To make matters worse, my
weight swelled to 100 pounds over my ideal weight. From the sugar, I
experienced depression, anxiety, and irritability only to return back to such
sweets to fend off my melancholy, tranquilize my sense of being ill at ease,
and lessen my agony—intense physical and mental suffering. I experienced a
violent struggle between outbursts of excitement and despair. A vicious cycle indeed! I didn’t realize these quickly
metabolized carbohydrates briefly made me feel wonderful but then took me from
that deceptive, blissful high to a tumultuous low.
Hi, my name is Lisa—I’m a
food junkie! A food junkie thinks about food every waking moment: She is an
addict. I was physiologically dependent on simple carbohydrates such as
chocolate, pretzels, and cake. I developed a physical dependence from chronic use of
these foods, which produced a high tolerance to them. The chemical dependence
is related to changes in the addict’s brain chemistry. Those changes involve
the “pleasure circuit,” where, because of a sensitivity to these substances,
certain neurotransmitters and receptors create pleasurable feelings after being
stimulated by simple carbohydrates.
With an abrupt deprivation of cookies and breads, I experienced withdrawal
symptoms, including severe headaches and body aches, and I broke out in a cold
sweat and was irritable and fatigued. I found comfort in nothing except returning
to sweets and starches. And of course Benjamin witnessed these high and low
extremes which often can resemble bipolar disorder. I see this often in my
practice when I first begin working with a compulsive eater coming in helpless
and hopeless and not understanding why they are suffering with their
relationship with food. I assure them
recovery is right around the corner and starts with abstaining from the foods
that trigger the issue in the first place.
It’s not to say recovery from the obsession with food is an easy process,
because it’s not, but what I do know is it’s doable—I’m living proof. My moods
no longer swing from ecstatic to torment
after a whirlwind eating frenzy because I no longer binge eat on cakes,
cookies, ice-cream, and baked potato chips. Today my foods consist of fresh
fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low fat dairy and I’m
energized—yet calm—no longer do I fluctuate between a hair-raising, euphoric
“sugar high” and a dark, negative wretchedness.
What are your experiences? Share in the conversation so readers can learn from you and visa versa.
Photos by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego
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