Kicking food addiction

Abstract

Food addicts are people who become dependent on food to gain enjoyment or stop discomfort by binging on certain foods and continue this even after satiety, terminating at the point of feeling mortified. They experience changes in tendency and attitude that are before every other consideration biochemical. The only answer is complete abstinence, outside support to remain food abstemious, and emotive work to move toward the readiness to do the essentials of the recovery process.

Who is a food addict?

Without a doubt, everyone has heard of the expression food addict. Lots of people’s overweight are not due to an addiction; while some people seem to suffer from overweight because they are addicted to food. Once food dependence was referred to as a mentally based eating disorder, recent studies have depicted that it is primarily based on chemical dependency. Recognized by the American Medical Association, it seems that this habit is finally catching up with drug or alcohol addiction. Most compulsive overeaters never learn effective ways to deal with demanding situations and instead, turn to food as a way of relieving painful feelings. Food addicts also strive to gain pleasure by binging on certain nourishments that are rich in sugar, fat, and salt and generate gratification in the brain and continue this even after satiety ending at the point of feeling mortified.

Signs and Symptoms

The most common signs and symptoms include devouring food beyond the normal tolerance, fast eating, covert eating, binging after a diet, weight fluctuations, chronic lethargy, insomnia, digestive disorders, and mood swings.

Side effects

Food fanatics often suffer from plenty of mental and corporal consequences. Nevertheless, these problems cannot prevent them from overeating habits, which intensify their current problems. Here is a list of side effects:

Hypertension, heart problems, diabetes, digestive problems, malnutrition, high cholesterol, obesity, chronic fatigue, bone degeneration, arthritis, stroke, sleep disorders, reduced sex drive, kidney, liver Disease, sadness, increased irritability, and career difficulties

Causes of Food Addiction

We can become a food addict by mental, biological, or other factors. Here, the biological causes are explained much more than the other two causes because of their specific role in food obsession:

- Biological causes mainly include genetic factors, some abnormalities in the brain, and hormonal disturbances:

•          Genetic causes: In a recent UCLA College of Medicine study of overweight people with binging habits, the researchers detected, at least, one gene marker that was the same as that found in drug addicts.

•          Brain imaging evidence: Overeating produces alterations in the brain that are similar to those in drug abuse. The overeaters experience a process of recalling the good effects of foods and the alleviation of pain, but forgetting the undesirable emotive and corporal outcomes. Moreover, the hypothalamus senses that eating has occurred with a time delay, which means changes in the time it takes to feel satiety.

•          Evidence of opioid dependency: Several studies by psychology professionals at the University of Washington have shown that the body of a food addict is producing its own opium-like drug. According to Neil Bernard, M.D “some foods have opiates that are produced during digestion. There is evidence that there really is something about sugar, meat and some other meals that set them apart. They actually induce the brain in such a way that it is easy to get snared and hard to break free.”

•          Evidence of malfunction of serotonin: Serotonin synapses in the brain signal the mitigation of corporal and emotive pain. This substance is manufactured and released when refined carbohydrates (sugar, flour, and alcohol) are ingested. If serotonin reaches certain concentrations, it tells you to stop eating. Evidently, some people fail to have the proper process. Therefore, they eat a lot without a stop eating point.

- Psychological causes include emotional or sexual abuse, inability to handle difficult situations, lack of self-confidence, or the loss of a loved one. Those individuals use foods as a relieving mechanism against their agonizing situation.

- Social causes include family problems, child abuse, isolated life, disillusioned state, or lack of social support.

Treatment

Treatment is similar to the rehabilitation of drug addicts. When overeaters are parted from their primary binge foods, the first change is that their cravings are diminished to the point where they are no longer overwhelming. Even more important for long-term success, the minds of the detoxified individuals begin to change in remarkable ways. Where once they believed their own justifications about food, detoxification helps the food addicts begin to see their past thinking as erroneous. Psychologically based eating disorder programs using behavior alteration to teach moderate eating practices do not have an effect on those with severe cases of food dependency. In these cases, only complete restraint of addictive foods and behaviors is fruitful. Even when food addicts are bodily detoxified, they still need to be encouraged to cope with difficult feelings.

The most advanced cases also need to continue recovery work for life. When people use food to cope with the feelings, they need to develop alternatives to overeating to deal with difficult emotions. In unresolved trauma cases, this is difficult and individuals use food to contain their feelings. In these cases outside help is mandatory. Food addiction is not a trauma-based eating disorder. People who become dependent on diet experience changes in instinct and attitude that have biochemical causes. Therefore, complete abstinence is the answer. Moreover, outside support to stay food abstemious is required to recover. A majority of food addicts also have eating disorders due to trauma, so they need to work on both.