Are You Suffering From Food Addiction? I Fight My Food Addiction Every Day

This post is from Jillian Michaels - the awesome tough trainer from NBC's The Biggest Loser.

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Fill Up the Healthy Way
If you think you're suffering from a food addiction, the first step is to make sure you're eating correctly for your metabolic type. (You can find this out by taking the "What to Eat" quiz on my site!) This will help a lot. If you're certain that you are eating as you should for your metabolic type and you still feel hungry all the time, consider this: At the end of the day, sometimes life just sucks in a way that can't be reasoned with or rationalized. The key is to take care of yourself with a strategy that is life-affirming, not self-destructive. You need to learn to establish some healthy patterns.

In the meantime, here are some tricks to make you feel more full so you don't have to eat yourself out of house and home in your quest to satiate that hunger:

Drink tons of water. When you feel as if you're starving, pour yourself a huge glass of water or grab a bottle of flavored seltzer — it will help quell the urge to snack.

Sleep! There are two hormones that regulate our appetite, both of which are directly affected by how much sleep we get: leptin and ghrelin. Together, these hormones work in a kind of "checks and balances" system to control feelings of hunger and fullness. Getting the right amount of shut-eye will help curb your appetite.

Examine your hunger. The next time you feel really hungry between meals, consider the last time you ate. If it was less than three to four hours earlier, your stomach isn't growling, and you're not weak or tired, it's likely that you're emotionally unsatisfied rather than genuinely physically hungry.

Think about what, besides eating, soothes you. Steer yourself toward positive feelings of self-worth, and you will pick activities and behaviors that inherently contradict self-loathing and self-destructiveness.

Don't panic. You can and will lose weight. Even if you're eating more than the meal plan calorie allowance, you can still lose — it just might take a little longer. Exercise is also crucial. Working out harder and more often will help burn those extra calories you might take in if you have a bad day.

Do not beat yourself up! We are all here for you, and we all know you can do this. Believe in yourself and try to incorporate my suggestions into your life, and let's see how you do.