I'm not sure I buy the whole "addiction" label. I know I tend to eat for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. That's why I'm a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, where we learn to self-monitor our food intake and be aware of why we are eating - boredom, habit, emotional, hunger, etc., and exercise. That's also what makes weight loss a little harder than quitting smoking, drinking, or drugs. You don't need cigarettes, alcohol, or recreational drugs to survive. You still have to eat every day of your life.

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While we don't need cocaine to live, we do require the chemical processes that cocaine and other stimulants intensify. I'm not trashing anyone, I just think there is a reasonable comparison.

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If you read the article, you'll see that they studied morbidly obese people, "people who were too heavy to leave their reclining chairs and too big to walk out the doorway," and say that "most people's weight problems aren't caused by food addiction." I think you *can* compare it to drug use by saying that some people are able to use drugs in a recreational way, while others become addicted to them. Some people eat food in a normal way, others have issues with it and "abuse" it, and then a minority of people could be addicted to it.

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Unfortunately I get the whole food addiction thing. It is true that we need food to survive however the catch is that we don’t “need” certain “addictive foods” like sugar, enriched grains, fried foods, all the stuff I grew up with. :) That is why it is so difficult to recover from food addiction we can’t simply abstain from eating however we CAN abstain from eating the “addictive” foods.

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