Over Eating and Addiction

In response to the question over eating, what is the problem?, I'd say that I would agree that junk food addiction is a "problem" rooted in "mental" issues.

The questioner uses the term "addiction" twice. Addiction is a "mental" state that is in the same family as obsession and strong attachment. Brain studies I have read say that these mental states arise from activation of a brain region called the "amygdala".

This same brain region is also our "fear" center -- responsible for generating mental states like fear, sadness, embarassment, anxiety -- i.e "aversion".

Excessive amygdala activiation has been associated with many "mental" problems, including depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, and impulsive murder, to name a few. Of course, on the scale of "problems", junk food addiction seems to be rather mild.

But anyway, the "mental problem" question wasn't the most interesting one to me. The most interesting one was: "How does the over eater stop who doesn't have medical conditions and feels great?"

I'll say two things here. First, I'll say that even though we may feel great, it could be that our body is quite close to sudden degeneration. But how to tell?

One answer I've found is to undergo an annual full panel blood test. I wrote about it in my testimony My Approach to Health. This particular blood test checks for over 50 different things.

If any of those 50+ results is "off", I may well feel great, but it's an early warning that a problem is brewing. If that's the case, then it's better to address the incipient "proto-problem" now before it grows into something that will be much harder to deal with later.

I'd urge the questioner to undergo comprehensive testing like this. The questioner sounds like a person who is motivated by "negative" news (ie. a kick in the butt). I happen to be like that myself.

The second thing I'll say in response to this interesting question is: You feel great compared to what? Compared to when you were 17? Compared to being dead?

"Feel great" means little in the absense of a comparison standard. It's telling that in our society, we have all sorts of words for disease states, and levels of pain (i.e. "a 7 out of 10") -- but no similar words for states of health.

Here's my crack at describing some aspects of optimal health (ie. truly "feeling great"):

You wake up in the morning with the first light of day feeling fully rested and energized. Throughout the whole day, your mental and physical energy is high -- e.g., your body doesn't crash in the afternoon  and your mood doesn't suck until you get your caffeine fix. Events in the day don't derail you, and you are free of cravings, except just before lunch and dinner. At bedtime, sleep comes easily. Your sleep is deep, restful, and restorative.

So to the questioner, I'd suggest asking yourself the following: Taking the above as a definition of "feeling great", how many days in typical a month are like that for you?

If your answer isn't "the majority of days in the month", then i'd return to my first answer -- namely, get yourself tested and go from there.

Good luck!