I only was able to catch parts of it...and the link to watch the entire episode isn't working on A&E's site but wow...riveting. You usually only see people who hoard trash and junk...I have never seen one with food. My mother caught the whole episode and relayed it to my in gritty details. The more I listened...the more fearful I got.
Why? I’m bad with food… I have too many food-based fears and, at the same time, I take too many risks when it comes to it. This is gross…but…I have cut mold off of cheese and bread and eaten the rest… With other foods though, fruit in particular, if there is a soft spot…I can’t bring myself to eat it or if I’ve had it more than three days (and I always buy in bulk mind you), I also can’t eat it. There really is no reason ever for me to buy milk…I never use it! But every time I go to the store…I buy some.
That being said…I never considered myself a hoarder per se. After watching the show, however, there may be some early signs I need to watch for. I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past that I’m a huge fan of the Intervention and Obsessed (which is relatively new to the game) shows based on Addition and OCD. Well…hoarding is a form of OCD as well but is probably one of the more common and possibly dangerous OCD’s evidenced here and here (careful with the second one...you may puke).
I see a lot of myself in this woman, although mine hasn’t become dangerous or unhealthy and I don’t have an attachment to the food; I CAN and WILL throw it away when it becomes inconvenient. But…still…signs are there. I have let fruit rot in the fridge. When it starts to mold, I become sickened by it and can’t eat anything in the fridge. I also…can’t bring myself to touch it, so for days at a time, I will have mini-panics if I have to open the fridge for any reason. When it gets to be disgusting enough…I’ll finally bring myself to throw it away. More often than not, however, someone else has already done that. If we were to open my freezer…half of the meat in there has intense freezer burn… I frequent Sam’s club and buy chicken and steak in bulk (steak is nicely priced there!) but then I wont want those things…so I never actually eat them. Its one of those “shopped when I was hungry” kinds of things. My hoarding is more pricy than anything.
At least I have taken step one and realized it and now know that I can do things to combat it before it gets out of control:
1) Go shopping every two or three days. When I finally strike out on my own…I’m going to do my best to live near a farmer’s market and/or a grocery store- like within walking distance. That way I won’t have the issues I have with fruits because I’ll always know they’re fresh.
2) Shop with recipes in mind. My problem is that I’ll go with like 12 or 13 recipes but I’ll only actually do like 2 of them and not the rest because my tastes have changed. If I shop every two or three days, I’ll be more likely to still want to eat that stuff.
3) Set a budget. Another issue I have is…buying too much food. I’ll tweak recipes (a little extra meat…three or four more tomatoes) to fit what I THINK i’ll need and it always turns out to be more. So…if I’m shopping for two or three days…but 4 chicken breasts rather than a pack of 12. Sounds like a lot less wasted meat already!
4) If all else fails – live with ravenous teenage/college boys. They’ll eat any and everything. I’ll never have food!
Keep you updated!
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woo hoo wow. Those two linked stories were crazy. Feel bad for the old guy, but the person who lived in the house was a hot mess. Is it bad that I want to assume it was a woman? Maybe there was a female article (she or her) mentioned in the story?
ReplyDeleteAnother obsession of yours is overanalyzing and unconciously inflating your problems. I don't think you have to worry about your food obsession too much, but it's good nonetheless that you're being proactive with resolutions.