Appetizer
Know MORE about your eating personality.
Agnes Kolor is a registered dietitian who has appeared as a diet expert on numerous television shows including the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, and the Food Network. She formerly was the spokesperson for the New York State Dietetic Association, and is the author of Quick Tips for Good Health.
Based on her diet counseling experiences, she has developed several personalities that describe how people handle food.
Which one are you?
Main Course
The Emotional Eater. The Emotional Eater looks to food for comfort. When stressful feelings occur she reaches for food to relieve these painful emotions. Food brings back feelings of security or carefree times. The only problem is that the comfort feelings once experienced while eating were only temporary, and have now been replaced with feelings of self-disgust.
The Unrealistic Overachiever. The Unrealistic Overachiever is always unsatisfied with her results. If she loses five pounds, it should have been ten. She also has the “all or nothing syndrome”—if she eats one cookie, then she’s a failure. And she wants to lose it all NOW. It didn’t matter that it took her six years to gain that extra 20 pounds — she wants to shed it in one month. She has trouble meeting her goals because her expectations are too high. These thoughts can make her run to the refrigerator because she becomes disappointed with herself.
The Postponer. The Postponer will put her life on hold until she loses weight. “When I lose 30 pounds, then I will (fill in the blank).” However, she isn’t able to meet her weight loss goal because she isn’t comfortable with the expectations she has placed on herself when she loses the weight. Food has become a crutch; it helps her to keep the weight on so she doesn’t have to reach her goal and address other issues in her life.
The Sabotagee. The Sabotagee allows herself to be sabotaged by friends and loved ones who hinder her weight loss efforts. Maybe her husband likes her overweight due to his own insecure feelings of losing her, or maybe her girlfriends have become jealous by her success. Her husband or friend may encourage gatherings around food to make sure the Sabotagee keeps the weight on.
The Defeatist. The Defeatist believes she has no discipline with her eating. She sets herself up for failure by going into a party, saying “There is no way I will be able to avoid overeating.” She thinks she doesn’t have the willpower to control what and how much she puts in her mouth. By having a defeatist attitude she lives up to her own expectations by gorging herself at the party.
The Avoider. The Avoider declines invitations to go to social gatherings because she doesn’t like the way she looks and thinks, “When I lose the weight I’ll start going out.” However, this mentality can have a rebound effect—while everyone else is having fun, she’s home alone and depressed. The Avoider uses food to subdue her feelings of loneliness. This prolongs her agony and continues to foster her social isolation.
The Codependent. The Codependent’s life revolves primarily around food. Codependency is usually associated with being dependent on another person, but the codependent eater may consider food her best friend. When problems arise or when she’s lonely, she can always turn to food. This can create a vicious cycle because after overeating she becomes depressed and thus returns to overeating.
Source: DietWatch
Dessert
As I’m sure is the case with many of you, I think my eating personality is a blend between several of these, but I most resemble the Emotional Eater and the Unrealistic Overachiever.
I like to eat when I’m sad, happy, tired, wired, etc. – Thus, the emotional part.
I also tend to overreact when I eat an extra brownie or finish off last night’s pizza. That’s where the unrealistic tendencies come in because I know that 1 extra piece here and there is not going to hurt me.
By identifying our eating personalities, we’re able to examine our behaviors and recognize when we need to head in a different (mental) direction.
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