How do you get over Not cleaning your Plate?

I went out last night, the meal was good but by the last third I was feeling pretty stuff. I knew I should leave it but I couldn't. Why?
Do I feel I'm hurting the foods feelings by throwing it away? Do I feel like what I've just ate has turned into garbage too? ((sigh))

So strange how your mind works....

BTW, my stomach paid the price for my not stopping and it kinda ruined my evening. Will I remember this episode next time I'm stuffed?

This is an issue for so many people, usually because of how we were raised!

Here's how I cope:

My boyfriend will eat anything I can't and that saves me from feeling like I am wasting food. When we are out together, I simply feed him half (or more) of my food!

When I eat out without him, I just take home the leftovers once I am done eating OR I ask for a box right away and put half aside to take home.

Well I was raised with the dire warning tht "children are starving in China".It has only been a few years that I have given myself permission to leave something on my plate.

I would much rather waste the food then have me eating it. Yes, it is a shame to waste food, but it would be even MORE of a shame for me to eat food when I am not hungry. I don't need it. It's not benefiting me. Yes, there are people starving all over the world, but by my eating it is unfortunately not going to help them one bit.

If I find myself wanting to clean the plate, though I am already full, I destroy it - I pour water over it.

Learning to accept that people are starving but what's on your plate makes no difference at all is something that stopped me finishing my plate unnecessarily and I now never finish a meal I don't want - seldom happens though . I also destroy food by pouring salt (which I really, really hate) all over it.

It's really hard for me to leave food. I was raised in a family where I often would have to sit at the table, by myself, for HOURS until I cleared my plate. After a lifetime of that, it's hard NOT to eat everything. Also, I've found that if I eat slow, it really does not take much food at all to make me full. I ordered some vegan palak tofu (like palak paneer with tofu) the other day as takeout and only could eat about 1/4 of it. In the past, I would have eaten the whole thing!

A lot of the places I eat don't have to go boxes so that makes it really hard for me. It's a big money issue to- if I'm paying for the food, I WILL NOT throw it out.

I was visiting a friend at her home when she insisted I accept some fried chicken she had prepared, a WHOLE chicken, I didn't want it but I didn't want to hurt her feelings , either. I told her I would take it home.On my way home I saw a guy with a sign "need food" I stopped and gave him the chicken
and she never knew what I did.

For me, it's a money thing. We don't have a lot of money to spend, so I couldn't fathom throwing away perfectly good food! I usually only eat at home, so I portion my food onto my plate and then put all the leftovers away before I even eat my meal!

My husband is the same way. He was always taught that you have to clean your plate since others out there are starving. i've been able to help him somewhat to just eat till he's content and then just let the rest go.

I too always had a hard time figuring out how cleaning my plate could possibly help starving people on the other side of the world. There's no logics in that... just an invitation to guilt trips. But thinking about it rationally may help getting rid of that 'need' in the long run.

Asking if they can doggy-bag the food for you sounds like a good solution, at any rate. I've even asked this in a restaurant serving doner kebabs, and lo, they had small containers for theit customers to carry some of the food away. (Their 'small-size' kebab meal lasted me for three meals, by the way; that was money well spent, in a way.) Or, yes, taking your own box with you. And if it ruffles a few feathers at the restaurant, well... too bad for them. They're not the ones who will have to cope with being stuffed and uncomfortable, after all.

I am STARTING to remember that STUFFED feeling... over a year after starting to eat healthy and losing 50 pounds, now it's time to address the EATING after I'm full issues...

i never ate out of hunger, just boredom and for emotional reasons because i lacked healthy coping skills.

I've never heard of a place that doesn't let you take home the food you don't finish. Where are you eating?