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Bad eating habit

Ok, so this may sound weird to people...but I have taken on a new habit that I KNOW I need to break. I started originally having problems with restricting and not eating like all day , and then I started binge-purging once in awhile but luckily have stopped that. So now I eat regularly and healthy BUT this new habit is that I will chew on foods I wouldnt normally eat like cookies, chips, white bread with butter, pancakes etc etc anything bad that i wont allow myself to have...and then i will spit it out in the trash. I dont know if anyone else has ever done this but if they habve pleassse let me know I am not the only one. Or just any advice would be great! thanks all

What you are describing is called chew and spit. Chewing and spitting is not a commonly known eating disorder but it still is one. It is a part of the eating disorder ED-NOS, or eating disorder not otherwise specified.

Chewing and spitting

• The person puts food in his/her mouth, tastes it, chews it, and then spits it out.

• Some people believe this behavior is a separate eating disorder. It is not. It is a calorie-control strategy commonly seen in anorexia nervosa, and sometimes in bulimia and eating-disorder-not-otherwise-specified. The person is creative, allowing some experience and enjoyment of food but avoiding all but a few calories. Since essential nutrients are not incorporated into the body, chewing and spitting can be just as harmful to health as are starvation dieting and binge eating followed by purging.

This can be just as harmful as not eating since your body is not getting the proper nutrients, though it will still be digesting calories - digestion, incidentally, begins in the mouth. But because your chewing will prompt your stomach to form acid this can cause major damage. It can result in swollen glands, mouth sores, cavities and decay of teeth, cracked teeth, sore throats, irritated or ulcerous stomachs and mouths. Just to name a few symptoms.

Because you are here telling us about this, I am assuming that you are wanting to and ready to talk to others and possibly receive help. But while CC is only a small support I think you need ot be going to someone face to face - particularly, going to your doctor. And as well as your doctor do you have someone close to you (a parent or other family member) that you can talk to?

An extremely helpful site to check out when you are talking to your family member(s) and doctor is http://www.something-fishy.org, but please be aware: if you are unwilling to see a doctor about this then CC cannot support you either. We promote healthy and sustainable weight management as per the posting guidelines and C+S is no part of that. And given your B/P history, too, you could have already done serious damage to yourself - so that doctor's appointment is imperative.

Please remember,

Posting Guidelines

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.

• Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, disruptive, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
• Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.

- Ellie
Voluntary Calorie Count Moderator

Are you here to recover?  We are all about supporting healthy eating habits.  We will not support signs of disordered eating.

When you say bad foods, there really are no bad foods.  It's unhealthy to eat ice cream all day, but an occasional scoop as part of your meal plan is perfectly healthy.  A general rule of thumb is to eat 80-90% healthy nutritious foods and the remainder in treats if you want them.

Yes, I too am recovering and on a good track except for this habit! I think of "bad" foods as things I just woudlnt normally eat ALOT of in my diet such as cookies, cakes, chips etc.   I am working on balancing my diet because I tend to go to the extreme with only eating healthy foods (even thouhg I am eating the right amount of calories) I just am working to be more flexible!