Fighting Food Cravings

A DAY IN THE LIFE (OF A BINGER)

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:43:00 +0000

I never knew that binge eating, anorexia, and compulsive overeating were all manifestations of the same disease- food addiction. In fact, for most of the years of my young life I did not even know that food addiction existed, or that it was a problem. I lived the problem day in and out, on and off the scales, on and off diets, and up and down emotionally with the variances of my weight. But I had never heard of this as a problem.

Thankfully, I was never a binger or a starver. I was an all day nibbler- but I was just as driven. Hovering at the treats table at a party was my thing, and I had it down to a science. If you were slow and nonchalant about it, no-one would really know how much you had eaten.

As I look back, I wasn't even in denial. I just did not know there was anything to deny. Addiction- all addiction- is a body, mind, spirit phenomenon. In food addiction, you crave the many elements of food that are chemically addicting (sugar, wheat, flour) but you also crave the feeling of complete and utter numbness that comes with it. I came to peace with food in a program called Overeater's Anonymous. I finally succumbed to allowing others to help me, and eventually, of my own choice, I gave up eating all sugar wheat and flour products.

Here is an excerpt from a anonymous story I found. Although many of us may not be this extreme, there is no saying that we may not get there. Addiction, all addiction, is progressive and gets worse as time goes by. I hope this person's story will help you understand the very real and killing problem of food addiction.

The streets team with activity. Business beckons. Individual people focus on their individual purpose. I am without real purpose on this Manhattan avenue here on a downswing of another mindless burst of loose energy. My forces have dissipated. I feel the edge of the gray cloud of a binge. I ignore it: I push it away to focus instead on the glamor of the shop windows and the glitter of the street vendors' wares. I walk; half looking for a subway, half addressing the feeling that is now nagging-tapping me on the shoulder like the haunted ghosts of memories buried alive. It's useless to fight it now. I check the time; 10:20 a.m. I have about an hour to purge myself of the horror about to come.

The gourmet deli is before me. Muffins, croissants, and delicate pastries beckon me with thier cloying scent. A real 'city binge' I think crazily, comparing with the Hostess and Drakes binges of the Queens. I buy a large chocolate mile, a buttered bagel, a peanut butter cookie, and a tremendous chocolate chip muffin. I pay quickly, counting neither what I offer, nor the change. The numbness is starting.

I leave the store and tear the wrapper from whatever is on top. The bagel. I need the milk. All is geared to bringing it up later. Eating and drinking, I stop at another deli. Everything goes back in the bag as I enter the store. More mindless choices. Another bagel, a chocolate croissant, some pastries. I leave continuing to eat, thinking of nothing else.

The people along the next few blocks see me eating. I make no eye contact. They see me eating something. I entertain the notion that they meet up with each other at some point and compare notes. I am aware of the absurdity of the thought. One more stop before I hit the subway. A few more pastries, a couple of buttered rolls and another drink. She overcharges me but I ignore this. It's interrupting the binge.

Now consider that a compulsive eater does much the same thing- but he or she keeps it down and lives with the bloated, sick feelings. Consider also that an anorexic does not eat- for fear that the food will take him or her over. If you consider all of that, you can sort of get a picture of food addiction.

Please stay tuned, as I will continue this story in my next entry.

Food Addiction- Very Real, as Many Will Say

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:31:00 +0000

I was reading an entry from a food addict's website, Daily Strength.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Food_Addiction/forum/7957992-slipping-into-relaps

The entry was called Slipping into Relapse, and you can visit it if you like. The person who was speaking said " I allowed myself a Sprite and piece of cake on my birthday and it's been downhill ever since...and I am out of control with my food."

I could hear her desperation and it brought me back to my desperate days with food. For many people various foods are physically addicting. They set up a craving that many of us can not seem to control, no matter how we try. And is is only through the 12 steps of OA and a higher power that we can get back to center. That and staying on our food plan, away from the foods that affect us.

Other people in the world may laugh, but for many food addicts this phenomenon is very real.

Blessings to the writer of this entry. May you find strength, hope, and tools in getting back to OA.

Please read some of my other writings on other topics. Below is an excerpt from a recent article of mine entitled ON SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, AND CREATING OUR WORLD.

http://www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/new_workshop/howtomanifestanythingyouwant
So let us take a better look at Jesus, since he was our role model as Christians. Jesus said that we, like him, are sons of GOD, and children of GOD. With this in mind, consider that Jesus was not teaching people that HE was special, and made in the image of and likeness God (which he was, of course)... but rather that we ALL are special, and made in the likeness of GOD. Consider that Jesus was saying that there is God in each of us. Now if that is true it follows that if Jesus can perform miracles, walk on water, feed the masses, etc, so can we all.

On Life, Death, and Fighting Food Cravings

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:11:00 +0000

I think it is very fitting to speak about my dad in this blog this week. He passed away a week ago Monday, and it was truly a week of sadness and also soul searching for me. I thought about this blog a lot. My dad had chronic adult-onset diabetes, you see.

Now as a child and young adult, I never knew of the profound link between diabetes and food cravings or food addiction. In fact, I never knew there was such a thing as food addiction. And my dad and I used to have a grand old time, sharing food and laughs. We liked ice-cream, cookies, donuts, and soda, and there was always a treat involved in a trip to the store with my dad.

In short my dad loved to eat and so did I. It was one of the many levels upon which we met. We were very connected and we loved each other a lot.

But as I watched my dad in the last years of his life, I remember thinking so frequently "What a price pleasure in food can exact." As time went by my father could hardly walk due to his diabetes. He couldn't see very well. Food began to have no flavor at all and he had a hard time swallowing. He spent his days dozing listlessly in a chair, and was sad beyond measure at the loss of all that he had ever enjoyed in life.

And one could arguably say that he starved himself to death in the final weeks of not even being able to eat.

So what does this say to us, the masses of us, as we go about our lives? The pat and easy answer would be "just don't eat so many complex carbohydrates." But with food cravings, and nearly every label on every food container in the grocery store having some sort of sugar or flour product listed in the ingredients- and usually high up- this seems nearly impossible. I know it took me nearly seven years of eating absolutely no trace of sugar, wheat or flour to feel that such things no longer had a draw for me. Oddly enough, this is about the same amount of time it takes for the body to regenerate all of its cells- and I have often pondered that perhaps I am now literally 'a whole new me' with mo more cells that are addicted to foods.

During the week after my dad's death I did partake in some of the typical no-nos. I had some ketchup, which contains sugar. I had a few onion rings. My family, now used to a whole new me, was shocked. Perhaps it was just my yearning to once again feel some comfort in food, as if my dad were back with me. But I know I tread on dangerous waters, and I don't suggest other food addicts try it.

So where does that leave us, as masses of us still experience cravings that seem almost debilitating and as we step closer and closer to a slow, dehumanizing decline like the one my dad experienced. The first step is to learn about food addiction and how it operates, one person at a time. And we hope that the more people that learn about it, the more we will be able to find healthy, tasty, and non-addicting foods in the grocery store. Right now, it seems to be a bit of an uphill climb to find and eat non-addicting foods. But today I feel healthy, and vibrant, and fully alive- which is more than I can say for all of the years when I ate all that stuff. And I honor my dad's love by not going down the road that he did. And my father was an amazingly loving man, so I am sure he would have wanted that for me.

This book will be a godsend regarding a diet plan to fight your cravings.
Click Here!

If you're also caught in a smoking addiction, this is definitely the tool I suggest.
Click Here!

Fighting Food Cravings- A Realistic Look

noreply@blogger.com (sirensong) — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:56:00 +0000

Are you fighting food Cravings? We’ve all heard it said in many different ways. “Once I get started on dinner rolls, I can’t stop.” There’s not enough pasta in the world for me.” “Two cookies, are you kidding?”

Let’s face it, some foods are addicting. And I don’t mean that in the laughable sense. Such as when we chuckle after eating our 3rd slice of cake, and explain “Well, I’m just addicted to chocolate cake.” I mean it in a very real and alive way. We are all addicted to many of the foods we eat. And it’s debilitating.

Now why do I say that food addiction is debilitating?

Let’s take a look at fighting food cravings. You are a size 14. You want to be a size 8. Now we can talk all we want about how society favors thin people, and the model for beauty is skin-and-bones. And all of this is quite true. I don’t dispute it. But the plain and simple fact is, you want to be a size 8, and you can’t get there. It’s you who wants this. It’s not anyone else. And the kick in the teeth is you know you could be there. You know your body on some level wants to be there. But you can’t stop eating all of the cookies, pasta, and bread in order to get there.

Now you’re in a pickle, and your self esteem plummets. You ask yourself, ‘Do I have no will power? Am I a weak-willed glutton?’ Now you go on crash diets. You begin to starve yourself. Your blood sugar becomes sporadic. You begin to snap at the kids and growl at your husband. Perhaps you spend 2 weeks doing this before finally giving it up. Now you go out and eat. For two weeks you eat whatever you want, whenever you want. On come the pounds you lost, plus a few more. And your self-esteem plummets even more.

All of this is what I would call a low-level food addiction, or the onset of more serious problems. Later down the line the cycles often get worse and worse. Your relatively harmless binging may turn life-threatening and bulimic. If not, your binges may become so extreme as to cause obesity. This in turn has you lethargic all day long, as well as lackluster and prone to sleeping. Your disposition is grouchy because your blood sugar is constantly shooting up and shooting down. And after a while your metabolism is destroyed, along with your self-esteem, and no diets will work any more.

You may now cross over into the anorexic spectrum. You might decide it is better not to eat at all, than to live like you do. This is when food addiction becomes truly perilous. If you continue the cycle, but without the bulimic/anorexic behavior, then by the age of 60 you will have adult onset diabetes. Your body will deteriorate from the over abundance of sugar producing carbohydrates. It will be worn out from all of that sugar, and you will have completely depleted your life-time’s supply of insulin. It’s not a pretty picture to paint, I know. But it is nevertheless accurate.

Still we joke about food addiction all the time.

Well it may be time to stop laughing and start listening to our own jokes. I want you to know you can stop the roller coaster of fighting food cravings. Where I got off my own whirligig of was through a 12-step program for food addicts called Overeaters Anonymous. There is also a program called Food Addicts Anonymous. Since this is a true and bona fide addiction that masses of our society live unhappily with, these programs are good places to start. You’ll also need a good Food plan, and a lot of other tools to help you on your way. But for information on this, you can look out for my subsequent articles.

This book will be a godsend regarding a diet plan to fight your cravings.
Click Here!

If you're also caught in a smoking addiction, this is definitely the tool I suggest.
Click Here!