Eating Yourself to Death

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?

My thoughts on Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition

Chris Powell on the first episode of EMWLE

I have been trying to figure out how I want to blog about EMWLE.  It's tricky:  It's only an hour long, it's real interview heavy, and it only covers one person per episode.

One year for a weight loss transformation is amazing, and much longer than The Biggest Loser.  And you well know that I think slow and steady wins the race in the weight loss world.  I love the personal trainer Chris Powell.  He is warm and supportive and has a lot of charisma.  I just wish there was more of him and the subject in each episode.  I wish they showed the food the people ate.  I wish they showed more of the workouts.  I just wish there was MORE.

It is a great concept, but I think if they do another season it needs to be a little more dense with HOW the transformation is taking place.  People know how a house is built.  People don't know as much about how to change their lives and live more healthy. 

Please ABC!  If you bring back the show, maybe make it a hair longer?  It doesn't have to be like The Biggest Loser (20 episodes), but I would like a little more info on the actual transformation and not so much on the big reveal.

That is all.