You Might be a Food Addict If...

Did you ever eat well beyond full for days upon days without any relief from a full belly? Did you ever eat tray after tray of sweetened pastries? Do you think about eating every wakened moment? Do you shake when you abruptly stop eating certain foods? Have you been on a series of diets with little to no success? Well, if you've said yes to more than three of these questions you just might be a food addict.

Food addiction is defined as an uncontrollable urge for excess food, particularly refined carbohydrates such as sugar and flour substances, which are quick to metabolize. The disease, food addiction, is truly a disease—it's biochemical in nature because the body of the food addict reacts differently to some foods than the bodies of other people. A common link between food addicts is sensitivity to sugars and certain carbohydrates.

Food addiction is often scorned upon by the public, some doctors, and even eating disorder treatment centers. I’ve heard some call this idea cult-like thinking.

Eating disorders are broken down to anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. As far as eating disorders go, anorexia and bulimia get the most attention. But it turns out that binge eating is the most common. It's not uncommon for a binge eater to wolf down five chocolate eclairs in one sitting and still want for more.

A new survey of more than 9,000 Americans published in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Psychiatry found that binge eating disorder occurs in nearly 4 percent of people, whereas anorexia and bulimia occur in 0.6 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

Binge eaters typically consume more than 1,500 calories in one sitting between meals when they're not particularly hungry, and they binge at least two times a week. As a result, they're five times as likely to be severely obese, which puts them at a greater risk of obesity-related problems like heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, and colon cancer.

Binge eating is an ingredient to food addiction. Not all binge eaters are food addicts; however, all food addicts binge eat. I liken food addiction to heroin or any drug or alcohol addiction in that sufferers find that taking a small taste of chocolate leads them to inhale en entire six-pack of bars followed by a bag of chips and anything else they can get their hands on. This is the same loss of control noted with all addictions followed by the same remorse after. Depression ensues along with self-hate.

Sadly, most binge eaters suffer alone telling no one of their secret never getting the help they need. Psychiatrists tend to treat binge eating as an anxiety/eating disorder prescribing Topamax or Meridia. Yes, these medicines may slow down the urge to eat but it's treating the symptom rather than the problem. Instead, treatment with goals to change and redirect the thoughts, perception, and behavior can produce long term, life changing results. This is not to say medication is not needed in some cases for it most surely is. In some situations medication is needed with therapy.

It's my experience, as a clinician, hypnosis and cognitive/behavioral therapy, along with removing sugar, flour, and wheat from the diet, produces amazing long–term results—quieting the monster within normalizing the eating.

You may be a food addict particularly if you demonstrate the following behaviors several times per week or more:

1. I think about what I’m going to eat at all hours of the day regardless if I just ate a full meal.

2. I plot and plan and worry about cutting down on specific foods. I promise I’ll just eat one slice of cake and save the rest for later, and of course later never comes because I consumed the entire cake.

3. I feel sluggish or fatigued from overeating. I passed out in a nearly finished bowl of spaghetti.

4. I eat past full in spite of pain from my distended stomach.

5. I hide foods and eat them in the locked bathroom (turning on the bath water to drown the sound of opening packages of sweets and crunchy starches) or bedroom where no one can see me.

6. I suffer from withdrawal symptoms when I try to abstain from specific foods like chocolate candy bars, ice cream, cake, or pasta.

7. I steal foods and have left or considered leaving my child unattended to get my food fix.

8. I panic when my “trigger foods” run low or at the thought of never eating them again. I'll simply curl up in a corner and die if I can never eat chocolate cake again!

9. I must have certain foods regardless of who I might hurt to get them.

10.I eat full meals right after I just ate a full meal—there is no full button.

11. I sleep in a reclining chair or with several pillows propped under my head for fear of regurgitation from previously inhaling a large amount of food in a short period of time.

12. I turn down most events to stay home alone to eat.

So, what's the answer to recover from such a debilitating disease?

In my practice I find the most success with patients is combining cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis, and for some who are comfortable with a twelve-step anonymous program (Food Addicts Anonymous) geared for spiritual recovery from food addiction.

 
I also suggest eating three meals a day plus a metabolic boost every four hours to prevent hunger and reaching blindly for the wrong foods out of sheer panic.

Avoid sugar, flour, and wheat and instead add fresh fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low fat dairy, whole grains and starches, and a tablespoon of fat to your daily food regime. In addition, eat a wide variety of foods rather than consuming the same types of foods at each meal to avoid developing sensitivity to these foods as well.

Remember to never let yourself get too hungry and carry foods with you when you know you won't be home or close to a place where you can get the right foods.

No doubt it’s challenging to overcome food addiction in our environment, which is almost unlimited amounts of tasty processed foods laced in sugar, fat, and starch but you can, I'm living proof.

Photos by: Benjamin Crego and Dr. Lisa respectively

http://weightcontroltherapy.com/

Total Weight Makeover

"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson


I barely greeted Mary in the waiting room as she brushed her large framed body past me, marching to my office out of breath fretting, while mumbling she was ten minutes late.  Mary contacted my office a few months ago desperate to lose weight and get a grip on her obsessive volume eating. Mary is most focused on losing weight and less interested in the spiritual and emotional piece of her recovery journey. More than once she (and most of my eating disordered patients) requested to see my heavy pictures to confirm I truly once experienced the caged in desperation she did—that like her, nothing mattered to me except being thin. Reluctantly,  I pulled out two.


In the photo below I was 29 years old and on the upswing again with my weight. I recall gritting my teeth and saying to my best friend Yvonne, who was taking the photo, "Do you have to take a picture of a beached whale?" I rarely got roped into taking pictures because they represented my truth. I was fat. And with that truth I bought into the idea fat meant dumb—a total loser. What I didn't get during that photo shoot was that I was a sad young woman distracted with obsessions of food and weight to avoid living in the present life at hand. 

When I was twelve I began to notice I  spent the largest part of every day thinking about what I wanted to eat that I shouldn't and what I should eat that I didn't. The weight piled on and the diet sagas began. My obsession with weight was more sensational than anything that happened between me and boys, money, or girlfriends. I was totally absorbed in me so I could not be hurt by another person.


When I looked deeply into Mary's sad eyes I saw my own reflection of a once desperate me. I so wanted to save her, to pull her out of the misery she's swallowed up in—to convince her there is a better way than jumping on one diet after another.  Mary, like many compulsive eaters, believes if she loses weight she'll attract a desirable man and that all of her "issues" will miraculously disappear. But truth be told, what she's really doing is numbing out with food to avoid the chance of being rejected by someone, hence blaming the problem on the weight. A true vicious cycle. Mary claims she wants to experience blissful love but blames her excess weight from making her dreams come true.


Is this truly what's going on? Mary's rejected by men because of her body? Or is Mary blocking her emotions to men with food. Mary doesn't know how to engage herself with a person, only with food. Oh sure Mary had sexual encounters and short stint relationships but she avoided intimacy—surrendering totally to another with deliberateness to face, rather than run from, the worst of herself. She didn't dare allow herself to be vulnerable to another, instead she blamed food and her obsession with her body to take over present living. As long as Mary eats compulsively, her life is about what she eats, how much she eats, how much she weighs, and what she will look like, dress like, when she stops addictive eating. A scenario I was once quite familiar with.


Yes, it's true Mary grieves her unhappy childhood and will never be able to re-write the script. She missed it: a mother's love, a father's acceptance, sleep overs with girlfriends, the feeling that she mattered—that she was important to someone—anyone.  No, she will never get the childhood do-over she's been screaming about for fifty five years. Screaming and flailing fists is not emotional, spiritual, or physical healing.  Emotional, spiritual, and physical healing is another story—a different journey.


The first step in Mary's healing is to own the truth of her childhood story and acknowledge her losses—grieve about them. And to  know she is not her story. She doesn't have to define her existence as the little girl who was abused and never got the love she so yearned for, hence making it the same adult story.  To no longer identity with the lost child and begin living in the present instead of living in reaction to the past.

My second photo, I reluctantly showed Mary, was of me sitting under an orange tree on a breezy spring afternoon in South Florida trying to hide my body behind the baby—so ashamed to once again get caught in a picture. 


My focus today is on living my best healthy life not my weight or what I ate or failed to eat. I now recognize that my obsession with diets and weight was a game—it wasn't being thin I wanted, it was getting thin. It was a game of diet-binge-diet, only to once again binge.  I  would rush out to purchase a pile of junk food shoveling it into my mouth as fast as I could while simultaneously reading the newest diet book on the market. Mary does the same thing.


I want for Mary what I now know—and that is, diets don't work nor does diet mentality. When Mary lets go of the focus on her weight and the newest diet offered and instead puts her attention on spiritual and emotional recovery her gift is physical recovery. It works every time, all the time.


The last photo, which again I reluctantly bring to you the reader, is how I look today. Although I am not my body, that I'm much more than a frame, people want to see and know that it's possible to reach a "normal" weight (whatever that might be for you) without putting the attention on the weight.


This is the miracle.


Put your attention on your spiritual recovery; daily eat three meals and a half-meal consisting of foods that are whole and balanced; run, dance, walk, or do jumping jacks (whatever moves you); and connect to the Divine Source—and watch—watch for the miracle.










http://weightcontroltherapy.com/

Is It Time To  Clear Your Space?

I flicked on the light, plugged in my fountain and oil lamp, opened the blinds to let the natural light in and rolled up my sleeves prepared to dig into my chore ahead.  At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve I resolved to clear out clutter in my office and open my work space to rekindle the spiritual energy my office is known for. I spent an entire day dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing window ledges and shredding patient files older than seven years so I’d have space for the stack of files behind my chair, heaped on my desk and tucked in the credenza. I had my work cut out for me.

 
As I moved in silence, from one task to the next, memories of patients swirled in my mind. My heart ached as I came across several patients who died over the years. We bonded—swapped eating disorder war stories—and grew in spiritual, emotional, and physical recovery.
 

When I happened upon Martin’s file (anonymous name), caressing his folder as if he were still present, I remembered the first session of psychotherapy and hypnosis, how trapped he’d become in his body. Martin carried two hundred extra pounds on his 5’10” frame. Without opening his file, all our past conversations bubbled up within me. Like many of my patients, Martin believed therapy with me was his last strand of hope to release his obsession with food.

We began our session with the standard questions I ask during the collection of data phase when first working with a patient. Once I had gathered the medical, psychological, family, and work history I moved into personal belief systems to uncover hidden blocks and buried issues with regards to his eating disorder. I asked Martin, “Do you believe you are responsible for your own recovery? Is it the trigger food(s), or your lack of spiritual connection, or both, that prevent you from recovery? Can your recovery take precedence over an obsession with and addiction to the idea of weight loss? Are you ready to clear out the clutter in your thought process?

 
We discussed different approaches to treating his disordered eating and obesity. I suggested a program of recovery can include but need not be limited to: psychotherapy, a Twelve-Step program, an `anonymous’ support group, the advice of a nutritionist experienced in food addiction, and a prayer group—or a church, synagogue, or mosque group. And the list goes on. I asked, “Which components from this list attract your attention?” He opted for therapy, a nutritionist, and a prayer group affiliated with his church and Twelve-Step program addressing his compulsive eating.

It’s my belief if you’re not in peak condition, mentally, physically, spiritually—if you’re not “right” with your surroundings, and comfortable in your own skin, your full potential will be stunted. Martin believed this to be true, that in order to open his full potential he needed to tap into any and all help available and clear out the clutter in his thought process.

Many of us undergo serious health consequences as a result of food abuse. Initially Martin’s recovery from compulsive eating was out of a medical necessity—raging cholesterol—which led him to seek a doctor of addiction psychology for food addiction. 

 

Most of society doesn’t understand or accept food addiction as a real condition. In fact, people tend to be more understanding when an alcoholic doesn’t drink because so many people don’t drink today, either because they have a problem with alcohol, take medication, or they don’t want to drink and drive. Moreover, alcoholism is seen as an addiction; whereas, this isn't the case with food addiction.

Although Martin managed to reach and maintain a healthy weight, he died at 57 from congestive heart failure, which most likely resulted from lifelong poor lifestyle habits. Sometimes patients go past the point of no return and their bodies can’t repair. Perhaps this was the case for Martin.

Today, my office sparkles and the space I so needed is restored. Although I shredded a mountain of files, the stories will forever remain etched in my heart. As I closed the blinds, shut the lights, unplugged the fountain and oil lamp, I took one last look back at my now squeaky clean quaint space I so love to work in, and smiled at the thought of Martin so excited when he was able to once again tie his shoes, ride a bike, cross his legs, and button the bottom buttons of his shirt. Yes, he died perhaps earlier than his time, but he died after years of getting his life back—no longer imprisoned by his weight. It’s never too late to clear out the clutter and reach for the stars, even if you only touch the moon.

Photos by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego

Hypnosis and Relief From Obsessive Eating

“Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas rest your spirit in her solitary places.” ~ Earnest Dimnet

Don’t you wish there was a solitary place where you could rest your spirit? Don’t you wish you could stop your obsession with food with the snap of fingers? Don’t you wish you could rid yourself of vomiting your food for fear of gaining weight and instead learn to eat healthy and maintain a “normal” weight? What if I told you there’s a sanctuary—a paradise in your mind—where you can get relief once and for all. What if I told you hypnosis might be your answer.

My students in the introduction to psychology course I teach are fascinated by the subject of hypnosis. They can hardly wait for the discussion of the chapter on hypnosis and inevitably ask me questions about it each week prior to the week hypnosis is the topic—and make further queries during all the weeks that follow. Why such an interest? Perhaps it’s the mystery that seems to surround the topic of hypnosis. The questions I’m asked after the initial one, “What is hypnosis?” are “Does it really work?” “Can anybody be hypnotized?” “Will I get lost in there?” On and on, the questions flow—and of course, one by one I tackle each inquiry.

The issues my patients raise are very similar to the ones brought up by my students, except my patients experience hypnosis firsthand specifically to release their obsessions with food, to lose weight, to quit smoking or put a stop to other addictions or to let go of a range of fears and phobias. I tell them hypnosis is definitely not a “fix all” resolution to their problem at hand but rather an excellent tool to jumpstart a recovery and often help them connect to their Higher Source by moving deeper into the subconscious mind—a springboard toward prayer and meditation.

To better understand hypnosis I begin with the explanation on what hypnosis is and isn’t, and if it really works down to who can get hypnotized and gosh will I get lost in there and end up stuck in some garden in the mind or worse a purgatory of some sort.

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a super-concentrated state of mind brought about by suggestions, which can be direct or indirect. Hypnosis produces a hypnotic state, or trance that’s actually a natural phenomenon. One can tap into this relaxed state of mind through intentional self-hypnosis (the person hypnotizes himself), through induction by a therapist, or accidentally by sheer repetition of a phrase or "mantra." The hypnotic state is a "normal" altered state of consciousness, similar to, but not the same as being awake. It also is similar to but not the same as being asleep.

Does hypnosis work?

It’s possible, without a shadow of a doubt, to redirect your thinking through the effect of suggestions to the mind by means of hypnosis.

Take Tabatha, a redheaded beauty, who strolled into my office cautiously guarded for fear hypnosis might not rid her of habitual purging of food once and for all. She’d purged since she was 13 years old, and when she came to see me was closing in on 50 years old. She had purged, at the least, five times a day for 37 uninterrupted years.

Tabatha and I met several times for psychotherapy sessions before we delved into hypnosis. She was prepared to let go of this horrendous nightmare of clinging to dirty toilet bowls in public restaurants to rid herself of her just-eaten meal while spitting up clumps of blood and experiencing anxiety attacks after a bout of dry heaves. Her eyes, sunk deep into her skull, were surrounded by the dark black bruises that often accompany purging, and she looked as if she had been in a boxing brawl. She was ready.

Can anyone get hypnotized?

No one can be hypnotized unwillingly. Hypnotic suggestibility is based on the person's willingness and trust. It is also based on freedom from fear on the subject’s part. Every person can be hypnotized with the exception of infants, psychotics, mentally retarded persons and/or individuals who lack attention span, concentration and comprehension.

Will I get lost in there?

No, all subjects are in control of their journey in hypnosis and can be brought out of hypnosis at the suggestion or on their own. Hypnosis under trained experts has definite therapeutic value, but again is not magic and definitely is advised against the non-scientific amateur. And at no time in this blog do I suggest or encourage depth analysis by the individual, for those who are seriously mentally or emotionally disturbed who must seek expert help. My aim is to show how the rest of us who are leading “lives of quiet desperation,” can acquire through a hypnotic trance the ability to connect with their Higher Source and with people as an additional step toward freedom from compulsive eating.

There is a solitary place where you can rest your spirit and stop your obsession with food almost with the snap of fingers. You can rid yourself of purging, restricting, dieting, and obsessing over food and maintain a normal healthy body weight. There is a sanctuary—a paradise in your mind—where you can get relief once and for all. Yes, hypnosis with a credentialed, licensed practitioner might be your answer to a life-long crippling illness.


Photo by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego

Revising Your Path to Releasing Your Obsession with Food…

Don’t you wish someone could tell you how close you are to finally resolving your weight issues and food obsession? Don’t you wish someone could say, “If you just keep at it and understand why you eat you’re certain to stop binge eating?”

Or even if it would be heartbreaking, wouldn’t it be nice to be told that you’re wasting your time going on yet another diet, so that you could move on, try another tack, or simply eat foods that bring you personal pleasure and release your obsession from food, with no other aim in mind?

I’ve counseled thousands of patients and spoke to large groups over the years. Even though I may not able to personally work with each of them, I can usually say something definitive about what their next steps should be. I often see when their diet is wasting their time.

No matter where you are on your own food path, it’s smart to periodically take stock of where you’re headed, and revise your eating plan as necessary. Here are some steps you can take to do just that.

Recognizing Yo Yo Dieting Isn’t Working

I’m often asked how I went from overweight to normal weight after years of bouncing up and down with my weight. Let’s be clear, I was the yo yo dieter of the year from early adolescents through my thirties. My weight and my relationship with food were a constant struggle for me until I began to understand my chemical reaction to certain foods. After years of trial and error, research, clinical knowledge, weight loss, and stability of weight, I recognized eating whole, natural foods free of sugar, flour, and wheat restored my moods and I instantly became calm and centered.

Eat Three Meals and One Half-Meal Daily

These days, I follow a simple formula breaking down each meal with structure (four meals a day each consisting of specific foods: fruit, protein, fat, vegetables, low fat dairy, and whole grains) and commitment rather than eating randomly. I also include daily exercise such as walking or biking along the ocean and try and live my life as a prayer.

Progress Not Perfection

No, I am certainly not perfect (and realize I sound as if this is so easy), and life is not always bliss. I would love to eat any food I want, but I realize the consequences aren’t worth the indulgence. I do get mad at life when I’m tired and work too many hours, or when I have to turn down an invitation to an event because the atmosphere won’t be conducive to my bringing my own foods, or when everyone will be eating a delectable piece of chocolate cake and I’ll be stuck eating a piece of fruit with yogurt. But, no matter what life struggles present themselves, I know that binge eating simply isn’t an option—nor are sugar, flour, or wheat on my food list, because I understand that the sleeping giant of addiction within will wake, and chaos will return with a vengeance if I ingest any of these. I compare my situation to that of a heroin addict, who can't have just a smidgeon of heroin; he must abstain completely to stay clean.

Make Room—A Higher Source Is Present

When I began to follow these specific guidelines—even when I didn’t want to—my negative mind chatter quieted, and for the first time I could become still, and hear God’s whispers. I connected to my inner strengths, and a spiritual understanding emerged in me. I found inner peace, God, and love. Love for myself, others, and the universe evolved inside me.

Not only was I calmer, kinder, and less self-centered, but I began to perceive a bigger picture. I saw food as real and not real: God’s food and man’s food. I chose food of the earth, sea, and air rather than processed and boxed. I turned to God, and the "noise" in my head ceased, and the addiction flattened. These days, I eat to live rather than live to eat. Healthful foods and a refreshed faith are now my fuel to retain optimal health and weight.

Last Thoughts

At the very beginning of this blog, I suggested it’s possible to release your obsession from food addiction when you let go of diet mentality if someone can lead the journey or point you in the right direction.

Here’s a little piece of hope: If your immediate thought was, I can’t live with obsessive eating any longer, then you are much closer to making peace with your food addiction than you might think. The battle is much more chemically imbalanced than you might think. Those who can’t be dissuaded are much more likely to reach their goals, regardless of the path they originally chose.


Photo by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego