Overcoming Food Addictions: Find Out If You are Addicted to Food and How to Overcome This Very Challenging Situation Naturally

The Characteristics of Addiction

An addiction is a behavior that causes a person to compulsively participate in a behavior that is damaging to themselves and often to those around them. The person will often go to extreme measures to participate in this behavior and when this behavior is terminated, withdrawal symptoms, usually severe, occur. The addictive substance brings about pleasant feelings which causes the addict to come back to it despite the detrimental affects the substance causes. Eventually, addiction causes changes in the chemistry in the brain which causes the addict to need more and more of the substance in order to attain the same feeling that less of the substance resulted in before.

Typically, addiction is associated with drugs and alcohol. We also hear often of caffeine addiction which usually does not cause such detrimental withdrawal symptoms or as much damage to the addict as drugs and alcohol. Nonetheless, it is widely known that caffeine is addicting.

Is Food Addicting?

In a study titled, “Refined Food Addiction: A Classic Substance Use Disorder”, researchers found that “the observational and empirical data strengthen the hypothesis that certain refined food consumption behaviors meet the criteria for substance use disorders, not unlike tobacco and alcohol. This hypothesis could lead to a new diagnostic category, as well as therapeutic approaches to changing overeating behaviors.“1

A Princeton University Scientist, Bart Hoebel, who has been studying sugar addiction in rats for years stated “We have the first set of comprehensive studies showing the strong suggestion of sugar addiction in rats and a mechanism that might underlie it,“2

Since 1976, the prevalence of obesity has doubled. This is not a fact we can ignore and with new information becoming available on the addictiveness of food, it is an issue we must come to terms with.

Overcoming Food Addictions

For many people, all types of food can be enjoyed in moderation with no problem. People that are not addicted to food can eat until they are content and then stop. For others, this is not how it works. Food can create a very destructive pattern of addiction. A person who is addicted to food needs more and more of it over time to get the same pleasure they got when they began eating the addicting food. If they stop eating it, they have withdrawal symptoms which many times involves anxiety and social withdrawal. The food addict continually eats more than intended and then makes desperate attempts to stop eating that food which leads to a self-denial/binge pattern. The addict becomes obesessed with the addictive substance and will often go into “hiding” to ingest it. The addict is then mad at themselves for ingesting the addictive food and tries to stop eating it only to end up eating more than they did the last time. As a result, they gain weight which only adds to the destructive pattern and self directed anger that follows. This pattern is repeated over and over. These are all the classic signs of addiction.

The interesting fact is that people who are treated for eating disorders are often taught to eat small amounts of the foods that are addcting to them. This would be similar to giving alcoholics or drug addicts small amounts of the addicting drug or alcohol so that they learn self control. It simply does not work for an addict.

The key to overcoming food addictions is to get the addictive foods out of the diet and replace them with foods that are not addicting. Scientific evidence very strongly suggests that foods that are the most addicting and harmful to our health are refined sugars and proecessed carbohydrates and other processed foods.

The most difficult step is to recognize the food addiciton. A good question to ask the possible addict or yourself is, “What would happen if I were to give up refined sugars and processed carbohydrates and other processed foods today? Could I do it? Give it a try. If you try it and cannot do it for more than a day or a week, you may be addicted to these foods. One possible reason you may be addicted is that your body is not getting the nutrients it requires. Many times, adding very nutrient dense foods to the diet can eliminate unhealthy food cravings. A good way to do this is to add green smoothies into your diet. Another good way to add a lot of nutrition to your diet is by adding enzyme rich foods.

One way to stop eating sugar is to learn how to make healthy, satisfying desserts and snacks that are full of nutrition. Two books that are chalk full of ideas on healthy food substitutions and ideas are Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine and The Raw Food Detox Diet. It is amazing what happens to the food addict when they successfully remove the addicting foods from their lives. The person becomes free from their bondage to food. They can think more clearly. Often they will be much better equipped to prioritize their lives properly. They will become more organized. Their whole outlook on life will become more positive.

It is imortant to find support for this kind of lifestyle change whether it be a friend, a counselor, a pastor, a spouse. Tell someone what you are dealing with and ask for their support.

Some helpful resources are www.therawfooddetoxdiet.com, www.gabrielcousens.com, www.foodaddictionsummit.org and The Refined Foods Addiction Research Foundation.

Like any addiction, overcoming food addictions is not only possible, but will change your life forever!

Notes

1. [Med Hypotheses.](javascript:AL_get(this, ‘jour’, ‘Med Hypotheses.’);) 2009 May;72(5):518-26. Epub 2009 Feb 14

2. Bart Hoebel, Ph.D. “Sugar can be addictive, Princeton scientist says.” https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S22/88/56G31/index.xml?section=topstories