When is it a food addiction, and when is it just overeating?

[ouroborous 519]

I'm curious to know what constitutes a food addiction.

I'm morbidly obese, but I never obsess about food. I do have occasional anxiety and sometimes eat to soothe the anxiety, but not often. I never CRAVE food -- I don't get obsessed about a brownie or a burger or whatever. Mostly I just overeat -- I eat a normal portion of food, and then two more portions besides! Also, I'm extremely sedentary (this is sort of the bane of my existence, my own physical laziness).

From what I understand, I don't really have a food "addiction." I just eat like a starving wolf, and I'm kinda lazy.

Does this ring true to you guys? Mostly curious -- I'm not going to really change my plans either way (regardless of addiction or no, I nee to lose the weight!)

[pnw218 14]

I certainly don't know what the difference is. I thought about every next meal all the time and grazed in between meals. I am probably quite fortunate that I didn't weigh more than I did at surgery time. I ate to Celebrate and ate when I was depressed.

I am always busy and active, but not in an "exercising" kind of way.

I still miss food mentally. Had a party at my house Saturday night - kept walking by the food bar and reaching for something, and then would realize I couldn't have it. It didn't ruin my night but drove me nuts. Not sure how long before the auto pilot to eat stops.

Overall, I am doing well and like you said, really doesn't matter what type of issue it was, I needed the surgery for a variety of reasons.

[thinoneday 445]

I certainly don't know what the difference is. I thought about every next meal all the time and grazed in between meals. I am probably quite fortunate that I didn't weigh more than I did at surgery time. I ate to Celebrate and ate when I was depressed.

I am always busy and active, but not in an "exercising" kind of way.

I still miss food mentally. Had a party at my house Saturday night - kept walking by the food bar and reaching for something, and then would realize I couldn't have it. It didn't ruin my night but drove me nuts. Not sure how long before the auto pilot to eat stops.

Overall, I am doing well and like you said, really doesn't matter what type of issue it was, I needed the surgery for a variety of reasons.

Just a thought here, remember we have been on auto pilot for most of our lives, it's a new experience when you have the sleeve, you have to retrain yourself . . . for me it's been 47 years of FAST eating (military didn't help that either) so now to learn to eat slow is a killer. . . i have been conditioned that when you eat around a table you eat fast and get in as much as possible. . . now i can't even eat around the table. . .i have to take my 4 - 6 oz of food and sit on the couch in the living room, and with the VCR time my eat. . . chew, swallow, time 2 minutes, another bite, and so on. . . i'm out 3 months and can basically eyeball my portions, but to slow down and chew really well, well that's another circus trick I'm still learning. . . . good luck to everyone. . .

[youknowit 11]

Hopefully this information might provide you with some insights... Many do not consider "food addition" to be bonafide addiction, but for those of us who have/had the problem, I'd say many would disagree. At any rate, hope this helps:

Mental Health: food Addiction

[LAN2k 18]

Without giving you an official or text book definition I'm inclined to think of food addiction as an emotional obsession with food, and eating. I grew up with alcoholism and a very volatile relationship between my parents. I have obsessed over food ever since I can remember. Always wanting more and if I couldn't get enough to satisfy my craving I would figure out ways, places, and times, that I could. As a child for example, if at Breakfast there were only so many pancakes shared between family, I'd imagine myself surrounded by pancakes dripping with butter and maple Syrup. I'd seek out other foods to gorge myself with...salty, sweet, whatever! I'd find ways to compensate, usually while alone or with a friend that also liked to over-indulge in eating. The food never really satisfied me so I would keep foraging through food as if my life depended upon it. This behavior caused self loathing, shame, guilt...and diets, doctors, pills, bouts with bulimia, (I did alot of sneak eating, binging and purging...) This is not normal behavior and best resembles addiction. I always felt out of control. I hated myself for the urges, binging and nagging desire for more. I substituted food for emotional needs which went unmet. It felt like a self perpetuating trap for which I don't fully comprehend. Since the VSG, I am no longer able to "treat" myself, (as before), with food. I would not assume that everyone who is overweight to obese is that way due to a food addiction per se, but I do believe that I am and have been since childhood.

[ouroborous 519]

Interesting. This doesn't sound like my experience at all. I have consumed various things in my life -- food, alcohol, drugs -- that were very unhealthy for me, but there was nothing that I couldn't "put down" and nothing that I ever "obsessed over."

Mostly I have bad habits and get into trouble when I'm bored!

Thanks for the input. It's always interesting to me to understand how other people "experience life" (if that makes any sense).

[LAN2k 18]

Interesting. This doesn't sound like my experience at all. I have consumed various things in my life -- food, alcohol, drugs -- that were very unhealthy for me, but there was nothing that I couldn't "put down" and nothing that I ever "obsessed over."

Mostly I have bad habits and get into trouble when I'm bored!

Thanks for the input. It's always interesting to me to understand how other people "experience life" (if that makes any sense).

Your welcome, and yes you make sense. I too like learning about how others experience life. I learn from other individual perspectives and that helps me with my own life.

food was the only thing that I obsessed over, and that obsession controlled and consumed so much of my time. Over indulging in food was my habit, not smoking, sex, drugs or alcohal... Food was my "habit". And now thanks to this sleeve, I am forced to break the habit in a rather abrupt or "cold turkey" way. I'm learning how I can face the issues behind my food obsession. The sleeve helped me to finally break the destructive cycle. Now that I am free, I have all this time and I'm slowly allowing myself to use it in constructive ways. The nice thing about it is that I can still enjoy food just not to excess.

[ouroborous 519]

Your welcome, and yes you make sense. I too like learning about how others experience life. I learn from other individual perspectives and that helps me with my own life.

food was the only thing that I obsessed over, and that obsession controlled and consumed so much of my time. Over indulging in food was my habit, not smoking, sex, drugs or alcohal... Food was my "habit". And now thanks to this sleeve, I am forced to break the habit in a rather abrupt or "cold turkey" way. I'm learning how I can face the issues behind my food obsession. The sleeve helped me to finally break the destructive cycle. Now that I am free, I have all this time and I'm slowly allowing myself to use it in constructive ways. The nice thing about it is that I can still enjoy food just not to excess.

Excellent points.

I also wonder if the sleeve wouldn't help alcoholics as well -- from what I understand, you'd be hard pressed to consume enough volume of alcohol to get really blotto. Two birds (addictions) with one stone, for those who are addicted to both?

[Jane_J 117]

VSG should be good for hungry volume eaters. That was me, no off switch. Now I am better than great!!

[Jane_J 117]

But the VSG does not really hep with alcohol, it just passes through if you do it before eating, and then you fall over very fast. Cheap though. Very hard to judge and easy to over cook it so to speak. (from experience!!)

[ouroborous 519]

But the VSG does not really hep with alcohol, it just passes through if you do it before eating, and then you fall over very fast. Cheap though. Very hard to judge and easy to over cook it so to speak. (from experience!!)

Oh yikes. That's good to know, before I have one glass of red wine and think "I'm okay to drive" (I actually don't drive after ANY alcohol, but still, good to know).

As to your other post, that's me to a Tee: "no off switch." I don't obsess over food, in fact I can go long periods without any food whatsoever. It's just that when I DO eat, I can (and do) easily eat until I feel ill. There's never a "that's enough" stage! So hopefully lap sleeve is the perfect surgery for me, too (I'll know in about a month)!

Edit: just did a little research, and it looks like the science proves you correct. I always thought that alcohol was absorbed by the stomach, but it appears that it's actually the small intestine where most is absorbed. Since lap sleeve doesn't affect that, and in fact increases the transfer rate from the stomach to the small intestine, alcohol could conceivably be MUCH quicker in effect.

Source: http://www.intox.com/about_alcohol.asp

[Jolanda 23]

Ourobourous (that 99% likely I spelled wrong), that sounds a lot like what I used to be like before the sleeve. I never really craved certain foods, I ate a lot but mostly - now it sounds silly to say it - for something to do. I ate Cookies and chocolate because it tasted good. I also got a mini hit of pleasure when swallowing food, which I think enforced the overeating. But also I could go easily a day without eating, and I never had bulimia as such. I gained weight over a period of twenty years and though by the end of it I was very overweight and couldn't get it all off myself (though I did diet the traditional way at first and was comparatively successful) it was never a question of food being totally in control of my life. Which is probably why life post sleeve has been comparatively easy for me: dieting made me pretty used to eating salad and Protein, so I've been able to slip into it again with little trouble. Not being hungry after the operation has made it 90% easier, though.

[Jolanda 23]

I just read my ticker, saying "13 lb to go". Wow. Incomprehensible. I've tried to diet since my early teens. Started a diet every third day or so for two decades. And now thanks to the sleeve I think I've actually managed to solve this problem. Best money I ever spent.

[Qured 3]

Before the sleeve, I rarely thought about food. I loved food and would eat until I was full whenever I ate (but never to the point of feeling ill). I didn't have huge binges or anything. I was eating out of stress, sure, and out of boredom and because of other reasons, but that was not everyday. I managed to reach 315 pounds without ever realising it (and I really think I was one of the unlucky ones, I never ate *that* much).

But 10 days post op and I can't stop thinking about food, which is normal, I know, just because I can't have it. And I hope it goes away soon!

I hate the feeling of not being able to have something...

[Qured 3]

According to that link though... I must be a food addict.