Once in a while you might overload yourself with potato chips or cookies, but you would have never thought that you are a food addict. Looking an answer to the question whether you are a food addict is important, especially when you are planning to lose some weight. There are a number of scientists who suggest that food addiction can be as dangerous as nicotine addiction. Here are the five signs that will help you determine that you might be having food addiction.

1. If you are suffering from food addiction, then you will have cravings for eating a particular food item. The yearning to have this food is so strong that if you don’t get it soon you might see yourself suffer from a series of withdrawal symptoms like nausea, headache or depression. It is a fact that food addicts crave for the pleasure that eating a particular food gives them and this craving can be both psychological as well as physical.

2. Another sign of food addiction is overeating. This is the one of the most common signs. People suffering from food addiction would fill themselves up to the throat and then get rid of it with the help of laxatives, vomiting or exercises. It is also seen that food addicts have a different pattern of eating in front of people and follow a different pattern when they are eating in private. When a person is suffering from food addiction they would most of the time will isolate themselves from others while eating, try to eat big bites and swallow it rapidly.

3. Food addicts are seen to eat even when they are not hungry. They will tend to fill their plates with lots of food and relish it over the time. There are many who would also eat to hide their emotions and escape from showing what they are feeling.

4. If there are a number of people who have commented on your weight and are annoyed by your habit of munching all the time, then this is a warning sign of food addiction. There are many food addicts who after eating would count the calories that they would have to burn after a meal.

5. Food addicts are possessive about their food and often tend to hide a portion to make sure that they have enough at a later stage. They are also seen to hide from others and eat and often discard food to have it later.

Food addiction can be cured easily; however it requires the addict to admit that they are obsessed with food. It is better to work with a psychotherapist to deal with coming out of food addiction. At times, people who are food addicts might show mood swings or even become aggressive when they are deprived from food.

This behavior can be dealt well with the help of a psychotherapist. Getting out of food addiction requires the person to follow the same step-by-step program as followed for alcohol addiction and it is seen that people suffering from food addiction draw a lot of strength from people who have a similar problem.

Jonathan Pitts

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