If we assume that sugar is a drug, then why not? Besides the sugar high, there is also the process of eating that is temporarily numbing and feeling so lousy afterwards that there is nothing else that you feel.

The food addict is usually addicted to carbs. You don't find many people addicted to steak or asparagus. I also have a sneaking suspicion that those who leave low-carbing after being successful at it and regain weight might fall into this category. Why do people on this WOE gravitate towards carbs? Once you're past the physical addiction, it's something in your head that makes you crave them. What is it then, that thing that makes you crave when you know that it's really bad for you.

Of course, as with any addiction, it doesn't make any difference no matter how much of the drug you take. It won't change what ails you. It is, as you pointed out, pain giving, which is part of the vicious cycle of addiction.

Karen