How To Cure Food Addiction

Signs Of Food Addiction

Researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Science & Policy have developed a questionnaire to identify people with food addictions.

Here’s a sample of questions that can help determine if you have a food addiction. Do these actions apply to you? Do you:

• End up eating more than planned when you start eating certain foods
• Keep eating certain foods even if you’re no longer hungry
• Eat to the point of feeling ill
• Worry about not eating certain types of foods or worry about cutting down on certain types of foods
• When certain foods aren’t available, go out of your way to obtain them

The questionnaire also asks about the impact of your relationship with food on your personal life. Ask yourself if these situations apply to you:

• You eat certain foods so often or in such large amounts that you start eating food instead of working, spending time with the family, or doing recreational activities.
• You avoid professional or social situations where certain foods are available because of fear of overeating.
• You have problems functioning effectively at your job or school because of food and eating.

The questionnaire asks about psychological withdrawal symptoms. For example, when you cut down on certain foods , do you have symptoms such as:

• Anxiety
• Agitation
• Other physical symptoms

The questionnaire also tries to gauge the impact of food decisions on your emotions. Do these situations apply to you?

How To Cure Your Porn Addiction For Good

Welcome to part 3 of the Complete Guide to Curing Porn Addiction.

We’re going to be covering:

• Preparing to take action
• Exercise
• Sleep

After that, in part 4, we’re going to be diving right into taking action and following through on quitting – don’t forget to subscribe to keep in the loop!

There is a lot of content for us to cover so we’re going to dive right in. If you missed the first part or second part it’s really important that you go back and read those now.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out and let us know. To cure porn addiction, you’re going to need to put in some serious work. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it.

Your Cat Might Be Bored Lonely Or Depressed

Just as humans overeat during heightened emotional states, cats can use food as a self-soothing tool. Cats may become obsessed with food if they are depressed, stressed, or simply bored.

Some cats have even been diagnosed with psychogenic abnormal eating disorder, a psychological condition that boosts their drive for food.

Also Check: How Can I Help Someone Addicted To Drugs

Dangers Of Food Addiction

You may not consider food addiction a serious condition it is nonetheless. Food addiction does not necessarily have the same kinds of immediate impacts associated with alcohol and drug addiction, but the danger is every bit as real. Food addiction and binge eating disorder can lead to a whole host of problems, including:

There is no doubt that food addiction is a serious problem that can lead to physical and mental issues. Not treating the addiction only makes matters worse. A person who is struggling with food to any extent, whether through binging or compulsive eating, needs to seek out treatment right away.

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

Read Also: What To Do If You Are Addicted To Food

What Is Food Addiction

Food addiction is an addiction to food, preferably junk and unhealthy foods.

Even with its comparison to the drug addiction, the same is gaining momentum with the kind of research being put into it. If you are here wondering what it is that defines this completely, the same stands out to be in the form of a kind of addiction people have over junk and unhealthy food that makes them go back to it from time to time.

The lack of high quality statistics is what somehow makes this a topic of controversy and something completely new.

Much like any other form of eating disorder, even this one accounts as one of them. The only standout point is the fact that in this form of disorder, the people involved tend to just rely on eating junk food.

If you have been constantly binge eating unhealthy foods, it is important that you stick to getting over food addiction and find ways for the food addiction recovery.

Check Out These Effective Ways To Manage Food Addiction.

A Culpable Food Industry

Many people believe the food industry spikes food with processed sugars and flours knowing this will lead to food addiction.

Indeed, many supermarket premade dishes contain more sugar than a bar of chocolate! The sweetness of these dishes is often hidden by an infusion of salt and spices.

In fact, some even say processed sugar is more addictive than cocaine!

I recommend you read the book Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss.

Studies conducted on rats exposed to junk food prove the rats suffer withdrawal symptoms when the junk food is removed similar to that suffered by rats addicted to drugs or alcohol.

This was particularly the case for rats addicted to sugar. When sugar was withdrawn, the rats suffered several withdrawal symptoms: shaking, anxiety and a change in body temperature.

Scientists say youre least likely to become addicted to unprocessed natural foods such as vegetables, nuts, beans and seeds.

Recommended Reading: How Does Drug Addiction Affect The Brain

Identifying If You Suffer From A Food Addiction

Food addiction carries a number of tell-tale signs. These signs are commonly known as symptoms.

Below I list these symptoms:

• You eat food in order to cope with negative emotions such as stress
• Your mind is constantly preoccupied with food to the point of obsession
• You eat food even though you are aware of the negative health consequences of doing so
• You eat so much food that you suffer from nausea or to the point where you vomit
• You do not possess any self-control when it comes to your appetite
• You lie about how much food you eat
• You feel a sense of self-disgust about your appearance and you eat to drown your sorrows
• You wake up in the middle of the night to eat food
• Eating is more about pleasure than satisfying your appetite
• You hide food around the house/office
• You hide food away from your loved-one
• You feel depressed/regret/guilt after binge eating
• You eat long after you are full
• Binge eating episodes last for around two hours, but sometimes lasts an entire day
• You get very angry when food is not available/denied to you

Although an addiction to food may begin at any age, most sufferers will develop the addiction in their adolescence or early adulthood.

Your Makeup May Affect What Approaches Will Work Best For You

The truth is, one size does not fit all when it comes to recovering from overeating and food obsession. What might be helpful for one person could be harmful to another.

This can be illustrated by the varied responses people have to dietary interventions, depending on the underlying diagnosis. For many obese people, a program involving simple calorie restriction and physical exercise can work well. An abstinence-based approach, which involves avoiding all foods that tend to overstimulate the addiction circuitry in the brain , would be recommended for a person with food addiction.

By contrast, restricting calories or avoiding particular types of foods might actually make someone with a binge eating disorder binge more and get worse. So, who needs what treatment depends on individual vulnerabilities.

It would be great if medicine were at the place where we could just report our symptoms, genetic information, and psychological profile to a professional who would then tell us what would work best for us, or if there were an app of some kind to do the same. But things dont work that way yet. Perhaps someday, with a lot more research, it will.

For now, its still up to us to try, asses, shift, re-assess, and keep moving forward.

Also Check: Is My Strange Addiction On Netflix

Understand Whats Holding You Back

When it comes on to how to overcome food addiction, it is important you start with yourself first. It is beneficial to understand and know what the problem is first.

If you are not even aware of what is causing the problem in the first place, chances are that it is possibly going to end up amounting to nothing.

For getting over food addiction, it is important to ensure that you know the limitations that your brain is projecting on you. Why it is that it is becoming hard for you to end the food addiction altogether? If you dont necessarily have time to assess the problems restricting you, it does imply that you will have a hard time grasping the process of the food addiction therapy altogether.

Nutrition Exercise And Sleep

This is a brief section about why nutrition, exercise, and sleep is critical to your success in this guide.

Your diet plays a role in how you feel every day regardless of any addiction. Those who overeat, undereat, eat too much sugar, too many processed foods, too much soda, will not be performing at their peak. I want you to perform at your peak so that you can fully recover from your addiction.

If you stop porn but eat crappy food then youll still have brain fog and lethargy. Your body will convince you that quitting porn is not helping your mental state. When it comes to exercise, your body needs to move and this is really important for improving your sexual abilities as well, especially if you suffer from erectile dysfunction disorder or female sexual dysfunction. You need to get the blood flowing through your veins and combined with a good diet you are going to notice a significant lifestyle change. And last, sleep. Sleep is when your brain repairs itself and without sleep youll experience much of what we just talked about: lethargy, brain fog, and so on. These three concepts are crucial to your recovery and thats why I have an entire chapters dedicated to each. Even if you feel you eat well, exercise, and get enough sleep, please dont skip any part of this guide.

Extra Resources and Readings

• Article: Changing the Habit of Porn Addiction

Don’t Miss: How To Get Over Alcohol Addiction

Support Groups And 12

Support groups and 12-step programs help people work on overcoming food addiction. Many of the 12-step programs available use the same 12-step approach developed by Alcoholics Anonymous, where participants work through the steps with the help of a sponsor.

Some of the common 12-step programs for food addiction include:

• Food Addicts Anonymous:Food Addicts Anonymous believes that food addiction cannot be cured by willpower or therapy alone and is a biochemical disorder rather than a moral or character issue. They approach food addiction recovery by abstaining from addictive foods, following a nutrition plan, and working through the traditional steps.
• Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous: Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous is an international fellowship for those who have experienced problems with food and eating. Their path to recovery follows the traditional steps among the mutual support of others recovering from food addiction.
• Overeaters Anonymous: Overeaters Anonymous is a fellowship of people who are in recovery from compulsive eating. Their goal is to abstain from compulsive eating and food behaviors through mutual support, shared experience, strength, and hope.
• Compulsive Eaters Anonymous: Compulsive Eaters Anonymous is designed for anyone seeking recovery from compulsive eating. The meetings use a structured, disciplined approach to recovery by accepting and carrying out each of the steps among the support of peers.

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.

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More Self Help For Food Addiction

Once you have your food diary in your hand and have kept careful track of the foods that you eat, when you eat, how much you eat and why you eat you can begin to formulate a plan to stop these bad eating habits and to later take on healthy eating habits that will work for you. Follow these steps to ridding yourself of food addiction and getting back on track with some healthy eating habits.

You are not alone. Food addiction treatment professionals and support groups can help you overcome.

Boundaries With Unsafe Foods

One of the important factors to treat food addiction is to ensure that you have boundaries with the unsafe food.

When it comes down to explaining what the unsafe foods are, they are the ones that tend to inflict negative impacts on the body or the ones you tend to reach out for when suffering from food addiction.

If you find yourself binge eating some sort of food, especially when you are stressed, it is necessary to ensure that you either set boundaries with those kind of food or simple remove them from your reach and home altogether.

When you have easy access to the foods that you are addicted to, chances are that you will end up binge eating them when you dont necessarily mean to do the same at all.

Also Check: What Do Drug Addicts Use Baking Soda For

Preoccupation With Substance Use

Given obvious constraints, no animal studies assessed the characteristic of preoccupation as it relates to food addiction. However, Tuomisto and colleagues found that self-identified chocolate addicts were significantly more susceptible to hunger compared to controls, possibly indicating a heightened preoccupation with food . Additionally, Merlo and colleagues found that in children, food addiction symptoms were significantly associated with greater preoccupation with food .

When Does Problematic Use Become A Substance Use Disorder

When someone regularly uses drugs or alcohol despite continued negative consequences, they may have substance use disorder.

It is a medical condition that requires treatment from health care providers. Substance use disorders can involve both psychological and physical dependence.

If someone you know has one or more of the following behaviors, they may be experiencing a substance use disorder:

• constant cravings for the drug
• compulsive drug seeking
• continuous use despite the harms that the drug is causing, such as:
• negative health effects
• lower grades or marks at school
• isolation from friends and family members
• extreme changes in behaviours and mood

Recommended Reading: How To Tell If Your Addicted To Alcohol

Food Addiction & Brain Chemistry

Studies have shown that people who were more impulsive tended to develop binge eating symptoms when exposed to a diet high in sugar. They also tended to show heightened cravings and loss of control over junk food. Conversely, participants shown to be less impulsive demonstrated the ability to appropriately control impulsive behavior and did not show abnormal eating behavior when exposed to the sugary diet.

Study authors also found that the impulsive participants showed increased expression of a transcription factor called Delta-FosB in the nucleus accumbens, an area of the brain involved in reward evaluation and impulsive behavior, indicating a potential biological component to this behavior.

Another study showed how consuming rapidly digesting carbs led to an initial surge in blood sugar levels, followed by sharp crash four hours later. This decrease in blood glucose was associated with excessive hunger and intense activation of the nucleus accumbens, a critical brain region involved in addictive behaviors.

Research on the effects of sugar demonstrate a reduction in stress-induced cortisol levels. What that indicates is that we can become addicted to the process of using sugar to reduce stress. The more we do that, the more we teach our brain that sugar is the stress-reduction solution. By finding alternatives to stress-reduction, we can break this cycle.

You may feel powerless, but that does not mean that you are powerless!