Right now my baby is crying it out*. I’ve been trying for 45 minutes (the length of time she’s been crying) to think of some way to make this funny but the truth is I just want to crawl out of my skin and shove nails in my ears. But since I am unable to shed my skin snake-like – although that would make my post workout showers quicker! – and I will likely need my ear drums to be intact for future activities like listening to my son recount the entire plot of Lego Star Wars while my eyeballs roll back in my head, I am dealing with the wailing in another manner. I’m stress eating.
People talk about emotional eating all the time as being one of the core reasons people become overweight and have a hard time losing weight. For me, emotional eating isn’t usually my problem. Being upset, angry or depressed actually makes me less hungry. But stress? Has me running to the jelly beans every time. I’ll cut to the chase: this evening I have eaten half a pan of cinnamon rolls and 4 homemade (dairy free!) coconut almond chocolates. The calorie calculator in my brain just shorted out.
I know I’m not eating because I’m hungry. And I’m not stuffing my face because the food is just that delicious – I barely tasted the last two rolls. There’s just something about prolonged stress that makes me want to eat until I explode. The harder she cries, the faster I eat. Of course this isn’t the first time this has happened. Just the other day we were stuck in traffic and my middle two children were fighting so loudly that they were literally foaming at the mouth. Oh yes they were. My hand found the bag of hot cinnamon jelly beans in the glove box (doesn’t everyone keep a bag of jelly beans in their glove box? They should be a part of everyone’s emergency kits: flashlight, flares and high fructose corn syrup.) and I ate a few. In spite of all my yelling at them from the front seat (it’s probably for the best that I couldn’t reach them), they persisted in killing each other. The more they fought, the more jelly beans I ate. When it finally looked as though my family was about to become a three-child clan again, I realized that I could barely breathe I had so many jelly beans crammed in my mouth. Looming fratricide notwithstanding, I decided to focus on the really important thing in this situation: my waistline. I spat the wad of sugar out into my hand and then chucked it out the window. Strangely that solved the situation as the kids were so upset that I had wasted perfectly good candy – and hadn’t shared any with them – that all of them took up wailing and stopped punching each other. On another note: For my birthday I want one of those windshield shades that says CALL 911 in big red letters on it.
The thing that stopped me in my tracks then and got me to get rid of the rest of the cinnamon rolls now, is a new piece of research published in Scientific American via Nature Neuroscience that shows that rats allowed to binge on fatty, sugary rat chow became chemically dependent on it, their brain pathways lighting up in the same way as they would if they were addicted to cocaine. (Two extraneous thoughts: 1) What exactly constitutes rat junk food? Do they make them Whopper Jr. Jr. Jr.s? Sprinkles instead of rat pellets? Deep fat fried Oreo bites? 2) Who is in charge of procuring the cocaine for the rats? Is there a government bureau of Opiates for Animal Studies? Also, do the rats snort it? Eat it? Inject it between their toes so they won’t have to quit modeling?) In the study, the luckiest rodents on earth – well, after the ones with the glowing livers – were allowed to eat as much junkie (Get it? Junkie?? Hee.) fare as they wanted. And then the gravy train ended. The results were ominous:
The new study showed that after eating a diet full of sausage and sweets for 40 days—even though regular lab rat chow was available—the obese rats had little interest in reverting to the more healthful diet when the tasty stuff was taken away. In fact, after depriving the high-fat habituated rats of their human junk foods, the rats would refuse to eat their standard chow for an average of 14 days. “I was really shocked at the magnitude of the effect,” Kenny says. “They basically don’t eat anything. If that translates over to us as a species, that’s a major problem.”
What the researchers didn’t realize is that this exact same study has already been done on human beings. Children, to be precise. Many of you have seen Chef Jamie Oliver’s new reality show Food Revolution where he goes to the unhealthiest school district in America (West Virginia for those of you who are curious) and makes over their chicken-nugget-and-pizza hot lunches with healthy, local fare. Considering that Oliver is a chef and that he has a TV series sized budget to work with you’d think that those kids would be reveling in their good fortune – Who has a personal chef in elementary school? Well, besides Lindsay Lohan but you saw where that got her – but this is not the case. What do the kids think of their healthified lunches? “A
survey of the school in his new ABC reality show found children overwhelmingly preferred institutional fare to his freshly made offerings — so much so that many stopped buying lunch.” 8 out of 10 reported being “very unhappy” with their new lunches. Just like the rats, the kids are addicted to crap.
That’s enough to scare me into throwing all my bags of jelly beans out the window.
The problem, of course, with food addiction – and now we can say that it is an actual physical dependency – is that one cannot just quit eating cold turkey (hee!) like you would if you were trying to quit cocaine. There’s a reason why they tell you in AA that you can never ever drink again, because once you are an addict those chemical pathways are very hard to break. It’s easier to abstain that to be moderate.
All of which leaves us with some very unpleasant questions to ponder: How do you avoid becoming addicted to food in the first place? What do you do if you already are? Are you condemned to a life of white-knuckling it through every holiday and dinner party? And lastly, when will research stop making me wet myself??
*And now, my baby has finally stopped crying! Joy!! For those of you who think I am evil and/or cruel, letting a baby “cry it out” is not as abusive as it sounds. Once babies reach a certain age (4 months old according to most doctors) they are capable of soothing themselves to sleep. You just have to teach them how. We’ve done this with all our kids and all of them are marvelous sleepers now. The first night, by the way, is the worst. But I’m totally not baking tomorrow. Just in case.
Hello my name is Jenn and I'm a sugarholic.
I had a full blown sugar addiction. It was so consuming that I once found myself hiding out back of my house "drinking" a cup of syrup. A little over two years ago I stopped refined white sugar cold turkey. This past January on my two year anniversary of being sugar free I had some icing. The next thing I knew I was hiding in the closet eating gummy snacks. (Sad. I know. If I'm going to blow it wth am I doing eating gummy snacks.) I also realized how much I missed desserts so this year I'm trying a "moderate" approach by allowing myself to eat desserts I've made with natural sugars. My reasoning is I *think* natural sugars are less addiction (or so I tell myself) and I'm lazy. I'm just not going to get up off the couch to make cookies whenever I have a hankering for something sweet. Nevertheless, t's a slippery slope for me.
Ok this post is pretty deep but i will touch on some food allergen pathways, i.e. casomorphins and gliadomorphins, both are opiod like metabolites that our body's produce when we drink milk (casein= milk) and gliad (gliadin, or gluten = grains). So ppl actually can be "addicted" to dairy or to carbs. I have posted on this in my Dairy FAQ's post last week.
So eating foods can re wire the neural pathways, of course. That's my psychology background coming in.
Nice oats. That's what i say when there is far too much to comment on for a comment field.
🙂
Your comments to me..20 to 1 ratio of good to bad and the bad ones burned in. yes.
Blogger and commenting systems, i do like mine, intense debate, its a widget install or discus is acceptable, also a widget install.
Gosh can't remember what else you all told or asked me the past few days, it's been busy in the 'old inbox in my neck a the woods 🙂
oh recipe link backs, yes, can you believe ppl dont always think it's necessary, Wtf??!
xxoxo
Stress leads me to the sugary sweetness every time!
Glad to hear Jelly Bean stopped crying! Oh how I hated those nights. They are burned into my memory forever, but my (well-adjusted) kids don't remember a thing. Not fair!
I can so understand the stress eating with cry it out. I think I ate a whole box of chocolate fiber bars while listening to my little guy cry. Whoa, did I regret that the next day.
While I have been "free" of bulimic behavior (as in, throwing up) for over 3 years, I still find myself reverting to old habits and eating when I get super-stressed. It's like my body/mind are hard-wired to turn to sugary foods the second my stress gets above a certain level. The only way I've found to get through the cravings is by running or working out, but is that sometimes just replacing one obsession (albeit a healthier one) with another?
Anyway, I enjoy reading your blog and am a fellow Minnesotan. Good luck with the cry it out—it is not cruel to teach your baby how to sleep so he is happier and healthier. I hope it gets better soon!
Hi my name is carla and Im so so thankful that when my child was crying nonstop (colic? who the heck knows) I was residing in a location where there really wasnt readily available sugars (and I didnt know the words for GIMMIE SOME FREAKING SNICKERS POR FAVOR) as for me it is less stress and more the more TIRED I GET the more sugars I want.
I did the cry it out there for lack of any other option and tho it sucked for a few days it was the BEST THING FOR ME and her I think.
Im a fountain of bad parenting advice if you ever want any 🙂
and bad baking.
but no one wants that.
(ooh my "word" below to leave my comment is QUITTER)
I am glad the bean settled in for you. When my children had crying fits as babies, I went as far to grab a dollar from my wallet and offer it to them to stop crying.
How to break the addiction to crap? I don't know. But you are talking to the woman who offered each of her kids a dollar to eat fish and spinach so perhaps I am not the best one to ask
To answer your question about the rats, the research group has to get approved by the DEA and they supply the scientists with "research grade" cocaine. The scientists then dilute the cocaine to the desired concentration and inject it into the rats. (Yes, I was a dealer for my little rats… but in the name of science only!)
As far as the jelly bean you can't throw out the window, my usually happy and smiling infant has turned into a very colicky almost 8 week old. Apparently, they are supposed to "grow out of it" by 4 months so I have 3 days down and only about 60 more to go. Um, yay?
I'm a stress eater, but that's not really wanted to post. I'm so glad you posted today. In the car, on the way to work, I thought "Dang it! I hope Charlotte posts soon. I miss her." And you did. I'm sorry for you that it was for a not-so-pleasant reason, but I'm pretty darn happy for me!
Although there are economic and political agendas related to labeling various eating disorders as an addiction, I do feel that there is some value to doing so. Addictions require specific, aggressive treatment strategies to have much hope of reining them in. Society needs a wakeup call for these types of problems and perhaps seeing them as an addiction will help.
HI, I'm Erika, and I'm a sugar-holic, too. I gave it up cold turkey six years ago, and managed to stay off it for 9 months before having "a little bite" of a dessert at a fancy dinner…and ate two pieces of desert, before going home and eating a candy bar.
Six years later, and hundreds (of thousands) of bites of chocolate and sugar later, I'm facing insulin resistance, and have to give it up again – forever. I quit cold turkey again 5 weeks ago today.
And this time will have to be forever, since I don't think I want to go through that withdrawal EVER AGAIN. Two weeks of headaches, dizzy, feeling sick, and craving like the end of the world. I gave up chocolate, caffeine, all sugar, and all grains.
However, on the other side of the withdrawal, the cravings have let up and I'm finding ways to satisfy my sweet tooth with things I CAN have, and feel so much better. Yes, I still want chocolate. But doughnuts don't even smell good anymore. After 4-6 weeks of none, I can try a small amount of dark (not milk) chocolate as a treat, but if it triggers the addiction again, it's gone. Same with grains. I am still drinking milk, but am considering dropping it, too.
I will say though, that as a vegetarian for the last 15+ years, it has been difiicult finding food to eat! I have had to resort to eating meat again (yuck) just to get enough calories. But as I continue down the path, and my moods level out (no more mood swings!!!) I'm finding it easier to be logical about looking for better choices.
Just as a note – I was super-thin as a teen, to the point where I was accused over and over again of having an eating disorder, but I didn't. The irony is that now that I'm an adult and have had a kid, and gained some weight…NOW I'm having mental issues with my weight and eating, even though I KNOW I'm not overweight, I FEEL fat. And that I have to control it.
ugh…i just wrote a post and it got lost!
I agree with Dr. J's comment that addictions require "specific, aggresive treatment strategies" and this is no different for ED's. This is what I had to go through to overcome my binge-eating disorder. Lots of journaling, therapy, reading books, repeat. I guess society doesn't like to label ED's as addictions because we all need food to live. I think that is why it is so hard to overcome since we can't quit cold turkey.
I also stress eat….and eat when i am emotional…but the stress eating is where i don't taste the food. To stay on the 'sober' side of my ED I have to be diligent in recognizing my stress eating and acknowledge the emotions and then let it go. I can't get rid of the trigger foods because anything is a trigger food for me. I just have to take a deep breath and sit with my emotions or journal them and then the desire to eat goes away. If I try to cover them up by white-knuckling the craving the stress hides itself away for another day.
Mary Kate
That reminds me of a study from last year that looked at rats on a junk food diet. It was presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. Maybe this is the same study, finally published, because they found that rats’ brains on junk food responded in the same way they did when they were addicted to cocaine or heroin. (The study is here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026231950.htm) I’m sure this part (from the above study, not the published one you mention) sounds familiar to many people: “The overeating continued even when it meant the rats had to endure an unpleasant consequence (a mild foot shock) in order to consume the food.”
On another note, you’ve finally convinced me to never have children. 🙂
Oh my – I remember the crying it out phase. We had it with the girls as babies and then later as toddlers, when we broke the bottle at bed time. My youngest (about to turn 16) loves to hear me tell the story of her chucking her juice box of water at me screaming – "No – Ba Ba!". She had good aim even back then.
On the emotional eating – I am the poster child and am in the middle of a bout right now. I grew up being programmed for it (you had a bad day – lets have icecream, you had a great day – lets have icecream, you get the idea). I am eating out of boredom with work (tons to do, just not that exciting) and frustration with my weight (like that makes any sense) plus fear of my eldest heading to college this fall (I will be the one crying it out then).
Last fall, I read "The end of Overeating" and it made total sense to me but unfortunately has not helped. Maybe I should dust it off and reread it.
i totally was a colicky baby. aka the baby from hell and i'm 99.99% sure that i caused my mom to do the opposite: stress not-eat. i think it's really interesting and wonder if there's any research out there as to who is more disposed to stress eating vs. noneating.
and YAY for being internet twins 🙂
I also am an addict. A fast-food addict. I can't even stick to ordering one thing if I go to one. I order the menu. I want both the big mac, the quarter pounder + large size the fry and 6 mcnuggets. I'm not joking. And I'm not all that big… yet. I hate how the compulsion takes over and yes I would rather starve than eat calories I don't particularly like (skip or eat a bland dinner with people only to go eat again later at a fast food place). It is definitely an addiction. It is definitely worse when I am stressed. I moved to a new city, alone, no friends and the job was hell. So I've gained 20lbs.
I am beginning to think moderation doesn't work. I can't just order a kid's meal at McDonald's and get my fix. If I eat at McDonalds for lunch, I crave it for dinner and I over order everytime.
If it's grains, milk and all of that processed stuff that gets me and if it means I don't eat for the first 14 days but that afterwards, my system adjusts, it's worth it. The health consequences to my current diet keep me up at night worried that I am my worst enemy and that I am slowly and painfully killing myself with this.
Crazy huh? We're definitely ont he same wavelength right now. Funny thing is I recently read an article on how to deal with weight issues weight and one of the steps was "just stop binge eating". Yeah. Just like that. Whew. Well, noone ever put it that way before-I'm cured! ….*sigh*
I hear ya. After reading The End of Overeating, being a sciencey type I did a lot of literature searching on food addiction studies. It is scary what information there is out ther about what this crap food does to our brain and our bodies – not just health issues but chemically and hormonally as well. We cannot always rationalise what our brain and body do in response to food and hormones…and sometimes cutting out the crap is the only way to try and correct things. I know for me it is the only thing I can do to keep it together…I can't have "just a little". I'm not wired that way…OOnce I start I'm off the wagon and rolling around in the cheetos like a pig in mud.
Oh – and rats love cherry jello. LOVE it.
Just saying…
oh sister. I feel ya.
After 3 "tries" of letting Seth cry it out (as in, we did it three times…successfully…and then he got sick immediately after…THREE TIMES) we are FINALLY in the land of sleep. And let me just say…the land of sleep IS FREAKING AWESOME.
But when I look back at the stress levels and the eating – holy cow. Instead of wishing I was thinner I'm just glad I'm not 20 pounds heavier.
Seeing someone else have struggle with baby/sleep/other children leading to stress eating makes me feel SOOOOO normal. Thanks, Charlotte.
p.s. I actually left that comment BEFORE I went to the gym this morning…when I got back I came down to my computer and saw the word verfication on. whoops. 😉
I am definetely a stress eater…particularly child crying/whining/begging/whying stress! (gotta love 3 year olds!)
I also like seeing the research and understanding my current struggles with junk food. I'm not 10 week post partum and having a hard time getting back into healthy eating. I never completely gave it up….but I let myself slip a lot during the end of pregnancy and the first month of baby.
I was able to loose the first baby weight relatively easily once I set my mind to it (a lot of work and calorie counting, but I was able to keep myself motivated) This time I'm having trouble with the motivation. I want to get my body back. I never want to have these love handles again and I want to get rid of them ASAP. But when it comes to making the right choices, I'm struggling. knowing that there is a chemical addiction happening will help me make the right choices more frequently and hopefully end the addiction sooner rather then later.
Still not quite been put off the idea of kids!
Do you know of OverEaters Anonymous http://www.oa.org/?
LizCW
Well, first off, I think you might want to give yourself a break. These are VERY stressful times, and we've all done what you do! Last night I was watching a show (OK, I admit it, it was "Dr. Phil." Yes, I am ashamed!) in which a panelist told a mother of a baby and a toddler that "These are the hardest times as a mom." And I think it's true!
And, boy howdy, I STILL want to puncture my own eardrums when one of my kids has a meltdown!
As far as food addiction, well, I'm in the hopeful stage: I'm hoping that a day will come when I can take or leave ANY food, and I don't immediately turn to the fridge during times of stress, sadness, anger, etc.
I'm totally the opposite. When I'm stressed, I just stop eating. Like…totally. But then I'm a professional worrier, so I guess it makes sense.
I tend to overeat when I'm bored–which happens a lot when you're trying to find a job in the worst economy since the Depression. I just try to not keep a ton of unhealthy stuff in the cabinets/freezer/fridge. And it helps that the nearest store that sells candy is too far to walk!
I'm a total food addict. It's a constant struggle. I don't know whether I'm paying obsessive attention to food and making it ever-present or not paying enough attention to dieting. I'm currently in a straight jacket to keep me from eating. Problem with that is nose-typing takes it's toll.
I am in the throes of dealing with sugar addiction right now. I tried to stop cold turkey but my withdrawal symptoms were terrible! My therapist suggested I read "Potatoes not Prozac" by Kathleen DesMaisons and now I'm following the steps.
In the three months I've been on them, my binging has gone from an almost daily event to a weekly event and I am much more stable with my moods and self-esteem! I really can't say enough about the program.
There's a lot of science to back it up, and it's way too complicated for me to get into here, but you can find out more at: http://www.radiantrecovery.com
It's a slow process, but before I found the book I felt lost, so I just wanted to mention it here because it has given me significant relief in my addiction.
I'd be curious to see if eating crap as a child versus eating crap food as an adult affects your brain pathways in different ways. My parents did not let me eat ANY junk food as a young child, only relenting when I got to school (and there were cupcakes and candy at school all the time). Even then, they didn't keep junk food in the house and our versions of "desserts" were usually fruit or low sugar pudding.
Since moving out of their house, I've gone through phases where I eat more sweet or greasy food, but for the most part I don't like it. I do tend to crave sugar foods when I'm tired and still working (like hour 10 of my 15-hour work days), because sugar's quick energy. And if I've been drinking, I tend to crave the greasy food. But overall, after a day or two max of that, I crave veggies and whole grains again. It's like I've had my fill of those foods for awhile.
I'd be really curious if your eating habits as a child somehow map your neuron patterns – strong enough that even as an adult they can be slightly modified but not overwritten. Similarly, I've been vegetarian since I was very little and never once had a problem with anemia, though I did not take a multivitamin until recently. I've always wondered if my body adapted growing up so I didn't need as much iron as other people who eat more of it, or something. Maybe there's something similar with these addictive foods, that how much you eat them growing up creates permanent changes in your brain and body for the rest of your life?
I'm a complete sugarholic and stress eater. Right now I feel like i'd have more control over my life if I changed over to cocaine and/or crack.
Its awful!
PS: my baby was a great sleeper at night until now (just about 4 months) and now is up every HOUR. Im losing my mind and ready to suck up anything made 100% of sugar in sight.
It isn't pretty. 🙁
You make me laugh, Charlotte!
It's a REALLY tough addiction to break. That's why I've tried to be strict about my eating habits in the past… because if I allow myself to have ONE of something, it will likely lead to more. I had weaned myself off of needing butter (or Earth Balance) on my air-popped popcorn, but I let myself have it ONCE and now I'm addicted again. Can't break out of it.
I'm always amazed when I meet someone who ISN'T addicted to some food or another. And it's a shame that it's such a rarity.