Why You Keep Swapping Addictions

Have you ever stopped one coping behavior… only to notice another one sneak right in?

You quit drinking, and suddenly you’re binge eating again, you stop binge eating, and now you’re pouring wine every night, you restrict food, and suddenly scrolling, shopping, or staying “busy” becomes your new escape.

If this sounds familiar, I want you to hear me clearly:

This isn’t failure, this isn’t lack of willpower, and this isn’t you being “broken.” What you’re experiencing is transfer addiction and it’s far more common in food addiction and disordered eating recovery than people realize.

Let’s talk about why it happens… and how to break the cycle for good.

Your Brain Isn’t Trying to Sabotage You, It’s Trying to Protect You

Here’s what most people don’t understand:

Your brain and nervous system are ALWAYS looking for safety. Even when you think you’re just trying to lose weight… or eat healthier… or stop bingeing… your nervous system is monitoring your world like a guard dog.

When you take away one coping tool like sugar, binge eating, overeating, nightly wine, your brain doesn’t just say,

“Okay, great! We’re healed now!”

No, it says: “We lost our relief valve. I need a NEW way to numb, soothe, or distract and I need it fast.” So it grabs the next available thing.

Food.

Alcohol.

Shopping.

Scrolling.

Busyness.

Sex.

Gambling.

People-pleasing.

Over-exercising.

Work.

Chaos.

Whatever gives temporary relief… even if it comes with consequences later. This isn’t just sabotage, it’s survival.

How to Know If You’re Experiencing Transfer Addiction

Here are some of the biggest signs:

• You feel out of control with a new behavior

• You feel panicky or restless without it

• You’re using it to avoid emotions or discomfort

• You feel temporary relief… followed by shame

• You’re “white-knuckling” one habit while another one ramps up

Most people in recovery hit this stage and they think they’re backsliding but really, they’re going through the healing process.

Transfer addiction doesn’t show you that your recovery isn’t working, it shows you where your next layer of work is.

Why Transfer Addiction Shows Up in Food Addiction Recovery

Food addiction is complex. It’s not about the food, it’s about how you use food.

Most people don’t realize this until they get food sober and suddenly start feeling every uncomfortable thing they used to numb out.

When you remove binge eating or overeating as a coping tool, your emotional system wakes up and because you’ve spent years avoiding those feelings, your nervous system freaks out a little.

So it looks for something, anything, that will give you a hit or fix of:

• Comfort

• Control

• Escape

• Relief

• Distraction

This is why food addiction recovery has NOTHING to do with willpower and EVERYTHING to do with meeting our real needs.

So… How Do You Break the Cycle?

1. Get curious, not judgmental

Shame keeps the cycle alive and curiosity breaks it. Ask yourself:

“What am I actually trying to avoid or soothe right now?”

2. Slow everything down

Most coping behaviors are fast, impulsive, and automatic so pausing for 10 seconds interrupts the pattern.

3. Build a REAL coping toolbox

Numbing isn’t coping, suppressing isn’t coping and avoiding isn’t coping.

Healthy regulation looks like:

• movement

• journaling

• breathwork

• rest

• connection

• community

• nourishment

• supportive structure

These tools don’t numb you, they stabilize you.

4. Support your nervous system consistently

Healing doesn’t happen when you feel like it, it happens through repetition, routine, and looking for ways to meet our real needs.

5. Get support

You do not have to navigate addiction, relapse triggers, or emotional regulation alone and you’re not meant to. Healing cannot happen in isolation and no matter how hard you try to fight that reality, it won’t change. Community and connection matters, structure/having a roadmap to follow matters, and accountability matters.

This is exactly why so many people stay stuck, not because they’re weak, but because they’re trying to heal in isolation.

The Reframe You Need to Understand

Transfer addiction does NOT mean your recovery “isn’t working.”

It means: Your nervous system is still healing, you’re peeling back layers, you’re becoming aware of patterns you used to be blind to, and you’re finally getting honest about the emotional work beneath the food.

This is what real recovery looks like. It’s not perfect, not linear and not pretty, but it’s powerful and possible.

Do you want to hear more about this? Go check out my food freedom podcast Episode 224: Transfer Addiction

If You’re Just Starting This Work… Start Here

Before you try to overhaul your life or “fix” everything at once, you need a foundation.

You can get a glimpse of that foundation in my Beginner’s Guide to Food Sobriety. It’s a free resource that walks you through:

✅ A food addiction self assessment

✅ A picture of what a good sober life looks like

✅ Includes a handy hunger scale to print out

This guide isn’t a magic bullet. You can’t cobble together a meaningful recovery by grabbing every internet freebie, but you can learn something.

👉 Download the FREE Beginner’s Guide to Food Sobriety