Terrible New Habit

[LadyIvy 159]

Tonight I realized I have developed a horrible new habit 3 weeks out from surgery. I am being very careful about separating fluids from food. Once in a while I will be drinking something and walk into the kitchen and find something my hubby put out on the counter that I really want. I noticed that I have begun cutting off a tiny piece and chewing it until most of the flavor is gone and spit it out into the trash can. This is embarrassing as I thought this was something only someone with an eating disorder would do. Its not that I don't want the calories, I actually do, because I am ranging between 500 and 800 today and that doesn't subtract from my 5 day a week work out negatives. I just know that mixing food with fluids has made me really sick two times so don't want to play that game. Does anyone else do this? It sounds like such a first world problem and the wasted food makes me feel terribly guilty now that I realize what I am doing.

[Lissa 2,631]

It IS an eating disorder, or can be. It's called cupping and it's not a habit you want to continue doing. Eat what you want, but don't create new problems for yourself. Don't feel guilty. You're trying to learn to eat like people who don't have food problems; this is a great place to start!

Good luck!! You're doing great on your loss, btw!!

[amytug 996]

I haven't had surgery yet, but something I used to say when dieting and scraping my kids plates into the trash, or throwing food out.. if I'm putting it in when i shouldn't, i AM wasting it. I am not a garbage disposal.

I dont know, maybe that was way OT. it's late, and i'm fuzzy brained. '

Lissa is right though. It's so good to have these forums before gettingthe surgery.

[BenisaMartim4 369]

I chew and spit all the time. it is mostly because once I get something chewed well enough to swallow, I just can't seem to get it down. A lot of meats do me this way and I usually always end up spitting sometime sweet back out. I don't know why I even put something like that in my mouth anyway. I don't need it and I know it is going to gag me. Everything seems too sweet to me now. I also chew and spit popcorn. The soft part is fine, but I just can't swallow those hulls. Bleck!

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[terrilynndrew 89]

I used to chew & spit daily before I started mushies post op. I did it for the flavor. Once I got to mushies I never did it again. Now I'll only spit out something too tough to swallow.

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[Indymom 132]

I only did it twice when I was on liquids.

[ereneeh 77]

I did it with pizza once while on mushies. It smelled too good but didn't want to hurt my stomach. Good to know we can all be brutally honest here. =^0

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

My friend does this all the time, and she was sleeved 3 years ago. I read that it's considered an eating disorder, but I don't understand why. It's not the same as bulemia. That sounds dangerous, forcing yourself to puke.

[Cheles 75]

I too did that durning the liquid stage, but after that I never did it again. Hopefully this will pass and not become a habit.

[thebionicbroad 127]

Cupping? I didn't know that there was a name for it. Many moons ago, when I was trying to get my weight down to join the military, I went one full year with zero carb. I can remember making, chewing, and spitting out an entire batch of chocolate chip Cookies. I haven't done this with the sleeve, though. There's nothing that I really crave or miss. Sweets don't even look good anymore, since there's zero nutritional value in them. After having a malfunctioning crap-band for five years, I'm having too much fun eating things that would never go through the band. Splenda, fruit, and Atkins bars keep me happy.

[JimmyGotSLEEVED 270]

Do this is not wrong UNLESS it becomes habit forming an you start to unconditionally do it without actually knowing your doing it. Now you are practically trading in one eating disorder for the next... Tread carefully, the waters are deep on this one.

[Mews 37]

Ironically I was just talking about this with a friend of mine who is a therapist. Yes, it's technically considered an eating disorder. I think Jimmy has got it right though: if you continue to do it and it becomes an unconscious habit then that is a problem.

[Back~To~Amy 307]

It is an eating disorder if it becomes something done on any regular and consistent basis. The danger of it is when you start chewing, your stomach starts to produce all the acids to breakdown what you are about to swallow. If nothing is swallowed, there is nothing for the stomach to breakdown except itself. I read something a long time ago and, to my best recall, this is what it said. If you Google it, I'm sure you can find out all kinds of info on it.

~Amy

[JimmyGotSLEEVED 270]

It is an eating disorder if it becomes something done on any regular and consistent basis. The danger of it is when you start chewing' date=' your stomach starts to produce all the acids to breakdown what you are about to swallow. If nothing is swallowed, there is nothing for the stomach to breakdown except itself. I read something a long time ago and, to my best recall, this is what it said. If you Google it, I'm sure you can find out all kinds of info on it.

~Amy[/quote']

I do understand what u mean but chewing gum has the same EXACT effect. So it's really not to harmful for stomach. It's more of a psychological issue and less biological.

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

I googled cupping and could not find anything out about it.