Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - In the world of addiction, one substance that many people have problems controlling and managing their behaviour towards rarely comes up: food.

However, as many nutritionists understand it, using the word "addiction" to talk about those with eating problems is troublesome at best.

"In a way, we're all food addicts, because we have to eat to survive," said Sue Hamilton, a contractor acting in the territorial nutritionist role for the Government of Nunavut.

Based out of Montreal, Hamilton said problems with food are more associated with cravings and behaviour than with chemical addiction. After all, there's no way to detox from eating.

"It's more to do with a behavioural dependence than a physical one. The message we need to get across to people is they can have control over these behaviours and learn to manage them," she said.

Andre Corriveau, Chief Medical Officer for the NWT, said both territories have little data on those who have problems with food - be it through overeating or undereating.

He said that diseases such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia were more "reportable" than problems with overeating, but that neither had been researched thoroughly in the territories.

"I don't think we have good data on that in the North," he said.

At Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife - the largest hospital in both territories - CEO Sylvia Haener told News/North via phone message that no one in the organization "felt comfortable" addressing the issue of problem eating.

While problems with over- or under-eating barely show up on the radar, it's clear that in both territories, nutrition is a major concern.

"By far, the biggest issue, not so much the addiction, is the access to healthy foods and the choices that people make about nutrition," Corriveau said.

In both territories, the high cost of nutritious food, and lack of availability of healthy traditional foods are having an impact on obesity and diabetes rates, both Corriveau and Hamilton said.

Hamilton calls this a lack of "food security," a World Health Organization designation that "exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."

This lack of food security exists across Nunavut, she said, and in many of the NWT's more remote communities, where healthy food must be flown in.

"Food insecure individuals are more likely to have numerous health issues and suffer physical and psychological distress," she said.

To cope, both territories have been active in promoting healthy lifestyles through programs such as Drop the Pop, the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, the Canadian Prenatal Nutrition Program and adapting the National Food Guide to incorporate more Northern and traditional foods.

"(We emphasize) the importance of active living and a healthy diet," Corriveau said.

With the focus on "healthy" eating, those that have problems still have places they can go, both Corriveau and Hamilton said.

"If you want to get help, probably the best thing to do would be to try to see a nurse at the health centre," said Hamilton.

The website for Overeaters Anonymous points out twice weekly meetings in the NWT - held at the Pentecostal Church in Yellowknife at noon on Mondays and 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

"If people are having real problems and they have some underlying health conditions - if they are obese and have Type 2 diabetes - they have to get more specialized treatment. In terms of treatment it's hard to give advice in a newspaper column," said Hamilton.