Are you out of control? I am

[Laurenfra]

My answer would be no, I don't have an addiction. I don't smoke, I gave it up 13 years ago when I got pregnant. I don't drink. I did drugs 1 year in college, almost failed out of school and that was that.

I fell out of ketosis last week, so I have been dealing with hunger. What does this have to do with this forum? I have an addiction. I am addicted to eating. Like any other addict I can control it for a short time. You know just to prove I can, but I can't. I have been asking myself why I have not gotten myself back into Ketosis and the answer is easy. If I did I would loose my excuse to be shoving all this food down my throat.

I am not eating too many things off plan but I am eating enough legal food for 3 people. One day this week I ate all my chicken, the next days chicken, then cleaned both daughters plates of chicken.

So once an addict always an addict I think so, but at what point do we become bigger then our addiction?

In some ways this addiction is harder then others, you can never smoke or drink again, I still have to eat, so I will always be tempted. OK I fessed, real hard for a control freek like me to say I have no control.

If you have made it this far feel free to comment.

[2big4mysize]

yep we have to take the tiger out every day and walk him and then stick him back in the cage.

Dr Atkins warned us in his 1999 DANDR about being a food addict and what would happen if we choise the eat it options for our cravings and actually took thoise choices out of DANDR 2002 as craving treatments.

Look in your DANDR on page245 at the bottom He is talking to you. follow his steps and get control again right now before you come back in several months as one of those folk who quit Atkins regained it all and now needs to lose even more weight.

HAppy high fat high pro induction and supplements taking for you my Atkins friend. Don't make me have to send out the HASMAT to your house to remove those toxic carbs that are polluting you.

[Peterlock]

Hi Lauren, :wave

I admire you for taking that all important step..of well, stepping up and saying "I am an Addict"

It took me two decades to admit to myself that I was addicted to alcohol, cocaine and prescription drugs. I went through detox and Rehab - 2 weeks in the hospital and a year of out patient therapy and AA meetings.

I've been clean and sober for 5 years but am I still an alcoholic and a drug addict? You bet I am. Because Addiction is an insidious disease, there is no cure, there is only self preservation in face of it and the determination to roll up your sleeves and fight when you find yourself in the grip of it.

Lauren, you make a very valid point - all of the addictions mentioned above, from alcohol to smoking to opiates like heroin and morphine can all be stopped cold turkey (with the exception of Benzos, that's a 4 month detox and it's horrible)
Food however is all around you, all the time you can't just stop eating. For the food addict it's a 24/7 non stop battle to keep yourself from indulging in your drug of choice which in your case is food.

There's about as much known about addiction as there is depression - and that's not saying much.

But there are a few things you can do to help yourself win the battle:

• Find an OE (over eaters anonymous meeting) close to you and go! Here's their link:
  
  

  https://www.oa.org

  
  
  If you haven't been to their website just click the link and check it out...as in right now.
  
  Find a sponsor - this is a critical part of any 12 step program, all of them follow the same basic principles of AA - we can't do this alone, that's a fact.
  
  Take it one day at a time, take it one nano second at a time if you have to, break your life down to the tiniest steps towards victory.
  
  Know what your triggers are...every addict has triggers if certain people places or things feed your addiction, get them out of your life at least for the time being until you can establish the control you need to keep your addiction in check.
  
  Write a good-bye letter to over eating - food has given you the comfort and relief you were desperate for but it also robbed you of your health, your self esteem and your ability to make choices that help you - not hurt you. Write it all out...every word of it, it helps.

Our drugs of choice, and it doesn't matter what they are become our friends, our lovers, our partners, our solace and our escape. In payment for those fleeting moments of peace and comfort our drugs of choice rob us of every single thing we hold dear. Remember, addiction has one aim and one aim only and that is to destroy you.

So bring out the heavy artillery, fight it like your life depends on it - because it does. And don't ever, ever be afraid to ask for help no battle was ever won with a single soldier. So gather an army around you - and trust me they're there and they'll go to bat for you like nobodys business.

Peter ha

[spydergrl80]

I fully agree with Peter on the OE meetings. I have attended them before and they are wonderful!
IMHO, one on one counseling is great. I have been seeing a wonderful psychologist for about 6 months and it has helped me emmensely. I found out that I have Binge Eating Disorder, it's a bonifide eating disorder just like anorexia or bulimia. I was obssessed with food, it was a 24/7 struggle. I now have some ways to help me cope when cravings hit. I think it was the best thing I have ever done for myself, you might want to check it out!
Hannah

[bigjay328]

help me post a ticker

im very computer iliterate and i apologize, can somebody help me with a ticker!!!!!

[christie313]

I quit smoking 6 months ago. When I started trying to lose weight, I screamed and cussed that I could quit smoking after 12 years and not even blink twice, but I have literally lost sleep over not ever being able to eat sugar again. Sick and sad. Then my partner said something to me that really made me think. "I bet you wouldn't have been able to quit smoking if you had to smoke 3 or 4 cigarettes a day and limit yourself to only that." Like with food addiction, you can't quit cold turkey, you still have to eat to stay alive. So in many respects, this is quite possibly the most difficult addiction many of us will ever face, because it's always there, readily available, and it has to be that way. That is tough and scary to me. I read in another thread somewhere that it's nearly impossible to binge on hardboiled eggs. Wrong. I've done it. I've binged on legal food in the same way that I binged on illegal food. I guess it's all in our mindset. I know for me, I've got to get out from under this, figure out why, and what I can do to prevent these things from happening. Just wanted to put my 2 cents in. Thanks for listening.

[Peterlock]

Hi Christie! :wave

Congratulations on quitting your cigarette addiction, I had quit for six years but now smoke almost two packs a day. When I quit I quit cold turkey and still believe for me anyway, that's the best way to go I'm just going to have to tough out the withdrawal.

Your dead on about bingeing on "safe foods" Dr. Atkins had always drove home the point that this WOL isn't a licensee to gorge yourself but unfortunately for the misinformed, those with eating disorders and food addicts will undermine themselves by continuing to binge.

Addictive personalities and what goes into the make up of an addict is still a huge mystery and like I've said about depression the progress made into understanding the why and how are minimal at best.

I thinks more important to understand what your triggers are, why we sabotage ourselves and what we can do to prevent ourselves from falling over that cliff - then trying to figure out why the cliff is there in first place.

Like Diabetes or any other disease that's manageable I believe once you understand that you have this disease the best use of your energy is in devoting it to ways you can protect yourself from it and keep it in check.

We may never understand the cause of our addictions, and maybe that really doesn't matter, I don't know.

What I do know and believe to be an absolute truth is that the best we can do is take it one day at a time, seek out the help we need and make sure we have an iron clad support system in place. Be it AA, OEA one on one therapy, medication or a combination. It's doesn't matter as long each and every time were faced with a choice to make - we choose the one that's in our best interest.

Peter

[I-Can-Do-It]

I can relate to food addiction. I can out eat my husband by along shot. I just dont know when to quit. It seems like when i get on those binges that i can never get full! Its worse when i get stressed out- my addiction goes into overdrive. i actually get amazed at myself on how much i can eat. the more i do it the worse I feel. I will tell you something which I think is a little weird--my happiness depends on my weight-as long as i keep on a diet and do good im happy but if i fall off i get real depressed. I dont know if anyone else is like that or not. i am also addicted to smoking which i hate. To beat it all, Im on the antidepressant Wellbutrin which is just like the quit smoking pill Zyban and i still cant quit! So maybe when I get over having to give up my caffeine, i will give up my nicotine. :sadblinky