Hi friends! 😀
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one who gets a little sad when a delicious meal comes to an end. It seems that most people experience the “post-meal blues”, especially when it comes to breakfast. Which isn’t surprising, really. Breakfast is, after all, the best meal of the day.
And speaking of breakfast… does anyone else eat theirs in a really particular way? Observe:
This is what my bowl of oats typically looks when I’m halfway through it. I start by nibbling away near the top of the bowl, move to the bottom, and I’m left with a strip in the middle that’s piled high with all the good stuff [read: the almond butter]. In other words, I save the best for last.
That’s how I eat my breakfast every. single. time. Without fail. Without thinking. It just feels right. I actually can’t even imagine starting from the middle and working my way out… it boggles the mind 😯
And breakfast isn’t the only meal where that happens. Lunch is also eaten in a specific way…
The salad is the first thing to go. Always. When that’s all gone, only then do I start on whatever’s left.
I guess you could say that I’m pretty particular when it comes to how I eat. Or what I eat with…
That little spoon probably sees more action than all of our other cutlery combined. I use it to eat pretty much any meal that can be eaten with a spoon. Even if it’s dirty, and there’s a drawer full of other clean spoons to choose from, I’ll still take the extra time to wash it before I sit down to enjoy my meal. Because, call me crazy, but it really does make a difference in how much I enjoy my food.
As do mini bowls…
… which are supposedly measuring “cups”, but hey, what’s in a name?
I have no idea where these quirky eating habits came from. I don’t remember ever being so particular when I was younger. I’d eat from any bowl, with any spoon, and wouldn’t give it a second thought. But now? Now I play favorites. Now I’m pretty particular.
Part of me wonders why such seemingly meaningless things hold so much value to me, especially because I remember having such particular eating habits when I was in the depths of my ED, that if I couldn’t eat in a specific way or with specific utensils, I simply wouldn’t eat. Of course, the habits that I have now aren’t nearly as extreme, but are they lingering remnants of past disordered thinking?
Maybe I’m just over-analyzing things; I have a tendency to do that. Maybe my particular-ness is nothing more than innocent preference. After all, everyone prefers to do things in certain ways…
…like preferring not to bite into ice cream bars 😉
. – . – . – .
Are you pretty particular when it comes to how you eat?
Any quirky habits?
I have a lot of food quirks too but honestly I don’t think they’re ED-related at all! Like I always eat my oats or cereal last at breakfast, at lunch I have carrots or whatever vegetable before I eat anything else and I eat overnight oats in the same small glass bowl every single day. It just feels more satisfying that way, I don’t know why though 😉
For some reason the salad is always the first to go for me too. I think it’s my least favorite part of a meal and I always save the best for last. I have to eat one food at a time, so if I start on the salad, I have to finish the whole salad before moving on to my sandwich. And none of my foods can touch. Sometimes I wonder if it’s unhealthy and reverting back to the ED days, but really I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying your food however makes you comfortable!
I have so many foodie quirks: breakfast is always eaten with a baby spoon, sandwiches need to be cut into triangles not rectangles, the last bite is always the best and contains a bit of everything!
I am most definitely a small spoon and small dish girl. I was beyond giddy when I inherited my grandma’s spoon set a year ago–a set comprised of 30-something tiny spoons, each with their own unique handle design. They are pretty nifty. However I typically use the same one over and over again. The others are being saved for special occasions. And I always pack said spoon when I travel. I really can’t stand eating with the ginormous cutlery offered at most restaurants/frozen yogurt shops etc! The same goes for bowls; I always pack a small dish as well. 🙂
I am partial to particular mugs, plates and glasses as well, mainly because I feel more satisfied when I eat off of them. I don’t remember when this dish descrimination began, but I suspect it was adopted during my ED days. However, I see absolutely NO problem with it. I eat to nourish my body now. I’m healthy and happy, and I’m pretty sure that’s all that matters.
Happy weekend, Amanda! xoxo
hey my beautiful friend!!!
gah isnt it crazy to think how irrationally we thought when we were SICK SICK SICK with ed? I used to ONLY used TINY utensils and take TINY bites! I would also make arrange my food a certain way. its soo crazy thinking about it now! granted- i still like small spoons for my oatmeal, i think it makes it last longer! but i wont fret if i have to use a bigger spoon. i love your blog- its my fav!
I have some quirks, too. Like, I usually eat with really tiny utensils. I have ever since I was little. I’d always use 1/4 teaspoons as spoons and baby forks (which have been traded for chopsticks). Also, I like to eat things out of bowls. They’re much more fun than plates.
I always enjoy all the oats in my bowl before I even touch the toppings. I HAVE to save the best for last 😀
Oh, and biting into ice cream freaks me out! That’s pretty much like asking for a tooth freeze!
Happy Saturday 🙂
hey! I’ve been reading you for a while now…don’t judge me for creeping 😛 and you’ve been so inspirational to me!
anyhoo, yes I too have some weird particularities with my food. for example I don’t like to eat the ends of the banana- something weird about them. and I LOVE when I can find and use my teeny spoon- it’s adorable! and it makes food last longer, so…. also I follow the trend of eating veg, protein, carb, when the meal is all split up like that.
although I must admit using the same spoon & teeny bowls are classified as ED rituals. meh, can’t please everyone.
No judgment for being a creeper 😉 But thank ya for saying hi!
I have a favorite coffee mug that I drink out of every morning! I’ll take the time to wash it if it hasn’t been through the dishwasher.
I also peel the crust off of my toast and eat it before the rest of the bread…even on sandwiches. Not sure why!
Totally embrace the quirks! If everyone ate the same way the world would be a boring place 🙂
when it comes to oats, gotta save the best for last! 😉
Depending on what is in my oats I eat them different ways. If it’s topped with nut butter and jelly I like to get a little bit of everything in each bite rather than mixing everything together. But if I have fruit on my oats than I like to mix it all up.
And I definitely have a favorite spoon too!
I like fun bowls and cute spoons too! It just makes the experience so much more fun!
Ahh I love eating with long skinny spoons that hold only a tiny amount, and if I’m eating something portion controlled (like nuts) I love to have it in a mini bowl. Definitely a preference though, not an obsession.
Some food for thought:
http://youtu.be/fxNGI4lSBQQ
I think we don’t need an explanation for everything. Not every weird habit is a symptom. Being different doesn’t have to be wrong. I prefer to call it individuality.
I had a favorite plate when I was a child and I enjoyed my meals the most when they were served in it. The plate changed but the habit didn’t. Also, for the past few years I have been eating most of my meals at home with the same teaspoon and I don’t care what other people think of this habit. I eat my meals in a particular (sometimes weird) way too but does it really matter if it makes me feel good? And saving the best for last? That’s the only right way to eat, if you ask me. The only good reason to do it the other way round is the end of the world coming in 5 minutes. And I don’t see the end of the world coming anytime soon.
Wonderful food for thought… thank you for sharing 😀 I definitely look too much into things, but that’s mostly because I’m curious by nature, so I question a lot. In the end, though, I really don’t see anything wrong with what I do… that’s just who I am.
Being honest it does sound like these behaviors are ED hangover/leftovers BUT yeah…don’t overanalyze it.
If it makes you happy, right?
Not like you’ll freak out if anything interferes or you start bring your utensils out to eat. That would be sick. Ritualistic in a slave to the grind/obsessive/un-pleasurable way.
That doesn’t seem like what you are doing. I think it’s all good to just own our quirks. You’re good.
Helllo love!!
Hope your day was great!!
For me, I always have to have crunch with whatever I eat! Always! Maybe I was deprived of crunch when I was younger?! Lol! I hope you have a great night! Love u!!
I have quirks as well. I would eat every meal with a spoon as well…even spaghetti. I also have to eat out of the same bowl and my little spoon every night I eat ice cream. I have another certain bowl that’s for my oatmeal. I always save the best bite for last. When I eat a sandwich or a wrap, I tear them apart and eat the middle and eat the bread last. My salads I eat all the lettuce first and then the other fixins. I could go on and on, but I guess you get the point…i have weird eating habits….but that’s me and I enjoy eating that way. 🙂
I’m actually not particular with how I eat my meals and think I did more “rituals,” like eating one type of food on my plate at a time before moving on to the next, when I was younger and more finicky!
I do however bite into bars from the corner/side, never taking big, straight-on bites! Lol
I do the same things with my little spoons! I love them the best 🙂 I wish I had cute measuring bowls/cups like that!
I have methods for eating all my foods…and like you anything that has nut butter on it,well the nut butter is the last thong to gO. I also take my sandwiches apart and eat the insides first and t he bread last. Carb lover? Oh yah
I used to eat Angel Delight (with sprinkles, of course)as a child in a similar way to your oats. I liked to pretend I was eating away at the landscape until only a high, solitary cliff remained.
From observations, most people seem to have little specifics or quirks, which I guess just naturally develop over time due to repetition? If you do something over and over then surely patterns are bound to emerge? Like, I’m sure we all also have a specific way we shower and wash. I do think they can become exaggerated and hold a greater power over us during periods of disordered eating, but I also believe they are normal to some extent. Just so long as you’re at peace with the quirks and they aren’t dictating your life.
And on the matter of cutlery 😉 – I acknowledge using specific forks/spoons can be disordered, but also maybe some of us are just more tactile, and prefer the feelings of certain shapes? I hate cutlery with ‘rough’ or sharp edges/handles – I prefer more rounded shapes (like your spoon!). Even as a child I always had a prefered spoon (it has a pretty, engraved handle and all the others were boring). I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having favourites, just so long as it doesn’t ruin your day or have you fleeing the kitchen in anxiety if you can’t locate that spoon. Balance and all that malarkey :P.
With each post you make, the more I realize just how similar we are! I always leave a blob in the middle of my breakfast bowl, always digging a big trench around and saving the absolute best morsel for last 🙂 I pretty much ALWAYS eat with spoons too! Forks are so overrated 😉
Amanda,
I love how you share all of these things that you do when you eat (and to be honest, I always save the best for last, too), but SO MANY of these are exactly (like, basically word-for-word) like the things that my IP called “rituals”. Basically, an eating ritual for a disordered person is something that is a part of their disorder, often used to alleviate anxiety with eating (and not being able to eat in a certain way, use a certain utensil, etc would cause anxiety or difficult feelings). Personally, I think that normal people have a few things that seem perhaps a bit ritualistic about their eating, but I think that given all of the things you’ve written about your eating habits, I think that’s abnormal and disordered, but really only you can determine that. I know that some habits are innocent (for me, I have always eaten my pizza backwards, crust first, and it has nothing to do with my ED), but others are not (I used to eat excessively slowly, always use the same small plates, etc, which were related to my ED). I don’t know if any of this information is relevant to you, but I hope that it is, and that you’re able to examine your eating habits and recognize which ones are a part of your ED.
Thanks for your comment, Laura! I’ve definitely spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not my habits are related to my ED, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re really not. They have nothing to do with alleviating anxiety, it’s just how I prefer to do things. I think those of us who have struggled with an ED are quick to look at certain behaviors and call them disordered, when in reality they can be quite innocent… it just depends on the mentality behind the action.
I don’t have any bad habits — as in habits driven by my eating disorder. I have noticed a lot of patterns in the way I eat though! For example, I eat my bananas with nut butter from the outside in, breaking small pieces off. I always start with the ends! I also eat whatever I deem the “best” part of the meal last — so banana with nut butter comes AFTER cereal mess. Although both are delicious, I think anything with nut butter always comes last… I think it’s because my best friend in first grade always ate her cookie last because she “saved the best for last” and it stuck!
I too love saving the best for last! I est my meals wiyh a smsll spoon too and my favirite sunflower bowl! Your measuring cups are adorable ! I too would use them as bowls!
Errrrrrrrrrr!!! I’ve always hated biting into ice cream bars because it gives me awful brain freeze and a freezing lump in my throat. I getcha. I also like little spoons, especially the ice cream ones with loooooooong handles. 🙂
I eat breakfast a very specific way! Wait a second… I eat every single meal a certain way now that I think about it! I try to save the best for last, whatever that entails for me! It usually involves some kind of nut butter being saved for the end 🙂
I always have to save the best bite for last! It just doesn’t feel right or make me completely satisfied to have a last bite that isn’t flavorful. Just like with oatmeal! I just have to save a super nut buttery bite for last 🙂
lol; when I had oats for breakfast I would always eat it just how you have shown! “spooning” away at the outside, all around the nut butter, before getting to the big gob of nut butter. I hated stirring everything together!
I’ve realized that when I eat salads, I eat pretty much all the lettuce first, before being left with mostly dressing and toppings! haha. I suppose that kind of defeats the purpose of a salad (having everything all together) but it’s how I like it :]
I ALWAYS save the best thing for the last. I also eat my veggies first, than some protein, and then my carbs which are most of the time, smothered with nut butter. I absolutely need something sweet in the end <3
1st of all – I am so sorry I haven’t been commenting as much on your page as of late. The truth is, I’ve been reading… religious. I never miss a post. But your thoughts and insight always spark so much emotion in my so I wait to comment until I have proper time to articulate my thoughts. Problem is, I never seem to find “proper time”.
But now I do! Yay for grandma-esque Saturday nights.
I am VERY particular about the way I eat and I often ponder whether it’s an eating disorder related tendency or whether it’s just me learning how to savor the food that I’m eating. Regardless, I try not to analyze it too much because, like you said – it feels “right”. To tell you the truth though, I’m not so sure that it’s an ED thing, because I’ve noticed it more in observing the people around me. (Yeah, I stare at people while they eat. Whatever). I also remember an episode of Sex in the City when Carrie said that she likes to eat 5 crackers with Grape Jelly standing up in the kitchen..and that she has to eat them standing up because it “just feels right”.
and I think everyone can attest to saving the best bite for last.. though Gingie had made a good point in saying you should eat the best bite FIRST because you may be too full by the end of the meal and not enjoy it as much. Usually not a problem for my bottomless pit of a stomach, but I guess it makes sense!
Okay, looks like I definitely over-compensated for my lack of commenting. I’ll shut up now.
LOVE YOU!
I’ve missed youuuuu. And I remember that episode of SATC 😉 You’re probably right though – a lot of people tend to have really specific preferences when it comes to the way they eat. I think it only starts to verge onto disordered if you won’t eat at all unless you can do it in a certain way.
Yes,I am definitely particular with my eating style.
I always save best till last- so if nut butter is in the dish- its saved last(obvs), the muffin top last, bite of cookie with most choccy chips last etc.
I also pick faves with my dishes and cutlery too. My own little spoon has pictures of the Moomins on the handle- too friggin cute! Every other spoon pales in comparison.
Just thinking about biting into an ice lolly makes my teeth cringe & stand on edge(if you know what I mean).
Xxx
Haha I definitely know what you mean. I can’t stand biting into anything cold either… Ahh the things I’ll do for the sake of my craft…
my oatmeal gets eaten the exact same way! Definitely gotta savor that AB at the end. mmmm.
Veggies are eaten first always, then it’s usually the protein, then carb. Again, best for last…even though I love them all though! 🙂
I eat my oatmeal exactly the same way! Actually, I eat everything like that. The last 10 or so bites are almost pure nut butter and jam. I always save the best for last, because I enjoy my meal more when I look forward to those last bites of heaven. If I were to eat the nut butter and jam first… I don’t know what would happen :0. I guess I’m afraid I would leave the table unsatisfied and unhappy… Eating this way allows me to savor my meal and finish happy 🙂
I listened to a psychology lecture which postulated that the the last part of an experience determines our memory of it. Thus, if you have a great meal, but finish on a bit of rotten cabbage, chances are you won’t think too fondly of that meal and will leave the table unhappy. Conversely, if you have a mediocre meal, but finish with something delicious, you will remember the meal with pleasure and leave the table satisfied. Weird, huh?
That makes sense. Maybe that’s why you’re always supposed to save dessert for last 😀
OH MY GOSH I eat my oats the exact. Same. Way. All that’s left towards the end is a tower of nut-buttered goodness. Edge to middle all the way! I try my darndest to make sure that last bite has nut butter on it, else I’m one unhappy camper. And I also have 4 tiny tiny spoons that I rotate out, and if they’re all dirty- tough. I’m hand-washing one to use. HAHA!
I’m fairly particular in the way I eat. I’m the same way- tiny bowls, tiny utensils, sporks, etc. Perhaps your habits are lingering ED, but if anything hangs around it might as well be something innocent and adorable such as using baby things, eh? We can eat baby meals together! Woo! So long as you’re enjoying your food and eating what your body needs, all shall we well enough!
You already know all my quirky habits, I’m sure 😉
Sporks, spoo-icks, tiny things, eating / making breakfast while watching my favorite t.v. shows, loving childish food-related things such as lunch boxes (WITH STICKERS! That I’ve yet to come to a decision on how to place- darn indecisiveness), tiny cups, things with adorable pictures / faces, etc. EEEEE!
I was never so particular when I was younger, either. Then again- I didn’t have much choice in what I was served and what it was served in.
Love you! <3 We need to start a blogger breakfast club or something. Best. Meal. Ever.
I always use little spoons…i’ve been doing it since I was a kid…I think it stemmed from the fear of having my mouth too full if someone asked me a question while i was eating. I also always save my favourite part of the meal for the end
For breakfast I MUST eat my yogurt first, toast second and sliced up apple last (the sliced up is very key – eating apples whole puts me in a bad mood 🙂 ). Some may find this bizarre but it makes me happy and there’s nothing wrong with that!
Oh yes, I definitely am! I think it’s a kind of obsession thing that’s come about from having an eating disordered but I don’t think it’s disordered. I think I just do it out of habit and preference. These days I eat the way I do (as in with certain utensils/plates/bowls etc) because it feels more satisfying, I guess? I find that if I eat with say another spoon or eat off of another plate, my meal is a lot less satisfying. It sounds so weird when you write it out like this but it’s just the way is is 😛
If I’m eating a sandwich with lettuce or some vegetable in it, I open it up, eat the salad first and then enjoy the rest of the sandwich with just the meat and cheese 😉
xxx
I always eat my food in a particular order. Like if I’m eating more than one thing, I eat all of one thing, all of the next thing, and so on… I’ve always done that 😉
I’m totally with you on the little spoons! Those little antique spoons that are sold as collectibles or souvenirs I actually eat with. As for breakfast, I usually go around and around the outside of the bowl until just the center is left. Unfortunately sometimes if the oats are really wet it doesn’t work perfectly. I attribute these to a preference over a rigid thing, but it’s definitely a strong preference 🙂
Thankfully I’ve become less particular (and less rigid/obsessive) about how I eat.
Quirky habits = I look at my cellphone clock or a clock at home and make sure I start eating sometime when it’s an even time number (i.e. – eat at 6:36 instead of 6:35). I need to break this habit because it’s still rigid and BIZARRE.