“Addicted individuals are not happy,” he says. “They are flipping miserable.” We eat what we remember, but also, we eat to forget. In time, however, the repetitive nature of addiction can morph these two pursuits—seeking pleasure and seeking relief—into a dismal loop that’s really hard to break. The brain, you’ll remember, has its own numbing device: endorphins, the hormone responsible for the feeling known as “runner’s high.”
