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no sugar or flour, food addiction?

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  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,454 Member
    edited October 2021
    jennypapage wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    jennypapage wrote: »
    There's no such thing as food addiction as far as i am concerned. I don't know anyone who can't stop eating broccoli or beans or any vegetable. We just like sweet things. Our ancestors liked sweet things. Sugar gives us and our brains energy. So we have evolved to eat sugary things .It used to be fruits, now it's cookies and pastries. That being said, i don't have a problem moderating myself. I may eat a whole pack of cookies, or i may eat just 1 cookie. Every day is different. It depends on how i've slept, what else i've eaten, where i am in my monthly cycle hormonally,etc.
    I would not enjoy life if i had to completely cut off an entire group of products out of my life.

    Eating a whole pack of cookies and that is moderating yourself?

    Carry on.

    yes it is. There are packs that only have 6 cookies inside. If i have a cup a of milk, i can easily finish those 6 cookies in 5 minutes or less. So, if i have the calories ,and i have covered all my other needs for the day,and i feel like it, i may eat the whole pack. Just like i will eat a whole domino's pizza by myself. But other than that pizza i won't be eating anything else for the day. It's still a choice if i 'm willing to eat a whole pizza and nothing else, or half a pizza and a ''proper'' meal the rest of my day. I am not addicted to it. I can choose to eat or not eat it.
    For referance, i eat a domino's pizza about once every 3 months, and i think the last time i ate a whole pack of cookies was about 8 months ago.
    Right now I have about 6 packs of cookies in my pantry .They've been sitting there for close to 4 months. About once a month i open a pack and eat 4 cookies a day for 4 days. So to answer your question, yes it is moderating as far as i see it.

    Maybe a snowflake or 2 out the but I have never been around a normal weight adult and I've seen eat or they claim to eat whole pizzas at a sitting.

    Ever, not just as a "splurge". Seems like a train ticket to weight issues. Just my opinion, I'm sure others will have ones that differ.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,031 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Walkywalkerson wrote: »
    @ninerbuff
    Call it what you will.
    Disorder/ obsession / addiction.
    People that are morbidly obese need to be weaned off of highly processed carbs/ sugar/ fatty/ salty foods.
    Along with councilling for their 'disorder'
    I believe OP is actually in weight maintenance, gaining/losing the same 5 pounds, not morbidly obese, so very different scenario.

    There was a long thread in Debate about whether food addiction is real. This isn't that thread.

    Now that I'm a device that makes figuring it out easy: There have been lots of the bolded. If someone wants to debate the addiction question (vs. help OP), maybe go there.

    The most recent is probably this one:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10822150/why-is-food-addiction-so-controversial

    A few random other semi-similar past ones (the ones that ran longer):

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10388272/addiction-versus-dependence
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10226257/food-addiction-a-different-perspective
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10650107/fast-food-addiction-can-anyone-else-relate
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10371298/sugar-addiction-like-drug-abuse-study-reveals/p1
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10548746/sugar-addiction-myths

    Have fun.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    edited October 2021
    I ate an entire medium pizza LAST NIGHT. I am at a BMI of roughly 21. I could not have, ironically, done that when I was heavier. Now? Sure. (That was also the ONLY thing I ate yesterday, because it was a really, really, hectic day.)
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I don't know whether some people have food addiction. I suspect there's not physical addiction in the same sense as there would be to (for example) addictive narcotics, but there are certainly psychological dependencies, and sometimes cravings. People have associations with food, learned behaviors related to comfort and reward - it can be pretty complicated and fraught.

    Agree with this. People can definitely have individual foods they struggle to control for emotion reasons and perhaps a psychological addiction. I also think some can have what could be called an eating addiction, where just the process of eating (esp foods they like, but with bingers and such it can often be anything), where it's essentially a dysfunctional coping method or self medicating of sorts and at least somewhat like substance addictions.

    What I don't really believe is that people can be addicted to ingredients, like flour or sugar, or that they are likely to consistently react to every food with those ingredients (or containing starch or sugar, like a plain potato or every fruit) the same, and I certainly don't believe that people are addicted to macros on their own (like carbs or fat).

    I do think lots of tasty foods have a combination of macros and ingredients that appeal to various people, so they may well be foods people are drawn to overeat or have issues controlling (especially since the same foods are often high in calories per volume).
    I think this is my own personal weird thing, but I really, really don't like thinking of it in dramatic terms, myself. It doesn't help me. Mostly, it works better for me to think of it as a fun science-fair experiment, that I should keep working on, using some science and some hard-won self knowledge, until I get the outcome I want. YMMV.

    I feel the same.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I don't know whether some people have food addiction. I suspect there's not physical addiction in the same sense as there would be to (for example) addictive narcotics, but there are certainly psychological dependencies, and sometimes cravings. People have associations with food, learned behaviors related to comfort and reward - it can be pretty complicated and fraught.

    Agree with this. People can definitely have individual foods they struggle to control for emotion reasons and perhaps a psychological addiction. I also think some can have what could be called an eating addiction, where just the process of eating (esp foods they like, but with bingers and such it can often be anything), where it's essentially a dysfunctional coping method or self medicating of sorts and at least somewhat like substance addictions.

    What I don't really believe is that people can be addicted to ingredients, like flour or sugar, or that they are likely to consistently react to every food with those ingredients (or containing starch or sugar, like a plain potato or every fruit) the same, and I certainly don't believe that people are addicted to macros on their own (like carbs or fat).

    I do think lots of tasty foods have a combination of macros and ingredients that appeal to various people, so they may well be foods people are drawn to overeat or have issues controlling (especially since the same foods are often high in calories per volume).
    I think this is my own personal weird thing, but I really, really don't like thinking of it in dramatic terms, myself. It doesn't help me. Mostly, it works better for me to think of it as a fun science-fair experiment, that I should keep working on, using some science and some hard-won self knowledge, until I get the outcome I want. YMMV.

    I feel the same.

    I can overeat things like roasted salted pepitas and roasted dry edamame, which only contain the nut/bean and salt. In my case I know it's the salt + crunch that makes me want to eat more, so do have to be cautious when I eat things like this. However, I would never just eat salt by itself. I also think the act of crunching/chewing hard things in and of itself can be a stress reliever...although unfortunately I wouldn't get the same satisfaction out of eating celery or even an apple (which I love, but don't overeat).
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
    I *have* eaten salt by itself due to cravings. Straight table salt. Pour in hand, toss in mouth. Repeat erratically through day.

    However, I should say that:.
    a-.) my BP .tends. .to be low
    and
    b-) my diet overall tends toward pretty low sodium.

    Sugar eaten that way though? No. No way.
  • Speakeasy76
    Speakeasy76 Posts: 961 Member
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    I *have* eaten salt by itself due to cravings. Straight table salt. Pour in hand, toss in mouth. Repeat erratically through day.

    However, I should say that:.
    a-.) my BP .tends. .to be low
    and
    b-) my diet overall tends toward pretty low sodium.

    Sugar eaten that way though? No. No way.

    Now that you mention your BP being low, mine tends to run low, too. Never made that correlation until now.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
    wunderkindking wrote: »
    I *have* eaten salt by itself due to cravings. Straight table salt. Pour in hand, toss in mouth. Repeat erratically through day.

    However, I should say that:.
    a-.) my BP .tends. .to be low
    and
    b-) my diet overall tends toward pretty low sodium.

    Sugar eaten that way though? No. No way.

    Ditto to the salt and low blood pressure, although my salt of choice was grey coarse and I nibbled at it.

    I felt it was a bad habit (but not an addiction) and gave it up several Lents back and have not picked it back up.

    When it comes to sugar though, I want fat with it.

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