Green tea! I just feel so good when I'm drinking it. I recently went on a trip and took some green tea with me, but there were no teamaking facilities at the hotel, missed it so much and couldn't wait to get back home to have some. It feels so detoxifying.

Wow someone who can actually binge on fresh fruit? I can binge on dried fruit and also eat a lot of cherries but i know i have never been in any danger of putting on weight from over eating fruit. Are you vegan Patns?

Here on tv not long ago, or was it the web, there is this girl who swears by eating raw fruit and veg (i've lived with someone who eats like that and she ate constantly and now she's fat, though probably not from eating raw food), anyway this woman talks about having eaten 50 bananas in a day and has done it more than once. She was very slim but still i'd say 50 bananas in a day if done often is really not wise and may not even be healthy if it was analysed. Probably fine though if only done rarely but hardly advisable right?

Another ramble alert!
These posts have really got me thinking about "addiction" and what it means. I'm truly astounded at the variety! I know some of it is attributable to different definitions of the term & that is making me rethink the whole idea of addiction. Was chewing on it all day yesterday [calorie free,too!] . Thanks for that, all!

There's definitely a negative connotation with the term 'addiction.' Could the distinctions between habit/compulsion/addiction when the thing we are drawn to (or avoiding) takes away our feeling of freedom or choice? Even if it is a healthy & pleasurable thing, we feel we couldn't to give it up if wanted? It seems that we have this brain wiring for habitual behavior impelling us toward reward and away from pain. So often it is tied to unhealthy things: why should that be? Some people seem to be inherently more susceptible to others for different degrees of & objects of attachment.

When I view addiction in terms of Kessler's & Lustig's neurological & endocrine terms, I see it as a survival mechanism that can go awry. The other book I'm reading, Addiction & Grace, also by an MD but from a more spiritual outlook, discusses addiction as something that limits our freedom, and all of a sudden it makes a lot more sense to me. [His list of addictions--attractive & aversive--is really long].

I can relate to this, completely.

so by that definition, fake fingernails for me I went through a phase of them last winter. I LOVED how they looked. I didn't mind going to drugstore after drugstore looking for kewl designs.

However, the adverse consequences were - damage to my natural nails. It took 2 months for them to grow/smooth out and look normal. Other adverse consequence was the darn things falling off at the most inopportune times. And always trying to scrub under them to keep clean. But gawd how I loved how pretty they were!!! I got sooo many comps on them. I still long for them. Man I was hooked

I wish we could all exchange addictions for a day!

I don't know if I'd call it an addiction, but I LOVE fruit! And broccoli, mmmm!

I just have to have an orange each day. DH makes sure we don't run out.

I'm reading an interesting & helpful book called Addiction & Grace by Gerald G. May MD that a dear friend gave me. It was published back in 1988.

Speaking to magical's & patn's & a few others' idea that addictions can be defined by their negative effects on an individual, here's a quote from the book:

"Such questions bring us into one of the most difficult territories we must cross in our exploration of addiction & grace, for the answer is as unequivocal as it is unpleasant;no addiction is good; no attachment is beneficial. To be sure, some are more destructive than others; alcoholism cannot be compared with chocolate addiction in degrees of destructiveness, and fear of spiders pales in comparison to racial bigotry. But if we accept that there are differences in the degree of tragedy imposed on us by our addictions, we must also recognize what they have in common: they impede human freedom and diminish the human spirit."

By his definition, then, it's the enslavement to a habit rather than choosing freely to do it. I experience this addiction in a number of ways, even though it's sometimes to something innocuous like music. Gerald May lists over 100 examples of addiction, both attracting and aversive. I'm not sure where I stand on this, but I like the idea of feeling more psychological freedom.

I use the word 'addiction' very loosely but I'm addicted to tea. Not just the flavor but the ritual of making it. It's very enjoyable for me and my day feels unfulfilled without it.

Celery and soy nut butter

Broccoli. I love it and eat it about every day. I'm also getting addicted to lifting weights....... I'm like obsessed with it lately. I have to force myself to have rest days.

I can't help wondering if some these healthy addictions are part of the same neurological wiring as addictions by the classic definition.