How To Combat Food Addiction

Risks For Food Addiction

Because everyone must eat to survive, anyone can develop food addiction. Overexposure to highly palatable foods can increase your risk of developing a food addictionand people who are overexposed at a young age are at an even higher risk. People who use food to cope with stress or change their mood are also at a higher risk.

Studies also show that there are genes that put people at a higher-than-average risk of developing any type of addiction. The more addictive genes a person has, the more likely they are to struggle with addiction to food, another substance or a behavior.

Food Addiction And How To Combat It

April 27, 2019

I think this may be one of the most relevant and poignant features for all WLS pre- and post-op patients. I would go as far as to say it is ESSENTIAL READING. This is not just because this week alone I have had so many requests for help about out-of-control eating but because I know that the eating demons never really go away just hibernate. WLS Surgeons are right when they say they operate on your gut not your head or mind. All of this often means despair and great angst but this feature offers much more than hope about combating such scenarios, it provides some tactics, emotional tools to try, coping mechanisms, and these words bring a degree of comfort:

It is not necessary though to get to the bottom of any issue, simply to realise that there are underlying reasons. It is not because you are bad or weak or have no willpower. It is because of things that have happened, and you CAN learn to do things differently.

I shall be working more on my mindset and maybe you will want to as well after reading what follows. Maybe this is just a start and we can engage in more dialogue about this what do you think?

Also Check: Is Sniffing Rubbing Alcohol Addictive

How To Stop Food Addiction Before It Ruins Your Life

Reading Time: 3minutes

While the simple equation energy in should equal energy out makes perfect sense when it comes to weight management, it doesnt always work in cases where emotions determine a persons dietary intake. According to the University of North Carolina, this type of traditional weight management philosophy has an 80 percent failure rate in terms of keeping weight off for the long-term.

Food addictions often take the form of sweets, salty foods and fatty foods. Like any other type of addiction, these cravings have as much to do with the food as with the person. Learning how to stop food addiction is not that much different than stopping any other kind of addiction. Much of the work involved with how to stop food addiction centers on eliminating the underlying motivations and triggers that keep the addiction alive.

Psychiatrists And Drug Therapy

While the Food and Drug Administration has not approved any drugs for the treatment of food addiction, medication is another option to consider.

That said, medications are not guaranteed to work for feeding and eating disorders and tend to have side effects.

One drug to consider is approved by the FDA to aid weight loss and contains bupropion and naltrexone. Its marketed under the brand name Contrave in the United States and Mysimba in Europe.

This drug directly targets some of the brain pathways involved in the addictive nature of food. Studies suggest that it may be effective, especially when combined with healthy lifestyle changes (

Also Check: How Long Does It Take To Overcome An Addiction

A Definition Of Terms

We need to set the table for discussion on food addiction by defining two very important terms: binge eating disorder and compulsive eating. The two are very different in a number of important ways.

Binge eating disorder is a medically recognised disorder that is characterised by excessive eating over long periods of time. Perhaps the term binge is not the best choice given that we associate binge drinking with consuming too much alcohol in a short amount of time whether it occurs over weeks or months. Nonetheless, the chosen term has been officially adopted for clinical purposes.

A person who suffers from the disorder will typically demonstrate the following symptoms:

Compulsions to eat when not physically hungry
Routinely eating past the point of feeling full
Routinely eating more quickly than others
A tendency to try and keep eating habits a secret
Feelings of guilt after eating episodes
Persistent feelings that one is abnormal
Persistent feelings that food is taking over ones life
Routinely attempting to compensate for overeating through dieting or purging.

People suffering from binge eating disorder often mention not having the ability to restrain themselves from eating. They eat because their bodies and minds crave food at a level that would otherwise be deemed irrational.

How Many People Have Food Addiction

A recent systematic review examined the total prevalence of food addiction in people all over the world8Pursey K, Stanwell P, Gearhardt A, et al. The prevalence of food addiction as assessed by the Yale Food Addiction Scale: a systematic review. Nutrients. 2014 6:4552-4590.. Some interesting findings from this review emerged:

The global prevalence of food addiction is 19.9%.
Females had higher rates of food addiction than males .
Overweight/obese people had higher rates of food addiction than normal weight people .
People with an eating disorder had much higher rates of food addiction than people without an eating disorder .

Some people think that food addiction is just another term for binge-eating disorder.

The evidence does not support this, because more than 40% of people with binge-eating disorder do not receive a diagnosis of food addiction9Linardon J, Messer M. Assessment of food addiction using the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 in individuals with binge-eating disorder symptomatology: Factor structure, psychometric properties, and clinical significance. Psychiatry Research. 2019..

This suggests that the food addiction construct is not entirely overlapping binge-eating disorder.

Recommended Reading: How To Conquer Sugar Addiction

Motivation: Activating Your Desire To Quit

The simplest answer to the question When do people change? is When they want to. No amount of science, therapy, and brain scans is ever going to change this truth.

3.1. The Role of Motivation in Change

AA considers willpower to be utterly ineffective. The idea that people have the commitment and power to be able to change on their own is anathema to the group. Yet what is it, if not willpower or motivation, that makes some people join, stay with, and succeed in AA?

Wanting, seeking, and believing that you can change do not necessarily translate into immediate success. The fact that Uncle Ozzie could do it in one shot does not mean that you will do it that way. It is much more common for people to make several attempts before successfully quitting their addictions. Indeed, this persistence is a sign that you really want to quit.

It is true that repeated failures are demoralizing and may signify that you need to try something new. It can also mean that you have simply not been in the right place in your life to change, and that you need to do more groundwork. The Life Process Program can help you begin to lay that groundwork.

3.2. Stages of Change

Stages of Change

Precontemplationyou havent thought about changing

Contemplationyou have begun to muse that your life might be better if you did change

Preparationyou make a decision and start planning to change

Actionyou take steps toward changing

Maintenanceyou have had some success and now need to keep it in place

Precisely Articulate What Triggers Your Cravings

How to Stop Binge Eating and Overcoming Your Food Addiction

Knowing what triggers your desires for certain foods helps you prepare for those moments before they happen. If you tend to eat when you are stressed, then instead of reaching for a chocolate bar when you walk away from your desk, bring your sneakers and go for a walk. When Im feeling sad and tempted to eat for no reason, I take a shower and wash my hair which really helps me feel much better.

How To Fight Your Food Addiction

Food addiction is very similar to smoking, excessive craving for shopping and a plenty of other modern world addictions.

At first glance, the dependence on food seems rather strange thing because people seek food as their only opportunity to survive in this world. But despite the fact that the food gives us survival, our brain tells us to minimal food consumption in order to avoid future risks.

Food is fun, and this is a clear description of the survival instinct. Like other substances that affect the pleasure centers that are located in the brain, food is capable of exerting undue influence on the data centers. This creates a level of motivation to consume food in excess.

As shown by recent studies, excessive intake of certain foods can cause pathological addiction. Among the investigated products including sugar, salt, flour and some more fatty food often becomes the subject of addiction. In itself, the misuse of these products can create the conditions for the transition from normal food habits to pathological addiction, comparable to drug. Over the last few decades, there has been a rapid increase in the consumption of these products, which gives an indication of the increasing incidence of food addiction.

The typical signs of a food addiction are: lack of satiety, meal at a fast pace, psychological dependence on food or frequent bouts of night hunger.

How To Overcome Food Addiction In 10 Steps

Overcome food addiction the food addiction, like other addictions , relates to the difficulty in preventing or controlling the behavior, in this case, food intake.

Overcome food addiction If you tried to start making several diets without success, because you consider yourself a / addict / aa food, you should continue reading this article.

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Tips On How To Stop Food Addiction

Find other outlets for relieving stress and coping with difficult situations .
Exercise can create the same brain chemical reactions as favorite foods. Replacing a food habit with an exercise habit offers huge returns on a 30-minute-a-day investment.
Write out a plan on how to stop food addiction. List your trigger foods and the emotions that drive your cravings. Include strategies for overcoming cravings. Post your plan where it can be easily seen.
Make it a point to only eat when youre hungry as opposed to eating when cravings hit.

What Causes Food Addiction

Consuming highly palatable foods, or foods that are high in carbohydrates, fat, salt, sugar, or artificial sweeteners, triggers the pleasure centers of the brain and releases feel-good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. These foods affect the same area of the brain as drugs, alcohol, and behaviors such as shopping or gambling.

Highly palatable foods often contain unnatural substances or higher-than-normal levels of natural substances that your body and brain can’t process. This results in your body being flooded with feel-good chemicals.

To help you hang on to or recreate those good feelings, your body and brain will begin to crave highly palatable foods. And, because your brain will adjust its receptors to compensate for the rush of chemicals, you’ll eventually need to consume increasing quantities of highly palatable foods to get the same feel-good reaction.

Ways To Beat Your Food Addiction

And nix your stress-eating for good

Its an all-too-common scenario: You wake up in the morning swearing todays the day when youll eat clean, nourish yourself with a healthy breakfast at home, and pass up the glistening bakery goodies that tempt you every day. You make it to work without incident and then stress hitsany kind of stress, from a new project deadline to a caustic remark from your boss. A little while later, you find yourself with pastries in hand, wolfing down sugary anesthetics and wanting more. When you finally pop out of your food trance, and the reality of what youve done begins to settle in, the ensuing feelings of shame and guilt stoke your stress levels more and youre already plotting your next food fix. You wonder: Why do I keep caving to these cravings? Wheres my discipline and willpower?

This is your brain addicted to food.

Thats right. Addicted. You might tell yourself, “Im not addicted to food I just love a good sweet now and then.” Well, Im here to tell you that food addiction is real it affects more people than you know, and manufacturers actually design food products so that they are as addicting as possible. Yes, that perfect combination of salty, sweet, and savory was created to make sure you keep reaching for more. Thats why I wrote The Hunger Fix, because I want to change the game that is rigged against you.

Here are six ways to beat food addiction:

More from Prevention:How To Conquer Stress Eating

What It Means To Have A Food Addiction

A food addict is technically anyone who is overly preoccupied with food, eating, and body image. That doesnt mean someone who appreciates a good meal or loves to go out to dinner. With a food addiction, the person also relies on food for comfort. A food addict may use food to fill in for something that is missing in their lives, such as love or strong friendships. There may be biological, psychological, or social reasons why someone develops a food addiction. Food addicts use foodespecially sugary foodslike any other addict uses an addictive substance. In fact, in laboratory studies, sugar addicts show changes in brain patterns and activity similar to other addicts.

Everyone has both a biological and psychological relationship with food. The biological is obvious: you must eat to thrive and survive. If you have a healthy relationship with food, that means routinely eating nutritious and well-balanced meals and snacks that consist of just enough foodnot too little and not too muchto sustain your energy levels and maintain your weight within a healthy range.

Recommended Reading: What Percentage Of Drug Addicts Recover

Food Addiction In Conclusion

While many people may feel like they suffer from a chocolate addiction, the evidence for substance-based food addiction is poor. The term eating addiction, describing only the behavioral addiction, is a better fit.

In order to overcome eating addiction, its important to let go of restrictions and to learn how to make healthy nutrition choices. I have a ton of articles to help you along the way!

-Lucie

Maturity Growing Into Self

How to Fight a Food Addiction

ADDICTION is a search for immature gratificationsit is an over-concentration on oneself resembling that of a dependent child. As a result, overcoming addiction requires growing up and assuming adult roles. In this process you learn to take responsibility not only for yourself and your own behavior but for other people in your life. One natural outgrowth of this mature outlook is that you may no longer see yourself as powerless or label yourself an addict. You may no longer feel any need for the addiction, so it ceases to have any presence in your life.

The addiction field has an evocative term for this phenomenonmaturing out. Many people once addicted to heroin or other so-called hard drugs often use this term. The typical reason former heroin habitues give for outgrowing their addiction is that they are tired of the lifestylebeing on the outside, being cut off from normal life, the constant hustling and evading the law, the absence of anything new or better stretching out before them.

Certainly, maturing out is not limited to heroin it happens with all addictions, including alcohol, sex, and gambling. As you mature, you become dissatisfied with your limitations. You develop more connections to life, through marriage, parenthood, or career accomplishments. While undergoing these external developments, you simultaneously experience critical internal emotional changes. At the same time, your self-image and identity change.

7.1. Gaining a Positive Identity

Dont Be An Emotional Eater Manage Your Craving By Seeking Food Addiction Support Group

Most people over eat to fill an emotional void. Always eat at your regular time. You need to question yourself, and see whether you are sad, emotional, stressed, excited, or socializing. A typical emotional eater usually looks for comfort and security through food.

Food and Drug addiction pretty much work the same way. They are both deal in neurotransmitters and the area of the brain according to scientists. If you need help to curb you hanger, have a fruit, a bowl of salad, eat whole grain. If you need more help, contact FAA , Member Meetings. Every state has programs available to help people recovery from addiction of any kind.

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.

Read Also: How To Stop Addictive Behavior

Effective Ways To Stop Food Addiction To Stay Away From Empty Calories

Deblina Chatterjee |

There are many food items that are unhealthy and people can’t resist having them. This happens because of food addiction. This mainly happens with processed foods. These are calorically extremely dense but dont have any nutrients or fibre. But research says these foods release dopamine which makes people feel good and happy from within. And thats why we love to eat them. But these foods are just empty calories which quickly get digested and also make everyone hungry. So, people should stop food addiction.

How to stop food addiction?

Symptoms of food addiction:

1. Sudden craving for some types of foods despite having a full nutritious meal.

2. Having craved food in a large quantity.

3. Feeling guilty of having some foods but still not being able to control it.

4. Finding reasons and making excuses to justify food cravings.

5. Trying to hide while eating certain foods from others.

6. Being unable to control the craving even knowing that they are very unhealthy.

Food addiction is a harmful condition that needs to be treated. So, heres what you can do to stop the addiction.

Steps to tackle your food addiction:

1. First, jot down a list of foods that induce the craving in you and make you binge on them. These are the foods that are the reason for addiction.

2. Then make a list of food places that are your favourites and find their healthy options. This way you can eat healthy when you are not in the mood of cooking at home.

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