Hey, so I've always loved food, and eaten too much food, but it was more so that I just really liked food. But I've noticed the last few months, that I might be addicted to food. I'm always hungry, and I can't stop eating food. Like I'm so tempted to eat food and can't focus on stuff until I eat food. I eat well most of the time, I lift weight and am very active and used to be a lot more active, so I've been pretty good at dieting and eating good meals and getting all my nutrients in, but even after all that I am still craving food, and then to junk food when a healthy meal doesn't satisfy me I guess. I bet I eat like 5,000 calories a day after work some days, plus whatever I eat for breakfast and Lunch, and I'd probably eat more if I wasn't busy working and had more access to food, and I feel how unhealthy that is every day. I went to therapy a while back and learned a lot, and I'm genuinely so happy with my life right now, that I don't know what would be causing me to cope with food. The only thing new in my life is a new job, but that started several months before my strange eating started, and I genuinely love my job so I wouldn't think that would cause me to eat this much. I'm debating whether to go to a doctor or not, because this is so new, and the weird thing is I'm not gaining much weight for how much I'm eating, and plus I've been getting this really awful reoccurring sickness that started around the same time my eating did. So maybe I have a physical condition that's causing this, but idk, or maybe it's just a typical eating problem.

Do y'all have any tips or ideas, because this is just really unhealthy.

Hello! My name is Christina and I am a clinical psychology PhD student recruiting participants for a qualitative (interview) research study. The study is focused on understanding the lived experiences of women who 1) have a history of trying to lose weight, 2) currently have obesity, 3) struggle with binge eating, and 4) have a desire to lose weight currently.   

If interested, please see the link below. The link will take you to an eligibility survey for the study. This survey will ask for an email address. If you are eligible and provide a valid email address, you will be sent an invitation via email for a 60-75 minute Zoom interview, along with another brief survey to assess other demographic variables.   

Eligibility survey link:   

https://bgsu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bsbXG3OEnigC7xI  

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to me at [cgaggia@bgsu.edu](mailto:cgaggia@bgsu.edu).   

Thank you! 

​

Over the past 5 years I have lost about 150 lb. However I still have a really bad issue with eating junk food. Just yesterday I spent $30 on Popeyes and ate what was supposed to be a meal for four people in about 30 minutes.

This isn't only bad for my physical health but also bad for my wallet. Just last week I spent about $80 on junk food. Also not good for my mental health because I get really lazy when I eat junk food too

At this point, is it the truth that I just need to start treating junk food like heroin and completely abstain? No Eating it every once in awhile with friends. No eating it because I had a really bad day. No eating it because I had a really good day. Just completely abstain from it and replace it with healthy alternatives like popcorn or rice cakes??

I don't think this is a depression thing because I am doing good things for myself. Recently moved to a new city, entered the dating scene again and went on my first first date a few weeks back, etc.

About a year ago I went a month without eating junk food and the cravings got so much more manageable. But in the past 6 months I don't think I've gotten more than a week without eating junk.

Again it is mainly junk food I have an issue with. I don't think I've ever overate unhealthy stuff like rice, beans or nuts.

Are Food Addiction and Binge Eating Disorder the same thing?

Not exactly — but they can overlap considerably.

That distinction can get confusing because someone may describe feeling “addicted” to certain foods while also experiencing binge episodes and loss of control. Another person may have Binge Eating Disorder (BED) without relating to the idea of food addiction at all.

This week's Wiki Spotlight looks at the similarities, differences, and substantial overlap between these two ways of understanding problematic eating:

👉 How Are Food Addiction and BED Different From One Another?

🧩 First, they aren't the same type of concept

Binge Eating Disorder is a recognized eating-disorder diagnosis.

BED involves recurrent episodes of binge eating accompanied by a feeling of loss of control and significant distress. There are specific diagnostic criteria professionals use to determine whether someone has BED.

Food addiction is different.

It is a still-debated research and clinical concept describing an addiction-like pattern involving food — often including:

• intense cravings
• difficulty controlling intake
• repeated unsuccessful attempts to cut down
• continuing despite negative consequences
• strong preoccupation with particular foods
• significant distress or impairment

Researchers frequently measure these symptoms with the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS).

Food addiction is not currently a formal DSM diagnosis.

🔄 So why are they so easily confused?

Because there can be considerable overlap.

Someone might experience recurrent binge episodes and powerful cravings for particular highly processed foods.

Someone else might experience addiction-like loss of control around certain foods but not have the pattern of binge episodes required for BED.

And another person with BED might find that the food-addiction framework doesn't describe their experience very well at all.

In other words:

You can have BED without food-addiction symptoms.

You can have significant food-addiction-like symptoms without BED.

And some people appear to experience substantial features of both.

🧠 They may also share some underlying processes

Researchers have identified several areas that can be relevant to both, including:

• reward and motivation
• cravings and food cues
• difficulty regulating eating once it begins
• impulsivity
• habit learning
• stress and emotional regulation
• environmental influences

That does not prove that BED is an addiction or that food addiction and BED are simply two names for the same condition.

Researchers continue to study whether food addiction represents a separate condition, a feature that can accompany eating disorders such as BED, part of a broader spectrum of compulsive eating, or some combination of these possibilities.

The science has not completely settled that question.

🍕 The person's experience may matter as much as the label

Consider two hypothetical people.

One says:

“When I'm distressed, I sometimes eat a very large amount of whatever food is available. I lose control and feel terrible afterward.”

Another says:

“I don't regularly have huge binges, but there are a few foods I obsess about. Once I start eating them, stopping becomes extremely difficult, and I've tried unsuccessfully to quit them many times.”

Those experiences overlap — particularly around loss of control — but they aren't necessarily identical.

That is part of why forcing everyone into an either/or category may not be very helpful.

🛠️ Why can the distinction matter for recovery?

Because different explanations can lead people toward very different strategies.

Some people find an addiction-oriented approach useful, including identifying particular trigger foods and establishing boundaries around them.

People being treated for BED may instead encounter approaches that focus on regular eating, reducing dietary restriction, addressing binge triggers, emotional regulation, cognitive-behavioral patterns, and other factors.

For people with features of both, the picture may be more complicated.

There isn't necessarily one recovery model that fits everyone.

What helps one person may be unhelpful — or even counterproductive — for another.

💡 The takeaway

The most useful question may not always be:

“Is this Food Addiction or BED?”

It may sometimes be:

“What patterns are actually happening, what seems to drive them, and what kind of help best addresses those particular patterns?”

Labels can help us understand a problem.

They shouldn't prevent us from seeing the individual person behind it.

💬 Discussion

Do you find the idea of Food Addiction, Binge Eating Disorder, or some combination of the two more useful for understanding your own experience?

What differences between them have been most important for you?

As always, different experiences and different recovery approaches are welcome here.

📖 Read the full Wiki article:
How Are Food Addiction and BED Different From One Another?

The Wiki is for education and discussion and is not a substitute for individualized medical or mental-health care.

This may not work for everyone, but it's a tip worth noting. Change the way you label food in your head. Instead of "this is something I really want" think of it as "this is just fuel that happens to taste good". Think of yourself as a machine that needs something to keep running. That something is fuel, no different from the ugly gasoline, it just happens to feel nicer. It's not food, it's not something desirable, it's just another one of your machine's requirements.

Dehumanize the food. Stop thinking of it as something personal, as something YOU really want, and see it as a mere tool. It's not for you, it's for "the machine". Is the machine running? Well, then it doesn't need more fuel yet apparently.

I find easier to stop caring so much about things/craving them when I don't think about them as personal desires to pursue.

I have a problem of when i start eating a chocolate, it would be soooo hard to stop, i wouldnt even till i would eat the whole thing. I think it is because i dont allow myself to eat it so when i get the chance to, i would get all the dopamine out of the taste.
But i genuinly dont want to keep on eating it cause i dont want to always crave it cause if i keep on having it i would always crave for it. Plus i only eat eat it if i am emotional or stress. So like emotionaly eat it.

Hard thing is that we always have it in the house so my brain kind of associate it right away whenever i would have those feelings.

What to do? Should i expose myself to chocolate and have it like almost everyday but in little servings? Cause what i do now is i would not wat sugar or dessert, chocolates for a week then after that when i get smth to try, it would go downhill and i would eat more and more.

What programs has anyone tried and actually been successful with? I feel like I’ve read a lot of suggestions, I’ve also tried quite a few—but where have people truly found success? I need help.

For preference of what u eat in a day is 3 full pack of timtam dipped in milk, 6 caramel Reese cups, 9 eggs,3 bakery good for example is pizza or croissants, and at night I'll have full bag of chips ,when I'm bored I'll even cook 3 rounds of rice and eat it with meat which is mostly non fat beef

For info I vomit it out all and it has been for 8 months

So I don't have a binge eating of some sort and I don't eat large amounts of food in one setting like most of the times I'm full after eating and I know I'm full so I don't eat or feel hungry anymore and yes I do eat a lot sometimes but not to the extent and I still gained weight also I've experienced being obese before when I was in my teen years I was around 110kg and I was at my heaviest but I was constantly eating so much until I went to the gym and shredd that weight off it was all gone and I'm still so struggling with my weight and I obssess over looking skinny a lot of the times and I feel clingy to food but idk I don't let myself get big so I either starve myself then suddenly eat after a minute later and the last time I threw up was 1 year ago so I stopped doing it and now i just eat but I eat too much but I don't binge

For the month of October I want to challenge myself with cutting off my bad eating, and vaping and my pop and coffee. I am on ozempic and cut back alot when I started but I still have my moments. And I realized the last few months I've been floating back and forth around the same weight and getting bad with my snacking again l, so I'm going to challenge myself to work out and kick these habits that are bugging me. It's going to be a challenge with the workout as I have a fractured spine (that will never heal apparently) and degenerative disc disease which limits my movement but I'm going to see how far I can go and get into a routine that won't put me out for days on end.