When my clients ask me if they are addicted to a food or a type of food or most commonly, "sugar", I always take a deep breath. This is probably the most complicated question about food and eating problems that I hear. I think that the sense of deprivation that comes with dieting, especially repeated dieting, and/or chronically restricting your food choices (code: healthy eating), creates a tendency to feel out of control when you do allow yourself to eat the forbidden food. This puts you at high risk for experiencing reactive overeating, along with the scary feeling of not being able to stop eating. This may only be a result of avoiding certain foods because they are “bad” or “junk”. Hearing yourself think or say “I just can’t live with xxxxx in my house”, is certainly a red flag that you are struggling with this issue. This is most typically experienced with foods which are high in sugar. Sugary foods seem to be at the top of the forbidden foods list.
However, there is more information available about how our minds and bodies respond after eating foods which are high in sugar, especially after a period of avoiding these foods. Recent evidence supports that certain foods can alter brain chemistry, very much like addictive drugs and alcohol might. There is also a theory that our bodies are designed to eat plenty of high calorie foods, once we start to eat them. This may be out of survival instincts which all of our bodies have developed. There is evidence that foods which are high in sugar are difficult to self-regulate(being able to stop eating when you are “satisfied” instead of “stuffed”). Add some salt and fat to that food (think peanut butter cups) and you are really in for a fight with yourself.
This all becomes very complicated and confusing when you are trying to study your own reaction to “eating sugar”. This reaction my feel like you have an addiction because you can’t stop eating once you start and you crave sugar once you include it in your diet again.
Maybe the best you can do is become aware of: (1) under what circumstances do you feel more capable of eating with more conscious choice and (2) what circumstances create a higher risk for you to overeat. When you are feeling safer with a forbidden food, see if you are able to regulate yourself (stop when you are satisfied instead of too full).
After you practice a more mindful approach to your eating and feel ready to try eating ice cream again. These intermediate and experimental steps may help:
1. Before you bring a half gallon of ice cream home, have a cone of ice cream out with friends. Eating while you are socially connected can feel much more comfortable some times. (Remember to talk to yourself about how you are just observing yourself, not doing something “bad”. You have permission for this experiment and you cannot mess up!)
2. If eating ice cream did not increase your cravings to an uncomfortable level, then maybe you can live with ice cream in your house. You may want to start with ice cream that is already in portions for you, such as ice cream bars or sandwiches.
You have to be ready for this experiment, so I would recommend that you know yourself and your relationship to food well before trying this. Just like the commercials say in very fine print, “Don’t try this at home”… until you feel safe and ready.
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