Addiction...A condition or a term ????

Hello All!

I really struggle with this particular topic. It certainly feels like I have a food addiction at times. I feel my relationship with food is different than "normal" eaters relationship with food. I feel like if I eat one cookie, I "have to" eat them all. Sugar, carbs, and junk food in general certainly seem to "call my name." In a lot of ways, my relationship, actions, and thoughts with food feel very "addict" like. Yet, the term "addiction" seems to imply that "I don't have control." And if I don't have control, then wouldn't I be eating crap all day every day? There are times when I turn down the cookie-even if I really really want it. If I were truly out of control, an addict, would I be able to do that?

I use to be addicted to cigarettes, but after quitting them I no longer am. Food isn't such a "Black and White" addiction as say cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol are. You can't abstain from eating as you can abstain from alcohol or other drugs. Is calling food an addiction helpful or does it, like I feel it does for me, give us a free pass to excuse our eating and really go off the deep end? 

People are wired for survival. Sure, there's the occasional self destructive urge that overrides that. But, generally, we have a will to live. When that is overridden by the urge to eat, I can't see it being anything other than an addiction. What else causes people to continue eating 100 pounds past their normal weight? 200 pounds? 300 pounds? I agree with the other lady, I don't think the addiction is food, it's the feeling that the food causes. I think it's a form of self medicating. I also think that if people don't deal with the origin of what they are self medicating, stopping the sugar/food/carbs/etc will just cause them to medicate in another way.

Agreed! It's never really about the substance food/drugs, it's about the feeling we get from it. I think to some degree we all fall into that category. 

It is scientifically proven that certain foods act as excitotoxins stimulating the brain in the exact same ways as cocaine and heroine. They have done brain scans of obese people and seen their brains like up in the exact same way as drug addicts when they eat these foods (wheat for one example). Food addiction is absolutely a real thing. Some people are more susceptible to using food as an addiction whereas other May use drugs or alcohol or sex or shopping to fulfill that need.

I have to agree with most here. When what you seek is "comfort," but you're reaching for food, you crave the endorphins released in your brain that tell you you're happy. Craving the chemical pleasure derived from food, desiring that at detrimental cost to your health and choosing that over your health is most definitely addictive. Sometimes with those of us who are addicted, method of eating is just as important to enjoyment as the food itself. I, for example watch my food while I'm eating and get pleasure from taking lots of small bites and savoring them. The longer it lasts me, the better because I'm so disappointed when it's gone. This has become even more obvious for me since surgery because I'm already used to small bites, but I'm not used to fewer of them. I have to be aware of that and take even smaller bites so I have enough to keep me satisfied. It's similar to the way meth addicts become obsessed with the white cloud of smoke and rolling the pipe in their fingers.

interesting question. I have heard our doctor say he doesn't think food is a true addiction because a certain amount is needed to live and eating is a basic drive, But Dr. Kessler in "The End of Overearing" says certain foods stimulate the brain like opioids and have endorphin producing effects. i am probably stating this clumsily.  i do know that my sil refuses to have wls in spite of family willing to pay and that she is now barely able to walk because she can't stand the thought of never having a soda again. we can't seem to convince her that after surgery you really don't want soda and are so happy to have the weight gone you don't care much about it.    i think she really can't bear giving up unlimited eating and is an addict.   

But in the end does it really matter if its an addicition or just a collection of really bad habits. it was ruining our lives and it took a lot to get past it and we are maybe never 100% cured but we are better.      and yeah,  chocolate still beckons and i even eat a little now and then.  but i don't feel the need to power stuff it.    diane

What a great question to pose the board! Really awesome.

I understand addiction. I used to smoke. I considered myself addicted. I had a few other illicit habits in my youth and young adult life that were bad habits, but nothing like the cigarettes. I couldn't imagine my life without them. That's why I smoked for many, many years. It wasn't until I really accepted that I was going to die from the damn things that I was able to seek help and quit. I rate that as the number one thing I did for my health in front of VSG.

Now when it comes to food, I KNOW I abuse food. Whether what I do should be called addiction is debatable. I like to eat crap. It tastes good. It feels good going down. I also know we're programmed to enjoy many of the things we should not eat in excess. It's biology that goes back 50,000 + years. Back then it was survival. Not so much these days.

Here's something that makes me think there may be something to the addiction component: When I eat fat-flour-sugar combination foods (e.g. really good homemade cookies) I can plan on eating just one. Then about half way through that cookie something clicks in my head and EVEN BEFORE I HAVE FINISHED THAT ONE COOKIE I WANT ANOTHER ONE! It's like something snaps inside my head and I feel this feeling in my mouth that is taste related and it's as if all resolve goes out the window.

So, I've tried all different sorts of thinking to try to have just one and I've come up with two great strategies. The first is the best: don't eat it because you know one just ain't going to be enough. The second works well, too: Take one and leave the room and eat it at a later time when I can not go back for another. This works well, so I have realized it is the availability of the food that calls to me, as well.

So call that what you will. I call it an issue or my f'd upness around food.

Like you, I like ice cream and cookies and chocolate a whole lot more than brussells sprouts, asparagus, and broccoli.

I am the exact same way - I have found myself in the past already thinking about the second or third helping of some kind of tasty food before I'm done with the one I'm eating. I still tend to do that when I find myself having a bad day.

I also don't know if we can call all of this an addiction - but I do know that there is something in my brain that made me want to eat a bunch of tasty food yesterday after an argument with my husband. I don't know if it's just because it's a habit, I'm conditioned to do it, or what. But I know that my husband does not have the mentality where "I'm sad, I need something to eat!" - a lot of people don't!

I'm overcoming it, but I have a feeling a "relapse" into total emotional eating chaos is always nearby and that I'm going to be fighting this pretty hard for the rest of my life!

I believe addiction is far more complex and complicated than we even know otherwise science would have found a solution.  While some drugs like opiates cause a direct affect on the pleasure regions of the brain, other "behaviors" cause a release of pleasure hormones that also causes a "high" of sorts.  The problem comes when more and more of the drug or behavior is needed to get the same "buzz."  Some people are addicted to the strangest behaviors... some destructive, some not... some manageable, some out of control.  Hell, some people are addicted to church.

I have personally traded my "addictions" to food and alcohol for clothes, guns, sunbathing, sex and now... bicycling.  I believe "addiction" is part of the human condition, and everyone is "addicted" to something. Dealing with it and not letting it consume and destroy you defines your character.

Well, that's my BS reply...

Tom

Have you hidden your eating from other?  Have you been ashamed of yourself when you overindulged?  Then....maybe you are a food addict.