Something to Fill the Void:Addicted to The Love of Food

Until the age of ten or so, when asked what I wanted for dinner the answer was invariably “McDonald’s.” According to my father, I wanted to eat Thanksgiving Dinner there on a number of occasions. Something about the warm, wet fries, the cheerful box of fun, and the complimentary toy served with every Happy Meal thrilled me every time. To this day, I still get a little guilty thrill with every french fry that I inhale. I remember happiness when eating those fries from the big red container with the golden arches on the front, and it is happiness that I still feel with every mouth-watering bite.

Now that I’m in my late twenties, such indulgences always lead to extra time spent at the gym and moaning and groaning about my hips in front of the mirror. The joy of the food is fleetingâÂ?¦I have to go back to it time and time again to get that short-lived rush. Too bad I couldn’t have developed a serious love of yogurt instead. But the ads we see tell us that chocolate will make us happy, and we can spy a bevy of thin, good-looking people guzzling beer and dancing around bowls full of potato chips on television every day. Everywhere we look there is another fast-food restaurant, most now offering dollar menus and quicker-than-ever service.

Does anyone have a healthy relationship with food? In today’s world when everything is on-the-go, delivered through a window, or heated up in the microwave, how are we supposed to know which habits are healthy and which are not?

Eating disorders in all forms are deadly. The National Eating Disorder Information Centre states that 70% of women and 35% of men are dieting at any given time, but 95% of all diets fail, and not for lack of will-power. The NEDIC even lists Dieting as an eating disorder, citing such side effects as preoccupation with food, binge eating, irritability, depression, and social withdrawal to the disorder. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, Americans spend more than $40 billion a year on dieting and diet-related products. The National Eating Disorders Association also states that “people with eating disorders often use food and the control of food in an attempt to compensate for feelings and emotions that may otherwise seem over-whelming. For some, dieting, bingeing, and purging may begin as a way to cope with painful emotions and to feel in control of one’s life.”

The American Obesity Association reminds us that “obesity is not a simple condition of eating too much. It is now recognized that obesity is a serious, chronic disease.” Approximately sixty million Americans, of one-third the population, is affected by obesity. Obesity is the second leading cause of unnecessary deaths in the United States. Sixty-four and one-half percent of adult Americans (about 127 million) are categorized as being overweight or obese, and the number has been increasing since 1960.

We know it is dangerous, we know it is bad for us. Why, then, do we go running for the sugary sodas, the salty potato chips, the greasy french fries? Sephen Levine, Ph. D. published his research regarding food allergies, likening food addictions to drug addictions: “Just as a drug addict suffers withdrawal symptoms when the drug is withdrawn, allergic people experience discomfort when they lose access to a particular food.” He lists coffee, dairy products, wheat, eggs, corn, white potatoes and lettuce as primary and potent food allergens.

The Food Addiction Program lists refined sugar, flour and fats as the “drugs” of a food addict. They state that food addiction is a disease characterized by an obsession with weight and body image. Food addicts can suffer in much the same way a deprived alcoholic might suffer, with tremors, depression, and self-hatred.

It makes sense to think that if eating ice cream makes you feel good and happy, you will always eat ice cream to re-capture that feeling. This love of ice cream could, theoretically, lead to serious problems, as can any addiction or substance dependency. Eating disorders are not about the food itself – but our psychological make-up. The need to be thin, to look good can drive many toward eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa – both characterized by fear of weight gain, feelings of ineffectiveness and low self-esteem. Binge eating and over-eating, disorders with the potential to lead into obesity, cause sufferers to feel “comforted” by the foods they are emotionally compelled to indulge in. But genetically, about 81% of our weight is already pre-determined, according to NEDIC.

Yet the emphasis is often on how it looks and not how healthy you might be. Fitting into a size four dress might feel great to one’s self-esteem, but if fitting into that dress means crash-dieting for two weeks is the reward really worth it? In the long run, my french fry addiction might just grow out of control and lead me down a path of serious health problems that could have easily been preventable – should we blame me or should we blame the french fry distributors?

Understanding why we eat what we eat and why we eat it when we eat it is the first step towards a healthy relationship with food. The key is self-awareness, recognizing damaging behaviors and habits. Certain foods and combinations trigger all sorts of emotional responses and memories – both good and bad psychologically. We know what is right and what isn’t, what we should eat and what we shouldn’t. Next, we have to learn how to program ourselves to eat just the foods that we should.