Food addiction

[Klehman1]

I have a major issue with my eating. I love boxed pasta. I can eat a whole box of Walmart brand mac and cheese. I eat a whole box one a day. I need to eat better. I'm in good shape because I workout 4-5 times a week. I'm 115 pounds. I am stuck in a rut here. Any advice would be a big help. I need to break this food addiction so I can be healthier.

[Daves_Not_Here]

Mac & Cheese is pretty hard to resist, which is why I don't even try -- I can't have it in the house.  If you have it for kids, then I feel for you.

I'd suggest having plenty of satiating whole foods on hand, so that when you have a craving, you can substitute.  Also, the less processed food you eat, the less you will crave it.

[SunsetRunner]

Food addiction like any other addiction is a serious problem and it gets even more serious if you think that FA usually stays well hidden sometimes for years. People may realize they are alcohol or drug addicts but very often stay oblivious to being food addicts. It's because of the nature of the addiction. After all, we all need food to survive, we need to eat.

Mac&cheese contains two ingredients that boost the addiction - mac & cheese. It's a perfect drug. It has been proven scientifically that cheese is addictive. Years ago my brain has built a connection beer + cheese. Eating cheese I craved for beer, drinking beer I craved for cheese. A block ( literally, whole block ) of cheddar would do. I could consume easily the whole block of cheese in one sitting. Not even preparing it, but eating out of the fridge. I still use cheese nowadays but reduced amounts of it drastically. My rule is that cheese should add flavour not calories.

As for the addiction usually, the addiction needs therapy. It's good if a person realizes having a problem. This is the first step but may not be enough. There is a documentary on Netflix "Addicted to food". It may show you the darkest scenario of where you might be heading. For me, it was a very depressing eye opener. I knew I had the problem back then and I'm aware the problem may be still there.

Not sure really what to advice. Every case is different. Trying to replace M&C with other foods ( and I mean "real foods" ) won't instantly solve your problem. You're not eating M&C because you're hungry or lacking nutrients. You eat it because it causes the release of serotonin. Exactly like certain drugs. Removing M&C from your diet will not remove addiction.

Answer yourself these questions. Did you try to resist from buying M&C let's say for one whole week? If not having it, do you keep thinking of it? Does it make you feel anxious? You can't focus on anything else? When you get your food you can't stop eating it until all is finished ( if you could you would swallow the box too )? Do you have an excuse for one more M&C? You do workout 4-5 times a week not because you want to keep yourself fit but because you feel guilty and sorry that you have such a weak will? I'm asking because these were my symptoms about food in general ( not one type of food but all the food ). Depending on the level of the problem, you may want to look for professional help as you would do with any other kind of addiction. The worst is that until now I don't know if I'm hungry for real or not and I suspect every bite of food I take that it could be my addiction calling. It's scary to think I could be back where I was and after watching "Addicted to food" I became even more cautious ( spoiler alert: most of the people who took the treatment went back to their addiction ).

Sorry for such a grim tone but food addiction, unlike other addictions, is too often underestimated until it's simply too late. 

[Esya]

I am no expert on this, so let that be clear. How I would handle it, is by starting to have a day of not having mac&cheese and then have it the next day. That way you are not telling yourself that you cannot have it and that you can have it tomorrow already again. Once you are more used to skipping it for a day, start to skip it for 2 days. Do that for a while until you can start skipping it for 3 days and so on. That way you will know that you can still have it (I don't believe in banning foods completely and banned foods are actually more interesting to go after), but you will also get the control back. I would also on the days that I would have it try to take a portion out and put the rest away.

Now I am not sure if you eat it on top of other foods or instead of other foods. But if you eat it on top of other foods you could try to motivate yourself with the financial savings. You know what a box of mac & cheese costs, so for each day you skip you know what you saved. Keep track of that and you will be surprised what other things you can do with that money.

However, depending on the severity of the addiction you should consider therapy. Eating disorders are one of the most common things treated by therapy.

[Daves_Not_Here]

Wow @SunsetRunner - I literally had no idea about this.  Thanks for taking the time to write out such an informative reply.  I will look differently at M&C and other "can't have enough" foods.

[Baltoscott]

I can totally relate to eating a whole box of M&C in one sitting.  I used to do that two or three times/week when I was a teenager.  Just boil some water for the mac, drain the water then add the powered cheese to the cooked mac in the pot, a stick of butter and a cup of milk and stir it up.  Eat it straight of the pot, right?  

If you can't keep it out of the house per @Daves_Not_Here's suggestion, I like @Esya's approach of skipping or delaying the reward. Giving up M&C forever might seem impossible.  But giving it up until tomorrow?  Yeah, you can do that!

Here is how I might go about doing it.  When you make the box of M&C, also cook up a pound of chopped broccoli.  I'm sure Walmart has that in the frozen food section ;-).  Mix them up and divide them into four portions.  Put three of the four in the fridge in individual containers and eat one every other day to take you through the week.  Eat the M&C&B combo with other food, maybe half a baked potato or more (white or sweet) to help fill you up so you are less tempted to go for one of the other portions before the next planned day.