We hear so many stories in the news of many people becoming addicted to common substances such as drugs and alcohol. But did you know there is such a thing as food addiction? Can you be addicted to food? You may think, how can that be? We need food to survive and stay healthy. But if it gets to a point where it’s all you think about and it becomes an uncontrollable urge, it may become an addiction. Let’s examine all about this problem, what its signs and symptoms are, how it is different from emotional eating, and how you can overcome it naturally.
Is There Such a Thing as Being Addicted to Food?
Some people may think, Can you be addicted to food? The answer to that is yes. Food addiction is when someone develops a dependency on certain foods or eating behaviors. It is a brain disease, just like the other addictions. The most common addictive foods are those high in sugar, flour, fat, salt, certain grains, or all of these. Most people don’t think of food addiction as a real problem like drug or alcohol addiction. Most people within the medical community don’t understand how some people can become addicted to certain foods. They just assume that those who eat too much just lack willpower or choose to overeat. But it is a real addiction that could become very harmful to your health in so many ways and lead to various medical diseases such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, obesity, etc.
Signs and Symptoms of Food Addiction
The signs and symptoms of food addiction usually lie when the person can’t stop thinking about food. Their love for certain foods or eating behaviors can become uncontrollable and they lose self-control. If you continue to incessantly eat until you get sick or you want to stop but can’t, you may likely have a food addiction. You may also start to have feelings of guilt or shame after eating. This could also be considered binge eating. A person with a food addiction may also start to feel withdrawal-like symptoms when cutting back on a certain food such as cravings, headaches, or irritability.
Food Addiction vs. Emotional Eating: What’s the Difference?
When people think of food addiction, they often associate it with emotional eating. However, there are some differences between the two. A person who is an emotional eater often uses food to medicate the emotional pain they’ve been experiencing. Those who are diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge-eating disorder are often going through an underlying emotional issue. People with emotional eating problems must learn to develop new skills to cope with feelings.
A person who’s dealing with food addiction processes food in a bio-chemically different way from an emotional eater. They are said to be chemically dependent on a certain food or in some cases all food. As their disease continues to progress, they become powerless over their physical craving and develop distortions and obsessions that can keep them in denial.
How to Overcome Food Addiction Naturally
However, food addiction can be overcome and it takes more than just developing more willpower to stop eating too much. Food addiction is a mental disorder and it requires you to do more to treat this illness. It requires you to make more healthy choices psychologically that could slow down this addiction. Here are four ways you can strive to overcome it with a little work and patience.
Avoid Unhealthy Triggers
This involves separating yourself from anything that could easily trigger this problem for you. Try avoiding certain people, places, and situations that could intensify those cravings. By doing this, you’ll be slowing down your need to eat more than usual or always consume that addicting food. There are also trigger foods you must avoid such as fast food items or foods with processed sugar.
Consider Joining a Support Group
A support group is a good example of a psychological way of managing this condition. Joining one could help seek help from other people who may be dealing with this just like you. These groups usually involve people meeting together to discuss and share their problems or issues and how they could overcome them. It’s usually in person, but there are some on line as well. People from support groups for food addicts come together to help one another cope with this problem and stay accountable.
Make Nutritional Lifestyle Changes
One of the most important things to do is to take action if you’ve been dealing with this problem. Making changes in the way you eat involves eating more mindfully. Consider keeping track of your eating consumption using a diet planner or eating tracker. Try pre-planning your meals ahead of time so that you won’t easily start to indulge in anything compulsively.
Contact a Medical Professional for Help
Since food addiction is a real illness, seeking help from a medical professional is always a good idea when it becomes serious. People go through various treatment options to treat this form of addiction such as structured programs, medication, or even therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a form of treatment that could help someone dealing with a mental disorder like food addiction. A therapist usually works with the person by utilizing various techniques to help them manage their condition.
You Can Overcome Food Addiction with Time and Patience
Of course, it could take time and patience to overcome any problem you’re dealing with, including food addiction. It’s very difficult to manage this condition because food is good for us and we need it to live. But we have to be careful of developing a mindset of living to eat. By paying attention to the signs and symptoms and following the four suggestions above to overcome them naturally, we can be on the road to recovering from food addiction.
Are you coping with food addiction? Do you know anyone dealing with this problem? Share your ways of overcoming food addiction naturally in the comments section below. If you’re still learning how to cope with it, feel free to share that, too. As always, be sure to like or share this post with the next person you know coping with this illness.
