Afraid of eating in front of people. Am I the only one?

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  • RozayJones
    RozayJones Posts: 409 Member
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    I was the same way when I was younger - I would not eat in public, at school or in front of my friends. This lead me to an eating disorder because not was I afraid of how people would judge me I started judging myself.

    You have to remember that everyone around you is eating & really they just don't care about what you are eating they just don't that everyone eats - it's normal!
  • Joannesmith2818
    Joannesmith2818 Posts: 438 Member
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    I feel like that in front of people who I know cant keep comments to themselves. Luckily my close friends never comment on my food choices, maybe because they also know I have IBS so have learnt that its probably to do with that...and they dont want to spark a convo up about the ****s!!
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    I had this anxiety as a child because my extended family enjoyed picking on what I ate and how I ate it. I like to disassemble my food as I eat it. My maternal grandmother loved to loudly point out everything I ate or didn't eat to everyone. I remember(at 8 y/o) grabbing a chicken leg to eat and she followed me around asking if I wanted mashed potatoes and gravy until I ran out of the house and locked myself in my mom's car to eat in peace.

    Now, I know that people will think whatever they want about my eating habits and judge me for them. If they start teasing me about it, I judge them about theirs. I don't care about being polite when I feel someone is being a butt to me. I give what I get.
  • KombuchaCat
    KombuchaCat Posts: 834 Member
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    My husband has a bit of a phobia about eating in front of other people. He's gotten better over the years but it's still there. I think that many people have this issue so you are not alone.
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
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    Are you afraid of being judged by people for other things too? If you are, then you should work on your self confidence. Other people will judge you for pretty much everything throughout your life, so you need to accept that and know that you are confident in your actions and if they have a problem with it, well that's their problem.

    If it's just eating in front of people that you're afraid of, then that could be a symptom of an unhealthy relationship with food. Food is not bad. Eating food is not bad. Even eating food that isn't good for you isn't bad. It's unhealthy relationship with food and overeating consistently that is bad for you. If you are eating what's good for you, in quantities that are reasonable for your lifestyle, then you have nothing to feel bad about. If people judge you for it, that is their problem, like I said before.
  • lupinibean
    lupinibean Posts: 40
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    I always liked Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent"

    Also, I don't know who came up with it originally, but I also like "What you think of me is none of my business"
  • rob_base
    rob_base Posts: 97
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    I am afraid to eat in front of people too.....but that's due to my table manners and not anything else :ohwell:
  • spirit80
    spirit80 Posts: 327 Member
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    Do what makes you feel good about yourself. I could careless what anybody thinks or says. Look in the mirror and be Happy with you!
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
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    just pig out
    and do a few burps and farts
    it will all pass.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    Sometimes, I get so scared that I even hide in the toilet or in my room to eat. And when I say eat, I mean eating healthy portions of food, not like how a binge eater would do it, hiding and eating a bunch of food at one go. I simply take the food that I plan to eat to my room and hide and eat it.

    Hmmm... if people talking about you is what you want to avoid, this kind of behaviour is more likely going to encourage it.

    I pay zero attention what my colleagues have at their desk for lunch, however if I heard someone munching in the loo next to me I would find that rather strange. :huh:

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