The Age of Food Addiction

I joined wego health this week and I am taking part in the post 30 blog posts in 30 days. I have a blog called the Journey of Living With Food Addiction @ http://angelvoices-angeliwhispers.blogspot.com/. Please stop by to look over the website.
The prompt that was given tonight was Your blog is being turned into a TV show! Congrats – you’ve earned it. In fact, you get to co-write it. Write about the TV show based on your life or blog.

I have given this a lot of thought today and think I think i would make the show a informational show for the viewers. They would learn important facts about the food addiction.. Such as societies opinin of food addiction and the medical fields opinion of what food addiction is.. Although we will not give out diet plans we will offer healthy food recipes, and guests who are dealing with food addiction on personal level who have met recovery in their fight with food addiction. i would also have a segment in the show where experts in researching food addiction can speak and a 15 minute segment where the audience or home audience could email questions for the host and expert on food addiction. We would talk about food childhood food addiction issues and how society has to help these children so they may have a healthy food addiction..
The premise we will have on food addiction is tha it is a biochemical disease and that its not a matter of will power... Feeding the body right and consistent healthy eating will help in recovery... Staying away from what triggers us biochemically will be discussed too. we will also have a resource board for all watching the show..
This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

TODAY'S PROMPT IS TO SHARE FIVE BOOK TITLES YOU MIGHT USE FOR YOUR AILMENT...

• I just joined WEGO yesterday and i find it all very interesting. I have a few issues, but the issue i am going to speak about this past month is FOOD ADDICTION. I have been dealing with food addiction for a great many years. I feel that my food addiction issues were rooted in my childhood. It seemed that I never got enough food. I loved sugar, but I never seemed to get enough of it. It was dolled out to us kids so we really craved to have more each time we were given the white addictive stuff. I was physically of normal weight through out most of my childhood. Actually I was quite thin. As an adult, I started to put on weight during different time up till i was in my late 40's. I did many diets all through those years. Yoyo dieting was a constant in my life..I felt very helpless and hopeless about my weight issues and I got to the point that i didn't care what i ate, until i realized i needed to make some changes. ............Found recovery in 2002 and lost recovery in 2006..........Last week, after of being a very active in food addiction, I again realized that I had to find recovery.. I have been in recovery for five day...... its a start and a really good start.... i have a blog....about my struggle with food addiction for the past 3 years... the link is as follows: http://angelvoices-angeliwhispers.blogspot.com/. The title of the blog is A Journey of living with Food Addiction. If you get a chance to read the blog read from the beginning, because it shows my two progress in dealing with food addiction relapse.. The five titles I would use are as follows
• • • The Care and Feeding of a Food Addict
    • The Journey of a Food Addict
    • Always On My Mind (with a big piece of chocalate cake in the cover)
    • Food Addiction, A National Epidemic
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    This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J
    
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The struggle a year later

I have made a decision today, and the decision is this: I want to live.  I can no longer go on with the daily committee in my head telling me what I need to be eating and drinking today.   Telling me to stop at this place and that place,  to calm my nerves after a hard days of work or whatever else the committee speaks to me about.  I can no longer live with the feeling that tomorrow is another day in which to start my diet.
More than a year has passed and for me when I really sit and think about it,  that is a long time of letting this addiction  to continue on with out intervention..  I can't do this anymore. I have to find recovery and I have to find a peace of mind with in my heart about this issue.
For the last year or so I have been totally floundering in dealing with food addiction.  Whenever I tried to find help or speak to others about it,  I was told you have been in recovery before you can do it again.  You would think that was true on paper.  The issue is I am totally helpless and totally powerless of dealing with my food addiction.  I am learning again that its a matter of surrender and a belief that my Higher Power can help me with this surrender of giving up the food that is addictive. Also what the triggers are for me, that cause me to eat in volume and nonstop. 
I remember when I had recovery I didn't have the choices I have now.  I had a certain food plan, and I followed it day by day, reporting my food to my sponsor, also calling others in food addictiion and reading my literature.  I had a structure and in reflecting about all of that, I was pretty happy with this way of life.  I have asked my Highest Power to take away my cravings today and to help me to see what options I have for myself as someone who is dealing with food addiction.  I heard you aren't someone, you are Peg and you need help.  Don't be afraid to talk to others in the program,  for they are willing to help .   Don't be afraid to let your guard down, so you can honestly get into recovery for your illness. I have done this and I have spoken to someone who I respect and is a leader in helping others with food addiction.  I appreciate to be able to get to this point where I have taken a look in finding recovery again. At this point I have plans to get back to this program and let the decisions of what I am to eat be only what I have written down for food intake today.   Sometimes I have to reach bottom to do something about my food addiction.  This blog talks about the struggle in the last 2-3 years.  I am happy to say that this blog will speak about the recovery I have now surrendered to.  Self pity is getting me nowhere....This disease is horrible and I personally hope that no one has had to deal with it in the way that I have dealt with it.  My food today is  BREAKFAST  OATMEAL, BERRIES, TWO EGGS AND YOGURTLUNCH IS GOING TO BE 2 CUPS OF SALAD AND TUNA WITH MAY AND RICE.  DINNER 4 OZ SALMON,   1 CUP OF RICE MIX AND 2 CUPS OF CARROTS AND GREEN BEANS.  METABOLIC WILL BE 1 CUP YOGURT AND 6 OZ FRUIT.....Have a wonderful day...

Dealing in choices, when it comes to food addiction

I am sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of food that is around everywhere i go.  i am also overwhelmed by the portion sized in which the food is served in some restaurants and  the many varieties of food in a supermarket.  One thing i have noticed is the how one food such as trisicuits come in many different varieties so the choice  of what kind of triscuit you might  want has quadurpled.  Of course you want to try every flavore offered because you just love eating triscuits. Also i have noticed this in a lot of the cookie brands such as oreo cookies..  Forty years there was one brand chocolate cookie and white filling. And now we have several different varieties we can choose from of just an oreo cookie.  Also the coffee creamers it use to be just one coffee creamer which was just cream now there mare varieties. As a food addict, it poses a real problem for me. It causes me to want to try all of the varieits of a particular food, to see if i like any of them.  A person who wasn't a food addict would have no issue.  They would pick just a variety that really sings to them.  
I guess what i am surmising is that there is a great increase in the selling of sugary snacks.  For me sugar is terribly addictive and i have a very hard time giving it up.  I like it and i enjoy eating it. Its my freind and my companion at times.  Why would i give it up. Well for one thing i want to live.  I want to be healthy and i want to see my nieces and nephews live to a ripe age.  I want to be able walk around easily and i want to posess the teeth I presently own.  I want to be able to be free from numbing my feelings and also be at a wieght that is proportional to height and age. 
I am not saying to cut down on sugar if you don't wish to do so. But when will you cease to wanting more sugar? I have found out in my  years of dealing food addiction that i will always want more. I feel that there isn't any specifi food plan for someone who is dealing with food addiction.  It is pretty individual because we all have our triggers of food.  This blog isn't to tell you what to eat but there may be some information about what truiggers us to eat great volumes of food.  So there is prescribed diet we all have todecide what the triggers are for us personally. 
But I can talk about the pain we feel when dealing with food addiction. Offer support and offer encouragement in what you would like to do for your self.  Some people do with 12 step programs, or going to a nutritionis or getting diet counseling.  Exercise of some kind is helpful and also making some goals around dealing with the food addiction is helpful too.   Talking to friends and  information from expersts is helpful too.  What ever path you wish to follow concerning food addiction is your choice. Being informed about food addiction is also your choice. 
My question to you is how much longer do u want to continue to be where you are now.  What measures can you take to change the situation.  When we consider these questions we help ourselves to focus on the matter at hand. 
I am wishing you to make the choices that are good for you at this particular time.

Making healthy choices

     I have cut down on the sugar a great deal this week .  I have totally cut out all wheat and flour.  The occasional lemonade creeps into the mouth,  but it isn't chocolate, cookies or cake.  Which i can do quite easily at any given time.  I have stayed away from eggs this week and i do feel a little lighter  not sure why either.  I am finding that habits are hard to break especially when so much emotional connection to the food is present.  To say you aren't going to eat that anymore is upsettinng but i am promising myself no more self abuse.  I know my body cannot take this abuse of putting food into my mouth that is full of sugar.  I  do feel a heaviness has left me as if my body is saying thank you for not putting that in your mouth.  I have been eating a lot more fruit and it seems to satisfy me and deter me from eating a sugary thing.
       I also tend to eat more when my husband is away.  Last night i ordered a salad with turkey and some goat cheese and spinach.  It was delicious and then had an apple later in the evening.  My ankles are doing well.  There is no more swelling as i have been keeping them on an otterman.  I have cut salt out too. 


There is a place where you get to the point where you really want to stop eating the junk and you want to start eating healthy.  At least you think about doing that.  Then you find yourself buying food that is healthy....... But you still have moments of  pigging out.... And then the guilt takes place...... I have found that is not a good place to be .  When the guilt takes place you are in a love/ hate place with how you are eating. 
     Sometimes rewarding yourself with a small token to highlight your successes can help. Journaling about the struggle helps. Also planning your meals and how you wamt to eat on a particular day helps too.,   Maybe telling a friend about what you are doing and let them know what you plan to eat is helpful too.  It will hold you accountable to what food you will be eating.
     I think the last few weeks has brought me to a place from Gotta have it,  I choose not to have this sugar at this time,   besides i want to eat healthy at this time.  For me its a big step and i need to keep motivated to continue this was of thinking.  Its so easy to say yes to a sugary thing.   I think for now i would rather say yes to good health.  

The case of the missing food addict

I started this blog in 2008 to help myself and others in dealing with food addiction. I stopped writing in this blog last fall because i wasn't getting anywhere with progressing towards recovery. I just felt that this has not helped any one because there still is no success story. Each entry has a big fat promise of true recovery. And each entry has a promise of starting again at new recovery. Each entry was short of the recovery because i could not keep away from the food and had a million reasons why this was happening. I didn't feel i was qualifed to talk about this until i found recovery for myself.

This year has been a year of dealing with several medical issues, which has lead to cutting out certain foods in my diet and trying to control the issues i have had with the food. I am at the point now where i am willing to try recovery once again considering the fact that there is much i am not able to eat anyways. I have done some shopping for food that i can eat and I have begun the food program...... I am not here to prescribe a food program for you nor am i qualified.. But what i can do is to talk about the way i can be motivated to do what i need to do to getting started on the my foodo program..

But before i start that i need to speak about the place i was in when i decided i wasn't in recovery again. I was at the point where i knew i had no choice but to stay to myself.. How much is enough? Is that place close at hand or is it far away. Then i thought, there is no place in my mind that i will ever truly be satisfied with certain foods.. i will always to eat them because they are so good. So now that i know that need will truly ever be satisfied its time for me to find other ways to feeling satisfied. What else do i like to do besides eating? Eating cant possibly be the only coping mechanism i have in dealing with life? Could there be something else. I thought about it. I decided that i needed explore this query. What were other ways of dealing with life that lasted longer then the 10 seconds of pleasure that came out of eating a brownie sundae?

I could do the following things

• write about my feelings
• read a book
• ignore the impulsive feeling of wanting to pig out
• call a friend
• call a family member
• clean a closet
• paint a room
• plant a garden
• finish a project
• write a poem about my feelings
• go for a walk
• leave the house
• listen to a cd while drinking a big glass of water

The list is endless and could go on for pages, especially if i was with a group and we all participated in the discussion at hand. It is interesting how there are some people that don't have the same issues with sugar products. Its like they just don't have the same problems of not being able to stop eating. They are in full control and can stop at eating one piece of sugar immediately. I do envy people with that control.

I went out to buy a few cookbooks that looked very interesting. They have helped me a bit with ideas for snacks and for smoothies... I need to sit down again to readthe book so i can use more of the recipes.

The fact that i have started the thinking of recovery is a good thing its a start. I need to do this for me and also to help my husband to eat well too. Tonight i have a meal planned its healthy and well rounded. i can wait to eat it. I wish you well in your endeavors towards healthy eating.

My plan for this week is to eat food that is healthy and will help in my goals to losing weight i no longer have an interest in carrying around. So one day at a time i will keep the weight off lose what i dont need and eat the food that is good for me... Thank you angels for getting back to writing in this blog... It has been such a long time ....

Today was a disppointment for me .. I had a lunch all set and i forgot it at the last minute.. So no lunch for me.. Went to Wendys and got a chicken sandwich. Something to tide me over till dinnertime. There are different times when we are bridges to one another and that we are all connected but don't always see the connection in this. We may have a peice of information to give one another, something that we have never seen but the information was useful and the information helped them to understand what they were never aware of before. My blog is not a blog with new and lucious recipes, nor do i have food plan that i will say is the best or the worst to start at any particulat time.. My blog is here is because i want to help others who are struggling day day out with an addiction to food ( which is mostly sugar) that is very hard to break, because of the cravings of wanting that food so badly that it hurts not to eat that food. Its the compulsive act of eating volumes of food because we have to feel better now or we will not be able to go on. Its the act in which the craving is so strong that no matter what anyone will say to us... We still want that food... Because it will make us feel better.. Okay so you ate the food do u feel better.. ? Well it tasted great and i am happy now for now..........Oh why did i eat that bowl of ice cream> Did i really need that icecream> I always do this to my self tomorrow i will do better I promise.. I can't keep doing this..
Does any of this sound familiar to any of you reading this? I bet it does, i am sure u have heard it at one time or another.. I sure have and the person i am usually hearing saying this .... is ME
I do know that if u don't eat something like sugar or wheat or flour the cravings do go away. And u do see a change in how you feel over time.. Its not a problem with will power...The cravings do go away when you have conscously stopped eating the flour sugar or wheat..... But i have found its hard to do alone because usually are hardest to do this on our own...... Some people turn to a higher power or to a group of people trying to do the same thing.. A common thread to help each other... I am not going to give up this goal to be totally off of sugar wheat and flour... It can be done, and it has been done... Something has to got to give..... I really wish i remembered my lunch today as it was a really healthy lunch...But i will have the lunch tomorrow and we shall see what tomorrow brings... I don't live far away from where i work, so i have left my cash at home ,so i won't be tempted to go to the vending machines.... I have found good results with this.. I bring my water and healthy snacks with me and i am as happy as a canary taking a bird bath..... I wish you all a day of where you can be happy about the healthy food you choose to eat each day...