Are you a food addict?

Goreygirl

Gold Member
I know some of us talk (seriously and/or joking) about being food addicts but do you wonder if you really are? In the true sense of the word that is?

The reason I ask because if you are you may find yourself doing self-sabotage/in patterns of behaviour that you wonder why you can't control.. particularly considering how much you want to stick to CD. Why does the willpower suddenly disappear? Why do you suddenly feel so out of control?

If you have real addiction behaviours unless you understand the nature of addictive disease you may find yourself constantly fighting upstream which can be an exhausting and demotivating battle.

I've attached the questionnaires I was given to identify if I had addiction behaviours as I thought it might be helpful to others. It's fairly self explanatory and I've put a link at the bottom to a starting point for further information if needed.
 

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It's compressed. Do you have winzip? If so you have to extract it using winzip.

If not download Download (it's an "unzipping" software.. the most popular free one) .. chose the first one on the list.. the .exe file. Once you have down loaded it it will open the file for you.

WinZip® - Basic Information explains how (the principle of how to open tends to be the same for all the different brands)

Hope that helps
 
I am going to put my addictive nature to better use! I was a much happier person when I was a work addict. The results were gratifying and did wonders for my self esteem...unlike my present (or until before I started CD) self, gorging mindlessly on fatty food....digging my own grave :S
 
i answered yes to nearly all of them :(

That's OK Jax... because knowledge is power! Now you can work on breaking the addiction cycle.. working out where your "pre-occupation" starts so that you can gain more control etc.


The hardest things for us (true addicts) to accept is that we have no control... that for us there is no "just one"... that the delusion that we can stop after one/ a bit is what keeps us stuck.

The Three Stages of Drug Addiction | The Canyon - Malibu, California explains the addiction cycle well
 
Just wondering, if its just me but does anyone ever eat the same kind of meals over & over again?

I have an addictive personality, i've known that for years..... thats the very reason i don't drink alcohol as i know i'd get addicted to it.

Once i like something i eat it all the time until i get fed up of it & then i'll move onto something else. For example for around 8 months i ate an egg mayo sandwich for lunch. Dinner was veg, cauliflower grill & mash for months. Breakfast was crumpets every morning. It annoys my husband a bit because i don't want a different meal. Its not that i don't like other foods but i just tend to love something a lot and don't want to eat something else.

I have eaten some manky burnt foods before because it seems such a waste to throw it away. Also breaks my heart throwing food away.... my husband stops eating when he's full.... i always think.... a few more mouth fulls...... and then will still go & eat biscuits, cake & chocolate afterwards.

I wish i could overcome my demons & eat properly like other people. Why isn't 1 bit of chocolate enough? Why do i need to eat the whole bar + some more foods.
 
:cry::cry::cry:

xxx
 
Wow-thanks Gg- what a lot to think about-I answered yes to all of them,which doesn't surprise me-but I do feel sad about the used teabag type questions...I am so sad for myself (hope it will become the old me) that I would take food from the bin-you know-the pack of biscuits that I didn't want to finish...and now look at me starting to try and justify and explain; am now crying-I put my addiction before my own dignity.
 
Just wondering, if its just me but does anyone ever eat the same kind of meals over & over again?

I have an addictive personality, i've known that for years..... thats the very reason i don't drink alcohol as i know i'd get addicted to it.

Once i like something i eat it all the time until i get fed up of it & then i'll move onto something else. For example for around 8 months i ate an egg mayo sandwich for lunch. Dinner was veg, cauliflower grill & mash for months. Breakfast was crumpets every morning. It annoys my husband a bit because i don't want a different meal. Its not that i don't like other foods but i just tend to love something a lot and don't want to eat something else.

I have eaten some manky burnt foods before because it seems such a waste to throw it away. Also breaks my heart throwing food away.... my husband stops eating when he's full.... i always think.... a few more mouth fulls...... and then will still go & eat biscuits, cake & chocolate afterwards.

I wish i could overcome my demons & eat properly like other people. Why isn't 1 bit of chocolate enough? Why do i need to eat the whole bar + some more foods.

Yes - I love to have the same foods regularly. Although I do love trying new foods and am not afraid to order something different at a restaurant, at the same time I do feel comforted by having the same foods/meals over and over when I am at home, I very rarely get bored of eating the same thing and once I find something I really like, I would quite happily have it every single day for... well, forever I guess!!!! :eek:

I too hate wasting food and will always scrape the burnt bits of lasagne or whatever off the sides of the dish and eat it ALL before it gets washed.
 
Once again, a very interesting thread. I guess I'm not a food addict, but given the chance (and I won't allow me even the tiniest chance there) I could very well become an alcoholic. I do like red wine, wait I love red wine... i would rather drink my glass by myself AND I have finished someone else's glass. The line is verrrrry fine!
 
Hi gg - sadly I have no need to do the questionnaire - food and particularly carbs/sugar are my drug of choice - there are no inbetweens for me and at 37 after years of yo yoing I realise the battle will be lifelong - I would love to find 'balance' in my relationship with food
 
I am going to put my addictive nature to better use! I was a much happier person when I was a work addict. The results were gratifying and did wonders for my self esteem...unlike my present (or until before I started CD) self, gorging mindlessly on fatty food....digging my own grave :S

Hey hon

Be interesting to see how you would score on the work addiction one ..... if you are a real addict (with the dysfunction that brings) or actually use work in a positive way?
 
Hey all

I must admit I balked at the idea of labelling myself as an "addict" when I first considered that concept about myself..... but since I have accepted it it's actually given me a sense of control. I know am learning to understand the cycle of addiction and why, once I am in the pre-occupation phase, it becomes damn near impossible to get off that track leading to a binge. My pre-occupation phase can be 2-3 days long and working out the clues that now warn me that I am risking that phase has been, and still is, hard work!

But understanding it has been a real help... my therapist (an non drinking alcoholic) told me that only another addict can understand the "darkness" of addiction that has us risking relationships because of your addiction, the way addiction becomes the primary relationship in our lives, the lies we tell ourselves and others to hide it, the sense of shame about our behaviour that isolates us makes us more susceptible to the drug.

So apparently facing up and "surrendering" to the fact you/we are addicts begins the process of breaking that isolation and delusions etc
 
I know I am I have been bingeing and I have tried to stop but can't hence putting on weight and since being on cd from November last year I have binged and so I seek help.
 
Tegzy, have you looked into OA? Overeaters Anonymous have meetings all over the UK. The meetings may not be for everyone (not for me-tried but didn't take to it) however-the 12 step programs have helped many, many people. Otherwise, other than a therapist of some sort-I'm not sure..I've been looking at various sorts books, etc-sorry it's not much help!! Goreygirl may know-she is a guru! xx
 
Where are we supposed to go for help with a food addiction?

Hey hon

Food Addicts In Recovery Anonymous: Home is an excellent resource and Food Addicts In Recovery Anonymous: Home gives a list of meetings in the UK.

As Daydream says OA also works along similar principles.

BEAT is also an eating disorder recovery network but I am not sure how much they work from the addiction angle beat : Welcome to beat

A self help book in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can also help as changing behaviours changes thinking so can work well alongside a program that has you changing thinking to change behaviours. I've just started the Beck Diet Solution Workbook which is a well known CBT based self-help program. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beck-Diet-Solution-Weight-Workbook/dp/0848731913

I hope this helps get you started.
 
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