Eating healthy and losing weight
seems downright impossible for many people. Despite their best intentions, they
repeatedly find themselves eating large amounts of unhealthy foods, despite
knowing that it is causing them harm. Food addiction is a very serious problem
and one of the main reasons some people just can’t control themselves around
certain foods, no matter how hard they try.
A
food addiction is a behavioral addiction that is characterized by
the compulsive over-consumption of certain foods. It is usually framed as an
emotional issue, but it is in fact largely a biochemical problem. Nobody
chooses addiction. These behaviors arise from primitive neurochemical reward
centers in the brain that override normal willpower and, in the case of food
addictions, overwhelm the ordinary biological signals that control hunger. Scientists
are finding high-fat, high-sugar foods can trigger lasting brain changes that
might make it difficult to resist overeating. Furthermore, those changes
resemble what happens in the brain when someone is addicted to drugs, such as
alcohol.
Why is it so hard for obese
people to lose weight despite the social stigma and health consequences such as
high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and even cancer? It is
because in the vast majority of cases, processed foods made of sugar, fat, and
salt are addictive and we are biologically wired to crave these foods and eat
as much of them as possible. Many people use food as a comfort when feeling
down, depressed, anxious, stressed or angry. Foods high in sugar, salt, starch
and fat can trigger the brain with "feel-good" chemicals. When food
addicts experience pleasure from feel-good chemicals, such as dopamine that are
released after eating certain foods, they quickly feel the need to eat again. Scientists
believe this is the link between food addiction and obesity.
Signs and symptoms of Food Addiction
A person with symptoms of compulsive
overeating has what can be characterized as an addiction to food. She uses food
and eating as a way to hide from or manage her emotions, to fill a void she
feels inside, or to cope with daily stresses and problems in her life. The
following are some behavioral and emotional signs and symptoms of food
addiction:
- Inability to stop eating or
control what is eaten
- Awareness that eating patterns
are abnormal
- Eating alone due to shame and
embarrassment
- Feelings of guilt due to
overeating
- Binge eating, or eating
uncontrollably even when not physically hungry
- Eating much more rapidly than
normal
Stop Food
Addiction with Mindful Eating
Mindful
eating involves paying full attention to the experience of eating and drinking,
both inside and outside the body. Many
people who struggle with food react mindlessly to their unrecognized or
unexamined triggers, thoughts, and feelings. In other words, they re-act-repeating past actions again
and again-feeling powerless to change. Mindfulness increases your awareness of
these patterns without judgment and creates space between your triggers and
your actions. Mindful eating can diminish and even stop problems with food
addiction. This works in several ways, specifically, by helping you disrupt the
link between your urges and eating behaviors.
