The number one demon preventing people from losing weight and getting healthy is food addiction. Food addictions dance alongside emotional eating. They go hand in hand.

The nature of addiction is two-fold. One is that we are physically addicted to a substance or chemical found in food and the second is that we are addicted to escaping the difficulties of life through the act of eating food.

If you are on a weight loss journey, you will have to confront your food addictions and facing food addictions can be every bit as challenging as facing an addiction to drugs or alcohol. The substance is meeting a need, and you must do a deep dive to find out what need is being met by the substance you are using and find healthier ways to meet your needs.

One need that a “drug of choice” meets is the need to escape. If there is emotional pain or a circumstance in life that you feel a need to escape, you have developed a habit of reaching for that comfort food to temporarily distract you or take you away from the painful circumstance. Of course, that pain or circumstance is not going anywhere. It continues to be there. Using food to distract you does not solve or resolve the issue. It simply distracts you from it.

We use food to stuff down emotional discomfort. This is a powerful way to suppress what we are feeling so we don’t have to deal with it. But anything we are suppressing through food is still there, beneath the surface of our awareness, trying to get our attention. It does not go away. On the contrary, an issue that you run from and avoid often grows and becomes an even bigger problem.

We do not resolve our issues in life by escaping them. We must face them and find healthy ways to deal with them.

Most people have food addictions of some sort. This is because food is meant to be enjoyed. We have taste buds so we can absorb all the flavors and textures of our food. Even the healthiest people have weaknesses for certain types of food. But it may not be a problem because they choose healthy indulgences and do not go overboard.

When I speak of food addictions, I am talking about the compulsion to eat something repeatedly that simply does not support your goal of losing weight and getting healthy. It could be sugar, the crunchy, saltiness of chips, the cold creaminess of ice cream, or burgers at the local fast-food joint. Whatever it is that you find yourself escaping to, it is time to go deeper and look at not only what that food is helping you escape, but how you can begin to face the dragon.

Many people cannot imagine their life without that addictive food or substance. The thought of giving it up is too frightening and painful. That food is like an old friend that is always there for you no matter what. You may hate the idea of dieting because dieting means giving up that food, at least for a while.

The thing about food addictions is that we cannot just give up food. We need food to nourish our bodies. But we can give up the addictive food. Let’s say your addictive food is sugar. You run for the cookies, the ice cream, the pastries, and all the decadent sweets. The best way to confront your addiction is to give up sugar. Yes, I said it! Because if you are addicted to a substance, and sugar is a substance, having just a little bit does not work. Having just a little, leads to a desire to have a lot. But when you give up the substance you are addicted to, you detoxify from that substance, and it loses its power over you. It may take a little time, but it is time well invested.

Since most junk foods are addictive, I always recommend giving up junk food as the first thing to do on a weight loss journey. This means all the sugar, processed food, chips, cookies, pastries, ice cream, candies, sodas, and fast food like burgers and fries.

Now, you know this is important to do if you want to lose weight and get healthy. Most people know that processed foods are not ideal. Maybe it feels doable to you.  Or it feels terrifying because the addiction runs deep.

If you have already given up junk food, great! You are halfway there. But if you still struggle with this, it is time to face the dragon.

We call it junk food, because it has no nutritional value and contributes to the toxic waste load in your body. Toxic waste gets stored as fat and is a major contributor to disease and health issues.

On any weight loss journey, getting healthy is the first order of business. This is why I do not recommend pills, potions, injections, or surgery. These things do nothing to help you get healthy.

The weight loss journey focuses on the inside and once you get the inside right, the outside falls into place. So, we don’t want to focus on how we look to others. We want to focus on how we feel inside our bodies. We want to focus on health and wellness. This means letting go of the things that are preventing us from having optimal health.

As you begin to get healthier, the old habits and addictions no longer have the same appeal to you. You find that the pain of having your addiction becomes worse than the pain of letting it go.

As health becomes your focus, you begin to make choices that are in alignment with your new goals and face the dragon that gets in the way of you having the life you really want.