Mental Health:Food Addiction

People who are addicted to food tend to display many of the characteristics of addicts and alcoholics. Food addicts develop a physical, mental, emotional craving and chemical addiction to food. The characteristics of food addicts can include:

• Being obsessed and/or preoccupied with food.
• Having a lack of self-control when it comes to food.
• Having a compulsion about food in which eating results in a cycle of bingeing despite negative consequences.
• Remembering a sense of pleasure and/or comfort with food and being unable to stop using food to create a sense of pleasure and comfort.
• Having a need to eat which results in a physical craving.

What Are the Signs of Food Addiction?

Only the food addict can determine whether there is food addiction. The following are questions that potential food addicts may ask themselves:

• Have I tried but failed to control my eating?
• Do I find myself hiding food or secretly bingeing?
• Do I have feelings of guilt or remorse after eating?
• Do I eat over emotions?
• Is my weight affecting my way of life?

Food addicts also may have symptoms including headaches, insomnia, irritability, mood changes, and depression.

How Is Food Addiction Treated?

Several options are available in the treatment of food addiction. These include consulting a nutritionist, doctor, psychologist, counselor, or eating disorder specialist. In addition, 12-step groups such Overeaters Anonymous (OA) have meetings in many regions or online. Some tips for avoiding bouts of compulsive eating include:

• Knowing which situations trigger your cravings, and avoiding them if possible
• Drinking at least 64 ounces of water per day
• Exercising
• Relaxing with deep breathing exercises or meditation
• Trying to distract yourself until the compulsion to eat passes

If you believe that your eating addiction is causing problems in your life, seek medical assistance immediately.

Healthy Eating Habits

Healthier Eating Habits
By Kate M. D'Imperio

With skimpy swimsuits and trips to the beach in mind, toning various body parts and dropping a few pounds in time for summer has become a priority for many. Coupled with regular cardiovascular exercise, healthy eating habits can severely impact one's weight as well as one's overall body image.

When it comes to shaping up and slimming down, several factors impact a person's body and general healthiness. Different diets and eating routines work for different people. The following "dos" should put a positive spin on helping those who wish to revamp their eating habits in the hopes of transforming their bodies for the better.

DO eat well-balanced meals throughout the day, kick starting your metabolism with breakfast as often as possible.

DO eat several helpings of salad, fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Recommended amount is five servings of fruit and vegetables each day.

DO drink lots of water. Strive for at least eight glasses a day, but drink as much as you are able. Your body will eventually crave the water, which often makes you less hungry for snacks throughout the day while also flushing toxins from your body.

DO avoid eating simply because you are bored. Popping candy, cookies and other sweets into your mouth merely to pass the time is not conducive to modifying and maintaining a healthy body image.

DO sit down; enjoy your food and CHEW! Avoid scarfing down your lunch in the car as you drive. Rushing meals and trying to get too many other things done while eating may prevent the food from digesting properly. Take the time to enjoy a leisurely meal without constantly trying to do something else.

DO reduce your intake of sugars and fats if you find yourself eating junk food all day.

DO avoid grocery shopping on an empty stomach. Almost inevitably, those shopping with hunger pangs pushing them along may be apt to throw a few more goodies in the cart than if shopping after a meal.

DO eat when you are hungry. Try to substitute healthier snacks, like vegetable sticks, for salty or sweet snacks like chips and cookies.

DO eat foods that are high in fiber. This will help to keep the snacking urges from breaking through as often.

DO be realistic about your body image goals. Do not expect overnight results. Work to achieve your goals but do treat yourself every once in a while!

DO stop eating when you are full. Many people try to force themselves to clean their plates completely in order to be "polite" or to "get their money's worth".

DO exercise at least twice a week, whether by jogging, walking or doing a cardio workout. Combining healthier eating habits with cardiovascular exercise is a surefire way to lead a healthier life.
 

To improve your body image and the way you feel about yourself, monitor your snacking and do your best to follow a disciplined eating routine. Eat balanced meals, exercise and maintain a positive outlook and you'll be well on your way to a healthier body, mind and soul.

 

Fat Girls and Fat Women

Dealing with food addiction
Anna Lynn C. Sibal

Modern society's image of the beautiful woman is someone who fits a certain size, usually size 6 or smaller, someone with a certain kind of bone structure, someone with a certain kind of face. This image is glorified in many, many fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle and Vogue. This image is, unfortunately, not true for the average woman, who has to struggle with size 8 or bigger, who does not have the same delicate bone structure, who does not have the particular kind of face that one would see on a model.

Not all of us are born to fit such an image of what is considered the beautiful woman. In fact, very, very few fit that given image at all. And yet, there are so many women out there who try desperately to fit that image, who will try all means available to them and that which they can afford just to be able to fit that image. Sadly, despite whatever measure we might take, some of us are just that: fat.

If we are not genetically predisposed to being overweight, there are other reasons why we are carrying around extra flesh on our bodies. It could be because we are addicted to food. And while this is not a general or a blanket statement on why women are fat, it could be because we basically have issues with ourselves that we cannot face, and we hide behind the comfort that food brings us whenever we had to deal with something that we find truly stressful.

Examine yourself. Are you fat because your genes have dictated that your body should be formed that way? Are you fat because you are lazy? Or are you fat because you cannot stop eating?

That character from the Austin Powers series of movies, the one they have named Fat Bastard, captured it so poignantly with this line: "I eat because I am unhappy, and I am unhappy because I eat." Is it that case for you too?

If you are one of us, one of those women who are afflicted with food addiction, the first step towards recovery always involves recognition. Recognize and admit to yourself that you have an issue that you need to deal with and that you are using food to cover up for the fear, the anxiety and the sadness that you feel whenever you are forced to face something you do not want to handle.

Once you have gotten a handle of the situation, the next step would be to determine what gives you so much stress and anxiety, enough to turn to the comfort of food. More often than not, it has something to do with self-image. If it is indeed the case, that your food addiction has something to do with self-image, then the next step would be to embrace what you are and accept that you cannot be what you are not.

Most importantly, do not take this journey of ridding yourself with food addiction alone. It is so very easy to fall back into the old pattern of bingeing after being upset with something if you are dealing with it alone. Seek help with a counselor or a support group. There are others like us, like you; you need not go through this all alone.

compulsive overeaters

Compulsive overeating is characterised by an addiction to food. An individual suffering from compulsive overeating disorder engages in frequent episodes of uncontrolled eating, or binging, during which they may feel frenzied or out of control. They will eat much more quickly than is normal, and continue to eat even past the point of being uncomfortably full. Binging in this way is generally followed by a period of intense guilt feelings and depression. Unlike individuals with bulimia, compulsive overeaters do not attempt to compensate for their binging with purging behaviours such as fasting, laxative use or vomiting. Compulsive overeaters will typically eat when they are not hungry, spend excessive amounts of time and thought devoted to food, and secretly plan or fantasize about eating alone. Compulsive overeating almost always leads to weight gain and obesit, but not everyone who is obese is also a compulsive overeater.

In addition to binge eating, compulsive overeaters can also engage in grazing behaviour, during which they return to pick at food over and over throughout the day. This results in a large overall number of calories consumed even if the quantities eaten at any one time may be small. When a compulsive eater overeats primarily through binging, he or she can be said to have binge eating disorder. Where there is continuous overeating but no binging, then the sufferer has compulsive overeating disorder.

Left untreated, compulsive overeating can lead to serious medical conditions including high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and clinical depression. Additional long-term side effects of the condition also include kidney disease, arthritis, bone deterioration and stroke.

Causes of compulsive overeating

In common with other eating disorders, there is a significant emotional element to compulsive overeating. Although there is no known exact cause, there are several likely options. Most sufferers of compulsive overeating use food as self-medication to cope with overwhelming emotions of shame and depression. Many feel guilty that they are "not good enough" and are ashamed of their increasing weight. Most have very low self esteem. Sufferers also frequently have a constant need for love and validation, which they attempt to satisfy with food.

Compulsive overeating normally begins in childhood, when eating patterns are formed. Most compulsive overeaters never learned effective ways to deal with stressful situations, and instead learned to turn to food as a way of blocking out painful emotions. Some compulsive overeaters consciously or unconsciously use excess body fat as a protective layer, particularly those who have been the victims of sexual abuse. They sometimes feel that being fat will make them less attractive, and therefore less likely to be abused further.

Although many sufferers of compulsive overeating try to combat their increasing weight through dieting, this can exacerbate the condition. Dieting can lead to feelings of deprivation, which the compulsive overeater is then driven to block out by further binging. Unless the emotional reasons for binging are resolved, the sufferer frequently becomes locked into an unending cycle of dieting and binging, with the accompanying feelings of guilt, shame, self-loathing and depression that result.

Signs of compulsive overeating

• Binge eating, or eating uncontrollably even when not physically hungry
• Eating much more rapidly than normal
• Eating alone due to shame and embarrassment
• Feelings of guilt due to overeating
• Preoccupation with body weight
• Depression or mood swings
• Awareness that eating patterns are abnormal
• History of weight fluctuations
• Withdrawal from activities because of embarrassment about weight
• History of many different unsuccessful diets
• Eating little in public, but maintaining a high body weight

Recovery from compulsive overeating

Compulsive overeating is treatable with counselling and therapy, and approximately 80% of sufferers who seek professional help either recover completely or experience significant reduction in their symptoms. All eating disorders are behavioural patterns which stem from emotional conflicts that need to be resolved in order for the sufferer to develop a healthy relationship with food. Like other eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, compulsive overeating is a serious problem and can result in death. However, with the proper treatment, which should include talk therapy, medical and nutritional counselling, it can be overcome.

Pitfalls to watch out for with daily diet weigh-ins

Does a daily weight check help or hurt weight control efforts? Studies show that people who successfully avoid weight gain (or regain) are more likely to weigh themselves regularly. Before you assume that this is your key to weight control, however, consider how you will use the information you get from weight checks. The bottom line seems to be that weight checks help some people, but not everyone.

In one study of 1,800 adults trying to lose weight, those who weighed themselves daily lost more weight after two years than those who weighed themselves less frequently. In the National Weight Control Registry, which follows people who have successfully lost weight and maintained their loss for at least a year, most monitor their weight regularly. According to one report, 44 percent of those in the registry report weighing themselves at least once a day, and 31 percent report checking their weight at least once a week. As for those who are currently at a healthy weight and want to avoid midlife adult weight gain, a study of more than 1,200 adults showed that those who checked their weight more often gained less weight. None of these studies, however, prove whether people who check weight more often are already more vigilant about behaviors affecting their weight or whether these weight checks keep people more aware of their weight and lifestyle.

Recent evidence does suggest frequent weight checks influence behaviors. Weight checks allow you to catch small gains before they become large ones. That can lead to cutting back on portions and high-calorie foods or adding an extra 15 minutes of daily exercise. Data from the National Weight Control Registry suggests that people are more likely to stop and reverse small weight gains than large ones. In a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine, people who lost weight maintained their loss better by checking weight daily and changing eating or exercise anytime weight changed by more than three pounds.

A ten-year study from Finland suggests that daily weight checks can provide additional benefit for those who keep a long-term record of the figures. Seeing patterns of days, situations, or times of year when weight was likely to increase helped participants identify ways to prevent gains before they occurred.

Problems arise when weight checks cause people to become so frustrated and upset that they give up or binge-eat. Behavioral change experts often recommend people keep records of specific behaviors they want to change instead of, or in addition to, monitoring weight. These behaviors can include walking for longer distances and eating smaller portions and more vegetables. In one study of a behavioral weight-loss program, those who kept track of physical activity exercised more and lost more weight.

Daily or weekly weight checks are clearly not essential to weight control. Even in studies where weight checks were associated with weight loss, only 20 to 44 percent of successful weight loss maintainers weighed themselves daily; 25 percent did not weigh themselves weekly. If you think that watching your weight closely might help, reasonable expectations are important — don't expect weight loss every day. Make sure you use the weight figures not to scold yourself, but as a tool to develop action plans for developing a healthy lifestyle you can follow for life.

(This article was provided by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. A registered dietician is available to respond to questions about diet, nutrition, and cancer at the free AICR Hotline at 1 (800) 843-8114 during business hours.)

Hooked on Food

By Richard Trubo
WebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Feature

Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

 

If the number on your bathroom scale seems to be rising faster than the national debt, and if you repeatedly find yourself piling food onto your oversized plate in an almost reckless manner at all-you-can-eat buffet lines, could you be captive of a "food addiction"?

Most people know that the physically addictive properties of caffeine can make giving up your first (and second and third) cup of coffee in the morning a harrowing way to start the day. But some doctors believe that people are also driven to eat foods like beef and cheese with just as much compulsion, and the reason may be an unrecognized food addiction.

Neal Barnard, MD, for example, says he believes that cheese, meat, chocolate, and sugar are addictive foods in the diets of millions of Americans. Barnard, the author of Breaking the Food Seduction and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says that these foods contain chemical compounds that stimulate the brain's secretion of opiate-like, "feel-good" chemicals like dopamine, which drive our cravings for them.

Alan Goldhamer, DC, co-author of The Pleasure Trap and director of TrueNorth Health Center in Rohnert Park, Calif., agrees. "A large percentage of the population is vulnerable to the effects of this hyperstimulation [from foods that trigger dopamine production], and they get caught up in an addictive cycle," he says. But unlike the addiction to drugs, which is widely acknowledged, this problem remains largely unrecognized, according to proponents of the food addiction theory.

Food Addiction: Where's the Beef?

Not long ago, when ads for a potato-chip manufacturer were teasing consumers with the challenge, "Betcha can't eat just one!", they may have really meant it!

Food manufacturers have done an exquisite job of recognizing and tapping into our cravings, using persuasive ads and alluring packaging to keep their products tumbling into our shopping carts. "There are so many processed foods that are not only calorically dense, but they also stimulate dopamine production that makes us feel good," says Goldhamer.

On the other hand, many nutritional experts believe that there are more important risks associated with processed foods that have nothing to do with addictions. "The problem with processed food is that you digest it so quickly that it's out of your stomach in no time and you still feel hungry," says Michael Roizen, MD, author of Cooking the RealAge Way. "If you take the fiber out of food, you get a lot of empty calories."

While lobbyists for food manufacturers may minimize the risks of plates brimming with meat, cheese, and other high-fat items, Roizen says he believes that eating more than 20 grams a day of bad fats such as saturated fats and trans fats can contribute to breast and prostate cancers, as well as what he calls "arterial aging," which may lead to heart disease, stroke, impotence, memory loss, and even skin wrinkling.

The same goes for sugar, says Roizen, professor of medicine and anesthesiology at the State University of New York College of Medicine in Syracuse. "The main reason to avoid sugar is that it ages your arteries," he says. Add to that the recent lawsuits against fast-food chains for contributing to obesity and chronic illnesses, and the food industry may feel it is under a siege of supersized proportions.

Getting to Be a Habit

When words like "food addiction" are bandied about, there are plenty of skeptics who hesitate to put foods like cheese and chocolate into the same category as widely acknowledged addictions such as cocaine or alcohol. But Barnard asks, "What other term would you use for a woman who gets into her car at 11:30 at night and drives six miles to the 7-Eleven to get a chocolate bar, and does it every night? She's gaining weight, she feels profoundly guilty afterward, and though she resolves to stop this behavior, she does it every night, night after night? That's a food addiction."

---

"[A study found] one in four Americans wouldn't give up meat for a week even if they were paid a thousand dollars to do so." The proponents of this food addiction theory point to possible differences between the sexes in their compulsions. Women may be more susceptible to chocolate, particularly in the premenstrual period. While some men may have a sweet tooth, many more say that the one food they're least likely to give up is steak. Barnard points to an April 2000 survey of 1,244 adults, which concluded that one in four Americans wouldn't give up meat for a week even if they were paid a thousand dollars to do so. "It sounds an awful lot like an addiction to me," he says.

---

In an animal study at Princeton University in 2002, researchers found that after rats binged on sugar, they showed classic signs of withdrawal (such as "the shakes," anxiety, and changes in brain chemistry) when the sweets were removed from their diet, suggesting that sugar may have addictive properties.

Yet many doctors and dietitians remain unconvinced that the drive to eat certain foods is a true food addiction. "People do crave three basic tastes -- fat, salt, and sugar," says Keith Ayoob, EdD, RD, associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. "Infants as young as a few days old do have a preference for sweeter foods. But when you say that a particular food is addictive, you imply that it's out of your hands. I don't buy that. I'm not aware of any evidence that chocolate is addicting. People like it because it tastes good.

"Yes, people do get into habits," adds Ayoob. "But the good part is that habits can be changed."

Breaking the Food Addiction

If food addictions are real, how difficult is it to break them? Clinical psychologist Douglas Lisle, PhD, says that at the TrueNorth Health Center in Rohnert Park, Calif., where he is director of research, patients have had the most success through "therapeutic fasting" -- in essence, rebooting the "hard drive" in their brain through a period of water-only fasting in a medically supervised setting, followed by the introduction of a diet emphasizing fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. (The process is described at TrueNorth's web site, www.healthpromoting.com).