La Bene Vita

Food Addiction - It's a Thing

WebMD finally recognizes food addiction   as a thing.

I've been telling my doctors (gyn and gp) for years that I suffer from a food addiction. You know what they tell me?

Just eat less calories. Everything in moderation.

This is not helpful, because instead of following their (seemingly simple) instructions, I continue to binge, to stuff myself so full that I feel physically ill for hours, and I can't sleep through the back pain and abdominal cramping all night.

And then I feel like a failure. Because it should be simple, right?

Just eat less calories. Everything in moderation.

Like the addict that I am, I hide my eating habits from friends, family, and pretty much everyone... except when I'm at a church potluck, or a party, or a buffet, where everyone can see the huge pile that I can't help but stack on my plate, even though it embarrasses me.

I need to stop hiding. The people around me have to stop letting me get away with it.

I'm going to (try to) stop eating non-practical foods. I think that strategy will work because I'm a practical person. If it doesn't serve a nutritional purpose, it doesn't go into my body.

I don't know if I can do it.

But I'm going to try for 21 days. And I'm going to log my food publicly so you can all see how much of a glutton successful I'm being. Please hold me accountable, friends! If I'm not logging my food, message me and ask me what I've been eating today.

On the list for elimination:
- salty snacks like chips and pretzels
- candy, ice cream, cake, cookies, pretty much anything classified as "dessert"
- cereal, because I do this thing where I continually refill my bowl before it's empty so I can't count bowls

At this point, the list is still growing, but that's what I have for now. Everything I read about this addiction says you have to permanently eliminate trigger foods from your diet for life. Chips and cookies are trigger foods! Salty snacks are okay if they have protein. Fresh, frozen, or canned fruit is okay, but not dried fruit (which is practically candy.)

Although controlling my weight will be a nice side effect, the primary goal is to fight a very serious and very real addiction.

Thanks in advance for your tough love. Today's food log is published below and is a work in progress.

Cheers,
Michelle

Friday, 9/11/15
- 8:00am Coffee w/2 tablespoons sugar free creamer
- 8:00am Tablespoon of peanut butter (so I can take my iron pill)
- 9:30am Half an onion bagel with 1 thin-sliced Swiss, 2 thin-sliced ham, 1 slice tomato
- 11:00am ZonePerfect bar
- 2:00pm Potbelly skinny roast beef on multigrain w/onion, tomato, italian seasoning (no condiments)
- 3:30pm Old Wisconsin turkey snack stick
- 4:30pm Another turkey snack stick (they're tiny 70-cal things)
- 6:00pm Macadamia nuts
- 7:00pm Spinach salad w/tomato, onion, corn, green beans, cheese, smoked pork loin and light catalina dressing
- 7:30pm Grapes (while my guest eats a Li'l Drummie without me

THIS IS MY FIGHT SONG