Food Addiction Basics
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Food addiction is a form of overeating and is characterized by out of control eating or binge eating. Overeaters often consume food to the point where theyre uncomfortably full. Such overeating and binge eating episodes are generally followed by very strong feelings of guilt and shame. A food addict often keeps his or her food addiction a secret and overeats in private. Food addicts generally eat normal in public or in the presence of friends and family in order to hide their strange eating habits.
A consequence of food addiction is consuming a very large number of calories in a very short amount of time. This kind of overeating often leads to weight gain. Most overeaters try to lose weight they generally fail. Instead they go through cycles of dieting followed by overeating. Many food addicts are diagnosed by therapists as having binge eating disorder.
Overeating has additional serious consequences including heart disease, diabetes, depression and high cholesterol. There are also long term effects such as arthritis, stroke, kidney disease, and bone deterioration.
Eating large amounts of food very quickly, preoccupation with body weight, constant feeling of hunger, mood swings, depression a history of weight fluctuation, a history of unsuccessful dieting, and eating little in public while being clearly overweight are all signs shared by sufferers of food addiction.
Often food addicts consume a huge amount of calories in a day resulting in an addictive high and feelings of release from emotional or psychological stress. Most of their overeating is often a form of emotional eating or eating to comfort tough emotions.
Counseling and therapy are common forms of recovery methods for food addicts. A critical part of counseling is working with the patient on creating healthier habits to deal with emotional and psychological stress instead of resorting to food for comfort. Another important part of recovery is helping the sufferer become more aware of why and how much he or she eats. This is usually done through journaling and working on being more present minded.
While bulimia shares some commonalities with food addiction they are both different eating disorder. Food addiction is characterized by overeating or binge eating. Bulimia is characterized by overeating or binge eating followed by purging. For bulimics common forms of purging include fasting, vomiting, excessively exercising, or using laxatives.
Food addictions, bulimia and other eating disorders are most common among younger women in their teens or twenties. It sometimes takes years of therapy to treat an eating disorder however therapy does seem to be a very effective treatment. There are even therapists who specialize only in eating disorders.
There are also many support groups for eating disorder recovery. Such support groups include ANAD and overeaters anonymous. Many support groups follow a rigid 12 step recovery program. Others follow very flexible recovery plans providing advice and letting the food addict make progress at his or her own pace. In either case support groups are a great way to build peer support and accountability. Attending a support groups is great step to recovering from an eating disorder.
About the Author
Andrew is the author of the overcoming food addiction blog which contains information about food addiction treatment.
