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Performance Nutrition
The definition of binge eating
By Dr. Jeffry Life M.D., Ph.D.
Q: What exactly is a "food addiction"?
A: According to G. Douglas Talbott, M.D., a noted authority on addiction, food addiction involves the compulsive pursuit of a mood change by engaging repeatedly in episodes of binge eating despite adverse consequences. Food addiction is not a result of a weak will or behavioral problem. Rather, it is a metabolic or biochemical disorder that produces all of the characteristic signs and symptoms of addiction. Food addiction is a chronic, progressive and potentially fatal disorder. It is characterized by frequent recurring thoughts about buying, preparing and eating food. Once an individual reaches the point where he or she can no longer control how much or when they eat, the line has been crossed into addiction. 
The hallmark of food addiction is a loss of control or an inability to stop eating after one bite of binge food. The irony is that food addicts eat foods that will eventually make them feel worse in the long run to feel better now. Without exception, these foods are the refined carbohydrates and sugars that have become so plentiful in our country.
Dr. Bartley Hoebel, a psychologist at Princeton University, has demonstrated that excessive sugar can cause the same physical addiction that is seen with cocaine and heroin. Other studies have also provided strong evidence for common pathways that are shared by sugars and other processed carbohydrates with addictive drugs. Today, Americans eat an average of 20 teaspoons of sugar and huge quantities of processed carbohydrates every day, so it is no surprise that we have an epidemic of food addiction in our country.
Telltale signs you’re addicted to food
Q: How do I know if I am a food addict?
A: The repeated consumption of high quantities of sugar and processed grains can lead to actual physical addiction. You can take the following test to determine if you have developed an addiction to these foods. If your answer to most of these questions is "yes," then consider yourself one of an ever increasing number of people (myself included) that have become food or carbohydrate addicts.
Are You a Food Addict?
Take this self-diagnosis test and see how you score.
- Have you ever thought food is a problem for you?
- Have you ever tried to cut down or control your use of sweet foods?
- Do you use more sweet foods than ever before?
- Over the years have you noticed an increased sensitivity to sweet or white flour foods resulting in increased irritability, tiredness, and depression?
- If you don’t have your regular "dose" of sugar, do you get irritable and cranky?
- Are you preoccupied with certain foods and the thoughts of food?
- Do you eat the kids’ Halloween, Easter and Christmas candy?
- Do you hide wrappers?
- Has your eating ever interfered with any part of your life?
- Have you ever felt like you had a sugar hangover?
- Do you keep your feelings about food and eating a secret?
- Has your weight gone up and down over the years?
- Have you ever lied about how much sweet food or other carbs you eat?
- Have you ever binged on sweets or white flour foods?
- Is it impossible to "just say no" to sweet foods and other processed carbohydrates?
- Are sugar/carbs controlling your life?
- Do you frequently eat more than you planned to eat?
- Have you hidden food so that you could have it later?
- Have you felt angry when someone ate your special food you saved for yourself?
- Have you had short-term success in controlling your eating only to slip back into uncontrolled, excessive eating of the foods you are trying to avoid?
- Do you worry sometimes that you cannot control how much you eat?
- Have you ever felt so ashamed of the amount or what you eat that you hid while you ate?
- Do you gobble down certain foods rapidly, with little chewing?
- Do you fast in an attempt to avoid eating the foods which you cannot control?
- Do you overdo exercise to make up for overeating?
- Do you buy food for others and eat most or all of it?
- Do you continue to binge despite its adverse consequences on your life and health?
- Have you ever gone way out of your way to get something sweet?
Modified From: Food Addiction—The Body Knows by Kay Sheppard, 1993, Health Communications, Inc., Deerfield Beach, Florida and The Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program by Kathleen DesMaisons, 2000, The Ballantine Publishing Company.
If you are a food addict, don’t be discouraged. The first step in conquering this addiction is to recognize that you have the problem. You can then begin taking the necessary steps to get your eating under control—the absolute key to permanent fat loss and great health.
High-carb diets: The roots of food addiction?
Q: Why has food addiction become such a serious problem in the United States?
A: Over the last 10 to 20 years we have been convinced by the American Heart Association, USDA Food Pyramid, and the food manufacturers that high-carbohydrate/low-fat diets are the way to eat if we want to avoid heart disease and achieve ultimate health. We have been given license to eat any and all carbs with little or no regard as to whether they are the healthy types (vegetables and fruits) or the unhealthy, highly processed types produced by our food manufacturers.
Vegetables and most fruits are digested very slowly and enter our blood streams in small amounts, gently and gradually increasing our blood sugars. Sugars and processed carbohydrates, on the other hand, come from grains that have had most of their natural fibers and nutrients removed. They are easily digested and literally mainlined into our blood stream, pushing blood sugar sky high. Our bodies respond by pumping out large quantities of insulin, causing huge drops in blood sugar. As our blood sugar levels fall, hunger returns, cravings rapidly follow and compulsive, uncontrolled eating soon takes over.
This cycle is replayed countless numbers of times, day in and day out, and over time a dependence (addiction) to these sugars and processed carbohydrates develops in much of our population.
A potential solution for food addicts
Q: What can I do if I am addicted to carbohydrates?
A: Many of today’s food addiction authorities recommend a 12-step program (Overeaters Anonymous) just like the one used by alcohol and drug-addicted individuals. They believe that there is a lifelong need for continual external support and guidance for all of its participants. Regular and frequent attendance of group meetings is required as well as a complete abstinence from the addicting food. A considerable amount of time (months and years) is spent working through a 12-step program of spiritual healing.
Other programs, like the Trimpey diet (Taming the Feast Beast by Jack and Lois Trimpey, 1994, Dell Publishing), believe the best way to deal with uncontrolled eating, and other unwanted behaviors for that matter, is to learn how to recognize and silence your insidious inner voice (what they call your Feast Beast) that compels you to eat the wrong foods for the wrong reasons. Their program encourages people to approach cravings and uncontrolled eating through a process of learning to think rationally about their bodies, their cravings and appetites, and the broader issues in their lives. It teaches you to take personal responsibility for what you put into your body and how you can avoid relapses without supernatural aid, daily ritual and prayer, and undue self-criticism about past struggles with uncontrolled eating. I like their approach to controlling unwanted behaviors and recommend this book to anyone who wants to achieve better control over their life.
Another approach commonly used by food addiction experts encourages people to learn to distinguish their physical hunger from emotional hunger. They believe you need to work very hard on unresolved emotional issues in your life and once these are resolved, food addictions and emotional eating become more easily manageable (Conquer Your Food Addiction by Caryl Ehrlich, 2002, The Free Press).
Another approach that has worked well for me is an ultra-low carbohydrate eating plan. This plan is easy to follow and I have found it controls my hunger and food cravings, while my compulsive eating comes to a rapid halt. It involves limiting your intake of all carbs to less than 30 grams a day. Replace the carbohydrates you have eliminated with high-quality protein containing low amounts of saturated fat. Keeping your saturated fat intake to a minimum is an important factor often overlooked by other low-carb "wonder" diets such as Atkins, etc.
Instead, include healthy monounsaturated fats found in olive oil, canola oil, and nuts and be sure to supplement your diet with fish oil to get the essential omega-3 fatty acids most of us lack. Vitamin supplementation is very important, as is regular exercise that includes cardio work and resistance training to increase and tone muscle—an essential component of improved metabolic rate and continued fat loss.
The reason this very low-carb diet does such a great job in controlling eating and cravings, at least for me, is because it achieves rapid control over blood sugars and insulin levels, thus preventing the vicious cycle of high insulin levels followed by low blood sugar levels—the root cause of cravings and addiction to sugar and processed carbohydrates.
Give it a try and let me know what you think. Stay on it for a month and then gradually begin adding healthy carbohydrates (low-glycemic fruits and vegetables) back to your diet. Be sure to stay away from sugars and other unhealthy carbs. If you feel your cravings start to return, immediately drop back to the ultra-low carb program.
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