Food is a basic necessity of life as well as a pleasure to be enjoyed with friends and family. However, long-term, excessive craving for food may turn you into a food addict. Food addiction is as bad for the body as is addiction for narcotics, alcohol or smoking. Food addicts are unable to resist food the same way drug abusers cannot resist drugs.
Food addiction is a devastating condition that leads to obesity, obesity related disorders and depression. Although this is completely a psychological disorder, food addiction can be overcome to a certain extent by subjecting the addict to a weight loss programs.
Symptoms of a food addict
When do you know that you have become a food addict? The following symptoms may assist in the diagnosis:
• You think about your next meal while indulging in the present one.
• You purchase food items randomly wherever you go without taking time to think over it.
• You cannot wait to consume the food you have just brought home.
• You keep visiting the kitchen for any food that is leftover even if you have had a sumptuous meal.
• Whatever you do, food always stays as the top priority in your mind.
• You do not care about gaining weight and engage in binge eating and compulsive overeating.
Damaging effects of food addiction
• A high risk of obesity
• Mental health risk: A feeling of being constantly controlled by food. Money, time and energy is spent in buying and eating food stuffs. With increasing weight, you lose self-esteem.
• Susceptibility to heart diseases: Increased blood cholesterol makes you susceptible to the damaging effects of cholesterol on heart and blood vessels and results in high blood pressure.
• Diabetes: Those with a history of diabetes in their family become prone to develop diabetic complications faster if they indulge in binge eating.
How weight loss programs can help overcome food addiction?
Getting rid of any kind of addiction is not a matter of joke. Food addiction is not easy to overcome but also not impossible. If you are genuinely concerned about your health, you can take care of your eating habits with or without external help.
If you are confused about where and how to start, taking part in a weight loss program like the medically supervised weight loss programs in Virginia Beach, might help you. An efficient weight loss program combines the benefits of trained instructors, diet charts and exercise regimens to help you regain control over yourself.
Do not be shocked at hearing the word ‘diet’ as it does not mean ‘no food’ but it means the right calories for your body. If you are food addict, following a diet chart may be difficult in the beginning but will be a piece of cake in the longer-term if you simply manage to hold on. Exercise will further shape and strengthen your muscles and help you shed extra weight. An encouraging instructor will also attend to your needs and problems and help you overcome your limitations. Some weight loss programs also involve psychotherapists who will discuss your addiction problems in detail and help you at every stage of your recovery to overcome the limitations. If you stay in Virginia, attend medically supervised weight loss programs in Virginia Beach to overcome your food addiction problems.
