Some foods affect mood and brain making many people crave them all the time and hard to avoid. This explains why some can't control themselves around certain foods. They eat large amounts even when they don't want to.
What is food addiction?
Food addiction is like many drug addictions because it also controls parts of the brain. The term has spread recently. It’s a type of eating disorder like binge eating and overeating disorders.
This similarity comes from how fast food and soda affect brain chemicals like many drugs do. These foods control dopamine levels in the body, so the body craves them irrationally.
- Symptoms of food addiction
Food addiction isn’t diagnosed with a blood test like many other addictions. It’s diagnosed by certain behaviors and actions the addict shows which are:
1- Strong craving for certain foods, even after finishing a healthy, nutritious meal.
2- Eating more than you want and you can't stop until you finish or feel sick.
3- Always feeling guilty after every meal but you often repeat it.
4- Making excuses and trying to justify eating that big meal.
5- Always trying to eat healthy meals and follow a healthy diet but you include cheat meals and free days so you can go back to those bad foods.
6- Eating unhealthy foods in secret and not wanting others to know you ate them.
7- Not being able to stop eating unhealthy food even though you know it's bad and will make you gain weight.
If you have more than 5 symptoms from this list you should realize you need help fast.
- Food addiction
The word addiction always scares you, and here the reactions and thoughts about food are similar to those about drugs. Maybe the social consequences are less, but it's still a problem and can cause many other health issues, like obesity, diabetes, and lots more.
Avoiding fast food isn’t impossible but it’s tough because it’s everywhere and the ads are everywhere too. But you can cut back and reduce health risks. You should know the benefits of stopping fast food are weight loss, more daily energy and activity, but the downside is you’ll often feel like you can’t join in many social events since most of them center around unhealthy food.
- Steps to overcome food addiction
Here are some steps to help you treat food addiction:
1- Write a list of foods that trigger your cravings and try to avoid places that serve them.
2- Write a list of restaurants that serve fast food and try to stay away from them.
3- Take a few minutes each morning to write a list of the foods you will eat that day.
4- Write a list of the positives you’ll get if you stop your food addiction.
Try to follow a healthy eating plan. Beating food addiction is hard, so you need to make a plan and stick to it for at least 3 months to fully recover. Find your favorite healthy foods. Don’t go back to the foods that caused your addiction on weekends or holidays because that will bring back the addictive behavior again. You can ask for help if you can’t do it alone. We have specialized trainers ready to assist you anytime.
