Diets often fail compulsive eaters and food addicts in the long run. However, a structured approach is necessary to support physical recovery. Given the loss of control over food, a food plan should be implemented within a spiritual context. While individual nutritional needs differ, some general principles are effective for most people. Food addicts need to honestly assess their food history to determine what has been effective. Individuals must verify whether a specific food plan works for them.
Nutrition, General Health, and Food Addiction
It is useful to distinguish between nutrition and general health and compulsive eating and food addiction. While these issues can overlap, addressing them separately is practical. Nutrition science is constantly evolving, and there are still debates about healthy weight, essential food groups, and effective strategies for weight management. Compulsive overeaters need to address these questions, and consulting a doctor, dietitian, or trained health professional is recommended.
However, compulsive eaters and food addicts face an additional challenge: adhering to a healthy diet. Powerlessness over eating in a healthy way necessitates external help. Twelve-step programs provide practical experience, strength, and hope. For food addicts, the decision on how and from what specific foods to abstain must be considered in the context of what food we do need and want to eat.
Detoxification and Withdrawal
The problem of abstaining from food is more complex than abstaining from alcohol or other drugs. If chemically dependent on specific foods or food in general, detoxification is necessary. Some compulsive eaters experience immediate relief with an abstinent food plan, but this is not always the case. Withdrawal symptoms can range from subtle anxieties to strong physical cravings, including headaches, irritability, fatigue, or insomnia. Withdrawal varies depending on the food and the individual.
The belief that one must eat or that certain feelings will be unbearable without food is common. Food addicts often require increased structure and support during the first week to a month of recovery due to detoxification. Many use food to medicate or numb their feelings and need to find alternative coping mechanisms. Increased structure and support, such as talking with other food addicts, attending meetings, and utilizing recovery tools, are crucial.
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Principles of Choosing a Food Plan
Choosing a food plan should be based on understanding and accepting what is necessary for recovery. Since most food addicts cannot eat or diet like normal eaters, the term "diet" is avoided. Diets imply reliance on reason and willpower alone, which have proven insufficient. Surrendering to powerlessness over food is key.
Most abstinent food addicts have a wide variety of food choices, but there is no choice about which food plans or principle will work and which will not. The desire to eat everything without consequences is common, but recovery requires accepting limitations.
Hunger and Spiritual Practice
The principle of "Eat when hungry" is challenging for most food addicts. Developing a spiritual practice in relation to food is essential. The "301" Food Plan exemplifies the use of bottom lines: three meals a day, nothing in between, one day at a time. These bottom lines represent specific commitments of surrender, adapting the AA principle of complete abstinence.
Many who use the "301" plan need further bottom lines, such as "moderate meals" or "no seconds," or committing to a balance of food categories. Others may break their food plan into smaller meals or planned snacks. Those needing more definition may use a specific "exchange diet" or "point system." The difference between a normal eater's diet and a compulsive eater's food plan is the acceptance that self-control is insufficient. It is done in a prayerful context and/or by committing the food daily to another food addict.
Addressing Eating Disorders
Since many compulsive eaters also have eating disorders, bottom lines often include eating behaviors such as "no purging," "no restricting," or "no use of laxatives or diuretics." Compulsive over-exercisers may set a maximum time limit for exercise. Positive additions to the food plan, or "top lines," may include an exercise commitment, such as brisk walking for at least half an hour five days a week.
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Chemical Dependency on Food and Eliminating Trigger Foods
For those chemically dependent on food, the basic concept is to eliminate binge foods and triggers. A list of specific binge foods should be created and reviewed with another abstinent food addict. Common culprits include sugar, flour, wheat, caffeine, excess fat, and salt, which can act like drugs in the bodies of food addicts.
Careful examination is necessary; for example, someone who binges on salad may use a dressing with addictive ingredients, or someone who binges on meat may use steak sauce or eat fatty portions. A practical application is to have a "bottom line" for highly addictive foods, such as no sugar. The more sensitive a compulsive eater is to sugar, the more thoroughly it needs to be restricted.
The appropriate level of restriction is determined by what eliminates or minimizes physical cravings to the point of being able to commit to and follow the food plan. Some food addicts find a level that works long-term, while others can reintroduce some foods in moderation after a period of strict abstinence.
Weighing and Measuring
For those who binge on almost every food, weighing and measuring is essential. For volume addicts, using cups, scales, and measuring spoons is a physical aid to portion control, not a form of dieting. Many compulsive overeaters experience mental distortion regarding food volume, and these tools help counter that.
Weighing and measuring can simplify complex problems and provide relief from obsession with food before, during, and after meals. Variations include weighing and measuring all food, only protein and starch, or only at home. Some do it for a set period, then only when feeling anxious or getting sloppy. The decision about weighing and measuring is based on individual choice and past experience, often in collaboration with a sponsor.
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Structured Food Plans
In early recovery or after a relapse, individuals may need to try a food plan that has worked for others. Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA) developed a highly structured food plan for those specifically addicted to sugar, flour, and wheat. Within Overeaters Anonymous, HOW (Honest, Open, Willing) provides more structure and support, including a weighed and measured food plan with no sugar or flour.
These plans are generally sugar, flour, and alcohol-free, with a specific exchange plan and recommendations for weighing and measuring. Someone addicted to sugar, flour, and volume could use any of these plans. Some using the HOW plan have not achieved abstinence until giving up wheat and examining hidden sugars, while others have required even stricter guidelines like Gray Sheet, which eliminates all carbohydrates.
Past experiences with successful food plans are valuable. Anyone abstinent for a year or more has information about their disease and a food plan that worked physically.
Surrender
The most significant difference between a diet and a food plan is the aspect of surrender. Food plans involve surrendering specific foods or eating behaviors that were difficult to give up. Diets are temporary deprivation for a goal, while food plans address the food issues where deprivation feels unacceptable.
Like in alcohol and drug addiction, food addicts may believe they "have to have" certain foods to live. A surrendered food plan eliminates the foods and behaviors over which they have been powerless, supported by the program.
Incremental vs. Immediate Surrender
There are two approaches to surrendering to a food plan: incremental or immediate elimination of all dangerous foods and triggers. Some find that their abstinence evolves over time, while others discover that they cannot maintain abstinence from any addictive foods until they eliminate them all.
The Food Addicts BreakingFree (FAB) Food Plan
Food addiction is a biochemical chronic brain disease that can be treated successfully. The Food Addicts BreakingFree (FAB) food plan is a prescription for recovery, eliminating cravings and managing volume. Abstinence from highly refined food and mood-altering chemicals is the foundation.
Kay Sheppard, the creator of the Food Addicts BreakingFree Food Plan, has permitted its adaptation for use in fellowships.
The Misconception of Food Addiction
Despite the common belief in food addiction, it is not an official condition with a standard definition. It typically refers to eating habits around highly enjoyable foods, cravings, and feeling a lack of control, particularly with high-sugar, high-fat, and high-salt foods.
The Science Behind Food Addiction
The theory of food addiction lacks substantial evidence. A 2022 systematic review concluded that it is not a legitimate diagnosis due to insufficient research and clinical trials. There is no unanimously accepted definition or well-defined diagnostic criteria. The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) is criticized for being self-reported and assuming a neurobiological basis without sufficient support.
Animal studies have shown addictive behaviors in rodents, but human studies have not replicated these findings. Additionally, the impact of dietary restriction is often overlooked.
The Role of Restriction and "Food Noise"
A history of dieting can intensify cravings and a drive to eat, mimicking food addiction. Studies show that intermittent access to sugar triggers addictive behaviors in rodents. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment demonstrated that severe calorie restriction leads to obsession with food and extreme overeating.
Food restriction of any kind can lead to actions that resemble addictive behaviors. When told they cannot have something, people want it more. Restrictive eating patterns diminish tolerance, leading to guilt and shame when "forbidden" foods are eaten, creating a binge-restrict cycle.
Food restriction and feelings of food addiction may be exacerbated by diet culture.
Underlying Causes of Food Addiction
There is a crisis of imagination and understanding of what is going on. It's rare to look at a person's relationship to food prior to these studies. They don't control for food insecurity, and we know that people who live with food insecurity have a higher risk of eating disorders and disordered eating. They're also not considering people's dieting history and history of restricting and restraining food. And if you put people with chronic dieting behaviors in a room with food they think they shouldn't be having, they're going to feel compulsive. But just because that's their experience doesn't mean it's the same thing as being addicted to heroin or alcohol.
While feeling addicted doesnât necessarily mean that a person has an eating disorder, thereâs often an overlap in symptoms, like food preoccupation, 'food noise', and loss of control around food. Even if someone doesnât meet the criteria for an eating disorder, usually at least disordered eating is present.
Emotional and psychological factors also play a role. When clients have not yet developed adequate emotional coping or regulating tools, and only go to food to self-soothe and manage hard feelings, they seem more prone to feeling like they are addicted to food. We also tend to forget that food itself is emotional.
Why Abstinence-Based Treatment Fails
There's no research to support food addiction treatments based on abstinence. Treating food like a drug and avoiding it makes it challenging to get necessary nutrients and develop a healthy relationship with food. Avoiding certain foods reinforces the belief that one cannot handle them, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The core flaw is that food isn't a drug. Eating specific foods can light up the brainâs reward center, causing a release of dopamineâbut so do other things, like caring for your child or cuddling with a pet, but we donât pathologize those behaviors,â Draayer says.
We donât experience withdrawal symptoms when going without certain foods, and repetitively eating a food doesnât increase our tolerance to it. Food is a necessary part of daily life, making abstinence a misguided approach.
The Evidence-Based Path to Recovery
If you feel like youâre addicted to food, it could be a sign of an eating disorder. Binge eating disorder is the diagnosis most often associated with feelings of food addiction, but it can also be associated with other eating disorders.
The best way to find out if an eating disorder is driving âaddictiveâ food behaviors is to talk to your doctor or a trusted mental health professional about your concerns. You can also take a self-assessment, or get evaluated by a treatment program or professional specializing in eating disorders. Be wary of programs that offer food addiction treatment, as they are likely not evidence-based.
True healing involves overcoming food addiction by breaking the binge-restrict cycle.
Diversifying Coping Tools
Using food as a coping tool is not inherently negative but becomes an issue when it is the only way to manage hard feelings. Food becomes a metaphor for what weâre needing emotionally.
With the help of a therapist or trusted friend, you can identify what food symbolizes for you when youâre eating without physical hunger and feeling out of control, and then brainstorm ways to meet your underlying emotional needs.
Working Toward Adequate Meals and Snacks
Since restriction is often whatâs driving feelings of food addiction and lack of control around food, itâs key to eat enough.
Take stock of your daily eating habits and consider if youâre skipping meals, eating meals that are too small or unsatisfying, regularly missing a main macronutrient (carbs, fat, or protein), or foregoing snacks even when youâre hungry between meals. If you find gaps in your eating, work toward increasing and balancing your intake to meet your bodyâs needs throughout each day.
Learning About Food Habituation
âHabituation is a natural process that occurs when we are repeatedly exposed to the same stimulus,â Draayer explains. âOver time, our previously strong response to that stimulus decreases.â
When it comes to foods that feel addicting, the more you casually expose yourself to them (instead of swearing them off), the less emotionally charged your experience becomesâcookies are just cookies, pizza is just pizza, and chips are just chips.
Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA)
Food addiction is characterized by an obsession with food, obsession with weight, and loss of control over the amount of food eaten. It involves the compulsive pursuit of a mood change by engaging repeatedly in episodes of uncontrolled eating despite adverse consequences.
Kay Sheppardâs Food Plan is a weighed and measured plan. We are not affiliated with any specific twelve-step group but we cherish the twelve steps and recommend that way of life. This includes working with a sponsor, step work, meetings, and twelve-step literature.
FA shares a similar philosophy with food support groups, like Overeaters Anonymous (OA). For example, FA calls on members to avoid foods containing added flour, sugar, and other added sweeteners, since they believe that these ingredients are triggering to food addicts.
FA hosts in-person, online, and phone meetings in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
In FA, members are expected to weigh and measure their food, avoid snacking between meals, and choose foods without added flour, sugar, and sweeteners.