Symptoms of food addiction and how to get rid of it? How to get rid of food addiction step by step technology

How to get rid of food addiction: advice from psychologists

Along with nicotine or alcohol addiction, food addiction stands out: it has only psychological roots, and ultimately negatively affects human health.

What is food addiction: symptoms, signs, test ^

Food addiction is a condition in which a person cannot control the amount of food consumed, or uses it not to satisfy hunger, but for other purposes: to relieve anxiety, obtain positive emotions, etc.

Thus, food becomes not a means of satisfying appetite, but a way of solving problems at work, in personal life or in finance.

There are three types of food addiction:

• Overeating: a person cannot control the amount of food, tries to eat it under any stress;
• Bulimia: this is a serious psychological disease in which there is an awareness that one should not fill the stomach like that, and patients often combine foods that a healthy person cannot eat;
• Anorexia: This is the moment when people begin to believe that thinness and beauty are the same thing. An aversion to food appears, people begin to see themselves as fat in the mirror, although in reality they are not.

Symptoms of food addiction appear as follows:

• Constantly increasing the amount of food for a long time;
• Lack of self-control: for example, instead of eating 1-2 candies, a person wants to eat them until overeating occurs;
• Frequent thoughts about food, concern about what to eat today, what to cook delicious;
• The desire to “eat up” stress;
• If you cannot eat your favorite dish, a person experiences physical suffering;
• Inability to stop until all food is eaten;
• Eating food at night, secretly from other family members;
• Desire to enjoy food and eat alone;
• Feelings of guilt after eating;
• Negative reaction to criticism from others that one should not eat so much;
• Lack of endurance: for example, after lunch a person sees a chocolate bar, and he has a desire to eat it whole.

How food addiction develops

Psychological food addiction develops in stages:

• At first, a person cannot deny himself his favorite food, does not control his portions, and overeats;
• Then there is a desire to eat even at night, and absolutely any food;
• Then awareness of the problem comes, and if it cannot be solved, then a feeling of guilt sets in.

To identify this disease, you can take a food addiction test by answering “yes” or “no”:

• I have a fear of gaining weight;
• I refuse to eat even when I feel very hungry;
• I am constantly worried about food;
• I often eat uncontrollably;
• When I exercise, I think about burning calories;
• I try to eat only diet foods;
• I enjoy food, so I eat very often;
• I eat to calm down, not to satisfy my hunger.

By answering yes to more than two questions, you can confidently state the presence of signs of food addiction. If 50% of the answers are affirmative, it means there is a moderate or severe form of addiction.

Even if the problem is only at the initial stage, it is necessary to get rid of food addiction in a timely manner, because... in this case, eliminate it.

What can happen if you don't overcome food addiction?:

• Obesity;
• Diseases of internal organs;
• Diabetes;
• Development of complexes;
• Temporary cessation of breathing during sleep;
• Increased cholesterol levels;
• Severe exhaustion.

How to deal with food addiction

To overcome food addiction at an early stage, you must adhere to several rules:

• You can’t completely give up your favorite food: this can lead to a breakdown, which has the worst consequences;
• Do not create inventories. If the refrigerator is full of food, the desire to snack will constantly arise, so it is best to have a minimum set of provisions;
• Avoid temptations. When entering a store, you need to clearly know what you need to buy. Otherwise, there is a risk of purchasing a lot of extra food and, as a result, overeating at home;
• Exercise regularly. With a sedentary lifestyle, people are more likely to want to eat than those who exercise;
• Eat only when you feel hungry.

How to get rid of food addiction on your own: recommendations from psychologists and nutritionists ^

How to get rid of food addiction: reviews and results of those who have lost weight

Psychotherapy for food addiction

Seeing a psychotherapist is the right decision and should be used in the following cases:

• With constant overeating and lack of self-control;
• With an obsession to lose weight even when it is not at all necessary;
• For obesity resulting from frequent consumption of food in large quantities.

Addictive Food Additives

Food addiction has psychological roots even when it was acquired as a result of consuming foods containing food additives. Which substances are considered the most harmful:

• Sodium glutamate (E621): it is added to improve the taste. It is found in fast food, bouillon cubes, processed foods, crackers, chips and store-bought sauces;
• Corn syrup with fructose: it contains fructose, which improves its taste. It is present in confectionery and flour products;
• Sweeteners: they do make drinks lower in calories, but they greatly stimulate appetite, as a result of which a person begins to eat food uncontrollably and gains weight.

How to treat food addiction in children

Very often, parents unconsciously create this problem in their children. To avoid obesity, it is recommended to adhere to the following rules:

• If a child is crying, there is no need to give him candy, etc. in order to calm him down. This is deposited in his subconscious, and he begins to think that to get rid of negative emotions it is enough to eat sweets;
• You cannot force a child to eat when he is full: over time, his tendency to overeat will only increase, excess weight will appear, and with it complexes;
• If your child prefers to spend time at home in front of the computer and eating, you need to encourage him to find new hobbies. For example, enroll in a sports section or music school.

Before treating food addiction, you need to undergo an appropriate test, identify signs of the disease and decide how to cope with it - on your own or with the help of a doctor.

It is also necessary to limit the consumption of foods that cause food addiction:

• Chocolate, donuts, ice cream, cookies;
• Coffee;
• Fast food;
• Crackers and chips;
• Pasta and pizza;
• Seeds with additives.

Feedback from our readers about their successful fight against food addiction:

Olga, 23 years old:

“I used to have a habit of gnawing on sunflower seeds before going to bed. When I realized that they were starting to make me fat, I simply gave them up. It was difficult to do this, but for the sake of a beautiful figure you can endure it.”

Yana, 33 years old:

“Several years ago I was constantly on a diet: I counted calories. I didn’t eat after 5 pm, didn’t eat sweets, etc. For the whole day I consumed no more than 600 Kcal, as a result of which all that was left of my slightly plump body was skin and bones. It’s good that at that time my mother took me to a psychotherapist, he prescribed me treatment, which lasted about a year, because the functioning of my internal organs was disrupted and I rejected any food. Now I’ve gained weight, and I don’t even want to think about any diets.”

Maria, 35 years old:

“A year ago, I absolutely could not control myself while eating, and, sitting down at the festive table, I ate everything. Now everything is different: I eat as much as I need, and all this is thanks to a simple awareness of the problem and setting a goal - to get rid of it. I didn’t constantly think about my overeating - I just treated it as a small shortcoming that needed to be eliminated.”

Do you eat when you are in a bad mood or in trouble? Do you eat secretly from everyone? Do you feel remorse after overeating?

For many people, food is a drug. With the help of food, people feel at ease in the company of other people; food is the only way to relax after work and have fun. If you think about food all day, if you have an obsessive desire to eat something, if your diet consists of unhealthy foods, you may be one of those who food addiction.

What is food addiction?

Food addiction is a loss of control, a person stops eating to live, and eats for pleasure. A person who has a food addiction endlessly thinks about food, about excess weight, about his appearance and at the same time consumes large portions of food. At the same time, a person understands how much harm he causes to his body; he simply cannot stop. People with food addiction prefer and eat foods that are classified as harmful and unhealthy.

A term has emerged to describe people with food addiction - foodaholics. Gluttons or foodaholics eat fatty, sweet or salty foods, and they also prefer a lot of sweets.

The first symptoms of food addiction

• Portions have increased within a year or two
• Frequent overeating
• It is difficult to refuse the supplement, even after deciding to start losing weight
• Dessert after a big lunch
• Often cravings for sweets and starchy foods
• Eat when no one sees or secretly from everyone, at night
• Eat a lot and then vomit
• Feeling guilty after overeating

Different people become gluttons; they don’t necessarily look overweight. Food addicts can be of normal weight, too thin or too overweight. The only thing they all have in common is food. Food addiction can be psychological and physical.

Causes of food addiction

Food addiction how drug or alcohol addiction affects the human nervous system. Food stimulates the production of dopamine and serotonin in the human brain, which give the body energy, strength and a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. Over time, the body cannot live without happiness hormones. Unconsciously, food becomes the only substance that causes a feeling of happiness, and not a source of maintaining the vital functions of the body. Causes of food addiction:

• Some people treat physical pain with food.
• Emotional distress or trauma sometimes causes some people to gorge on problems. Food can stimulate emotions and help cope with feelings of sadness and loneliness.
• People with mental illness are more likely to develop food addiction. For people with mental illness, food becomes the only thing they can control. The food temporarily eases their negative feelings associated with the illness and calms feelings of panic and anxiety.
• Sometimes food addiction occurs as a consequence of emotional and physical abuse. People with are often dependent on food. Food can block unpleasant feelings and experiences, and be a deceptive shortcut to happiness.
• Food addiction can occur with body dysmorphic disorder (or dissatisfaction with one's body). A mental disorder in which people become obsessed with their body and become preoccupied with the appearance of their body, becoming very concerned about minor defects on the body.

Mayra Kadyrova, nutritionist, endocrinologist: “There is a substance - serotonin, which is called the hormone of joy and pleasure. Often, eating sweet foods triggers the production of this substance in the brain, which results in a feeling of satisfaction and joy. Of course, without receiving these sensations in life, a dependence on food is formed. If food addiction is not dealt with, it will eventually return with serious diseases such as obesity, so immediate action must be taken at the first sign.”

Consequences of food addiction

Over time, constant overeating leads to obesity. Obesity, in turn, causes health complications:

• High blood cholesterol
• Heart diseases
• Some types of cancer
• Osteoarthritis
• Pain in joints and muscles
• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
• (temporary cessation of breathing during sleep)

How to get rid of food addiction

Unlike other addictions, drug-food is needed for survival and maintenance of the body, so it is impossible to give up food altogether. We need to develop healthy eating habits that are based on the body's nutritional needs, not emotional ones.

You need to learn to cope with stressful situations using relaxing techniques: breathing exercises, sports, sensory relaxation.

1. Follow balanced diet. Eat three times a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. In between main meals, you can have 1 snack with healthy foods; you cannot eat after 18.00.
2. Avoid irritants: Remove gluttony foods from your home.
3. Play sports. Sport helps you lead a healthy lifestyle, control weight and fight stress.
4. You need to fight boredom, find interesting pastimes and engage in hobbies that bring you pleasure.

Food addiction is a disease that cannot be determined through tests and examinations. Its cause, along with its manifestations, is in the head of a particular patient. The prerequisites for the disease vary greatly, as do the symptoms, which becomes the first stumbling block on the path to healing. After all, correct treatment is the elimination of the cause of the disease. Prevention of this disease, as well as treatment and subsequent rehabilitation, is in the hands of the patient himself. It depends entirely on him how long and difficult the illness will continue, but it is known for sure that every person can get rid of food addiction.

The essence of the disease

The essence of the disease is clear from the name: food addiction is a person’s dependent state on food. Features of a person’s personal qualities influence the ways of manifestation. It can be expressed as a painful craving for food, a tendency to consume food without measure. Sometimes, on the contrary, fear of the very process of eating food and the consequences of this for the figure. Depending on the method of manifestation, food addiction is divided into three types:

1. Overeating is the most common expression of food addiction. Food for a person becomes the main way of obtaining pleasure, emotional release, and a favorite pastime. Any feast becomes a holiday, and every holiday is unthinkable without a feast. Problems result in a hearty dinner, a bad mood results in a hearty breakfast, and a bad mood becomes the reason for an equally hearty second breakfast and an undeniable reason for a royal dinner.
2. Bulimia – the patient eats without measure and control. He cannot stop until he “finishes” a bag of gingerbread or a baking sheet of potatoes. The desire to eat never leaves him, and all his thoughts are busy planning the next meal and passionately awaiting it. The stomach is stretched, its walls are irritated, which causes mechanical vomiting - due to overload of the stomach. The problem is accompanied by severe digestive disorders and excess weight.
3. Anorexia - begins with dietary restrictions on certain foods for fear of gaining weight. The list of forbidden foods is becoming more extensive, and the fear of eating too much is becoming greater. The patient may try to get rid of food that has entered the stomach by inducing vomiting, lie to loved ones that he has already eaten, or experience a panicky fear of potatoes, for example.

In the three types of addiction listed above, “the legs grow out of the head.” Eating disorders, psychological factors, and moral problems provoke the emergence of manifestations of food addiction, and addiction is the way out of internal disorders.

Food addiction can manifest itself as a painful craving for eating large amounts of food.

Explanation of the disorder

To understand how to cope with food addiction, you need to understand the reasons for its occurrence, because it is they who the patient has to declare war on. The most common cause is an eating disorder. Its inclinations are formed by parents in children. This situation arises when a child needs to eat when he doesn’t feel like it; you have to finish eating to the end, even if it doesn’t fit; when soup becomes a punishment, and chocolate becomes a reward.

A food addict perceives food as the highest pleasure he needs. This is noticeable in moments of personal and material problems, and the first manifestations are eating stress with tasty and fatty foods, lifting the mood with the help of a cake. Accordingly, another reason is the incorrect perception of food.

Increased pleasure from eating is also provoked by the presence of additives in the composition. Thus, the addition of monosodium glutamate to food is recognized as a cause of food addiction, since this additive significantly enhances the taste of any food. The taste increased with the help of glutamate causes overeating, as well as distension of the stomach subsequently.

The other side of the coin is when, of all the pleasures in life, food really becomes the only one available. A person migrates in two directions - to work and home, bypassing all opportunities for entertainment. Financially limited people who choose between going to the cinema and a hearty dinner for the family fall into the risk zone.

The cause of anorexia is the desire to lose weight, the association of thinness with beauty, the desire to become like a celebrity or model. When healthy weight loss stops, the path to fear of foods begins, as well as the fear of the consequences of eating them.

Food addiction may manifest itself as anorexia

The causes of food addiction can be very diverse: improper upbringing, environmental influences, depression, divorce, dismissal, the desire to try everything, the habit of eating after you have already eaten, constant temptations from food, frequent holidays. The root cause is always the same - psychological discomfort in varying degrees of expression.

Simple testing to identify symptoms

Taking a simple test will help you get rid of food addiction. With its help, the presence of a problem is confirmed or refuted:

• You can't wait for the food to be served.
• Eat at night, secretly.
• Aim to eat absolutely the entire portion.
• Eat “with company” after lunch on your own.
• Sit down to eat without feeling hungry.
• You suffer if you don’t have your favorite food at home.
• You overeat regularly.
• Are you afraid to eat certain foods?
• Ignore comments about excess weight.
• You are confident in your weight, but you don’t want to fight it.
• You can't imagine a holiday without food.
• Turn every meal into a holiday.
• After overeating, try to vomit.

If you agree with two or more statements, know that the problem of an unhealthy relationship with food is relevant for you, and treatment for food addiction is a matter of time, because soon you will realize its importance for yourself.

Basics of therapy

It is preferable if a professional treats food addiction. Moreover, this professional must be modern and civilized, since coding for food addiction by grandmothers is unlikely to bring success, but with the help of hypnosis by a specialist, it will most likely be effective.

Many people confuse psychological help with the help of a psychiatrist. The second doctor will listen, prescribe pills that reduce appetite, antidepressants, and prescribe a diet. The psychologist will conduct a conversation, find out the reasons why food addiction arose, choose the optimal method of treatment and monitor the entire process personally, making adjustments taking into account your successes.

Psychology is a science that helps to cope not only with psychological, but also with physiological problems, if help is provided by a master of his craft. The services of a qualified specialist are not cheap. Therefore, many people are looking for a way to overcome food addiction on their own. The problem is really deep, and awareness of it alone cannot get rid of it. It is necessary to apply a set of measures to actively move towards the goal of getting rid of food addiction.

A psychiatrist helps you cope with food addiction

How does self-medication work?

In the fight against illness, a person is his own doctor. He can independently lead himself along the path from a bad habit to complete recovery; to do this, he will have to overcome several difficult stages and follow not very strict rules.

The first stage will be the search for motivation, incentive, purpose. The patient determines why he needs to get rid of addiction? It may be an attractive figure, the search for a “half”, but the most powerful argument is always the acquisition of health. A person who is overweight and has fanatical eating habits suffers from diseases of the heart, blood vessels, and digestive organs, which affects all areas of life. Getting rid of food addictions will help you effectively cope with other problems.

At the second stage, a proper nutrition system is developed. Harmful foods are replaced with healthy ones, food portions are reduced per meal. Strict restrictions on food are not welcome; it is enough to make them reasonable and proportionate. Once a week you can indulge in your favorite dish, once a month - very unhealthy or even fast food. It is better to pay attention to the principles of separate and fractional nutrition.

How to cope with irresistible food cravings? Get a new interesting hobby. Hobbies can be interesting, inexpensive and harmless; you just have to use your imagination. An excellent option for overcoming the desire to eat, helping the body regain its figure, is sports. The truth is as old as time, but true. Sports achievements and weight loss will become a significant incentive to stop overeating. This is a kind of independent “coding”.

When considering how to deal with food addiction, you should remember self-esteem. The patient’s task is to love himself now, because he has already done a lot - he understood his problem and took decisive action to overcome it, which in itself is a reason to be proud of himself, respect himself, and believe in his strength.

It is difficult to identify special universal rules for each person, because the cause of the problem, symptoms, and manifestations are different for everyone. The general rules are to avoid temptations, limit unhealthy foods, and implement proper eating habits that can provide the body with the necessary energy.

Food addiction is not a death sentence; every person is capable of overcoming it by approaching the issue seriously and responsibly, because his appearance, health, and self-confidence are at stake. People who successfully struggle with their own shortcomings will definitely feel the inner strength to overcome other everyday difficulties and subsequently become what everyone dreams of being - a happy person.

Food addiction- this is a subconscious violation of the essence of eating, when food is considered not as an opportunity to satisfy hunger, but as a kind of drug that gives psychological satisfaction. Two extremes of eating disorders are anorexia (complete refusal of food) and its opposite - bulimia (overeating).

"Food addiction can become a stepping stone to serious health problems, both mental and physical, if this problem is not addressed in time."

What can cause food addiction?

The misconception that by obsessing over food you can calm down and relieve stress caused by work and personal life, sooner or later leads to food addiction. The reasons are familiar to everyone, but for a long time a person does not admit to himself that he has become hostage to the unbreakable chain “problem-food”.

Causes

• Avoiding solving problems, “seizing” them.
• On the contrary, there are no obvious problems. Out of boredom, when the smooth flow of life is not disturbed by anything significant, food begins to arouse more and more interest.
• Impaired metabolism. Often, metabolic disorders are a consequence, and not the cause of food addiction.

Symptoms that should alert you

• Constant focus on food - what to eat, buy, cook, and tastier.
• Lack of self-control - the inability to resist eating one or two candies when the box is full.
• A spontaneous desire for something specific (for example, after lunch, a sudden craving for cakes).
• The perception of food as compensation for the resulting stress.
• Food as a way of encouragement.
• The appearance of negative emotions if it is not possible to get the desired food.
• Behavior that indicates food addiction, signs that will help you understand that a revision of your eating habits is required.
• Prefer to eat alone.
• You notice the “sins” of excessive consumption of all sorts of tasty treats, but you do not want to change anything in the current situation.
• Feel irritated if someone comments on your eating habits.
• After excessive consumption of food, there is an acute feeling of guilt for what has been done.
• You can’t deny yourself a late dinner, you wake up at night to have a snack.

If you recognize yourself in every line you read, then most likely you have a food addiction. The symptoms described above help to detect the problem in time and push for changes in your life, without going to extremes.

How to get rid of food addiction?

When the relationship with food goes beyond the bounds of reason and acquires painful symptoms of food addiction, treatment is inevitable. Sometimes you can get by with the help of psychologists or, with the help of their advice, try to solve the problem yourself.

Ways out of this situation

Detailed analysis of your life, an objective assessment of your desires and needs.

Attempt reorient yourself to other values In addition to food, a new hobby, travel, cultural outings, and friendly communication can become an effective “cure” for food addiction.

Break the current monotony of your life a hint of adrenaline- skydiving, karting, shooting range - everything that can cause thrills.

Put your problems on paper and there try to clearly outline ways to solve them. Keep a diary.

Do not try to hide the problem - seek help from loved ones and specialists.

Sport- an effective remedy that reduces dependence on food. The main thing is to determine your niche. An ardent opponent of physical activity? Get a dog - walking will become a necessity.

Make yourself a rule go to the store with a list and do not allow yourself any “lyrical” deviations from it.

Don’t follow the path of strict restrictions - sometimes give yourself the opportunity to relax.

Eat according to schedule and adhere to the principles of fractional nutrition.

Among the therapeutic methods for treating food addiction (with the involvement of psychotherapists) there are art therapy (explaining the problem through art), Gestalt therapy (awareness and talking through one’s stresses, phobias and other problems), and classes in groups of people with similar problems.

But the permanent struggle with weight does not give any results. How to deal with this problem? You just need to approach its solution in a comprehensive manner. Permanent expert of the Family Size program, psychotherapist Evgenia Panchenko talks about how to help yourself emotionally tune in to the difficult process of losing weight.

Getting rid of food addiction. Photo: thinkstockphotos

Most overweight people, suffering from fat mass, spend a significant part of their lives in exhausting and unsuccessful attempts to get rid of excess weight. And there are a great many methods of this cruel struggle: pills and all kinds of fat burners, laxative and diuretic teas, running and exercise equipment, fasting and exhausting diets.

Fighting kilograms

People enter into their next battle with their own weight with great enthusiasm, and how does it usually end? Most often, another failure, feelings of resentment towards oneself and anger towards an ineffective method. It happens that, having gathered his will into a fist, a person finally loses a certain amount of kilograms, but very soon the fat returns to its owner.

And as a rule, after many years of struggle, those losing weight capitulate. There is a similar scientific excuse, but it does not explain anything: improper metabolism, constitution, heredity, etc. A person gives up and continues to live, under the moral and physiological pressure of excess weight, with a feeling of resentment and dissatisfaction, secretly dreaming of a magic pill, after eating which, one day he will wake up light and slender.

Why do we eat more?

Let's try to understand the reasons for this phenomenon. It is known that obesity– this is a consequence of an imbalance between the intake and expenditure of energy in the body, that is, overeating against the background of a sedentary lifestyle, from which, alas, most of the urban population now suffers.

Everyone knows: to lose weight you need to eat less. But it is so hard! This is where the main question arises: “Why does a person feel the need to eat more than necessary?” The fact is that overeating is a consequence of certain psychological factors in a person’s life. And only after understanding and working through them can you count on an effective and comfortable weight loss process.

Formation mechanism food addiction the same as in the development of alcoholism, smoking and other similar forms of self-destructive behavior. Overeating appears and is recorded as a reaction to acute or chronic stressful situations. Often, against the background of constant emotional stress, overwork, conflict situations in the family or at work, an anxious state and internal discomfort arise.

Therefore, food becomes the only possible way to compensate for stress, at least temporarily. It’s not for nothing that they say, “stress eats away.” The taste of food and the feeling of fullness are physiological sources of positive emotions. And against the backdrop of emotional imbalance, the body does not allow them to be abandoned so easily.

Thus, it is impossible to lose weight through diet or exercise alone. Complex methods are effective, including work aimed at both the psychological and biological components of excess weight.

One can argue whether it is necessary to lose weight or not, whether it is important or not, but one thing is obvious - by getting rid of excess weight, a person regains lost energy, activity, vitality, and acquires a new quality of life! And if you decide to start the fight against fat mass, complete two tasks.

Task No. 1.
Remember when and why you started gaining weight. Perhaps now you can analyze some psychological reasons for this. What was happening in your life, in your soul during that period of time? And also watch yourself now - at what moments your appetite is especially strong. What is this connected with? Write about it. More details would be desirable.

Task No. 2.
Within two days, you need to give yourself a gift for starting to work on your own slimness. Get creative with this task and think about the little child, the little girl who still lives inside of you. She wants to have fun and enjoy life. Make her happy.