Food Addiction: Is it a real thing?

Can food be addictive? In this provocative article, Jon Robison builds the case for food as...just food. While his featured photo is at least a little freaky, Jon is right about sugar. It is not an addictive substance.

Neither are pizza, potato chips, Cheezits, Egg McMuffins--or any other food that seemingly holds power over you, that you can’t stop eating until it’s gone or you’re stuffed. The power, however, doesn’t come from the food. The power comes from how we characterize it. Most people know what I mean when I refer to a food as a banned substance. If you see all foods as either good or bad, banned substances almost without exception are the ones you categorize as bad AKA junk food, empty calories, horrible food, worthless, un-clean eating, and so on.

Often, this kind of dichotomous thinking is the crux of food addiction. Not an addiction to food as a substance but to food as a behavior. Food addiction is really a process or behavior addiction. That is why the interventions to treat binge eating disorder outlined in Jon’s article are so effective. It’s not about the food. It’s about the way we think about it. And try not to think about it. And try not to eat it.

To turn the tables on a banned food, move closer to it, literally and figuratively. When you’re ready, give yourself permission to bring it into your house.

Then, when you’re ready, give yourself permission to eat it. Again, and again. Until you zap the power out of it.

If you want to talk about this or want more information, call Health4U at 517-353-2596. You can schedule an appointment with me.