Thanksgiving, Binge Eating, and Leftovers

Be comforted dear soul! There is always light behind the clouds.

~Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Thanksgiving should be a day of thanks, a day of praise, a day of gratitude, but often for the food addict it’s a day of all out gobbling. Sure, there’s gratitude but it’s not in the front of the addicts mind. Food is!

 

Thanksgiving for the food addict is like line after line of cocaine for the cocaine addict who is trying to abstain. Nobody would think to do that to the recovered drug addict, but little thought is given to the binge eater on this festive day. Heck, she/he should just “control” her food intake and eat in moderation.

Although with good intentions, moderate eating sounds like a simple solution but impossible if the doorway to platter after platter of hot mashed potatoes lathered in gravy, stuffing, hot rolls drenched in butter and one decadent desert after another right is in plain sight with an open invitation—especially once the food addict puts the chemicals (sugar, flour, wheat) into the system which ignites the binge.

Hi, my name is Lisa and I’m a food addict (in recovery!) and I know what the horror of this disease is like, especially on a holiday such as Thanksgiving, and the days to follow.  

Is there always a light behind the clouds?

Can you remain true to your clean eating Thanksgiving weekend with all the leftover festive side dishes ever-so-present every time you open the refrigerator, pantry, or look on the counter tops?  Let’s get real, these foods are calling you and you are blaming yourself for indulging.

It’s not your fault! You have a food addiction and there’s a dark cloud over you.

Food addiction is a loss of control over eating coupled with the physiological tolerance and psychological dependence that occurs when a specific stimulus (food) is ingested. Typically, this addiction can result in negative consequences for basic life functions and relationships with family; social situations; intimate relationships; the sufferers relationship with God and spiritual development; or in relation to the law, health, and work life.

Early in childhood I was fixated on sugar—never getting enough and going to great extremes to obtain it: stealing, hiding and hoarding. Although I didn’t have an awareness of food addiction, I knew something was wrong with my relationship with food. In hindsight, I realized I ate out of control and bargained with myself and God to stop—after this one last pastry.

I felt shame if I got caught stealing food or money to buy food; yet, I didn’t have the mentality to understand I was compulsive eating until my adolescent years when weight began to pile on. And even then I didn’t know there was an actual eating disorder called, binge eating disorder—and that I had it.

The depiction of addiction to food resembles the hallmarks of any addiction. The food addict is caught in the grip of a compulsive, habitual behavior that can’t be controlled.

Thanksgiving was not always a time for me to sit in gratitude. I’m a recovering food addict, and in the past, Thanksgiving marked the eating frenzy that launched my holiday eating. On Thanksgiving day I’d eat until I could eat no more—until the food was all the way up to the rim of my throat and my pants cut into my bulging stomach—promising I’d diet come Monday. And Monday never came.

This Monday, for me,  is just another Monday.  No guilt. No shame. I’ll go forth and continue to eat my four healthy meals spaced four hours  apart—and life goes on—in recovery.

How did you handle your Thanksgiving? What about the leftovers? What would you do differently? 

Photo by: Dr. Lisa Ortigara Crego

http://twitter.com/#!/Drlisaort

http://Weightcontroltherapy.com

Six Reasons Dieting Fails for the Food Addict

Before I released excess weight for good and became known as a certified eating disorder specialist (CEDS),  I spent nearly three decades at various arms of diet centers such as Weight Watchers, Ediets, Twelve Step programs, mostly as the recipient of diets initially and worked as a clinical psychotherapist/addiction psychologist certified as an eating disorder specialist later. But a more accurate title for that job in my earlier days might have been certified diet failure doctor and uninformed therapist: while I lost a great deal of weight and showed the way to thousands, I’d watch one after the other go through the revolving door of failed diet plans.

Like the ongoing dieters, I too joined the up and down weight loss program initially. And while it may not be possible to pinpoint what exactly makes for a great weight loss program, it’s pretty easy to identify some of the avoidable mistakes that can virtually guarantee your weight loss and release of food addiction that will get relegated to a success story. See these mistakes below:

1.     DIET CENTER  HOPPER

Mary joined every weight loss center known to mankind with white knuckle determination and gritted teeth. She was going to lose the weight no matter what. And, of course, the no matter what turned into another failure.  Whatever food program you lose weight with is the very same one you will maintain with. If you can’t figure out how to make the “diet” doable for everyday life, you’re probably not on the right food program for a food addict.

2.     DIET BOOKS

Although hundreds of diet books line the shelves of bookstores, virtual and brick and mortar, It’s close to impossible to eradicate every single little mistake in the diet that was not intended for long periods of time. But what’s not really forgivable are promises that you can eat an ounce of dark chocolate daily and a glass of wine with dinner once you reach a certain level in the program. A true food addict cannot indulge even a small morsel of sweetened chocolate and succulent red wine or they’re crashing. A cocaine addict wouldn’t have just a small smidgen of coke once they reached “maintenance” now would they? Of course not!

3.     DIET FADS

Start eating cookies today and lose weight! Yes, YOU read this right you can eat cookies and lose weight. Eat one cookie for breakfast, one for lunch, and a reasonable dinner, and you too can be thin. Diet fashionistas are the perfect candidates to lure to fad diets. The food addict begs, steals, and bargains, promising after this one last binge to never binge-eat again. So offer the cookie diet to the desperate dieter and she's roped in! But the truth be told, after lured, in a short period of time, after the "honeymoon"  has passed, the binge eating resumes. We are addicts and require real food every four to five hours and must avoid sugar, flour, and wheat to prevent a relapse, so fad diets must be avoided—they don't work—not ever.
4.     30 POUNDS OFF IN ONE MONTH DIET

Yes, you read this right. You too can lose 30 pounds in 30 days! Everyone’s winning at their weight loss with our nutritious packed boxed meals. All “gourmet” meals are prepared for you to take the guess work out of preparation. Yeah right. A food addict first would starve as there isn’t enough food in the small box and second, a food addict would go into a full-blown binge because boxed foods are notorious for hidden sugar, flours, and wheat.

5.     ERRORS OF IGNORANCE

Of course you think this time will be different when you go on the “miracle diet” because you are determined NOW. And you’re convinced the special grapefruit concoction, with Brazilian leaves proven to drop weight while you sleep, is a perfect fit for you. Trust me, there is no magical concoction of leaves, plastic suits that enhance sweat, or any other doohickey that works long term. It simply doe not exist not now—not ever. I swear!

6.     THE HARD SELL

Dante’s juicer is proven to cure you of all illness and restore your body to the size when you were a teenager. Millions of satisfied customers are now wearing bathing suits and win the lotto too.   Not.  There is no quick fix. A change of lifestyle, attitude, and a turn toward a Higher Source you have a good chance of success at your weight loss and releasing food addiction.

Yes, no doubt there are tons of promises of weight loss on every corner billboard, magazine, late night television commercial and broadcast on radio signals around the globe. But before I released excess weight for good and became an addiction psychologist,  certified as an eating disorder specialist (CEDS), I toiled nearly three decades making one "diet" mistake after another before realizing what makes a winner at weight loss and recovery and what keeps a person tied to diet mentality committing one diet error after another. It's your turn to stop going through the revolving door of failed diet plans and this time take charge, make a permanent step towards winning and put to rest the vast array of diet mishaps.

http://weightcontroltherapy.com/