Even though some studies claim that food addiction has not been officially declared a type of addiction, it produces the same effects and symptoms as other types of addiction. Food addiction is a behavioral addiction that affects an individual’s behaviors, feelings, and thoughts.

When someone is addicted to food, they will find it challenging to control how much or frequently they eat. Additionally, they are likely to eat food in a way that will affect their health.

If you are struggling with food addiction or you know someone who is, you need counseling to get better and quit this addiction lifestyle. Check out some of the benefits that come with counseling for food addiction.

Trace the root cause of your addiction

If you are addicted to food, it is important to find out how it developed. Sometimes, it might be difficult to know this because you may not be in the right state of mind to be true to yourself.

However, with the help of a counselor, you will be able to understand how your addiction developed in the first place. This will help you take proactive measures to prevent it from happening in the future when you become sober.

Identify the warning signs

Counseling helps to educate you on all that you need to know concerning addiction. When you undergo counseling, you will learn about the warning signs that indicate that you are eating too much.

Some of these warning signs could include sleeping, energy levels, eating, weight, appetite, school or work performance, etc. With these warning signs, you can look out for yourself or your loved ones.

Control your food intake

When you go for counseling after noticing that you might have an eating disorder, one of the things you will learn is how to control your food intake.

You will get the right resources and support on how to eat right to tame your addiction. Also, you might be advised to stop eating some selected meals which might trigger your addiction. s

The idea that someone could be addicted to food sounds very unlikely, funny even. However, brain imaging has shown that the same reward and pleasure centres of the brain usually triggered by addictive drugs are also activated by food.  These are especially high palatable foods rich in sugar, fat and salts.

Could it be that people who call themselves ‘foodie’ are possibly food addicts? While food addiction is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), it typically involves binge eating behaviours, cravings, and a lack of control around food (national institute on Drug Abuse).

Well, it isn’t possible to diagnose food addiction with a blood test. However, behavioural symptoms can tell if someone has a food addiction problem and possibly provide the distinction between the two.

The following are possible symptoms of an addiction to food;

• Gorging in more food than one can physically tolerate.
• Eating to the point of feeling ill.
• Going out of your way to obtain certain foods.
• Cravings for certain foods frequently even if you feel full and have recently finished a nutritious meal.
• Eating in secret or isolation.
• Avoiding social interactions, relationships, or functions to spend time eating certain foods.
• Difficulty function in a career or job due to decreased efficiency.
• Spending significant amount of money on buying certain foods for bingeing purposes.
• Decreased energy, chronic fatigue.
• Difficulty concentrating, restlessness and irritability.
• Sleep disorders, such as insomnia or oversleeping.
• Headaches.
• Digestive disorders.
• Suicidal ideations.

People who exhibit signs of food addiction may also develop a kind of tolerance of food. They eat repeatedly but food satisfies them less and less.

If you or your loved one has been experiencing any of these symptoms, it is pertinent that they seek out professional help immediately to work through these pertinent issues.

Drugs and alcohol when used indiscriminately potentially change the structure of the brain especially the ones responsible for judgement, decision making, compulsions, habits and emotions. Continued use of the drug makes the drug sought after for its pleasure making the addict feel like they can’t live without it.

To restore the normal functioning of the brain, the addict needs to be purged of all addictive substances in the system. This process is called detoxification. It is the first step in recovery and crucial for complete treatment.

It is believed that someone who is physically unwell will struggle to tackle any underlying mental health problems.

Hence, detoxification tackles the physical side of an addiction as a first step, so that patients are better prepared to address the psychological features of their addiction, as part of an intensive addiction rehab programme.

During the process of detoxification, the brain adjusts to the sudden drop in these addictive chemicals. This typically causes people to experience a set of unpleasant symptoms known as withdrawal symptoms.

Withdrawal symptoms could be nausea, shaking and shivering, sweating, high temperature or chills, hallucinations, anxiety, confusion, depression, extreme mood swings and so on.

These withdrawal symptoms can be fatal hence it is advised that detox is carried out under medical supervision with trained specialists preferably a medical detox centre where the symptoms can me managed carefully and adequate and proper care can be administered.

On average, the detox process typically lasts for between 7 and 10 days. However, this can vary for different people. Following detox, patients will be ready to progress to an alcohol or drug rehab programme, where they will receive intensive psychological therapy.

One of the reasons why there are changes in the normal functioning of the mental and physical makeup of an individual, is when abuse or addiction is in place.

Certainly, anyone who starts abusing drugs and alcohol would have mental or physical health problems. It would interest you to know that behavioral abuse and addiction also contribute to mental health problems particularly.

Now, the process of detoxification deals specifically with substance abuse and addiction problems.

An individual who derives pleasure in using addictive substances would not care if addiction is in motion or not. At this stage, the reward system of the brain becomes satisfied whenever the substance is ingested.

For addicts to get treated and quit their lifestyle of addiction, it is important for them to undergo detoxification.

This is a medical process that addicted individuals goes through for the purpose of eliminating the toxins in the body that have built-up. These toxins are usually what makes an individual relapse when he or she takes a self-commitment to stay off addictive substances for a while.

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It is usually difficult for addicts to make a self-commitment to refrain from addiction every time. The reason for this is, some of these drugs come with great risk when you quit by yourself. So, in this case what you need is external help from health professionals.

It is needed for a professional who is addicted, to see a doctor so that he or she will receive the best measures on how to fight the lifestyle.

On most occasions, the individual would be advised to go to a rehab, but some of them are usually reluctant to accept this advice. Later on, a whole lot of them find themselves running down to rehabs when it gets out of hand.

One factor that can give addicts rest of mind is, having your detoxification treatment in a top-notch facility provides you with a profound foundation for defeating addiction. Later on, you will discover that you have been missing out all along.

When detoxification takes place, there is a chance for relapse to set in. However, provided the addiction services provided are great, you are good to go.  

There are a good number of people who are addicted to food but they have no idea. We all need food to survive and for our health to be intact.

This is one of the reasons why people see no sense in the concept of food addiction. However, they fail to realize that the concept of addiction applies to all aspects of life.

So, there is barely nothing that anyone cannot get addicted to. When it comes to food addiction, it is not all types of food that people can get addicted.

For instance, common types of food that people get addicted to are rich in fat, salt and sugar. When such foods are taken, they induce chemical reactions in the brain, and this in turn gives rise to feelings of gratification.

The response which individuals experience is similar to when drugs, alcohol or other addictive acts are in motion.

So primarily, food addicts depend on the feelings of pleasure that comes with eating foods. So, even if they are not hungry, they will eat because of the pleasure. This becomes an obsessive and compulsive behavior that they find hard to break.

With time, these individuals do not have a good nutritional stand and it affects their overall state of health.

Later on, the individual would realize that there are various consequences that are not great for the individual. Food addiction comes with several problems that are not pretty obvious at the first instance.

If food addiction is not appropriately attended to, the life of the individual can be fading off gradually. Someone who has food addiction would definitely be malnourished.

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Obesity is also likely to set in alongside with other health problems like Diabetes, Heart Disease, Headaches, Stroke, Depression and Panic attacks.

Seeking help for food addiction is one of the best steps to take in breaking free and getting back on track. At a rehab, where help for food addiction would be administered, you will be equipped with all what you need to solve your addiction issues.

There are a lot of hazards associated with the abuse of a substance which includes emotional and psychological issues such as depression and anxiety and physical issues such as mental disorder. However, it is important to note that addiction can also affect one’s appearance and this it does for life in most cases. Unfortunately, a lot of drug addicts do not pay attention to their physical appearance because they are so much obsessed with the substance they are abusing.

When the brain has been stimulated to only think about acquiring drugs or other substances to abuse, caring about the physical appearance and hygiene becomes difficult. Keeping the hair clean, washing the body regularly and brushing the teeth will not be a subject of importance when there is an intense need to obtain drugs and alcohol to satisfy an addiction.

When an addict strives to get high, and finally achieves that with the abuse of a substance, there is no pressure to do any other thing because his or her desires have been momentarily satisfied.

There are some notable ways substance abuse disorder affects the personal hygiene of the addict:

• There are simulant drugs such as Ecstasy and meth which can cause an addict to sweat profuse and increases the desire and craving to engage in sex and when this is combined with deprivation of adequate bathing, it can result to cases of extreme body odor
• With a lack of substance to abuse and an addict experiences a significant level of distraction can lead to issues such as excessive sweating, vomiting and other health conditions and this result into neglecting personal hygiene.
• Many times, drug addict intentionally skip bathing or washing of the body because they think it will get in the way of their high feelings and make them enter into a state of withdrawal.
• Also there are cases were drug addicts become homeless as a result of financial troubles due to spending all their resources on acquiring an expensive drug or substance. This makes paying attention to basic personal hygiene even a problem because of the financial struggles they are faced with.

The stronghold of addiction has a damaging effect on any it grasps. It changes the physical appearance even to a situation where application of cosmetics might be futile. It has the ability of causing harm even to the health just within a very short time. It could also destroy relationships, goals, freedom and self-esteem. bilX��Nv