Lonliness and Food

[dreamer8]

Maybe this is too heavy for the forum,but I've mustered up enough courage to post something about it.

I am an emotional eater.

I don't really have friends,and I think all of my early years and now into my early adulthood I've replaced everything I don't have,especially friends,and general human relationships,(with the exception of family) with food.

Food doesn't judge you,or ridicule you,nor does it dislike you for not being attractive enough to date. It's always there,always available.

It's a sad justification,but it's just been my experience.

I'm trying to diet,but emotional eating is still something I do.

 

[CAS]

Everybody has emotional crutches. Unfortunately for me it's drinking. It's a sad fact that when we, as humans, feel there's something missing in our lives, we try to overcompensate for it with other pleasures. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but try not to let it take over your life.

I've finally decided to make some positive changes in my life. One of them is cutting down drastically on the drinking. Maybe you should try the same thing with the comfort-eating.

And for the record, being 'attractive enough to date' is subjective. I'm sure there are many guys out there who would love to date you. It's all just a matter of finding them.

 

[Badjedidude]

I used to be a severe comfort eater. -_- Before I lost all the extra weight I was carrying, I calculated that I had a daily intake of almost 4,200 calories...and I wasn't moving around much, so I wasn't expending any of it.

A HUUUUUGE part of how I lost weight was by replacing soda pop with water. Seriously, it doesn't seem like a huge step, but once you actually count how many calories of pop you drink in an average week, you'll be stunned.

That's also how I controlled my emotional eating...everytime I noticed that I felt like eating, I'd just drink a ton of water. That would fill me up and get rid of the hunger, and since water has no calories, it would run right through me without affecting my weight program at all!

----Steve

 

[h i]

i consider food evil. most of it being man made chemicals to weaken me for their own gain, whether by damaging my health, or creating an addiction. processed foods and raw foods, diseases and fats in both. youre risking your life just to eat... i had a huge thing about fats once, got over it. had a huge thing about sugar once, kind of getting over it. after awhile you just accept it, and do it anyways, even if it is poison. cause, healthy is just the slowest way of dieing.

 

[EverythingisBlue]

I know what you mean. I eat when I'm bored, stressed, sad, angry, etc. Pretty much any emotion but happiness makes me want to snack (especially carbs!!). I think it had to do with growing up in a household where emotions were not shown or talked about at all and also seeing my mom overeat....it was obviously how she dealt with things as well.

What has helped for me (a little) is stopping to think and recognize what emotion I'm feeling at the moment. I may not even realize that I just went into the kitchen to get crackers and started chowing down on them right after I read something depressing online. Sometimes I just have to take a second to put two and two together.

 

[dontwant2beelonely]

I know the feel but it caught up with me I had surgery dealing with my stomach so be careful.

 

[SilentThinker]

Maybe this is too heavy for the forum,but I've mustered up enough courage to post something about it.

I am an emotional eater.

I don't really have friends,and I think all of my early years and now into my early adulthood I've replaced everything I don't have,especially friends,and general human relationships,(with the exception of family) with food.

Food doesn't judge you,or ridicule you,nor does it dislike you for not being attractive enough to date. It's always there,always available.

It's a sad justification,but it's just been my experience.

I'm trying to diet,but emotional eating is still something I do.

For me,it would be playing games to drown my loneliness or sorrow.Games are 24 hr.But sadly it gets boring after sometimes.Then it would be a new game and the cycle continues..

 

[Broken_Doll]

I do the opposite, when I'm stressed or upset I lose my appetite almost completely and just don't feel like eating.

 

[Acti]

Same here with me. I was also an emotional eater . I felt the same.. I was a 212 pound lethargic useless piece of crap..

But one fine day I learned that I had developed FISSURE.. and due to fissures i was scared to eat from since then.. thats why today i weigh 159 pounds..

Even a sight of food reminds me about the pain and agony in my ass..

so now wen i am depressed i watch porn and masterbate.. I dunno I don feel fun.. I hate porn..but i just to it to punish myself for existing coz i don wanna die..so i do what i hate the most to punish myself..

 

[Xelha]

I'm also the opposite way. When I feel sad or lonely I tend to eat a lot less than normal. Even when I feel really hungry, it's like I can't eat much. If a friend goes out to eat with me, though, then I'm almost always up for it and eat quite a bit more.

 

[Phaedron]

Generally speaking, I am alone in my room all the time and food is one of the few things I leave it for and have passion for... It really does cheer me up at times too...

Also, when im shocked or really really sad, I am capable of starving myself, sleeping a lot, and I fast and reach out to the divine for meaning more then usual...

 

[that1guy]

I know what you mean. No matter who you are, food will not judge you and it is always there to satisfy you.... I learned the hard way what happens when you eat just because of an emotion.

 

[Phaedron]

A deeper perspective:

All that lives preys upon one another, or one kind of life preys upon another...
Negativity, sadness, loneliness, feeling like a loser, all make us feel like the victims in life...
Food is here to make us feel like the predator, the winner, to get our share and satisfaction in way or another...

Some people don't eat meat, but I have always felt plants and trees to be alive in their own ways. Perhaps I even relate to them, because they are stuck in the ground and their success depends upon conditions in soil, sunlight, and water. Human beings seem that way to me too, especially when we feel powerless to change the circumstances of our lives. The soil is our physical and financial conditions, the water is friendship and love, and the sunlight is everything else, including spiritual peace. I am the opposite, the only veggies I eat are tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and ocassionally some lettuce or spinnach. At least when animals prey upon one another there is a chance to fight back, plants have no such chance. I respect them like a druid.

Sometimes when we are looking for answers it feels liberating to escape the process entirely. Thus fasting and starving. Its a form of pushing yourself into a corner in the hope of deriving some answers from god or your inner self. It is to recognize the satisfaction of eating for what it is, and refuse to settle for only that sort of satisfaction in life. At the very least it's most likely a new approach...

"Doing the same thing that doesn't work over and over again is the definition of insanity." If it's not working and you're not happy, look for ways to change things...

 

[marfles7]

I can relate to that. Food has been a companion in a way. I'm not obese but i'm still definitely not happy with my body. In my case, i've gone through the point in which i feel happier or excited just to think that i'm going to be eating this or that. And i know that's not right. I remember i joined the Nutrisystem thing last year, and even though i lost weight, i felt "happier" when i left the program because i would be able to eat the food i usually love.

Now i'm going through another kind of challenge in terms of my feelings for food. Last month i got braces. I was miserable the first days. And now i'm slowly taking it with a better view. But it's not easy. For someone like me, whose food has been a "companion" and a source of "happy" feelings, wearing braces is a hassle. I'm learning to eat with braces, it's a change. And believe me, im' happy that i'm facing this, because it puts my feelings to test. I'm trying to fight the idea of having food as my "happy" source.