My big realization of the week: I am addicted to food!

After doing some research on food addiction, I realized that I am, in fact, a food addict. That is a hard realization to come to as a health professional, fitness fanatic and self proclaimed nutrition coach.

The sad things is, I believe most Americans are food addicts. I also believe that it stems from a very, very bad and wrong food environment.

Refined, processed food (sugar) is as, if not more addictive than cocaine, heroine and morphine.

We live in a world where high fat, high sugar and high salt foods are readily available in abundance. Processed foods surround us, and they are addictive! Dr. Pam Peeke explained why in a podcast that she recorded with Chalene Johnson.

These Processed foods that are high in fat, sugar and/or salt are hyper-palatable according to Peeke. That means that they send our brain into overdrive with the pleasure response that they create. Think about the difference in sweetness and perceived pleasure from something natural such as a banana compared to a high-sugar, processed food such as a cupcake. Big difference, right? And that's why it is dangerous. Addictions stem from dysfunctions in the brain related to pleasure and self-control which are regulated by dopamine.

Those with drug addictions and those who are obese have decreased numbers of dopamine receptors. This is linked to a reduced ability to resist temptation and with less enjoyment of food or drugs.

You see, before processed foods were available, our ancestors would take a bite of a ripe piece of fruit, the pleasure (dopamine) receptors in their brain would light up telling them how good that was and they would feel satisfied.

Today we have super sweet, super pleasurable foods that we buy in multipacks. We eat one Oreo, our brain lights up like crazy and we feel wonderful, but a couple of hours later we feel hungry again and we remember how good we felt after eating that Oreo, so we have another...and another. Now our brain is thinking, "that's too intense! We can't live this way!" so it does the only thing that makes sense. It reduces the number of pleasure receptors in order to bring us back to equalibrium. So tomorrow when we have one Oreo, the pleasure sensation is less intense. As a result, we eat another, and another, and another trying to replicate the same level of pleasure as we got the very first time we ate an Oreo. Our bodies just weren't meant to be inundated with such rich foods 24/7. Our brains are wired to set us up for addiction to hyper-palatable foods.

How does this scenario unfold for you? If you have had a long and stressful day at work, do you come home and try to eat away the stress through pre-dinner snacks that make you feel full even before you sit down and devour your whole dinner as well?

Or maybe a long and whine filled day at home with the kids sends you reaching for the tub of ice cream after their bedtime? (That one is so me!) Or maybe you have created a habit of eating every time you sit down to watch something on TV and you eat so mindlessly that before you even realize it you have devoured an entire family-size bag of chips.

If any of the above scenarios sounds familiar to you, you may be a food addict too.

So, where do we start to recover from our food addictions? Well, I'm not 100% sure. I AM sure that Pam Peeke has some great advice in her book entitled The Hunger Fix which I plan to purchase. I also read an article by someone prone to addiction that said the only way to recover is through abstaining completely. That means whatever it is that you overeat on a regular basis, you have to get out of your house and vow to never eat again.

I'm not sure that I am quite to the total abstinence stage myself, but I do know that when I make a dessert for a special occasion, from now on, whatever is left after the guests are gone and all of my family has enjoyed one serving, will be tossed out. I will not be buying any chocolate just to have on hand. I will not be buying any kind of candy or processed sweet just to have in case I get a craving. When I want something sweet, I will have to go out and get (one serving) of it right then and there. When I go out to events where there is a smorgasbord of desserts, I will choose one. I will enjoy it slowly and then I will move on and enjoy the company of friends and family even more. When I sit down to rest in the evenings after my intense day with my WONDERFUL children, I will brew a cup of decaf coffee or hot tea and sip that while I decompress instead of searching through the cupboards for something, ANYTHING sweet.

But perhaps, you are an all-or-nothing type of person. In that case, maybe abstinence is the answer.

Or perhaps you fall into one of the statistics that Pam Peeke talked about in the podcast: women with a history of abuse are 90% more likely to be a food addict and 50% of obese people have a history of trauma or abuse. If that's the case, then please see a therapist. Start there, and begin the healing process because even though you may know intellectually that food can't fix the problem, your brain is still signaling you to try that method first and you have to get off of that never ending circuit!

If you are intrigued by this post, I encourage you to listen to the podcast. It was very enlightening and entertaining.

Lastly, boycott processed foods! We need to get our country back on track in so many ways, and this is an easy place to start that will better our own health immediately, and hopefully the health of our entire country eventually.