Are you a food addict? How can you tell?

Before WLS yes I turned to food as comfort, relief, boredom. It did not matter if I was hungry or not or what time of the day it was either. It just went in. Fast food, good food, grazing , munching, eating. ahhhhhhh it felt good and it was all wrong. I never drank I do not smoke, I ate.
Once I hit 315 and had my 4th torn ACL/MCL from just turning I had enough.
Now i make concious choices, smart choices, plan ahead and have a time schedule.
Now I am a good addict and helping myself. Isnt that why our insurance wants us to have a pyschological profile done prior to surgery to see if we will become a different type of addict. So far so good. I am on the right track.

I totally agree that it is like any other disease, alcoholism, drug , sex addictions, smoking, etc. I lost my father 6 months ago and have put back on some weight due to just that! I am self medicating with bad food choices. I am ashamed to admit it but have recognized it and am on the way back down thank goodness!

I am a social worker with bariatric surgery team. I worked with drug and alcohol addicts in past and I definately think there are lot of common factors in both the fields.
Impulse control and denial behaviours are common.

Some of these are funny, but sad. I know I can laugh at myself, but know that I am a food addict. When one thinks about food all the time or can't stop when they are full, they definitely have an addiction. I don't want to upset anyone or start a war here, but I don't understand how overweight people think they don't have a food addiction, UNLESS, it is genetic or something like that. Again, just my personal feelings. I have a friend who insists she is not a food addict, yet is obese and has had testing to rule out genetic and all that stuff.

I know I'm a food addict. I think about food, cooking , read cookbooks and generally think about food 24/7. I'm trying to retrain my thinking. Emotionally food claims me down. i try to drink water now when food thoughts enter my mind. I also am more active and try to keep myself busy so I don't have as much time to read or cook.  I also don't purchase junk food so when I do eat I have to choose a healthy snack or meal.
Sandy

thinkig I am hungry and looking for SOMETHING....always looking for something....and realized that wasn't it.....

Other signs of food addiction:
*Going to a meeting or dinner where the food is provided and taking additional food along, so you can eat it, too, if there's not "enough".

*Planning the next meal or binge, while you are still laying on the couch from being soooooo full from just eating.

*Sneaking food as you scrape the plates after dinner, so your family won't "know how much you eat"

* Hiding really good treats from your family, so you won't have to share them. (Secret stashes)

*Eating 3/4 of a pie or cake and then having to go buy another one, so your family won't know what you did. (Of course, you have to eat 1/4 of it, too, so it will match what was leftover!@#$!!!!)

I don't think I'm a food addict because I was the one who would realize at 3 in the afternoon that I hadn't ate yet.  And at that point I would eat whatever I needed to to get full.  When I get stressed I don't turn to food - in fact I loose my appetite.

Now that I've had RNY and lost 90 lbs - I am finding I am falling back into my old patterns of not eating regularly like I'm supposed to every 3 hours.  Food at this point bores me and I only crave very sugary things.  I'm not sure if that's categorized as a food addict.

I realized I was a food addict when I watched the Food Network 24/7 and wanted to eat everthing in site.  Head hunger wins a lot!

When I realized that food had become more important to me than my health. I had eaten myself into diabetes, horribly painful diabetic neuropathy, high blood pressure, pain all over my body, and the inability to walk and function in life. Yes, food gave me pleasure, but it was killing me. When I realized I was killing myself with food is when I realized I am a food addict. That is also when I made the decision to have gastric bypass surgery---the BEST thing I have ever done in my life! Now 190lbs lighter, I still am a food addict, but one who can control my addiction--support groups are the main way I control that ever present voice in my head! :)