Food Addiction Treatment
Are you addicted to food?
95% of diets fail because they don’t treat the underlying cause of weight gain and obesity - addiction. Our approach is a combination of proven addiction recovery models that treat this underlying cause.
Our food addiction specialists have extensive background and experience in treating process addictions, and some have even overcome their own weight and food addiction issues.
What is Food Addiction?
Food is essential to human survival and is an important aspect of our everyday lives and wellbeing. However, for many individuals, food can become as addictive as drugs are to a substance abuser.
Food addiction is complex but is best understood in two parts:
A dependency on the process of eating
An addiction to specific foods or types of food.
There are both biological reasons and emotional reasons for finding comfort in food.
First, it is important to understand what happens in our brain when we turn to food for comfort. When we eat a food that brings us pleasure, our brain releases dopamine which increases the desire or amplifies the craving for more of what gave us that pleasure.
While some dopamine is good and even essential for optimal brain functioning, when we over-eat, binge or eat compulsively we release more dopamine than is needed. This “feel-good” neurotransmitter is linked to the pleasure and reward system in the brain. It helps us numb out or de-stress. The dopamine hijacks the brain, so now when we feel stressed, lonely, sad, anxious or bored our brain says “Hey! I know what to do with that!” and we become fixated on food.
Additionally, highly palatable foods trigger chemical reactions in the brain that create feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. After eating foods high in sugar, fat and/or salt, the brain can develop a physical craving for these foods. Progressive consumption of highly palatable foods, makes it difficult for a food addict to stop the behavior. This reaction has been proven to be comparable to a drug addict’s response to their substance of choice, as it activates the same reward center in the brain.
Symptoms of Food Addiction
Feeling uncomfortable, embarrassed, guilty, or depressed about your physical appearance, your weight, or your eating habits.
Feeling powerless in achieving a healthy weight because you have been unsuccessful in your previous attempts to lose weight permanently.
Resorting to compulsive or emotional eating to escape from problems, boredom, to relieve anxiety, or to cope with stress.
Trying to stop or limit some aspect of your compulsive-eating behaviors, but have failed in your attempts.
Saying "This is the last time I'll ever do that!" and yet continuing to do it repeatedly in spite of the potential consequences.
Often finding yourself preoccupied or obsessed with thoughts about eating or about food.
Eating behaviors that have resulted in physical complications such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or other life-threatening illnesses.
Struggling to stop thinking about food.
Treatment for Food Addiction
Through psychoeducation and self-guided exercises, we empower individuals to be able to define their own sobriety through current research-based information and knowledge, tools and skills to manage food cravings and triggers, mindfulness techniques, addressing the underlying issues, and support.
There’s no counting calories, no required weigh-ins, and no restrictions on when or what you eat. Our approach is all about developing a long term, healthy relationship with food through the guided expertise of highly-trained food addiction specialists.