HOW TO OVERCOME FOOD ADDICTION
I am a sugar, fat, and salt addict in recovery one day at a time. I used to not be able to resist eating the huge bowl of cold pasta marinara leftovers in the fridge or chocolate candy of any kind. My weight just kept creeping up over the years. If you’re wondering whether you have a food addiction, I‘ve listed below some of the symptoms frequently experienced.
What are the signs of food addiction?
Food addiction involves the brain, hormones, and positive and negative emotions like: stress, anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness, shame, anger, low self-esteem, boredom, loneliness, and fatigue. Its symptoms are identical to drug addiction.
Food addiction grows in stages. You don't just wake up one day feeling out of control for a particular type of food. When I was young, I was an emotional eater. But as I grew up I became a compulsive overeater with binge eating disorder (BED). I have many food addictions. Some of the symptoms that you might encounter are:
Cravings after a large meal
Just because you have cravings after having a large nutritious meal, doesn't mean you have an addiction. But it becomes an issue when cravings like this become too frequent and you feel obsessed and compelled to eat more and more.
Eating in hiding
A frequent sign of binge eating disorder (BED) or food addiction is eating in isolation. Friends or family members may have spoken to you about gaining weight. So to prevent being stopped, scolded or shamed, you eat your binge foods in hiding, at night, in the car, alone at home or when everyone else is sleeping.
Eating until excessively full with a loss of control
Eating past satiety, in a fast frenzy, because you’re afraid of getting caught. You’re not able to eat just one serving of X because you keep trying to recapture the enjoyment of that first bite. You keep eating until your stomach is stuffed, in pain, you feel nauseous and bloated.
Guilt and shame
You may feel guilty, ashamed, and even self-hatred because of your lack of control of the quantity you’re eating. However, addiction is a disease. When feeling these emotions, think about other diseases that exist. Would you feel this way if you had any of them? Lack of willpower isn’t the issue. If you were to stop eating this trigger food, your disease would convince you that you could handle it in moderation. All it takes is one bite to evoke your addiction.
All-or-nothing thinking
Most people with food addictions tend to have an all-or-nothing mindset. During the diet-binge cycle, when dieting and attempting to stay away from these foods, you start setting rules for yourself. If and when you have a slip, you feel like you’ve blown the day, so you give yourself permission to keep overeating and you promise to start fresh the next day. However the next day becomes weeks, months, and years. Try to remember you can do the next right action at any moment. You don’t need to wait any longer. It’s not going to get any easier.
Quitting remains difficult despite physical problems.
Food addiction usually leads to tremendous weight gain. Your joints will ache from having to support the extra pounds. You may have become obese and are heading towards diabetes. Obesity can also cause cardiovascular diseases along with kidney and liver issues. If in spite of whatever physical problems you have and what it’s doing to your quality of life, you can’t control your quantity, there is a likelihood that you have a food addiction.
If you have noticed any of these signs, it is time to make a change and seek additional support.
Five Ways to Overcome Addiction
Diets don’t usually work for the long-term. Mainly because they’re hard to stick to. Also, the weight is easily regained when no longer following it. In addition, without tackling the emotions and what’s causing them, it’s just putting on a band-aid instead of leading to recovery. I recommend a more in-depth approach to treatment.
Discover the Root Cause
Actions are always preceded by thoughts and emotions. It is critical to find out why you get the compulsion to overeat, the thought that overrides all other thoughts. Next time, when the irresistible urge strikes, write down what you are thinking and feeling before you eat. Be honest. Keeping a food log can be very helpful in determining what trigger foods, situations, and emotions cause your cravings. Emotional eaters most frequently get cravings when experiencing the acronym HALTS (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, or Stressed). These are the most dangerous emotions for sticking with your food plan. However, really any emotion, even boredom, can be triggering. Also, writing down your emotions and what’s provoking them can actually help belay the need to feed the craving.
2. Restructure your Meal Plan
Dieting is not ideal. It can lead to a cycle of restricting and binging. At this stage, you only need to adopt a healthy, flexible and straightforward food plan. For example, eating three meals and 1 snack or no snacks daily. For some, having a snack is triggering. Try to wait no longer than 4 hours between meals. The hungrier you get, the more likely you’ll overeat. Yet you need to maintain a balance so that you’re not snacking all day long. Remember, everyone is different and can react differently to the same meal plan. You need to find what works for you. Try to plan healthy meals ahead of time so that you’re not subject to whim. Failing to plan is planning to fail! Get restaurant menus online and decide what you’re going to have and stick to it. Try not to eat highly seasoned foods which can lead to cravings. This will make it easier to set boundaries and avoid unsafe foods.
3. Pros and Cons List
Make a list of the costs and benefits for making healthy changes to your food and lifestyle. Then, do the same for staying with your current behaviors. Ask yourself, “Do the costs of making the change feel worth the benefits? If you continue to stay the way you are and do nothing to make a change, what will your life be like in a year? Five years? The answers may help you stay motivated.
4. Carry everyone along
Let friends and family know about your plan and understand how important this journey is to you. Encourage them to support you. This will be very important. It will make it less difficult to say “no thank you” (politely but firmly) to their food offers.
5. Seek further support
To recover from food addiction, make small sustainable changes consistently to create a healthy lifestyle. Look at it through the lens of one day at a time. Just focus on doing the next right action instead of being overwhelmed by having to do something forever. We do crave what we eat, so try not to eat “X” for this minute and then the next minute, and so on. If you’re truly addicted to a food then “one bite is too many and a thousand isn’t enough”. Try reading inspirational literature. If you use the search button at the top of my site (amydambrosio.com) and enter “books'', it will take you to my recommended readings. I also suggest attending a fellowship meeting for food addictions. Only another addict can truly understand what we go through. I find these meetings help me stay motivated. If you would like help with getting to the root causes of your overeating, as well as guidance for a food plan, you can talk to a Certified Food Addiction Coach who can serve as an accountability partner. If you have food allergies or sensitivities or autoimmune disorders, speak with a nutritionist who specializes in that disorder. If in addition to food addiction you also suffer with anxiety or depression or other psychological disorder, you may need to consult a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. In general, the more support you have, the better.
In summary, food addiction is very similar to drug or alcohol addiction and can be treated with similar strategies. Many take dieting as the first approach, but it usually leads to a diet-binge cycle. This will only add fuel to the fire of your addiction making recovery that much harder.
Facing the root causes of your addiction, creating a food plan, bringing your loved ones on board with you, and seeking professional healthcare, if necessary, are some of the ways to recover from addiction.
