Introductory Concepts

The answers below are written by staff members of ACORN Food Dependency Recovery Services who are themselves in recovery from food addiction. ACORN does not diagnose or prescribe, nor offer treatment or therapy. The opinions stated in "Ask ACORN" are just the personal experience of ACORN staff members.

For diagnosis of a medical problem, ACORN recommends that you consult a doctor, dietitian or other medical professional. For counseling or therapy, ACORN recommends that you work with a competent professional. If you think you may be food addicted, it is important to make sure the professional you consult accepts and treats food dependency as an addiction.

Q. What does "ACORN" mean? (Does ACORN stand for something?)

A. It's a metaphor. You can make of it what you want. We like the idea: "Out of small acorns, great oak trees grow."

Some people associate it with a specific food plan and approach to recovery developed at the Glenbeigh Hospital of Tampa's Food Addiction Treatment Program. At Glenbeigh A.C.O.R.N. stood for "Addictive Concept of Overeaters' Recovery Needs." There were actually several different versions of the A.C.O.R.N. Food Plan. There are also several different approaches to food addiction treatment, all of which have worked for some people.

Q. What is "food addiction?"

A. Food dependency or food addiction is a way of looking at certain cases of obesity, eating disorders, or compulsive eating -- especially those which do not respond to conventional medical management or psychotherapy. The idea is that some people are addicted to specific foods -- or food in general -- the same way that some people are addicted to alcohol or drugs.

Q. How do I know if I am food addicted?

A. There is no simple way to diagnose food addiction. In fact, there is not yet any formal medical or mental health diagnosis for food addiction. However, there are some fairly straightforward things you can do to explore the question.

First, try some controlled eating. If, when you really try to eat only a certain amount, you find you cannot do it, you know you have a problem that an ordinary diet won't solve. If so, you may be addicted.

Second, if you have consulted with a doctor or nutritionist, and they find no obvious medical explanation, try taking all of the food you binge on out of your diet for at least a week. (If there are a lot of foods, you will want to do this with some professional support.) Do you experience symptoms of detoxification? After a week, do the cravings diminish or go away? If so, you may be addicted.

Third, if you have tried the suggestions of your doctor or nutritionist, and if you have worked seriously on the underlying feelings over which you eat (especially, if you have done this with the help of a therapist you really trust), then check out a 12 Step program, e.g., Overeaters Anonymous (OA), Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA), Compulsive Eaters Anonymous--HOW (CEA--HOW), Eating Disorders Anonymous (EDA). Go to at least six meetings. Read the basic literature. Talk with someone who has had similar problems with food as you experience and who has been successful in getting results you would like. If you identify with many of the people you meet, you may be addicted to food.

Q. What is "abstinence?"

A. There are many definitions of abstinence. It's important at the beginning to say, "If you have a definition and practice of abstinence that works, don't change it." The problem of defining abstinence belongs to those individuals who are still unable to eat healthfully when they really try.

In general, there are two parts of any definition of abstinence.

Part I: There needs to be a food plan. For most food addicts, diets don't work, but there still needs to be a concrete plan of eating. This is an ongoing plan for eating every day and doesn't change based on holidays or weekends or "free days." Food addicts don't "go off of" or "finish" their food plans when reaching a maintenance weight. The food plan is adjusted and the food addict continues their recovery process.

First, for a food addict, a plan generally begins by identifying and eliminating binge foods and trigger foods. In the book Overeaters Anonymous there is an example of a very simple and common food plan which OAers often call "301": "Eliminate foods you have binged on, then eat three moderate meals a day, nothing in between, one day at a time". While this does not work for everyone, and may even be dangerous for those food addicts with hypoglycemia who need to eat more than three meals a day, there are many in OA who successfully do use "301" as their food plan.

The foods which compulsive eaters most often need to "eliminate" are:

* Sugar

* Alcohol

* Flour

* Wheat

* Caffeine

* Excess Fat

* Excess Salt

* Volume (bulk)

* Highly refined (processed) foods

"Elimination" can be defined as:

(1) not adding it to existing foods, e.g., "no added sugar",

(2) not eating a food the eliminated substance is high on the list

of ingredients, e.g., "no sugar unless listed fifth or lower",

(3) not eating a particular food -- or even similar foods -- at all,

e.g., "no sucrose or hidden sugars."

Next. a food plan needs to be nutritionally balanced. Many use exchange plans, e.g., Weight Watchers, pre-diabetic diets given by doctors, or food plans that meet the guidelines of the U.S.D.A. or American Heart Association and eliminate binge foods. There is a lot of controversy in this area, and food addicts often have special dietary problems and secondary consequences of their food addiction. So, it is wise to consult a medical professional, especially if one's plan is for the long-term as most food addicts plans of eating must be.

Then, there is the question of how much food, i.e., how many calories per day and appropriate exercise. While these issues are essential in the long run, they are generally not as difficult to deal with or as important at first as elimination of binge foods or establishing a structured, balanced plan. Of course, food addicts come to recovery most concerned about their weight. But weight loss (or gain) often comes quite easily when the first two elements of a food plan are in place. Food addict food plans are often close to the maintenance level of calories, promoting slow weight change. Food addicts often weigh once (and only once) a month to fine tune amounts of food for slow, steady weight loss. Again, this can often be tricky with food addicts -- consult a healthcare professional who understands food addiction.

Part II: Just as important as a definition of one's food plan (i.e., content of abstinence) is the process of abstinence. The process of abstinence is surrender.

Q. What do you mean when you say, "The process of abstinence is surrender"?

A. In the practice of dieting, the "process" is control. By definition, though, dieting does not work for food addicts. Over time, sometimes quite often, a food addict becomes powerless in relationship to food. In its most active form food addiction manifests as a physical craving, quite different from hunger, where sometimes, once the food addict starts eating a certain food, s/he can't stop. In its more subtle form, the food addict experiences a mental obsession, often described as "the food calling me," which is at times a mild temptation but at other times an overpowering compulsion. Further, as the disease progresses, food addiction distorts basic instincts not just regarding food but other life issues as well, what Twelve Steppers call "self-will run riot."

These aspects of addiction, food addiction in particular, yield to will in their early stages, so there is an experience of being able to control one's eating by willpower alone. However, willpower alone, eventually -- and often increasingly -- does not work.

Recovery often begins with a very simple process: working with a food sponsor and "surrendering" your food daily to a sponsor.

Here the basic "surrender" is giving up trying to do it by yourself. For a food addict, letting someone else in on decisions about food can be very difficult, so many do not work on this until they have really proved to themselves that they cannot do it alone. The consequences of continuing by themselves alone need to be severe. Thus, just working with a food sponsor is in itself a step towards surrender. For a food addict, the practice of surrendering one's food daily is a spiritual practice.

For more information on this process, see another article from our Publications Page: The Nature of Surrender.