Why Food Addiction Is Deadlier Than Drinking (2011)(thefix.com)
thefix.com
Why Food Addiction Is Deadlier Than Drinking (2011)
https://www.thefix.com/content/oa-vs-aa?page=all
5 comments
Another point is that alcoholics can stop using alcohol and still live. Heroin addicts can stop using heroin and still live. People with food addiction still need to eat to live, which I think makes this even harder.
Yeah that's one of the main points he brings up.
The other one he talks about that I think deserves highlighting is the "last house on the block" problem, where a lot of other successful addicts have turned to food as a more "acceptable" vice, and then struggle immensely to defeat it when they realise it's the last one left.
I know I certainly struggle with that fact. I had serious problems with both weed and benzodiazepines, and while I certainly wasn't skinny while I was on them, my weight only really started to spiral uncontrollably once I successfully kicked them.
I agree completely with this article by the way. While quitting weed was mentally exhausting, and quitting benzos was physically painful, food is the only one out of the three that I haven't been successful with so far. I think that says a lot.
The other one he talks about that I think deserves highlighting is the "last house on the block" problem, where a lot of other successful addicts have turned to food as a more "acceptable" vice, and then struggle immensely to defeat it when they realise it's the last one left.
I know I certainly struggle with that fact. I had serious problems with both weed and benzodiazepines, and while I certainly wasn't skinny while I was on them, my weight only really started to spiral uncontrollably once I successfully kicked them.
I agree completely with this article by the way. While quitting weed was mentally exhausting, and quitting benzos was physically painful, food is the only one out of the three that I haven't been successful with so far. I think that says a lot.
That is, of course, explicitly covered in the article.
I wonder if a 6 month Soylent-only diet would help with this.
Another problem with food is that there are too many people writing not scientifically researched opinions on how to lose fat and get more healthy at the same time. After going through a lot of pub-med researches about decreasing my blood triglyceride levels, I found out that I have to get rid of sugar and saturated fat completely, and eat foods with low glycemic index. Still, I don't want to binge, so I found Tim Ferriss' slow carb diet much better than the popular and dangerous low carb diet. All these things may be in the media, but a lot of false things as well.
Now I'm eating eggs without the yolks, red lentils (very easy to make) and falafel (fried in the oven), and my triglycerid levels and weight are changing without me trying to binge at all.
Now I'm eating eggs without the yolks, red lentils (very easy to make) and falafel (fried in the oven), and my triglycerid levels and weight are changing without me trying to binge at all.
> dangerous low carb diet
Oh please. If it didn't work for you thats fine. Don't go spreading baseless FUD.
Oh please. If it didn't work for you thats fine. Don't go spreading baseless FUD.
If it works for you, the question is for how many years can you do it without falling back (increasing your carb intake)?
I seriously believe that I wouldn't be able to live a happy life on a low-carb diet (let's say 30-60 years), but leaving a few unhealthy ingredients out to keep my glucose and cholesterol levels in check is not a problem (as long as I'm not hungry)
I seriously believe that I wouldn't be able to live a happy life on a low-carb diet (let's say 30-60 years), but leaving a few unhealthy ingredients out to keep my glucose and cholesterol levels in check is not a problem (as long as I'm not hungry)
> After going through a lot of pub-med researches about decreasing my blood triglyceride levels, I found out that I have to get rid of sugar and saturated fat completely, and eat foods with low glycemic index.
I'm doing basically the opposite - I avoid polyunsaturated oils as much as possible, and prefer simple sugars (fruit juices) over starches. I'm starting to sleep much better, which I think is a good sign, for me.
I'm doing basically the opposite - I avoid polyunsaturated oils as much as possible, and prefer simple sugars (fruit juices) over starches. I'm starting to sleep much better, which I think is a good sign, for me.
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In my experience, compulsive overeating is every bit as much an addiction as alcoholism, smoking, or hard drugs. I saw myself exhibiting the exact same behaviors around food as I did around alcohol (splitting my shopping up between multiple corner stores so none of them would know how much I was eating) and feeling the exact same way about myself (I'm a worthless piece of shit, I'll never get a handle on this, I might as well just dive in and die young).
You might argue that had I not learned those behaviors while being an active alcoholic, I wouldn't have put them into use with food. Maybe. I think that's beside the point. The point is that I couldn't stop even though I desperately wanted to.
In my case I had food problems before I got sober. I hear about people turning to food after they stop drinking (in fact one very well-known program explicitly recommends it), but for me food, booze, drugs, nicotine, and casual sex were/are a package deal. They all hit the same place in my brain, perform the same function for me emotionally, and are impossible to quit on my own.
(Posted anonymously for reasons I hope are obvious.)