Eating healthy turned me into a food snob

spaghetti93

Just wondering if anybody has experienced this/noticed this in themselves since changing the way they eat. I used to eat some of the worst stuff, sweets whenever I wanted them, yknow. but now that I don't since I realized how bad my eating habits were affecting me, I tend to judge other people's. I think that unfortunately I just tend to be judgemental, which is one of my worst qualities, but when I see someone eating something that I wouldn't, sometimes I almost feel superior to them and I kind of hate it. I would never say anything, I know it's none of my business, but I definitely pay attention to what other people eat more than I used to. Like the other day I saw someone eat a bagel and 2 donuts from dunkin donuts in 10 minutes and just kind of stared. I definitely don't like this change (because I don't want to be a health snob, I want to be accepting of whatever people want to do) but I'm just wondering if you guys have done the same? Maybe I'm just jealous because I subconsciously want to eat a box of donuts. I dont know lol.

AlyssainNC

I'm totally the same way. Give me rich high quality dark chocolate instead of chalky fake milk chocolate any day! I love eating real food! I am naturally judgmental as well and when I'm on the path of healthy eating and fitness I tend to forget that we all have our weaknesses and struggles.

Evebwahurn

Story of my life. I've lost 40 lbs and now I have my ''I'm a saint, you're doing everything wrong!'' moments... It's really affecting my relationship with my boyfriend who kind of eats mindlessly! I keep picking him apart and yet I'm not perfect at all and I still eat a lot of crap. I wish dieting was less obsessive!

RobynMWilson

I think we all do, to a point. I'm ever conscious of not forgetting where I came from...so much so that I forget where I am now at times lol

americangirlok

For me it's more that I prefer good food to crap. Not necessarily healthier stuff- like if I want mac and cheese I'd rather just make it then open a box w/ neon goo. Or instead of opening a can I'd rather steam fresh if I have it. Or I'd rather make cookies than buy a box of cookies- unless it's like mint cream oreos lol.

neanderthin

Why do you care? I'm sure there's foods you consume that another would consider beneath them.

skinnyinnotime

I'm mainly like this about myself, if we're out and we need to get lunch or a snack I'm so picky and make a fuss that there's nothing healthy or fresh enough to eat.

My other thing is looking at what others have bought food wise whilst waiting at the check out, i see bottles of soda and processed ready meals and think hmm

spaghetti93

For me it's more that I prefer good food to crap. Not necessarily healthier stuff- like if I want mac and cheese I'd rather just make it then open a box w/ neon goo. Or instead of opening a can I'd rather steam fresh if I have it. Or I'd rather make cookies than buy a box of cookies- unless it's like mint cream oreos lol.

I've noticed this as well. If I ever think "hmmm... I want a piece of candy" i realize I actually don't- it just doesn't feel worth it anymore. I don't really enjoy sweets as much as I used to both because I know I could be eating actual FOOD instead, and also because I'm not satisfied. I'll have to disagree with you on the mac and cheese though- I will always love the neon goo.

Clement1ne

For me it's more that I prefer good food to crap. Not necessarily healthier stuff- like if I want mac and cheese I'd rather just make it then open a box w/ neon goo. Or instead of opening a can I'd rather steam fresh if I have it. Or I'd rather make cookies than buy a box of cookies- unless it's like mint cream oreos lol.

LOL "unless it's like mint cream oreos" Too funny!

But ya, in all seriousness I'd have to agree... I see a lot of people of all sizes eating poutine, for example... (I live in Quebec, Canada, lol, so it's only by natural human nature to eat poutine, but I'm from ONTARIO so I never got hooked!!!), and I'm just like, "wow, I have no idea how they can eat that". I see it as total sabotage to all my efforts.

*In case you don't know what poutine is (and there's nothing wrong with that): a generous bowl of French Fries, topped with succulent fatty gravy, and white cheddar cheese curds.

Emmalee

bpe101

People are designed to notice specific things they once did not pay attention to once it becomes made aware of or inportant to them. For instance, we may never have noticed a certain car, but as soon as we buy one or see a car commercial for them, we see them all over the road. And if we begin changing our own bad habits by eating healthier, we tend to notice the poorer decisions of others. We may or may not criticize others for these decisions, but we definitely notice them.

Infauna

That's so ridiculous. Not eating a piece of cake or an oreo cookie doesn't make you better than someone else. Why does it matter what someone else puts into their body anyways? It's not really any of your business, worry about yourself. Maybe that's all the person had to eat that day, maybe they had a bad day and were emotionally eating (which everyone has done at one point), maybe they just wanted to eat those things because they were craving it.

It's stupid to feel superior to someone because you are eating "healthier" than them. It doesn't make you look superior, it makes you look like an a**.

Unknown

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valeriewxy

I have almost the opposite problem. From time to time, I'll have a day off (but never going above maintenance cals too much), or I'll work some desserts into my cals ... and then I catch myself worrying what other people will think when they see me enjoying a cookie or that slice of chocolate cake ^_^;;; Like "How can she claim to be eating healthy?? Look at her scarfing down that cookie!" ...

hbunting86

I just like good food - I respect others choices, but I find myself being critical of MYSELF if I make less than optimal choices when I'm at the store. Like, I went shopping the other day and my one downfall is I never plan for snacks which invariably leads me to eat more than I really should or want to at my main meals. So I went shopping with the intention to buy healthy stuff and for the first time I actually walked out with things that I felt good about. I don't tend to pay much attention to what other people do... I'm quite ambivalent in that respect. I'd hate for people to judge me - my problem is I'm my own harshest critic!

My advice would be just concentrate on what you're doing and be happy with yourself. Don't let something positive turn into something negative!

LifeWithPie

I'm totally the same way. Give me rich high quality dark chocolate instead of chalky fake milk chocolate any day! I love eating real food! I am naturally judgmental as well and when I'm on the path of healthy eating and fitness I tend to forget that we all have our weaknesses and struggles.

fake milk chocolate ???

NakedLunchTime

That's so ridiculous. Not eating a piece of cake or an oreo cookie doesn't make you better than someone else. Why does it matter what someone else puts into their body anyways? It's not really any of your business, worry about yourself. Maybe that's all the person had to eat that day, maybe they had a bad day and were emotionally eating (which everyone has done at one point), maybe they just wanted to eat those things because they were craving it.

It's stupid to feel superior to someone because you are eating "healthier" than them. It doesn't make you look superior, it makes you look like an a**.

I think you missed her point....:huh:

abelthephotographer

I suffer from this a little too. But I see is as a displacement for a conversation with my old self. Likewise I would never interfere with a stranger's choices, because actually all I'm doing is recognising in them how I used to be.

So don't sweat it ...

spongebobsquarepants12345

I don't care what people eat but I hate Mc Donalds and always wonder how they are always so busy when I drive by one

HotrodsGirl0107

A lot of people notice bad habbits I others when they start to eat healthier. This is normal. However the feeling of superiority is just a waste of time.

1. You are NOT superior
2. The people you judge don't care that you feel superior
3. It is a long bumpy fall down off the high horse

^^^ this is what I tell myself when I think for one minute I am better than someone else for any reason.

Jen800

I get what you mean. I sort of became that way and it's hard at times. Ignore what another poster said, it's human nature. You feel as though you've found the "light" and are stunned that not everyone has. "HOW can they think stuffing their face with chocolate is okay?! don't they know about the horrible ingredients in that?!" are some common things to think. If you're passionate about something, you want to share it with the world, naturally.

I just try my best not to say anything, keep my opinions to myself, and focus on me. I slip sometimes and say something to my family members (although, one in particular is ALWAYS complaining that she wants to lose weight, and follows up the statement with 20 cookies and 4 chocolate bars in one day plus a litre of pop, so its extremely hard NOT to call her out on it)

I had a break down a few weeks ago over it. I felt like my weight loss transformed me into a judgmental monster. I realize this is actually pretty common, and as long as you remain respectful and only talk about nutrition/healthy vs. unhealthy when the topic is actually brought up by another person or in a conversation. Never say anything out of the blue.

It's also difficult to deal with when people try to give me "diet advice", and are wrong/misguided and then ARGUE with me when I attempt to tell them those are just myths. my thoughts were "EVIDENTLY I understand nutrition and how to lose weight, how else would I have lost all of it?!" It took all my strength not to launch into a full scale fitness-health-knowitall rant on them. I know it sounds bad, but in the moment it was just infuriating.


Anyways, keep control of yourself and try to remind yourself whenever you feel yourself looking down on someone for their choices that you were there once, and that they just haven't had their moment. You can't change them, and you can't make them see the "light". As long as they don't affect you, try to keep your head straight

Jen800

A lot of people notice bad habbits I others when they start to eat healthier. This is normal. However the feeling of superiority is just a waste of time.

1. You are NOT superior
2. The people you judge don't care that you feel superior
3. It is a long bumpy fall down off the high horse

^^^ this is what I tell myself when I think for one minute I am better than someone else for any reason.

These things too! I don't usually feel superior, just that I feel like I have this knowledge that they NEED me to help them understand. Ridiculous, right? I think I need to start repeating these things to myself as well :P

Jen800

I have almost the opposite problem. From time to time, I'll have a day off (but never going above maintenance cals too much), or I'll work some desserts into my cals ... and then I catch myself worrying what other people will think when they see me enjoying a cookie or that slice of chocolate cake ^_^;;; Like "How can she claim to be eating healthy?? Look at her scarfing down that cookie!" ...

and this too. I always feel like if I don't justify myself for eating something unhealthy, people are judging even though I know they're not. It's probably just because of the way I feel when I see it that I think people are doing it to me.

HotrodsGirl0107

A lot of people notice bad habbits I others when they start to eat healthier. This is normal. However the feeling of superiority is just a waste of time.

1. You are NOT superior
2. The people you judge don't care that you feel superior
3. It is a long bumpy fall down off the high horse

^^^ this is what I tell myself when I think for one minute I am better than someone else for any reason.

These things too! I don't usually feel superior, just that I feel like I have this knowledge that they NEED me to help them understand. Ridiculous, right? I think I need to start repeating these things to myself as well :P

I get what you are saying. It is ok to want to share your knowledge with those who are open to listen. I think a lot of people forget what it is like in the beginning. I never want to forget where I came from. For the most part I think it helps me to sympathize instead of judge or feel superior. I am thankful I went through the struggle of weightloss. It really put things into perspective for me.


Forgive me for any spelling errors lol. I will have to suffer without my classes since apparently it's bad to hit the with a weed eater lol.

redheaddee

Eating healthy has turned me into a foodie, but not a judgemental snob. While I do want others to feel as good as I have felt recently, I do not judge people for their actions. The eating of 2 bagels and a donut in 10 minutes is their decision and does not effect me at all. Get over yourself. You were probably that person once, too.

servilia

I was like this about a pregnant coworker's lunches. Not the amount of food but that shed bring in processed frozen lunches. That is, until I was pregnant into MY third trimester and myself could barely bring myself to cook once a week. I learned my lesson.

Athena53

Eating healthy has turned me into a foodie, but not a judgemental snob.

Yeah, I've found that it's getting easier for me to pass up true junk food, which in turn makes it easier to keep my weight down. I can pass up things that I know will taste of chemicals, or have a funny texture or a greasy aftertaste. Yesterday DH made a yogurt-based sauce for salmon patties, carefully substituting yogurt for the mayonnaise the recipe called for. The sauce had the funny, glossy appearance of the "creamy" salad dressings I've stopped buying because they've got too much crap in them. I checked the yogurt label. In addition to milk and yogurt cultures, it had sugar (in "plain" yogurt!), whey protein, corn starch and gelatin. I gently pointed it out to DH (househusbands who have dinner ready when you get home from work are to be treated nicely) and he gently pointed out that the only brands available in the tiny size he needed are the cheaper ones. Point taken.

My scorn is aimed more at the manufacturers when I go through the aisles in the stores and see what they push and read the labels. I know the manufacturers will say that they make what people want to eat, but I really feel that their advertising is behind the huge deterioration in our eating habits over the last couple of decades.

I was like this about a pregnant coworker's lunches. Not the amount of food but that she'd bring in processed frozen lunches.

One woman on my staff just had a baby 2 months ago and another is due in June. They both got big as houses from eating all the time. When I had DS in 1984, I was really careful about my weight gain and didn't have a lot to lose after he was born. I kept quiet; they're wonderful people and do fantastic work. The one who had her baby in February is back at Weight Watchers, so that's good. The one due in June may end up following her.

Sqeekyjojo

It's normal to notice such things.

For example, if you were in denial about the amount of sheer crap you ate before and were the typical 'I have no idea how I'm big, I eat almost nothing/everybody who is slim must be bulimic' type of person, actually realising this could mean you see the doughnuts, chocolate, takeaways, burgers, shakes, processed meats, huge portions of pasta and fatty sauces other people saying the same are actually eating.

So you realise just how blind you were by seeing those other people.


The key is to not let on you know.

Infauna

Eating healthy has turned me into a foodie, but not a judgemental snob. While I do want others to feel as good as I have felt recently, I do not judge people for their actions. The eating of 2 bagels and a donut in 10 minutes is their decision and does not effect me at all. Get over yourself. You were probably that person once, too.

Exactly.

spaghetti93

That's so ridiculous. Not eating a piece of cake or an oreo cookie doesn't make you better than someone else. Why does it matter what someone else puts into their body anyways? It's not really any of your business, worry about yourself. Maybe that's all the person had to eat that day, maybe they had a bad day and were emotionally eating (which everyone has done at one point), maybe they just wanted to eat those things because they were craving it.

It's stupid to feel superior to someone because you are eating "healthier" than them. It doesn't make you look superior, it makes you look like an a**.

I think you missed her point....:huh:

I'm surprised by how many people have had such a negative reaction to this topic and clearly, like you've said, missed the point. The purpose of this topic was not to gather all the healthiest people in the world and brag about how great we are since we eat the healthiest food and talk about how others are below us since they eat *gasp* DONUTS. (This was sarcasm for those of you who obviously don't understand it. )

Let me break it down for some of you.

In my first point I stated that

1. I was just wondering if anybody was experiencing a similar feeling (a lot of you are. I was genuinely just curious if it was a personality quirk of mine or a side effect that some people experienced. Literally the only information I hoped to gain by posting this topic.)

and admitted both that

2. I am aware that "I know it's none of my business" (A direct quote... did you negative nancys even read my whole post) and "I want to be accepting of whatever people want to do" (So thanks for telling me what I already know)

and 3. I may just be jealous. Changing the way I eat makes me realize that I won't be able to eat whatever I want like I used to years ago. Seeing other people be so carefree, I wish I was them, oblivious to what I was doing.

Also, I think it's quite ironic that multiple people have told me to "get over yourself" and to "get off your high horse" because I'm not superior to them. Which I never stated I was, just that it was a feeling I got while eating. Like "my meal is better than yours", not "I am so much better than you as a person and above you because I shop at whole foods" (that's ridiculous lol I would not say that.) You, in turn, seem to be judging me for judging others, which just puts you in the same place.
I thought the rude comments were unnecessary, but I wasn't surprised to receive them.

Thank you to those who offered support, it is nice to hear your experiences.

But who doesn't like OREOS???? Please don't assume that I never indulge and am strictly all healthy food all the time. Yesterday I ate two cookies, the day before I got an ice cream cone, you get it. (Now somebody is going to call me a hypocrite, just watch...)

spaghetti93

Eating healthy has turned me into a foodie, but not a judgemental snob. While I do want others to feel as good as I have felt recently, I do not judge people for their actions. The eating of 2 bagels and a donut in 10 minutes is their decision and does not effect me at all. Get over yourself. You were probably that person once, too.

Exactly.

"You were probably that person once too"

" I used to eat some of the worst stuff, sweets whenever I wanted them..." <

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This is the second sentence of my first post.

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This is the point


this is you

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>>>

Looks like you missed it.

stargazer008

Food snob for life