Are you a food addict? How can you tell?

Enjoying food does not make one a food addict.  I did not lie or cheat or steal to get a donut or a salad, nor was all of my energies and focus directed on when and how I would get the next morsel of food.  I think that the label food addict, is an inaccurate,  simplistic and dismissive description of a complex dynamic process.  A process that is made up of cultural/social mores, brain function, physiological processes, and emotional/psychological processes. 

I think that the term food addict is used to deflect from the real issues and causes of obesity.  And many people use the term to justify throwing up their hands in defeat.  Hence the 12 step model "I am an addict and as such I am powerless".  One may be powerless to control their obesity because of metabolic functions but it is certainly not because they are simply weak, lazy or lack motivation. 

Red

I still go to the store and  read labels of things I shouldn't eat.  I guess I figure they will change the ingredients to what I should eat.

Since there are so many that do not wish to believe the existence of food addiction I'll try to provide some data from other sources:

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/2002/bnlpr052002.htm

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48605/title/Junk_ food_turns_rats_into_addicts

I don't remember if I listed how I knew I was an addict but here are a just a few:

I ate to numb out pain, to self medicate myself into oblivion.  Did I have a sucky metabolism? yes.  Were my family large? yes.  I still exhibited all of the characteristics of an addict.  I recognized them from my brother and other close relatives.  It runs parallel and the behavior is the same.  Of course one of the primary characteristics of addiction is denial.  It was only when I saw my addictive behavior that I was able to work on it and start to heal.  If we are not addicts why is there so much cross addiction?  I'm sure there are many with faulty metabolisms but to say that most are not addicts when there is so much information to point to the contrary only keeps people in the depth of their denial.  I am not ashamed....now.  I WAS ashamed and consumed with guilt before surgery. 

I failed at every diet for 30 years.   I WAS a failure.
I ate when I wasn't hungry, I self loathed afterwards and repeated the cycle over and over.  Many have extreme family of origin issues.  We also have so many abuse and sexually molested victims in our community...so many trying to bury extreme pain from their past.  Opening up this subject will help many post-ops.  Thank you.

I DON'T think anyone's saying that there is no such thing as food addiction---I think it's just that many people here are saying that their obesity was not the result of a food addiction, and that food addicts are not necessarily obese.

I totally agree that not every obese person is a food addict.  Every addict is not obese because there are many eating disorders that affect very thin people.  I hope that obesity is better understood in general because of the rise of obesity in our country.  Learning about the over use of corn in our diet and high fructose corn syrup etc. will hopefully unlock some of the answers.  Because denial is a primary characteristic of addiction I am hoping that opening the conversation will help those that may see themselves....and in turn may help them learn how to heal from their disease.  I am truly happy for anyone that escapes from the prison of obesity and  I was really happy when I identified as an addict because it gave me a solution to my problem. (A problem I dealt with for way too long) The surgery got me back to normal and working on my addiction has kept me at goal.  I'm sure working daily to stay there too!

The time when I was eating frozen cake because I could not wait for it to defrost

Reminds me of this recipe my mom had called a "3 day cake".  You made it and you covered it with foil and put it in the frig for 3 days.  It was the most incredible stuff I ever ate but it was usually only 2 day cake and that's when we tried really hard. 

food addict - sneek out at night to go to fast food drive-thrus and order enough for 3 persons including 3 drinks so people wouldn't know it was for just me.

buying pie or cake late at night (after rest of family in bed) and eating some then throwing the rest away so no one would see it. Than the next day when home alone going and getting it out of the trash and eating the rest.

now that's what I call a food addict!

Yep, my car was a vitual food pantry sometimes.  I had a hiding place for cookies and one time I took the step son to McDonalds (he was super thin) when my ex was gone.  My ex was way crazy about any extra food so we ate it outside so you couldn't smell the cheeseburgers in the house.  I had pretty much forgotten that!  And yes the trash was pretty good but the best place to hide food is in the kitty litter disposal bags.  No one looks in there!

HI,

I did not think I was a food addict. I actually denied it like everyone else. I did not realize I had an addiction to food until I had to see a nutritionist before surgery. I was told to write down when I ate and what mood I was in. I found out that stress and boredum where the triggers.

After surgery I thought it would all go away. Until one day when I was at work and bored that I realized I was eating food for no reason. Now I try and make myself aware when I put food in my mouth if I am really hungry or something else is going on to trigger me to be hungry.

When under stress I try to chew sugar free gum or exercise.

Tonimarie