What is abstinence in recovery from food addiction?

Vanessa Kredler Author

...(and what about moderation and harm reduction?)

There is a lot of discussion on what are the right eating approaches for people recovering from ultra-processed food addiction, eating disorders and those who present with both. It can be so confusing.

Generally, eating disorders professionals would advise to heal extreme food rules and rigidity and take a moderation approach.

But when we talk about food addiction, we often use the word abstinence. Let’s have a look at this concept before we consider moderation.

Basically, abstinence means refraining from or not engaging with a particular activity or substance. When I first heard that word, it conjured up the image of a celibate monk abstaining from sexual and worldly pleasures. I wondered how abstinence would work with food. In other substance addictions, it’s more clear-cut. We can abstain from alcohol. We can abstain from heroin. But you can’t abstain from food—we need to eat to stay alive.

Looking around for definitions of food abstinence, I found one used by a support group called Overeaters Anonymous. They define it as “the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviours while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight.”

So, how do you define your abstinence? How do you know when you’re eating compulsively—meaning you can’t stop even though you want to—or engaging in compulsive food behaviours? And what exactly is a healthy body weight? And do we even need to talk about weight?

I learned that it takes an attitude of rigorous honesty to define your personal abstinence. A useful first step is to make a list of your green, yellow, and red foods. Green foods are ones you can eat without any issues. Yellow foods sometimes trigger compulsive eating. Red foods usually lead to a full-blown binge or similar compulsive behaviour. For many people, sugar and flour-containing foods are the biggest offenders. But beyond that, it gets individual. Some people can’t eat grains, or dairy, or nuts, or certain textures like crunchy or creamy foods in moderation. The best way to know is to try the food in a moderate amount and notice—can you put it away half-eaten without obsessing about it? If not, it’s probably a red or yellow food for you.

Compulsive food behaviours are also individual. Many addictive eaters struggle with quantity. For them, all foods can become trigger foods. So their abstinence might involve following a weighed and measured food plan or some other guardrail around portion sizes to create firm boundaries and calm the food noise. I’ve also found it helpful to write a list of my food secrets. That helped me uncover my compulsive food behaviours. What foods don’t I want to let go of? In what ways do I play with my food? What foods do I secretly binge on, or find a way to keep them in my life?

Other compulsive food behaviours might include obsessively weighing yourself, eating while standing or walking, eating very quickly, grazing between meals, or constantly counting calories.

So, in defining our personal abstinence, looking at our triggering food substances and behaviours can be helpful.

And what do we mean by a healthy body weight? That’s a tricky one. Do we even need to have weight in a definition of abstinence? We might not want to over-focus on weight. In fact, eating disorder professionals are often concerned that focusing too much on weight can lead people into disordered eating or dieting. Recovery isn’t about dieting. It’s about finding a way of eating that works—something that’s sustainable, enjoyable, and healthful for both mind and body. So a healthy body weight is best explored with the support of a medical or metabolic health professional, and with a clear, honest understanding of why you want to lose weight in the first place. Weight loss is not bad and sometimes desirable. And we want to be clear on why we are pursuing it.

One of the key differences between abstinence and dieting is that dieting tends to be temporary. You restrict certain foods or behaviours for a while, often in pursuit of weight loss. But for the addictive eater, abstinence becomes a lifestyle. It’s something that aligns with our values and brings us long-term freedom. Over time, we change our lives in a way that we no longer need—or want—the foods and behaviours that once had a grip on us. It’s a conscious choice. And yes, there’s work involved. For many people, learning to say no in social situations is huge. Letting go of memories and emotional attachments to certain foods can be tough. But with support, we work through these things. And what’s amazing is that most people feel relieved and even joyful once they do.

Often, once physical abstinence becomes more stable—meaning abstaining from certain foods, quantities, or behaviours—people start exploring abstinence in emotional and spiritual areas, too. You might find yourself becoming emotionally abstinent from negative self-talk, people-pleasing, or numbing your feelings. Spiritually, you might start aligning your life more closely with your values or letting go of the need to control everything and everyone.

In the beginning, abstinence seemed to me like something strict, joyless, even punishing—like that monk I imagined. But now, it’s the opposite. Abstinence gives me freedom. It keeps not just my plate, but my inner and outer world—and even my moral compass—clean and steady. It brings me peace, and, above all, joy. I wrote about this in my blog Reframing ‘restriction’ in food addiction recovery.

Now back to the concepts of moderation. There is a crucial question when we consider abstinence:

Do you have to be abstinent to recover from food addiction or can you moderate? 

This is an important question that only you can answer. As explained above, abstinence can often be easier than trying to moderate for some people, and has been suggested as the best approach by some experts for people with food addiction. But it is the individual’s journey that will determine whether or not certain foods or substances can be moderated.

Harm reduction

A common approach that may (or may not) help us pave the road towards abstinence or confirm our ability to moderate is harm reduction. This is a concept often talked about in the substance use disorder field. In a nutshell it means that it’s sometimes more achievable for a person to minimise their exposure to certain substances rather than fully quitting. It speaks of autonomy, pragmatism and values the incremental journeys that we are on - especially when we are dealing with an addiction as complex as food.

The nuances between considering an abstinence, moderation or harm reduction approach (or maybe all of them combined) is explained well in this article.

Are you wondering what is right for you and how to get started? Get in touch.

Categories: : Abstinence, Diet, Eating Disorders, Food Addiction, Harm reduction