if coming onto MFP is a way for you to cope, reflect, vent, seek advice and generally commisserate with other who suffer the same thing, then i think it is fantastic that you are here.

yeah i completely agree with you. very well said.

It's not an addiction - it's an obsession. There's a difference.

The remedy: find a new obsession to replace it, or at least to drown it out in your mind. Hopefully, it will be something productive, perhaps conducive to weight loss (e.g. exercise), perhaps helpful in some other way.

One thing you might think about: being on MFP all the time probably doesn't help you to stop thinking about food. Just a thought.

sorry, but this is awful advice.

for people who suffer from ANY form of addiction, whether it be food, drugs, alcohol etc. the worst thing you can possibly to is transfer your addiction. one of the first things they teach on the way to recovery is to find a way to cope that is non- addictive and non- habit forming.

if you transfer your addiction to exercise, it can also have adverse effects and cause you tobe come bulimic, anorexic and/ or severely underweight.

the best solution (that i have found) is to seek out a safe, non-threatening way to cope with everyday stresses. if a walk is a good way for you, then fantastic, so long as it doesn't become a way for you to exercsie that element of self-destruction and control that comes with the food addiction.

it's hard for people who don't suffer from it to fully understand, but there are plenty of us that do.... i'm so glad you had the courage to ask. if coming onto MFP is a way for you to cope, reflect, vent, seek advice and generally commisserate with other who suffer the same thing, then i think it is fantastic that you are here.

Please note: a central assumption in my argument is that food IS NOT addictive. Food is too broad a category to be addictive. Perhaps certain molecules in certain foods are addictive. But not food itself. It can be a subject of obsessive thinking, and the action of overeating can be a destructive habit.

It's common for psychiatric patients with obsessions to go through a process of training themselves to think about or do something else when they are afflicted with obsessive thoughts, or when they catch themselves with a strong desire to engage in a destructive habit.

At the extreme, someone might have OCD about food. The term "OCD" is also grossly misused. It DOES NOT mean obsessive thinking AND compulsive behavior. The patient feels convinced that if they do not respond to the obsessive thoughts in a certain way, that something bad will happen. No one said they had OCD about food, and I suspect that few of us do. But just to consider the treatment and why "transferrence" is not bad even for this extreme case, some doctors would treat OCD by denying you the opportunity to react as you feel you must until you realize that no, nothing bad will happen. Again, the point is to train the mind that the body can respond differently to the mental stimuli, until you break the circuit that triggers the destructive response.

So I stand by my case that changing the way we react to an obsessive train of thought, call it what you will, is NOT bad. As for the alternative behaviors, if you decide to run or go to a fitness class instead of obsessing about food and/or overeating, it can only serve you well. Not everybody is so extreme in ALL of their behaviors that their substitute activity would become as overwhelming. And exercise is just one possibility. What's wrong with knitting? solving a sudoku or a crossword? reading short stories? All of these things can be habit forming. And not destructive unless they make you feel worse than the behavior you're trying to stop.

But deliberately obsessing about food probably won't help you to break the circuit between obsessive thoughts and destructive actions unless you can identify a constructive response to your obsession! For instance, go to culinary school! (Often the people who spend the most time preparing food are the least compulsive about eating it.) Otherwise, you may be better served by finding another hobby.

Two cents from a "recovered" addict....

I used to think about food all the time - think about dessert while having dinner - think about the popcorn at the movie theatre - think about ice cream as I would drive past Dairy Queen....

I used to wake up in the morning remembering what I ate right before bed... feel quilty over it... and then try and find some comfort food for breakfast...

It just doesn't happen anymore. I plan my meals, enjoy them, and get on with life. I never sit down in front of the tv anymore with food. I used to curl up on the couch with a movie and ice cream - I still do that, just without the ice cream.

So what changed?

I think what changed was my realizing that the food cannot truly comfort me, and never will (I mean how long does a chocoalte chip cookie last? 30 seconds?). I really had to make the connection that the food could never be comforting enough, because I could not eat enough to satisfy what I needed - I know it sounds cliched, but I talk things out with my friends, confide in my husband, journal, or take a bath to de-stress. I try and really face 'why' I was thinking that I needed to eat - what was I trying to accomplish? satisfy? comfort? mask?

Tonight I had dinner out with two good friends - and the dessert menus rolled around. I didn't even bother, because why would I order dessert? I was satisfied from my pecan crusted halibut. So why order dessert? I figured I wanted it to prolong the dinner; to prolong the time with my friends. So I recognized that, and we just chatted for another hour over tea. Sans dessert.

When I want to eat outside of meal time, or have a desire for "comfort food" I really try and ask myself why it is I am wanting this, and I can usually uncover something (my Mom was condescending, I am stressed at work, the kids were leaving my frazzled, etc). I know it sounds corny, but is has immensely improved my relationships as well, and my general level of happiness (although I'm always a pretty upbeat person). Why did I have this strange relationship with food? I've finally figured it out (or so I think - as a death in the family over Christmas brought back some stress eating - it's always a balancing act of awareness and action).

I hope this helps someone.... it's just my experience....
:flowerforyou:

Thank you for you post. I have been suffering from binge eating for almost 2 years now. I exercise regularly so have managed to only put on 10 pounds. (I'd hate to see what it would be if I didn't exercise!) Still, on a 5'3 frame, I hate what I see in the mirror. I have fat where I never had it before all due to bingeing on junk food. I do good for about a week and then binge for 1-3 days. I hate it! I hate how I feel after stuffing my face and the guilt I have when I go to bed. Then the resolve to do better the next morning. I still haven't quite figured out why I do it though, so it's really frustrating. I just want to eat normal again and quit worrying about food and weight 24/7. I know it's possible, I've seen others do it. But it is not easy. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one and that there is hope.