With over 11 million views, my guess is that some of you are familiar with Johann Hari's thought-provoking TED Talk, Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong. Taking approximately fifteen minutes to watch or re-watch it would be time well invested.
His research brought him to the conclusion that -
My thoughts were broadened further by this article from Be Nourished comparing the ideas toward and common treatment of drug addition to "food addiction." I've never been comfortable with that phrase - for many reasons.
One reason being that it's too often used as a scare tactic, such as, "Sugar lights up the same brain pathways as heroin and cocaine." That may be true, but so do lots of other things like listening to live music, falling in love, receiving a hug, and being recognized for an achievement.
Another reason being that with the "addiction" label applied, many healing professionals are using the addiction model to talk about how people relate to food. As Mikalina Kirkpatrick, Hilary Kinavey, and Dana Sturtevant point out in their Be Nourished article, "We believe it is important that as society unlearns dangerous misconceptions about drug addiction that we not repeat the same mistakes in our efforts to help people heal their relationship with food."
Also from their article, "There’s a body of evidence to suggest addiction is often a state of being that evolves from long term attempts to cope with unbearable emotional discomfort, which often stems from trauma. Gabor Maté, a renowned speaker and bestselling author highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, stress and childhood development, says, 'There is trauma without addiction, but there is no addiction without trauma.'"
We are wired to seek pleasure and reduce pain. When the use of food to cope, soothe, or even numb is treated as an addiction, other problem behaviors like excessive shopping, gambling, or drinking alcohol can be turned to for the relief food once brought. Years ago, an acquaintance lost a lot of weight. When I asked her how she had done it she replied, "It was easy; I started smoking again." This, and things like it, are all too common.
Brene Brown says, and I believe, that we are hard-wired for connection. When considering current scientific findings, Johann Hari's TED talk, the article from Be Nourished, my personal experiences, and experiences of many others I know who deal with an unhealthy relationship to food, I'm left pondering and invite you to consider, too, the question -
Is connection the answer to the problem of food "addiction?"