Overcoming Food Addiction

Overcoming food addiction can be just as tough as battling any other addiction. The obesity and overweight levels in the US are skyrocketing. Some people blame the wide variety of high calorie foods that are available on a daily basis. Never before has there been so many calories available to a population with such a relatively low price. Since food is so cheap some believe that we are eating too much just because we can. If there is food in front of us we will eat it. To a certain extent this may be true because our ancestors needed to eat a lot whenever they could because they never knew when their next meal would come.
But this doesn't answer all the question of why we have such a high level of obesity. There were times in history when food was plentiful but people did not get as gargantuan as they are now. This other aspect may very well addiction.
We have become a nation of addicts. The levels of drug addiction, nicotine addiction, and alcoholism are at all time highs for the younger generations. If our view of food is changed it could very well be that we would be seeing the same problems with food that we see with drugs. Food has become more than just a way for us satisfy our hunger. It has now become an entertainment item. If you watch TV you see all the time how food and restaurants highlight the fun factor of food. If you are sad, go out to dinner and be happy. If you are stressed, go out to dinner and forget your problems. If you are lonely, go out to dinner the ads always show lots of happy people having a great time when they are eating.
It is very possible that we have linked emotions to food and that is why we are overeating. We are eating to fill up an emotional need not to fill up our stomach. Until we come to grasp the idea of food addiction we will not be able to do anything about our obesity problem.