Healthy Life: Some people have food addiction issues

"I am a compulsive eater" may mean different things to different people. It may mean that I can't eat just one Lay's potato chip (to use an old commercial) or it may mean that I can't eat even a modest amount without purging with laxatives or vomiting, or it may mean that eating is filled with such terror that I can barely choke down dry crackers and water.

Whether it is compulsive overeating, compulsive bulimia or compulsive anorexia, some people have food addiction issues. Food addictions are the mother of all addictions since we can live without tobacco, drugs, and alcohol, but we don't live over the long term without food. I never felt I had a food addiction problem so OA didn't work for me in that regard, but for those who can't deal with food without developing addiction issues it saves lives, just as NA and AA does.

Just as the alcoholic can't have a social drink, a food addict can't have just one bite of a food that triggers addictive behavior. That one bite generally results in gorging or purging or a round of even more stringent and dangerous anorexic behavior. Free will to take the first bite is available. What happens after the first bite is often out of the control of the individual. Your analysis that after the first bite there is no longer control supports the OA model.

Its been years since I did the substance abuse counselor part of my life, but as someone who did her best to help others kick additions, OA very much has a place in the world for those with psychological food addictions.

In my case, I decided it was not for me (although Al-Anon was for 15 years) and I developed my own deliberate approach to food. One method I used was to visualize the desired food in one hand and a body part in the other. Do I want the cake or would I wish to continue to have full use of my brain? The cake was the cumulative impact of all cake bites, not the individual bite or piece. For me, it worked, for a food addict it probably would not. There are other models - the Weight Watchers model, the old TOPS humiliation model, etc.