Sugar Addicted.  Seriously, what is NOT addictive.  I have always had the “more of whatever you got” syndrome.  However, food/sugar addiction is getting a lot more national press lately.   Mark Hyman, MD wrote a great article for the Huffington Post last year, “The ‘just say no’ approach to drug addiction hasn’t fared to well, and it won’t work for our industrial food addiction, either.  The behaviors arise out of primitive neurochemical reward centers in the brain that override normal willpower and overwhelm our ordinary biological signals that control hunger.”  MSNBC.com recently posted an article about a group that gave people a questionnaire about food that was similar to what is given to alcoholics and addicts.  Of the 72 obese people, 18 of them fit the criteria for food addiction. Here are some signs and symptoms to look for from webmd.com: Obsessed or preoccupied with food Lack of self-control when it comes to food Compulsion that leads to bingeing A sense of comfort/pleasure when it comes to food Physical craving So what about recovery??  Last but not least, a 12 stepper’s take on food addiction in a recent article from The Fix.  As John Kiernan points out, there is 12 Step Recovery in this area but it isn’t as cut and dry as AA.  There are so many paths, what works for some doesn’t work for others.  More will be revealed on this subject as more research is done and more people seek help. (photo via)

Sugar Addicted.  Seriously, what is NOT addictive.  I have always had the “more of whatever you got” syndrome.  However, food/sugar addiction is getting a lot more national press lately.  

Mark Hyman, MD wrote a great article for the Huffington Post last year, “The ‘just say no’ approach to drug addiction hasn’t fared to well, and it won’t work for our industrial food addiction, either.  The behaviors arise out of primitive neurochemical reward centers in the brain that override normal willpower and overwhelm our ordinary biological signals that control hunger.”  MSNBC.com recently posted an article about a group that gave people a questionnaire about food that was similar to what is given to alcoholics and addicts.  Of the 72 obese people, 18 of them fit the criteria for food addiction.

Here are some signs and symptoms to look for from webmd.com:

  • Obsessed or preoccupied with food
  • Lack of self-control when it comes to food
  • Compulsion that leads to bingeing
  • A sense of comfort/pleasure when it comes to food
  • Physical craving

So what about recovery??  Last but not least, a 12 stepper’s take on food addiction in a recent article from The Fix.  As John Kiernan points out, there is 12 Step Recovery in this area but it isn’t as cut and dry as AA.  There are so many paths, what works for some doesn’t work for others.  More will be revealed on this subject as more research is done and more people seek help.

(photo via)

Tags: life after treatment