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How Does One Become Addicted to Food?

I have heard the expression “addicted to food” many times in recent years and I have always wondered what exactly that means. I mean, aren’t we all addicted to food in the sense that we all need food to survive? I made it a point to sit down one day, research what the expression meant exactly, and found some interesting facts.

A person that is addicted to food essentially has the same problem that other addicts have in that he or she lives to eat, just as drug addicts will say they live to get high, or gambling addicts will say they live to gamble. People with food addictions are consumed by food (excuse the pun) and dwell on it constantly.

I read about one man who was addicted to food (fast food in particular), whose problem became so severe that he ended up losing his home and vehicle because he spent so much money on food. He was actually crying as he talked about pawning his valuables in order to “feed” his addiction.

Most people who have food addictions are morbidly obese and there are actual clinics designed to treat them, such as the Brookhaven Obesity Clinic in New York. At places like Brookhaven, patients are placed on diets and exercise programs. They also receive counselling to try to understand why they are eating the way they do.

The tough thing about being addicted to food is that unlike other addictions, everyone needs food to live. It is not a matter of simply giving up something that is bad for you in the first place and working every day to prevent yourself from going back to it. You have to teach yourself how to eat without eating excessively.

The sad part about it is that people who are addicted to food feel ashamed and often will not come forward with their addiction. They can’t understand why everybody else can eat, get full and push the plate away, while they are gorging themselves with three or four helpings of everything and feeling hungry just a few hours later.

With the obesity problem in the United States and food addiction seemingly on the rise, it might be time to examine this issue closer and try to determine its cause. Why have people gotten to a point in society where they have actually become addicted to food?

A recent study suggests that this generation of children will be the first with a shorter life span than their parents’ generation because of the obesity problem in the United States. If being addicted to food is one of the causes, it surely needs to be addressed.