Food Addiction Recovery – #20
In food addiction recovery many of us need to learn to deal with having low frustration tolerance (LFT). In short tolerate frustration and some pain. You will get frustrated. LFT is not going to work for you if you plan to overcome being a food addict. So how do you build your ability to tolerate frustration? You have to cultivate the belief that in the long run, the easier, softer way of compulsive overeating—eating foods that are bad for you and/or too large a serving—is going to be a lot less rewarding to you than the more difficult or uncomfortable approach to healthy eating and/or reasonable portions in stopping food addiction. Focus on the long-term—remember the old saying, “A moment on the lips; a lifetime on the hips.” You also need to cultivate the thinking that what you have to do may be difficult, maybe boring or unpleasant—but it is not too difficult, boring, or unpleasant. You have to be willing to think: “Even though I may not like the feeling of frustration, I know I can stand frustration for sure.”
Food Addiction Recovery Means Some Pain – Sorry
Additionally, you are going to need to develop tolerance for pain in food addiction to avoid compulsive overeating. The sensation of pain is also very different and a personal experience driven by multiple biological and psychological factors. Some people have a very high biological pain threshold and some have low biological pain thresholds. The bottom line on pain is in food addiction you will indeed experience pain. Being hungry is usually at least uncomfortable and can get to be downright painful both psychologically and physically. So you need to get into acceptance that as a food addict losing weight means dealing with pain. When you begin to eat less or stop eating certain foods you will experience some pain. If you are prepared for this reality you will be better able to cope with it. You can do little about your biological responses to hunger pains; however, you can do a great deal about the psychological responses to pain. Better said, you can do a lot about what you think about the cravings, hunger pains and urges you have in food addiction. In short you need to begin to define success as a food addict as being able to tolerate whatever level of frustration and pain that comes up for you. You can “stand it” and the pain will decrease and even go away over time if you don’t “feed” it to keep it alive and strong. Even the worst hunger pains are temporary and they will go away. You can develop new thinking patterns that reduce, eliminate and help you cope with any pain that is involved in losing weight. After all I was a “hopeless case” and I did it and still do it in my food addiction recovery today, to some extent. I would not want you to think I don’t have cravings, urges or hunger pains from time to time because I do. The acceptance, the skill set and my thoughts have greatly improved so all of the pain factors are at a minimum. So you can do it like I did it.
There are solutions available for you. Check our free resources page for more on overcoming food addiction.