Rudd Sound Bites

"Surrendering" to Food

by Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

Recovery from compulsive eating is based on a foundation that recognizes what food can and can not provide.  Food is certainly necessary for providing the sources of energy and building blocks for our bodies to survive.  Food does not function particularly adaptively in providing a source of emotional, psychological or spiritual comfort; that many of us use food to achieve these functions, and that food does actually have considerable mood-altering effects, supports us in resisting replacing food as a Higher Power with other forms of comfort.  Indeed, one operational definition of a Higher Power is whatever we turn to in times of distress for comfort.  Food is used by the compulsive eater for just that kind of comfort.

Spirituality, Religion, and Overeating

by Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

One of the common objections to compulsive overeaters attending Overeaters Anonymous is the complaint that people in these meetings talk about God, or a Higher Power.  Particularly for those who were raised in religious families where overeating was understood as a moral failing, any hint of religion is enough to send the overeater in the opposite direction.  Therefore, successful utilization of a program of recovery may depend on being able to distinguish spirituality from religion.

Food and the Concept of Powerlessness

by Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

The implications of the first step of any of the Twelve Step programs are frequently confusing for the uninitiated.  I offer here my own interpretation of how this step applies to the lives of compulsive eaters.  First let me emphasize that the experience of powerless is ideally liberating, not a source of hopelessness. 

Admitting we are powerless over food simply suggests that when we ingest an amount of food that is either too little to meet our needs or overwhelming to our systems, we are not able to control the consequences of our under- or overeating.  Those who are not afflicted with eating disorders are quite aware that if they do not eat, the signs and symptoms of anorexia can not be avoided, and if they overeat, the development of obesity is a likely consequence.  This awareness is not simply an intellectual understanding, but more importantly, a psychological and emotional acceptance that leads to abstaining from disordered eating.

New Year’s Resolutions

by Jeffrey D. Roth, MD, FASAM, FAGPA

You may have noticed the sharp increase in health club memberships and attendance right after January 1.  Millions of us suffering from remorse over weight gained during holiday binging vow to lose weight by dieting and exercising.  The grim determination associated this kind of NewYear’s resolution is a set up for the high attrition rate of attendance during the ensuing weeks and months.

I have sometimes wondered with a bit of cynicism whether the health clubs collude, probably unintentionally, with this boom and bust cycle of health awareness.  I have also seen personal trainers, during most times of the year, suggest a degree and frequency of exercise which is designed for rapid weight loss, and which also usually leads to member drop out.  Since the health club may collect an initiation fee and a few months of membership fee up front, the short sighted profits for health club and member do not seem to take into account the need for long term participation if long term results are desired.

Holidays season and support

by Jeffrey D. Roth, MD, FASAM, FAGPA

When discussing recovery from an addiction, service is a concept that is often misunderstood.  When one has been raised in a culture where serving others indicates a role of being “less than,” or serving others is an obligation rather than a privilege, service leads to resentment and for the compulsive overeater, to food.  Recovery for the compulsive overeater, however, may entail redefining service as a tool for connecting to others and breaking the isolation that supports the disease.

Overeating and Anonymity

by Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

Anonymity may seem an irrelevant topic for a blog on compulsive overeating.  After all, how secretive can an obese compulsive overeater be about suffering from the disease?  Yet the focus on body weight and appearance obscures the degree to which a compulsive overeater may seek to conceal the process of eating which generated the weight and appearance.  Anonymity is frequently confused with secrecy.

Overreaders Anonymous

by Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

Members of Overeaters Anonymous sometimes joke that the name of their fellowship might have been Overreaders Anonymous.  Compulsive overeaters may consume literature as compulsively as they consume food.  With all of the self-help books and magazine articles about weight loss, the compulsive overeater may become dizzy just thinking about reading the overwhelming amount of advice and suggestions (which in the magazines inevitably are followed by recipes for cakes, cookies and other desserts which may be toxic for the compulsive overeater).

Using the telephone

by Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

Isolation is both a cause and effect of compulsive overeating. Food is usually the compulsive overeater’s best friend; loneliness becomes a major trigger for the next binge. In addition, the process of eating compulsively isolates the sufferer from other people when this process is associated with unbearable shame. Making contact with other people, especially with others who suffer from the same disease, is therefore an important tool of recovery. This contact tends to interrupt the downward spiral of isolation in which the disease progresses.

Dear food diary,

Jeffrey Roth, M.D.

Writing is familiar tool to many compulsive overeaters who have used the services of a nutritionist or dietician.  These professionals often ask their clients to write a food diary that details what they have eaten each day for a specified period of time.  From this diary the professional may determine whether the person has eaten in a nutritionally balanced manner.  When these food diaries are kept over a longer period of time, the professional is able to match the intake of food with weight lost or gained, and therefore make recommendations on how to regulate food intake to gain, lose or stabilize weight.

Sponsorship

by Jeffrey D. Roth, MD, FASAM, FAGPA

Recognizing that attempting to recover from compulsive overeating by oneself is futile, asking for help from outside of oneself becomes an essential component of the process of recovery.  Many compulsive overeaters seek help from the professional community, whether from their physician, a nutritionist or a therapist.  Unfortunately, many professionals do not accept that compulsive overeating is a disease, and they may advise those who consult them to use diets or exercise that the overeater has attempted and failed to sustain because these interventions were not accomplished with adequate support.

Meetings

by Jeffrey D. Roth, MD, FASAM, FAGPA

Even with the awareness of how one’s pattern of eating has led to obesity, and even with the help and support of professional nutritionists and/or therapists, many compulsive overeaters are not able to maintain abstinence from compulsive overeating without more extensive support.  Like any addiction, compulsive overeating leads to increasing social, psychological, emotional and spiritual isolation.  Meeting with other compulsive overeaters may provide the antidote to this isolation.  Many successful approaches to recovery from this disease utilize the power of mutual support to accomplish the reduction of isolation and shame that are so pervasive among its sufferers.

A plan of eating

by Jeffrey D. Roth, MD, FASAM, FAGPA

One of the major challenges of recovering from an addiction is developing an awareness of when one is practicing the disease of addiction, and when one is engaged in the process of recovery. Recovering compulsive overeaters have recognized this challenge, especially when they compare their process of recovery to the process experienced by alcoholics.  “The alcoholic has a clear boundary of abstaining from alcohol, we have to walk into the lion’s den three times a day.”

An addictions expert and guest author weighs in

by Jeffrey D. Roth, MD, FASAM, FAGPA

I am an addiction psychiatrist and group psychotherapist in Chicago, Illinois.  I am grateful to treat many compulsive overeaters who are recovering from their addiction using the program of Overeaters Anonymous.  My colleagues in addictions medicine have often witnessed the miracle of a hopeless alcoholic receiving the gift of sobriety by practicing the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.  Unfortunately, we continue to struggle with the burden of denial about compulsive overeating being as deadly as alcoholism: a chronic, progressive, relapsing disease for which recovery is possible.