Just posting to express the frustration of saying to myself, "its just food, get over it" but still having those feelings like "why can't I eat a half tray of brownies, or a big mac?"

Gees, its like I have this inner fat kid (and I was obese my whole childhood) throwing a tantrum, because I won't give in to her demands for a snack. Only she doesn't just want a one cookie, she wants a whole sleeve of Oreos. Ugh! I know I am addicted to food. Sometimes I wish I could be addicted to something else. Like those lucky folks addicted to exercise, or sex? My DH would love that!

Anyway, just wanted to say this isn't just about me losing wieght, its about somehow breaking my addiction to food. Its about not seeing it as an activity, a pick-me-up, a reward, a drug, an event, a friend, an enemy or a stress reliever...but just as something to fuel my body when I'm hungry and to walk away from when I'm satisfied.

In my opinion, because you are genetically hardwired to gorge on high calorie foods, so you can store fat in case of famine. You might be a modern woman, but your body is still in prehistoric times. You think your ancient ancestor didn't suck the marrow out of a mammoth bone?

What works for me is severely limiting the foods that trigger that reaction in me. I never want to gorge on broccoli, but "carby" foods like cold cereal, crackers, pretzels, cookies and chips definitely trigger...something in me. I limit those foods, I have fewer cravings, I'm happier.

I need to do that. Carby foods trigger a binge for me too. But if I avoid them, I'll find other things to binge on. If I only had broccili, I would probably over eat with that too!!

I hear you! I fight my inner cranky toddler constantly. I guess we just have to be our own parent sometimes. You would never give a child a sleeve of Oreo's and a Big Mac to wash it down, so why do it to yourself?

For me, once I took the junk food out of my diet the whole thrill of eating was gone. Not that healthy food isn't yummy, but it doesn't give me that electric charge that junk does. You're right, it is only food, and trying to use it for something else made me fat. For me junk is definitely a drug, any food that calls my name I'm staying FAR away from.

Ug I CONSTANTLY think about food. Sometimes to the point where I'm like omg how much did you eat today! Come to find when I check I actually stayed within my calories. I won't lie I have binged now and then and regretted it- but it's a slow process- it took me years to get here and it's going to take years to finally get to the point where I don't obsess about food and am happy with my body.

Good luck.

I think it's just as simple as food tastes good! It feels good while eating food that tastes good... unfortunately it's like a drug, eventually it only feels good while we have it, but later we don't feel or look so good. I have also read some junk food and even cheese have addicting ingredients that are almost drug like.

And it would be better to be addicted to exercise or sex; atleast we'd be burning lots of calories.

I was kidding about the broccili (I think!) I really do enjoy eating. But I suppose that if I did cut out any "fun" food, I wouldn't have the urge to eat for fun. I can't keep the foods out of my house, because DH still eats it and if I don't buy it (which I don't) he jsut stops on the way home and picks stuff up. So, I have to stop my self from eating it, when its in the house...
Any ideas?

I totally understand. I'm completely addicted.

For me, so far, the only thing that works is just not having any of it in the house. Not even one little thing that could set me over the edge. Hopefully one day I'll be at a point that I can control myself but at this point it's not an option.

good luck.

I hadn't had one of those 'inner fat-kid cravings' telling me to go ahead, eat the entire bag, in a while, but it happened to me tonight with hot and sour soup. I finished the entire pint container and half an hour later was still unable to concentrate on my book bc I was thinking about getting more soup...even to the point of driving back into town to the Chinese restaurant! My mouth was watering like Pavlov's dog. I didn't want anything else, just more soup. That's probably a good indicator the soup was loaded with MSG...what is it about some of those foods that just set us off in a way we can't control??

If your hubby insists on having stuff, I'd declare it "HIS" and not yours. It's not earmarked for you. It's not intended for you. It's off limits to you - no matter what. It is detrimental to your health and you CAN NOT touch it. Period. Let him put it in a spot that's out of your vision.

I'm with Glory on this one (as I often am). Yes, I've got my moments where I could overeat broccoli, but it's not that often and the damage is minimal - but those "carb-y" foods - forget it. It brings on a horrible need to shovel it in my mouth. So, I stay away from them. They're just not worth it.

I've set up some habits that keep my so called "addiction" to food manageable. I don't know if I'll ever be "cured" of it, but I can keep it contained through those great habits. Just to name a few - planning out my meals ahead of time, calorie monitoring, keeping a well stocked home, packing up foods with me, keeping the junk out of my home, having definite NO's to certain foods, having the once in a while foods in a controlled setting.

My theory on why we get so dysfunctional about food:
(a) Physical: We are hardwired to like sweets and fats, and food companies spend billions of dollars to fine-tune products to maximally exploit this. We even can get a kind of endorphin rush from eating fats/sweets, so there can be a physical addiction-like effect, so we crave them and only want more and more.
(b) Psychological: Comfort foods feel good. We associate them with happy times, celebrations, and "treats". We don't celebrate with birthday broccoli or a special anniversary salad!

So .. it feels good physically and emotionally. Everyone wants to feel good! Ultimately we have to change our wiring ... I seek the same endorphin rush through physical activity (it works for me!). And I'm trying hard to disassociate happy times from food. That's hard, because it's completely counter to the culture that surrounds us.

Anyway, that's my take ...

I personally think that yes, it is physical and psychological but I also think that there's something in the food too. If the foods they're giving the animals are making the animals want to eat more and causing the animals to get fat. And those hormones and whatever are food in the food and we eat those foods...they're finding our bodies are absorbing it too. Maybe some people are just more sensitive to it then others. I am slowly slowly getting away from anything but organic meats and milk products.

Has anyone seen SuperSizeMe ? He began to experience cravings....

What a great idea! Think that we can start a national movement?