Food Addiction how sweet it is.....not really.

What makes a Voluptulifer different from most everyone else? Well a lot of things but there is one in particular. This story may explain; One day sitting in a favorite restaurant finishing a delicious meal with a fellow Voluptulifer, there was a short lull in our lively conversation. As if this lull was some sort of Vulcan like mind meld she begins to tell me basically what I was thinking.  She begins telling me that when she eats, especially something she really enjoys on the first bite she gets an immediate rush, similar to what she has heard drug addicts experience when they take that first pill, hit etc etc. She tells me that the rush she gets is physical not just psychological or emotional. She tells me that more often then not food is on her mind.  When she food shops if she brings a treat home she'll put it away and then won't stop thinking about it. I immediately jump in and say that I experience the same thing, especially with sugar. The first bite of a favorite dessert is like a fuse being lit in my brain that explodes in a wash of feel good. I tell her that's why I am not taking a doggie bag home 'cause I know that I will just think about it and then eat it soon after I get home. I agree with her analogy comparing her experience with one similar to a drug addict, or alcoholic. I have read that drug addicts/alcoholics are always chasing the high, that feeling they get when they first take that drug or drink that drink, all they think about is how and when they will get their next high. I agree with her analogy, but think it is way worse for a food addict because you have to eat, you can't go on the wagon. I mean can you imagine an alcoholic who was required to drink at least 2 to 3 times a day? It would be very close to impossible for that person to stick to drinking just one drink.

All during our lunch at the next table sat three slim women, each ordered twice the amount of food we had. They were engaged in what seemed like a good conversation, three friends out for a lunch enjoying the afternoon. The difference between these women and my friend and I was that we really enjoyed our food. I mean it wasn't the main enjoyable focus of our time together but it was sure more important to us then those ladies. Only one of them ate about 1/4 of her food, the others snacked on a fry or two. They all asked for doggie bags to take their food with them.  I commented to my friend that they're not going to eat that, now if it were me I would find it hard to stop thinking about that doggie bag.

Unfortunately over-eating or eating very rich foods or for some eating all the wrong foods often comes along with a food addiction and along with that a more Voluptuous figure. Couple that with a genetic predisposition, slower metabolism, a sedentary lifestyle(that many of us have thin or hefty), an extreme enjoyment of gathering friends and family around a meal, a penchant for trying new restaurants and diverse foods, well that's a recipe(no pun intended) for a Voluptilifer.

Those who are not Voluptulifers have a hard time understanding those who are. They can't understand the emphasis put on food. Some are perplexed but many are down right nasty and discriminatory.
I've been reading lately about the Digestive System being considered the second brain. Like the brain  the Digestive System has neurotransmitters and produces 90% of the Serotonin in our bodies. Scientist once believed that the Brain sent messages to the Stomach, but they have discovered the opposite actually the Stomach sends messages to the Brain. Serotonin regulates mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction and some cognitive functions like memory and learning. I am sure that with further study of the second brain and all of it's interactions with the brain,  food addiction will be explained and considered a real physical condition, and hopefully a therapy or cure developed.    


Until then I will continue enjoying the social eating aspects of a Voluptulifer, but like an alcoholic I will have to put some types of food on the wagon......


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain