Chapter 3: Who Are You?

Chapter 3 of Learn to Be Thin asks you, the reader, to "examine your Eating Self," the you who eats too much and regrets it afterward. What is the main behavior pattern that you use to succeed in overeating?

In this chapter, too, Shirley talks about "food-related stimuli" (39)--those things in our environment that are triggering the eating response.  Learning about what is triggering overeating can help us to either eliminate the triggers or head them off some way.

Shirley breaks the Eating Self into three categories: Bingers, Nibblers, and Hearty Eaters.

Binge eaters eat normally most of the time until they get to the binge; then it's off to the races until the binge is finished.  Shirley examines the "dynamics" of the binge: "what gets it started, what keeps it going, what makes it gain momentum, and why it won't end" (39).  What seems to be true with all binges, she says, is that the person is not aware of what the trigger is and before he or she becomes aware, it's too late.

For me, a binge often starts with an overindulgence of some kind.  I allow myself to have a hot fudge sundae, or I go to a dessert buffet and decide to sample it all.  Then when the sugar rush wears off, I'm looking for another hit.  Often times, when I can't find the good stuff, I'll settle for the mediocre sweets, which of course doesn't satisfy the craving, so I go looking for more.  Eventually it ends, but it may be weeks later.  Mine is more of what Shirley calls a "binge-stop-binge pattern" (41).

I agree, though, that not thinking is what makes it carry on.  But I also think there's more to it than that. I can feel the craving coming over me sometimes. I may have gone without eating sweets for several days, then in a moment of not thinking, or of telling myself "one won't hurt," I go ahead and eat a donut or a piece of chocolate.  Almost as soon as I do, I feel a little "rush" that makes me take a mental step back and think "Uh-oh; here we go."  Sometimes I'm not aware of the rush and I go with the feeling for a few days or a week.

The Nibblers are those who overeat in bits and dabs. They can tell themselves they're not eating too much because they're just taking a few of this and a bite of that.  It seems like it's nothing, but it adds up.  And once again, it's unconscious eating.  If you're at a party, you're talking and not noticing how much you're putting into your mouth.  But it ends up being a lot, and then you can't account for why you feel so full. 

I've been a Nibbler at parties where there are bowls of chips and dip, or fancy little stuffed mushrooms or other hors d'oevres, or at Mexican restaurants where they bring me a bowl of taco chips and salsa, and by the time the meal arrives I'm so full of chips the meal seems almost unappetizing.  But of course I eat it anyway.  Eating in front of the TV when watching a movie or a game also should be included in this category.  Nibbling, I think, is particularly unconscious eating and therefore particularly insidious. 

The Hearty Eater is someone who claims to love eating and wants to eat a lot and does so at every opportunity.  It seems well planned, but is it really?  The Hearty Eater needs an excuse, like any other overeater, and can find one readily enough.  There is always a reason to overeat if we go looking for one.

I fall victim to this when I go out to eat, or when eating at other people's houses.  My friends and family know I like to eat and want to please me, so they serve delicious food.  They know I'll appreciate their efforts more than their skinny friends who say "Oh, no, I'm so full I couldn't eat another bite."  I can't tell you how many times I've been praised for my "good appetite." They want to please me, I want to please them, and so I go ahead and eat that extra bite and the next and the next.  Everybody's happy, everybody's got a valid excuse for me to eat, and I just get fatter.

What Shirley is trying to get across in this chapter with her analysis is that in order to change our eating habits, it's crucial that we become aware of them, not just when we're reading the chapter, but at the moments when they are actually operating on us.  My awareness of the rush that I get when I eat sweets after not eating them for a few days is the kind of attention I need to pay every time I put food in my mouth, or even think about eating.

Have you ever noticed how many commercials there are on TV for highly caloric food? Who do you think is the target of those ads? Ah, yes, it's us, the food addicts.  Pay attention to them sometime and notice what they're using to get us to eat.  They're going for the subliminal approach, making it all so enticing.

There should be warning labels for these foods that follow the ads, like the ones prescription drugs are forced to include in their ads.  Maybe that would make us aware of what those ads are triggering.  It's a thought.  Is it going to happen any time soon? Not a chance!  So we have to do it ourselves, to mentally include the warnings, the list of side effects to that 1/2 pound bacon and cheese burger that looks so good!

So this week, we gain more understanding of our eating behaviors. One step closer to freedom from eating tyranny!