Bingeing and food addiction

August 19, 2010

Hi, All,

I've been mulling over the question of food addiction vs. "using food to handle emotions" as an addiction. While I think the latter idea holds merit (see also below), I can't help but wonder, then, why it is that we mainly binge only on certain kinds of foods? I'm sure this differs from one person to another, but for me, this comes down to certain combinations of fat/salt (anything with salt and butter on it, even veggies; anything with fat of any kind and salt, like chips; non-lean meat with salt) or fat/sugar (desserts of all kinds, chocolate) or fat/sugar/salt (things like kettle corn), or any kinds of non-complex carbs.

If food per se holds no addictive properties, why is it that I don't binge on things like, say, fruit? Or veggies without sauces/butter? Or lean meat that's not salted or sauced or has cheese on it? I also never binge on complex carbs (like whole-grain breads or cereals) unless I've loaded them up with butter or something sugary, but put a white-flour biscuit anywhere within a mile radius and I'll find it, maybe even put butter and honey on it, and eat it and any other biscuit I can find. Or at least I used to.

I was able to get over what I thought was a lifelong butter addiction by simply buying only unsalted butter. For me, the problem was the amount of salt with the fat. I sometimes used to crave just butter (or so I thought), and would sometimes even eat it plain. But I never have that craving for unsalted butter.

So I just can't put all this together in my head without thinking of certain food components as having addictive properties, at least for me. Your thoughts?

Now, for the "food to handle emotions" addiction--for short, "emotional eating" or "EE": I do believe that EE has a strong hold on me. Or has had. It's not that I use food to make myself feel good, but instead to keep myself from feeling bad. Watching the hoarder shows drives this sort of "addiction" home: these people cling to their hoarded items to feel safe in a world where they feel besieged by emotions like sadness, loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self esteem, etc. Food similarly helps distract me from anxiety, mainly. I don't feel good when I overeat, but at least temporarily it distracts me from the anxiety. This kind of use reminds me of what happened to my husband when he was prescribed pain killers for his spinal fusion surgery. The addiction he had to that drug was almost instantaneous, and once he was healed enough not to need it for pain, he still needed to be carefully weaned off of it because if he *didn't* take it, he felt crummy, like he had the flu. For me, overeating is like that: doesn't make me feel all that good, just keeps me (or so I deluded myself into thinking) from feeling crummy in one way or another.

I seem incapable of writing a short post. Sorry for going on and on!

Laurie

August 19, 2010

> If food per se holds no addictive properties...

Well, I know some people disagree, but I've learned that some foods do

have addictive properties.

In particular, any drug (sugar, caffeine, alcohol) can be physically

addictive.

When you cook oil, its chemical structure changes, and it becomes

not only unhealthy but also addictive. Hence fried chips, fried

anything in fact, can be

addictive. Deep fried of course is worse, and reusing old oil the worst

of all.

Fat also has an addictive nature about it. Instinctively, we are

attracted to fat for its high energy value, because the natural state

of a human being, until very recently, has been a shortage of food (as

with most animals in nature).

I know that doesn't answer your questions, but it's more food for

thought, so to speak.

Paddy

August 19, 2010

> If food per se holds no addictive properties...

Well, I know some people disagree, but I've learned that some foods do

have addictive properties.

In particular, any drug (sugar, caffeine, alcohol) can be physically

addictive.

When you cook oil, its chemical structure changes, and it becomes

not only unhealthy but also addictive. Hence fried chips, fried

anything in fact, can be

addictive. Deep fried of course is worse, and reusing old oil the worst

of all.

Fat also has an addictive nature about it. Instinctively, we are

attracted to fat for its high energy value, because the natural state

of a human being, until very recently, has been a shortage of food (as

with most animals in nature).

I know that doesn't answer your questions, but it's more food for

thought, so to speak.

Paddy

August 19, 2010

> If food per se holds no addictive properties...

Well, I know some people disagree, but I've learned that some foods do

have addictive properties.

In particular, any drug (sugar, caffeine, alcohol) can be physically

addictive.

When you cook oil, its chemical structure changes, and it becomes

not only unhealthy but also addictive. Hence fried chips, fried

anything in fact, can be

addictive. Deep fried of course is worse, and reusing old oil the worst

of all.

Fat also has an addictive nature about it. Instinctively, we are

attracted to fat for its high energy value, because the natural state

of a human being, until very recently, has been a shortage of food (as

with most animals in nature).

I know that doesn't answer your questions, but it's more food for

thought, so to speak.

Paddy

August 19, 2010

Hey Laurie,

These are great questions. A couple of thoughts occur to me when I

ponder these.

On why we binge on certain foods:

1. I think we give certain foods " power " over us (consciously or

unconsciously) because they're " bad " and therefore taboo. Binging on

fruit or unbuttered veggies would be like being a teenager and rebelling

by doing extra homework. Who does that? Where's the " joy " in that?

Doing your homework is what you're " supposed " to do, as is eating fruits

and veggies. If you have a rebellious side, then you're not going to do

what everyone says you're supposed to be doing. You're going to do the

exact opposite.

2. Let's face it. For most of us, that other stuff just tastes better.

I enjoy a good piece of fruit, sure, but compared to a flaky, melt in

your mouth croissant covered with creamy butter? (I'm making myself

hungry! LOL) There's no competition. If I'm trying to make myself

feel better about something and I can do so by choosing two different

foods, of course I'm going to choose the one I prefer. I don't think

that necessarily has anything to do with the addictive qualities of the

croissant, I think it's just common sense. I'm going to feel " best " by

eating the food that I enjoy the most.

3. Along the same lines, even within food categories, we are going to

lean towards our preferences, but I think there are things that we

probably wouldn't eat that would still be in the same category. For

example, I have a serious sweet tooth and have been known to have a

binge or two (or a thousand) on sugary desserts. Cake, cookies, and ice

cream, in particular, are favorites. But I don't care much for cooked

fruits (it's a texture thing) and so I don't really like pies or fruit

tarts or fruit crisps (e.g. apple crisp). You put a chocolate cake in

front of me and I'll snarf it down in minutes. Put a cherry pie there

and, meh, maybe I'll have a bite or two cause it's just not my thing.

But realistically, if it's truly the sugar and fat that I'm " addicted "

to, the cherry pie should be just as appealing to me as cake because it

has those same qualities. Or, for example, there are flavored, full fat

yogurts that have as much fat and sugar as ice cream, but I can't

imagine myself ever sitting down with a pint of yogurt and going to town

like I would with a pint of Haagen Dazs. Not gonna happen. I've read

stories of alcoholics, who will drink mouthwash or rubbing alcohol to

get a fix if that's what's available to them. I might have a piece of

cherry pie if nothing else was around, but I can't see myself binging on

it.

On your last point about emotional eating, I totally understand this.

It does make me think, though, of how, as a society, we're so fixated on

short-term vs long term gain. You say overeating doesn't feel good but

it keeps you from feeling crummy in other ways. Strikes me as saying,

I'd rather have a perpetual cold (i.e., not feeling good by overeating)

than have a bad flu for one week of every year (i.e. feeling crummy or

sitting with my emotions and getting past them). Yes, the flu is worse

than the cold, but it's over and then I feel a thousand times better the

other 51 weeks of the year. Verses always feeling only so so with a

cold all the time because I'm afraid of the flu. I *totally* get it

because I do it myself. But seems kind of silly when you really think

about it.

Just my $0.02,

Josie

>

> Hi, All,

>

> I've been mulling over the question of food addiction vs. " using food

to handle emotions " as an addiction. While I think the latter idea holds

merit (see also below), I can't help but wonder, then, why it is that we

mainly binge only on certain kinds of foods? I'm sure this differs from

one person to another, but for me, this comes down to certain

combinations of fat/salt (anything with salt and butter on it, even

veggies; anything with fat of any kind and salt, like chips; non-lean

meat with salt) or fat/sugar (desserts of all kinds, chocolate) or

fat/sugar/salt (things like kettle corn), or any kinds of non-complex

carbs.

>

> If food per se holds no addictive properties, why is it that I don't

binge on things like, say, fruit? Or veggies without sauces/butter? Or

lean meat that's not salted or sauced or has cheese on it? I also never

binge on complex carbs (like whole-grain breads or cereals) unless I've

loaded them up with butter or something sugary, but put a white-flour

biscuit anywhere within a mile radius and I'll find it, maybe even put

butter and honey on it, and eat it and any other biscuit I can find. Or

at least I used to.

>

> I was able to get over what I thought was a lifelong butter addiction

by simply buying only unsalted butter. For me, the problem was the

amount of salt with the fat. I sometimes used to crave just butter (or

so I thought), and would sometimes even eat it plain. But I never have

that craving for unsalted butter.

>

> So I just can't put all this together in my head without thinking of

certain food components as having addictive properties, at least for me.

Your thoughts?

>

> Now, for the " food to handle emotions " addiction--for short,

" emotional eating " or " EE " : I do believe that EE has a strong hold on

me. Or has had. It's not that I use food to make myself feel good, but

instead to keep myself from feeling bad. Watching the hoarder shows

drives this sort of " addiction " home: these people cling to their

hoarded items to feel safe in a world where they feel besieged by

emotions like sadness, loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self esteem,

etc. Food similarly helps distract me from anxiety, mainly. I don't feel

good when I overeat, but at least temporarily it distracts me from the

anxiety. This kind of use reminds me of what happened to my husband when

he was prescribed pain killers for his spinal fusion surgery. The

addiction he had to that drug was almost instantaneous, and once he was

healed enough not to need it for pain, he still needed to be carefully

weaned off of it because if he *didn't* take it, he felt crummy, like he

had the flu. For me, overeating is like that: doesn't make me feel all

that good, just keeps me (or so I deluded myself into thinking) from

feeling crummy in one way or another.

>

> I seem incapable of writing a short post. Sorry for going on and on!

>

> Laurie

>

August 19, 2010