Tomorrow is National Sober Day and we’re proud to take part in “celebrating the sober life and bringing awareness to addiction.” For food addicts, sobriety is often called abstinence but the meaning is the same – abstaining from addictive substances. Food addiction is just like drug and alcohol addiction. Addiction happens when the body has become biochemically dependent on a particular substance and needs that substance in order to function “normally.”
As with all addictions, food addiction is a brain disease. For food addicts, changing what and how we eat takes much more than good intentions, strong will, or even therapy. Once a person is addicted to certain foods, those foods actually change the brain in ways that make abstaining from them very difficult — even for those who desperately want to stop.
In the case of food addiction, the body has become dependent on certain foods or eating behaviors. The most common addictive foods are sugar, flour, high fat, high salt, certain grains, or a combination of these. The most common addictive eating behaviors are bingeing, purging, grazing, and volume eating.
At SHiFT, we know that it’s possible to become and remain sober and abstinent. We’ve helped thousands of food addicts find recovery and watched with great joy as their lives SHiFTed from hopelessness into Sobriety, Hope, Freedom and Transformation.
The best way to celebrate National Sober Day tomorrow is to stay or become abstinent. One day leads to another which turns into long-term sobriety. And that is certainly something worth celebrating!