Craving Food Chew, Taste, And Spit Out

[mommymar 34]

I have done it twice. I can see how doing it constantly would put you on a bad path. I just wanted to chew. That was it. I took one bite, that took care of the craving for a week, then did it a second time. Then I was on solids. I have never done it since then. I personally don't see doing it once or twice as a harmful thing.

[ereneeh 77]

I admit I did this once with pizza and I don't have an eating disorder (or at least this type of disorder) I like the post above that we all have an eating disorder, that's how we got here. At no other time in our lives, will we revisit the point where we are on a liquid diet for weeks. I understand the need to chew something and I believe it shows great willpower to spit it out and not swallow. I know that it is a great relief to me that I can ask a question and get an honest answer about what others are going through with me. It has been 9 months since my sleeve and I chewed and spit once. No biggie. Do what you need to do and move on. Congratulations on the new you.

[Wheetsin 714]

Just my 2 cents.

If you're craving a food, but don't want to swallow it, and it isn't something you do regularly, it's probably not a problem. I remember a girl who liked the flavor of oranges, but not the texture, so she'd chew them up until the juice was gone and spit out the rest. She got responses ranging from "You need help you have a disorder" to "Have you seen this show about people with eating disorders? Because you sound like that lady on there" and everything in between. It was ridiculous.

I've certainly done it. My sleeve doesn't like breads, they sit heavy. But DH made some of his killer homemade bread a few weeks ago. I wanted the taste, but not the heavy feeling, so I chewed a bite and then spit it out. I'm pretty sure I don't have an eating disorder because of it. I just didn't want the crappy feeling. Sometimes I take a bite of something, especially with meat - and realize I can't chew it up very well. I'll chew it as much as I can, then spit it out. I've done what lolly...65 did, and chew things just to see how they taste to me now, and how my body reacts to the texture (I'm really really picky on textures). I've chewed things to see if I have a sense of taste (side effect from a medication I had to take for a few weeks). I've tasted & spat because I often make things without recipes, and need to see how it's going but don't necessarily want to eat the food (e.g. cupcake frosting! Way too sweet for me, but I still need to make sure the taste is right when someone's paying me $$$ to make cupcakes for their wedding).

General rule of psychology: if it's not hurting you, or someone else, it's not a problem. And let's be real for a minute. The vast majority of the people who are here are morbidly obese, if not super morbidly obese. Not may people get to that point without some kind of an eating disorder, mild or otherwise.

If you're doing it all the time, problem. It can cause you harm. If you do it once in a while for a specific reason, and that reason isn't calorie deprivation or related, then you're not hurting anyone.

(I kinda latched onto the idea of eating disorder, but 100% of the time when I've seen a topic like this come up, that's either what was being asked OR it's the direction the thread took anyway, so let's just get it nipped!)

[brendaliz_r 29]

I know this post is really old but I tried the chew and spit yesterday cuz the idea crossed my mind without even knowing, then I decided to look on the internet for the right term and I found this page. I do it for the same reasons, I'm on my 6th day of the liquid diet pre-surgery. It's a very restrictive diet compared to the ones I've seen on this page. I'm only allowed to drink clear broths, crystal light, Gelatin sugar free, popsicles sugar free, sugar free hard candy (can't eat that much cuz It hurts my mouth) and 16 oz of white cranberry juice, apple juice or white grape juice 100%. I'm a coffee drinker so I get the anxiety during the morning especially. So yesterday I did the "chew and spit" and It helps a lot. I think is gross too but It helps the craving. So what If its an "eating disorder" if It helps, it's valid.

[Melodica 64]

I actually did this when I was on the pre-op liquid diet. I wanted a frickin taco sooo badly, so I ordered it, chewed it up and then spit it out. It definitely helped with my craving.

After surgery I haven't done it. I figure if I really want something, having it in moderation on occasion is not a bad thing.