Food Addiction

So much misinformation and misunderstanding surrounds food addiction, beginning with the notion held by some that food addiction can't exist because we need food to survive. To dispel that, it would be better to call it "some-food addiction," because the term doesn't refer to all food, even if the "cocaine" in "cocaine addiction" applies to all cocaine.

Obviously, we all need food to survive, but no one needs all foods to survive. Meanwhile, few dispute that some foods that sustain some people can harm others: Think peanut allergy or gluten intolerance, to name only two. In the same way that of two people in a bar, one might go home afterward and the other might end up in the gutter, one substance might affect two eaters in vastly different ways. It's not that a substance is addictive by itself; it's the interplay of substance and personal constitution.

What does recognizing food addiction mean for an individual who has struggled, mystifyingly, with maintaining a body size he or she wants? What does it mean for a society in which two of every three American adults, and one out of every three American children, are obese or overweight? Prager answers those questions, and more.

This presentation was conceived as a keynote, and has been adapted for trainings.