Food Addiction – Are You Overeating to Self-Medicate?
I can’t tell you how many people have protested to me “. . . but, Carol . . . nothing ‘works’ like food!” That is a true sign of food addiction and that you are overeating and using food to self medicate. You either want to turn off your mind or turn off your feelings. You don’t want to think about the stress . . . or how you feel . . . or what just happened. You don’t want to think about how much you have to do, how many responsibilities you have . . . or how much pressure and uncertainty you are dealing with. And you certainly don’t want to feel how exhausted, or angry or resentful or scared you feel. Overeating is an attempt to go numb. As one of my clients says “it’s easier to stuff my feelings than to feel them.” Maybe you just need a break from having to deal with it all – there’s nothing wrong with that! A short respite from bearing all the ‘weight’ can be a welcome relief. But if you use overeating to give you that respite, then you only make things worse. It’s easy to keep goi
