In Part Two of this series, Dr. Frank Sabatino discusses the specifics of food addiction and offers lifestyle choices that may help to heal addiction.
Resolving the Pain and Process of Food Addiction
Food is a unique addiction because it is so directly involved with your survival needs. You don’t really need to shoot heroin, but you typically need to eat several times per day. So, you have to confront that monkey, meal in and meal out.
Eating is directly and intimately involved with nurturing ourselves on every level. From an awareness/cognitive standpoint, it is essential to deeply understand and become more mindful and aware of the context of your food use as well as the content of what you’re eating.
Growing up in an ethnic household the way I did, from the earliest moments of my life, I was urged to use food for comfort and distraction rather than deal with traumatic stressful events in a more direct and resolute way. Therefore, it can be so important to address the questions:
- What are you using food for?
- What are you really hungry for?
- Are you attempting to satisfy all your physical, emotional, and spiritual needs with food?
