Click on the Pin button to pin a Pinterest optimized image.What is Food Addiction?
In my article on how to stop emotional eating effortlessly, I told you about a man whose food addiction was extreme. He is so addicted to sushi that he just can’t stop eating it, even though he knows that he is risking a Quicke’s edema and his life each time he does. This illustrates how powerful food addiction can become. It can end up overriding your intrinsic survival instincts. You know you’re doing something that is detrimental to your health or that could even kill you, but you just can’t stop yourself. The substance and the sensation it provides becomes more important than your well-being.
As with any compulsive eating disorder, food addiction will push someone to drink or eat too much. I ruined my teeth with a gummy bear and cookie addiction. Eating gummy bears was part of my daily routine. I was not necessarily overeating, but I had to have them daily. They were the fun and excitement in my life.
Food addiction symptoms can differ from binge eating symptoms in that aspect because you don’t necessarily binge on the food you’re addicted to. You may have large amounts regularly but still not enough to call it a binge. This doesn’t mean you’re not addicted to food. It just means you’re not a binge eater.
Why are you addicted to foods?
Food addicts are usually yearning for something that’s missing in their lives, like a feeling of comfort, belonging, safety… They use their favorite food as a substitute for that feeling. Tweet this
For example, I ate familiar food to alleviate my homesickness. I was in New York City and very far from home. I was missing my friends, my family, and my country dearly. Two foods brought me back home Pims cookies and golden gummy bear sweets. I used to eat them in my childhood. They gave me a taste of being at home, so I had a pack of each every night. When I went back home, my food addiction vanished. In other words, my addiction disappeared along with my feelings of lacking.
So…How Can You End Food Addiction?
Your first step toward food addiction recovery is to discover what you’re trying to compensate for or attain with food. As a food addict, you’re probably disconnected from your emotions. It doesn’t mean you don’t have any; it just means that you probably don’t sense where they’re coming from and why.
First, Get Clear on Why You Just Can’t Stop Eating Certain Foods
Here is a simple exercise that can help you learn about yourself and the core issue of your food addiction:
Sit and start a mental investigation. Eat the food you’re addicted to and write down how it feels while you are eating it: soft, mushy, warm, velvety, crunchy, smooth, etc.
Once you have your list of all the bodily sensation associated with the food, write an emotion next to each sensation. For example, soft might feel nurturing and safe. Crunchy could be powerful or confident. And so on. This will help you uncover what is missing in your life. Once you know, you can start taking actions that will bring what you really need.
Second, Take Action and Give Yourself What You Truly Need
For example, if I had acknowledged my homesickness instead of suppressing it, I could have taken actions to make myself feel better. For example, I could have joined expat groups, or called my friends in France more often, or just accepted that I needed to travel back home and party with all the people I loved.
If you’re a food addict, learning to connect to your emotional needs and nurture them is a very important skill. (Tweet this) You’ll have to develop it quickly if you want tangible and long-lasting results. In other words, you’ll have to care for and take care of yourself in better, more fulfilling ways than just eating more.
The method I use can help you connect with yourself and relieve excess stress and negative emotions almost instantly. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll be able to recognize your feelings and release tension.
After that, you’ll have to take the steps you must take to provide yourself with what you really need. So, step one is finding what you truly want; step two is doing whatever is necessary to get it.
You may feel some resistance in the way of fears, doubt, or anxiety when you do, but you’ll just have to push through until it evaporates. I know many techniques that can make this transition a million times more pleasant, but that’s an entirely new subject. Make sure to read my article Conquer Your Fear and Stop Eating So Much Food in Four Easy Steps. It will help you greatly handle you unconscious resistance to change.
If you feel you need someone to help you with that, contact me now to make an appointment. Space is limited. If you can’t afford my fee or you don’t feel ready, subscribe to my newsletter below and I’ll be more than happy to share my knowledge with you for free.
Addiction to a specific food is one of the easiest forms of compulsive eating to recover from. To give you an example, I have fully recovered from my chocolate addiction with a single session. Unfortunately, sometimes food addiction can be more complex. If this is the case for you, you’ll need to learn how to overcome emotional eating.
If I Didn’t Convince You, Read This Now.
Life without food addiction is extremely rewarding. I remember I used to go buy gummy bears late at night. It was often cold and dangerous. I had to have them before going to sleep; if I didn’t, I would have a rough night. I felt ashamed of abandoning myself deep inside but I just couldn’t face my pain.
I know now that a part of me was secretly hoping to be rescued. I was waiting for something or someone to make it better. The child in me was hoping someone would acknowledge her pain and fix her unhappy childhood. Food was the best alternative I could find. Years later, I found out that I’m the best rescuer on the planet. I feel so much respect and love for myself and I feel proud of the person I’ve become.
I wish I could have started living my life sooner, but I didn’t. That’s why I want you to start yours now, and I know it can’t and won’t just happen if you’re using food to abandon your real dreams.
Think of all the actions you’re not taking to live your dream life each time you eat too much. Think of me and all the good times I missed out on just because it was easier to smoke, eat, and cling to relationships that could never work. I did this for years, years during which I could have had exactly what it was I wanted.
So how about you? What if you looked at what you don’t want to see and find the courage within yourself to see through it, feel through it, and see what’s on the other side.
Whether you admit it or not, your life is in your hands. Every time you binge, you’re missing the opportunity to learn about yourself and make those things you want happen in your life. Tweet this
If you’re feeling sad right now, that’s good. Maybe it’s time you see how you have abandoned yourself, at least a part of yourself. Hate me for a minute; you’ll thank me the next for pushing you. I push you because I know the price of missing out on life.
One day you wake up and you ask yourself, “Where the fuc* did my life go?” You feel horrible. At that moment, instead of heading to the kitchen I want you to feel it fully and cry your heart out, because this will be the first step toward the life of your dreams. I surely hope I have convinced you, because facing pain is worth it all. So let’s kick this freakin’ food addiction and welcome the awesome woman you know you are. Shall we? Remember, it’s OK if it starts with a tear.
Excellent article….I want that freedom from food addiction!!!!!!
Glad you like it Katy! I can help you with that. :-).
Thank you so much for this!
My pleasure Kim! I’m glad you found it.