Food Addiction
We are beset by images of the "perfect body" in the media and are constantly sold the idea that being thin equals successful, and makes us popular and loveable. This is simply untrue but some of us pursue this ideal to terrible extremes and great personal misery.
Food addiction can manifest in many ways and with different degrees of severity. Having a problem with food can feel very shameful, embarrassing and lonely. You may be a compulsive eater, eating to stuff down feelings, or "comfort eating" and you find it confusing because you can't stop eating after you are physically full.
Sometimes over eaters use different ways of trying to control the effects of over eating, like extreme dieting/restricting, use of laxatives, excessive exercise and vomiting. If you spend a lot of time thinking about losing weight or how to control your intake of food and can't seem to stay in control, you may have an eating disorder. Counselling can help.
If you find that your unhappiness about your weight and eating is seriously affecting your social and work life or your close relationships you may need help. The self loathing that can accompany the loss of control of your eating can feel very demoralising. The messages that you tell yourself like "just stop being so greedy" or "just do more exercise" won't help, because if you have addiction to food no amount of nutritional advice or exercise routines will solve your problem.
I can help you deal with the causes of your eating problems and help you to develop and maintain a healthy enjoyable relationship with your body and food. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me about food addiction.
Some signs that you may have a food addiction:
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Do you eat in secret or at night, or dislike eating in front of others?
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Do you find you have a strange reaction to certain foods and can't stop eating them once you have started?
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Do you lie about your eating and experience cravings for certain foods?
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Do you feel shame or guilt around eating and your weight?
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Do you put your life on hold for when you are at the perfect weight?
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Do you have different sized clothes in your wardrobe?
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Does your weight affect how you feel about yourself and whether you socialise or not?
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Do you binge and purge?
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Do you have to destroy food to stop yourself from eating more of it?
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Do you go out for more food once you have started overeating?
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Do you starve yourself after overeating?
This is by no means a definitive list but if you identify with some or one or two please do contact me and we can discuss help with food addiction further.