Group to hold next meeting in DeWitt on Jan. 6

By Lauren Young

Staff Writer

While most people think of addiction as a term reserved for drugs and alcohol, food is also something that can be used as such — a drug. While addiction often takes form in a needle or liquor bottle, self-described food addicts at Foods Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) of Syracuse say that food addiction is merely a simplification of food obsession.

Holding its first informational session of the new year on Jan. 6, one of FA’s main goals is to educate its members and the public about what food addiction is. Members Colleen and Margerie (FA, like Alcoholics Anonymous, asks to keep its members names anonymous, so these names are pseudonyms) illuminate this subject of food addiction and how FA has altered their perception of eating.

FA, an international, 12-step program, is a fellowship of people who struggle with disordered eating, aims to help members gain the support they need with controlled diets, structure and emotional support from peers. There are no dues, fees or weigh-ins in this recovery program, and it upholds a model similar to Alcoholics Anonymous.

In FA, one is “abstinent” from food, so to speak, meaning they abstain from certain foods and limit what foods they can eat. For members suffering from food addiction, the mere obsession with food only skims the surface of an even deeper problem, according to members.

For Colleen, 29, her true recovery began at acceptance, describing her addiction as “hell on earth.”

A member of FA since August 2015, Colleen said she never “reacted normally to food” as a small child. “I was a big kid,” she said. “I loved to eat, and I loved food.” In high school, she weighed around 230 pounds. As college progressed into young adulthood, Colleen said that was when “the disease really took off” for her.

She originally tried to cope with her issues by seeking a therapist while living in New York City, but hid her struggle from everyone else she knew. “I could not stop eating addictively, I felt broken,” she said.

“I had lots of therapy, tried lots of self-help methods and I tried different styles of eating. I tried the paleo diet, tried going vegan and tried eating only organically,” she said. Additionally, she “went through a phase as a foodie blogger,” which she later found to be an unintentional masquerade for her “obsession with food.”

For Colleen, FA was the “last house on the block” for her, describing how she felt “screwed” and “frustrated” with her disorder.

“This disease is in your head,” she explained. “Until I really accepted that food was a straight-up drug for me, I wasn’t going to get better.”

At her heaviest, Colleen weighed about 250 pounds. Now down to 160 pounds, a 90-pound weight loss, Colleen said FA is truly “for the food addicts,” adding that the structure and discipline of her eating habits instilled by FA has “helped [her] stay on the beam, so to say.”

“It’s so honest, and the people there really do get it.”

For Margerie, 60, the stranglehold of her food addiction’s power was fully realized when her nurse practitioner called her “a heart attack waiting to happen.”

“Once she used the term ‘pre-diabetic,’ that really scared me,” said Margerie, a member of FA since July 2014. But for Margerie, her obsession with food had always been her burden to carry, even as a child. “I’ve been a food addict since I was young, but I didn’t have the vocabulary to understand it and what it was,” she said.

Entering the program at age 60, Margerie noticed she had trouble losing weight in junior high school. From weight watchers to hypnosis, she “used almost every diet you could think of” to lose the weight, but would gain it back almost immediately.

While her weight had always been a struggle, what weighed most on her was the debilitating anxiety rooted in her addiction. “It was definitely anxiety and fear-induced,” she said, explaining that her diet was consumed by how she was feeding her fear.

A glimmer of hope arose when Margerie noticed the success of a family member who had joined the FA program two years before. “I remember thinking, maybe this would work for me too,” she said.

Shortly after entering the program, Margerie still had a difficult time coming to terms with her addiction. “I was using sugar as a drug, how an alcoholic uses alcohol,” she said.

Starting the program at about 200 pounds, Margerie has dropped down to 120 pounds, an 80-pound weight loss.

“I found more peace in myself than I ever used to have,” she said. Using methods such as weighing and measuring eating portions and putting boundaries on certain foods, Margerie said the program has helped her more than any other method has before.

As with any other addiction, food addiction is especially surrounded by stigma for self-described addicts. “A lot of people don’t realize that we can’t stop eating, it’s not a moral issue,” said Colleen. “Scientific evidence shows that sugar interacts with your brain the way cocaine does; it’s like a drug.”

The mere stigma of addiction itself often leads people astray, afraid to be labeled “weak-willed,” as described by Colleen. “People don’t want to admit their addicted,” said Margerie.

For those suffering from similar eating issues, both Colleen and Margerie recommend FA. “Go to FA, get a sponsor and the sponsor will guide you on how to eat,” said Colleen. “It’s really the only thing that works for me, and if the word ‘food addict’ strikes a chord with anyone, then they should go.”

For Margerie, it’s the only thing that has helped her in the long-term. “In my personal opinion, everyone needs a twelve-step program in their lives,” she said.

According to a 2011 survey, the program stated that 44 percent of members have lost of up 50 pounds at the end of their program and 81 percent reported that the program had a positive effect on their health.

FA will host its first information session of the year at the DeWitt Community Church from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6. The group holds its weekly meetings every Saturday at the DeWitt Community Church from 8:30 to 10 a.m.

For more information about FA, visit the website at foodaddicts.org.