BINGE EATING DISORDER: FEAR THE SUGAR COATED “Cereal Killers”

Since when and why do people say they “fear food”? Really??  Yes…Really!! I hear that phrase thrown around all the time, and as amusing as it may actually sound, some people really take it seriously. I know people who avoid certain aisles in the grocery store,like they avoid going to the Dentist for a root canal. I […]

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Since when and why do people say they “fear food”? Really??  Yes…Really!! I hear that phrase thrown around all the time, and as amusing as it may actually sound, some people really take it seriously. I know people who avoid certain aisles in the grocery store,like they avoid going to the Dentist for a root canal. I truly think they believe that if they walk down a row of cookies all the boxes are going to grow fangs and tackle them to the ground, pinning them down, and forcing their “chocolaty chip goodness” down their throats.

Binge Eating Disorder Leads to Fear

I have patients tell me that they can’t possibly have certain foods in their house because they are terrified to have them in their cabinets.

I know girls who will not even make eye contact with a marshmallow for fear of being hypnotized by it’s fluffy, or other ones who will “mace a candy bar” if it even so much crosses their path.

It may sound silly to some, but not to me, as I used to fear food all the time. OK, lets break down the math here, and simplify things a bit. Here’s how to understand Crazy!

I really didn’t think that food had psychotic personalities and that eating or being near certain ones were putting me in danger. What I was actually saying was that I had a fear of myself, a fear of how strong my willpower was, and my feeble taste buds. I had a fear of my “stomach beating the crap out of my brain” when it tried to tell it that it didn’t care about calories, fat, or carbs. I was scared that being as hungry as I always was, I would lay victim to a Snickers bar who would commit murder on my digestive system.

I had a fear of my thighs, my stomach, and my ass, that it might revolt against me upon consuming these foods and hold the treadmill as hostage, laughing at me behind a pair of large sweatpants and grandma panties.

It’s sad that we have to associate a word like Fear, which by definition means: An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or threat.

Obviously than associating the word ”fear” with “food” is going to cause some pretty unpleasant emotions when you think about them or see them.

We also tag the foods that are most decadent and delicious to it as well, which if funny because last time I looked it was called “Attack of the killer tomatoes”, not “Attack of the deep fried Twinkies”.

I don’t think I ever heard anybody say that they had a fear of carrots, rice cakes, or plain fish without butter?? If they did say that, I would say they had some other issues going on and they might want to look into hypnosis, or go on a talk show about strange phobias.

This is the thing, food is not the enemy, our own self-doubt, low self-esteem, and pressure from society is. We are bombarded every day by us not feeling like we are of value unless we weigh a certain amount, or eat a certain way.

We brag to our own consciences about how great we are that we resisted that plate of pasta,when secretly our ”who gives a damn” would have really wished we had not.

It’s a vicious cycle, one that we probably inherited early on in adolescence, when we suddenly were told to blame those greasy foods and chocolate bon bon’s  for the zits that popped up on our faces.

When we started hitting puberty and growing out of our tween jeans, we probably associated a lot of that with the “mac and cheese”we were downing in the school cafeteria and began bragging to all our girlfriends that all we were eating from now on were ”celery sticks and Diet Coke”.

Seriously, lets step out of the horror movie that has become our daily diet, and concentrate on fearing the more important things like getting bitten by a rabid monkey, Team Brangelina breaking up, or Project Runway being cancelled.

In the meantime I wouldn’t lock all your refrigerator doors just yet, or hide under your couch from prowling pizza delivery men.

It’s time to start associating all foods with nutrition and normalcy. Start trusting your internal instinct more and telling yourself that you are the one who is in control of any situation, and yes that means the entire entree section at Olive Garden, or the freezer section of your local 7 Eleven!  Bon Appetite Scaredy Cats!

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