It’s the time of year when many food addicts are struggling to stay motivated. Now that the excitement of a new year has passed and we’re entering February, it’s easy to lose motivation but it’s also dangerous.
Food addicts who have yet to recover and continue to binge are creating serious physical and mental health issues for themselves. The risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression, stroke and suicide increases with each binge.
Food addicts in recovery who are feeling tempted need to take a step back and remember how painful it was to be out of control; to experience overpowering physical cravings that resulted in feeling completely demoralized from not being able to stop eating. It hasn’t gotten any better. If anything, it’s worse because now these food addicts know that recovery is possible.
If you feel like quitting or if you’re having trouble starting, it sometimes helps to think about the consequences. Food addiction is a disease that has many physical and emotional consequences, the most serious of which is death. Food addiction can’t simply be cured by thinking it away though, if approached as a physical, mental and emotional illness, it can be put into remission.
No longer are food addicts asked to “stick” to a “diet” then left feeling humiliated because they couldn’t. Instead, food addicts understand that they need to abstain from those foods that trigger physical cravings. These are two different approaches and only the second one works for food addicts.
So, it you’re thinking about quitting, think twice. Remember how awful it was or think about how much more damage years of bingeing will do to your body. Is that binge worth your life?