Understanding and Treating Food Addiction as an Addictive Behavior

Food addiction is a behavior that can interfere with your mental and physical health, lower self-esteem and confidence, and leave you with feelings of guilt and shame.

What is Addictive Behavior?

Addictive behavior is a behavior that provides temporary pleasure and reinforces the action, creating pathways in the brain that make it difficult to stop engaging in. There are various types of addictive behavior. You can be addicted to substances, work, shopping, gambling, sex, gaming, social media, alcohol, and food.

How to Move Past Addictive Behavior

When it comes to addictive behavior with food, managing actions can feel challenging. You cannot avoid food, unlike other substances or behaviors, such as shopping or social media. Moving past addictive behavior means learning how to identify and reframe negative thoughts and behaviors. A counselor can teach you Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques that will help you shift your thoughts and behaviors.

The following are several ways to move past food addiction.

Journal meals and snacks Food addiction can lead you to mindlessly eat when you are not physically hungry and eat more than is necessary. By journaling your meals and snacks, along with the emotions you experience before, during, and after each meal, you can collect data on your habits. You will be able to identify triggers, thoughts, feelings, and consumption that you can share with your counselor, if needed.

Check in with your hunger levels Food addiction is an urge to eat when not hungry. This behavior is attached to a trigger. Check in with your hunger levels before giving in to the impulse. Is your stomach growling, or does it feel empty?

Take it one meal at a time Stop telling yourself that you will be perfect as you overcome food addiction. Give yourself grace for reaching for food when not hungry as you practice techniques to break free. Take it one meal at a time. Don’t think about the last meal or the next, and instead, stay in the present moment. You can say no when you are not hungry and busy your hands doing something else. Don’t allow distractions to derail you.

Remove problem foods for now If there are specific foods in your pantry or refrigerator that make it difficult for you to walk away, consider removing them temporarily until you are better practiced with coping mechanisms. You can add them back once you feel confident. Or, allow yourself to only consume them while hungry during a meal in public, as many people struggling with food addiction eat in secret.

Don’t deprive yourself of your favorite treats, as that can lead to bingeing. Instead, treat yourself to a moderate amount. For example, if the food you have impulse problems with is ice cream (or any high-sugar, high-fat, or high-sodium food), schedule a time when you can have one serving.

Perhaps allow yourself to have a cone once a week from a favorite ice cream place. Wait until you are physically hungry before eating the ice cream cone. By treating yourself outside of the environment where you might emotionally eat, such as at home, you break the addictive behavior cycle and are less likely to eat mindlessly.

Counseling Help for Addictive Behavior

If the addictive behavior of food addiction and emotional eating leaves you feeling out of control, contact our office today to schedule a session with a Christian counselor. A representative will match you with a counselor specializing in addictive behavior and disordered eating. Call us today to get started.