Food is an essential element for our wellness. It is also a means of enjoyment and pleasure. By eating our favourite dish, this offers us a sense of nourishment, and we also get an element of gratification from the various smells, taste, and textures in the food. Nonetheless, failure to adhere to the proper eating habits can cause food addiction, in which food becomes a problem just as drugs become when abused. Typically in food addiction, highly appetising foods that also happen to have high fat, salt, and sugar contents cause chemical reactions inside the brain, which induce satisfaction and pleasure feelings. Food addicts depend on these good feelings, often perpetuating a continued need to eat even when one isn’t hungry. With time this behaviour causes a vicious cycle, often causing the food addict to overindulge and consume more than what’s needed for normal nutrition and satiety. This might lead to various social, emotional and physical consequences, including heart disease, low self-esteem, digestive issues, obesity and isolation. In case it causes you to get overweight, you can reverse this by opting for weight loss diets. Visit BritainReviews to see healthy meals for weight loss websites, look at the reviews of each website and select the ones that seem most reputable to source your weight loss meals. Some of the symptoms that will help you know when a person is addicted to food are discussed below.
Eating more than intended
If you had planned to have just a single piece of cake or a bite of chocolate and after you start eating the slice becomes half a cake while the bite turns to almost all the chocolate, this is a symptom of food addiction. When one is addicted to food, they are unable to take anything in moderation.
Having a feeling of guilt but still repeating bad eating habits
One tries to control their bad eating habits but still gives in to the craving leading to guilt. The guilt is because one typically feels they are cheating on themselves or aren’t doing something right. Despite this unpleasant sense, a person addicted to food still repeats their bad eating habits pattern.
Having repeated failures on rules that one has set to cease the bad eating habits
Often when persons are trying to cope with self-control, they tend to set some rules to follow. For instance, they may tend to aim at working on their assignment right after they arrive home from schools also, they can avoid taking coffee at certain times of the day. Such rules tend to fail, and this also happens to the rules set regarding bad eating habits. If you notice that you are always trying to set some rules that aren’t working on your eating habits, you are struggling with food addiction.
Despite having physical problems, you are not able to quit on some foods
The choice of foods you consume will have a significant effect on your health. For example, junk food can result in bad breath, acne, weight gains, poor dental health, fatigue, among other common problems. Long-term Junk consumption is often associated with heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and some cancers. A person who has a problem caused by unhealthy foods and cannot change their bad eating habit should seek help from a qualified health professional to overcome food addiction.
Making up excuses
When it comes to food addiction, the brain can be peculiar. When one get cravings for certain types of food, even when they had set rules not to take them, a person with food addiction will always find reasons to submit to the craving and break the rules. This may resemble other forms of addiction. For example, a smoker who is trying to quit may set a rule never to buy cigarettes. However, when they have the cravings to smoke, they might find themselves smoking from a friend’s cigarette pack.
Having cravings despite being full
It’s common to have cravings, even after having a nutritious, fulfilling meal. For instance, after having a dinner of veggies, potatoes and steak, you may crave to have ice cream for dessert. Cravings and hunger are different. Cravings happen when your body needs to eat a particular food despite being full. It is common to have cravings, and cravings don’t always mean you have a food addiction.
Nonetheless, if you often have cravings and it’s hard to ignore and satisfy the cravings, this may indicate a problem. Such cravings aren’t due to the body’s need for nutrients or energy. Instead, such are a sign of food addiction.
In conclusion, it is important to watch out for the above symptoms, and if our food addiction goes beyond control, we should always seek medical attention.