Food Hoarding

[niferphd]

Does anyone else hoard food?  It's odd- I often feel compelled to buy things (always sweets) or bring them with me to work, but I rarely eat them.  Just thinking about the fact that I have the option to eat them during the day gives me a feeling of relief.  I don't binge; I don't purge; I do watch what I eat, but I eat about 1700-1800 calories per day.  I wasn't raised in an environment where we didn't have food, but my mother was anorexic and did put restrictions on what I was allowed to eat.  In middle school I often binged on candy, but that stopped in high school.  This mysterious hoarding habit is getting expensive, and I really don't understand why I'm doing it.  Does anyone else do it?  Or have thoughts about it?  I'd welcome anything, because I am pretty baffled.

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

One possible dynamic is that you are expressing your autonomy in your own way, which is to violate your mother's restrictions by buying the forbidden food, but saving yourself from the sabotaging part, which is to eat and get fat. The way to stop that is to come to a full understanding that you are rebelling against phantom authority...your mother no longer is in control of your intake...but you still let her be, You may have to do some good psychological separation work in order to free yourself from this compulsion based on  a frozen in time relationship with your mother.

[niferphd]

Dr. Gould, thank you so much for your observation.  It definitely set off a few bells in my head.  I appreciate you taking the time to consider my question, and I think you do a wonderful thing by answering questions in this forum.  Again, thank you.