Food problems and addictions are similar only on the surface.
“Overeating and drug addiction may converge on some of the same neurons,” says Endocrinologist Barbara Kahn. “but other pathways are also involved. And from a biochemical point of view, the two are not the same thing. Drug addictions are much stronger.”
Unfortunately for people who have weight and food problems, theories about food addiction are not only inaccurate, but they do a disservice to people who are struggling to lose weight. Sure, some people eat compulsively and some even binge. This type of eating behavior can be chronic. It can really look like it’s an addiction. The “food addict” experiences strong cravings and feels out of control when the compulsive eating is taking place.
There are more differences, however, than there are similarities when it comes to compulsive eating and true addiction. Here are some of those:
- A person can live without addictive drugs but they cannot live without food.
- People can recover completely from compulsive overeating and binging problem without having to deprive themselves of any particular foods.
- Humans have always been drawn to sweet and salty tastes. It is a universal trait.
- When people are deprived of the foods they like, it creates a state of psychological deprivation that leads to compulsive eating.
It’s not addiction that causes addiction-like behaviors of compulsive eating and binging – it’s psychological deprivation.
By only looking at the surface of a problem, it can mislead. Thirty years of experience treating the most severe cases of eating problems (eating disorders) and seeing that they can completely recover from losing control of food is evidence that food addiction is a myth.
That should sound like good news. Who wants to think that they have an addiction to food that in incurable? Isn’t it better to think that the addictive-like behaviors can be a thing of the past and that a person can once again become a normal-eating individual?
