FOOD ADDICTIONS?

“Hello, my name is _________, and I’m addicted to _________”.  Janet, Mickey, and I were laughing about this on Thursday night.  Could you fill in the blanks with something you legitimately have cravings for? Like cigarettes, alcohol, sugar or salt?….for me it used to be gum.  “Hello, my name is Sam and I’m addicted to gum…and ice cream…and artificial sweeteners….and caramels (like Goetze…have you ever have them?)”. Yes, I’ve been there. Addiction is a real thing, and even if you beat it – it’s always there. The “threat”. 

Is it eating patterns that have become a habit? Is it the additives, sugar, and types of food in our markets now that are addictive?  Is food too plentiful?  Are we bored? 

Cravings for sugar, carbohydrates, or alcohol, are thought, in most cases, not to be true eating disorders, but instead signs of hormonal imbalance caused by a lack of a healthy diet. Maybe…but repetitive exposure to sugar and carbohydrate, like alcohol, is known to affect the reward centers of the brain – much like alcohol. 

Food cravings may mean the body has its signals mixed up. When we are exhausted or sad, sleep deprived, or if we have low blood sugar and/or low serotonin, the body signals the brain that it needs a pick-me-up. This signal can cause a sugar craving or carbohydrate craving.

Serotonin is our feel-good hormone. If serotonin is low, we feel sad or depressed. And hormonal imbalance or weak digestion can lead to low serotonin. Unfortunately, sugars and simple carbohydrates release a short burst of serotonin — we feel good for a moment, but soon return to our low-serotonin state — then crave more sugar and simple carbohydrates. It’s a downward spiral.

If you eat a low-fat diet in the hope of losing weight, you unintentionally make the problem worse.  If, like many people, you have eaten a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for many years, or followed fad diets, the odds are good that you have become at least partially insulin-resistant.

Insulin is responsible for maintaining stable blood sugar levels by telling the body’s cells when to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Being insulin resistant means your body stops responding to insulin, and instead grabs every calorie it can and deposits it as fat. So no matter how little you eat, you will gradually gain weight.

At the same time, your cells cannot absorb the glucose they need, so they signal your brain that you need more carbohydrates or sugars. The result is persistent food cravings.

Even worse, insulin resistance leads directly to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Many experts believe it is the root cause of the epidemic of those diseases in America today. And a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet makes it far more likely you will suffer from this condition.

Another cause of food cravings is adrenal imbalance. This can be caused if you are under a great deal of stress or suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation, or if you are exhausted much of the time. This situation causes your body to call upon your adrenal glands for more stress hormones to act as a pick-me-up, but over time, your adrenals become less able to respond appropriately…kind of like when your pancreas gets overworked cranking out insulin in response to high blood glucose.  In the case of adrenal stress, you may resort to sugar or carbohydrate snacks or coffee during the day and carbohydrates or alcohol at night for energy or “relief”… all of which exacerbate the problem.

So what do we do about this?  Talk about it. Seek help (non-pharmaceutical, but rather behavioral!) – friends, family, fellow fitness buffs, therapists – just get it out if you think you have a problem.  Trust me, others do too.   How many of you can see something you crave (like cake or chocolate) and then can’t get it out of your mind.  It’s out there  – another battle to conquer!

You can break the cycle of craving – caving into the cravings, but sometimes it takes a village to help.   I mentioned food addiction being much like substance abuse – it’s true. The first step if humbling up and admitting (to yourself and others) that you have a tendency to overindulge when you eat or drink [insert food/drink here]. Humility is sexy. Hubris and self-denial – not so much. Ed and I will extend ourselves to help someone who wants help. Those with all the excuses but who won’t look in the mirror and accept responsibility for their actions…meh….not as much. 

One approach to help: either abstain, or create a situation where you can “have only one bite or serving”, but then the opportunity disappears (like dessert at a restaurant, versus a pint of ice cream at home). But Sam…abstain? You mean I can never have ice cream? Well, speaking from someone who beat a closet Dairy Queen drive addiction by laying off of it completely? Yes. Sorry. 

I tend to believe the best about people – that they’re smart if they want to be, and resourceful. I’d rather see someone try to battle a food (or other) addiction the old-fashioned way – with loved ones and trusted friends. Good old-fashioned communication and hard work. It can work. 

Or, the “new way”, hire a therapist and talk about it with someone you feel safe with. But get to the crux of the issue quickly. Addiction, whether substance or food, is a real, chemical thing. Deal with it before your health takes a dive – unless it already has. Then, still, DEAL WITH IT.