Tag Archive | Food Addictions

Scripps Research Study Says Junk Food as Addictive as Cocaine and Heroin

Apr11

According to a report published the end of March by The  Scripps Research Institute in Florida,  junk food contains the same molecular mechanisms that cause drug addiction.

The three-year study confirmed for the first time that junk food contains addictive properties, something that food addicts and compulsive overeaters have been saying for decades. And now we have our proof.

With all the junk food junkies out there and obesity numbers growing daily, it’s almost comforting to know that there is a legitimate reason for compulsive overeating and food addictions.

The research, which was performed on rats, showed a direct link between obesity and a progressively deteriorating chemical balance in the reward center of the brain.

Real answers, at last. Click here to read the entire press release.

Sadness and Food Addiction

Apr3

Lately, I’ve met quite a few people who admit that they binge when they get lonely. They aren’t angry. they just don’t want to be alone and so they eat.

But it isn’t just loneliness. It’s sadness. Regardless of what is making you sad–and usually it’s something that’s happened in the past–there is an absent-minded eating pattern going on.

Sadness is depressing. It saps your strength and steals your energy. When your energy is low and you’re a food addict or an  emotional eater,  you probably turn to food.

Yes, food addiction triggers are many and sometimes they surprise you. I wouldn’t have thought of sadness as a trigger, but it is.

One thing I’ve learned is that you have to be in touch with your feelings at all times if you’re going to beat a food addiction.

Stay away from people who make you feel sad, and stay close to those who make you feel good about yourself.

Choose people who accept you as you are so you won’t always be guessing about how to act when you’re around them. The more you can feel comfortable in social situations, the less likely you are to resort to food when sadness sets in.

In other words, don’t worry, be happy.

Forgiveness is Important for Food Addicts

Mar28

When food addictions take over your life, you can become very hard on yourself even to the point of self-hate. This only makes the food addiction worse.

We all do things that we regret. We can’t do anything about the past but if food addiction and emotional eating have become patterns in your life, there is something you can do about them now.

Before we can move from one state of being into another, we must be able to forgive ourselves for whatever we have done, or think we have done. Only when we do this can we move forward.

Children live in the moment, so they forgive easily. It’s harder for adults to live in the moment because there is always some past mistake or future possibility that we seem to want to focus on, taking us away from the moments in which we have the most power.

Food addictions and the agonizing emotional trauma that is always lurking underneath can keep us in a place that is sad, shameful, or just plain uncomfortable, for a long time.

When we have these feelings, we don’t like ourselves. When we don’t like ourselves, there is the tendency for the food addict to self-medicate or even self-destruct with food.

Self-hate, anger or even impatience with yourself can keep your heart closed, and if there is any time your heart needs to be open, it’s when you’re feeling bad about yourself.

So today’s tip is simple: Forgive yourself for not being perfect, for making some mistakes. That will allow you to let the past go and experience each moment fully without judgment and without regret.

Forgiveness clears out the negative feelings and lets you begin anew each day. Live each day fully, with your attention in the moment, and without persecuting yourself for something you cannot change.

Keep your heart open so that love can flow freely in both directions. The three most powerful words in the English language are said to be “I forgive you”.

Practice saying them daily in the mirror, and watch your eating patterns and your life change for the better.

Another Name for Fat People

Mar23

Today I went with a friend to the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida. We went to see an art exhibit titled “The Baroque World of Fernando Botero”.

The docent who led the first part of our tour said that Botero painted “fat people”. I believe she said those were Botero’s words.

In that museum with 100 pictures of gigantic people, animals and musical instruments painted by a world famous, living artist, I was forced to see fat in a different light.

When we look at art, it’s hard not to make judgments since our perceptions are influenced by our preferences, prejudices, and paradigms. When we see art, we tend to see life as we know it.

Think for a moment about fat people, what those words mean to you, how you feel when you hear the term. What would it take to change your perception about fat people?

I thought about that today when the docent said the most extraordinary thing–that the people in Botero’s paintings weren’t really fat people, but people of “heroic proportions”.

When I heard “heroic proportions “the label “fat people” instantly disappeared. A paradigm shift occurred and I will never see large people as fat people again.

Even as I struggle with my own food addictions and emotional eating challenges, I know the power of words when it comes to food and labels.

Today, I got to take a different look, a new picture, and I liked what I saw.