A recent study indicated that signs of food addiction appear in one in 8 Americans over the age of 50. But what are these signs? What is the relationship of food addiction to the age of a person?
It may be important to know these signs, especially since the Arab world has become suffering from high rates of obesity, as is the case in Egypt, for example, which subsequently causes a lot of suffering with diseases caused by obesity such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obstructive sleep apnea. and fatty liver, as well as many serious diseases.
Annual deaths due to obesity in 2020 in Egypt amounted to about 115,000, or 19.8% of the total deaths, at a time when no accurate statistics or studies were available on other Arab countries.
Scary indications
When we talk about obesity, some may excuse “food addiction” from being a cause, but an Egyptian study published in 2016 linked obesity to food addiction, in addition to another study that indicated the prevalence of food addiction among young people compared to fourth-year students. Medicine major at Minia University, where it was found that 24.9% of medical students are either food addicts or have some symptoms of addiction, with reference to the role of things such as nutritional education, smoking cessation and psychological support in promoting healthy eating habits, and reducing the rate of anemia and obesity among these students reduce food addiction rates.
At a time when groups and pages have spread that support “alcohol” and “the rumen industry,” perhaps the most famous of which is a group entitled “Kersh Keepers” that has nearly 5 million members, an American study indicates that processed foods, with added sweeteners and fats, make the possibility of food addiction greater, and may play a role in “Glamorous pictures” of delicious foods play a major role in this.
Do we get hungry with age?
According to a recent study prepared by the University of Michigan Medical School, about 13% of people between the ages of 50 and 80 in the country have an unhealthy relationship with food, which means that one in 8 Americans over the age of 50 show signs of food addiction. , as well as much higher rates of addiction to convenience foods, as well as to processed foods, among older adults who are already overweight, isolated, or have poor mental health.
“I used to feel constant hunger, constant tension, and lack of satiety, and it only got worse during the pandemic,” says Mona Shaheen, a mother of two, trainer and consultant for developing international development projects. She did not ignore the symptoms, but rather traced their cause through medical examinations and tests.
She says, “I noticed a psychological defect represented in tension, and a physical defect represented in insulin resistance, fatty liver, and a decrease in the quality of sleep due to my care for my children and job burnout. All of these reasons led me to eat constantly, even in a state of thirst I wanted to eat. I studied the matter and tried to understand whether this is hunger.” Or the inability to act with what I feel, which helped me recover.It is true that it took me 3 years, and it was not easy at first, especially since sweets and carbohydrates, and the so-called comfort food, gave me a temporary feeling of relief, but now I have become more aware “.
Shaheen adds, “When I find myself in this state, I resort to meditation, and I do not spare harmful situations that hurt me in the first place. I have become more concerned with my food, eating balanced food, and arranging the quality of food. I have also begun to get nutritional supplements with deep sleep, and I have begun to resist night hunger, and I resort to to intermittent fasting and to make myself happy and take care of myself in the first place as I no longer treat food as a reward.”
Signs of food addiction
Food addiction is not related to the quality of the food you eat, you may be addicted to it whether what you eat is healthy or unhealthy food, manufactured or natural, or even just your favorite drinks. In the end, they are empty calories that the body does not need, and only that unhealthy relationship with food is needed.
There are clear signs of food addiction, when researchers at the Rudd Center for Food Science and Policy, Yale University, wanted to accurately identify them. They developed a questionnaire that included a set of revealing questions such as:
- When you start eating a certain food, do you find that you end up eating more than you planned?
- Do you continue to eat certain foods even if you are no longer hungry?
- Do you keep eating until you feel very full?
- Do you worry about not eating or reducing certain foods?
- Do you make an effort to get certain foods when they are not available?
- Do you eat certain foods in such large quantities that you prefer eating over spending time with family or doing recreational activities?
- Do you have problems functioning effectively at work or school because of food?
- Do you need to eat to reduce negative feelings or increase pleasure?
According to the official website of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, eating addiction or binge eating disorder (BED) is one of the most common types of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. It can be known whether a person’s relationship with eating is unhealthy, and in general, binge eating disorder or its addiction is characterized by key signs such as:
- Eating when you are not hungry.
- Eating too quickly.
- Eating in secret, away from others and feeling depressed, guilty, ashamed or disgusted after binge eating.
- You try to hide how much you eat.
- Stock up on food supplies and worry when they run out.
From rumen to curry.. How can food addiction be treated?
Food addiction is one of the most difficult types of addiction, because it is linked to a stimulus that is available all the time, according to Web Med. A psychological counselor, doctor, or nutritionist may help treat eating addiction and break the cycle of excess food, and there are an increasing number of assistance programs. Eating addicts.
At the end of the year 2015, the writer Shaima El-Gammal reached a weight of more than 100 kilograms, which constituted a radical turning point in her life, when she began her journey in changing the diet, sports, and paying attention to the triggers of food addiction, so that her life witnessed a quantum leap, as she reached a weight of 63 kilograms.
A positive psychology trainer and mental health consultant, who wrote down her entire experience via a hashtag titled “From rumen to curvy,” says that “addiction is the point at which the problem and the solution begin completely. Realizing the cause of the problem is the beginning of its solution. A food addict does not like food in and of itself.” But its effect is addictive in times of severe psychological stress, the state of euphoria that follows eating delicious food, addiction is not only to drugs, and the journey of recovery from food addiction will not include diet paper hanging on the home refrigerator, nor liposuction and tightening of the flabs, the real beginning is when we dive inside ourselves, and allow her to need, and reveal her true needs that we escape from satisfying by eating, the journey is not easy, but it is worth it.
The author of “First Year Psychology: Yourself… Your Body… Your Relationships” says, “Getting rid of food addiction includes eliminating processed carbohydrates, such as pasta, bread, and sugars in general, because this would activate the area responsible for food addiction, and speed up the feeling of hunger again. With exercise, even if it is walking, whether it is outside or even inside the house, as is the case with walking programs in place, to lose calories and exercise at home.