Food addict considering OA Meetings

Mental Health Eating Disorders & Body Dysmorphia
1

I am back on support groups after a long hiatus. I truly believe I am a food addict... I inhale food when I am stressed and over the last 10 months I have gained enough weight to go up four pant sizes... I wish I could say how much I've gained but I understand we aren't supposed to. I feel hideous. Then again I know I'm not hideous, I am beautiful and blessed in so many ways.

I started reading a new book called Food Addiction: The Body Knows by Kay Sheppard. The eating plan takes away some of the obsession with food, but I find it so hard to follow. It says to abstain from sugar, wheat, processed flour and chocolate... I did it perfectly for about 3 days and my skin started to clear up immediately. I also felt full and never felt hungry. The food plan is simple.

Breakfast:
1 cup dairy, unsweetened varities if you can't drink cow's milk
1 cup cooked grains (oatmeal or cream of rice)
1 fruit
1 protein (4 oz meat or 2 eggs)

Lunch:
1 cup raw vegetables
1 cup cooked vegetables
1 Tbsp dressing (sugar free)
1 protein (4 oz meat, tofu, beans or eggs or a combination)

Dinner:
1 cup raw vegetables
1 cup cooked vegetables
1 cup starchy vegetables (squash, potato, yam)
1 protein (4 oz meat, tofu, or eggs)

Before bed or snack:
1 cup dairy
1 fruit

Kay says in order to remain "sober" from food addiction, you follow the plan exactly and do not deter. You abstain from sugar, wheat, flour and processed, refined grains.

Until I ran out of money for the week, I was following this plan. My question to everyone reading is, do you consider yourself a food addict? If so, is one bite of sugar ever enough for you? It's not for me, and I agree with the plan, although its hard to follow, especially in social situations I have the hardest time. What does everyone think of the plan?

2

I have mixed feelings about plans like that~ which I still haven't figured out.

On one hand, I feel like there is some validity to not having those items (I do know that caffeine and sugar can be huge triggers for me... and I did recently get diagnosed as gluten intolerant) but in some way isn't it just the flip side of the disease?

I read that binge eaters are similar to bulimics in a way that there is in fact a binge and purge cycle, but we just don't throw up. Instead, there are diets and food restriction phases.. followed shortly there after by binging.

I know it is "healthy" to avoid those items, but is it mentally healthy?

Like I said, the jury is still out for me on this one honestly.. and I will probably be doing something similar in a couple of weeks and think that it is different this time, but I just thought I would share. Here are my two 'weird' control things I have done to myself over and over again-

1) Caffeine/diet pills- always with the notion of losing weight, having more energy, and hoping that I won't 'need' the food anymore. However, 99.9% of the time, this completely freaks out my entire system to have that stimulant and results in a huge binge... but I keep doing it anyway.

2) Fasting/juice fasting- I did this more when I was younger (I think because I had less responsibilities to tend to- it makes you way tired). I would do it to cleanse or improve my health, but looking back on it, it was a pretty serious purge cycle to go through... a purge cycle that usually ended in vast quantities of pizza!

Those two examples are way nuttier than what you mentioned, but I can't help but feel that they are related~ for me at least.

I think the main problem is that those diets make it about the food but I don't really think it is about the food... I think it is a mental health problem that ironically tends to circle around food.

3

I also think people with food issues are drawn to different diets/plans/religious type of things because our poor tired brains are trying to figure out~ WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH ME AND FOOD?!

4

Belaugh,
I have read that book as well when I was going to OA. I thought the diet was too severely restrictive and thought I could have whole wheat pasta or bread or whatever. I talked to my sponsor about the book because I was torn over "was I doing the right thing even though I didn't follow it to a T"? He said to take from it what I wanted and leave the rest alone. I guess his point was - Try SOMETHING and at least I was abstaining from refined sugar, which I was pretty proud of myself for doing. I will say it is far more expensive to eat healthy food, so I understand about coming up short. I have always hated diets and I believe I called this a "Nazi Plan" because it is so restrictive and I hate being told what I can't have. I am definitely a food addict. I keep chocolate in my desk and I eat it when I get stressed. I wonder if I would do that if it did not release endorphins, which make me feel better. Social situations are tough. The gang at work asked me to go to eat Mexican with them and I wanted the company so I did instead of eating my diet dinner. Did you say you were going to OA, or did you mean THIS support group? Good luck and God Bless!

5

Tamfam,
I think we have all tried crazy things to get control of our pants size. Don't feel bad about that. I did not know that caffeine is a trigger. I wonder if I should leave it alone. You asked if it was mentally healthy to avoid sugar and caffeine. Are you referring to the serotonin release that you get from those substances? I can't really answer that question, but I would think that talking to a counselor about issues you may have with food might help. I am also a big believer in support groups and I am so glad to have found this website! Hopefully you can find a happy medium and something that works for you that is healthy. Take care!

6

I think at the end of the day, I like to see at how truly healthy people eat. And what I've seen is that they eat what they are hungry for until they aren't hungry anymore. For bingers...the issue is relearning how to listen to our bodies again. I used to have sugar, chocolate, chips all the time and now that I tell myself that I can have whatever I want, I don't want it or rarely do and when I do I have some. I plan my meals for the week to help me stay on track or else I can go even days without eating which later can lead to binges. I think you need to try a few things and go with your gut feeling...your body knows best.