Are you a food addict? How can you tell?

I realized that I was a food addict during the pre-op diet when I was grieving for food I was not able to eat and literally started to search for it. I  buried that day my best friend " food" and said hello to a new relationship with food, not a dependency with it.  My motto became" I rather eat lite than walk heavy" Every day I remind myself what it takes to keep going and not to look back anymore. I also have learned to forgive myself for not eating healthy in the past.

What a great thing to do...to forgive yourself for not eating healthy in the past.  I should definitely do a better job of that myself!

1) Just hearing the names of certain foods causes my heart to race
2) I eat late at night
3) I don't any more, but I used to hide food
4) I eat in the car and leave my bags in there (gross...hope this changes)
5) I will eat frosting staright out of the can
6) When I was little I used to roll little bread balls/cubes and eat them
I could go on and on
 

I realized I was a food addict when I asked my husband to get me a Friendly's Reese's Pieces super sundae with mocha chun**** cream and he said he was embarrassed to go for me any more because the people at the restaurant would see him walk through the door and start making the sundae without him saying a word. Ice cream was a major item to give up with my surgery....I only allow myself a small taste of it now and then.  There still are days that driving by Friendly's makes me sigh a little. 

I finally accepted that I was a food addict when.......

I think I mirror many of you and what you said so I won't make a huge list, but there is one that I want to point out.  Apologies ahead of time because it is a little gross,  BUT a true sign of my food addiction.

I just got done eating chinese buffet and within minutes of walking out I threw up because I ate way too much.  My reaction to losing it was that we should go to another buffet and eat again.  My wife didn't let me, but the next day when I was thinking about it I realized how bad my food addiction was that I wasn't concerned that I gorged myself so much that I puked, but was instead all too concerned that my huge stomach was empty again!

Eric, I realize that you are not a scientist. However, I would like to believe that the error in your sampling technique is glaringly obvious: You have asked leading questions in anticipation of the answers. This skews your whole project.

Do you CARE about that little fact?

We the MO/formerly MO have been socialized to believe that it is our fault, that we must blame ourselves, that we are somehow defective, etc. The "addiction model" is the currently fashionable way of indulging in psychobabble "double dipping," aka, "YES I AM EVIL for being this size and eating this way," AND "it's a disease over which I AM POWERLESS."

Those of us who know better deserve an equal voice, and it really ****** me off that you're ignoring that salient issue.

I think it's really interesting that most if not all of the DS responders to this post are adamant (myself included) that we did NOT have a food "addiction" as if it were a mental illness, but rather we had behaviors that were driven by inappropriate biological/metabolic signals that were addressed and corrected by our DS.

So much guilt from the majority of the RNYers, VSGers and Lapbanders -- which is probably unnecessary.  The right treatment shows what the actual disease was about.  Enlightening, I would think.

It's wonderful that your only problem was behavior that was driven by inappropriate biological/metabolic signals that were addressed and corrected by DS.  (some might call that addiction and some of those would be doctors) Some of us however cannot explain it away so neatly and would appreciate being allowed to try to work towards a solution to our disease. There is no shame with being an addict just as there is no shame if you had a disease such as cancer. Admitting the problem is the first way to fix it.  I do not really believe you care at all about any of the guilt of the majority of RNYers, VSGers and Lapbanders because you are so anxious to heap tons of it on anyone you believe has chosen the incorrect type of surgery.  

And just like your typical MO, you start a thread and ask for only DS people to respond so when anyone else does you will belittle them by saying the thread was NOT directed at them.  Carry on Diana Cox and call in your DS people to hold you up.  You have been so unkind to so many members but as long as you bully your point through you will remain the unhappy person that seems to get joy by telling others it is your way or no way.

Bitter much? 

You're right - I don't care about the impact of my posts on the post-op RNYers, Lapbanders, etc., because they've already made their choice.  My posts are aimed at pre-ops and potential revision patients, who need this information before they make their decision.  If you take it personally, that's on YOU, not me.  If this information isn't of interest to you, or hurts you, hit your back button -- or better yet, the block button.

I asked for DSers to reply because that was the point of the thread.  Deal with it.

I don't think people can be addicted to food. But if we are assuming that they can than i think EVERYONE is addicted to food... because last time i checked everyone was eating every day, several times a day and sometimes at night. Why would you imply that it is shameful to eat? you eat right? you encourage your kids to eat? 

this is weird and I think it is sad that all these people feel guilty about satisfying a basic need for their survival... 

I used to eat too much. Used to be hungry allllll the time... 

DS fixed that. Now I am free to enjoy food... and i do... everyday, several times a day..... does that make me an addict?  i don't think so, there is no shame...no disease....