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As someone who has the experience of being addicted to both food and heroin I can say with confidence that health is only a minor consideration in the mind of many obese people, and that true food addiction can be related to an addiction to hard drugs. Imagine a dependence that goes deeper than breathing, into your very soul, and a craving that overcomes reason and thought. You know that eating those types of foods and that amount of food is wrong and will result in further loss of health, but that consideration is only tertiary compared to the craving.
I was once something like 235-240 pounds. My BMI was around 35. I would start diets all the time. I wouond't stick to them, of course, and I'd fooled myself into thinking that because I dieted for a few days or maybe a week, I sould be getting into good shape! Well I didn't get in to good shape at all. In fact, I got in worse shape because my diet was so inconsistant. Can you imagine 50% of the population of an entire country doing that? That's what's going on. Most people that buy diet books will do the diet for a bit, then slowly backslide into eating (and thus depression). Most people think "Oooh!! No carbs!!" and much down without actually reading the Atkins book. Some people think "Oooh!!! No fat!!" and chow down not knowing that carbs are usually replaced by sugar in low fat or nonfat foods. I'm just waiting or the low protien diet to sweep the nation with more undernourished people who can't break their addiction.
How do you beat it? For me it was a few things. A friend of mine, a drug dealer, was gunned down. I stopped drugs, food, and smoking right there and then. Combine that with years of therepy, and I still am fighting it 4 years later. Sometimes I splurge. I have to up my exercise routine when I do, and try to talk it out with someone (why would I splurge? there's always a reason).
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