Causes of food addiction
It's normal to enjoy the taste of food. And when the process of eating itself becomes the meaning of life, it is already an addiction. It does not appear in a few months, but over a long period. The causes may begin in childhood or adolescence. And the slightest push - stress, difficult memories, depression, self-doubt - triggers the process of gluttony. A person tries to escape from his problems by giving preference to his favorite dishes, and without any control over the portion size.
Then he begins to hate himself for not being able to resist. A new depression appears, from which another portion of fast food or a huge piece of cake helps to escape. A vicious circle is formed: body fat increases, self-esteem decreases, and mood deteriorates. A person convinces himself that the only joy in life is delicious food, so why deprive yourself of this pleasure?
This behavior is not the only manifestation of addiction. The patient may not recover, causing unnatural emptying of the stomach and intestines, or even refuse to eat.
Let's get rid of food addiction!
You have extra pounds and a strong desire to regain your former slimness. But the permanent struggle with weight does not give any results. How to deal with this problem? You just need to approach its solution in a comprehensive manner. Evgenia Panchenko, a regular expert on the Family Size program, talks about how to help yourself emotionally tune in to the difficult process of losing weight.
More on the topic: Self-tuning technique for those who want to lose weight
Getting rid of food addiction. Photo: thinkstockphotos Most obese people, suffering from fat mass, spend a significant part of their lives in exhausting and unsuccessful attempts to get rid of excess weight. And there are a great many methods of this cruel struggle: pills and all sorts of fat burners, laxative and diuretic teas, running and exercise equipment, fasting and exhausting diets.
Fighting kilograms
People enter into their next battle with their own weight with great enthusiasm, and how does it usually end? Most often, another failure, feelings of resentment towards oneself and anger towards an ineffective method. It happens that, having gathered his will into a fist, a person finally loses a certain amount of kilograms, but very soon the fat returns to its owner.
And as a rule, after many years of struggle, those losing weight capitulate. There is a similar scientific excuse, but it does not explain anything: improper metabolism, constitution, heredity, etc. A person gives up and continues to live, under the moral and physiological pressure of excess weight, with a feeling of resentment and dissatisfaction, secretly dreaming of a magic pill, after eating which, one day he will wake up light and slender.
Why do we eat more?
Let's try to understand the reasons for this phenomenon. It is known that obesity is a consequence of an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure in the body, that is, overeating against the backdrop of a sedentary lifestyle, from which, unfortunately, most of the urban population now suffers.
Everyone knows: to lose weight you need to eat less. But it is so hard! This is where the main question arises: “Why does a person feel the need to eat more than necessary?” The fact is that overeating is a consequence of certain psychological factors in a person’s life. And only after understanding and working through them can you count on an effective and comfortable weight loss process.
The mechanism for the formation of food addiction is the same as during the development of alcoholism, smoking and other similar forms of self-destructive behavior. Overeating appears and is recorded as a reaction to acute or chronic stressful situations. Often, against the background of constant emotional stress, overwork, conflict situations in the family or at work, an anxious state and internal discomfort arise.
Therefore, food becomes the only possible way to compensate for stress, at least temporarily. It’s not for nothing that they say, “stress eats away.” The taste of food and the feeling of fullness are physiological sources of positive emotions. And against the backdrop of emotional imbalance, the body does not allow them to be abandoned so easily.
Thus, it is impossible to lose weight through diet or exercise alone. Complex methods are effective, including work aimed at both the psychological and biological components of excess weight.
One can argue whether it is necessary to lose weight or not, whether it is important or not, but one thing is obvious - by getting rid of excess weight, a person regains lost energy, activity, vitality, and acquires a new quality of life! And if you decide to start the fight against fat mass, complete two tasks.
Task No. 1. Remember when and why you started gaining weight. Perhaps now you can analyze some psychological reasons for this. What was happening in your life, in your soul during that period of time? And also watch yourself now - at what moments your appetite is especially strong. What is this connected with? Write about it. More details would be desirable.
Task No. 2. Within two days, you need to give yourself a gift for starting to work on your own slimness. Get creative with this task and think about the little child, the little girl who still lives inside of you. She wants to have fun and enjoy life. Make her happy.
Types of food addiction
There are three types of food addiction. The external manifestation of each is different (some patients get better, others control their weight, others lose weight), but the psychological state and consequences are almost the same.
Failure to eat food only when hungry leads to serious illness
- Binge eating
With any minor trouble, a person tries to console himself with food. Moreover, he can come up with a problem “out of nothing” on his own. Because he knows from the very beginning how he will solve it. Food cravings increase gradually, especially for refined foods. There are clear signs of illness.
- A person constantly thinks about food: where to buy, what to cook, whether there is everything in the refrigerator.
- The lack of your favorite food causes a bad mood. The patient is going to run after him at any time of the day.
- Wakes up at night to eat. Indiscriminately empties the refrigerator.
- Reluctance to share with someone.
Obesity entails not only external changes in the figure not for the better, but also many concomitant diseases: hypertension, diabetes, malfunctions of the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems.
Those capable of self-analysis will be able to determine the time and reason for the onset of gluttony. These can be difficulties not only of a psychological nature, but also social and economic.
Gluttony leads to many diseases
- Bulimia
A serious illness in which a person eats everything, combines foods in such a way that it is difficult for a healthy person to imagine. It fills the stomach to such an extent that the walls can crack (unfortunately, such cases have happened). Then he induces vomiting or takes laxatives so as not to gain weight. As a result, a reflex is developed, and this reaction to food becomes constant without intervention.
Constant vomiting causes irritation of the esophagus, diseases of the oral cavity, and destruction of tooth enamel.
The stomach becomes filled to such an extent that the reverse process begins
- Anorexia
The patient develops an aversion to food. He can't bring himself to eat anything. The definitions “thin” and “beautiful” are synonymous for him. First comes the refusal of certain foods and even the fear of them, so as not to gain weight. In the mirror image, many folds of fat appear before your eyes, which you need to get rid of immediately. Therefore, the list of prohibited foods is ever expanding, and eventually a person may stop eating completely.
He becomes afraid that when visiting public places he will be offered some kind of food. As a result, starvation may simply occur.
Exhausted people consider themselves fat and try to lose more weight
How to overcome food addiction
To overcome food addiction, you need to develop healthy habits. They are based on saturating the body with nutrients; emotions should not be involved.
Learn to use relaxing techniques to combat stress: yoga, Pilates, running, swimming; for some, meditation or acupuncture treatments are suitable. You can't remove power completely.
Try to adhere to the following recommendations to overcome food addiction:
- It is necessary to monitor the balance of food consumed. Try to eat food 3 times a day, and one snack (apple, cottage cheese, dried fruits) is allowed between main meals. Last meal three hours before bedtime. Contact a specialist who will help you develop the nutritional plan necessary for your specific case.
- Get rid of irritants. Do not buy harmful products that provoke gluttony, warn your family and friends about this.
- Sport is the key to health, with its help you can bring yourself back to normal, it is an excellent “pill” for combating stress. Moderate exercise also promotes the production of joy hormones.
- Take your free time: find yourself in a new exciting activity or remember what you used to love to do. With the help of a hobby, you will be completely absorbed in this activity, and the results can bring good income.
- Make friends with people who have overcome addiction or are still in the process of doing so.
- Build strong motivation - setting the right goals and the support of loved ones can work wonders.
- Work on your self-esteem - constantly increase it, get out of your comfort zone, such work on yourself will soon bear fruit.
Psychotherapists who use cognitive behavioral psychotherapy also treat food addiction. To achieve positive results, doctors look for the root cause of the disorder, after which a gradual replacement of brain function with more entertaining activities occurs. Group work brings great effectiveness in the treatment of food addiction, where people unite around one problem and share their experience of combating the desires of gluttony.
Ways to get rid of the disease
A disease of any kind can lead to consequences incompatible with life. Therefore, many people wonder how to get rid of food addiction and whether they can count on a positive result. The answer will be in the affirmative if the patient has a desire. After all, all problems lie in the head. The main role is played by the inner attitude.
Only a few people can get rid of addiction on their own, but it’s worth a try. Maybe you are the person who can do this.
- Need motivation. You can return to normal life for your parents (after all, they worry most about your health), children (their psyche suffers from an early age, and there can be no confidence that after some time they will not follow your example), a loved one (he really wants to see you again irresistible and in a good mood).
- Distractive activities will save you from constantly thinking about food. This could be sports, dancing, studying, traveling, visiting exhibitions and museums, providing free assistance, growing flowers, caring for pets and much more.
- It is necessary to increase self-esteem. This is difficult only at first glance. But there’s nothing to invent on your own—psychologists did everything. They recommend keeping a diary and recording all your achievements. You don’t need to set world records to do this - giving up chips while watching a TV series is already a step towards success.
If you cannot cope with the problem yourself, you need to contact specialists. They will select one of the types of therapy or recommend hypnotic suggestion.
Modern treatment for food addiction
To treat food addiction and eating disorders, it is first necessary to deal with the complex of accumulated intrapersonal problems - personal reconstructive therapy, cognitive-behavioral and suggestive psychotherapy, as well as a strict system of food control are indicated. It is necessary to convince the patient to start eating, and for this you will have to come up with a new value system, create motivation, and strengthen her independence and autonomy from her parents. It is important to work with the immediate family, and it is better to reduce their influence on the child, leave her alone for a while or gradually reduce control. The patient must be taught independence and cope with emerging difficulties in more adequate ways, satisfy the needs for communication and obtaining information, correct erroneous thinking patterns and reformulate requests in a positive way. In severe cases, patients with food addiction are hospitalized in a hospital, since this condition is life-threatening. In the hospital, replacement therapy with nutrient solutions is carried out, and in mild cases, “home” but intensive treatment is possible.
How to understand that you are a foodaholic
If from all of the above, you have not yet been able to recognize whether you are prone to a food trance, then I suggest taking a short test.
Below are the most common signs of an eating disorder. Read each paragraph carefully.
- Constant thoughts about food
- Lack of self-control
- Eating stress
- Rewarding your success with food
- Spontaneous irresistible desire to eat what you see, even if you are not hungry
- Gradual increase in portions
- Fear of being hungry
- Feeling like a vicious circle
- Eating a portion to the end when you are already full
- Love to have dinner parties alone
- Anxiety due to hunger
- Feeling guilty about what you eat
- Irritation or resentment at criticism from others
- Night zhor
- Desire for instant gratification
Have you noticed at least one or even several symptoms? If yes, you should make every effort to get rid of them, because this is not healthy behavior.
If you find all the signs in yourself at once, then you need to be treated! How? More on this below.
Bulimia
How to get rid of food addiction if you constantly think about food and weight?
Do not think that the solution to the problem lies in the field of willpower. When you repeatedly try to pull yourself together, refusing food and being distracted by other things, you break down again and again, and your self-esteem and self-esteem suffer as a result. The fact is that you cannot get rid of food addiction using willpower.
I think you know that your need is not for food, because you absorb food even if you are not hungry or when you are already so full that it is difficult to breathe. Your need is for warmth, peace and love, the replacement of which is food, since you were not able to fully satisfy this need with the help of care and physical contact with adults in childhood due to their detachment or busyness.
When you're wondering how to break your food addiction, you're focusing on how to deprive yourself of the only way to calm down and stay warm that you currently have. Of course, your body is against it and is trying in every possible way to preserve this method of consolation for you.
To overcome food addiction, you need to ensure that you have other, more effective ways to self-soothe, reward effort, feel sorry, and gain joy. Usually, those suffering from food addiction have no other options at all.
I am often told that these methods include exercise or classes such as English, but these methods involve effort and achievement, and food is a completely different form of calm, which is why such methods cannot replace food.
The best and completely free way to relax and calm down from food addiction is a close relationship with a sensitive, empathic attitude towards you. Typically, avoidant attachment disorders make it difficult for people suffering from food addiction to form warm relationships.
Psychotherapy helps you get rid of this peculiarity, during which you can adjust your current relationships according to your needs or figure out what is preventing you from establishing close relationships. Once you can get emotional support and comfort from several different people (mom, girlfriend, loved one), your food addiction will go away.
It seems like a difficult way to get rid of food addiction, but other methods that are usually resorted to for this purpose leave you emotionally hungry, hence the new breakdowns. You feel out of control because your body is taking care of you into its own hands, since you are not thinking about how to provide yourself with what you need so badly. Take care of yourself consciously, and then your body will relax and stop controlling you.
Author of the article: Psychologist Elena Grigorieva
