Food Addiction- I'm a believer and lived to tell, plus the Yale Food Addiction Scale- part 1

Covered up the trigger food

 

 Warning: I'll be talking about Food Addiction and how the topic relates to me. It may be upsetting or triggering to some people. Some people don't believe in food addiction, so I may lose readers. That's okay, it will free up their time to do other things. That's very good for them and for me. Each day is a gift, spend your time how you see fit. 

I do believe Food Addiction is real, that Food Addiction can and does result in tragic outcomes. I hesitated to write about Food Addiction. It's somewhat embarrassing to talk about these things. On the other hand, it was worse to live in the disease, have obesity, and that sense of shame and not really understanding some root causes. Hard wiring genes AND my choice of environment.

I feel lucky in many ways.  I'm still here and still standing, so better to discuss and be well than to hide, look the other way. I'm writing my review of the book Food Junkies, by Vera Tarman, MD in the next few days.  Wow! Just wow.



Okay, as a starter, head over to the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Link to the pdf is here


I took this survey twice. Once as the "old me" and once as the in "recovery me". I had very high scores for the old me and super low scores for the recovered me.

What works for me: Yale Food Addiction Scale

0. Reading about food addiction helped me understand the 40 years of binge eating and how I had obesity as a symptom of it.

1. I know I'm not alone.

2. I have to work day in day out , meal in meal out to live in a recovered state. My food choices, my choice to choose food that keeps me in recovery (Paleo-ish food template for me, protein, veggies, natural fats, spices/salt, and a few berries)

3. I have to watch for slippery slope thinking. Example: I walked 6+ miles yesterday and I came home and had an on food template meal- for me- Paleo-ish. I  ate more food as fuel, but it was all food that is on my set food template. Also, it was Valentine's day. I still ate on my food template.

4. It helps me to know that places  and people like the Rudd Center for Food Policy, Dr. Sharma's writings ,  Dr. Freedhoff's work and Dr. Tarman and Dr. Peeke  and OA podcasts have very relevant articles, books, personal stories the written word and spoken stories. 

5. I can forgive myself. Especially the 6 year old binge eater that I used to be.

What did not work in the past.

0. There was no research available to me growing up that addressed trigger foods. (or that I could understand)

1. I felt like I was the only one who ate sugary foods or grains and could not stop eating.

2. I moderated all my trigger foods, with terrible results, but kept doing the same thing!

3. I had lots of slippery slope thinking: I just got back from half marathon training and sure.. I earned this biscotti and sugary coffee drink, I need to re-fuel. Calories in, Calories out..... earned me a pretty big muffin top and plantar fasciitis. Ouch!! Mentally and physically.

4. The resources I needed, I could not or would not connect to readily.

5. I used to blame myself: I'm weak because I can't moderate, not strong enough, not normal. Sigh...


Okay readers: Did you take the test? I think this thing is a sliding scale-  no absolutes. Varying degrees of the ways our genetics and our environment effect us. No right answers. Just some solutions that work better than others. Not always fun to look at my past, but nice to know I could take steps to live in recovery.