Did you know that just like Alcoholics Anonymous there is a group called Overeaters Anonymous?
I learned about “OA” in college when my boyfriend’s mom Barb told me about the group. She had been going for years and would talk about it freely at dinner or other get togethers. It was a big part of her life. I really loved her and thought she was a kind, loving and wise woman. So I respected what she had to say about the group.
A few months later I got a job working at a recruiting company and met Ally who was also familiar with Overeaters Anonymous. She was more ‘on and off’ with the program. She was super open with me about her struggles with food and binge eating and dieting. I think part of it was that I was very young and curious and just felt comfortable asking a lot of questions because I thought it was super interesting.
You can take alcohol or drugs or porn or video games or Facebook or ‘insert your addiction here’ completely out of your life. But you will always need food.
It was such a light bulb moment for me. It made perfect sense.
When you are addicted to food you still must constantly face your demons. You have to navigate a healthy relationship with a substance that makes you happy, sad, euphoric, satisfied, embarrassed, excited… every single day – multiple times a day! You can’t just avoid food, you need it to live so finding a way to STOP the addiction and give yourself permission to eat is really hard. Facilities such as Malibu drug rehab centers excel in providing comprehensive care and support.
One time Barb told me food addiction is worse than alcohol addition or drug addiction as said by WhiteSands near me, because when you’re addicted to drugs you can go into a program and learn how to cut them out of your life. With the presence of a detox center in LA near your locality, you can easily avoid your addiction 100%. But food addiction is hard because you still need to eat everyday.
This post is not about how to deal with your food addiction (if you have one, hopefully you’re just reading this because you’re bored and/or curious about when I’m going to talk about snorting powdered donuts). We can talk about that another day.
I am just here to point out that if you struggle with binge eating or food addiction or some other similar food issue – give yourself credit for the fact that this is a challenge you have to face constantly.
It’s hard to not overeat or binge when there will always be food in your house – and practically everywhere else you go. It’s important to acknowledge where you struggle and where you need support. That’s different for everyone.
I didn’t go to Overeaters Anonymous when I realized I had a problem with food and my body. But since I knew Barb and Ally had issues with overeating and needed outside help to stop – I knew I probably needed professional help too. I decided to go to therapy to fix the problem.
Not everyone needs AA or OA or therapy to overcome their issues with drugs or food or whatever else one might be addicted to. But if you have a problem that someone else can help you solve then you should learn more about your treatment options.
I had a problem with binge eating for a really long time. I don’t consider myself a binge eater anymore. But I still might binge once or twice a year ( maybe I think, I don’t really dwell on it). This sucks, but it’s not surprising. I’m always going to have food in my house. And I might be extremely tired and stressed and hungry all at the same time and it will result in a binge at some point down the road. I can’t 100% avoid food and I can’t 100% avoid bad days so if that comes together in some poor timing I may fall off the wagon.
That’s why it’s so important to have a good healthy view on food. Because it’s always going to be there…
Notes: I changed the names of my bf’s mom and co-worker in this post to protect their privacy.
If you have any addiction please consider professional help from Intensive Addiction Intervention Services. I made some jokes, but all addictions are serious when they affect your life and the lives of the people you love. It’s impressive how high rehab success rates are. I’m not trying to discount anyone’s feelings or personal issues. Take care of you.
Food addiction is definitely a hindrance to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle. We offer natural methods for detoxification through diet and supplements that supports our well-rounded programs for losing weight in a healthy way. Check out our website http://lisannewellnesscenter.com/weight-loss-full-page/ to see what other weight loss programs we have for those who want natural weight loss.
Good points
Good points. I do realize it is a challenge I face constantly. I am always saying you can’t diet, you have to change your lifestyle. But when I fall off the wagon I feel so stupid. I don’t eat right for a long time – basically until I feel horrible and/or gain a lot of weight. Then I realize what I’m doing and get back to a good lifestyle. This gives some perspective. I never thought of food addiction as being similar, yet so different from other addictions.
Evelyn Tribole has this to say about OA:
“Many years ago, I was fortunate to meet the president of the national Overeaters Anonymous (OA). She kindly took me through each of OA’s 12 steps, which made it clear that OA can support Intuitive Eating. But group dynamics can really vary. Here are some things to consider:
Each OA group has it’s own “personality”—some groups are wonderful, others not so much. I refer my interested clients to the OA website, which clearly does not promote any type of diet or restricting.
Abstinence is a personal choice—and it is usually the sticky issue, if there’s going to be some sort of conflict. Nowhere in the 12 Steps, does it require you to abstain from a particular food or group of foods. Consider choosing abstinences that are nurturing, realistic and not punitive. For example, you could choose to refrain from dieting, abstain from skipping meals or from weighing yourself.
Your Sponsor has a tremendous impact. So, it’s important to choose a sponsor that supports the Intuitive Eating process. (Over the years, I’ve had many sponsors refer clients to me, specifically to facilitate the Intuitive Eating process). ”
http://nutrition-info-411.evelyntribole.com/2010/01/16/what-do-you-think-about-overeaters-anonymous.aspx?ref=rss
Thank you for chiming in with this!
This is such an obvious thing, but you’d never realize it unless you’re told it. It makes so much sense and is so important for understanding what others may be going through. Thank you for sharing!
I totally agree- food addiction must be one of the hardest addiction to face. Eating healthy, eating the right portion, etc. is very hard. I saw that right off the back when I first moved to the States- everything was in huge portions and this was completely shocking and new.
Great post!
I really appreciate this post, as someone who does struggling with food addiction and binging and dieting. I try to be as open as I can about this on my blog too–but what you say is so true. The hardest thing is having to face it everyday and never escaping from it.
Lifestyle by Joules
Im a recovering addict and alcoholic and also suffered with some disordered eating after I entered recovery. I drew the same conclusion bc the solution (simplified greatly) is to cut out alcohol and drugs, but you need food to live and so it becomes a little more difficult. For me, the drugs/shopping/gambling/sex/etc are really only a symptom of a deeper problem, which requires the most attention.
I’ve been a long time follower of your blog, but I have to say this post really angered me. I know its not what you were going for, but it sounds like you completely discredit addicts. Has your family disowned you due to food? Did your own father not show up to your high school graduation because they had a bad food binge the previous night? Have you had to sleep on the streets because of food? Have you overdosed and died because of food? It’s obvious you have never had a true addict in your life. A food addiction is NOT harder/worse than other addictions, by any stretch. Wait til you see your sibling sell all of your personal belongings to sustain their heroin addiction, and then tell me binge eating is worse. I am in no way discrediting food addictions, but your post is a slap in the face to any recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, or those who are supported/support them.
This is such a huge issue, thanks for pointing this out. I really believe that tools like meditation and mindfulness are invaluable for these kinds of addictions. This really comes to show that our relationships with food are emotional and sometimes they can get out of hand. But there is always help!
This is really interesting–ive never thought about it like that! That would be so so hard!
Thanks for talking about this- I have struggled with binge eating at several stages in my life. It can be such a difficult problem because I feel like there is so much shame around it. Reading the book “Brain Over Binge” helped me to stop bingeing. Honestly, nothing else ever helped. I would recommend that book to anyone even if you are mostly over the issue. It is really powerful.
https://thedogtribe.com/2016/06/22/bloating-the-struggle-is-real/
Totally agree with you here on how hard food addiction is to battle. I’ve been personally struggling with that and emotional eating when I get stressed on and off and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. I’m so happy that this is finally becoming more well known as an addiction and people are taking it seriously.
great post! I haven’t heard of that group before, but I am glad it exists for those who need it. I definitely see how food addiction can be worse than drug or alcohol addiction. I think it is a very serious issue in our country today and it should be treated like other addictions.
I go through stages where I binge eat certain foods. Not all at the same time but like I might have an obsession with watermelon and I’ll just eat watermelon for every meal for days and then I get sick of it for a while. And it can be any kind of food. Once I ate bagels with biscoff at every meal for 3 weeks straight and then didn’t go near bagels or biscoff for a month. I hope I”m not the only person who does this…
I’ve had chicken salad and pita chips every day since May 28th…I’m not tired of them yet…
I had a friend who suffered from binge eating. The thing that stuck out for me was that she said she would literally eat an entire loaf of white bread during a binge.