Am I addicted to food?
“I’m just an addict. I just crave it, and I then when I let myself have a little, I can’t stop.”
Have you ever called yourself a food addict?
No, you are not addicted to food. I could debate the nuances of whether or not certain qualities of food are truly “addictive,” but honestly, that’s beside the point. The phrasing is the most harmful part about it, and it keeps you stuck. Blaming food will not get you closer to food freedom and a healthy relationship with food. Neither will blaming yourself and calling yourself an addict.
Transcription of Video:
- You are not addicted to food. Food is not addictive.
- If we label food as addictive, then we turn to avoidance and restriction as solutions.
- It is not the food itself, it’s what you tend to do with that food. This is your pattern of behavior around that food
- We need to recognize eating behaviors like bingeing for what they are: maladaptive coping mechanisms & habits
- Change your phrasing, change your approach –> Eating behaviors are habit forming.
- Instead of the temporary “bandaid” of restricting & avoiding certain foods…
- We can develop new, healthy coping skills by breaking old habits and creating new ones.
- This is how you begin to drop the restrictive mindset and seek a healthy relationship with food.
Rephrase
Instead of “I am addicted to sugar. Sugar is addictive.” Rephrase to “My eating behaviors around sugar have caused a pattern of behavior to arise. I now have a habit of turning to sugar when I am stressed.”
I think it is helpful to rephrase in this way because now we have identified one or more triggers to the behavior. Instead of “sugar is bad, and it is the cause of all my problems,” we come away with a more holistic picture of the issue: “I eat sugar when I am stressed,” and “I developed a habit that is hard to break.” If we can think of an eating behavior as a habit, there are so many new and awesome ways to address this problem.
Address the habit at multiple points
We can address the stress with different coping mechanisms, and we can tackle the habit by addressing the 4 stages of habit: the cue, the craving, the response, and the sense of reward.
Restriction or elimination of a certain food is not the solution!
Am I addicted to food? The answer is no. I promise, there is a path to reduce those obsessive cravings and out of control eating, and I’m here to help. Apply to work with me here!
What’s it like to work with me? Read more here.
Sometimes, the feeling of food addiction and out of control eating arises from being too strict and expecting perfection around our food choices. Orthorexia is an unhealthy obsession with eating “healthy” foods, which may manifest in feeling like you are obsessed and always thinking about food. Read more about orthorexia and take the Bratman self-test here.