It was after my gastric bypass surgery at 55 that I turned to alcohol for the first time in my life. It was explained to me by several doctors that as a person predisposed to addiction I had an addiction to food, when I had surgery I could no longer satisfy that addiction so I cross-addicted to alcohol.
In rehab I shared a room with an binge eater/anorexic. She said just what you said, chatty lady, that with drugs/alcohol you can"y abstain from using but with food you had to "use" to stay alive. Also, you have to have food in your house staring you in the face day and night. I can purge my environment of all alcohol, reducing the cravings, she couldn't purge her house of food. She taught me alot about eating disorders, something I knew nothing about and had trouble understanding. (if nothing else rehab is educational)