How to get rid of food addiction? Causes of food addiction

You can struggle with excess weight for years, look for a magic diet, exhaust yourself with physical exercise, visit cosmetologists, without assuming that the problem of excess weight can be solved with the help of a medical psychologist or psychotherapist. However, most people firmly believe in purely biological causes of excess weight (heredity, hormonal disorders, wide bones, etc.). But without an integrated approach, it is impossible to achieve weight loss or the effect will be very short-lived.

It should be remembered and taken into account that a person is a whole system, conditionally consisting of three aspects - biological (physiological characteristics of the body), psychological and social. Only by taking into account all these aspects can you get a positive and long-term result in the fight against excess weight.

It seems that everything is simple: eat less and move more - and the problem of excess weight will not affect you. However, experience suggests the opposite: achieving long-term results is a complex and lengthy process, which is greatly hampered by an insatiable appetite. In most cases, excess weight has nothing to do with organic disorders and the reasons for its accumulation must be sought in psychology.

Psychological causes of overeating and food addiction

General dissatisfaction with life (stress, anxiety, fear, depression, melancholy, etc.) . All people, without exception, who have problems with excess weight, experience basic dissatisfaction with life to one degree or another, which leads to an uncontrolled process of food consumption. In fact, instead of looking for the causes of dissatisfaction and resolving them, people eat away at their problems. In other words, the constant desire to eat is a hidden symptom of a neurotic disorder, which manifests itself on the physical level. Using medical terminology, this phenomenon is called food addiction . Any attempts by force of will to limit oneself in food only lead to an increase in neurotic symptoms (mood decreases, feelings of anxiety, irritability, and emotional tension increase). In this case, you cannot do without professional psychotherapeutic help, because In order for weight to normalize, it is necessary to eliminate the psychological cause of overeating. A wide variety of diets and the latest weight loss drugs do not take the above into account. Most attempts to lose weight with their help bring only temporary results, because... your efforts are aimed at combating the consequence (excess weight), while the true cause of excess weight remains. With a psychotherapist (psychologist), the deep psychological causes of food addiction are eliminated, and weight loss occurs naturally, without stress for the person.
Eating habits and social traditions In families where there is a real cult of food, excess weight is observed in all generations, and therefore it seems that the tendency to obesity is inherited. But this is not true at all. If anything is inherited, it is the attitude towards food, eating habits, and the tendency to constantly overeat. For example, many of us were forced by our parents in childhood to finish eating, despite our objections. Thus, we were taught to neglect the needs of the body and follow other principles. In such families, love is expressed through food (they encourage approved behavior with something tasty, and vice versa, they deprive you of the same tasty thing when you are guilty of something). All these eating habits that are imposed on us do not disappear, but predetermine our lives in the future. For example, few are able to refuse treats at a party out of fear that they will offend someone or that they will be treated poorly later (these fears come from childhood - parents unconsciously manipulated the loss of love if we do not eat as they demand). In general, eating behavior is a complex psycho-emotional process in which emotions play an important role. An insatiable appetite accompanies many neurotic conditions; control over the amount of food consumed, its quality is lost, and the difference between the feeling of hunger and the feeling of appetite is lost.
Dislike for yourself I would like to highlight this reason as a separate point. We all come from childhood. Most children experience a deficiency of parental love and affection, which subsequently leads to the development of neurotic disorders. And overeating is a direct consequence of these neuroses. Of course, beatings and humiliation are not present in every family, however, a lack of unconditional love is found almost everywhere. The result of this attitude of parents is the inability of a person to love himself just like that, without conditions (he does not respect himself as a person, does not accept his body, tries to “escape” from himself, and food becomes the only outlet, a kind of way of escaping from problems). A person learns to use food not for food purposes, but as a lifeline, as a kind of “pill of happiness” and stress relief.

There are many psychological reasons for excess weight. We will focus only on the main and most common ones.

How is the habit of eating formed?

“We have a complicated relationship with food. They were always based on hunger. At first, food had to be obtained completely. Then there were numerous lean years, military conflicts and other events that significantly reduced the amount of food.

Only quite recently has humanity begun to live in real food abundance, and before that, by and large, there was famine. Therefore, food has historically been endowed with increased value. This is, for example, a sign of care or respect: feeding a person means loving him. This is also a kind of recognition: if I have food, I am better than many.

We are now “shifting” all these values into modern life, but there is no longer a shortage of food in it, moreover, there is more and more junk food. These are social habits.

A child eats a cupcake.

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There are also biological ones, formed in childhood. If a baby cries, a particularly anxious mother will not take a long time to figure out the reasons (the swaddle is tight, the room is cold or the diaper is wet) - she will simply breastfeed him. The child receives a reflex cord: it’s bad - you need to eat, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re really hungry.

What do you need to pay attention to to get rid of food addiction?

Overeating (food addiction) always has psychological roots. To eliminate the causes of overeating, you need to consult a psychologist or psychotherapist, and your nutrition and weight will be normalized naturally;
It should be understood that obesity is not an aesthetic problem, but a psychosomatic metabolic disease that has serious health consequences and affects the quality of life.
Overeating is a way to relieve stress; it is one of the symptoms of food addiction. Addiction to food is exactly the same as addiction to alcohol or drugs, it is simply socially acceptable and not condemned in our society.
Without a deep psychological restructuring of yourself, changing your lifestyle, as well as eating habits, you should not count on long-term results.
It is important to find the reason that prevents you from losing excess weight. It is individual for everyone. Identifying the cause is the task of a psychologist who will help not only find it, but also eliminate it.

Why do people start eating more than they need?

- To stop eating, you need to start living. If you think about it, many people do not live, but “survive” or “get along.” Or they play a role or live up to someone’s expectations. But they don’t feel complete.

Personal needs are thus not satisfied. Or a person generally loses the ability to notice his own desires.

People experience a lot of negative emotions, but cannot express them: they are taboo in society, and it is considered indecent to openly express, for example, anger or resentment.

This is where food comes to the rescue. This is the most acceptable and socially approved way to have fun and make up for all the negativity.

Obesity. Excess weight. Scales.

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Treatment (correction) of food addiction at the Ember center

At the first stage (diagnostic), it is necessary to determine the degree of food addiction and, based on this data, create an individual weight loss program. The specialists of our center have extensive experience, use classical and original methods, as well as all the necessary modern methods of psychotherapy and psychocorrection, with the help of which eating habits are changed and the conditioned reflex connection between the emotional state of stress and overeating is broken.

The goal of psychotherapy is deep psychological restructuring, restoration of internal self-regulation mechanisms that provide control over appetite and eliminate bad eating habits that maintain excess weight. After psychotherapy, a strong motivation to lose weight is formed. It is impossible to say in advance how many psychotherapy sessions will be needed. Each case is unique, but changes begin to occur after the first consultation with a psychologist. Then the person goes through the process, watches how the weight goes away, and then maintains his ideal weight on his own.

What kind of people develop bulimia?

Bulimia nervosa develops from a combination of biological, social and psychological factors.

Biological factors:

female gender - women are more susceptible to bulimia nervosa and anorexia than men;
heredity - having relatives with eating disorders increases the risk of bulimia in a person;
hunger or overfeeding during early development.

Sociocultural factors: The risk increases in countries and families that place particular importance on appearance and conformity to ideals and standards of beauty.

Psychological factors: perfectionism, low self-esteem, impulsiveness, increased emotional sensitivity.

All of these factors increase a person's susceptibility to developing an eating disorder.

Case study of recovery from food addiction

Maria, 33 years old, weight 83 kg and height 162 cm.

I came to the Ember center on the recommendation of friends. At an initial consultation with a medical psychologist, it turned out that Maria grew up as a chubby child from childhood, raised by her mother and grandmother, for whom food was a cult, and it was impossible to leave the table unless the plate was empty. So that the child would eat everything to the end and not be capricious, Masha’s mother bought Masha a plate with a picture of a little girl on the bottom. And when Maria didn’t eat well, her mother said: “Well, eat quickly, otherwise the little girl will drown.” Thus, the habit of overeating has developed, eating for speed and no matter what. In the process of getting rid of food addiction, Maria realized her deepest reasons for overeating, lost 28 kg and continues to maintain the weight to this day.

Sign up for a consultation with a psychologist or psychotherapist by phone or fill out the application form on the website.

Is food a reflex?

- Yes. “Sweeten life”, “make yourself feel good” - this is what our clients usually say about the reasons. Food is the simplest thing you can think of. A person eats bad things without thinking about what he is doing. He doesn’t understand why or at what point this happens, he simply reaches out and puts what he likes into his mouth.

Working with habits is very difficult. This is a reflex that helped a person survive. Nature cements it in the brain with positive experiences.

Burger. Food.

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How bulimia limits a person's life if left untreated

Bulimia is a very expensive disease in every sense. Let's look at the price you have to pay for it.

1 Time consuming. A person spends several hours a day studying the energy value of foods, preparing diets, and carefully choosing products in the store. When eating, it lasts longer, taking into account the attack of overeating and subsequent cleansing techniques. Time is spent on thematic groups on social networks - communication, sharing experiences, searching for new ways of cleansing and motivating illustrations, slogans, stories.

We calculated with one client how much time she spent on the tasks described above - it turned out to be an average of 27 hours per week.

2 Spoils relationships with people. A person loses or spoils relationships with relatives, friends and acquaintances. The secrecy and preoccupation with the topic of food and cleansing rituals makes communication on other topics problematic. Depressed mood reduces the desire to communicate and meet people. Due to the fear of “breakdowns” and the need to perform cleansing procedures after eating, a person begins to avoid public eating places.

From a client’s story: “If my friends order pizza, I might lose my temper. I hung out with my classmates a few times, but they started making fun of me for not eating with them. I don't want to answer stupid questions about food, and vomiting in public is problematic."

3 Deteriorates physical health. The longer a person suffers from bulimia, the more damage it causes to health. The harm depends on how long a person has bulimia and what purging techniques they use.

The most common physical health problems in people with bulimia are:

digestive disorders - constipation, gastritis, ulcers, colon prolapse;
destruction of tooth enamel and deterioration of the condition of teeth, inflammation of the oral mucosa and skin in the corners of the mouth due to the acid contained in the vomit;
heart and kidney failure, which develop due to disturbances in electrolyte metabolism - useful minerals are lost with vomiting; typical problems - swelling, weakness, heart rhythm disturbances, difficulty breathing;
nails crumble and peel, hair becomes thinner and falls out due to a lack of microelements;
decreased cognitive abilities, memory, concentration.

4 Takes money. All of the above requires additional financial costs. Here are my client's rough estimates for the week:

4000 rubles - additional food that could have been done without;
200 rubles - laxatives, drugs to cleanse the body;
1500 rubles – medications that help reduce appetite

Even such an incomplete list of the consequences of bulimia shows how significantly it affects a person’s life, changes his physical and psychological state, and reduces social functioning.

Patients with bulimia themselves may not be aware of the consequences of the disease and their severity, which is also a manifestation of the disease.