Am I Addicted to Food?

As a counselor intern clinician at Southshore Counseling & Wellness, I've been ask to start blogging there.  Faithful readers, you'll likely see it here first!  They aren't owning my posts, so some blogs you see will be indicating elsewhere, not just here at #BariatricCounselor. (Little useless hashtag'n)  I'll probably continue to post very random, less than orderly thoughts that provoke me and information I find, but when I said re-haul of this blog, I realize it must become more refined, less rough and tumble if I seek to put on that professional counselor image. But really, what am I, if I am not human, raw and unrefined, from at times?  The following will appear in the "Ask Dr. Andre" blog for Northshore & Southshore Counseling & Wellness. 

Am I addicted to food?

Food Addiction is often overlooked as a substance abuse issue, and logically so; how can one be addicted to something they need to survive?  It is not a strange as it sounds. Humans seek to find pleasure in consumption, and research shows that sweet, salty, and fatty foods activate the same sensors in your brain as drug and alcoholic addiction.  The first step is recognizing the social, emotional, and cognitive thought processes and environments that trigger abuse of food.  No one can deny the fact that the New Orleans area has some of the best eating in the world, but…

…how can one establish healthy eating behaviors and portion control to find lifetime success in weight loss?  

Many people struggle with the idea of “giving up” certain food groups. Telling someone they can't have something makes them want it more, especially with food. The mentality of an addict is, "I want, what I want, when I want it."  No one will get in my way until I have it.

Cravings for certain foods trigger similar obsessive thought processes that often can't be let go until the desire is fulfilled. While eliminating problem foods from one’s diet is an excellent approach to positive habit development, gaining control over and expelling thoughts that are not beneficial to success must be practiced and analyzed frequently until the new behavior becomes automatic. Some foods trigger people to eat more, outside of a regular serving size, and cause one to become susceptible to loss of control.  

Like any addiction, “one is too many and a thousand is not enough” for some when it comes to cookies, cakes, candy, chips, bread, and sweets. If they cannot be had in moderation, it might be wise to not keep it around for a time, and learn to live without it while working through understanding control. 

A key is to undoing unhealthy food behavior is to develop a plan of action to address how one will handle situations when temptations are present.  Establishing a relationship with someone TRUSTWORTHY and TALKING about what causes binge eating, helps to gain awareness; and as a plan is executed when faced with these difficult situations, one will realize that control can be had over the decisions made from hand to mouth.

Everyone fails to follow through on their own goals sometimes, and everyone is tempted at times by what is not good for them, but having the COURAGE to talk to someone about it and address the problem is a BIG step.  Be BRAVE enough to articulate what it was that triggered eating an entire pint of ice cream on a Friday night: loneliness, boredom, anger, anxiety, negative thoughts or impressions throughout the day, even happiness.

Counseling can help develop the appropriate coping skills and positive behaviors to pave the way to recovery from food addiction, binge eating, depression, anxiety, body image, self-esteem and weight related cognitive stressors. Good news! Now available at Southshore Counseling and Wellness in Metairie is Nanette Wilson Adams, Counselor Intern and National Certified Counselor. Nanette specializes in food consumption issues. Call for an appointment to discuss your weight-loss and food relationship issues and concerns with her today!

Anorexia after Bariatric Surgery

How much weight loss is too much?  When do you put the breaks on weight loss and find a balance of weight maintenance?  It's often a slippery slope that isn't properly monitored by surgeons, nor does the internet properly provide enforcement of good behaviors.  We like the "positive" feedback received from people "Liking" our photos on Facebook or Instagram, but sometimes, social media has a way of encouraging negatives. Self perception that your waistline needs to be piddled down to nothing, social media only serves to enable poor health as positive successes, the smaller the waist line gets.  The cognitive work necessary to develop a new, healthy body image is not being properly executed in treatment plans across the board in Centers of Excellence.  If you're seeking "Likes" on the internet for your latest side shot post, and your waist is so tiny that you appear sickly, you *might* be struggling with anorexia. Contrary to popular belief, anorexic behaviors include eating restrictively in both food types, timing, and content, and keeping secrets about food/refusing to talk about eating behaviors as problematic.

When patients come to a bariatric surgical center, they are often battling the exact opposite of anorexia, they are frequently binge, emotional, or inconsistent eaters.  They are often so anxious to have surgery, they become offended that a professional counselor might suggest treatment planning for counseling services.  The stigma of counseling and psychology is often met with resistance, and the notion that, "They are not crazy!"
No one said you're crazy, sometimes preparing yourself for the road ahead, understanding what a healthy self-concept is and how to execute that without developing more cognitive distortions, and learning healthy lifestyle behaviors needs a trained professional.

Obsessing over anything is harmful to your cognition.  If you can't stop thinking about your weight, if you're unable to let go and enjoy life, the cognitive work needs to be address. Cognition and Transfer Addiction are the two most under-utilized treatment options for obesity.

I have said it many times, but I will say it again. *This is worth repeating.* 

The difference between a coach and/or trainer and therapist is that the therapist can recognize and treat depression, anxiety, eating disorders, cognitive distortions, and severe mental illness, whereas a coach might approach things with a solution-focused training philosophy, a therapist is processing the behavioral patterns and diagnostic criteria while remaining non-biased, compassionate and discerning of a client's intentions.  We are A LOT more liable for *your actions* when you leave our presence, than an online coach or trainer.  We must take precautionary measures at all times to insure our client's safety and intention to themselves and others. 

"Body image assessments tend to vary focus, ranging from an evaluation of the cognition related to body image disturbance, affect and/or behavior to other others that focus less on subjective dissatisfaction and concentrate instead on perceptual disturbances that may contribute to body image distortion." More research is needed on the effects of online social media bariatric communities and their affect on, and relationship with disturbances in self image and eating disorders.