Food Addiction isn’t a Disease, it’s a Trauma Response

Binge eating is an emotional issue, not a mental or physical one.

Nobody's food addictions can ever be simplified to a mental problem with no relation to trauma. They also can't be chocked up to a set of patterns in the physical body or brain.

Many programs and "experts" teach people their overeating cannot be fully and permanently healed, but rather that they will always have it and the best they can hope for is to live with their addiction but manage it so it doesn't take over their lives.

I understand why the idea that overeating can't be healed is such a common (but false) belief.

I feel there are two main reasons why it is often believed and taught that overeating can’t be healed:

1) The programs don't want people to beat themselves up and judge themselves when they are compulsive.

2) Even the facilitators and experts themselves have not personally experienced full healing of overeating, so they mistakenly do not believe it's possible.

Let's discuss these beliefs.

Some people experience temporary relief from their self-attack if they are told that it's not their fault they have overeating and it's a disease they cannot blame themselves for.

I totally agree that we need to seriously address the tendency to beat ourselves up and judge ourselves! We literally cannot heal from overeating if we are not kind to ourselves.

And I also agree that it is not right to say to ourselves "It is my fault, I should be able to decide to not have this issue." Because that's not true either. There are root causes in our childhood and also causes in our current life which are reasons for our compulsions. And those initial reasons are not our fault!

In other words, I agree that we shouldn't blame ourselves. Rather we should spend our time discovering the truth of who caused our trauma and addressing directly how we have been and are being treated badly by others.

Healing overeating also takes time. You cannot snap your fingers and make yourself stop, and so you must stop demanding that you can.

Very few people have experienced radical, permanent healing of their overeating. But just because it's rare doesn't mean it's impossible.

And even if it's rare, you could be one of the ones who does the healing and has this result.

I read an article interviewing writer Jennette McCurdy about healing her eating disorder. In it she said,

"So often I hear people talking about eating disorders as a lifelong recovery, something you can never get over and something that will always haunt you. I just think that's really demotivating, what's the incentive to work on it, then?"

If you focus on your trauma, you can heal. Remember that trauma is simply a wound; it's not only abuse that creates trauma. Your dad having worked a lot as a child might have been a trauma. Your mom being quite emotionally stoic and not noticing when you were said, would have been a trauma.

Don't blame yourself, have compassion for yourself. Take your time to heal, for as long as it takes. And know that full recovery is possible.

Photo by Katerina Kerdi via Unsplash