Addiction

When I met with the psychiatrist this week, she referred to regain after surgery as a 'relapse'. Because of that, I started thinking about food as an addiction,  and WLS as rehab (it works if you stick to the guidelines you have learned, and be accountable). Does anyone else think of it this way? 

The short answer is yes. Many of us can not eat sweets or it starts a binge. There will be times you will give in but you have to just get right back on the horse. It is also why they talk about cross additions. People give up the comfort of food for shopping, alcohol or other behaviours. 

I certainly do think this way!  However, I focus mostly on "sugar" and "white flour" as my "addiction".  "Sugar" is my "crack cocaine" if you will.  I could never get enough of it.  So now, I stick to meat, vegetables, fruit and dairy only.  When I don't eat sugar or bread, then I don't "crave" sugar or bread.  It has been a year and a half since I adopted this way of living and I find it so much easier now that the cravings are gone.  But, yes, I do look at these things as "an addiction" the same as alcohol or drugs.  Good for you for realizing this.  Hang in there.  I also try to handle my addiction(s) one day at a time. Just for today.  Take good care! I wish you all the best.

Food is absolutely an addiction and I'm sure that for each and every one of us there are those few foods that are a very slippery slope, one bite can lead to a full on binge if we don'****ch ourselves. It's no different then with drugs or alcohol right .I know some people may disagree but FOOD is totally my addiction and I'm headed for rehab Monday AM :-) 

There is a lot of emerging research on the topic of "food addiction" and whether it's an actual "thing".  I'm not sure if you follow Dr. Sharma's Obesity Notes, but here is a link to a piece he wrote recently referencing some research currently underway:

http://www.drsharma.ca/how-to-tell-if-you-may-be-a-food-addi ct.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign= Feed%3A+DrSharmasObesityNotes+%28Dr.+Sharma%27s+Obesity+Note s%29