Food as an Addiction

It seems like for so many years, I've had people around me who are struggling with addictions.  Some are to food while others are to alcohol and drugs, so before I say the first word on either subject, let me be abundantly clear that I am not an addictions expert.  What I am about to say is my own feelings on the subject.  Some may feel I am way off here while others may agree.  This is my opinion on the topic and thankfully, we live in a world where we are free to express that opinion.  Here's the way I see it.  For those with a food addiction, it shows up on every inch of our body and it shows up as shame within us.  I've never met one overweight person who at some point, didn't wish to have the weight off.  When food is your addiction, you have to first understand the addictive nature of food, then you have to change your eating habits.  Then, you've got to spend days, then weeks, then months, trying to get the weight off.  It can be so painfully difficult.  I recently coached a friend through his addiction to cigarettes.  All he had to do after that was put them down.  There was no hundred pounds to then try and take off.  If he decides to put down the cigarette, it would seem to me he's free.  Of course, there's always the very real effect of the smoking on the body, but you can't always see that at first glance.  It's the same as a friend I know with an addiction to drugs and alcohol.  It's so easy to hide that from the world, unless you're in that person's company at 2:00 in the morning when they hardly know who they are.  Again, I have noticed that the same shame does not show up on that person's body to the same degree.  In some way, I've always felt cursed because of the weight.  Now that it's gone, I can celebrate the fact that my body doesn't look the same as it once did.  Perhaps that's the real difference when we overcome our food addictions.  It really shows on us and people really take notice.  Sadly, the mind takes a while to catch up.  I may have lost 72 pounds but the mind sometimes feels it's still trapped in an overweight body.  I felt that way tonight which is why, I guess, I was prompted to write about this.  Essentially, our brains are addictive brains and it would seem like we've all got something.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging anyone who lives with any kind of addiction.  The way I see it, I'm no different than them.