Are You a Food Addict?

I saw the following in an article and wanted to share this and get some feedback.

Do any of these 13 statements relate to you?

1. I eat when I'm not hungry.

2. I eat large quantities of food at one time.

3. I go on eating binges for no apparent reason.

4. I feel guilty and depressed after I overeat.

5. My weight's affecting the way I live.

6. I eat to escape from worries or trouble.

7. I eat differently in private than I do in public.

8. I think about food constantly.

9. I eat until I'm uncomfortably full.

10. I want to stop eating but find I can't.

11. I continually attempt one diet or food plan after another, with no lasting success.

12. I eat in secret.

13. I hide food to make sure I have "enough."

The article said if you agreed with more than three of the above statements, you may be a food addict. Contact your health-care physician for a more detailed diagnosis.

If you're not a food addict, then you may have another eating disorder.  Or maybe a mood disorder.  Possibly Depression.

I was given a similar food relationship questionnaire at the height of my depression.  I had worked my full 9 hours at work with the allotted snacks and lunch time.  On my way home from work, I would stop at McDs.  Hold on to your hat....  Here is what I would order....

• 1 Big Mac
• 1 Filet-O-Fish
• 1 Six Piece Chicken McNugget
• 1 Super sized Fry
• 1 Super sized Coke
• maybe a small chocolate shake

I would eat ALL of this on my drive back home (15 min if I catch every stop light).  I would bag up all the wrappers and boxes and stash it in the car and throw it away when no one was looking.  Then I would eat what mom had fixed and placed on the table.  Yeah, you could say that I had problems.  BUT

I've been delivered.  God has touched that bottomless pit that I was trying to fill.  The only thing is now I am still trying to deal with the chemical imbalance that I threw my body into.  I am trying to repair the damage that I had done to HIS Temple.  Lord, Help Me.

\o/  Denna

Food is definately my drug of choice.  After I was saved at 16 the first thing that changed was my attitude toward my parents and then he cleaned up my mouth and gave me some new friends. I was 19 when he took cigarettes out of my life when I became pregnant (I was 13 when I first started smoking.) At 19 too, he took away my promescuity - showing me how special sex really is (I'm still amazed how He creates a new little life.) Next was the social drinking when I realized that my husband had a problem with it and realized I did too. From there is when I really started turnnig to sugar! It seems so harmless and everybody does it; celebrations, rewards, bargan power for kids, etc...  But the bible says - be sure your sins will find you out!  And it did - my lack of self control showed up all over me! I would get a coke and a candy bar to make myself feel better instead of turning to and trusting God (at one point in my life I was having that probably 4 times a day trying to pick myself back up from a sugar crash!) As much as I hate to admit it - sugar - or even more specifically chocalate is my drug of choice. It's so amazing how something so little can carry such a big punch (the calories really add up fast.)  I didn't really eat much food, in fact I could go all morning and afternoon without eating and then have a little chocolate to knock the edge off my hunger until I ate dinner - but sometimes wouldn't even be hungry for real food - the chocolate was satisfying enough) It could be in any form - chocolate milk, hot cocoa, candy, or even just mix your own cocoa powder and sugar.

So there you have it!  I have given myself over to the lure of chocolate! But no more - I don't really know how to stop - nor trust myself with the being able to in my own power.  I do know that Jesus died to free me from the bondage of sin - and so if I am still sinning - it is because I want to - plain and simple.  Well - I no longer want to.  I no longer want to make myself a prisoner to my desires for chocolate and Lord I surrender all!  I know I've said this before, but Lord, I've never been honest with myself about what I believe is the culprit here - my desire for sugary chocolate - and so Lord I've identified it - and now need your help in delivering me from this desire.  Show me where to start. I've tasted enough of it that if I never have another bite I will have eaten more than some people will in a lifetime. I've hidden it, snuck it, felt guilty standing in a line to buy it and anyone can look my way and see the negative affects it has had in my life.  So goodbye chocolate - I can't in good conscience continue to to eat it. I am ready to be delivered from it - I see now it is no longer my friend (nor was it ever - I just perceived it to be)

And, because of the other things the Lord has made into permanent changes  in my life over the years, I have full confidence that this is something He is capable of fixing as well.  The problem has been that I have enjoyed it too much to even want to give it up.  I've enjoyed the (false) comfort it provided, and it was always available.  So teach me now Lord how to look to you for that comfort, how to gain even more enjoyment from life without it, and how to guard myself from being tempted to return.

This is for Deena!   Hi - my name is Lorraine and I am  a chocoholic - and today is my 4th day without chocolate!  YAY!! 

I've told my husband and my family too - just to keep me accountable to them as well.  And yes, it is similar to quitting drinking or drugs I guess, because it definately alters my mood, and aids in my escaping life issues I don't know how or don't want to face.  thankfully I haven't faced one of those moments yet - but I know eventually it will come and want to be fully prepared and with some success under my belt.

Like I said in your journal.  Chocolate is accepted in society.  No one hardly sees it as addicting.

I have had my moments where I felt that I was driven by my cravings for chocolate.  And nothing will satisfy until I got it.  A few years ago, the local Dairy Queen had a chocolate pizza looking thing.  It was supposed to serve 8 people.  The crust was oreo cookie crumbs.  Then it had vanilla ice cream.  On top of that, was chocolate syrup drizzled.  I think that there may have been nuts, or maybe it was chocolate chips.  It may have even had some carmel drizzled.  (memory is fading)  I remember going through the Drive-Thru after work (6:00pm) at Dairy Queen and getting this Chocolate Pizza thingy and I would have all of it ate by bedtime (11:00pm).  And no, I did not eat it as my dinner.  I ate it as my "dessert".  Most of the time, I would have gotten the Chicken Strip basket with extra white gravy as my dinner since I was already at DQ.

Boy did I make bad choices when I was younger..........