
Why Food Addiction Is Deadlier Than Drinking (2011) - babbeloski
https://www.thefix.com/content/oa-vs-aa?page=all
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anonthrowaway32
I've been off alcohol and drugs for 2.5 years, and abstinent from compulsive
overeating for almost a year. Food was harder to get a handle on than meth, no
joke. Quitting refined/added sugar in particular was almost as bad as quitting
smoking. (Haven't smoked in 1.5 years either.)

In my experience, compulsive overeating is every bit as much an addiction as
alcoholism, smoking, or hard drugs. I saw myself exhibiting the exact same
behaviors around food as I did around alcohol (splitting my shopping up
between multiple corner stores so none of them would know how much I was
eating) and feeling the exact same way about myself (I'm a worthless piece of
shit, I'll never get a handle on this, I might as well just dive in and die
young).

You might argue that had I not learned those behaviors while being an active
alcoholic, I wouldn't have put them into use with food. Maybe. I think that's
beside the point. The point is that I couldn't stop even though I desperately
wanted to.

In my case I had food problems before I got sober. I hear about people turning
to food after they stop drinking (in fact one very well-known program
explicitly recommends it), but for me food, booze, drugs, nicotine, and casual
sex were/are a package deal. They all hit the same place in my brain, perform
the same function for me emotionally, and are impossible to quit on my own.

(Posted anonymously for reasons I hope are obvious.)

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cuckcuckspruce
Another point is that alcoholics can stop using alcohol and still live. Heroin
addicts can stop using heroin and still live. People with food addiction still
need to eat to live, which I think makes this even harder.

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Jsrs
Yeah that's one of the main points he brings up.

The other one he talks about that I think deserves highlighting is the "last
house on the block" problem, where a lot of other successful addicts have
turned to food as a more "acceptable" vice, and then struggle immensely to
defeat it when they realise it's the last one left.

I know I certainly struggle with that fact. I had serious problems with both
weed and benzodiazepines, and while I certainly wasn't skinny while I was on
them, my weight only really started to spiral uncontrollably once I
successfully kicked them.

I agree completely with this article by the way. While quitting weed was
mentally exhausting, and quitting benzos was physically painful, food is the
only one out of the three that I haven't been successful with so far. I think
that says a lot.

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xiphias
Another problem with food is that there are too many people writing not
scientifically researched opinions on how to lose fat and get more healthy at
the same time. After going through a lot of pub-med researches about
decreasing my blood triglyceride levels, I found out that I have to get rid of
sugar and saturated fat completely, and eat foods with low glycemic index.
Still, I don't want to binge, so I found Tim Ferriss' slow carb diet much
better than the popular and dangerous low carb diet. All these things may be
in the media, but a lot of false things as well.

Now I'm eating eggs without the yolks, red lentils (very easy to make) and
falafel (fried in the oven), and my triglycerid levels and weight are changing
without me trying to binge at all.

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joecool1029
> dangerous low carb diet

Oh please. If it didn't work for you thats fine. Don't go spreading baseless
FUD.

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xiphias
If it works for you, the question is for how many years can you do it without
falling back (increasing your carb intake)?

I seriously believe that I wouldn't be able to live a happy life on a low-carb
diet (let's say 30-60 years), but leaving a few unhealthy ingredients out to
keep my glucose and cholesterol levels in check is not a problem (as long as
I'm not hungry)

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sbardle
You also need to factor in the available cures. A simple gastric band
operation means you can't then die of overeating. But a liver replacement can
still be abused by an alcoholic.

~~~
niccaluim
Unfortunately gastric bands don't stop food addicts.

