You have a responsibility to take care of yourself too. Sometimes that means not eating everything in sight just because you can. I'm not saying that is easy, I'm just saying it is a fact of life which you will ultimately respond to or ignore. There is an audio book called Break Through Difficult Emotions by Shinzen Young which you might find useful.

Also, I wonder if you might be able to refocus some of that desire to eat by combining your current financial situation and your experience to provide some items to a local food bank or pantry. There may be a big community wide food bank or there may be some smaller ones run by churches.

Allow yourself a certain amount of money each month. Recognize you cannot stamp out hunger in your community with your resource, but what you can do is provide a pleasant experience for a few people at that location.

You can use sales to make your money go a bit further. You can get real Cheerios-which if you study the labels-you are likely to see are more healthy than generic "o" cereals. (For the last 3 months I have seen a significant sale price once a month at my store on Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios.) You can buy eggs by the dozen and then split the box in half creating twice as many half dozens of eggs. You can buy grapes-and right in the store create small individual size bags for the pantry to store in their refrigerator. Periodically, my grocery store puts half gallons of milk on sale for 99 Cents. They do put a limit on them, but still. You can buy hamburger-if the sales are right sometimes you can get an 80% fat for the same price as a 73% fat. I am currently contemplating some Annie's pasta packages and cans of chicken and/or tuna fish. Check the day old bread rack and buy 2-3 packages of chocolate chip cookies. (a Few people get a surprise treat.) If sale prices are right, you may put in some bars of soap, toilet paper or paper towels. Catch the right sale and you can buy flats of the basic vegetables-green beans, peas, corn. Pasta and pasta sauce. Baking soda for cleaning. A case of bottled water. Just focus on wisely using the money that you have for your project and trust that God or your personal deity of choice will then send the people having the needs matching your provision to the pantry. You can't save the world, but you can use your drive in food money to make a small difference in the life of 1 or 2 or 3 people around you.

This is a very perceptive post about food. I have always hoarded food, ever since I was in a situation when I was younger that food was scarce. Also, more recently, I was too sick to go out and buy food, and had to forage some in my stores or be hungry (on top of being sick).

Slowly I am pulling out of overeating and food haording in the house. I still have a lot of dangerously old food around, and am not well enough to clear it out yet. Mostly, though, I no longer eat food that gives me food poisoning. I can only use a tiny portion of a huge fridge. I keep shopping regularly now, and if recently purchased food goes bad, I mostly throw it out.

I also find it VERY reassuring that local food stores have begun delivery services. I reason that if I get that sick again, I will be able to order food and have it delivered. Because of a limited diet, I cannot order from restaurants.

Thanks for this post.

This behavior is at its core a basic survival mechanism. It has been observed in humans and animals alike. I'm involved with a bunny rescue and sometimes bunnies that have been in bad conditions will want to overeat. Same with dogs and cats in shelters.

What I would suggest is finding what works for you to help integrate that primitive survival part of your mind with the higher reasoning parts. The goal being to cultivate awareness of when the fearful part is yelling "Danger - scarcity ahead!" when there really is not a scarcity anymore, and then to bypass the urge to act on the old messages.

It may help to observe other people who are relaxed in their eating patterns and note their behaviors and try to imitate them. It might feel a bit foreign or odd, out of your comfort zone, but do the old "fake it till you make it" technique. Hopefully the new ways of thinking and acting will begin to feel more natural in time. Good luck! :)

Hi Anon :)

Since you fear not having food in the future
I suggest that right now you start building a big fat nest egg.
Should you fall on hard times the money will be there to keep you fed until the situation improves. :)

I am wondering if obesity is a food hoarding issue. I had times in my life when I had no food to eat and was very poor. I could not afford to buy any groceries at all. I had to eat whatever the food bank would give me twice a month, which was a lot of day-old bread, dry beans and rice, Ramen, cans of soup, expired meat. I never ever could go to a restaurant or even McDonald's for a burger. I saw everyone else eating good food and I envied it. When I got some food stamps finally, I only got enough for the very basics so I would shop and wish I could buy some of the good looking foods but had to spend it on dented cans of vegetables and tuna, and the cheapest cuts of meat that were about to expire. I ate a lot of Ramen, eggs, and bologna and hot dogs.

Fast forward a decade. I have a good job and enough to buy what I want. I can go to restaurants etc. I find myself driven to eat at drive throughs every time I go out, just because I can. And stopping at nice restaurants spending $30 on lunch just because I can. I also buy a lot of foods I could not afford: boxes of crackers, nice cheese, premium ice cream, candy. I buy fatty expensive cuts of meat and all kinds of ingredients to make meals I could not afford before. As a result I have gained over 60 pounds.

I cannot stop eating. All I can think about is how deprived I was before and "what if" I lose my job in the future and am deprived again? I am hoarding food all over my body.

Help?