I hear all the time that people want to turn to keto to try to break their food addiction. When people say addiction, they tend to think about alcohol or drugs, or even gambling. Is food addiction real? Overeaters Anonymous say yes. Others say it’s just an excuse to eat too much. In this series, we look at the controversial idea of food as an addiction. We start out by looking at the question of whether it can actually be an addiction.
What Is An Addiction?
Now, full disclosure, I took addiction counseling in school, so I’m pretty careful with what I call an addiction. There is a book of mental health conditions called the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual). It defines what an addiction looks like. But, I like the breakdown others have created called the 4 C’s of addiction. They consist of craving, consequences, compulsion and control.
The Craving of Food Addiction
We all know what it’s like to crave a certain food. Sometimes you feel a craving for chocolate or chips or a particular comfort food. But sometimes it feels like if you don’t get it, you are ignoring a very real physical need. Nothing else will do. Your body may even make you feel like you’re hungry, even though you’ve taken in plenty of calories already.
I remember times when I would get a craving for a specific food, and if the restaurant wasn’t open or the store was out of it, I would feel like crying. Seriously. I was so intent on that food that to not get it felt devastating. This would normally be when I felt stressed and the idea of that comfort food was the only thing getting me through my anxiety. It’s not normal, but it’s true.
The Consequences of Food Addiction
With an addiction, your need for that substance is so intense, it doesn’t matter what the negative consequences are in your life. It comes before relationships, before financial security, and before any work commitments. You will do anything to get this substance, even if it means breaking the law.
This one was very true for me. I didn’t break any laws, but I certainly put the food I was craving before my finances. I would go out and eat at a Chinese restaurant, even though I didn’t have enough money for my bills. Even though I didn’t have money to buy groceries, I would buy chips and dip at the local convenience store. When I was hiding food from my partner at the time (this was many years ago, before Bill), I realized there was a big issue. I didn’t want him to see how much I was eating.
The Compulsion of Food Addiction
Compulsion is when you feel driven to a behaviour – in this case, eating. If you don’t do the behaviour, you feel overwhelming anxiety. So, this is where food becomes a bit problematic as an addiction, because you have to eat. Your body signals you that you need food by making you feel hungry. The compulsion comes from your body telling you that you need certain foods to make you feel better. An apple is not going to cut it. You need the comfort food to calm the anxiety and make you feel happy again.
The Control of Food Addiction
When you have lost control over the substance, you have an active addiction. At first, you recognize the cravings and notice the negative consequences and you often try to cut back or control your behaviour. When you try to cut back and the other parts of the addiction keep you coming back for more, you have a big problem.
How many times did I try to control what I ate? I would cut back, diet, and just try to keep track of what I was eating. It didn’t work. I had no control over what I was putting in my mouth. That sounds ridiculous, but I would literally see a cookie and eat it, and then realize that I was trying to cut back. I ate it without thinking. Then, I felt like a failure, and the destructive cycle would continue to spin.
A Final Thought
When I think about the way I used to behave, I would have to say that I had a lot of characteristics of an addict when it came to food. But, everyone eats to survive, so is it possible to have a food addiction? Here’s what I’ve concluded. I had a sugar addiction.
My body sounded the alarm any time I didn’t eat sugar for a while. And, by a while, I mean hours – not days. I craved it to the point that nothing else would do. My body physically reacted to a sugar crash. I would spend money on sweets – not just candy, but pizza with sweet sauce, Chinese food packed with sugary sauces, and simple carbs that gave me a rush of energy. When I look at the definitions, it wasn’t all food I craved – it was sugar. And that was a very real food addiction.
Wendy
