Be Bigger Than Your Food Addiction

Dec3

You know that expression, “You have too much on your plate”? Well, did you ever notice that when you have too much on your plate, you tend to put too much on your plate?

This is one of the big challenges for people with food addictions. Overwhelming stress, or the illusion of overwhelming stress, makes us eat for no other reason than we don’t know what else to do.

Stress has a way of making us think things are worse than they actually are. When we react by overeating, the stress gets worse because first, it doesn’t solve the problem and second it adds a second problem of becoming overweight.

Oddly enough, it seems like the larger your body gets the more invisible we become. People don’t notice us in positive ways and the fat is easy to hide behind. The truth is that we are only hiding from ourselves.

Things that happened in the past are in the past. They can’t be changed. Now is different. Anything can happen in the present moment, which is the only moment we have control over anyway.

If something in the past made you feel small and insignificant, then why not change things? We are responsible for making our own changes, no matter what, so why not be bigger than our food addiction?

I was thinking about this after I had been to a Seal concert. Seal is a great performer but I noticed something in this particular concert that I’d not noticed before. Throughout every song, his arms were outstretched most of the time.

As he sang with his arms wide, it gave me a sense of freedom, of being larger than life. As we left the concert, my friend and I serenaded each other with our favorite songs, none of when even vaguely resembled Seal’s performance.

As we sang and laughed, we stretched out our arms wide and spun around like children. It was a fabulous moment. In that moment, we were as big as the world with no worries, no troubles, no thought of food.

It was like being in a different world, one in which we were noticed and admired. Some people even applauded.

It didn’t matter what we did, or how we were dressed or whether or not we could sing worth a hoot. We were being our true selves in the best of ways. What a blast!

You are bigger than anything that will ever happen to you. Stretch out your arms as wide as the sky and spin around. Just for a moment, be your own true self. It’s positively addictive.

Obesity Levels Rising

Dec1

Even though not every food addict or emotional eater is obese, these CDC statistics give an idea of how obesity levels have soared throughout the country in the last 20 years. I can’t help but wonder if stress levels have increased proportionately.

This YouTube video has some startling information about obesity in the United States and some great common sense tips on how to deal with it.

Although calorie counting is not the only consideration for food addicts who want to lose weight and heal their food addiction, simplicity seems to work for everyone.

Food Addiction and Pain

Nov29

Emotional pain isn’t the only kind of pain that can send you on a food binge. You also have to watch out for the physical variety because it has a way of sneaking up on a food addict.

Back pain is one of the worst because it can be very subtle. You start to feel uncomfortable and you don’t even know why. Then you start snacking.

The mild discomfort is the beginning of it. There isn’t the high anxiety of a food addiction trigger, or the blatant feelings from an obvious emotional upset. You aren’t focused on eating and there is no real hunger involved.

It’s just a slight discomfort that gnaws at you and turns into anxiety. You go to the refrigerator and stand in front of it, opening and closing the door, waiting for some magic wand to coax you into a decision.

After you eat a little of this and a little of that, just enough to throw your blood sugar off, you default to whatever you dislike the least and start nibbling.

Eventually, you recognize that it’s pain you’re feeling. By then you’ve done a lot of nibbling  . So if you do have a food addiction, the real anxiety is starting to set in, and there you go, back on the treadmill.

Best remedy for that is to recognize when you are feeling uncomfortable,. Take a moment to identify the feeling.  Discomfort can be caused by many things. Give it a name. Naming it takes the fear away, or in this case, the anxiety.

No one likes to feel uncomfortable but nowadays it is a common feeling so it’s harder to recognize than it used to be. All the more reason to get tuned in to your body and in touch your feelings.

Food addiction and pain can be terrible adversaries when they join forces. Recognizing that physical pain is the cause for your discomfort can head off a food binge.

Know thyself. It works every time.

Anatomy of a Food Addiction

Nov27

Tonight I want to tell you about a terrific book by Anne Katherine, written about food addiction and compulsive eating. The book is titled Anatomy of a Food Addiction: The Brain Chemistry of Overeating. You can get it online in paperback for around $10.00.

When she first wrote it in 1991, I had been working at a psychiatric facility. I saw some things there that made me realize that I wanted to uncover and get to know the real me. One troubling aspect of my life was my relationship with food.

The stress at the facility was immense and the administrator was a control freak, a very cruel and destructive one at that. I recognized what a valuable resource a good therapist could be so I availed myself of the contacts I’d made since I took the job. Soon afterward, I left  the facility.

Anne Katherine’s book did not reach me in my younger years because my food addiction was not a major concern. I was usually never more than 20-30 pounds overweight and no one seemed to notice, except me .

I played down the addictive behaviors. When I attempted confide in someone, they laughed at me and called me a drama queen. But I knew it was serious business.

When I finally found someone to take me seriously, it was a very special clinical psychologist whom I saw for several years off and on. Between the two of us, we were able to uncover the emotional trauma that had been buried for decades under my food addiction.

Finding Anne Katherine’s book again was a blessing. There are exercises included in the text. They  help you find your own answers, as all food addicts must  if we are to overcome our fear of food and the emotions that send us on an eating spree that doesn’t stop until the pain goes away.

There are all kinds of programs for compulsive eaters but the best ones start with education. When you read this book, you will be able to relate to it, if not identify with it.

Everyone needs a starting place, and this may be your chance to find it. You’ll probably get the best deal if you go to amazon.com, but the library will work just as well.

Happy reading!