Your Health

Food Obsession

Foods with Sugar and Flour are addictive ~ How we can break free from those foods?

Breaking that cycle of never ending food addictions can seem so difficult and at times overwhelming to any of us, although one doctor says it's avoiding certain kinds of foods that is the key and we have that power in us to stop the obsession.

Dr. Susan Pierce Thompson, founder and CEO of Bright Line Eating, said people who suffer from obesity and poor eating habits are risking their health. She said, "Obesity rates keep skyrocketing, but of course with COVID among us, obesity is an independent risk factor for serious outcomes and even death from COVID. So, just in the last couple of years, the risks of obesity have become even more extreme."

Dr. Susan Thompson then explained that she even suffers from such food addictions and falls into depression, and this despite having such success in college and in her career. She said, "For me, the excess eating and the weight gain definitely went along with depression, low mood, excess sleeping and feeling really sluggish. When I finally adopted the solution that I reach people with now, and changed my eating habits, all that melted away. The depression melted away and my energy skyrocketed. It was really the eating that was keeping me down." Dr. Thompson also said, "Food addiction is a manageable addiction in the sense that we can still succeed in our careers. I was using food to manage the stress of the success I was having in life, the stress of the responsibilities. With the acceleration of food use, I was able to succeed in life and just keep using that food as a crutch. That was sort of the bafflement that I had, was why can I be successful in so many areas of my life, but not tackle this weight problem, and it's because of addiction."

Dr. Susan Thompson also indicated that the need of specific foods is an important element in the cycle of addiction. She said, "We are really talking about processed foods. I like to alert people to sugar and flour. Because it's really foods made of sugar and flour, those highly refined, highly processed foods, that if you think about it, they are made in the same way that heroin and cocaine are made. You just take an inner essence of a plant, refine and purify it into a fine powder and that's where you get the drug." Dr. Susan Thompson then added, "Food also is addictive is the sense that even eating is addictive. One of the reasons it's the hardest is that it's both a substance addiction and a process addiction and we can get addicted to the process of eating."

The thing is, a lot of people know what foods are not good for them and to avoid them; the issue is applying these healthy habits. Dr. Susan Thompson said, "The issue is applying it in our real lives, execution over the long term. Especially on Friday night, when we want to have beer, pizza, and wings with our friends. That's when our willpower is going to break down."