tracij young's Journal, 26 May 2015

Dealing With Food Addiction And Recovery

Addiction can take on many forms and some of these forms are only now emerging into the limelight. One such addiction is compulsive overeating or food addiction. Science has only just begun to recognize the fact that a person can be addicted to food and more importantly, such an addiction could be the result of or can lead to health problems such as:

• Severe depression,
• Obesity,
• Renal diseases,
• High cholesterol,
• Hypertension and so on.

It is therefore extremely important to deal with food addiction and recovery from this condition with immediacy and seriousness.

Brain triggers

Research has shown that food addiction can trigger nerve centers and brain chemicalsin the same manner as addictive drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Such foods are also known as highly palatable foods and are saturated with unhealthy fats, high salt content and simple sugars as well.

The triggering of such chemicals also results in people overeating and not heeding the signals of their body telling them that it has had enough. Another result of this type of overeating is also the fact that an individual addicted to food will find himself or herself eating more and more as time goes by but feeling inversely lower levels of satisfaction.

The solution

It is imperative to start with the knowledge that food addiction is a serious problem. It is not just a question of an individual going on a diet and fighting temptation. Food addiction per se is one of the reasons why people are unable to give up their eating disorders even if they are faced with problems related to health and relationships itself.

There are several ways in which a recovery program to deal with food addiction can be implemented. Some of these programs have been put together by bodies such as Food Addicts Anonymous. An individual can also seek help by way of:

• Behavioral therapy,
• Social support systems,
• Meditation and
• Counselling from people who can help.

Getting to the root of it

Medical and behavioral experts state that food addiction and the recovery from the same needs to take into account the root cause of the problem. More often than not, an individual may be suffering from an underlying mental illness or a deep-seated problem.

Such problems could stem from low self-esteem, stress, depression, anxiety and so on. It is therefore extremely important to discover why an individual feels compelled to binge on food even though he or she may feel extremely guilty and even more depressed after such binge eating.

It would also be a very good idea to identify what are the trigger factors for such an eating disorder. These trigger factors may be the availability of certain types of food in one’s home or within reach. But trigger factors may also have to do with stress at the workplace or tension in a personal relationship.

Dealing with food addiction and recovery from the same is extremely important because an individual suffers severe complications and serious problems -much in the same way as any other addiction.

To know more or find out if you may have food addiction problem, please visit: http://www.anewstarttreatment.com/