Overcoming Food Abuse Session #1 Admitting Food Addiction Introductory statements: 1. You are safe with me: I am one of you 2. You are loved by me: I accept you as you are 3. You will hear truth from me: It is what sets us free 4. You will receive hope from me: If I can change, so can you Important Clarification: There is a difference between being a food addict and having an eating disorder. A food addict uses food as a drug, resulting in eating too much, being overweight and eventually becoming obese. Food addicts are unable to control the amount of food they eat based on appetite or personal discipline. A person with an eating disorder has a problem with eating itself, often eating too little (anorexia) or binging and purging (bulimia), and is usually accompanied by other psychological issues. This class is intended to address food addiction, not eating disorders. Eating disorders are serious, often life-threatening conditions that require interventions and treatment that go far beyond the scope of this class. In fact, participation in this class has to potential to trigger or exacerbate problems related to eating disorders. Some confessions: 1. I am a food addict: I am unable to control my eating on the basis of my appetite or personal sense of discipline 2. I have been an addict most of my adult life: Only for short periods of time have I had a healthy relationship with food. 3. I had pretty much given up hope: I had come to believe I could never really change. It was just too hard and I had failed far too often. 4. I did not really want to change:
I honestly believed that changing was too hard and would make life miserable. 5. I was caught in a cycle of depression and overeating: I would eat because if I was depressed and when I was depressed I would eat. 6. I finally reached a point of genuine desperation and misery: I had reached a point that I knew I was in trouble, and my health and life were at risk. 7. I could never have done it on my own: It took a miracle of God s grace and a loving community for me to make the necessary changes. Why do I believe I am an addict? Because I fit most of the following (From Celebrate Recovery Food Addiction Brochure): 1. Throughout our lives many of us have turned to food to ease our pain or fear. 2. We felt comfort in eating and found ourselves turning to food whenever we were hurt, angry or frustrated. 3. Food became our comforter, our friend. 4. Some of us may have one specific food that we have trouble eating in healthy amounts, and that once we start eating it, we cannot stop. 5. Some of us may have been emotionally, physically, or sexually abused and use food to cope with the emotions of those events. 6. Some of us may have had healthy eating habits as children or young adults, but at some point in our lives we chose to overeat and lost the ability to discern when we were physically hungry or when we were physically full. 7. Some of us may have turned to food after obtaining sobriety in other areas. 8. We thought food was safe, not realizing it could become our drug of choice. 9. We have focused on our body image instead of our health. 10. Many of us have tried various diet programs, exercising, medications or many other ways of trying to control our eating habits. 11. We have failed over and over and are left feeling guilty, incapable, and unlovable. 12. We have given in to the idea that is one perfect diet or pill out there that can save us if only we could find it.
13. Some of us believe that thin people do not struggle with food addiction. We have also failed to recognize food as our drug of choice. 14. As a result of our food addiction, we feel out of control and may struggle with many other areas of our lives. 15. Some of us have low self-esteem which may affect our motivation, and our relationship with God and others. What admitting I was an addict did for me: 1. It caused me to understand that I could not control my eating through mere discipline. It was controlling me. 2. It caused me to acknowledge the seriousness of my sin. My overeating and becoming obese was not something I could excuse. I was a glutton and just because other Christians obvious gluttons was no defense for my sin. 3. It helped me to realize that I was in real trouble, and that continuing to live as I was hurting me in many ways that I tended to deny. 4. It forced me to apply the principles and steps of recovery to my food addiction. If recovery was possible for other types of addicts, then it must also be possible for me. 5. It required me to understand my recovery as a life-long commitment, not just a temporary change to lose weight. Once an addict, always an addict. 6. It taught me that recovery had to be a one day at a time process, and that I could not solve my addiction problem all at once. 7. It required me to discover a way to sobriety as a food addict. Since I still had to eat something, I needed to find a way to be sober in a healthy, sustainable way. 8. It forced me to make a conscious decision to make a change in my life, to trust God to help me, and determine that this was not going to be temporary change to lose weight, but a life-long change in how I eat and relate to food. What becoming sober has meant to me: 1. With God s help I have lost approximately 100 pounds and maintained my weight now over more than 21 months. It is by maintaining my sobriety from food abuse that I am able to maintain my weight. 2. I am enjoying a level of health and energy I have rarely experienced. In addition, I am now able to enjoy shopping for new clothes and trying them on. 3. I have learned that eating is not just about what I can t eat, but what I get to eat and what I now want to eat. My sobriety is measured not just by not eating too much, but also being sure to eat enough.
4. I can honestly say that I now love to eat and live this way. It has me set free to be able to eat and to enjoy what I do eat with freedom. I now want to make healthy choices in what I eat and have little or no desire to go back to my old ways. So now what? 1. I want to give you hope. If you are like me, you have just about decided it is hopeless for you to overcome this problem. If it is possible for me to have overcome my addiction to food, then I believe it is possible for you. 2. I want to teach you how I have come to define sobriety as a food addict. 3. I want to share some of the tools I have used to help me make the necessary changes. 4. I want to equip you to find and use tools that that I believe are essential to guarding my continued sobriety. 5. I want to share some of the tricks of the trade I have learned that has me to stay sober, eat well, and learn the joy that comes in knowing I am eating as I should. 6. I want to emphasize the importance of creating a network of accountability and support. Overcoming any addiction requires a spiritual transformation, a system of accountability, and a community of supportive and encouraging relationships. 7. I want to prepare to transition to maintaining your weight for a lifetime. I have learned that losing is actually easier than maintaining, and I want to prepare you for that. Some advice for this session: 1. If you are an addict, be willing to admit it. Go ahead and say it, even if people around you don t believe you or take you seriously. There is no shame in admitting the truth. 2. Don t feel like you have to do something about it tonight. It took me an entire year of struggling with it before I was ready for a change. I am convinced you will know when the time is right for you. My hope is that you will be ready to make the commitment for 2013. 3. Keep an open mind, and don t decide yet whether or not this can work for you based on this one session. Please come back next week. Give it some time and be willing to learn, as I am continuing to learn. 4. Grasp a hold of hope. God is ready to do something really great in your life if you will just let Him work. I believe it is going to happen for you.
5. Consider setting a date on which you will begin your new life of sobriety. Begin now to prepare for that date by being equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful.