I firmly believe that overeating (or food in general) can become a serious addiction.  As with any drug, food can become a compulsion - eating can become a need that you find yourself unable to control.  You can find yourself in a state where suddenly you’re halfway through a bag of Cheetos and you don’t even realize what you’re doing.

Unfortunately, within our society, drug addicts and alcoholics seem to be looked on with much more sympathy than an overweight person.  Overweight people are merely assumed to be lazy, stupid people.  Often, this is far from the case.  Some people are overweight due to medical reasons, medications, or the like.  But there are those who are overweight due to overeating and they deserve to be treated as fellow human beings.  Like with other addictions, there are often other underlying problems that drive a person to overeat.  Everyone has problems; the result of their issues just happen to be more visible to the eye.

A lot of people believe that a food addiction may, in fact, be harder to overcome since the source of other fixations can often be removed.  People can survive without alcohol, heroin, or porn.  People cannot survive without food.