Sabotage

No, I am not speaking of the Beastie Boys, though when I first heard that Sabotage (as in doing things that would sabotage ourselves and our diets) was the topic of my last WLS support group that was the first thing that popped into my head. But hey, give me a break, I was born in the 70s, and grew up in the 80s and 90s!

According to the Psychologist that ran the group, the main reason that people sabotage themselves is that they have a carbohydrate addiction. Think about it. If you are craving some kind of food or a snack and you are overweight (a little all the way to morbid obesity), you are usually not craving veggies. It’s chocolate, or chips, or bread, or pasta or ice cream or (name whatever you crave here). And there is a reason for it – just like the alcoholic craves alcohol and gets a response for it with a pleasurable effect in his brain, people who have carbohydrate addiction get the same reaction within their brain.

When a person is an addict, many things can set off a binge, but a lot of the reasons are the same: stress, family issues, financial problems, medical issues, and the more a person reacts to these situations, the more likely they are to binge, which brings about a vicious cycle that is hard or almost impossible to stop.

The other problem with carbohydrate addiction is that when you are a difficult situation, simple carbs are the most affordable way to eat. Mac n’ cheese, raman noodles, white bread, junky cereal, fake potatoes… I could go on and on. While for ever it seems, I was blaming my needing to be on Seroqual and the weight gain on the fact that I was on the medication, the truth is that was only a part of the picture.

Yes, Seroqual is linked to weight gain, diabetes, and a dozen more issues that I have developed on it, it wasn’t the medication that was spending the food budget on simple carbs. It wasn’t the medication that put the white bread smothered in butter, the mac n’ cheese or the banana hot fudge sundaes down my throat. It was me. And I accept full responsibility for that.

And that stress cycle that was how my family lived until my husband started his new job last summer, and I started working on myself. Now, I’m not saying things are perfect, and I have had a sip of pop here and there, and the jelly belly’s called my name loudly from the Easter baskets, but each time I have given into that carb craving, I have found myself very unhappy afterwards. But I’m learning, and will continue to learn as I go. From my understanding, this can take years, and some of the most successful people with their lap-bands have moments of self-sabotage.