Using food to rebel?

peterdt

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013 | POSTED BY DR. GOULD

A lot of emotional eating happens because there is a leftover child inside of you that is asserting its independence by eating whatever it wants. It is rebelling against rules.

The man in one New Yorker cartoon says, "I became a vegetarian for health reasons, then for moral ones, now it's just to annoy people." If you've ever announced new dietary preferences to your family, you might have experienced something similar. One of our online members says, "Even when I tell my mom that I'm watching my weight, she still prepares all of my favorite fattening foods. It's almost like she doesn't want me to lose weight."

Six Ways You Use Food to Rebel

As you know, the angry rebellious self gets activated for a variety of reasons and acts that anger out through food and eating. Some people didn't get the independence or nurturance they needed early on, and now they assert their will, or they test the love coming to them, by eating in opposition to the demands of others. Some people eat because they want attention they didn't get, and they know wanton eating can do the trick. In some cases, the defiant self just stonewalls the expectations and demands it finds offensive.

In almost all cases the aggression itself is masked and disguised. Here are some of the most common theme-songs of the rebellious self:
Love me first, and then I will lose weight.
They made me this way, so I can't change.
I'll get back at them.
I'm not this body.
Food is the only pleasurable thing I have, so I'm not giving it up.
If I can't be perfect, I'd rather be fat.
In the Shrink Yourself program, we go into each of these six areas in depth and provide solutions to reverse this kind of rebellious thinking because when you rebel as an adult, you only hurt yourself.

peterdt

Food for Thought. I don't struggle with this personally. but thought to repost this interesting article.

TrailRunner61

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2013 | POSTED BY DR. GOULD

A lot of emotional eating happens because there is a leftover child inside of you that is asserting its independence by eating whatever it wants. It is rebelling against rules.

The man in one New Yorker cartoon says, "I became a vegetarian for health reasons, then for moral ones, now it's just to annoy people." If you've ever announced new dietary preferences to your family, you might have experienced something similar. One of our online members says, "Even when I tell my mom that I'm watching my weight, she still prepares all of my favorite fattening foods. It's almost like she doesn't want me to lose weight."

Six Ways You Use Food to Rebel

As you know, the angry rebellious self gets activated for a variety of reasons and acts that anger out through food and eating. Some people didn't get the independence or nurturance they needed early on, and now they assert their will, or they test the love coming to them, by eating in opposition to the demands of others. Some people eat because they want attention they didn't get, and they know wanton eating can do the trick. In some cases, the defiant self just stonewalls the expectations and demands it finds offensive.

In almost all cases the aggression itself is masked and disguised. Here are some of the most common theme-songs of the rebellious self:
Love me first, and then I will lose weight.
They made me this way, so I can't change.
I'll get back at them.
I'm not this body.
Food is the only pleasurable thing I have, so I'm not giving it up.
If I can't be perfect, I'd rather be fat.
In the Shrink Yourself program, we go into each of these six areas in depth and provide solutions to reverse this kind of rebellious thinking because when you rebel as an adult, you only hurt yourself.

From a former anorexic... It can also be the total opposite for eating disorders. For example: Love me first, then I'll gain weight, They made me this way, so I won't change, I'm getting back at them. Food is only thing I can control in my life, so I'm not going to eat. If I can't be perfect, I'd rather starve to be skinny.

TheDarlingOne

This is pretty much spot on. At the end of the 1st psychiatric appt I had with the therapist he told me from the little information I had given him (the whole session seemed to stem around questions about my mom, dad, and siblings so I'm thinking what does this have to do with overeating??) - he says from the info you've given me to today - what's clear to see right off the bat is that you use food, and over eating, to rebel against your mother. You were the good student, didn't attend parties, never snuck out, etc - so in essence you "rebelled" against her, by over eating at night when she'd go to bed - or sneak 1 more hamburger patty when she went to the living room and you were left in the kitchen to clean up after dinner - etc.

So it makes 100% sense. NOW - just how to combat that? Maybe I should have went to more than 1 session - but soon as I heard "it's your mother's fault" in so many words (or that's how I took it anyway ha) that's what I went with. Hahahahahaha!

quirkytizzy

I really like this. I know one of my short term reactions to being told I can't have something (especially food) is to go "SCREW YOU I WILL EAT ALL THE FOOD IN THE WORLD!" The longer and further reaching implications of this, as posited by your post, is interesting.