Does it seem like you can’t stop eating once you start?
Are especially unable to control your intake of sugar?
Have you ever wondered if you are addicted to food?
Food is NOT a drug! It’s physiologically impossible to be addicted to food, in the same sense that an individual can be addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin or other drugs. Drug addiction is a progressive disease of the brain, where an individual develops chemical dependency with chronic drug use over a period of time. Once drug addiction develops, an addict “needs” that drug to prevent painful and sometimes life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. However, with proper abstinence-based treatment, the addict in recovery can function without drug use of any kind.
We don’t need drugs to live. But we need food to live.
Sugar is NOT a drug! It is a carbohydrate which our bodies use for energy and brain function. Table sugar — or sucrose — is a simple carbohydrate, like lactose (the natural sugar in milk), or fructose (the natural sugar in fruit). Whether fructose or lactose or sucrose, once in our bodies, all simple sugars are broken down into the simplest — glucose. If you have ever had your “blood sugar” measured, it’s actually the level of glucose in your blood which is being assessed.
It’s very normal and necessary to have sugar in our blood, brains and bodies!
So if we’re not really addicted to food, and specifically sugar — then what the heck is going on when it feels so impossible to stop binge eating, especially foods which contain sugar? Just like an alcoholic is told, “One drink is too many, because one hundred is not enough” — doesn’t it feel the same way with candy or cookies or cake? “One piece is too much, because one pound is not enough.” Or, maybe it’s foods which contain flour — like bread, pasta or pizza. Or foods which are salty or fatty — like chips, cheese, or fast food. Want fries with that?
Vegetables, anyone? Hmmm… who is addicted to broccoli???
Instead of Food Addiction, the clinical term that Certified Eating Disorder Specialists (CEDS) use is Binge Eating Disorder. It’s what is listed in the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). Some of the criteria for Binge Eating Disorder include: “Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances,” and also, “A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).” Binge Eating Disorder is a behavioral addiction — a compulsion to engage in a specific ritual of binge eating — but not a chemical addiction to food itself! The recommended treatment involves techniques like emotion regulation to assist with emotions which can trigger binge eating behavior, as well as intuitive eating and mindfulness strategies to make peace with food.
It’s not Food Addiction. It’s Binge Eating Disorder. And complete recovery is possible!
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Interested to learn more about FOOD ADDICTION vs. BINGE EATING DISORDER? Read the FOOD ADDICTION Q&A written by Dr. Dorie McCubbrey, MSEd, PhD, LPC, CEDS. She tells her story of recovery and much more: http://positivepathways.com/food-addiction-help/
Interested in a FREE consultation? Dr. Dorie would like to get to know you and give you feedback about how EDIT™ can help you achieve the results you desire. Call 720-606-3242 or learn more: http://positivepathways.com/free-consultation/
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