Raleigh, NC —
37-year-old Laura Norris was your typical suburban housewife. She cooked and kept a tidy home while Sean, her husband of ten years, worked at a nearby factory. Every morning she packed lunches for her two children and sent them off to school. By many standards, she had a perfect life. But that was all upended the day she found a recipe for brownies that promised to be “like crack.”
“I thought the description was supposed to be facetious,” said Norris. “If I had known what my life would become over the span of the next 11 months, I would have never made them.”
One morning while perusing the internet, Laura stumbled upon a food blog containing the recipe that decimated her life. Like all of us, she simply scrolled by the author’s story and went right to the recipe. If she had taken the time, maybe she could have heeded the author’s cautionary tale of shame and addiction.
“I thought it would be a nice treat for when Sean and the kids got home.” Norris mused. Sadly, not a single crack brownie would remain by the time her family returned home. “I just couldn’t stop! It started with a little nibble of a corner piece, and then I was just scooping handfuls of warm brownie straight from the pan into my face. I made three more batches that day and absolutely gorged myself.”
Laura tried to keep her addiction from her family. She taped brownies to the inside of the toilet tank, hid them in her sock drawer, and even kept a small cache of the decadent dessert in a nearby, wooded area. Eventually, though, it all came crashing down.
“Sean started to suspect something after our fourth KitchenAid mixer died. It was only two weeks old! He followed me when I went on one of my ‘walks’ and confronted me with my mouth stuffed with brownies. I knew it was all over.” Lauren recalled. “I couldn’t speak for the longest time. Partly due to shame, but also because I desperately needed a glass of milk.”
Sean admitted his wife to an intense inpatient rehab in California called The Guy Fieri Center, AKA Flavortown Anonymous, which deals with extreme cases of food addiction. After making the news 4 years ago, the facility became famous after they aided Pierce Brosnan in overcoming his gallon-a-day nacho cheese habit.
By CarolAnn Liebelt