Food Addiction/ Overeating and Bingeing?

I have really big problems limiting myself with food. Anyone else have this issue? I don't mean that extra piece of pizza or cake you shouldn't have. I mean serious overeating. I'm like a bulimic but I don't purge, just binge. At times I can eat thousands and thousands of calories in a binge. I feel like I next to never get full. I have eaten so much at times that I have gained 2-5 pounds in a week. I constantly fight this behavior but it is a serious as an alcoholism or drug addiction, I swear. I binged really, really bad today...I'm embarrassed at how much I ate and I am ruining my last year's successful 45 pound weight loss. I don't do this every day or even every week. I am successful at fighting it maybe 75% of the time but the other 25% of the time it beats me. Anyone else that has this issue, add me as a friend or post here. We need support!

It's not the food that's addicting. Its the sugar and the carbs (and yes even the whole grains). I believe that alcoholism is actually a severe carbohydrate addiction. What happens when those people stop drinking? They develop a "sweet tooth". (Carbs travel the same brain pathways as opiate drugs and grains contain "exorphins" which are morphine-like compounds).

The feeling of fullness is just a signal your brain gets from leptin. Leptin is released from your adipose tissue. Eating carbohydrates do not make your fat tissue release the leptin. So you will eat and eat and eat the carbs and not feel full (I would eat until my stomach was bloated up and painful - and would still want to keep eating).

But this is just my beliefs (from my last year and a half of reading and research). Not everyone believes this.
I'm actually a fat-burner now. My body wants nothing to do with carbs (all non-fiber carbs convert to glucose - except fructose which goes straight to the liver and is converted to fat).

And a lot of the weight from those binges is water weight. Carbs also cause the body to retain sodium and to balance that out it will retain water.
[/quote

I THINK THIS IS MY PROBLEM TOO, i CAN DO REALLY WELL DURING PHASE 1 OF THE SOUTH BEACH DIET AND THEN ONCE ITS TIME TO RE-INSTRODUCE CARBS IM LIKE RAVONOUS AND IF ITS NEAR THAT TIME OF THE MONTH ITS SO MUCH WORSE...... I GUESS I NEED TO PUT MY MIND TO IT MORE THAN EVER. ITS VERY HARD

There are generally 2 reasons why a person will feel the need to binge...

1. They are out of control in another aspect of life, and focusing on food and "feel good" chemicals that generate from said food help one avoid facing the issues that are out of control. It's why freshman put on the frosh 15, why new moms often gain weight, etc. Stressors cause urges, urges cause binges, binges cause stressors, and it just continues.

2. Physical needs. Sometimes, we start craving because the diet we are utilizing is not providing us enough nutrients. For example... Studies show that when a person craves chocolate, a "high sugar" fruit oftentimes satisfies the same craving. It's often not so much about the food itself, but what our bodies know that food has in it. So...
Craving candy? Probably need sugar... reach for apples, peaches, grapes, strawberries
Craving salt? have some salted nuts, sunflowers seeds, or as someone said, a dash in the palm
Meat? Odds are your iron is low. Have some meat!

The one thing I did see on this thread, though, that I wanted to point out is... "It's hard to avoid junk foods when you have kids" My response to that is, stop making excuses. You are the person that buys the food in your house. Junk food is no healthier for your kids than it is for you. If you can't resist the temptation of poptarts, don't buy poptarts! For a long time in my house growing up, we were not allowed stuff like that, no sugar cereals, no ready to eat potato chips, nothing, unless it was a birthday or a special dinner. If we wanted something like candy, we had to ride our bikes to Walgreens to buy it with our allowance.

My point is, you have to figure out if you are craving emotionally or physically. An eating disorder therapist can help with this A LOT.

Remember...
You don't have to never eat to be anorexic. Many anorexics eat 800-1000 a day
You don't have to throw up to be bulimic. Purging includes excessive exercise, laxatives, and eating specific foods or substances you know will make you have a BM for the express purpose of losing weight (and other types of course)
You should not have to feel like you need to sneak around to eat.
Food should not make you feel guilty.
Even fat people need to fuel their bodies to function. Not eating will not solve the problem.
There are lots of people out there with ED. Enough for a specialization in counseling. Take advantage of your resources!

Lastly, count the positives, not the negatives. Think about your binges in the past. If you used to binge daily, 1-2 times a week is wonderful! Take it into perspective. Just like you can't lose weight overnight, you can't re-wire your relationship with food with the snap of a finger. One step at a time.

I joined this group here on MFP:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/726-binge-eating-support-group

Great group.

There are generally 2 reasons why a person will feel the need to binge...

1. They are out of control in another aspect of life, and focusing on food and "feel good" chemicals that generate from said food help one avoid facing the issues that are out of control. It's why freshman put on the frosh 15, why new moms often gain weight, etc. Stressors cause urges, urges cause binges, binges cause stressors, and it just continues.

2. Physical needs. Sometimes, we start craving because the diet we are utilizing is not providing us enough nutrients. For example... Studies show that when a person craves chocolate, a "high sugar" fruit oftentimes satisfies the same craving. It's often not so much about the food itself, but what our bodies know that food has in it. So...
Craving candy? Probably need sugar... reach for apples, peaches, grapes, strawberries
Craving salt? have some salted nuts, sunflowers seeds, or as someone said, a dash in the palm
Meat? Odds are your iron is low. Have some meat!

The one thing I did see on this thread, though, that I wanted to point out is... "It's hard to avoid junk foods when you have kids" My response to that is, stop making excuses. You are the person that buys the food in your house. Junk food is no healthier for your kids than it is for you. If you can't resist the temptation of poptarts, don't buy poptarts! For a long time in my house growing up, we were not allowed stuff like that, no sugar cereals, no ready to eat potato chips, nothing, unless it was a birthday or a special dinner. If we wanted something like candy, we had to ride our bikes to Walgreens to buy it with our allowance.

My point is, you have to figure out if you are craving emotionally or physically. An eating disorder therapist can help with this A LOT.

Remember...
You don't have to never eat to be anorexic. Many anorexics eat 800-1000 a day
You don't have to throw up to be bulimic. Purging includes excessive exercise, laxatives, and eating specific foods or substances you know will make you have a BM for the express purpose of losing weight (and other types of course)
You should not have to feel like you need to sneak around to eat.
Food should not make you feel guilty.
Even fat people need to fuel their bodies to function. Not eating will not solve the problem.
There are lots of people out there with ED. Enough for a specialization in counseling. Take advantage of your resources!

Lastly, count the positives, not the negatives. Think about your binges in the past. If you used to binge daily, 1-2 times a week is wonderful! Take it into perspective. Just like you can't lose weight overnight, you can't re-wire your relationship with food with the snap of a finger. One step at a time.

Good post. And food can absolutely be an addiction, especially when people use it for reason number 1. People also underestimate the power of food as an addiction, even me whose struggled with binging and purging for 10 years. I was just at an addictions workshop for family members the other day and the therapist there mentioned that the average recovery time for someone with an eating disorder is 9 years... 9 years!! And you know what, I believe that. You can't simply abstain from food, like you can from alcohol, narcotics, or even addictions like gambling or shopping. It stares you in the face every day, whether you try to abstain or not - and if you do try, your body's survival mechanisms will eventually kick in. Even anorexics go into mindless binges when they're on the brink of starvation.

I've been in full recovery for about 4 years now and I still have slip-ups from time to time. Last night, I ate an entire small pizza, which is absolutely nothing compared to what I used to eat in one sitting The binges get smaller and fewer and far between. No easy answers on how to get to that place. What worked for me was a lot of therapy, peer support, and good books. I also had to figure out what really made me happy (other than food!).

Just know that recovery is possible!!!

Yes, I feel the same as everyone here. Really struggle with binging on a daily basis nowadays. I can't believe it's gotten this bad. I don't remember ever having serious binging tendencies until I started counting calories and becoming more aware of my food intake either, which I find weird. Someone earlier said something along the lines of "Well so and so thinks I'm perfect, so who cares if I don't lose more weight", which is exactly how almost all of my binges start. It's also hard, since a lot of my family can't relate to my binging (even though they're quite over-weight). It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one who can eat thousands of calories within an hour or two without ever feeling full.

I think the binging tendencies are more common than we realize but "normal" people just move on--they don't think about it, restrict (consciously), or compensate. How many times have you and a friend polished off a pizza? or gone to a buffet? (a non dieting friend)...do they count the calories, obsess over how much they ate? probably not. counting calories makes you hyper aware of your intake and it becomes a judgment call when you ate "too much" and that spurs the feelings of being out of control.