Listen to me very carefully. THE MORE UNHAPPPY, MISERABLE, FRUSTRATED, DISAPPOINTED, SCARED AND DEPRESSED YOU ARE, THE HUNGRIER YOU ARE. There are many types of hunger. Whatever you are using to fill up the empty space—food, sex, money, booze, drugs, toys, and everything else you use to numb yourself, the hunger remains. YOU CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU STUFF YOURSELF. Let’s talk about food addiction and food frenzy right now. You have sent me so many e mails telling me that you are literally using food to kill yourself, either taking it in or controlling every bit you eat. Keep sending me your stories and I will be an advocate for you and try to ease the suffering.
Let’s all keep it real. Overeating is as American as sports and shopping. You and me and everyone else overeat at times. Food is comfort to many of us and Lord knows I smile as I am tossing a chocolate candy in my mouth. But food addiction means your eating habits are out of control. You don’t eat until you are full, you eat until you can’t get the energy up to shovel in more. You are not eating because you are hungry. You are listening with the third ear to a message from deep within telling you to keep going because the hole is still there and you are not satisfied. The cycle is craving, eating, needing satisfaction, getting none, and starting all over again.
And then when the last mouthful has been devoured, you feel guilty. You hate yourself. Why do you keep punishing yourself, you ask. You find yourself disgusting and if you are grossly overweight, you know that others are disgusted with you, especially those zooming by in little running shorts and tank tops.
If overeating is your ‘issue’, you are obsessed with food, what you are going to eat next, planning to arrange for the food you want close by. You like to ‘graze’, feeding as you go, always remaining a reach away from carbs and sugars. You have your secret stashes of food, just in case. You eat fast and can gobble when you are stressed.
Nobody can accuse you of refusing to diet. You have done it over and over again, many times feeling like a yo yo-up and down you go. You read the statistics that tell obesity is second only to smoking in preventable deaths while you have yet another snack. You eat without thinking, sometimes amazing yourself with the amount of food you have consumed.
Depression is your accomplice as you view yourself in the mirror. You know that in our society, thin is in. Studies have shown that your chances of success in the job market are lessened the more fat you carry around. It is as if people think if you don’t have enough self discipline to control your weight, you may not be disciplined enough to handle a tough job. Go in for a doctor’s visit and you will get a suggestion that too much weight can lead to heart disease, breathing problems, and diabetes. Plus it can aggravate arthritis and joint disorders. Read the magazine while you are in the waiting room and you may find yourself drawn to the article saying that treating obesity related disorders cost this country over one hundred billion dollars per year. Meanwhile, you may catch people watching you with a sly look, hinting they are disapproving of you.
Eating yourself to death is a form of suicide. Shoveling food down is advertised as a good thing by cruises and buffets. They know something as they are advertising to you, causing your mouth to water. You are shoveling the food in because there is a hole in your heart. What you cannot get from other people and things, you take from food. WHEN WE DO NOT GET WHAT WE NEED, WE TAKE WHAT WE WANT!
When you are gobbling, your are trying to heal your hurt. You are comforting yourself and self medicating. I know the pain you are feeling. Eating disorders are a killer and you do not need to continue to suffer endlessly. More help is on the way. Keep the e mails and donations, small and large coming in to keep this blog going because it is for you.
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