Are you really addicted to food?
There's a particular kind of moment a lot of women describe to me (and that I have experienced on more than one occasion myself): It is 9pm, the day is finally done (children are in bed) and you have been ‘good’ all day. You are standing in front of the cupboard / refrigerator reaching for the chocolate you swore you'd leave alone. Or you open a packet or something meaning to have a couple, and somehow the whole bag is gone. In that moment, it doesn't feel like a choice, it feels like something uncontrollable has taken over.
If you have been there, you would have more likely than not, asked yourself the question at some point: am I addicted to food?
It is a valid question, and one I hear often, so let's have a look at it.
The addiction science bit
Let me give the science its moment, because it deserves to be looked at.
"Food addiction" is a very real and active area of research, however it is an ever evolving field rather than a closed case. There are validated tools, like the Yale Food Addiction Scale, built specifically to measure addiction-like patterns of eating. Some brain imaging and animal research suggests that highly processed, hyper-palatable foods (the ones engineered to hit sweet, salty and fatty all at once) can activate reward pathways in ways that resemble other addictions. So there does seem to be something there.
Where it gets complicated is what that something actually is and researchers still disagree on the fundamentals. Is it the food itself that's addictive, in the way a substance like nicotine is? Or is it the behaviour of eating, shaped by how, when and why we eat? Many argue that "food addiction" isn't the right frame at all, because food is not a drug and we cannot abstain from it the way someone recovering from a substance can. Others point out that the label, applied loosely, can do more harm than good, leaving people feeling powerless over something they have to face at least three times a day.
None of that means your experience isn't real. It is BUT "addiction" is a far messier and less settled explanation than the headlines suggest, and reaching for it first can send you down entirely the wrong path.
Why "addiction" can be the comfortable answer
Consider this: when eating feels out of control, "I'm addicted" can be a comforting explanation and if we are being truthful with ourselves, a pretty convenient excuse. If the problem is an addiction, then it isn't really your fault. It becomes a force acting on you, something you're up against rather than something you're doing. After years of being told your body is simply a matter of willpower and discipline, that flicker of relief is completely understandable.
Unfortunately, this convenient explanation comes at a cost. The moment we name it "addiction," we relieve ourselves of all accountability and tend to stop asking the more useful question: what is actually driving this? Having something to blame can let us off the hook. In the moment that feels like kindness but the trouble is, that it also keeps us stuck, because the real causes, the ones we can actually do something about, never get looked at.
So I would suggest that you treat the “food addiction” label lightly. Not because your struggle isn't real, but because "addiction" tends to close the conversation at the exact point where the helpful part should begin. When we are brave enough to look underneath it, what we find is almost always more workable than an addiction and far more within your control than you may have realized.
If it isn’t addiction, then what is the culprit?
When that out-of-control feeling shows up, here are the usual suspects:
Restriction. This is the main one, so I'll be direct: the more off-limits a food is, the more power it has over you. When you tell yourself you "can't have" bread, or chocolate, or crisps, your brain doesn't hear "healthy boundary," it hears scarcity. Scarcity is a signal your body takes very seriously, it is the same wiring that drove our ancestors out of the safety of their caves and into the cold to hunt, because a body that senses food is scarce will push you to go and get it. Your body is doing exactly that, it is just pointed at the pantry instead of a mammoth. Scarcity makes us fixate, and it is exactly why the foods you've banned are the ones you end up eating standing at the fridge at 9pm at night. This isn't a character flaw or a lack of willpower, it is one of the most predictable things a body does.
Not eating enough. So many of the women I work with are under-eating during the day without realizing it. Coffee for breakfast, a rushed lunch, powering through on not very much, and then wondering why they can't control themselves in the evening. By that point your body is running a deficit that it's desperate to close and it will steer you towards the quickest, most reliable energy it can find, usually the fatty, salty or sweet foods you have been avoiding. Again, that's not weakness or lack of willpower, it is biology doing its job.
Stress and exhaustion. When you're strung out, under-slept and stretched thin, food becomes one of the few easy sources of comfort and reward left in the day. Reaching for it isn't a moral failing, it is an understandable response to your nervous system looking for relief.
Energy on a rollercoaster. When you skip meals, or build them mostly from quick carbs, you get sharp rises and crashes that leave you ravenous and reaching for more of the same. Before the food police come for me, please don’t misunderstand me, a rise in blood sugar after eating is completely normal and exactly how it's meant to work. Food comes in, your blood sugar lifts, insulin does its job, and things come back down, that is the system working. What we are after is a gentle, steady version of that curve rather than the rollercoaster of a sharp spike followed by a stomach-dropping crash.
Have you noticed the thread running through all of these: not one of them is solved by trying harder.
Guess what, willpower isn't the answer
This is the part I most want you to hear. If what looks like addiction is really your body responding to restriction, under-eating, stress and swinging energy, then more willpower is the worst possible fix. If you simply responded with more willpower, you would be white-knuckling your way through a problem that willpower didn't cause and can't cure.
What then makes it even worse is that every time the willpower "fails" (and it will, because it's fighting biology), you take it as more proof that you're broken or addicted. You respond by clamping down harder, which increases the restriction, which increases the craving. See where I am going here… round and round it goes. So many of you have been stuck in that loop for years and it isn't because you lack discipline, it is because that strategy was doomed to fail from the beginning.
What does help
The way out is far simpler and less dramatic than a lot of online influencers and product companies might have you believe. There is no magic pill that will fix everything (more on GLP-1 below before you argue with me) but there are some steps that you can follow.
Eat enough, and eat regularly. Give your body consistent, satisfying meals across the day so it never has to hit the panic button by 4pm. Try and aim for 30g of protein per meal and 30g of fibre per day if you can and this alone takes the edge off more "cravings" than any amount of self-control.
Stop banning the foods you love. Bring them in, on purpose, as a normal part of how you eat. It sounds backwards, but familiarity is what drains a food of its charge. The chocolate you have a little of most days stops being the thing you binge on in secret.
Build meals that fill you up. Protein and fibre at each meal keep you fuller and steadier, so you're choosing food from a calm place rather than a frantic one. This is where a macro-based approach shines and I get it, not everyone wants to track, but at the very least make sure you are getting enough protein and fibre. It isn't about rules, it is more about giving your body what it needs to feel satisfied, do this and you will find the cravings start to diminish.
Protect your environment. People often underestimate the impact that sleep and stress can have. Protecting your rest and finding ways to decompress will do more for your relationship with food than any willpower challenge ever could.
What about that magic pill?
A couple of years ago and the ‘there is no magic pill’ would have held true however that is no longer the case. GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro work, in part, by turning down the exact signal we've been talking about. Many people describe the constant background chatter about food (often referred to as food noise), going quiet almost overnight. It sounds blissful and a very tempting solution, especially considering how easy it is to get hold of.
For some people, under the right medical guidance, these medications are an appropriate and useful tool. However, it is worth being clear-eyed about why so many people with no medical need for them are reaching for them too: they offer a shortcut to that same quiet. But, as with most things that seem too good to be true, there is a catch. While they do turn the signal down, they don’t address why that signal was there in the first place. By not addressing the underlying cause, you are either setting yourself up to re-gain most or all of the weight once you are off the medication or, you are setting yourself to be on it for life (the potential repercussions of this could fill another post all on their own).
All of my suggestions above work with your body to settle that noise at the source, so it stays settled. It is the slower road, but it is the one that gives you the tools for the rest of your life, medication free.
When should you look for more support
For most people, that out-of-control feeling eases considerably once eating becomes more regular and less restrictive. However, if food or the thought of food feels distressing, if eating or not eating is taking up a lot of your headspace and it is affecting your daily life, that deserves some serious attention. Needing to reach out to a coach, your GP or in extreme cases an eating disorder specialist isn’t a failing on your part, it is the first step on the road to recovery.
So, are you really addicted to food?
You could be (the science is a work in progress) but most likely, you aren’t. What feels like addiction is a body that's been under-fed, over-restricted and run ragged, doing exactly what bodies are built to do.
The solution is more regular, satisfying food and a calmer, kinder relationship with what's on your plate. For most people, it isn’t an easy road but, if you can do that consistently, the cravings around those trigger foods tend to fade on their own.
Being able to look at food without worrying about its impact on the number on the scale or whether or not it is going to derail your progress or spoil your holiday is far more freeing than any diet could ever be.
