Help! I found out I'm a food addict! What do I do?
anonymous
William Anderson Says...
You have just cleared the first hurdle in solving your problem! Most food addicts, like most other addicts, struggle with denying they have an addiction problem that needs to be fixed, i.e., stopped. It's hard to let go of habits that are near and dear, so they often struggle for years trying to find ways to lose weight where they can go back to their normal way of doing things after they've lost the weight. Worse, they discover they are unable to change, even when they want to and try their best. The result is usually a lifetime of yo-yo dieting where the person loses weight with diet and exercise they cannot sustain, then goes back to the old ways that made them overweight, or worse. This happened to me from the time I was seven and continued until I was over 300 pounds in my early thirties, when I was either trying and failing to diet and exercise, or gaining weight real fast.
The first thing you need to do is educate yourself about food addiction, which is a controversial issue. Many people in the healthcare and nutrition field don't believe it exists. Of course, it is a no-brainer for people who have it and for those who have overcome it. I've been teaching about food addiction and how to overcome it for over 25 years, though it is only in the last few years that it is becoming more accepted as a true addiction. Read my book, The Anderson Method, and read all the articles at my website, www.TheAndersonMethod.com. The Table of Contents is at the bottom right of the homepage. You'll learn more about what you've been experiencing and how I learned to solve the problem. Also, read everything at the websites of OA (Overeaters Anonymous), FAA (Food Addicts Anonymous), and FA (Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous). Google "Food Addiction" and see what you find. You'll find out that even the experts disagree about many of these issues. That's OK. You'll find there are many points of agreement and some things that are especially pertinent to you. Stop beating yourself up about your weight and food problem and relax and learn more. You will be working at living well for the rest of your life, so there is no rush to get it all done today. You can't. You can only get this day's work done today.
When you do this, you'll get all the answers to the questions you've asked, and you'll have more questions. Learning more can become a wonderful lifetime pursuit and when you've done all I've outlined, don't hesitate to call on me again.
Page last updated Dec 19, 2012
