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Suggest Treatment For Food Addiction In The Evenings
Question: I am a former smoker from age 13 to 44, chain smoker in the evenings at times.
I quit smoking cold turkey 7-8 years ago.
Since quitting smoking I gradually gained excessive weight and went from 95kg to 147kg.
I indentify that I substituted food in the evenings for my smoking addiction, snacking basically and eating large portion meals.
I had lapband surgery 5 years ago and lost 25kg, however I could not eat 95% of food and it was removed 18months later. The weight lost then came back.
I had gastric sleeve surgery 1 year ago and lost 20kg, for which I fluctuate between 124-128kg (1 year later).
I contribute the lack of further weight reduction that should be occuring is a result of snacking again in the evenings.
From my own research and feelings on my behaviour, this is a food addiction substitute and no amount of "family motivation, supervision, counselling or dietitians" has made noticeable change for me.
My question is around whether there is a lesser evil and health concern if I was to take up nicotine electronic cigarettes of an evening, thereby replacing the snack habit with the one I previously had, but without the chemicals poured into my body.
I want to try this for say 6 months to attempt to reduce my unnecessary eating, drop the weight necessary so I am in a position and capability to take up exercising. At my present weight exercising is not practicable and walking regularly has made no difference for example.
I also want to understand if there are other options for this type of addiction (besides those already mentioned and tried).
I quit smoking cold turkey 7-8 years ago.
Since quitting smoking I gradually gained excessive weight and went from 95kg to 147kg.
I indentify that I substituted food in the evenings for my smoking addiction, snacking basically and eating large portion meals.
I had lapband surgery 5 years ago and lost 25kg, however I could not eat 95% of food and it was removed 18months later. The weight lost then came back.
I had gastric sleeve surgery 1 year ago and lost 20kg, for which I fluctuate between 124-128kg (1 year later).
I contribute the lack of further weight reduction that should be occuring is a result of snacking again in the evenings.
From my own research and feelings on my behaviour, this is a food addiction substitute and no amount of "family motivation, supervision, counselling or dietitians" has made noticeable change for me.
My question is around whether there is a lesser evil and health concern if I was to take up nicotine electronic cigarettes of an evening, thereby replacing the snack habit with the one I previously had, but without the chemicals poured into my body.
I want to try this for say 6 months to attempt to reduce my unnecessary eating, drop the weight necessary so I am in a position and capability to take up exercising. At my present weight exercising is not practicable and walking regularly has made no difference for example.
I also want to understand if there are other options for this type of addiction (besides those already mentioned and tried).
Brief Answer:
Try bupropion before e-cigarettes.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Welcome to Healthcare Magic!
Food addiction is indeed similar to addiction of other substances but is still not well understood by scientists. But because of the neurobiological similarities, it is quite possible that in your case, nicotine addiction was replaced by food addiction.
However, I have some reservations about your idea of trying nicotine e-cigarettes in place of snacking in evenings. These are not harmless as they do deliver nicotine to your body, which is the main active ingredient of tobacco. They are indeed less harmful than cigarettes as they are smokeless but nevertheless, they still harm you. There is also the risk of gradually relapsing to full-fledged smoking as before, once you get exposed to nicotine again.
In my opinion, consider a trial of bupropion. It is a medicine which works well to reduce craving for tobacco. It is also known to aid weight loss and it should help control your craving for food. Apart from this, try to identify the cues that make you overindulge on food. Common ones are stressful events, intense emotions like anger, frustration and XXXXXXX boredom, being with people who are eating etc. Once you are able to identify these, focus on finding better ways of dealing with these. Keeping yourself very busy in the evenings may help you.
If none of these work, you always have the option of e-cigarettes. If you choose that, be very careful and try to keep it under control.
I hope this helps you. Please feel free to ask if you need any clarifications.
Best wishes.
Dr Preeti Parakh
MD Psychiatry
Try bupropion before e-cigarettes.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Welcome to Healthcare Magic!
Food addiction is indeed similar to addiction of other substances but is still not well understood by scientists. But because of the neurobiological similarities, it is quite possible that in your case, nicotine addiction was replaced by food addiction.
However, I have some reservations about your idea of trying nicotine e-cigarettes in place of snacking in evenings. These are not harmless as they do deliver nicotine to your body, which is the main active ingredient of tobacco. They are indeed less harmful than cigarettes as they are smokeless but nevertheless, they still harm you. There is also the risk of gradually relapsing to full-fledged smoking as before, once you get exposed to nicotine again.
In my opinion, consider a trial of bupropion. It is a medicine which works well to reduce craving for tobacco. It is also known to aid weight loss and it should help control your craving for food. Apart from this, try to identify the cues that make you overindulge on food. Common ones are stressful events, intense emotions like anger, frustration and XXXXXXX boredom, being with people who are eating etc. Once you are able to identify these, focus on finding better ways of dealing with these. Keeping yourself very busy in the evenings may help you.
If none of these work, you always have the option of e-cigarettes. If you choose that, be very careful and try to keep it under control.
I hope this helps you. Please feel free to ask if you need any clarifications.
Best wishes.
Dr Preeti Parakh
MD Psychiatry
Note: In case of any other concern or query related to prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, or the recovery of persons with the any type of addiction or substance use, follow up with our Addiction Medicine Specialist. Click here to book a consultation now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
Answered by
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