Addictions

I'm addicted to smoking. Tried and tried to stop but no luck so can't see DGC. HURTS but Ds and dil are adamant must not smoke.

I would find it very difficult to get through the day without umpteen cups of tea and I have one cup of coffee with a top up every day. I don't know if this counts as addiction but it seems pretty harmless.

I come from an addictive family so I suspect I might have inherited the gene so am wary of becoming hooked on anything harmful. I never drink alcohol in the week, for example, and I have entirely eschewed tobacco.

Does cake count? I have cake every day too!

It's not only the caffeine. It contains phenylalanine which is not only addictive but makes you thirsty. Win/win for Diet Coke. I try to ration myself and make myself drink water instead but it's very difficult.

I think I'm prone to addiction or addiction type behaviour. Most people smoke on and off for some time before they're addicts. I was hooked after my first cig. I've heard and read others say the same sort of thing. Pete Townsend said he was hooked on heroin after his first use.

I thought true addiction also lead to chemical changes in the body and mind, leading to withdrawal systems when the the person stopped taking the substance.

In Vampirequeen's case, I think caffeine is addictive and does cause withdrawal systems. When I unaccountably went completely off caffeine in any form for about 4 days, I developed a splitting headache that went as soon as I had my first cup of coffee. When the same thing happened when I repeated the sequence. I immediately started drinking de-caff coffee.

With cheese, flapjacks etc, where you can manage without them without any discomfort, albeit life is so much better when they are a dominant part of your diet, no, its not addiction, just comfort eating - and I am all for comfort.

I think addiction applies when the behaviour is compulsively repeated despite negative consequences. So, if it doesn't bother or negatively affect you or anyone else, it's not an addiction IMO.

I believe people can have 'addictions ' and are prone to them, so can lurch from one to another. Drugs,alcohol, nicotine and even food.
I know sugar is ver y addictive too but it's different having an addiction to having a strong liking for something.

I reckon true addiction to a substance, whether it be alcohol, food, prescription (or other) drugs, results in the user displaying behaviours associated with addiction i.e. deception, secrecy and self destructive tendencies.

Not sure that a strong liking for cheese, ice cream or even chocolate would qualify. Binge eating is something else.

I'm addicted to Diet Coke. I can cut back and even give it up for a few days but I always return to it. It reminds me of when I gave up smoking but although I managed to give up nicotine eventually, I can't seem to do it with Diet Coke.

As I see it, addictions are when one is unable or unwilling to stop eating or drinking certain things. That kind of addiction is bad in that it can lead to health problems, but otherwise it's quite simply enjoyment. I like cheese too but I would never say I am addicted to it. Sometimes when we feel we are 'addicted' to a certain food, what we really mean is that we feel guilty if we eat/drink it because of the whole climate of fear about foods to which we are constantly bombarded.

Yes, thatbags like many things in life, it is comparative, isn't it. You raise an interesting point.
For example, in the world of substance abuse, it is better to be addicted to methadone than to heroin. Someone once said to me that she didn't realise that her partner was actually addicted to alcohol rather than just having a strong liking for it.
I am addicted to crisps and if I buy them, I will eat the lot. I am probably addicted to cheese as well. Or do I just have a strong liking for it?
Stop me now before I trot out the old, but true, hackneyed saying about moderation in everything.