Cartoon courtesy of Mike Adams at Natural News
This is the start of my third week on the road to recovery. During the past two weeks, I've had to fight myself to keep from slipping up and relapsing into my old habits. There are plenty of opportunities throughout the course of a day where I could easily give in to impulses that could put me right back where I started. For me, most (if not all) of those choices have to do with food and I've come to realize that I am a junk food addict.
I'm not saying that to be funny, plenty of people make that comment and laugh it off. For me, when I look back at my behavior over the past four months, I see classic signs of addiction. And realizing that I am a true junk food addict, I have to be constantly aware of the choices I make. Now I haven't started a 12-step program, but I have at least taken the first step and that's admitting I have a problem.
How bad of a problem? Well, let's call it 3-4 boxes of Little Debbies a week problem. Each box of six Boston Cream Rolls equaled 1620 calories, 72 g of fat (27 saturated) and 156 g of sugars. That's on top of my regular meals and at least 3 regular sodas a day. I'd say that's pretty bad in anyone's book.
The biggest sign of my addiction is that I hide all this eating. I buy the junk on the way to or from work or as I run my errands and keep any leftovers in the car. Or I'd hit the pantry at night after everyone else has gone to sleep so they wont catch me polishing off a chocolate chip granola bar so I can get one last taste of chocolate before going to bed.
The worst part about this is that I knew what I was doing to myself and was even embarrassed for myself as I would stand in line holding that box of snack cakes. I knew I was sabotaging everything I'd worked so hard for but I just kept telling myself "One more box, then I'll be done". That "One more box" lasted for four months and packed 20 pounds of fat back onto me. That's an average of 5 pounds gained, or an extra 17,500 calories per month! During a month, I took in the equivalent of almost 40 days of calories in just 30!
I have no idea how this addiction came about. Maybe I should go see a shrink to find out what the root cause of this need for sugar is. I'm all for taking personal responsibility, but when something like food holds this much sway over me I'd tend to think it goes deeper than the quick sugar rush I get and the instant gratification the taste brings.
In the end any addiction can be beat and I'll beat this one. For now, recognizing it and understanding it is my best defense. So...
"Hi, my name is Steve and I'm a sugar addict"
It's good that your open and honest about your "dirty eating secrets" -- it will probably help you from going back to that bad habit.
I recommend that you read up if you haven't yet on the relationship between sugar and insulin -- hormones are very powerful chemical messengers, and they will "command" your brain if you don't intervene.
If you strive to keep your insulin low for long enough, then when you eat high-sugar type foods they will literally make you feel like you're on a drug -- then you will understand the root of this addiction!
The only time I eat sugary things is during and immediately after exercise to help me keep my intensity up during endurance training -- otherwise I have trained myself to always eat low carb foods only. It is not a "panacea" by any means -- you can still overeat -- but it is a lot harder to over eat meat and vegetables than snack food cakes!
I feel your pain. It's really hard to change habits that have been a part of your life for so long. I commend you on openly admitting your addiction, and I do hope that you will beat it. Congrats on beginning TT again!! I'm finally over my cold and back on track myself.
Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it. I just have to find a happy medium between complete abstinence and gluttony.
Glad to hear you're back on track too, that's fantastic!
You're welcome!
Btw, I'm disgusted at some of the responses from select readers. Having done the weight loss thing numerous times, I know how easy it is to slip back into bad habits. I applaud you for getting back to it, and for admitting that you are human and make mistakes. Apparently those criticizing you are damn near perfect and therefore don't belong on your site to begin with. Keep up the good work!