I have been watching a lot of shows about food addictions lately. What a hard thing to deal with! If you wanted to quit smoking or stop drinking or stop smoking crack you could separate yourself from those habits.
Everyone has to eat. How does one overcome this issue?
I watched an episode of Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition where the trainer on the show actually gave up on a client and made him go to rehab because he COULD NOT stop. He lied and lied about what he was actually eating and when he came in for a weigh in he gained back all that he had lost and more. While he was still participating in the weight loss portion of the show!
I also watched an episode of True Life that covered two women who were addicted to food in such a way that they were like junkies. They were moody and irritable if food was unavailable, they ate until they were sick, and they alienated themselves from friends and family to get their fix. One woman actually had the SHAKES. Not a shake, but the shakes from food withdrawal.
I remember when I was at my heaviest how food was such a comfort to me. All I thought about was what I was going to eat next. I never wanted to feel hungry. I kept filling that hole inside with food until I didn't have to feel anything anymore. If I was full then I wasn't worried- I was taken care of so everything else in life was not so bad. It was probably why I smoked pot or drank too much. It's a temporary distraction from whatever in life is bothering you.
I don't know when the light switch moment occurred in my life that made me substitute my more negative behaviors with positive ones. And I don't always crave those trigger foods anymore. I certainly don't act on the triggers. All the substitutes I have made over the years have become habits and I feel queasy when I remember the days of eating an entire pint of Chubby Hubby AND a cheese sandwich AND a bag of chips in one sitting.
Any of us could suffer from a food addiction at any time based on what's going on in our lives. Is anyone out there dealing with this? Or if you have overcome a food addiction, how did you do it?
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I was a junk food junkie! I finally decided to do something about it when my eating started affecting my health. My highest weight was 320. After trying Medifast for a month, I decided to try old fashioned portion control and exercise. It worked! I lost 66 pounds. Then, the weight started creeping back. I joined Overeater’s Anonymous and started working on what was causing me to turn to food for comfort. I eliminated trigger foods and have not had them in over ten months. Completely eliminating foods that I cannot eat in normal portions is the best way for me to deal with my food addiction. Today, I weigh 235 and continue to work towards healthy weight through portion control and exercise. For me it is all about changing my attitude toward food. My attitude today is to eat to live not live to eat.
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