Nourishing Your Body, Renewing Your Life
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TAKE THE FOOD ADDICTION QUIZ
Food addiction is real and many people have it and don’t realize it. Unfortunately, this condition is not normally diagnosed by your doctor and isn’t considered real in mainstream society. Food, especially sugary or carbohydrate-laden foods set off the same brain receptors as alcohol, nicotine, or even cocaine. Eating sweets or snorting cocaine, they both release a flood of dopamine into your system. When insulin comes to the rescue and drops your blood sugar back down to normal levels, the cycle begins again… cue the strong cravings.
Take this short quiz* to find out if you probably have a food addiction. But first, here is my disclaimer:
***The contents of YourRenewableLife.com, such as text, graphics, images, and other material contained on the Your Renewable Life Website (“Content”) are for informational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the Your Renewable Life Site!
1. Have you ever wanted to stop eating and found you just couldn’t?
2. Do you think about food or your weight constantly?
3. Do you find yourself attempting one diet or food plan after another, with no lasting success?
4. Do you binge and then “get rid of the binge” through vomiting, exercise, laxatives, or other forms of purging?
5. Do you eat differently in private than you do in front of other people?
6. Has a doctor or family member ever approached you with concern about your eating habits or weight?
7. Do you eat large quantities of food at one time (binge)?
8. Is your weight problem due to your “nibbling” all day long?
9. Do you eat to escape from your feelings?
10. Do you eat when you’re not hungry?
11. Have you ever discarded food, only to retrieve and eat it later?
12. Do you eat in secret?
13. Do you fast or severely restrict your food intake?
14. Have you ever stolen other people’s food?
15. Have you ever hidden food to make sure you have “enough”?
16. Do you feel driven to exercise excessively to control your weight?
17. Do you obsessively calculate the calories you’ve burned against the calories you’ve eaten?
18. Do you frequently feel guilty or ashamed about what you’ve eaten?
19. Are you waiting for your life to begin “when you lose the weight”?
20. Do you feel hopeless about your relationship with food?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you may be a food addict.
* Quiz shared from the Food Addicts website.
You are not alone. I will tell you that I suffer from sugar addiction. I’ve conquered it for a period of time several times in the past. However, like an alcoholic, I have fallen back into the cycle of bingeing, beating myself up, over and over again. Then I pick myself back up, feeling worse than ever, and go cold turkey.
This post is timely for me because I am in an addiction cycle now and want to share my research with you on how to beat this beast. To close out this post, I am sharing a few tips you can try to conquer your own addictions. However, it is important to note that you may very well need professional therapy to work through your addiction.
ARE YOU A FOOD ADDICT?
Here are 7 tips to beat food addiction.
Since you can’t just stop eating like you would drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes, food addiction is a bit more challenging. It takes commitment but can be done. Conquering food addiction will prove to be one of the most rewarding things you ever do!
1. Identify and eliminate your trigger foods. For me, one is ice cream. I can’t have it in the house. At. All. Others can’t be around chips. What are your triggers? Commit to eliminating them. Out of site (will eventually be) out of mind.
2. Identify your emotional triggers. What feelings are you trying to stuff down when you are eating? Are you bored, lonely, angry, or stressed? Keep a journal and let those feeling come to the surface. This is an area that would be extremely helpful to enlist professional help.
3. Get your diet on point. This is a good time to adopt a new, healthy way of eating. Consider one of the following: Paleo/Primal, Low Carb or Ketogenic, Whole 30. These eating plans remove refined foods and much of the sugars that feed addiction. Each of these diets promotes whole health over weight loss, including hormone balance, gut/brain balance, and more…all of which are key factors in controlling food addiction. Subscribe to my blog roll to learn more about these eating plans in the weeks to come. I will be highlighting several different eating plans in an effort to help you find out the best plan for YOU.
4. EFT or Tapping for emotional release. This is something new that I am trying. Physical tapping certain points of your body while reciting phrases out loud to get to the root of your addiction, emotional release, stress, and depression to “cure” your addiction. There is a lot of research backing this treatment and I will be sure to share my personal experience soon!
5. Hypnosis. This method also has a lot of research backing its effectiveness, especially when part of a professional treatment plan. Self-hypnosis via recordings has also helped many. Personally, I did not experience great results. Probably because I couldn’t keep up a consistent routine. Any treatment will only work if you do it!
6-Step Program. This method has worked for decades with all types of addiction. It involves Biblical principles and group support. Search out FoodAddicts.org or Overeaters Anonymous for my information and meetings in your area.
7. Therapy. The best and most effective method is going to be getting professional help in conjunction with other methods listed above. Visit https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists to search for a therapist in your area to help you in your recovery from eating disorders and/or addiction. Many times, addiction is hereditary and can transfer from one crutch to another. I can’t say enough about getting professional help!
Drop me a note if any of these methods have been helpful for you, or if you have tried another method of treatment that was beneficial.
Also, leave your comments below if you have any tips to share, or just to say that we are not alone!
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