Alcoholism is considered a disease, so what about overeating?

Question by Yomi: Alcoholism is considered a disease, so what about overeating?
There are people who can drink and not be addicted. There are people who can eat the wrong foods once and a while but not all the time. Then there are people who want nothing more than to stop drinking or stop eating the wrong foods, but fail at every attempt even though their very lives are affected in horrendous ways by it, whether they are too drunk to play with their kids or too fat to run around with them. Do you think food addiction is as real as alcoholism? I know I am opening up an opportunity for some mean spirited answers, but I don’t care. I want to know what the general public thinks, and why nothing more is done for it.

Best answer:

Answer by Dustin M
Yes, Food Addiction is DEFINATELY an addiction. Just like drinking, smoking, self-harm, drugs, or any other number of addictions. They all have something in common: They release endorphins.

Eating releases endorphins when you eat stuff that tastes good.
Drinking releases endorphins because your body “loses” control of it’s chemicals and releases just a bit too much when you’re drunk.
Self-harm releases endorphins because when you hurt yourself (example: cutting), your body makes natural painkillers to help you out in your time of pain.
Drugs release endorphins because, well, they just tell the body to not stop releasin’ them. That’s why cocaine/ecstasy addicts become depressed because those endorphin pathways get so tired they break, and nothing (including your “happy chemical” endorphins) can travel across them.

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