Behind the Bars of Food Addiction!

There are not too many of us that do not want or think we need to lose a pound here and there. For many it is more a matter of firming it up and that is usually done with exercise. But for the people that are carrying weight around with them that is threatening their ability to walk, run, get in and out of a car, a chair at an office building or even breathe...this is a serious issue. My article is more about the need to understand yourself a bit more and to identify with why you have fallen into this addiction for food. Realize how it is destroying your self-esteem and confidence.

**I have had a weight problem all my life. But I think it is more of a pleasure problem. I think it is also a self-esteem issue. Food was always a reward in a way..like if you eat all your dinner you can have desert. Food was and still is a way of socializing ... holidays.. going out to eat.. birthdays ect. Even as a baby I am sure that I was given food instead instead of personal affection. If my partner fails to support my diet, then it is all his fault that I have failed. If my friends don't respect that I am on a diet, how can I follow it through?**

Is this you...can you fit in this thought at any time or even partially?

If it is...then you have spent a good portion of your life dieting and are still 5 steps behind...right? Sounds like this is where the term 'Yo-YO Dieting' came from. SO...why are you constantly finding yourself at the start position with these diets?

I will tell you why...you are not actually following a healthy eating plan...you are walking around using the word diet as
your cop out. As if by some magical trick, just saying that word 'diet' will automatically make you thinner. You are possibly
using food as a substitute for affection, attention, revenge, stress reliever even a friend of comfort which are definite signs of a food addict.
 
It is no secret that the rich and famous set trends for the world in regards to style and even health to a degree. The Movie Stars that go on certain labelled diets just because...are also followed as if they have the magical answer to removing unwanted fat. Once the media picks up on it...then it is the newest quick fix for all the followers of fads. Hence the term, 'Fad Diet'.

People have spent a lot of money on these so called 'diets', when the entire time the real magic is inside of them. It is all
about what you allow or disallow to enter your body. I know for a fact that once you have passed the age of approximately 6 months old that you are in complete control of what goes in your body. You may not be in control of how tall you are or what color of eyes you have but you are most definitely in control of what you eat.

Diet to me is just a word of trickery. It results in nothing more than an attempt towards a losing weight. One which only
makes a person feel good for the time that they tell themselves they are on or are going on a diet. Once a person states that they are on a "diet", it is a form of commitment to everyone around them that they are trying to lose weight. This is fact
alone is a huge pitfall as it adds instant stress,  which only ends in contributing to yet another failed diet. They also tend to become a bit extreme or annoying with their constant need to tell the people around them they can only eat this or
how much fat and carbs are in that. It can also be a form of restriction on their partner, as they expect their partner to support them and also share their new 'diet'.

There is quite a wide spread of opinions as to who really is 'overweight'. There are some that can easily correct their weight problem if they were not lazy, there are some that just like to eat hardy meals as that is how they were raised. Then there are the moms that ate for 10 instead of 1 when she was pregnant and realized after the baby was born that she may have eaten too much and blames her overweight issue on being pregnant. There are also people who are on certain medications that alter their water retention making them carry extra weight.

I am mostly referring to people that are, what is and has been labeled as 'Obese'. These are the people that truly cannot get a grip on their eating habits. These eating habits, more so has a very tight grip on them. They are in a sense locked behind bars of food addiction. These people are truly suffering and find that they can only survive through denial and excuses.

In saying all of this..Food addiction is not an easy beast to tame. It is an addiction like any other. Addictions fill voids.. they self-medicate in their own way. They fill you with a very dangerous satisfaction. They take over your control more each time that you give in. An addiciton will trap you and imprison you in a wolrd of hell.

I will break it down a bit further for you.

For people with an emotional addiction for food, losing their extra weight, eating less food or getting on the treadmill is not necessarily the hard part of the struggle. Many people are over weight because they are suffering with an inner issue.

They will use food as an emotional void filler. The only reason they are hungry is because they are sad or lonely. They have confused hunger with sadness. They use food as their drug to feel calmness. They will eat to a point of self-disgust and even space out as an addict does after a fix. They will then find themselves on the roller coaster of self-loathing. Loathing the fact that they once again gave into the unnecessary need for food. This is a food addiction. A food addict will even experience food hangovers. Too many carbohydrates or protien will eventually put your body into a very unbalanced state of burn and you will feel like you have a hangover.

People that are obese and actually have lost weight, are of two minds. They feel like they are someone else when they are thinner and live a life where they fear that they could fall into that food addiction at any second. The other mind is the one that is consumed with self-disgust and a weakness for the addiction of food. People with eating addictions love and hate food. Again being of two minds. They try to justify themselves, by criticizing people without food addictions. They will drive by fast food restaurants and debate within themselves, only to increase the need for food. Which in turn only causes them to devour even more than usual. They are in a constant battle with, should I or shouldn't I. I know I shouldn't but I so want to. It's a viscous circle for them. Yet another roller coaster.

One of the hardest things for obese people to deal with is the whispers and snickers from other people as they pass by them.

They know well enough that they disgust people just by watching their reactions, yet is is not enough to make them stop eating. Obese people are ridiculed in public all the time and they loose out on many relationships because the other person cannot understand their addiction for food. Food addicts will even ignore that they are literally killing themselves with every bite that they do not need. They choose to not think about it, as any addict does.

Some will say that solving food addiction is as easy as just telling people to stop being lazy, to exercise and to stop over eating. For them, food means so many things besides fueling their bodies with nutrients. Their addiction will totally over rule their nature to protect themselves, health wise or society`s concerns about appearance.
 
Depression, low self-esteem, history of abuse, poverty, family obesity and emotionally troubled childhood upbringings are a few of the greatest causes that trigger off food addiction. As I said earlier in this article, people are desperate to fill an emptiness. Food is the easiest route to reaching that full feeling they desire. Emotional emptiness is the monster that creates the addiction in obese people.

You would think that with all the methods that have proven to help people with their weight issues, there would not be a single overweight person, but the numbers are growing faster every day. Obesity is one of the only health issues the we know how to battle and prevent, yet we fail to do so.

Why is that?

 Is it because FAT is one of those HUSH words?

 Do we ignore the overweight issues of others, so not to hurt their feelings?

 Are we doing them any favors by pretending it is OK to be dangerously overweight?

 Do we feel that if they like themselves like that, who are we to judge them?

 Do we think to ourselves, better them than me?

 Do we underestimate the seriousness of food addiction?

 Do we not see the bars that have them trapped in a world of addicition?

People that are addicted to the food drug are just as imprisoned as any other addict.

There is only one way to get off the drug, and that is to seek help. Also they must want to get off this drug, for themselves. They must want to feel good about themselves. To be able to get to that point, they must build their self-esteem and address the skeletons in their closets. This is why I created womensselfesteem.com. This is one road to an addiction-free place in your mind.

~D~

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