Chew & spit

yourdeadwright

Hey folks
A close friend has recently spoke to me about one of there family member's ,
They kept finding huge amounts of chocolate bar wrappers in there bin outside, and couldn't figure out where they where coming from ,He thought nothing of it at first and then noticed it was a weekly thing, He said the number of wrappers was fast but he would have to check the bottom of the bin to find them
Now none of his family where huge into chocolate and all are fit and into sports , so he decided to speak to his parents and they agreed it, it must have been one of his two sister as his younger brother wouldn't; have cash to be buying them,
Anyway a long story short after a few weeks of watching out eventually seen his sister who is 23 putting wrappers in the bin,
When he confronted her she had a bit of a break down and admitted she was buying up to 15 euros worth of chocolate on days when things "went wrong" like having arguments with family members or feeling down, about 3 times a week, The thing is she said she wasn't  eating it put chewing and spitting it out in to a bag, she said she'd feel better doing it but then feel like crap once it was done,
I know the first thing he thought was eating disorder but  he says she eats normal , never skips any meals and in the evening's gets pizza and generally is a food lover  or when having a coffee would  eat a bar of chocolate or biscuits no problem , He's convinced its not a weight thing or body thing,
Has anyone heard of anything like this before ? he at a lost as she won't go to see a doctor and has begged him not to tell his parents,
Could it be a control thing ? That she feels control when eating and spitting out that she doesn't have during the arguments or feeling down ?

Any help or idea would be great

Professor Moriarty

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Hey folks
A close friend has recently spoke to me about one of there family member's ,
They kept finding huge amounts of chocolate bar wrappers in there bin outside, and couldn't figure out where they where coming from ,He thought nothing of it at first and then noticed it was a weekly thing, He said the number of wrappers was fast but he would have to check the bottom of the bin to find them
Now none of his family where huge into chocolate and all are fit and into sports , so he decided to speak to his parents and they agreed it, it must have been one of his two sister as his younger brother wouldn't; have cash to be buying them,
Anyway a long story short after a few weeks of watching out eventually seen his sister who is 23 putting wrappers in the bin,
When he confronted her she had a bit of a break down and admitted she was buying up to 15 euros worth of chocolate on days when things "went wrong" like having arguments with family members or feeling down, about 3 times a week, The thing is she said she wasn't eating it put chewing and spitting it out in to a bag, she said she'd feel better doing it but then feel like crap once it was done,
I know the first thing he thought was eating disorder but he says she eats normal , never skips any meals and in the evening's gets pizza and generally is a food lover or when having a coffee would eat a bar of chocolate or biscuits no problem , He's convinced its not a weight thing or body thing,
Has anyone heard of anything like this before ? he at a lost as she won't go to see a doctor and has begged him not to tell his parents,
Could it be a control thing ? That she feels control when eating and spitting out that she doesn't have during the arguments or feeling down ?

Any help or idea would be great

She might be spitting but the 'spitting' is quite likely to be vomiting. She may well be binging and purging and doesn't want to admit it. Check out Bulimia.

JuliusCaesar

You should check out the Bodywhys website. She might be doing as she says, or she might be binging and vomiting. Would you like me to move this over to Personal Issues for more suggestions?

yourdeadwright

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

You should check out the Bodywhys website.  She might be doing as she says, or she might be binging and vomiting.  Would you like me to move this over to Personal Issues for more suggestions?

That would be great, as far there pretty convinced that she is spitting it out as she has been pretty honest about it since the convo,
She has even gone as far as contacting him when she feels like doing it again so he can talk her out of it,

Lux23

She might be chewing the food to get the taste and spit it out, that is something I used to do when I was younger and I don't think it is unusual.

To explain I mean I don't think this kind of eating is normal behaviour, I mean in the context of having an eating disorder.

Pyr0

Lux23 wrote: »

She might be chewing the food to get the taste and spit it out, that is something I used to do when I was younger and I don't think it is unusual.

Eh.. I'd say it's very unusual. Just because it was normal to you means nothing, it's very worrying behaviour and is a sign of binge eating and possibly the on set of an eating disorder.

OP: It sounds like a serious case of comfort eating that can easily spiral out of control, 15 euro worth of chocolate 3 days a week is a lot!

I'd be more concerned about her ability to cope with "things that go wrong", continuing on the trend of binge eating to cheer herself up isn't the right way to go. She's clearly ashamed of it and is aware it isn't normal, I feel she would be best talking to a doctor/therapist to try find out why she's relying on binge eating.

yourdeadwright

Pyr0 wrote: »

Lux23 wrote: »

She might be chewing the food to get the taste and spit it out, that is something I used to do when I was younger and I don't think it is unusual.

Eh.. I'd say it's very unusual. Just because it was normal to you means nothing, it's very worrying behaviour and is a sign of binge eating and possibly the on set of an eating disorder.

OP: It sounds like a serious case of comfort eating that can easily spiral out of control, 15 euro worth of chocolate 3 days a week is a lot!

I'd be more concerned about her ability to cope with "things that go wrong", continuing on the trend of binge eating to cheer herself up isn't the right way to go. She's clearly ashamed of it and is aware it isn't normal, I feel she would be best talking to a doctor/therapist to try find out why she's relying on binge eating.

Ye I think that's the first port of call here, learning how to deal with feeling upset and down, unfortunately its a fact of life that things go wrong so learning how to deal with it is paramount,

retro:electro

Lux23 wrote: »

She might be chewing the food to get the taste and spit it out, that is something I used to do when I was younger and I don't think it is unusual.

This is disordered eating. Sorry but there is nothing normal about it.

SusieBlue

This is how my road to bulimia started.
"Sure I only want the taste, I'm not even hungry, I'll just chew it and spit it out and then I'll be satisfied". And it did work, for awhile. Until I started doing it with all foods. Except then I used to get so hungry I wouldn't be able to spit it out and would end up scoffing a few bars of chocolate or crisps or whatever because I was starving.
And then the guilt would start and I'd panic and either make myself sick or take up to 10 laxatives in one go. I was constantly, violently ill. I'm recovered now, but my stomach is so sensitive now that it'll turn at the drop of a hat. My teeth will never be the same again.

Its a downwards spiral that can progress super quickly. Your friend needs to tell his parents so they're aware of the situation. It may only be the beginning but the warning signs are there.

Lux23

Pyr0 wrote: »

Eh.. I'd say it's very unusual. Just because it was normal to you means nothing, it's very worrying behaviour and is a sign of binge eating and possibly the on set of an eating disorder.

OP: It sounds like a serious case of comfort eating that can easily spiral out of control, 15 euro worth of chocolate 3 days a week is a lot!

I'd be more concerned about her ability to cope with "things that go wrong", continuing on the trend of binge eating to cheer herself up isn't the right way to go. She's clearly ashamed of it and is aware it isn't normal, I feel she would be best talking to a doctor/therapist to try find out why she's relying on binge eating.

I didn't mean it was usual in that it was appropriate behaviour, I meant in the context of an eating disorder. To be fair I wasn't very clear in my post.

Steviesol

WhiteRoses wrote: »

This is how my road to bulimia started.
"Sure I only want the taste, I'm not even hungry, I'll just chew it and spit it out and then I'll be satisfied". And it did work, for awhile. Until I started doing it with all foods. Except then I used to get so hungry I wouldn't be able to spit it out and would end up scoffing a few bars of chocolate or crisps or whatever because I was starving.
And then the guilt would start and I'd panic and either make myself sick or take up to 10 laxatives in one go. I was constantly, violently ill. I'm recovered now, but my stomach is so sensitive now that it'll turn at the drop of a hat. My teeth will never be the same again.

Its a downwards spiral that can progress super quickly. Your friend needs to tell his parents so they're aware of the situation. It may only be the beginning but the warning signs are there.

Great post.