Eat because you like it, or for survival.

Post Reply New Topic

I've always been skinny and an absolute beanpole when I was a kid. It's been asked of me many times if I liked eating. Well, yes and no. There are some foods I like, but fixing food then taking the time away from other things to eat always seemed like an imposition. Aside from that, as a child (1960's/'70's) we always sat down to a family meal, which was never comfortable for me. Why? Because that was when the old man would check up on what we were doing and pass judgement on whether he approved or not. I do like some food, but in the end I still have to make sure I eat on something resembling a regular schedule or I wind up not eating for several days in a row without missing it at all.

I eat because I have to. If there was a little pill I could take daily to replace the need to eat, I'd take it.

Eating is such a hassle. And nothing has ever really agreed with me. I have a limited number of things I actually "like", more tolerate.

Everything around eating I do not like. The shopping, the prep & cooking, the cleanup after, the queasy feeling of something not ever being that great abut what I just ate.

I guess I have digestive problems.I don't like going to doctors, bureaucracy is too much of a hassle.

I'm just too lazy. I never have energy, of course, i don't really eat much.

It's a vicious cycle.

Food is a curse. I hate having to scrape and survive all the time, always needing that next meal, ugh.... stop what I'm doing and do a whole bunch of food related junk.

Why do people enjoy life so much?

I like to eat. I eat for comfort. This has caused me to be overweight to obese throughout my life.

My father enjoyed eating at his favorite restaurants.

I now do that as well. And cook for myself so I can prepare things the way I like them. But, at 107 lbs, my weight is actually a little lower than it was a decade ago.

I definitely eat for survival. If I don't have a set schedule for times to eat I will go hours to days without a morsel. Yeah, my stomach growls and feels empty but I just don't care nor do I have the energy to direct my attention from my current task to prepare food. I also have a lot (I mean A LOT) of things I can't eat due to sensory issues. The texture and smell of somethings just nauseates me. For instance, the smell of tomato is offensive to me ESPECIALLY when it's cold tomato sauce or something. I can't stand food that isn't dry and fairly bland, for instance I've survive on extra mature cheddar (MUST be extra mature) on crackers for extended periods of time purely because it's extremely basic.

This was a huge issue for me as a kid as I could never eat anything my parents would cook for me. They'd all get mad at me for being "so picky" but I just couldn't eat normal foods, I felt bad about it because I didn't know why I was so averse to so many foods. One year I remember having pizza for Christmas dinner because pizza was a relatively safe food providing there was minimal tomato sauce, where as traditional Christmas dinner (at least in Britain) is turkey, vegetables etc with a whole load of gravy which honestly was gag-worthy to me, even the smell put me off.

Like people have stated above, if I could take a pill every day instead of eating, I would.

For survival definitely. I always wanted a little hatch in my belly that I could just stick lumps of coal and scrap wood into, like a pot-bellied heater. Noticing that I'm hungry, deciding what I want to eat, shopping, preparing food and, finally, eating it, all present their own problems. When hyper-focused on something, I barely notice the need. The other tasks mean a battle against my executive function deficits, social phobia, and, very often, the apathy of depression. Eating only snack foods, or nothing at all, for days has never been unusual for me, and I've always been underweight.

Left to my own devices sometimes I won't eat for days. It's not that I don't feel hunger or that I wouldn't appreciate something tasty to eat. It's just that I lack the energy, motivation and follow-through to actually make it happen. So I take a nap instead. I call it "The Apathy Diet" because I just don't care.

So my husband comes home after several weeks or months on a job and sees my clothes hanging off my body and the hollow zombie eyes. Then he stuffs me full of food. He tempts me to eat with all the fatty, unhealthy foods that I know I shouldn't have but can't resist when they are shoved in front of my face. I gain weight and feel gross and overfed. The thing is, I could never have lost the 150 lbs. I needed to if he hadn't left for the better part of a year and I don't want to gain it back, though I do acknowledge that near starvation is not the healthiest way to go about it.

On the other hand I have never learned to photosynthesize and he won't stop chasing me with food so I guess I'm screwed.

I wish I were like that.

I'm on the "see food" diet. What I see, I eat

The scent, even of McDonald's, sends my saliva a-flowing...….

Some food I find very enjoyable, but I've always had a small appetite and been more of an "eat to live" person, rather than "live to eat." I'm also very picky due to sensory issues, and a vegetarian on top of that, which restricts the number of foods I can eat (my sensory issues are bad enough that some foods, I cannot eat because of them - my body refuses to swallow, I'll just end up gagging instead).

For me, it's a constant battle. I wish I were oblivious to fine, rich foods.

McDonald's doesn't fill me with desire---but pasta and steak does.

I'll fire up the grill to make just one little steak.

My mother was always trying to get me to eat less and be more active because most of my life I've been overweight or obese as well. She tried everything, bribing, threatening, punishment... which naturally only made me hate diet and exercise even more. About the only time I don't eat is when I'm really sick, and then I might lose a few pounds, but when I get better I eat normally again and just gain it all back. It almost makes me feel bad and guilty for getting better.

For me, food is like sex. In the company of others, it can be a varied, creative, elaborate source of exquisite pleasure. Alone, it's a matter of simple necessity.