obsessed with wrong food

Hi, I am 14 and I am thin on the outside but I'm worried about what's going on inside me. I eat vegetables everyday but I also eat a lot of sweets chocolate etc. I can't seem to stop eating it. I go dancing on Thursday and saturdays literally all day, in which time I don't have time to eat at all sometimes. Everyday I exercise.I'm confused since I weigh around 8stone but I am not fat, yet I eat so much bad food but only a few fruit and veg.

[Vera Ingrid Tarman, MD]

Hi Bigstag:

You say that you eat vegetables - though it sound like "only a few fruits and veg" means you eat much more of the  sweets and chocolates than the healthy foods.  Somedays you don't eat at all, and some days you exercise all day. These are all behaviours that are not healthy; you need to eat regularly and while exercise is important for good health, you may be over exercising yourself into poor health.

Consider that you may be a food addict. It is important to know that even if you are NOT a food addict, chocolate and sweets will uplight your mood - they are drugs that act mood enhancers for everyone. Comfort food provides comfort, at least at first. Sweet foods provide a neurochemical process that mimics the effects, even the HIGH of other drugs.  All these substances, i.e., food, alcohol, nicotine, enter the body and ultimately degrade to the same neurochemistry that is common to all pleasure, and all addiction.

On the neurochemical level, you are eating so that the food will work like an antidepressant or like a drug or alcohol. If you eat too much food, you will get a 'high' and feel better, but then you will also experience the crash afterwards. Hence you likely get quite depressed after a binge of eating; see it as a hangover just like the alcoholic hangover for a drinker.

You may  be suffering from a food addiction. If this is the case, then the solution to stoping this cycle of craving - food - more cravings, will be to stop eating sweet foods and chocolates. See if these questions apply to you?

1. Have you ever wanted to stop eating and found you just couldn’t?
2. Do you think about food or your weight constantly?
3. Do you find yourself attempting one diet or food plan after another, with no lasting success?
4. Do you binge and then “get rid of the binge” through vomiting, exercise, laxatives, or other forms of purging?
5. Do you eat differently in private than you do in front of other people?
6. Has a doctor or family member ever approached you with concern about you're eating habits or weight?
7. Do you eat large quantities of food at one time (binge)?
8. Is your weight problem due to you're “nibbling” all day long?
9. Do you eat to escape from your feelings?
10. Do you eat when you’re not hungry?
11. Have you ever discarded food, only to retrieve and eat it later?
12. Do you eat in secret?
13. Do you fast or severely restrict your food intake?
14. Have you ever stolen other people’s food?
15. Have you ever hidden food to make sure you have “enough?”
16. Do you feel driven to exercise excessively to control your weight?
17. Do you obsessively calculate the calories you’ve burned against the calories you’ve eaten?
18. Do you frequently feel guilty or ashamed about what you’ve eaten?
19. Are you waiting for your life to begin “when you lose the weight?”
20. Do you feel hopeless about your relationship with food?
Copyright © 2000-2010 Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous

If you are a food addict, you may be happy to know that there is a successful and satisfying solution. It is NOT about starving yourself or over exercising.  What are your triggering foods?  

Sugar is probably the most addictive food substance there is. Most of us struggle with sugar cravings at various points in our lives, but for food addicts, it is an all consuming daily struggle that we always loose if we keep eating sugar. Remember: sugar = comfort = depression = cravings for more sugar or other similar foods.

Probably the only way that you can deal with the cravings for sugar is to STOP eating sugar completely. And  you will have to stop eating refined flours, like breads, pastas, potatoes; these are all metabolized to become sugar within minutes.

This may seem difficult to do at first.  It is a 'one day at a time' venture. At first, you need to know that you will very likely feel withdrawal: this will feel like increased cravings, agitation, irritability, and depression. You will probably find yourself giving in when you are hungry, angry, tired. These are the times that people relapse the most, as with any drug addiction.

The good news is that it only takes about three weeks for cravings to start to subside IF you stop eating junk food completely. Your mood will probably improve as well. Unless you sneak in a few treats here and there (like on a weekend or as a special treat)-this will serve to prolong the cravings and depression indefinitely.  If your addiction has advanced enough, even a small treat will be enough to make the cravings return even worse that before.

Please check out my website, addictionsunplugged.com, for more information on food addiction and how to find food serenity.

[bigstag]

Thanks I know I am not a food addict, I am not like that but I will eat more healthier food. Thank you for your help.