Well, here is what I think is at least part of it for me. When I was little, I was really sick all the time and I couldn't eat. When I did manage to get food in my mouth, I ate real slow. My parents were abusive alcoholics, and it never occurred to them that I was having trouble eating because I was so sick. So my dad would shove food down my throat (literally) and I was forced to eat way more than I could and end up sicker. Then everyone in my family got tired of my eating so slow that they'd get really mad at me and always tell me to eat faster. Eventually I got better--but only because my STEPMOTHER started taking care of me, but then that "eating mindset" stuck, and I kept right on eating that way--fast and eating everything on my plate.

I ended being mostly raised by mom, and she pretty raised me on junk food--which can be very addictive. Plus, I am a (recovering) alcoholic and my addictive tendencies started coming out, and I started using food for comfort. I always say that food was my first addiction. My parents were both pretty horrible anyway so there was a lot of stress in there. I was also sexually abused a lot and maybe that played into it.