5 Ways To Know You May Have A Food Addiction
Fear you may have a food addiction? Check out these 5 ways to find out whether you might fit into this category.
Addiction is defined as continued use despite adverse consequences. It is a feeling of being pulled towards doing something you know is not good or healthy for you. It is feeling out of control and like no matter what, you cannot stop, even when you feel you want to. it is continuing a behaviour that is hindering or harming you in some way, but you continue to do it anyway.
5 Ways To Know You May Have A Food Addiction
1. You frequently think about a specific food or food group, fantasizing about the next time you can have it. For example, you cannot stop thinking about the cookies in your cupboard and they are constantly on your mind. Or you frequently daydream about dessert after dinner, or going out to eat so you can have that pasta dish you love so much. The food thoughts take up a lot of your time.
2. If you don't have access to these certain foods you can feel irritable or panicky and become distracted. An example of this would be always keeping track of how much junk food or the food you love is in the house, and making mental notes when running low. If you forget to buy it or someone else in the house eats it, you can get annoyed even to the point of anger, or start to panic about when you can get out to the store to get some more.
3. You break your own rules about when you will stop eating or about how much food you will consume, and usually end up overeating or going on a binge. This is the roller coaster ride of food addiction that leaves people with the most shame. They have all the best intentions to eat well and make better choices, but when it comes time to act, it can feel like something or someone else takes over and they lose all control. Bingeing is especially destructive because it not only creates heavy shame clouds, it can lead to emotional unrest, physical distress, leptin resistance, poor sleep, and erratic eating patterns.
4. You lie about the food you consume and how much or often you have them. This can look like grabbing your special food on the way home from work and eating it in the car before you get home, or only consuming the food when you are alone in the house. You may even lie about how many slices of cake, for example, are left just so you will be able to have some later when people are gone. Any food you do consume, you hide the evidence deep in the trash or bury it in the recycling so no one else knows.
5. You feel badly or sick after eating, knowing it's bad for you, but you cannot seem to stop. This is the exact definition of addiction. Knowing that the thing you are doing is hurting you in some way, but you just can't seem to quit. You have lost control.
If This Sounds Like You...
If you have just read this post and now are like SH*& that's me! That's ok! Addiction is not something to be ashamed of. It simply means that you have lost some control down the line somewhere and you need to get it back. Becoming aware of it is step one and the most important step. You can't do anything before that.
Whether you do it alone or get a coach, it is important to address the addiction in its entirety. Get to the root of why you became addicted in the first place. What drove you? What emotions were you trying to feel more or less of? Is there an event in your life that is tied to your addiction? is there some deep healing you can do that will free you from it?
It's time to start asking the hard questions so you can get to the truth and ditch your food addiction for good. if you'd like to learn more about breaking free for yourself or someone you love, you can book a free Discovery Call on our contact page.
I spent 12 years in addiction, through various substances searching for something to make me whole, but not realizing that was what I was doing . It took me getting REAL with what was causing my addictive patterns and healing the pain underneath it. Freedom is possible, you just have to take that first step.
If this is you, believe me, you can do this.
Amanda xoxo
