Food addiction

When we think about addiction, the most common drugs that come to mind are drugs such as alcohol or cigarettes. Meanwhile, you can also become addicted to the activity that is necessary for our life, which is eating. Food addiction, or compulsive eating, is an eating disorder involving excessive and independent of hunger overeating.

Food addiction – causes and symptoms

For a healthy person, food is fuel. Meals taken during the day give energy and provide the nutrients needed for the proper functioning. Of course, apart from regular meals, everyone reaches for a sweet snack or a pack of chips while watching TV. Food addiction, however, is not about snacking on your favorite delicacies from time to time, relieving premenstrual tension or the proverbial pregnancy cravings. A person suffering from compulsive overeating can even eat huge amounts of food under the influence of emotions. Compulsive eating is a fatal way of coping with stress, loneliness, sadness, or helplessness. Eating becomes a form of filling an emotional void. The momentary pleasure that the body feels while taking a meal becomes a moment later a cause of shame and guilt, which again, being a negative emotion, can trigger a binge of compulsive overeating. Food addiction is a serious disease comparable to alcoholism.

Compulsive overeating can have serious health effects, both mental and physical. Binge eating attacks often lead to behaviors that are characteristic of another eating disorder: bulimia nervosa, in which an attempt is made to remove excess food from the body through vomiting or the use of laxatives. Compulsive over-eating attacks can also, paradoxically, lead to the onset of anorexia. This can happen when the sick person stops eating altogether to avoid another attack, turning to the other extreme. Eating disorders (ED) often alternate but are always dangerous to the body. Providing a huge amount of calories with excessive eating puts a strain on the digestive tract and also threatens the work of the heart. Bulimic and anorexic behaviors also disrupt the body and can lead to diseases of the internal organs: from the stomach and intestines to thyroid disorders and, consequently, hormonal imbalance.

The symptoms of food addiction are similar to those of alcoholism. The patient is accompanied by obsessive thoughts about eating, appearing during the day and dominating other needs and causing problems with concentration. A person who is addicted to food often tries to lose weight obsessively, but his thoughts constantly revolve around the topic of food. People with an eating disorder often cannot stop eating until they feel physically unwell, with emotional breakdown, self-grievance and increased frustration. A person suffering from food addiction is often aware of their problem, but does not try to treat it, despite being aware of the health consequences. Often, in the case of food addiction, denial occurs in response to an attempt at confrontation or a suggestion to visit a therapist – a person relieving emotional problems with bouts of excessive eating is afraid of the need to analyze them and try to work out the problem.

Food addiction treatment – how to deal with binge eating?

Food addiction, like any addiction, can be treated. Of course, the ideal attitude is to start therapeutic treatment of the cause of this type of behavior, but trying to self-control and prevent another seizure is already a great success.

First of all, it is important to change and control your eating habits. It is worth introducing the principle of eating only specific meals during the day, until a certain time at which we will eat dinner. Later, in order to prevent the occurrence of compulsive eating, it is worthwhile to engage in thoughts: read, watch an interesting series or movie, pursue a hobby or even cleaning, all in order to direct your thoughts to activities other than eating. Foods eaten during the day should be thoughtful and wholesome in order to minimize the body’s cravings in the time between successive meals and to suppress the feeling of hunger for longer. Physical activity and relaxation exercises such as yoga or meditation can help calm down compulsive behavior.

If attempts to self-cope with compulsive eating attacks do not work, it is necessary to consult a psychiatrist or psychologist to find the cause of the behavior and possibly introduce pharmacological treatment in the form of antidepressants or anxiolytics.

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