Are you a food addict? How can you tell?

Hi. Can anyone URL me the addictions forum here? I was looking and found myself once again in my standard state of lost.

While here though
1) THANK YOU for your responses thus far to my pool post earlier today. I'm really stumped on that one -- wanting to put some national directory or something together.
2) Addictions....

I was working on an article that included "Top 10 ways you can tell if you're a food addict."  From experience over the years, I've LOVED the various top 10, etc lists that you all have come up with and I figured it would be a ridiculous mistake to not ask for some home grown observations from you on the topic. One's here from the boards tend to be hillarious .  Funny or otherwise, if you want to contribute your items, if we include them in our article we'll throw some OHMags your way along with a 175.4 piece ginzu knife set just kidding (about the knives).

Thanks.  You all are collective geniouses (?) Genieuses? [darn, still can't spell].  Really smart people.

I finally accepted (could tell) that I was a food addict when......

Thanks!  You guys are collective geniouses.

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Update -- July 2
Here's a compilation of some excerpts from your comments.  (My apologies for _slight_ editorial liberty being taken).  If this project iterests you... spread the word ; keep 'em coming!


ObesityHelp Members Share:
I finally accepted that I was a food addict when.......

….. I would wake up and wonder, "Hmmm, I think I'll get chicken nuggets for lunch, but what about dinner." 

….. I would be eating lunch and thinking about what I was going to have at my next meal.

…. I realized food was the highligth of my day.

…. I made 10 desserts for Thanksgiving and tried all of them in one day.

…. I realized my file cabinet at work was stuffed with junk food instead of files.

… I went to an all you can eat buffet and then stoped to get a large milkshake on the way home.

... I bought bags and bags of candy for Halloween and then had to rush out at the last minute and buy more for the trick-or-treaters.

… Someone told me that my kitchen resembles a Wal Mart.

… I would literally be full, yet be open to eat more if I saw appealing food, if someone suggested it, even a smell could provoke me.

… I began crying hysterically every time a McDonald's commercial came on the TV after my RNY.

…  I'd be eating one meal and thinking about the next.

… a food commercial would come on and I'd crave whatever it was being advertised.

… I'd be full yet couldn't bear to not eat just a little bit more.

… I started hoarding food that I don't even particularly like just because it was there.

… I would eat a huge plate of food and as I got to the last few bites I would be struggling to clean the plate even though I was full just because it tasted soooo good! 

… my favorite food was served during a lunch meeting at work and I lost all concentration about anything other than that food and later remembered nothing about the meeting.

…  I realized I was waking up thinking about food, and then after I ate, I was thinking about what I would be eating for the next meal.

…  I realized I was hiding food from my family so they wouldn't eat it before I had a chance to... and to make matters worse I would stop at a fast food place on my way home from work and eat it in the car before I got home and made dinner!

…  I'd eat dinner with my family and then eat dinner with my boyfriend later in the evening.

… I reached goal and I _thought_ I'd care less about food "BECAUSE  I WAS AT GOAL" - silly me! – but it became even more clear that I have a food addiction.

…  I consumed three hot dogs in a room full of people with no one seeing me chew or eat them.

…  I told a piece of cake from a lady at church.  (If wanted a food item I didn’t care who it belongs to; if it was available within my reach and vision I would take it. )

… for a trip from Virginia to Florida, I planned the whole trip around getting to Florida in time to get to a certain restaurant in order to get fried chicken livers.

….  realized the first thing I said to the kids at work (as a teacher) was what was for breakfast on the school menu.

…  I would eat and eat until I was sick and still want more.

…  I would drive through three fast food restaurants on the way home from work and then stop to throw away my food packages so know one would know…  And then fix dinner for my family and eat with them also.

… I knew I was a food addict when I felt like I had lost my best friend after WLS.

… food then was what I wrapped my day around, planning my every meal and snacking in between them all.

… As my husband and I finished dinner we would say "What's next".

… I woke up thinking what I was going to eat that day.

… I realized that every waking, breathing minute of my day was spent thinking about/planning food.

… I noticed that I would call my mom (who fixes most of my meals) first thing after I get to work in the morning to find out what we are having for dinner that night.

… I would find myself rummaging through my pantry for food when I am not hungry.

…  I ate until it hurt, and then was just sorry I didn't have room for more.

...I realized I was literally only looking forward to meal times.  I would wake up and wonder, "Hmmm, I think I'll get chicken nuggets for lunch, but what about dinner."  That was a sad realization--to know that the only good things I had in my life were meals. 

I finally accepted (could tell) that I was a food addict when......

I would be eating lunch and thinking about what I was going to have at my next meal.

when i realized food was the highligts of my day,,,

Hey Eric,
I was looking for the forum and I can't seem to find it either but I'm going to answer your question anyway.

I finally accepted (could tell) that I was a food addict when......

I don't know if there was a "moment" that I'm aware of but about 4 or 5 years ago I started seeing the parallels of addiction to our disease. I started posting about it and was met with a great deal of resistance in the beginning.  It seems to be commonly accepted now.   I saw that I was self medicating with food, burying pain, not wanting to feel. I saw myself reaching for a different high when the food was taken away and saying "I'll be happy when....".   I saw the parallels of denial and that in itself made it difficult for many to see the addiction aspect.  I think it is particularly hard for those that had to spend many years being called "obese", feeling "less than", and then someone comes along and tells you that you are an addict too!  Being an addict is a disease...it doesn't make me a bad person.  Admitting the problem is the first step to being able to work toward the solution.  I may not be obese anymore but I will always have obesity.  I also know that by giving back and getting out of my scary brain that I am much more capable of success in this strange journey of trying to recover from this disease.  By talking about it I hope it helps others.  I remember someone telling me that it often runs in families (my brother was a very severe drug addict) and I was thinking "I don't abuse drugs"....oh...but then there was the food.  It all eventually clicked. 

The diet industry concentrates on trying to help us not feel full etc etc but until they actually address the fact that we are trying to fill a hole in our heart, the problem with weight will not change.  Thanks for asking "us"...the ones that are living this in our day to day lives.  Hopefully by opening the dialogue, it will help others understand the inner workings and the solution.  We are also very much helped by professionals that understand addiction and "family of origin" issues.  There are so many of us that have endured abuse of all kinds and until we can talk it out....get it out of our souls and begin to feel the peace we deserve in this life, we cannot heal.  Here's to many more of us getting a little more "well" each day so that we can live our lives to the fullest.
Many blessings, Y

I am not a food addict.

Spell check is your friend. It's right here in the window where you make your responses.

WOW.  I believe he was being facetious.  He is also our host and the reason that Obesity Help exists and it seems to me that a bit of respect is in order. It was a joke.  If you are not a food addict that's great.  What are you so angry about?

Eric's alright with a bit of disrespect.

Trust me.

You being disrespectful to me aGAIN? geeze. Didn't you meet your quota for that by, like, Jan 19th 2010 already?  {.... ahhh... unless....maybe there's a market for disrespect credits, like the way that carbon credits are traded amongst utilities...} 

Well.  You know me -- always trying to go above and beyond.