There is a kind of sabotage that's more serious than the kind that others do to us. It's how we sabotage ourselves. It's called transfer addiction. If you have never heard of transfer addiction, you need to keep reading.

According to Dr. Lance Dodes, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the author of Breaking Addiction, it is not unusual for recovering addicts to transfer one obsession to another. 

“It’s been well known for a very long time that A.A. meetings used to be filled with smoke because people shifted their focus from drinking to cigarettes. Alcoholism isn’t about alcohol any more than compulsive gambling is about playing roulette—or winning money. Addiction is a solution to an emotional need. If you deprive someone of one solution to their emotional problems, it’s not surprising that they’ll find another one instead.”

It is true that some of us became overweight for reasons other than food. But for most of us, myself included,   the fact that we turn to food for comfort sets us up for food addition. And it doesn't help that most of us are or were in denial.

For some of us - food is an addiction. We use it to cover up a lifetime of pain and disappointments. Weight-loss surgery might restrict our food intake, but it can not fix the real issue. We need a real remedy. We need to get to the root cause of what is eating us. We need to discover our emotional need and fill it with what we're really hungry for. Food isn't it...and it will never be enough to satisfy our hungry hearts. Easy - no. But we can, and we must. 

It begins with realizing we may be in denial. Admitting we may not be able to solve our dilemma with weight-loss surgery alone—or any other addiction, for that matter. We live and act out of how we feel. We feel what we believe. We solve root issues by getting to the bottom of our core beliefs and changing them. 

• I started by asking myself what I was feeling when I found myself looking for food when I wasn't hungry. 
• Then I asked myself when the feeling started. It's like following a trail of smoke to the source of the fire. 
• Once I found the answers, I asked myself what I believed about myself and if the beliefs were true or false. 

There is a way of escape. It's based on finding truth. It may take time and effort, or even professional help, but we can be free. 

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32