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Hello my name is Jayden Sampson, and I am asking you to support me in celebrating my 50th birthday in a cross country bicycle tour raising awareness about a type of addiction that few of us are aware of or discuss except at times in jest and or as a topic of amusement, and yet this addiction may be bigger than drugs, alcohol, and tobacco combined. Your financial support will help me spread the message of this lessor known addiction. My goal is to speak to as many groups of people as I can about food addiction while bicycling from Oregon to Virginia from May to August 2017. On this 4300 mile sojourn, my goal is to speak to health related organizations, places of worship, libraries and any other group that agrees to have me as a guest speaker. I will not be charging any fees whatsoever for speaking. My goal is to get the conversation about food addiction started on a local, state, and national level. The funding covers the cost of this self supported bicycle tour.
Some of you might be thinking, what is a food addict and what does food addiction mean? We have to eat right?
Food addicts come in all shapes, sizes, and manifestations. Some food addicts are bulimics, some are overeaters, some are addicted to sugar and or flour, and various binge foods. They span every race, ethnicity and social class. Addiction of any sort is the great equalizer, an equal opportunity employer…who bankrupts its employees emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
My 50th birthday mission was born out of my own personal struggles with food. I have been addicted to sugar and volume eating since I was a child. While I was underweight as a teenager, as an adult I continually gained weight. My highest weight was 283lbs. At 5’8, with both knees hurting, my back hurting, elevated sugar levels, and some indications of a fatty liver, that size was not sitting well with my body.
I tried many things to lose weight: all sorts of diet plans, behavior modification, medication, and like many I would lose the weight and then gain it all back and then some. I even became a fitness trainer to learn more about exercise and weight loss. I read study after study and self help books to understand why I just could not stop eating voluminous amounts of food, sugar and flour. I have 21 year old journal entries that relay my constant and seemingly never ending struggle with food. In one entry I wrote, "eating out of control-feeling lonely-don’t know how to fill the void! Ate everything-chocolate covered raisins, popcorn, and went out by myself for dinner and ate too much Chinese…How do I fight this? How do I find peace! I cannot allow food to be my comforter, must find another way to comfort myself in my loneliness…." But food was my constant comforter. While I became aware of the idea of food addiction in the 1990’s, like many I made light of it and continued to focus my efforts on gaining knowledge, using will power, and inconsistently exercising, but as any addict knows will power will not work when faced with a biological craving.
As a nation we have become increasingly aware of the impact of opioid addiction, and we are all aware of alcohol, tobacco and other drug addictions. All 3 of these addictions have impacted our nation economically, socially and politically. The toll that they take on those who are addicted and their families is often devastating.
The estimated cost is a total of 700 billion annually related to crime, lost work productivity and health care according to the NIH) (https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics)
In total according to a Columbia University study, "40 million Americans age 12 and over meet the clinical criteria for addiction involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs." (https://www.centeronaddiction.org/sites/default/files/files/2012-annual-report.pdf)
Missing in that list of addictions is one that may be having the biggest negative impact on our nation and that is food addiction. Like, drug, alcohol, and tobacco addiction, food addiction costs our nation millions in healthcare costs. According to the CDC, data collected between 2011 and 2014, indicated that one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults are obese and 17% of our youth experience obesity. According to the NIH about 80% of people who have type 2 diabetes are also overweight or obese.
In addition to type two diabetes and obesity, according to the NIH high blood pressure is also commonly a result of obesity.
((https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db219.pdf)
There are numerous studies on sugar addiction, but you don’t need studies when you have personal experience about an inability to stop eating either sugar and or flour, binge foods and voluminous eating.
(see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
http://foodaddictioninstitute.org/scientific-research/physical-craving-and-food-addiction-a-scientific-review/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23719144)
To be very clear, just because a person is obese or overweight does not mean that they are a food addict and or have a dysfunctional relationship with food. There are many overweight and obese people who experience no negative health impact due to their weight and they do not have dysfunctional relationship with food.
My wish is that we become more aware as a nation of food addiction, more compassionate about this dysfunctional relationship with food, and explore solutions that actually work and lead to a healthy relationship with food.
I intend to do a visual diary of my journey which will be posted on line. Thank you for your financial support of this important mission.
Some of you might be thinking, what is a food addict and what does food addiction mean? We have to eat right?
Food addicts come in all shapes, sizes, and manifestations. Some food addicts are bulimics, some are overeaters, some are addicted to sugar and or flour, and various binge foods. They span every race, ethnicity and social class. Addiction of any sort is the great equalizer, an equal opportunity employer…who bankrupts its employees emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
My 50th birthday mission was born out of my own personal struggles with food. I have been addicted to sugar and volume eating since I was a child. While I was underweight as a teenager, as an adult I continually gained weight. My highest weight was 283lbs. At 5’8, with both knees hurting, my back hurting, elevated sugar levels, and some indications of a fatty liver, that size was not sitting well with my body.
I tried many things to lose weight: all sorts of diet plans, behavior modification, medication, and like many I would lose the weight and then gain it all back and then some. I even became a fitness trainer to learn more about exercise and weight loss. I read study after study and self help books to understand why I just could not stop eating voluminous amounts of food, sugar and flour. I have 21 year old journal entries that relay my constant and seemingly never ending struggle with food. In one entry I wrote, "eating out of control-feeling lonely-don’t know how to fill the void! Ate everything-chocolate covered raisins, popcorn, and went out by myself for dinner and ate too much Chinese…How do I fight this? How do I find peace! I cannot allow food to be my comforter, must find another way to comfort myself in my loneliness…." But food was my constant comforter. While I became aware of the idea of food addiction in the 1990’s, like many I made light of it and continued to focus my efforts on gaining knowledge, using will power, and inconsistently exercising, but as any addict knows will power will not work when faced with a biological craving.
As a nation we have become increasingly aware of the impact of opioid addiction, and we are all aware of alcohol, tobacco and other drug addictions. All 3 of these addictions have impacted our nation economically, socially and politically. The toll that they take on those who are addicted and their families is often devastating.
The estimated cost is a total of 700 billion annually related to crime, lost work productivity and health care according to the NIH) (https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics)
In total according to a Columbia University study, "40 million Americans age 12 and over meet the clinical criteria for addiction involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs." (https://www.centeronaddiction.org/sites/default/files/files/2012-annual-report.pdf)
Missing in that list of addictions is one that may be having the biggest negative impact on our nation and that is food addiction. Like, drug, alcohol, and tobacco addiction, food addiction costs our nation millions in healthcare costs. According to the CDC, data collected between 2011 and 2014, indicated that one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults are obese and 17% of our youth experience obesity. According to the NIH about 80% of people who have type 2 diabetes are also overweight or obese.
In addition to type two diabetes and obesity, according to the NIH high blood pressure is also commonly a result of obesity.
((https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db219.pdf)
There are numerous studies on sugar addiction, but you don’t need studies when you have personal experience about an inability to stop eating either sugar and or flour, binge foods and voluminous eating.
(see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/
http://foodaddictioninstitute.org/scientific-research/physical-craving-and-food-addiction-a-scientific-review/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23719144)
To be very clear, just because a person is obese or overweight does not mean that they are a food addict and or have a dysfunctional relationship with food. There are many overweight and obese people who experience no negative health impact due to their weight and they do not have dysfunctional relationship with food.
My wish is that we become more aware as a nation of food addiction, more compassionate about this dysfunctional relationship with food, and explore solutions that actually work and lead to a healthy relationship with food.
I intend to do a visual diary of my journey which will be posted on line. Thank you for your financial support of this important mission.