Addiction to certain types of food will be with us for life.

[AmandaJayne]

I keep telling people food addiction is just as powerful and in some ways harmful as any other addiction.

When I was craving for that French Bread it was as powerful, if not more so, than anything I ever experienced with alcohol [I have been abstinent from alcohol for over 10 years so I know what I'm talking about]

If you said the side effects of a certain drug was massive weight gain, cardiac problems, diabetes, low self esteem, joint pain, Cancer of the colon etc etc,[ the list is endless] the government would make it a Class A drug.

Obviously you cannot abstain from food long term. But interestingly enough A.A don't say you cannot drink, they just say you CAN'T DRINK ALCOHOL.

I would argue certain foods for food addicts like us are addictive, some are not.
UNREFINED CARBOHYDRATES are addictive. i.e Sugar, pastries, white bread, white pasta. How often did you ever crave salad or vegetables or even lean meat ?

My argument is that when we return to food we should avoid certain foods for good. If we do not it is likely we will put all the weight back on. Most of us can never moderate our intake of unrefined carbs. We should treat sugar etc as an alcoholic does alcohol. If we do not I feel we may never totally recover form this addiction.

An alcoholic can never go back to controlled drinking [I work as a nurse on an Alcohol detox unit]. We can never go back to eating unrefined carbohydrates safely without it going out of control. The physical reason for this is the mood altering effects of an insulin rush [which you get when you eat unrefined carbohydrates].

It is people denying this or not believing it that results in 90% plus of people who lose weight putting it all back on again. Try to be one of the 10% that don't.

MORE PEOPLE DIE OF OBESITY [AND THE COMPLICATIONS OF IT] THAN ANY OTHER DRUG INCLUDING CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL.

Thanks Mr Creosote, for starting this thread. I have a lot of sympathy for your opinion. There is no doubt that certain foods awaken a need in me to consume them, without needing to be physically hungry in the first place, until there is none left.

Sadly, the bottom line is that I am individually responsible for what I choose put in my mouth. I'm not happy about this, but it is an undeniable fact. Therefore I have to find a way to deal with this 'addiction'. I could stop eating the food which makes me feel this way - but this just seems to lead to a sort of 'waiting game' thing, where somewhere in the future I wait to 'fall off the wagon'. and when I do, I do it big time.

So, therefore I have to learn to live with it. Learn to be vigilent to the dangerous times, and more importantly learn to have the will to deal with them when they happen, not close my eyes/mind to what is happening. It starts and ends with me, no one else.

KD - thanks for your link to that article. Where do you find these nuggets of wisdom? Keep them coming.

AJ

 

[KD]

KD - thanks for your link to that article. Where do you find these nuggets of wisdom? Keep them coming.

AJ

Okay then. Think I've posted a lot in the past about this type of thing, but always interesting to read it phrased in another way.

Obese Enjoy Food Less and Less

Overeating -- Like Addiction -- Linked to Brain's Reward Circuit

Oct. 16, 2008 -- Obese people expect to enjoy food more than lean people do, but when they eat, they enjoy it less, a brain study shows.
And that's a problem. To make up for the missing enjoyment, obese people eat more high-calorie food. Overeating further dulls food enjoyment and locks people in a vicious circle.
The finding comes from real-time brain-imaging studies in obese and lean women by Eric Stice, PhD, of the Oregon Research Institute, and colleagues.
"We originally thought obese people would experience more reward from food. But we see obese people only anticipate more reward; they get less reward. It is an ironic process," Stice tells WebMD.
Stice's team showed women a picture of a chocolate milkshake and a picture of a glass of water. The heavier the woman, the more active the pleasure center in her brain.
Then the women actually tasted a chocolate milkshake or a neutral solution. Heavier women had less activity in their brains' pleasure centers.
"Probably this is related to downregulation of the brain's reward circuit. The more you do things that are rewarding, the less reward you see," Stice says. "The more you eat an unhealthy diet, the more you see this blunted pleasure response to high-energy foods."
Tufts University neuroscientist Emmanuel Pothos, PhD, has seen the same thing in mouse studies. He was not involved in the Stice study.
"Obesity is not only a function of brain systems that regulate body weight, but a function of brain systems that regulate eating for pleasure," Pothos says. "In mice, the central dopamine system -- the system that underlies pleasure from eating -- is defective. The animals have a very low response to stimuli that release dopamine. And food is one of those stimuli."


More here




Obese Enjoy Food Less and Less

 

[AmandaJayne]

Holy Moly KD!

Another nugget!

"To make up for the missing enjoyment, obese people eat more high-calorie food. Overeating further dulls food enjoyment and locks people in a vicious circle."

"We originally thought obese people would experience more reward from food. But we see obese people only anticipate more reward; they get less reward. It is an ironic process,"

"Obesity is not only a function of brain systems that regulate body weight, but a function of brain systems that regulate eating for pleasure,"

"In mice, the central dopamine system -- the system that underlies pleasure from eating -- is defective. The animals have a very low response to stimuli that release dopamine. And food is one of those stimuli."

It just goes to emphasise that long term success with keeping off the weight we lose only comes with 'changing your mind' and accepting certain unpalitable truths , i.e. there is no 'cure', no quick fix, no end to the daily struggle to make the right choices.

Just a realisation that things are the way they are and the only person in the world who can change my future from a fat one to a slim one...is me.

Pills, potions, diet sheets, classes, shakes, surgery - well they do enable me to lose weight, sometimes really effectively too. The real challenge comes afterwards, as I have found to my cost:cry:. Still, I do have optimism that one day I WILL SUCCEED. Maybe that day starts today...

AJ

 

[dslater]

Obviously every one of us is different, but i'm not sure your post paints an effective image about what we should and should not do once we reach our ideal weight..

obviously I never intend to go and have a week where I eat pizza, kfc, maccy d's etc just for kicks. but what I'm getting at is that I don't believe food in itself is the root cause for being my size.. my problems arises from being too lazy to exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle.. I have a number of friends who eat anything they want but they play football once a week, walk a mile to work, go to the gym once a week.. Those are things that i've been unable/unwilling to do whilst overweight.

What i'm saying is...food is not the be all and end all to being overweight.

As I said previously.. everyone is different, and if you feel you must cut out certain food types from your diet entirely then you should do so, but I think with foresight, suitable amount of exercise, and binge control we CAN have a lifestyle like our slimmer friends without needing to rule out apetites with an iron fist.

 

[macabar]

Very interesting addiction article KD thanks for that. I've been trying to maintain for a week now, went off track a bit yesterday and was looking for something to help me back, this helps to think about what happened and how I can manage long term.

 

[KD]

What i'm saying is...food is not the be all and end all to being overweight.

Yes, lifestyle in general. Moving about more. Not necessarily organised activities, but trying to walk places you would have driven to. Making it a part of your life.

Food is the biggest thing though I reckon . Actually...will rephrase that....The head work is the biggest thing

but I think with foresight, suitable amount of exercise, and binge control we CAN have a lifestyle like our slimmer friends without needing to rule out apetites with an iron fist.

I was pretty active before I did the diet. But I ate even more. They both help, but I guess it does take a fair amount of activity to burn up all those extra calories. The activity really helps, but you have really got to do an awful lot if you don't sort the eating issues out.