You’re going to hear this term a lot from me in this blog.  So rather than wonder what I mean I’m going to define how I use it now.

A food addict is someone that eats for the wrong reasons - when depressed, anxious, etc, as opposed to when hungry.  Another sign is eating secretly, bolemia, etc. We all sometimes eat for the wrong reasons but the big qualifiers are 1) how often and 2) is it too the detrimental of your health?

As an aside I want to mention that to a certain extent it’s not our fault that food addiction is so prevalent.  Man has been around for millions of years.  Until a few thousand years ago the human diet consisted of meat, fruit, and vegetables.  The human body simply is not engineering to eat processed sugar, plates of spaghetti, and high-fructose corn syrup.  There even have been recent studies citing that junk food addiction is real.  Also, food used to be a scarce resource (and still is in the developing world) and because of this we have a strong evolutionary desire to consume whatever we get our hands on.

It is not a euphemism for overweight, obese, etc.  As a matter of fact, I know many thin food addicts and some overweight people that aren’t food addicts.

I am a food addict.  I was a food addict when thin, then obese, and now (somewhere in the middle).  I’m not ashamed to admit it.  We are all imperfect beings.  Some people are total flakes, some people don’t return calls, some people are jerks, some people are lazy, some people even have bad hair <gasp>. 

The same core character traits which contribute to being a food addict also make me a very emotional, passionate, exciting person.  I have a hunger for life that is unparalleled.  It’s a package deal.  I can’t have one without the other.

What is your big flaw you hate about yourself?  Is there a hidden strength it’s hiding that you can harness?

Gotta go belt out a couple miles.  See you on the other side.