What is people.food.feelings?
people.food.feelings is a website dedicated to helping individuals recover from food addiction. The site may also be useful for people who are trying to understand food addiction, or who are trying to get help for someone in their life who they think may be addicted to food. It offers a collection of stories and resources, aiming to provide respite and support to those struggling with various forms of addictive eating, from binge eating to restrictive dieting. The site emphasizes free resources and a secular approach to recovery, acknowledging the effectiveness of twelve-step programs while prioritizing inclusivity and separating religious beliefs from the recovery process itself. The website’s creator, a recovering food addict maintaining anonymity, stresses the importance of seeking professional help while offering a platform for shared experiences and tools for self-assessment.
The primary mission of people.food.feelings is to help even ONE more person find respite from food addiction.
What is food addiction?
Food addiction can take many forms, such as:
- binge eating
- overeating
- eating compulsively
- not being able to stop yourself from eating, despite the desire to stop
- grazing continuously throughout the day
- undereating
- purging through regurgitating food or doing excessive exercise
- restricting food or certain foods
- constantly thinking about food or your weight
The stories section of the website gives some examples of what it feels like to be addicted to food.
Am I a Food Addict?
Whether or not you are a food addict can be something you discuss with a doctor or other medical professional. However, not all doctors agree on the definition of food addiction, and some may not even be aware that a person can be addicted to food, or if so, what to do about it.
There are many questionnaires that you can access online to help you decide for yourself whether or not you are a food addict.
- Am I a food addict? by Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA)
- Am I a food addict? by the Food Addiction Institute
- CRAVED screener for food addiction (PDF) by by Heidi Giaever and Dr. Jen Unwin
- Food Addiction by WebMD
- Is AEA for you? by Addictive Eaters Anonymous (AEA)
- Is FAA for you? by Food Addicts Anonymous (FAA)
- OA Quiz by Overeaters Anonymous (OA)
- The Yale Food Addiction Scale: Are you addicted to food? by Psychology Unlocked
Who Created people.food.feelings and Why?
“Hello. My name is Persephone Finchley Fipps.”
Actually, it’s not. But I am a food addict in recovery and you can contact me here.
Let me explain…
A few years ago, I joined a (free) program that helps people recover from food addiction. I have been thinking about the topic of food addiction a lot over that time, and I decided that I would collect my thoughts and share them so they can possibly help others. That’s where the idea for this website came from.
My program suggests that maintaining anonymity is an important part of recovery from addiction (“principles before personalities”), so I have chosen not to share my real name here, but I’m a real person, and a real food addict!
I chose the name Persephone Finchley Fipps because it has the same initials as people.food.feelings. Also, it sounded like one of the unsuitable matches for Bertie Wooster in P.G. Wodehouse’s “Jeeves and Wooster” which made me giggle. And I was pretty sure it wasn’t anyone’s actual name, living or otherwise, so I wouldn’t appear to be impersonating anyone.
Okay, getting back to the topic at hand…
Weight loss is not the only reason to seek recovery from food addiction, but I have been able to lose over 100 lbs and maintain that loss thanks to seeking out and following a program of recovery from food addiction — one day at a time.
I am not a professional in the field of food disorders, nutrition, or anything else related to this subject. I am just a run-of-the-mill food addict. And I am not trying to convince anyone of anything. I aim to be neutral and not try to “sell” any particular positions on the concept of food addiction or recommend any specific kinds of treatment.
The words you find on this site might help you, and they might not. Please don’t use this site to avoid seeking professional and/or medical advice when that would be more appropriate.
I hope this site will provide valuable information that will contribute to your recovery from food addiction.
If you are a fellow food addict in recovery, I would love for you to contribute a story about your addiction and recovery.
PFF Resource Collection Principles
- Resources and stories that we add to this site must be connected to recovery from food addiction in some way.
- We will make an effort to add resources to this site that are FREE. We have all spent more than enough money on diets and programs that don’t work. We shouldn’t have to spend any more money in order to get help. One exception to this rule is books, as we don’t expect authors to publish their work for free.
- Twelve step programs can be an effective tool for recovering from food addiction, so some programs like this are featured on the people.food.feelings site. However, twelve step programs tend to have a lot of Christian elements, and that can be discouraging to people who do not identify as Christian. Religion is an “outside issue” that should not be muddled with recovery from food addiction. Therefore, this site will make an effort to collect resources that can help all people, not just those who happen to be a part of a particular religion. In principle, posts on people.food.feelings will not mention “God” or the names of other deities, but since spirituality (as opposed to religion) may play a role in recovering from food addiction, some posts may include spiritual topics.
