Food addiction
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Food addiction
Food addiction: Does it exist?
If you're searching for help for food addiction, you're not alone.
Unlike other addictions like heroin or alcohol addiction you have to eat to live.
There is no other option!
However, there is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that, as with other addictions, some peoples brains react to the presence of certain foods in exactly the same way it reacts to the presence of drugs, alcohol, prescription medication and even caffeine.
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The science
Quite simply, studies of both animal and human brains have shown that the same pleasure and reward centres of the brain are activated by food as they are by substances such as crack cocaine and heroin.
Recent studies indicate that the three types of food most likely to have these effects are:
Salt
Fat and Sugar
These foods, when metabolised, activate dopamine receptors in the brain.
Dopamine is a naturally occurring feel good chemical.
When you eat these foods, Dopamine is released and you experience pleasure.
The difficulty is that, if you keep doing this, the brain will develop what is known as a state of tolerance and start to change it's chemistry.
Food addiction
Biological tolerance
When you keep activating your brains dopamine release system the brain will change how it works.
In short, you will need more and more activating substances (sugar, fat and salt) to have the same effect as when you first started to experience the release of dopamine.
The other problem is that you will find it extremely difficult to experience pleasure without activating dopamine via eating these food groups.
These foods are not carbohydrates which mean they wear off: Quickly.
While your genetic makeup may mean you don't gain weight, these foods are not going to be good for your long term health.
Food addiction
What are the signs of food addiction?
There are no hard and fast rules though researchers at Yale university in America have designed a rating scale that can help to narrow down signs.
The scale works on positive responses to questions along the following lines:
Do you keep eating certain foods despite not feeling hungry?
Do you eat to the point that you feel discomfort?
Does your diet make you concerned about the food groups you are excluding?
Are you concerned about what you are eating?
Are you having to spend time and money getting your fix?
Is your habit interfering with family time?
Are relationships suffering?
Is your addiction to food affecting work and study?
Do you avoid situations because you won't be able to access these food groups?
Can you function without access to them?
If you can not access them do you feel anxious?
Does not being able to eat certain foods make you agitated?
Do you start to get physical symptoms if you can't eat your desired food groups?
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Food addiction and mental wellbeing
Due to tolerance, you will need to eat ever increasing amounts of these foods to feel pleasure.
If you stop, Dopamine will stop being released and your mood will crash: very quickly.
Thus you will end up in a vicious circle: If you don't eat these foods you will become depressed yet if you do you have to eat very large quantities just to stay level.
Food addiction
Cravings
Just as heroin withdrawal causes cravings, so does food addiction.
These will be very unpleasant and you will find yourself on virtual autopilot trying to satisfy your brain in obtaining food high in salt, sugar and fat.
As foods containing high quantities of these food groups are not complex carbohydrates, they are metabolised: Fast.
There is no difference in the behavioural responses to food addiction craving as there is to getting a fix of heroin.
It has nothing to do with lack of willpower but everything to do with science.
Food addiction
Help for food addiction
Addiction is addiction.
Whatever the substance or behaviour that is causing the problem, the origin is the same: Something in that persons life is not going well.
They are trying to escape from something: A situation, a person, painful memories, anxiety or a combination of the above.
The treatment is the same, as well.
It matters not if you go into recovery because you have a problem with alcohol, crack cocaine or Heroin.
The brain responds in the same way.
You can fly to New York in economy, premium economy, business or first class.
How you got there might be different but the destination is the same.
The only difference with food addiction is that you must have a certain amount of salt, sugar and fat in your diet.
However, there is alcohol in bread so maybe not so different!
Food addiction
What about home treatment for food addiction?
It may be possible to have treatment at home, depending on the severity of the symptoms. Please call and get free, indepdendent and confidential advice from an experienced addictions clinician. We can advise if treatment at home is a viable option.
Therapy
All centers who provide treatment for addiction provide a fully immersive therapy programme, either along a 12 step approach or a SMART based recovery model. These run seven days a week and , those in treatment, are obliged to attend all sessions if physically well enough to do so. For new admissions, it can be 24-48 hours , on occasion, before someone is able to take part.
Sitting alongside this programme, many centers also offer adjunctive treatments and therapies such as:
Yoga
Mindfulness
Art therapy
Gentle exercise and group walks
Music therapy
Individual sessions (for those staying more than a week)
Clients, before leaving, are linked in with support groups in their local community, be they voluntary or statutory. A psychological tool kit is built up so that clients have a selection of techniques to employ.
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