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.

With all do respect your comment sounds like a justification of this eating disorder. Eating disorders' date=' like other addictions, are listed in the medical diagnostic manuals as psychiatric disorders. The actions of these psychiatric disorders have negative effects on our bodies. I agree that gum starts the digestive process. However, you aren't missing getting nutrients when you spit out gum as you are when you spit out food. Also, if you Google it, you can find people talking about stomach ulcers, rotting teeth and other issues from it just as people who suffer from anorexic and bulemia do.

I hope anyone doing this seeks help if they need to in order to stop this behavior. It is dangerous to your body.

Best of luck to everyone on their journey to a healthier self![/quote']

I don't know if you read my previous post but justification is not my stance on the matter at hand. Chewing gum and chewing and spitting are the same exact thing. The only difference between the two is that the person who chews gum and spits it out are actually eating and the ones who only chew food and spit it out aren't. So you will see a lot more ulcers but rotting teeth? I don't buy it unless they are either vomiting often or not brushing their teeth.

I respect your opinion and apologize if I read something in it that I shouldn't have. Either way, we all know any kind of disorded eating isn't good. Take care and best of luck to you on your journey!

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.

It is not bulemia (which you know already is vomiting). It is closer to anorexia if anything (because you never actually ingest your food), but either way it is an unhealthy relationship with food. Taking this to an extreme is what makes it an eating disorder. If you want the flavor but are so adverse to the calories that you would rather spit out your food (hence your nutrients) it is bound to cause a problem eventually.

Below I have listed the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder from the DSM IV:

Eating Disorder Diagnostic Criteria from DSM IV-TR

307.1 Anorexia Nervosa

* Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and

height, for example, weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85%

of that expected or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth,

leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected.

* Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.

* Disturbance in the way one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence

of body weight or shape on self evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current

low body weight.

* In postmenarcheal females, amenorrhea, i.e., the absence of at least 3 consecutive

menstrual cycles. A woman having periods only while on hormone medication (e.g.

estrogen) still qualifies as having amenorrhea.

Type

Restricting Type: During the current episode of Anorexia Nervosa, the person has not

regularly engaged in binge-eating or purging behavior (self-induced vomiting or misuse

of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas).

Binge Eating/Purging Type: During the current episode of Anorexia Nervosa, the

person has regularly engaged in binge-eating or purging behavior.

307.51 Bulimia Nervosa

* Recurrent episodes of binge eating characterized by both

1. Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount

of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of

time and under similar circumstances.

2. A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode, (such as a feeling that

one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).

* Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as selfinduced

vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other medications, fasting,

or excessive exercise.

* The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behavior both occur, on average, at

least twice a week for 3 months.

* Self evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.

* The disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of Anorexia Nervosa.

Type

Purging Type: During the current episode of Bulimia Nervosa, the person has regularly

engaged in self-induced vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.

Nonpurging Type: During the current episode of Bulimia Nervosa, the person has used

other inappropriate compensatory behavior but has not regularly engaged in selfinduced

vomiting or misused laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.

307.50 Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified

This diagnosis includes disorders of eating that do not meet the criteria for the above

two eating disorder diagnoses. Examples include

1. For female patients, all of the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa are met except that the

patient has regular menses.

2. All of the criteria for Anorexia Nervosa are met except that, despite significant

weight loss, the patient's current weight is in the normal range.

3. All of the criteria for Bulimia Nervosa are met except that the binge eating and

inappropriate compensatory mechanisms occur less than twice a week or for less than 3

months.

4. The patient has normal body weight and regularly uses inappropriate compensatory

behavior after eating small amounts of food (e.g., self-induced vomiting after

consuming two cookies).

5. The patient engages in repeatedly chewing and spitting out, but not swallowing,

large amounts of food.

6. Binge-eating disorder: recurrent episodes of binge eating in the absence if regular

inappropriate compensatory behavior characteristic of Bulimia Nervosa.

So this would classify as something known as EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified). I don't believe chewing gum and this have anything to do with one another from what I read above. The DSM IV references psychological requirements for EDNOS (which is where this disorder is placed) but both psychological and physical requirements for Anorexia and Bulemia.