Tips In Overcoming Food Addiction
For food addiction recovery, it will take a lot of willpower and sacrifice to overcome it. It may take weeks or months, but you have to believe in yourself to overcome this. Everybody has different food cravings, and breaking food addiction is going to be different for everybody. But here are some tips you can start with:
Dont Focus On A Weight Loss
Of course, one of the main reasons why people decide to give up their favorite high-calorie foods is weight loss. However, experts recommend refraining from a strict diet when youre fighting food addiction. You already face a lot of stress. There is no need to make your path towards sobriety even harder by decreasing your calories or choosing other severe restrictions. Remember that weight loss is not your primary problem at the moment.
Sugar & Insulin Resistance
Your brain and body need glucose to survive. When your body perceives that blood sugar is getting too low, it sends you a signal that it needs fuel. You get hungry, or maybe you crave sugar because your body knows its a calorie dense and efficient way to give you a fast boost. When you eat sugar, white flour , alcohol, sodas, candy, cookies, pastries, etc, your body uses a hormone called insulin to transport the glucose to your cells for usage. When you eat too much sugar, your pancreas releases a whole lotta insulin to usher all that glucose into your cells, and blood glucose levels drop again , and your blood sugar levels drop too low, so you crave sugar again to bring the levels back up.
The problem with this cycle is that eventually, your cells stop responding properly to insulin. They already have enough glucose, so they lock the door and dont allow insulin to escort glucose into the cell. Your pancreas is overworked as it continues to churn out insulin in response to all that sugar youre eating, but now you have become insulin resistant because your cells dont want all that excess sugar. This causes your blood sugar levels to rise, setting you up for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
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Fear Of Missing Out: Eve
The Lord had already given Eves husband, Adam an instruction in the Garden of Eden. He told him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which Adam passed on to Eve.
The Lord said that they would die if they ate of it. However, He said they could freely eat of every other tree in the Garden.
But what did the enemy do? He contradicted what God said, in essence calling God a liar.
The enemy told Eve that she and Adam would not die. Instead, they would be like God if they ate of the forbidden tree.
The enemy got Eve to fixate on the one tree that God told them not to eat instead of the hundreds, perhaps thousands that the Lord said they could freely eat!
Well, we all know what happened Eve disobeyed Gods word. Not only did she disobey, but she persuaded her husband to do the same!
Their disobedience ushered sin and death into the world. We are still experiencing the effects of their choice today.
Worst trade ever!
But how many of us are doing the same thing, focusing on the foods that destroy us rather than the foods that would heal us?
Think about it.
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Win The Battle Because You Can
Overcoming food addiction can be a long, painful process. You have to take it meal-by-meal, and day-by-day. But theres hope. You can do it. And your attitude is a critical part of the battle. Know you can do it. And then start taking small actions and building on them.
Bookmark this article as a reminder of the science behind food addictions, how they occur, and a step-by-step guide to overcoming them. Start by identifying triggers and then make healthy substitutions. Soon you will have the power to say no to your cravings. Because you will have discovered healthy alternatives you enjoy and youll also understand the dangerous path quick-fix foods can present.
References
Its A Serious Problem
Though the term addiction is often thrown around lightly, having a true addiction is a serious condition that typically requires treatment to overcome.
The symptoms and thought processes associated with food addiction are similar to those of drug abuse. Its just a different substance, and the social consequences may be less severe.
Food addiction can cause physical harm and lead to chronic health conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes .
In addition, it may negatively impact a persons self-esteem and self-image, making them unhappy with their body.
As with other addictions, food addiction may take an emotional toll and increase a persons risk of premature death.
SUMMARY
Food addiction increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Excessive weight may also affect a persons self-esteem.
Completely avoiding junk foods may seem impossible. Theyre everywhere and a major part of modern culture.
However, in some cases, entirely abstaining from certain trigger foods can become necessary.
Once the firm decision to never eat these foods again is made, avoiding them may become easier, as the need to justify eating or not eating them is eliminated. Cravings may also disappear or decrease significantly.
Consider writing a list of pros and cons to think through the decision.
Write everything down no matter how peculiar or vain it may seem. Then compare the two lists and ask if its worth it.
If the answer is a resounding yes, be assured that its the right decision.
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Support: Getting Help From Those Nearest You
Human beings are social animals. Our peers and intimates have an enormous impact on our perspectives and our behavior. We learn much from our parents and the groups we grow up among we act consistently with the people we associate with we respondin both positive and negative waysto those we are intimate and live with. This is true about drugs and alcohol, eating and fitness, and other addictive behaviors as much as it is in any other area of our lives.
The process of learning from others is called social learning, or social influence. Its critical importance is one of the fundamental realities that contradict the disease view of addiction. That is, accepting the social sources of control and excess means that peoples biological reactions are not the root of addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, or food. And if social influence is the most powerful determinant of reactions to drugs and other addictive sensations or experiences, then it can also be the most powerful tool for preventing or recovering from these addictions.
There are many ways in which people can help you to beat addiction and change behavior. You can enlist others to help motivate and support change. You may choose to associate with people who dont engage in the activity or who do so in a moderate way.
6.1. Using Support Groups for Sobriety
6.2. Creating Support Networks
6.3. Family as a Support Group
Those Closest to You Are Your Biggest Help, and Your Greatest Burden
6.4. Codependency
Tip #: Invest In Your Knowledge Of Healthy Eating
This is my #1 tip for losing weight and eating more healthy.
Clever tricks to cut down on the amount of food you eat is not as effective as learning about low carb, low calories and high nutrient eating.
Ive just waded through my personal collection of books on healthy eating and Ive included links below where you can purchase these books:
- Grains and Mains by Laura Wilson. This book is my absolute favourite. It includes many recipes for ancient grains such as millet, buckwheat, faro and pear barley
- 100 Best Gluten Free Foods by Love Food Editors
If youre looking for addiction recovery books, check out our guide on the best books on addiction recovery »
Recommended Reading: Is Narcan Free To Addicts
What Are Among The Most Addictive Foods
Theyre usually the best tasting ones. And thats maddening. A food addiction researcher gave her rundown in a recent study. The results showed that processed foods higher in fat and glycemic load were most frequently associated with addictive-like eating behaviors. Heres a few of the most addictive foods:
As is the case with everything in life, moderation is key. If youre going to have a glass of red wine at dinner for heart health, have one, not four. If youre going to have a cheat day once a week, try and stick to it. Dont weave your way through the kitchen to plunder your snack drawer every day. Also: It might be wise to avoid having a snack drawer at all.
Therapies For Food Addiction
Therapy for food addiction or binge eating disorder helps a person reduce the frequency of binge behavior, lose weight, and address psychological issues related to the addiction. Therapies for food addiction may be offered on an inpatient or outpatient basis and include the following:3
- Cognitive behavioral therapy : CBT techniques teach people trying to overcome food addiction how thoughts and feelings can impact behavior. This therapeutic approach typically focuses on moderation rather than avoidance or abstinence from foods. It teaches coping skills and relapse prevention techniques, and identifying triggers for addictive behavior.
Also Check: Why Is Alcohol So Addictive
First Step: Make An Appointment With Your Health Advisor
Addiction, including food addiction, is a very individual diagnosis. Some people with other eating disorders like bulimia, orthorexia, or compulsive overeating, can think that they have a food addiction, as some symptoms of these conditions do look alike. However, psychological advice for patients with various eating disorders will be absolutely different. For example, people with orthorexia should not, at any cost, divide foods into permitted and prohibited.
Mental Hack #: Leveraging Social
Your social networks can fuel your food addiction and contribute to being overweight.
A study done in the New England Journal of Medicine found that social networks can promote obesity people with friends, siblings and spouses who are obese are much more likely to be obese themselves.
Now, although this wasnt in reference to online social networks , there is evidence that shows that youre many times more likely to share the same interests as your friends.
This is just the long way of saying that people have a huge influence over your success or failure, and youre likely to end up like the people around you in more than one way.
You can leverage the internet social spheres in your favor too. There are a couple innovative sites to help you integrate a positive social environment with your own personal goals.
Fitocracy in a nutshell: Its health and fitness, gamified. You earn points for doing quests , and then you can level up and reach new levels.
It integrates with a social feed like facebook, and lets others motivate and help each other out.
Stickk in a nutshell: Stickk is another way to socially integrate betting with attaining your own goals.
Its based on the whole carrot and stick theory of motivation that to motivate people, you can offer them incentives , or punish them.
The key is to pick a charity you hate so much that youd rather die than see your money go there
It works!
Social betting gone digital.
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Tip #: Only Insist On Eating When You Are Hungry
Try to eat only three meals per day.
If you must have a snack, insist on eating a healthy, sugar-free snack such as cashew nuts,Greek yogurt or almonds.
Personally, I buy cashew nuts in bulk every Saturday.
I buy 600g for £4.80 in ASDA .
And make this last me all week.
This works out at around £10.20 per kilogram.
And I then split this amount so that it lasts for seven days. This ensures Im covered for snacks for an entire week.
Free Report On Food Control: Beating Food Addiction And Emotional Eating
To download the free report, just right click the image below and click Save file as.Or you can just click here.
Ive got a couple goodies in here for you:
- A 5 part guide for going through these 5 jedi mind tricks
- How to find why you emotional eat, and what to do with that info
- A checklist of the most important things to keep in mind
- And plenty of other sexy goodies like that ===>
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Find Yourself A Distraction Tactic
This is something that you do instead of your bad eating habit. You see, you cant stop one habit easily without replacing it with another one. For example, if you like to have something sweet to eat after dinner, try replacing dessert or chocolate with a flavoured herbal tea. If you get bored during a certain point in the day instead of reaching for an office fundraiser or buying a blueberry muffin, why not plan the next weeks worth of meals and exercise sessions. Maybe you need a hobby. For further reading, check out my article on boredom eating.
Tips To Beat Food Addiction
Are you are self confessed chocoholic? Are you addicted to sweet foods? Its a pretty common assumption that sugar is addictive, just like substance or alcohol abuse, but is this actually the case?
Ive definitely had moments when Ive craved chocolate or needed something sweet after dinner so I can relate to the notion of needing a fix.
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A Solution To Food Addiction And Obsession
Most people are familiar with the concept of alcoholism and drug addiction, and the idea that certain foods and quantities of foods can be addictive is gaining acceptance.
Food addicts are powerless over where, when, and how much they eat, although many have tremendous willpower in other areas of their lives. Food addiction tends to remain unrecognized because of the focus on the symptoms rather than their underlying cause addiction.
Symptoms of food addiction include
- Overeating
- Obesity
- Compulsive exercise and dieting
- Obsession with food or weight
- Depression, shame, isolation, and hopelessness related to food, weight, or body image.
FA is a program for those who want to stop eating addictively. Like Alcoholics Anonymous, FA treats food addiction as a threefold illness: physical, mental, and spiritual.
Oprahs Ongoing Battle With Food Addiction
Heleen Woest
You must have seen the Tabloid headlines announcing to the whole world that Oprah hit the 200 pound mark again.Food Addictionis still, after all these years, a reality for her.
I actually read a whole article on this in her O magazine at the gym. I do not agree with the whole new age journey into self that she embraces. Unfortunately all of this is a far cry from her Christian roots, however, I do admire the womans openness about her struggle with food addiction . Could be that we never would have heard a word about it if it was a struggle with drugs or alcohol.
One of the things that stands out to me in her open confession is her disappointment in herself for still, after all these years having to talk about her weight. I couldnt help but feel so sorry for her. I have had ladies in my support groups that were in their sixties and still battled eating disorders or some kind of food related struggle. I am convinced that years of experimenting with the quick fixes got us all in a jam. Every time we would grab another blade of straw and every time it would make us fall and sink even deeper into the pit of a slow metabolism, weight gain, health deterioration and depression.
As for boasting and being self assure about never having to face this battle again or being totally free before Im a certain age: Nope, I wont go there. Just as Oprah revealed, I too came face to face with my own pride too many times to still think that I am immune to falling.
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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.”
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 when the sweets were removed from their diet, suggesting that sugar may have addictive properties.
“Yes, people do get into habits,” adds Ayoob. “But the good part is that habits can be changed.”
