Food Addiction Treatment | Intrepid Mental Wellness

For some, food can be a touchy subject. It’s essential to our health, but often can come with some complicated baggage. Eating a large meal can often feel like an indulgent treat, but what happens when we can’t stop eating? If you’re struggling with compulsive eating, it might be time to seek food addiction treatment.

Food Addiction: What Is It and Common Symptoms

Like many addictions, food addiction is a behavioral addiction. What exactly does this mean? Instead of being addicted to a substance, like a drug, the addiction stems from our brain’s response to behavior, in this case eating. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, plays a crucial role in the brain's reward system. When you eat, especially high-sugar or high-fat foods, your brain releases dopamine, giving you pleasure. This can create a cycle where you crave more of these foods to achieve that same dopamine "high,” leading to compulsive eating tendencies. As your brain gets accustomed to the dopamine “high,” it starts to need more and more food to reach the same level of pleasure, therefore creating an addiction.

Here are some common symptoms of food addiction:

• Binge-eating, or frequently consuming large quantities of food in a short period, is one of the most common symptoms.
  

• Feeling like you have no control over your eating habits, even when they lead to sickness, weight gain, or discomfort.
  

• Frequent cravings, even if you aren’t hungry.
  

• Having feelings of guilt or shame regarding eating, but being unable to stop overeating.
  

• Exhibiting secretive behavior around food. This might include hoarding food and hiding or lying about your eating.
  

• Attempts to stop or change your behavior, but granting “cheat-days” as an excuse to justify it.

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Food Addiction Treatment at Intrepid Mental Wellness

Food addiction can be a complicated matter, and like all addictions, can often feel like something we can take care of on our own. But if food addiction or compulsive eating has started to affect your daily life, it may be time to seek help. Intrepid Mental Wellness offers a holistic approach to food addiction treatment, combining medication, natural remedies, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help you overcome compulsive eating. It’s our mission to not just treat symptoms of food addiction, but get to the core of what you’re struggling with in regards to eating.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call our Colorado office at 719-505-4404, our Arizona office at 623-263-3590, or fill out our online form. Food addiction doesn’t have to control your life; help is just a call away!