Dictionary.com defines an addiction as:
- the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
However, it's a little hard to say what is meant in that definition by the word "enslaved", or the words "severe trauma".
I'd like to share with you a different definition of an addiction:
- "When we spend time and/or resources in one way that could be spent better in another, and when we do it solely to provide ourselves pleasure."
In this definition, we have to consider what is meant by the word "better." Certainly, that will depend on our values and goals. What if our own pleasure is our highest goal? The one appeal that all addictions typically have in common is that at some point they offer the allure of providing us some kind of pleasure.
That's the trap. It looks like it's going to be good for us but it can end up being bad for us. Let's consider a cupcake, for example. To a lot of people, cupcakes look like fantastic little packages. They might have a neat wrapper, delicious-looking icing, and maybe even some sprinkles on top. The problem is that the refined flour alone in cupcakes can drive up blood sugar and insulin levels, not to mention the icing and sprinkles. And they have have a lot of fat in them as well!
To help you dispel the illusion, I recommend that you try this some time. The next time you might be looking down the barrel of a few extra cupcakes or doughnuts sitting on your counter-top, take one of them over to the sink and wad it up in your bare hands. Keep smooshing it together until it's a blob of one consistent color. As you do, you will be amazed at how greasy your hands become. There's a lot of fat in icing. That's what icing is, fat and sugar. Consider the blob in your hands and then consider if you want to put it in your mouth or have it in your body. Probably not. It's the same material but in a much less deceptive form. Then, you can more easily throw the rest of the doughnuts or cupcakes in the trash (smoosh them up first if you must).
It's not good to waste food, it's true. That's why we shouldn't buy food that's bad for us. And if someone gives us food that's not good for us, it doesn't mean we have to eat it. There's one thing that's worse than throwing away food that's not good for us, and that's eating it.
Now, I'm not saying that it's always wrong to have a bite of doughnut or cupcake. But, if it's not the best thing we could do, then we shouldn't. Why would we? Because of pleasure? There are two kinds of pleasure. One is the pleasure of how fat and sugar can look, smell, and taste, and the other is the pleasure of moving toward or maintaining our ideal weight, being able to move around more easily, and feeling a lot healthier.
Thus, it's helpful for us to see things as they really are. Not everything that looks good and tastes good is good for us. It's OK to realize that and say no. It's OK to throw it away the way you would throw away spoiled food (which isn't good for you either). Same goes for soda and soft drinks. You can pour them down the drain. The road to good health is paved with a lot of "No, thank you's". It's a lot easier to live that when we realize that. If you feel "enslaved" or experience "severe trauma" at the idea of throwing away a perfectly good cupcake, you might be addicted.
Good luck with that :)
Denis Wilson, MD
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