Obsession With Food: 7 Habits That Are Warning Signs
Obsessions related to food are not only a characteristic of the presence of habits typical of eating disorders, but they can also cause a very negative impact on health even when a mental disorder has not developed.
That’s why, Spot the warning signs of food obsession It is very important to prevent the entrenchment of harmful habits both physically and socially.
Starting to develop an obsession with food is easier than you might initially expect, especially for three reasons.
The first of them is that, in Western societies, edibles are very easily accessible, unlike legalized addictive substances such as alcohol or tobacco. Even in poor families, malnutrition problems are often caused by a lack of ability to eat a healthy diet, not a lack of groceries.
The second is that the food offers a good excuse to stop doing something and “disconnect” briefly making a trip to the kitchen. Even if it’s just to stretch your legs after spending a long time in front of a computer or television screen, snacking between meals is a way to escape without having to depend on others.
The third and last reason has to do with the chemical composition of many of the ingredients with which a good part of food products are manufactured. The abusive use of refined sugar, for example, is extremely widespread, and its function is none other than to “hook” the consumer by offering them an instant reward for having tried the product.
Signs that reveal obsession with food
In general, the warning signs that warn of obsession with food are the following.
1. Little planning of meal times
Throw away any pretense of following a fixed meal schedule It is one of the signs of obsession with food, although not in all cases, since it can also indicate lack of time due to the amount of work one has.
However, when this pattern is associated with an obsession with food, the disorganization is very evident and can lead to eating at practically any time of the day or night; Virtually any time you are awake is a good time to go to the kitchen.
2. Meetings with friends as an excuse to eat
People who experience food obsession don’t tend to plan when they eat, but when they do plan to go to restaurants, they need an alibi. That is why with They frequently propose meetings with friends to go to restaurants for dinner.more times than normal and than others consider acceptable.
3. Food reserves are closely monitored
People obsessed with food They monitor the amount of food they have. In addition, they ensure that there is a portion of food that does not need to be cooked, and that therefore can be consumed instantly.
The obsession with food leads to eating a lot, but the person who experiences it invents “rules” that They allow you to believe that you have eaten less food of those he has actually eaten.
For example, you may start to believe that snacking doesn’t count as eating, or that smoothies aren’t food and that drinking one is like drinking water.
5. Anxiety translates into trips to the refrigerator
Every time you experience a stressful situation, it leads you to immediately go eat something, with virtually no delay. The food used as a tool of escapism to forget past problems and the discomfort they cause.
6. You think about food regularly
Other signs of obsession with food are think about her for a long time, simply to experience a sensation similar to what you would feel when eating it. Following blogs and profiles on social networks that show photographs of food (not as much as the recipes themselves) is also common, although by itself it does not indicate any type of problem if it is not accompanied by other warning signs.
7. Less and less time is spent cooking
People who are obsessed with food try not to expose themselves to situations in which they have real foodstuffs nearby. that they cannot prove immediatelyand instead they can eat or snack between meals whenever they want. This means that they spend less and less time cooking and prefer to buy ready-made food or go to restaurants directly.
