Reward deficiency syndrome may be the culprit. Do you ever wonder why it is that your friend can eat just one little scoop of ice cream and feel satisfied, while you end up eating all the way to the bottom of the carton and feeling sick and miserable afterward? Does it seem that everyone else can use chocolate recreationally, when you crave it like an addict and can’t take one bite without going on a full-on chocolate bender? Have you ever caught yourself daydreaming about stopping by the bakery on your way home from work to get your next pastry fix?

There's been a lot of talk about whether foods can be addictive or not. Sugar addiction has many converts who cut back on sugar or eliminate it entirely from their diets. But if all food were truly addictive, how would we manage? Someone with a substance use disorder can give up cocaine, for example; but we can't stop eating. I think it's important to really look into this question in more detail.

While eating disorders have long been considered a predominately “white woman” problem, recent findings show that eating disorders are becoming a major health issue for black women. In fact, binge eating occurs at higher rates in the black populations than white ones. Black women also binge more frequently than white women according to a recent study of two populations of white and black women. Obesity is also rising at an alarmingly fast rate for this group. Over the last 35 years, black women have reported rates of obesity prevalence at twice the rate of white women, and black and white males.