Everywhere you look there are men, women, and children who are overweight to the point of being obese. Obesity is a crisis in America.
But is everyone who is obese a food addict? Not necessarily. Remember that food addiction is caused by an unresolved emotional conflict that manifests itself in the form of compulsive eating.
The food addict eats because panic causes a hormonal imbalance in the body and there is an overwhelming urgency to eat as much and as fast as you can until the feeling goes away. Food is the drug of choice for the food addict.
A person can become obese by eating when bored, or just because something tastes really good so they just keep eating. Obesity for many is the result of habitual overeating for no particular reason.
It need not be connected with trauma, as it is in the case of a food addiction. It may be a case of consuming more calories than the body can burn as energy.
Emotional eating and food addiction can start when a person realizes that they are unable to lose a large amount of weight as quickly as they gained it.
Unable to deal with the excess fat and the humiliation that often accompanies it, emotional eating can easily become a coping mechanism.
When you’re fat, does it really matter to you if you have a food addiction? Do you care about your health? Or do you just want to not be fat anymore?
A person who knows why they eat compulsively may be in a better position than one who doesn’t know how they gained all that weight.
Food addicts are driven. When the addiction kicks in, we are on a mission. We eat uncontrollably for indefinite periods of time and then, as suddenly as it started, the urge just stops.
It’s kind of like a seizure. You know what’s going on but you can’t do anything about it. You just have to wait until it’s over.
Knowing what causes you to stuff yourself when something sets off an emotional trigger gives you a chance to deal with the emotion and possibly avoid the compulsive eating binge.
The more you can recognize what is happening when the panic feelings start to escalate, the more you will be able to confront the person or thing that is causing the panic.
When we can name our fear, it loses its power over us. Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can deal with it.
While not all food addicts are obese, and not all people who are obese are food addicts, the tables could certainly turn either way.
Perhaps the best way to confront your personal situation is by accepting yourself in your present state without judgment. Keep an open mind and heart.
Don’t label the symptoms. Identify the causes and go from there.