curious...weird eating habits from ED/OCD?

This may be in the wrong forum, I was just wondering has anyone else developed or had weird eating habits since an eating disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder?  I have always had some quirks from my OCD, but since my eating disorder I laugh and question myself when I find myself doing these behaviors.  In therapy, I see a lot of others also have the same concern or do similar behaviors.  Some of mine include-

• Cutting up my sandwich or whatever I am eating into very, very small pieces and eating them with silverware, even if it was a sloppy joe or turkey sandwich
• Dipping my sandwiches/crackers/fruit/cookies in milk
• Ripping up my sandwiches and dropping them in milk, then eating it like soup
• Cutting up scrambled eggs, salad leaves, spaghetti
• Cutting up my english muffin or bagel upside down
• Taking forever to cut up a piece of fruit because I refuse to bite into it
• Mixing foods like peanut butter with tomato, chicken, turkey etc.
• Eating foods lighter in color first, then darker ones later
• I hardly ever use ketchup/mustard/salt/pepper anymore, maybe its the whole 'fear of calories' thing
• Experimenting with microwaving foods and seeing what tastes good
• Eating either really fast, or really slowly.

Those are just a few of them, but I have seen people overuse condiments to an extreme, have the compulsion to eat every little crumb and finish everything 100% and of course, cutting up food beyond belief.

I'm doing better now at controlling them, but I was just wondering out of curiosity.

I have to fisnish everything on my plate, hungry or not. (I'm working on it)

I still have "safe foods" and often choose them over, say, chicken that someone else cooked (because I don't trust them)

Obsessively make absolutely sure there is no added sugar or oil in any of the things I'm consuming without my knowledge

I must see how the food I am going to consume is being prepared. Or I wouldn't eat it. I'm getting better at this one though...

I won't eat unless everyone else is eating.

Until recently, if I ate meat, I wouldn't eat carbs.

I arrange the pantry so that "safe foods" are within easy access and "not safe" foods remain hard to find. Also getting better with this one though.

Weighing. Measuring. Everything. Obsessively.

Until recently, my food could  not touch anyone else's food or I wouldn't eat it. Now It's easier to just accept I might digest a little (teeny tiny) bit of chicken sauce with my rice...

All liquids, except coffee and water, MUST be consumed through a straw (it includes diet soft drinks)

There's lots more but I'm sure everyone's tired of my OCD

Original Post by coldthindream:

I have to fisnish everything on my plate, hungry or not. (I'm working on it)

I still have "safe foods" and often choose them over, say, chicken that someone else cooked (because I don't trust them)

Obsessively make absolutely sure there is no added sugar or oil in any of the things I'm consuming without my knowledge

I must see how the food I am going to consume is being prepared. Or I wouldn't eat it. I'm getting better at this one though...

I won't eat unless everyone else is eating.

Until recently, if I ate meat, I wouldn't eat carbs.

I arrange the pantry so that "safe foods" are within easy access and "not safe" foods remain hard to find. Also getting better with this one though.

Weighing. Measuring. Everything. Obsessively.

Until recently, my food could  not touch anyone else's food or I wouldn't eat it. Now It's easier to just accept I might digest a little (teeny tiny) bit of chicken sauce with my rice...

All liquids, except coffee and water, MUST be consumed through a straw (it includes diet soft drinks)

There's lots more but I'm sure everyone's tired of my OCD

 

Oh yes I had a horrible time giving up measuring cups and eating anything I didn't personally prepare.  hah hah, I'm getting better at that though, although everyone shooes me out of the kitchen when food is prepared now.

geez...i weigh, measure and count EVERYTHING

*raises hand* Me too! I weigh and count my calories religiously. It's a pain in the butt, according to my parents. xP

I'm OCD, from what I can tell it kind of led to my eating disorder. My OCD is a need for perfection and other things. So yeah I understand. I cut up things into little pieces, my food can't touch, ...just random things like that.

I still measure everything too, but Im getting better at not thinking about the calories b/c I know I need them.  Sometimes I feel like if I eat too much or if I dont eat enough something bad will happen.(think thats from OCD) I also have to cut things up and all my fruit has to be cut up.  I also eat extremely slow, I guess cuz Im so afraid of going out of control. I also think its because when I was severely restricting I ate slow because I didnt know when I would let myself eat again. It seems sad to think back on it now...

One thing that I do religiously is spread out my food during the day. I eat like every hour, but I will have like my cereal then an hour later my fruit then an hour later toast with coffee or something...same goes for lunch and dinner...I constantly have to make sure that I finish everything on my plate, but I feel like each thing I eat is basically a snack. I also eat one thing at a time, and then I move on to the next thing. I like to eat alone too, because it makes me feel like I am in control once again I guess.

I think one of the main things though is that I am still eating my safe foods, but just more of them. I can't seem to give in to pasta or bagels or donuts or pizza or anything of the sort like tacos. It also always seems like I reach for the chicken dish at a restaurant too with steamed veggies even if I am not wanting to eat that...I guess I need to branch out more huh!!

Oh and I cut up everything...including turkey slices haa!

-I don't like eating in front of people

-if someone is in the kitchen I will wait until they leave until I go in and make myself something

-I obsessivly look in my cupboard or fridge, even if I am not hungry and take little bites of things

-I eat at least every 3 hours... I fear being hungry because it leads to overeating

-carbs are only eaten in the morning and avoided later in the day (I still fear carbs like bread, pasta, or pizza)

-I don't like eating past 6:00

-vegetables are eaten first, then protein

-I would rather eat 100cal in broccolli, than 100cal in icecream (safe foods are always choosen over 'bad' foods)

-I will only eat 'bad' foods if they are worth it (ie if I am with friends or boys... I will not eat a cookie by myself, I have to be with someone so that I look "normal" if that makes sense)

...lots more.

 

 

If I'm eating a meal with my boyfriend. If he stops eating for ANY reason (e.g. doesn't like it, has had WAY more than me and if full up) I will stop eating, no matter how much I've had or how hungry I am.

I will never eat a meal alone, I only have little pieces throughout the day.

I ALWAYS eat vegetables that are on my plate first.

I always have to chew everything thoroughly

I can never take massive mouthfuls of anything

I can't eat anything that I haven't seen the nutritional value of first, unless out for a meal where I really have no other choice

I also wander around my kitchen looking in my cupboards without eating anything non stop, or to eat a spoonful of jam or a pickle or something random

 

Wow, I never really thought about it untill right now and writing them down, I always thought I was pretty easy with the food that I do eat. Kinda worrying! :s

Sorry to sound so negative, but this is some weird stuff here!

I just realized that I like to watch people prepare food or get food from the kitchen and see them eat it.  Thats horrible!

I also have trouble allowing myself to eat unless others eat first.  I hate eating by myself and will wait until everyone is seated and has a napkin and what not before eating.  I also have to chew and cut up my food in even numbers, preferably multiples of ten.

weird....

- I eat with miniture utensiles, and eat out of undersized servewere. ie, teaspones, cake forks, eating out of drinking glasses etc...

- I avoid eating full servings of carbohydrates w/ dinner, eg if we have chicken+rice for dinner I'll pick the chicken out of the rice. 

- I perfer eating alone...

- I get really agitated if we have to go out for dinner/lunch - I refuse to be apart of the 'where should we go?' discussion, and I dread the whole experience.

- I get agitated also WAITING for food, as if I'm inately concerned that I will never be fed. I get really mean if my mum is cooking dinner and it's taking too long.

- I wander around the kitchen looking in the cupboard/fridge thinking I want to eat something when I'm not hungry...and i'll pick at weird things like teaspoon of jam etc.. 

Do these habits ever go away with time?  I can control them better, but still find myself doing them absentmindedly or wandering around looking at all the food in my house even when I don't want anything.

I hope not.

" -I don't like eating in front of people

-if someone is in the kitchen I will wait until they leave until I go in and make myself something

-I obsessivly look in my cupboard or fridge, even if I am not hungry and take little bites of things

-I eat at least every 3 hours... I fear being hungry because it leads to overeating

-carbs are only eaten in the morning and avoided later in the day (I still fear carbs like bread, pasta, or pizza)

-I don't like eating past 6:00

-vegetables are eaten first, then protein

-I would rather eat 100cal in broccolli, than 100cal in icecream (safe foods are always choosen over 'bad' foods)

-I will only eat 'bad' foods if they are worth it (ie if I am with friends or boys... I will not eat a cookie by myself, I have to be with someone so that I look "normal" if that makes sense)

...lots more." --CarmenXOX

Ditto pretty much eveything she said.

CarmenXOX - I believed I have run into you in the chat room before. lol. It seems that we have really similar eating habits and ideas and stuff.... :-)

- I get agitated also WAITING for food, as if I'm inately concerned that I will never be fed. I get really mean if my mum is cooking dinner and it's taking too long.

joanne811 I do the same!! If breakfast, lunch or dinner is running late I become very irritable! It's awful because the meal turns into a fight! I'm trying to control this though...

Many of you have stated you eat your vegetables first, This is completely the opposite for me: I either eat them last OR I have to have the vegetables combined (never a forkful of meat, there's got to be a piece of broccoli or lettuce going in my mouth with it) If I run out of veg, I stop eating or get myself some more veg.

1. It drives me nuts to make a dish i know is healthy just because it's more work to calculate the calories in the whole dish and then try to decide what percentage of the dish...blah.
2. i hardly ever, ever drink something other than water.
3. i eat bad foods (high calories, high fat, high sugar) alone. i eat good foods (low calories, low or no fat, usually not processed or only lightly) around other people.
4. i measure things. if i don't it bothers me.
5. i like my meals to look good written down on paper. foods that compliment each other and don't look like a lot when written down.

i'm sure theres more i don't even realize i do still.

I do and have done so many of the same things as many of you. It is so crazy, it must be an ED thing...

1) I hate eating in front of people
2) Have to know the calorie content before it will reach my mouth
3) Hardly drink anything but water; the occational diet soda
4) Measure everything
5) Use small silverwear, ei. baby utencils, small plates and bowls
6)Have to drink 8 glasses of water a day
7) Take Small bites, have to make the food last and want it to be easily digested
8) Wait until people are out of the kitchen to make my food
9) look in the cuboards, just to look at the food
10) Stash my "safe foods" from people or high calorie foods that i'd never eat...idk why.
11) and like many people, eat "bad" foods in private

Original Post by l0velikewinter:

10) Stash my "safe foods" from people or high calorie foods that i'd never eat...idk why.

 

Oh I do that too!  I try to save my safer foods but I push the higher calorie foods in front so others will be more tempted to choose that instaed, oh I'm terrible, but I haven't done anything like that for several months, thank god.  I felt so horrible when I did that.

- Don't like eating in front of people, but hate preparing my food in front of others ecen more.

- I cut all of my food into really small pieces, and rip small pieces off food so I don't have to bite into the whole thing (especially with stuff like bananas and cereal bars)

- I use small knives and forks, big ones mean I put more food in my mouth and I feel like a pig.

- I hate different foods touching each other with a lot of meals.  Rice and curry being one where they absolutely must NOT touch 'cause the rice gets stuck to stuff and will not be removed.

-I chew everything LOADS before I swallow it and will not pick up my next forkful until I've swallowed my current mouthful.  This means when I eat with people, they've normally finished before I'm halfway done xD

 

Thee are probably other things I've not thought of.  Nice to know other people do stuff like this xxx

I just have an odd quirk. I don't like to have proteins touching the side dishes, unless it's one of those on-dish entrees.