Food Addiction – Almost Lost It
Emotional Side Part 2
Food Addiction has emotional or psychological consequences thus in my last post titled Part 1 of “emotional side” I spoke about some of them and the work I did with a counselor. I also worked on things with the counselor having to do with my vocation and dating. (After all, in that arena I was closer to 14 years old instead of 25.) After my first counseling experience, I decided to leave my wholesale newspaper distribution business and go back to college to finish my B.S. in business and psychology. I went back to college for two reasons: to change my work life and to get free counseling in the college counseling center for my food addiction. After finishing my B.S., I decided to get a Master’s Degree in psychology, which enabled me to continue working on myself in the college counseling center and be involved in the study of psychology and counseling full time.
Food Addiction Relapse Happens
I don’t mind telling you, this was a very trying time while I was in college—I almost lost it a couple of times. By “lost it” I mean really not surprising for a person who is a food addict since relapse is often a part of recovery. I gained as much as 25 pounds over my all-time-low of 143 pounds at one point before getting myself back on track. Just so you know addiction was not even taught in my graduate school days of the mid 70s let alone food addiction.
After graduation, I went to work in a community mental health center, working primarily with children and adolescents, for about five years. I continued to be in counseling for myself off and on for those five years. Again addiction and being a food addict were never mentioned. Still things were getting better. I was very happy in my work and I was dating! I also had a comfortable weight range of 150 to 155 and was able to stay within that range fairly well thanks to a best-selling book of the time (1979) called The Pritikin Program. I followed the Pritikin approach to a large degree.
The Pritikin approach focuses on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Processed foods, animal foods such as meat and eggs, and sugar are pretty much eliminated from the diet and that worked for this food addict at that time. It’s a very healthful way of eating, high in fiber and low in fat. Once you eliminate all the junk from your diet, it’s much easier to lose weight or maintain weight loss. For more information about the Pritikin program, you can go to http://www.pritikin.com/.
Well, enough for now. The plot thickens as they say in my next post since it deals with discovering the addiction model and what that added to the mixture.
Do take a look at my free resources on food addiction by clicking here.
You can find out more about my professional life by clicking here now.