Anatomy of a Food Addiction: The Brain Chemistry of Overeating: An Effective Program to Overcome Compulsive Eating (3rd Edition)

"Anne Katherine's book helped me to make it through the night when I was bingeing and had no other hope." -- Ruth Lorenz, recovering food addict

"This book offers a clear and logical explanation for the origins and progression of compulsive eating disorders." -- H. Theresa Wright, MS, RD, CDE, Renaissance Nutrition Center, Inc., Plymouth Meeting, PA

"This book takes you from active food addiction into recovery with love and a true understanding of this painful disease." -- Claire Boehling, M.Ed., Eating Recovery Center, Solon OH

When I took my first step toward recovery from binge eating in 1983, I had no idea that my life was unfulfilled because I was eating too much. What a wonder, then, that with each small step I took into recovery, my life gained more luster, my mind got clearer, and my energy grew. I didn’t realize that certain foods act in the body as if they are drugs, creating an addiction powerful enough to have held me in a pattern of binge eating despite my most fervent and spiritual efforts to break free. I call these foods "drug foods," which by themselves are not drugs, but through a series of chemical reactions eventually cause production of brain chemicals that can have a drug-like effect on the body. These chemicals cloud the mind, imprison the soul, and steal freedoms. All this from particular foods in interaction with a particular body type. This susceptibility stems from the fact that many people have an inadequate supply of certain chemicals that can, among other things, alleviate pain. We learn, even as small children, to stimulate the release of these chemicals by eating sweets and we do this for a much more significant reason than to get a particular taste. We do this because, soon after, we feel better. Thus, we discover how to manipulate our brain functioning by choosing to eat an abundance of certain types of foods. We make this adjustment without any consciousness of how or why it works; but, over time, such manipulation causes other brain changes, and we can unknowingly get trapped in a cycle of eating that causes more eating. This book explains that process.