Are you gaining weight? Do you fantasize about certain foods? Are you obsessed with the mirror? The scale? Do you question what’s wrong? I know I did. It all began for me as a teenager: 13 years old to be exact. I did not know how to come out of it. I tried every diet known to mankind. And I mean every diet!!! Some I even made up…like the time I just ate Ritz Crackers and Cream Cheese and hot tea with skim milk and sweetener. Yes, I lost weight that time…but I also lost my ability to focus and my skin resembled that of a Ritz cracker: not good!
I learned 20 years later it was not my fault. I had persecuted myself for years. I thought I was a big loser. I thought I was weak-willed. I thought I was dumb and lazy. I had (have) a disorder known as Binge Eating Disorder. Wow! A name for this thing I was suffering from as far back as I can remember. I had a disease: a chemical imbalance. I have food addiction!
What is this disease called food addiction? Food addiction involves engaging repeatedly in episodes of binge eating despite adverse consequences as well as the compulsive pursuit of a mood change. Binge eating is a compulsion to eat a large amount of food in a small period of time regardless of the consequences. Compulsion is defined as a fixed, usually alluring impulse to carry out a deed, especially one that is irrational or contrary to one’s discretion.
Although I wished and still wish I did not have this “thing” known has food addiction, I at least knew it was not my fault. Today I live free from binging and my weight is normal after releasing 100 pounds. How did I do this? One day at a time. Abstaining from sugar, flour, and wheat, weighing and measuring my foods, understanding it was a disease and there is no cure but there is recovery.
Today my life mission is to help those suffering from this disease. My suggestion to you is: read everything you can on binge eating disorder and food addiction; practice recovery strategies. Soon you will restore your life to “normalcy” and you will be free from binging and in a recovery state from food addiction.
Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego: http://www.weightcontroltherapy.com
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