Rachael Ray: Rachael's Daytime Talkshow

Could You Be a Food Addict? Take the Quiz!

Aired on: March 21, 2011

Is there one food you eat every day? Have you been unable to quit this food, and do you panic if you know this food may not be available to you? If you answered yes to these questions, you may have an addition to food, according to psychotherapist and addiction recovery expert, Dr. Mike Dow. He says that being a food addict goes beyond just liking food in general. "Foodies are great because there's this culture," he tells Rachael. "It's a social experience and you can look forward to that EVOO-drenched, rosemary & thyme pasta that your whole family loves ... but do you need that to feel normal every day? It's the same thing as needing hard alcohol with every single meal; then you may be an alcoholic."

Dr. Dow explains how a groundbreaking study showed that food could be addictive: "We took rats and fed them a high-fat, high-sugar diet 24-7. When we removed that food, those rats would rather starve themselves than have anything else. Now, rats that were given that food once in a while, they didn't have that same result; if they were given a healthy salad bar option, they would eat. So that's the difference, when you cross over that line between being a foodie and liking food to using it to feel normal, to self-medicate your emotions."

Think you might be a food addict? Watch the video above to hear Dr. Dow discuss a few key questions you need to ask yourself as part of his Food Addiction Quiz. (Click here to download the quiz to take yourself!) "If you answer YES to three or more questions," Dr. Dow points out, "you probably need professional help; go to a free Overeaters Anonymous meeting, a Compulsive Eaters Anonymous meeting - some of these things are life and death, and if it gets to that degree, professional help is needed. And if you've answer YES to one or two, maybe ask yourself, 'What can I change in my life? What would I have to add to my life so I can start getting these emotions [that food is taking the place of.]"

For more information, visit www.drmikedow.com.