Food Addiction is REAL.
Here’s how I know.
Trigger Warning + Disclaimer
We talk about food and body. We’re pretty unabashed in describing self-deprecating thoughts, binges, specific foods, and dieting.
Sugar Sober (it’s content and offerings) is absolutely not intended to substitute for psychological counseling, therapy, or professional health care advice.
If this is triggering for you and/or you need qualified, professional health care, we recommend you check out our Eating Disorders Resources page first.
Some researchers say there is no such thing as “food addiction.” At least, not in the true sense of the diagnosable term “addict.”
I beg to differ.
Just look around you.
Food addiction is systemic, woven into the very fabric of dining culture in the US and beyond.
It’s in the way we are sold food – “No one can eat just one,” “Give into your cravings,” “The fourth meal.”
It's the Pinterest recipes promoting a dish by exclaiming “it’s like crack!’”
It’s in the way we stock our pantries – More is more!
It’s in our attempts to diet (read: detox, get on the wagon), only to relapse in a final fit of cravings we can’t fight off.
It’s in our parked cars and locked bedrooms, as we prefer to consume our biggest vices unwitnessed.
It’s in Amazon Prime Now orders for buttercream carrot cake at 9pm on a dreary Wednesday.
It’s in the crescendo feeling of doom standing in front of party buffets, candy isles, and stocked fridges.
It’s in taking inventory of your friend’s cupboards when they leave the room. You’re not really sure why, it’s just an impulse to see if you can take one granola bar without them noticing.
It’s in keeping private stashes of cookies and chips around the house.
It’s waiting until your partner or parent goes to bed to so you can eat that final massive serving in secret.
It’s in the universal joke that you feel like shit after ordering in wings and fries. But no one expects you to NOT partake. That would be extreme. Giving in is the norm.
It’s in the “I ate it all so it can’t tempt me to eat it tomorrow” plan.
We fully recognize an alcoholic is set up to relapse if they continue to frequent the bar. And we aren’t surprised when addicts raid medicine cabinets or keep secret stashes throughout the house.
Why, then, are some health leaders so dead set to deny food addicts the opportunity to be fully seen in their battle?
Food addiction is real, I promise you. And it’s everywhere – secretly as well as out in the open.
Recently, several studies have been published detailing the cycle of sugar addiction in particular. One study examined food and sugar addiction in rats found:
Food is not ordinarily like a substance of abuse, but intermittent bingeing and deprivation changes that.
It continues:
Based on the...similarities between...sugar access and drugs of abuse, we suggest that sugar, as common as it is, nonetheless meets the criteria for a substance of abuse and may be “addictive” for some individuals when consumed in a “binge-like” manner.
Refusing to acknowledge those of us who’ve lived with food addiction only postpones any potential for recovery.
If you read to this point, it’s because we’re speaking your language. Let’s continue this conversation.
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Tell us in the comments,
if you think you may be addicted to food. The first time you say it out loud to someone is a landmark moment, the opportunity to take back the reigns.
Remember the Sugar Sober Manifesto - You heal and grow in direct proportion to how much you show up, participate, and serve others (it’s science, y’all).
So take just a couple seconds to leave a comment or respond to someone else!
You’ve got this and we’ve got you.
