Are you addicted to food? While its quite normal to talk about alcohol addiction or addiction to medication its probably not that common to talk about someone being addicted to food. The reality however is that so many people are addicted to eating and its the cause of a variety of health issues. Weight problems is probably the number one health issues that over eaters are faced with and if you are not in control of your food intake you can quite literally eat yourself to death.
Being addicted to food has two components. Firstly, there is the addiction to the actual foods. These are typically high in sugar or high in fat as these can give you a feeling of physical satisfaction that relaxes you or that gives you a spurt of energy. Unfortunately this feeling never lasts and you usually have to replenish this "feeling" quite regularly.
The second component is the mental side of it. All addictions have a mental component where you mind actually believes that it needs certain things. Its the real crux of addictions of any kind and if you can correct your mind everything will fall in place. Its quite common for people with addictions to be dealing with deep emotional wounds from their past and the addiction is a mechanism that helps them to cope with the emotional struggle that is happen deep down inside.
So, how do you know if you are addicted to food? Well, there are a number of tell tale signs but the easy answer is this: do you feel out of control when it comes to food? Here are a few common scenarios:
- Do you sometimes hide food wrappers or do you eat in the secret?
- Do you find yourself eating more even after you are full?
- Do you reach for food when you feel stressed, sad or depressed?
- Do you fell "hungry" even after eating a big meal?
If you have that void inside you then food will never fill it. If you feel out of control when it comes to food then you need to get help. Its unhealthy physically and its unhealthy mentally. You need to deal with the problem by first dealing with the emotional issues that leads to the problem. In the end it will help you to regain you physical health and also your emotional health. Stop putting it off and stop smoldering the real issues in your life with food and with eating.