Comments on: Parents’ Role with Our Emotional Eating Problems

By: asithi

asithi — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:14:51 +0000

@Scale Junkie – I understand what you mean about growing up with parents who had very little. My parents came from a fishing village in China, where having a chair is considered a luxury. So I often feel a tinge of guilt when I throw out food.

By: scale junkie

scale junkie — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:56:34 +0000

I think my parents did the best they could with the information they had at the time. They were both children of the depression and grew up learning that nothing should go to waste and that eating well was a privileged and they wanted to give us the security of never knowing scarcity the way they did. Unfortunately all of the “clean your plates” and “be a good girl and you’ll have ice cream” really warped for me when I used food to feel better after experiencing traumas at age 6 and up. I don’t have kids but I’m happy to report that my siblings kids all have very healthy and normal relationships with food. The cycle can be broken. Now I just need to break it in myself

By: asithi

asithi — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:44:14 +0000

@Spring Girl - Awareness is at least the first step to making a change. The family dynamics is such a rich area for learning about myself. I always thought that my sisters and I would have pretty much the same childhood. But whenever I talk to them, they would constantly surprise me with the stuff that they remember and the stuff that they don't. It sometimes almost seem like we are from two different families. Thanks for the comment Spring Girl.

By: Spring Girl

Spring Girl — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:34:40 +0000

Oh I came from that family where my mother had no emotional baggage, my sister turned out fine and I eat under any pretense. I realised though that I needed to fix this because I didn’t want to pass it on to the next generation and my husband keeps talking about wanting kids. While it’s a fair way off yet, I know it will take time to shed years of emotional food baggage so I figured it would be a good time to start. I have wondered if that would be enough (because it wasn’t in my case) but I guess if you are aware of it, you do the best that you can.