Diet For Food Addiction

I have found one problem with food addiction is I lose sight of the use of food. I eat when I am not hungry because I am trying to get something out of the food other than the energy stored there. somewhere along the way I started matching food to feelings and now I eat when I am worried. I eat when I am sad. I eat when I am happy. Eating has become an emotional thing instead of a nutritional thing.

I take responsibility for my addiction and I am the only one who can decide to combat it. That said, I remember my grandmother using food as a comforter for us often. Her words were "Here, eat this it will make you feel better." I think she really was trying to comfort us and apparently she had learned to use food as an emotion changer at some point in her life. The funny thing is she was not overweight. She did smoke though and ended up dieing of lung cancer. I think she taught us to be addicted to food like she was addicted to cigarettes.

I don't blame my addiction on her and my mother (who does the same thing) but it definitely did not help to grow up with that view of food as a comforter. I have 6 siblings and first cousins. Six of us ore obese and the seventh fights her weight with alcohol. I am not sure how this compares to the rest of the nation but it shows some sort of a trend.

I think a good way to start getting back to a healthy view of food is to realize that food is only for sustenance and not for emotional control. I like how they treat food on the TV show The Biggest Loser. The biggest loser diet is based on the fact that food is for fuel and not for feeling good. I know I need structure in my eating and a diet can give that. The key is to view this as a life long lifestyle change and not a month or 6 month long diet.