Ellie:
> I think binge
> eating is but one symptom of the food addiction and goes as far back in
> history as we can find an overweight person. I doubt if it is more
> common among instinctos or fruitarians than among the general
> population. All of the addictions are based on the original addiction to
> people called co-dependency. The addictions to food, alcohol, etc, are
> tips of the iceberg. People who go to self help programs like OA usually
> control their food issues but transfer their addiction to people. Unless
> they get into recovery for co-depedency they remain addicted to people
> and do not really recover. I cannot provide statistics for this
> conclusion because the self-help programs are anonymous, but I have seen
> this personally in myself and in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others.

The author of the book I read disagrees with the conception of bingeing
as an addiction, despite the obvious similarities between them. His arguments
are:
 1) There is no evidence that people who are addicted (to alcohol, for instance)
are more prone to bingeing than people who suffer from another psychological
problem.
 2) There is apparently no phenomenon of "symptom substitution", i.e. those
who are cured from food bingeing don't develop a new addiction [so, it
contradicts what you are saying???]
 3) Binge eaters try hard, without success, to avoid the behavior, whereas
alcoholics don't necessarily.

As for instinctos, I think that bingeing is the problem #1. The week-end I
went to Montrame, it was one of the FAQs, and Burger gave the usual (and
unsatisfactory) explanations: it's due to social conditioning, you should eat
food from Orkos which will give you clearer stops while giving more
satisfaction, etc. Personally, before going instincto, I did have occasional
binges (on cookies or chocolate), but it never reached the proportions of the
first months of instincto. And now, despite having a low- or mid-carb
diet and being busy all day, I still haven't fully recovered [but I think I am
on the way].

Best wishes,

Jean-Louis
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